Tokyo Babylon: Omnibus
Continuing their wonderful tradition of re-releasing CLAMP’s work in gorgeous omnibus editions; Dark Horse has brought Tokyo Babylon back to the West, a prequel to the infamous X, set nine years before.
It’s Tokyo in the early 90s, and Subaru is the 13th head of the Sumeragi clan, a family of onmyōji (a medium/magician if you will). It’s his job to solve various paranormal mysteries in the city including vengeful spirits and curses. However he is not alone; his twin sister Hokuto supports his work despite not having much power herself. She has also made it her mission to get her twin brother together with Seishiro Sakurazuka, a 25-year-old veterinarian who frequently proclaims his love to Subaru, who in return brushes his affections off as a joke. It isn’t all fun and games, though, as Subaru’s gift leads him into many dangerous situations where he’s constantly putting his life on the line just as a distant memory from his past seems be coming back to haunt him.
CLAMP’s most famous works have a lot of supernatural elements in them; X, Cardcaptor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth for example. However Tokyo Babylon was the third series they created, first serialized in 1990, way before any of their other more famous works were made. Yet despite it’s age, Tokyo Babylon still holds up very well in terms of emotion, drama and storytelling.
The series follows the ‘monster-of-the-week’ formula but are strung together with developing relationships and various hints about Subaru’s past. As the series develops the weekly monster becomes darker and starts to take a toll on Subaru. The manga begins with (admittedly a tad silly) multiple spirits possessing a woman’s Chanel outfit, whilst the last complete story (the book ends midway through an arc) is about a woman who summons a demon to unleash vengeance upon the man who abducted and killed her six-year-old daughter. The story becomes more emotionally involving and dramatically charged with each panel, so the ‘monster-of-the-week’ formula is used to tell individually moving, supernaturally-charged stories whilst still tying all the elements together through the depiction of likeable characters and their lives. But that’s not to say that the whole series is all doom and gloom; Tokyo Babylon skillfully bounces between horror and comedy. The three leads work together to help Subaru perform his duty, or at least try to stop him from overworking too much. Subaru is a sweet young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, helping many people who don’t always want it. Sometimes he’s asked by his superiors to tackle an incident, other times he happens to stumble upon it, either way he takes his job very seriously. His sister Hokuto is the main provider of comic relief, but she also loves her brother and will do anything to make sure he’s ok. Then there’s Seishiro, a seemingly calm and aloof male with a strong devotion to Subaru whilst joking along with Hokuto’s quick wit. He’s always seen smiling so to suddenly see him switch to his dark persona at selective times during the book is very striking.
According to the blurb on the back cover, Tokyo Babylon was one of the first BL (Boy’s Love) manga made available in the West back in the day, which is very interesting as Tokyo Babylon isn’t your typical shonen-ai title. It may have a few of the genre’s tropes such as the ‘forward about his feelings ‘older male falling for the ‘oblivious to the truth’ younger male, plus Hokuto is your typical fan girl who believes the two are destined to be together, but that’s just where the comparisons end. Tokyo Babylon handles the BL’s element in a very different way; there are plenty of panels dedicated to the courtship but the story works hand-in-hand with the supernatural/horror elements, rather than being the dominant plot. Subaru’s developing feelings aren’t caused by Seishiro’s forceful kisses (another common trope in this genre thankfully not seen here) but instead through their friendship and occasional teamwork on the occult missions, creating a breath of fresh air that new and old shonen-ai fans will appreciate. It’s handled with the right mixture of drama and comedy, which allows BLfans to be satisfied whilst helping non-fans to appreciate it but not be overwhelmed by it.
As Tokyo Babylon is one of CLAMP’s earliest works, the art is quite different to their current style, but still incredibly beautiful. The magic spells are wonderfully detailed in every panel, despite the nature of magic being very free flowing and unpredictable. You can clearly see what’s going on in every encounter, something that you can’t always say about their more recent work (e.g. Tsubasa). The characters are nicely detailed too; especially Hokuto who has very elaborate costumes in every story (something that’s perhaps lovingly carried over by Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura?) Thankfully the book contains many coloured pages so the art can be appreciated even more.
Tokyo Babylon is a great series; it perfectly weaves the supernatural with comedy, romance with horror, and lighthearted banter with dark incantations. Despite it’s age it’s still very entertaining, well-paced, and worth picking up for all supernatural, CLAMP and shonen-ai fans.
