Cheap Tokyo Babylon (DVD) (Jôji Iida) Price

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Customer Reviews of Tokyo Babylon

Not Bad
This 2-Part OVA(Original Animation Video) is based on the original CLAMP manga: Tokyo Babylon. It really has nothing to do with the manga except for the three main characters themselves: Subaru Sumeragi, Hokuto Sumeragi, and Seishirou Sakurazuka. The story on each part is original and has no actual baring on the manga.

Okay...This anime was good even though it is 2 parts long. I personally feel it can stand alone without the manga, though you might have to watch it a couple of times to understand it the story a little better.

The background music is good!! There is one vocal song per part. The first vocal song is called "Kiss Me" and is the only thing that I disliked in the OVA. The second vocal song is "Deja-Vu" and is really neat!!

Since this is an OVA, CLAMP didn't really have too much to do with the production(except publicity). Therefore the drawings were not done by them. The drawings are not bad, but they are nothing close to the manga!! The animation is okay, considering that the first part was made in 1992 and the second was made in 1994. Considering that Part 2 was made a couple of years after the first one, it is noticeable that the drawings are a little better than the first, though the animation seems the same.

The two stories are very good. One involving an employee of a building project who seems to be offing people in a rather odd way to climb up the corporate ladder.

The other involves a woman who can see into the past while at the same time trying to catch a subway murderer.

Both of which involve Hokuto, Subaru, and Seishirou.

However, the anime only seems to pick up small pieces of the manga and intertwine them with the original stories.

The manga is seven volumes long and the OVA fails to cover all of it, which disappoints the manga fans. You could say the OVA is a teaser for the manga, which I have heard is a lot better.

The only problem is that we have yet to see it commercially translated here in America. Why? Considering the fact that Seishirou and Subaru love each other and both are male, that would seem the reason they chose to not translate it. Their relationship(called shounen-ai which means basically means homosexual love between two males)is very tasteful and thought-provoking and is the main focus of the story of Tokyo Babylon. The manga does not contain and graphic sex or such thing and neither does the anime. The anime gives a few shounen-ai moments, but doesn't come close to the manga(from which I heard the shounen-ai level is practically through the roof). But CLAMP is very tasteful with their relationships so expect a good story. You can always order them from Japan, I have just recently after purchasing Tokyo Babylon OVA. However it will be a few weeks before they arrive in America from Japan. If you are taking up Japanese then you won't mind the Japanese imports. I have taken up Japanese and am looking forward to the manga. If you can't, there are a few places online where people have done fan translations and there are also manga scans, though it feels a lot better to get the manga since CLAMP has asked that none of their works be put online without their permission.

Hope I have helped

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Great spin-off from the Clamp series
I'm not normally moved to spend the amount of money required to ship items from America to the UK. I was willing to make an exception for this Tokyo Babylon DVD, and it's an exception that I'm glad I made.

This set of OVA's are a great compliment on the original Clamp series. People familiar with the series will no doubt enjoy the animated rendering of the characters (and the famous "meeting under the Sakura tree" scene), although the complex relationship between Subaru and Seishiro is not as dominant as it is in the manga.

The two Tokyo Babylon stories which appear on this DVD are well-presented with good plots and animation. The translation features justify spending the extra money for the DVD version (as opposed to the VHS versions), and I personally always like having the choice between English voice dub and subtitles.

Of course, the DVD is more than capable of standing by itself as a great release. But coupled with a knowledge of the manga series, a viewer will get maximum enjoyment from watching this anime feature.

If you're a seasoned Tokyo Babylon fan, buy this DVD - you can't live without it. If you're a casual anime browser with a taste for more than the regular hack 'n' slash of violent anime, then seriously consider this as your next purchase.

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Good anime
I dont really understand why they called it a prelude to X the movie, but they did. This movie is about Subaru, Seishirou, and Seichiro's life before X the movie. Mostly about Subaru, the story is about Subaru as a medium and the head of his family. There are 2 Stories. The first one is about Subaru solving a case with a man who is in accidents and never gets hurt but other people do. One of the men who was killed sister wants revenge so she puts a curse on the buliding. The curse is wrong and so it goes out of control. Subaru must stop the curse and the man before more people die. The second story is about a man who kills for fun. Subaru witnesses a woman being killed by the man. A woman who also has psychic powers is involved. She has the power to touch something and immediatly see something that happened in the past. They become friends and she is targeted by the man in the train station. Subaru must find them before she is killed. This is a good movie and both episodes have great stories.