Tokyo Babylon 3 (manga)

[rachelmanija]

A lot of care went into the design of this series. It has a glossary, translated sound effects, and a fold-out full color poster in the front. It's too bad that the poster is cutesy and garish, with enough bunnies to give Buffy's Anya a week-long panic attack.

This series about a teenage onmyoji (magician/exorcist) Subaru, his perky sister Hokuto, and the mysterious and sexy older man, Seishiro, who is an onmyoji from an evil clan of assassins but is currently moonlighting as a veterinarian, Subaru's back-up, and Subaru's prospective love interest, continues to get darker and more intriguing.

This is the prequel to another CLAMP series, X/1999, and if you've read or seen it, you know that a horrendous tragedy is going to happen at the end of Tokyo Babylon. You even know what happens to each character. But you have no idea why.

It's a slim volume and a quick read, so I don't want to give too much away. In a savage parody of the popular "magical girl" genre, a group of schoolgirls who think they have a special destiny to save the world form a sort of telephone-linked coven and get in way over their heads. Creepy stuff happens. It's good. This volume is fairly self-contained, and a new reader might be able to begin with it.

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

The thing I found creepiest about this one was the way the girls are a parody of the Dragons from X, actually. I wonder how far in advance they had the idea of X worked out.

They're starting to do some interesting things with the concept of ordinary and extraordinary people, not to mention conflicts between personal desire and social obligation.

Also, babyfaced Subaru will never be my favorite incarnation, but I like him considerably better in the onmyouji outfit, and I *really* like him when he's being professional, focused, and competent.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that too: Yuzuriha if Inuki really was imaginary.

Incidentally, one line of Seishiro's in TB 3 gave me he chills, when he says, "Subaru-kun truly is kind." I'm not sure without seeing the Japanese, but that's exactly or almost exactly the last thing he says in X/1999.

In a totally different way, I also liked this exchange:

Panel of Seishiro looking dark and brooding.

Hokuto: "What is it, Sei-chan? What are you thinking?"

Seishiro (cheerfully): "Oh, just something sexual."