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REVIEW: How Many Light-Years to Babylon?

The self-contained manga by fan-favorite creator Douman Seiman (The Voynich Hotel) that won the Seiun Sci-Fi Award! Follow the tale of an Earthling determined to find out why his home planet was destroyed…while sleeping with as many alien girls as possible.

It can be pretty lonely being the only member of your species—just ask “Bub”, an amnesic Earthling who woke up in outer space and discovered that Earth had been destroyed. As he travels through multiple universes, Bub must figure out his past, what happened to his home planet, and how to best pick up alien chicks—the human race won’t repopulate itself, after all!

At various points, their sex and/or gender presentation change too, sometimes between scenes or even from panel to panel with the same rapid-fire delivery as the comedic gags earlier on. What's most interesting is that at times this is a huge deal, and other times is handled very matter-of-factly – not unlike the other events in this story. I certainly can't speak to the accuracy of such portrayals with much authority as it isn't my lived experience, but I found it nice that these changes aren't all played for cheap gags. Bub is shaken to the core just as often as Bub rolls with it, and the presentation feels like an exploration rather than exploitation.

This was Grant's interpretation of what pronouns to use based on what happens in the story. I will never understand why people get twisted up about the use of gender neutral pronouns especially in situations where the gender either isn't explicitly known or there's story context that makes things less clear.

This use of genderless plural pronouns is just going to make the world more and more annoying and I am going to end up punching somebody.

This artist's work is quirky and mildly twisted. I very much enjoyed their Voynich Hotel (the first volume bought on the basis of the title alone), and got this book because the plot summary, combined with the artist's twisted sense of humor, and I'll happily buy their next work based on these first two.

Fans of The Voynich Hotel won't be disappointed, I don't think.

I wondered if the title was based on the traditional nursery rhyme (it has to be, right?), which got me wondering how well English nursery rhymes would be known in Japan. But then, given the main character is spoiler[from Minehead in Somerset, I'd assume the author must have some fairly in depth knowledge of England. (Did he visit Butlins?)]

The nursery rhyme does play a prominent part in Diana Wynne Jones' book "Deep Secret", and I know Diana Wynne Jones must be known in Japan (I mean, look at Howl's Moving Castle), so that could be a link too.

The nursery rhyme of course goes:

How many miles to Babylon?
Three-score miles and ten.
Can I get there by candlelight?
Yes, and back again.
If your toes are nimble and your heels are light,
You may get there by candelight.

Babylon is mentioned a fair bit in the book of Revelations in the Bible, and "three-score years and ten" is the usual human lifespan according to the Bible, so you could see it symbolically asking "How far is the end of the world? Your lifespan away. Can I reach it before it gets dark? Yes, if you're light on your feet." Whilst reaching Babylon has a more mundane meaning as well in the manga, it's hard not to think the title is also a symbolic question, since the manga does deal with going to the end of the world spoiler["and back again".
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This use of genderless plural pronouns is just going to make the world more and more annoying and I am going to end up punching somebody.