Tokyo Babylon re-reading: The 2 Shoten stories
Okay, as of now in my country is Friday so you can start the re-reading and, once you're done, comment about it here.
Remember to put a spoiler warning if you're going to discuss anything that's about other manga or that happens post this two stories and try to be as talktive as you can ( Read more... )
Remember to put a spoiler warning if you're going to discuss anything that's about other manga or that happens post this two stories and try to be as talktive as you can ( Read more... )
Comments 46
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I agree on this!
(Ok except the very begining of them)
LOL, so someone else noticed the dark intro?
....and -oh!- there is an happy ending too (obvious fanservice but, yeah, we like it anyway, don't we?)
I wonder, if TB hadn't been printed but it had been continued on Shoten, would it still have a happy 'ending'? The 'ending' is rather open after all and the intro is kind of dark...
Seishirou is "happy-go-lucky" and goofy,
Well, Seishiro was apparently a happy go lucky in the manga too... though he didn't look goofy (but he had weird ideas about dates being all about eating goo food... see Vol 3 ^_-)
Subaru is slow and dense
Subaru also isn't the sharpest crayon in the box though more than dense I'll call him naive in the manga and also too innocent and willing to see only the good side of the people. Also in the manga the focus was more on his kind nature than on his naivety.
I would say that Seishirou is quite ( ... )
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Well, they definitely miss the social drama element. It's just the main characters in actions, whcih allow the series to have a light tone.
The first story says Seishirou thinks of her as his mother so then who exactly is she?
To me she's the woman who raised him. It's intersting how he's more respectful with her than with Setsuka. Setsuka is Kaasan, this woman is Okaasama and Seishiro clearly shows he couldn't care less about her wishes and the promises he made her. Sure, when I say it this way it sounds cold while maybe he's just trying to be a normal person pursuing his dreams but... well, he's still Seishiro. Although here he's shown as someone a lot more intrigued in Subaru but here we get to hear his thoughs, something we don't get in the manga. I wonder how much time Seishiro spent in the manga thinking at Subaru while he was offscreen, time he'll deaving spent as such, of course. ^_-
Something else that I liked about these two stories is that Subaru and Seishirou' ( ... )
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While I enjoyed seeing Subaru dealing with the social issues in the manga I have to say that I completely agree with you in seeing more of a focus on Seishirou and Subaru. I would've liked to have seen them interact a lot with each other without Hokuto (that's not to say I didn't enjoy the scenes with the three of them together. I always got a kick out of those scenes!).
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Exactly. While the social issues are interesting I think the main characters really deserved more attention, especially in the last volumes. I'm rather sorry to admit it but I think CLAMP would have done a better work if they had spared us from the social drama of the blind guy and of Yuya's mom being accused of being a criminal and had focused more on Sei&Su.
Sure, the previously metioned were interesting social issues but at the moment IMHO it would have been better if the story had focused on the main characters.
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A question though: are spoiler warning really necessary? This is a REreading after all, so anyone who comes in here already knows the whole series. But just in case, yes Spoilers in the post.
Agreement so far on the Shoten issues. Seishirou's "clown" persona seems more real and he really seems struck by Subaru (and Subar seems more aware of his attraction to Seishirou).
The mother who is shown here certainly looks different from Setsuka, so like the others I wonder if she is the real mother or not.
One thing that strikes me: several aspects from the Shoten story didn#t coutn later one (e.g. the penguin shikigami Leone), as these were prototype stories. However, Clamp kept this Subway incident as the boys' first meeting. I wonder what the second meeting was like then, as there was no Leone whom Subaru would take to the vet...
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I've asked for a spoiler warning because I know not all the people reading this journal had read TB or other CLAMP manga. I doubt they'll join but, if they wish t do so, I didn't want to spoil them.
Seishirou's "clown" persona seems more real and he really seems struck by Subaru (and Subar seems more aware of his attraction to Seishirou).
Well, for once we get what Seishiro is thinking and this makes him more 'human'. In TB he was too much of a puzzle IMHO. And, as far as I'm involved, Subaru's interest for Seishiro makes much more sense that his aparent lack thereoff in TB.
In TB his feelings for Seishiro are only vaguely analyzed until Seishiro loses his eye and he gets the shock revelation that, oh he so loves him!
I wish the manga had spent more time developing this because... well, to me it feels a bit forced.
The mother who is shown here certainly looks different from Setsuka, so like the others I wonder if she is the real mother or not.I vote for her being his adoptive mother though it's possible CLAMP hadn't ( ... )
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Shoten 5: Nippon Youkai Junrei Dan [Japan Ghost Pilgrimage Group] (printed 23 December 1989)Before talking about the plot I’ll give you my two cents about the style used to write this. Simply put I don’t like it. There’s too much direct dialogue, and explanation, character introductions and what else look more like notes a writer would scribble down to remind himself some info than an actual storytelling. In short it really looks more like a draft for a manga than a novel, at least from an Italian point of view (my teacher would have killed me if I had considered writing something like that… ^_ ( ... )
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