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Hi all, just wanted to post in here since it’s the start of 東京Babylon!! I read the English ver many years ago, so I’m interested in revisiting it! Subaru and Hokuto are two of my fav characters in the CLAMP universe!!
I read this more than 10 years ago and I am so happy to read it in Japanese again.
It was one of my fav before so let’s see will I still like it or my taste change?
Has anyone read this manga before?
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This is my first time doing a pull I don’t know if I did it right or not lmao
Great, another Kindle release where the furigana is nigh unreadable. @.@ What gets me is that the furigana is too faint to read, which means the kanji is just faint enough I have to squint anyway…
北斗, your dress looks ridiculous. Please put on normal clothing.
Ah, I love it when my sister continually tries to pair me with a man nine years older than me. Wonderful.
On that note, I’m curious if this is actual BL or what. Everyone’s joking around so much it’s hard to say.
I was very happy to see a significant number of pages taken up by religious changing I could safely ignore. As I mentioned a post up, this text is really hard on my eyes.
I had to side-eye 北斗’s little environmental rant immediately ending with “but I’ll do it anyway because someone else would buy the stuff regardless”.
I’m liking the complete 180° change from classic fantasy to gritty modern day city so far; CLAMP’s made some good contrasting use of black and white.
Well that’ll teach me to ever want designer clothes again
This chapter was a lot of fun! There’s something both so simultaneously serious and hilarious about a Chanel suit possessed by the jealousy of all the women who didn’t buy it that got me giggling.
昴流’s little Boy George hat and black gloves crack me up too. His styling is so very 90s ヴィジュアル系 chic that it’s adorable.
Actually everything in this chapter was so of its time. The clothing, the conversations about Chernobyl (and I’m guessing the fall of the Soviet Union? I’d have to check the publication date but I’m assuming that’s what they mean about 東欧), CFCs…
My understanding is that it is, but also, I suppose these were by 90s/00s standards so maybe not so much by today’s metrics…
Yeah, wasn’t exactly my favorite part of the whole thing (but I was aware of the age gap… although I think in X they’re aged up so it’s less… ick. I didn’t realize 昴流 is only supposed to be 16 in this )
Although it did lead me to an interesting linguistic realization that 北斗 would still be a 義姉 even though she’s younger than 星史郎. It makes sense because that’s still her position in the family, regardless of how old her brother’s spouse would be, but I had never really thought of it before.
It’s doing the thing where the furigana doesn’t match the kanji… what on earth does that say? ばんビー? パンビー? バンピー? None of these make any sense to me as an English word that goes with 一般市民, nor do I know of any other words it could be…
On page 41 (printed on the page) 星史郎 is talking about 付喪神 and says
付菜神が取りつく島もありませんね
Is that 島 there used as like “a place” (because Japan has so many islands), or does he literally mean that not one single 島 is there anywhere that they can still be?
I’ve been emotionally recovering from finishing Arcane this week, so I finally sped read through this section this morning. Needless to say, I love the art style–this and X are definitely peak CLAMP art style, maybe rivaled by RG Veda.
I’m wondering if 「取りつく島もありません」 is an idiom in Japanese? I think 島 is being used in a metaphorical sense–an island = stability in the ocean, and he’s saying that because of powerful human emotions, not even 付喪神 have anything to cling to. I don’t think 島 is being used because of anything to do with Japan’s islands, but I’m not really sure.
This and X are really interesting because the time in which they were written around the time the economic bubble popped in Japan, so I think a lot of the conflicts we will see throughout both are reflective of a lot of the anxieties from that time.
Take this chapter as a cautionary tale to get luxury brand items exercised lol. Actually, this chapter reminded me of a joke on TikTok I’ve seen a few times about people buying thrifted clothing and the ghosts haunting the jacket saying “I’m here” and “I’m right behind you.”
I finally caught up with the chapter, and am pretty lukewarm at this point. I’m enjoying the BLっぽい interactions (more specifically the gag nature of the whole thing), and the overall dynamic, and just taking the age gap thing in stride for now (bc of the gag thing). Otherwise I want to like 北都 more than I do currently, but she just slightly rubs me the wrong way. Maybe we’ll warm up to each other as the comic goes on. So far it’s say everyone just feels kinda shallow(?)
Anyway, as a first time reader, it’s a pretty frustrating and disorienting introduction to the characters and story. Very poor onboarding, imo. On the other hand, at least it’s eventful?
I never really understand declarations like この地球でたったひとつ 滅びへの道を「楽しんで」歩んでいる都市だからですよ. Like what does it even mean? What is the basis for this? Why Tokyo and not any other major city? It just sounds so vapid… But who knows, maybe there’s something in the story that will actually validates this.
In terms of art style, I definitely find Tsubasa and xxxHolic way more interesting, detailed, and beautiful (tho someone’s overly so). With Rayearth occupying a sort of middle ground between these two, so far.
Anyway, I’ll try to have less rambly thoughts for chapter 2
I already can’t remember where this particularly line came from some maybe I am misinterpreting it, but I feel like because Tokyo has for a long time, and particularly at the time this was published, associated with materialism and glamour which based on this chapter they are clearly saying is an ill on society (the luxury jacket literally contains demons or whatever). That could be said for a lot of metropolitan areas as you say, but Tokyo is the largest in Japan and would be regarded as the most consumerist/materialistic.
That said, I agree that it is cliche and vapid lol
I’m a bit later to the party, but hope to catch up soon. I do like the somehow nostalgic style of the story and how it dates itself from some parts of the conversation, especially in the end of the chapter re. the luxury clothes.
Regarding the BL, it does feel a bit strange that there is such an age difference… at the same time, for me right now it feels a bit like friendly banter and not really a serious move towards Subaru, so I’m not sure. Then again, I think this type of dynamic and age difference was also something more common a few decades ago.
I have to say, I actually enjoyed the style and the fact that we just went straight to action. I like this better than having a story take 20 pages of explaining world-building and family history in the first chapter (of course, it should do so eventually). As a first time reader, I was also a little lost as I didn’t know what to expect from the story, but I felt like I could follow it quite well.
I do like the characters to far. Hokuto feels cheeky and spicy, and honestly, acts like a girl her age. She has something that just makes me like her as a characters. Subaru also seems like a nice kid, and Seishiro seems… ok so far, he seems like a responsible adult, but I feel like we still need to see more of his personality to be sure. Their interactions feel natural though.
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