Tokyo Babylon
"Well, I still love Tokyo... even as it is now. Where else on earth do so many people enjoy their descent into destruction?"
The year is 1990. The city is Tokyo, a busy megalopolis where people are caught in dreams, anonymity, loneliness, sadness and crushed hopes underneath the fevered rush for success and wealth.
Sometimes the high-pitched emotions and acute despair manifest themselves into ghosts and curses. Enter Sumeragi Subaru, 13th head of the Sumeragi clan and a 16-year-old onmyouji. He uses his spiritual power and genuine compassion to help people, exorcise trapped spirits and undo maledictions. In this modern world, where nothing is truly black and white, this is hardly easy, especially because of Subaru's tendency to care too much for people.
His twin sister Hokuto is there to help him, to cheer him up, and to make him wear eccentrically fashionable clothing. Sakurazuka Seishirou is a (male) 25-year-old gentle veterinarian friend of the twins, who professes to love Subaru. Hokuto thinks that making them a couple would be a marvelous idea, even though - or maybe because - she believes that Seishirou is the mysterious Sakurazukamori, an assassin onmyouji said to protect Japan from the shadows.
The series mixes a mood of upbeat cheerfulness with dark social commentary and a deceptively naive tone.
Tokyo Babylon is a seven-volume manga series by CLAMP. It had two OVA movie adaptations, both independent of the manga, and one Live Action Adaptation which takes place some years after the manga. It's also a Prequel of sorts to X 1999, where the characters of Subaru, Seishirou, and Hokuto act the rest of their adventure and reveal their last secrets.
- An Aesop - The main theme of the series is that no one knows what's in the hearts of people, and no one can judge others' pain and suffering.
- Break the Cutie - Poor Subaru is easily the cutest character in the manga, and gets broken so bad he's still hurt several years later.
- Canon Welding - Like most of CLAMP's works, it's been tied and referred to their other works, mainly X 1999, xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
- Cherry Blossoms - Subverted in that they're mostly used for creepy effect.
- The City - For once, Tokyo isn't particularly the center of the universe.
- CLAMP - One of their first and most significant works, and has been retroactively tied in to many of their later series.
- Contemplate Our Navels
- Creepy Cool Crosses - Most notably on Subaru's clothes.
- Crossover - With X 1999.
- Cryptic Background Reference - Various references to the "Bet", eventually explained in the end.
- Cult - A sect is featured in one of the "Save" case.
- Dead Older Brother - Kazumi Asou from the first OAV is the younger sister of one of Shinji Nagumo's victims, and she's hell-bent on Revenge.
- Horribly subverted in the second OAV, where the Dead Little Sister is the Serial Killer's first victim, whom he strangled to death when they were playing as children without even really noticing.
- Dead Person Conversation - Used several times. Of course, it is part of Subaru's job to have these, and he usually recognizes them for what they are.
- The Eighties - Although set in the early nineties, the atmosphere is more reminiscent of the Eighties flavour - especially the official soundtrack.
- Evil Phone - Features in one of the cases
- Eye Scream - Well, it's CLAMP. What did you expect?
- Flashback Nightmare
- Foreshadowing - Book 3. Take a guess to what.
- Forgotten First Meeting - Subaru meets Seisshirou as he cradles his kill, and they end up making a promise. Years later Subaru only remembers this as a vague dream, and has little idea why Seisshirou has suddenly appeared in his life as a suitor. Unfortunately the memory isn't a very happy one, once it's revealed.
- Functional Magic - Onmyoujitsu, mostly dealing with curses and counter-curses, kekkai (protective barrier), exorcism, maboroshi (illusion worlds), shikigami (spirit familiars) and other traditional spells.
- Heroic Sacrifice Hokuto pulls one at the end.
- Idiot of the Week
- I Just Want to Be Special - The girls who abuse magic.
- Kill the Cutie Hokuto.
- Lampshade Hanging - Hokuto often inquires as to whether Seishirou is connected to the Sakurazukamori clan, and Seishirou follows up by immediately changing the subject - which Hokuto follows up by telling him he is changing the subject. To make sure we caught that, apparently.
- Mind Control Eyes
- Monster of the Aesop
- Ominous Latin Chanting - In this case it's ominous Sanskrit chanting.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You
- Onmyodo - The main magic tradition utilized in the series.
- Parental Abandonment - The only 'parent' is the grandmother, who lives in Kyoto. Subaru and Hokuto live on their own in Tokyo.
- Rape as Drama - Midori, a schoolgirl who's so horrendously traumatized after being raped that she falls into a coma. Subaru has to dive into her consciousness to rescue her.
- Ripped from the Headlines - Several cases were obviously inspired from recent or common society issues.
- Star-Crossed Lovers - Subaru and Seishirou
- Theme Naming - All the main characters are named for stars and constellations.
- Tokyo Tower
- Twist Ending - Somewhere between The Untwist and the Wham! Episode, Sure, everyone was expecting for Seishirou to be the Sakurazukamori, but few would expect his reasons for sticking around and the amount of cruelty he displays.
- Unfinished Business - Usually only requires a visit from Subaru the traveling psychologist.
- Where Are They Now? Epilogue - One of the Annex chapters.
- Will They or Won't They? - Will Subaru succumbs to Seishirou's advances as Hokuto urges him?
- Winds of Destiny Change - Horribly played with and possibly deconstructed in the first OAV, where Shinji Nagumo uses his supernatural luck to cause several accidents... of which he comes out unscathed, but his co-workers and superiors come out dead.
- The World Tree - A rather ominous cherry tree.
- Yamato Nadeshiko - Grandmother Sumeragi is an older, harsher version.
- Mirei from the OAV is another, with Psychic Powers to boot. So was her mom. Who pulled an Heroic Sacrifice to save her daughter's life and help her and Subaru catch a Serial Killer.
- And Miyazaki from the same OAV is a male example, possibly the one that other CLAMP male YN's Fujitaka and Aoki have their common inspiration. No wonder he and Mirei have the same powers and end up together.