Tokyo Babylon: CLAMP Premium Collection Volume 4 Review

WARNING: This volume covers, among other topics, murder and animal abuse.

The social issues covered in Tokyo Babylon are many and varied. Some deal with things that are still topical such as the environment. Other seem dated to their original 1990s set, like premium rate party phone lines. In the fourth volume, this mixture is evident given that covers the subjects of justice, and new-fangled religions that were on the rise as Japan approached the end of the Millennium.

It begins with Subaru Sumeragi being given an art assignment by his school to paint a shrine. While there, he encounters woman trying to carry out a curse involving a dead dog. Subaru learns that the woman was a mother whose daughter was murdered, but the murderer was not found guilty because he was declared insane. Thus she decided to curse him to death on the grounds that she too would not be charged with murder if her plan worked. This leads to a crisis for Subaru as he tries to prevent the woman carrying out a curse that could backfire horribly, which only gets more complicated when a séance he tries to hold with the dead daughter does not go the way he expected.

Later, Subaru is called upon by his grandmother to carry out an investigation into a new religious organisation called the MS Institute, which differs from other new religious groups because it is attracting a largely teenage demographic. He does so by becoming a member of the group and there befriends a girl named Kuniko Hashimoto, who is being bullied at school. Her school teachers tell the quiet Kuniko to be more assertive. The Institute tells her to pray more. Neither do any good and it all ends up in a tragic manner all too familiar to those familiar with the work of CLAMP. It also leads to Subaru lashing out and for his partner Seishiro Sakurazuka to take matters into his own hands.

This fourth volume does raise several questions, and it is not just those that CLAMP were bringing up at the time. There are obviously some things that are still relevant. At the opening of the volume, Subaru’s twin sister Hokuto is talking about the price of land, and how it did not fall even after Japan’s bubble economy burst. One only needs to think about how people still cannot afford homes today to show how things may not have changed so much.

However, some questions brought up cover more about how Yen Press has produced this manga. I’m not entirely sure that the “Teen” rating given here is exactly fitting, given the amount of violence that occurs in this book. The violence is not that gory although in the opening chapter, the curse that involves a dead dog requires that the dog should be beheaded. As for Kuniko, she is injured multiple times by her bullies during the story, from getting a nosebleed after someone chucks a basketball into her face, to something very gruesome during an art class involving a palette knife. Those familiar with Tokyo Babylon and its sequel X will know that the violence will not stop there.

We also witness more character development between the three central characters. For example, we learn from Hokuto that despite his job as an onmyoji, since he was a kid Subaru has dreamed of being a zookeeper, leading her to declare it is the perfect job for him to get close to vet Seishiro. We also witness more of Seishiro’s darker, murderous side as he carries out his own investigations into the MS Institute, while Hokuto tells him that if Seishiro ever makes Subaru cry she will kill him.

There has been a change regarding the production of Volume 4. While Amanda Haley is still the translator, Phil Christie is now joined in lettering duties by Chiho Christie (I don’t know if they are related to each other). Again, their work on this book still feels superior to the version released by Dark Horse some time ago. This is evidenced by a small section when Subaru gives out a chant to create a séance during the opening chapter. In both versions, the text remains untranslated, but thanks to Yen’s version having translation notes we do know that he is reciting some form of mantra. These notes are lacking in the Dark Horse editions. Editors Jacquelyn Li and Won Young Seo once again provide extra help with this, alongside more fold-out extended colour pages. Regarding CLAMP’s cover design for this special edition, this time we get a more regal look from Subaru and Hokuto, where it feels like it is only Subaru’s trademark gloves which give you a clue as to which twin is which.

Aside from the possibility of maybe changing the age rating due to the graphic content in this and later volumes, the production and the original quality of CLAMP’s work still make Tokyo Babylon an engaging read.