The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Tokyo Babylon: CLAMP Premium Collection

What's It About? 

Subaru Sumeragi is the thirteenth head of his clan and a powerful onmyouji. With the help of his twin sister Hokuto and the veterinarian Seishiro, he solves supernatural troubles in Tokyo and helps whomever he can. However, not all onmyouji are so kind—there are some who use their power to kill, and unbeknownst to Subaru, he has a history with one such assassin…

Tokyo Babylon: CLAMP Premium Collection has a story by CLAMP. The English translation is by Amanda Haley, with lettering by Philip Christie. Published by Yen Press (October 17, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

MrAJCosplay

Rating:

CLAMP has always had a very particular style and aesthetic across most of their works. Tokyo Babylon feels like an embodiment of a lot of those tropes. There's some nice homoerotic shipping, supernatural components dealing with spirits and how they are tied to the living world, plus one or two twists regarding some unique rules of supernatural professions. My biggest problem with this volume is that it doesn't feel like the beginning. While this book possesses many of the tropes and strengths of the works you'd expect from CLAMP, it also highlights many of their stories' weaknesses.

By the end, I have no idea who these characters are or what they are about. That would be expected, but the story presents itself as if we've already been through all the introductions. Now, I don't necessarily need a story to start at the beginning of a character's journey. Still, the recurring dialogue references events and backstories I never saw. It feels like these conversations are only happening for flavor text or fanservice. The story feels like it's building off something that hasn't happened yet, so when it indulges in romantic intrigue or supernatural professions, I genuinely feel lost because it sounds like word vomit.

None of this is helped by the fact that I don't think the presentation is all that interesting. The framing can get confusing sometimes, and many character designs are just straight-up bland. There isn't a lot of stylistic direction when it comes to how a lot of the supernatural components will play out. It's one of the more generic things I've read from CLAMP, which is coming from a fan of their other genre-defining work. If you're a hardcore fan of the artists, then maybe you can find something appealing here, but if not, then I think you're better off looking elsewhere.