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Tokyo Babylon
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Animation - 6.9 |
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Sound - 5.8 |
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Story - 6.0 |
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Character - 5.2 |
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Value - 4.8 |
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Enjoyment - 5.6 |
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Average - 5.7 |
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| Average |
3.7 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
| Tokyo Babylon ist schon wieder so ein Beispiel für die handelsüblichen “OVAs die die Welt nicht braucht“. Basierend auf einer Mangavorlage und mit gerade mal 2 Episoden-Umfang, ist Tokyo Babylons Schicksal schon von vorneherein besiegelt und ungenügende Charakterisierung geht einmal mehr Hand in Hand mit einer aus dem Zusammenhang gerissenen Handlung die man nur einordnen kann wenn man bereits den zugehörigen Manga gelesen hat. Nun, ich habe den Manga nicht gelesen und obwohl in dieser OVA 3 Figuren auftreten die in der X TV-Serie eine entscheidende Rolle spielen, stand ich am Ende genau so schlau da wie am Anfang. Manche Leute bezeichnen Tokyo Babylon als ein Prequel zu X, aber das ist angesichts der kaum auszumachenden Zusammenhänge der Stories der beiden Animes, in keiner Weise eine zutreffende Bezeichnung für diese OVA. Inhaltlich bekommt man bei Tokyo Babylon 2 in sich abgeschlossene Geschichten geboten die auf die 2 vorhandenen Episoden aufgeteilt sind. Davon hat mir die 1. Story am wenigsten gefallen, da sie viel zu linear ausgefallen ist und obendrein einige lethargische Phasen hat. Dafür dass es sich hier um eine Art Detective-Story handelt, wird es dem Zuschauer viel zu leicht gemacht. Die Zusammenhänge werden viel zu früh offenbart und der drahtzienende Obermotz ist am Ende auch noch viel zu Klischee um überzeugen zu können. Die 2. Episode hat mir schon etwas besser gefallen aber auch sie war inhaltlich nicht in der Lage mich zu begeistern. Von Seiten der Charaktere kommt, wie zu erwarten, viel zu wenig und der wenige Spielraum der ihnen bei nur 2 Episoden gelassen wird macht sich schmerzlich bemerkbar. Die 3 Charaktere die eigentlich im Mittelpunkt stehen sollten, bleiben völlig flach und uninteressant. Außerdem ging mir Subarus weibisches Äußeres und sein verweichlichtes Verhalten auf die Nerven, ganz zu schweigen von Hokuto die im Vergleich zu ihrer Rolle in X TV überhaupt nicht mehr wieder zu erkennen ist und hier nichts weiter verkörpert als das kleine, rumplärrende, hysterisch lachende Standardgirlie, das nebenbei noch, und aus welchen Gründen auch immer, in die unterschiedlichsten Kostüme gesteckt wird. Seishirou ist von seiner Ausstrahlung her sicher der interessanteste Charakter aber seine Präsenz ist viel zu mickrig als das er in irgendeiner Weise Eindruck hinterlassen könnte. Man hat das Gefühl das diese 3 Figuren nur mit der Handlung der 2 Episoden “mitgeschwemmt“ werden und es gibt keine tieferen Einblicke in sie oder irgendeine nähere Beleuchtung ihrer Beziehung, was ich bedauere da ich nicht zuletzt wegen ihrer Auftritte in X TV gerne mehr Hintergrundinfos über sie gehabt hätte. Auch von der technischen Seite ist Tokyo Babylon nicht gerade überschwänglich preisenswert. Die Animationen sind extrem in die Jahre gekommen und wirken eher erbärmlich als astethisch. Besonders die Action-Szenen sind schwach in Szene gesetzt und die zum Einsatz kommenden Effekte vermögen mehr zum lachen anzuregen als für Begeisterung zu sorgen. Das einzige was positiv ins Auge sticht ist einmal mehr das typische CLAMP-Charakterdesign, das ein paar sehr hübsche Figuren hervorbringt. Musikalischist Tokyo Babylon recht annehmbar, auch wenn dieser (von einem Japaner) in Englisch gesungene Soft-Rock-Song der während und am Ende von Ep 1 zu hören ist, in meinen Ohren unerträglich war. Na ja, letzten Endes bleibt mit Tokyo Babylon nichts weiter zurück als eine OVA die kein Mensch braucht und die nicht einmal Fans des Mangas überzeugen dürfte. Langweilig, oberflächlich und ohne richtige Daseinsberechtigung. Man sollte wohl lieber gleich den Manga lesen und diese 2 Episoden getrost ignorieren.
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1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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petran79 |
(2007-11-27 14:18:26) 2006-03-07 17:12:10 |
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| Average |
5.0 |
| Animation |
0 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
0 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| After I read the manga I wanted to watch the anime too.Fortunately I found a video club that had this title for rent. I'll rip the DVD. Or else I would have to download the title. I wouldnt buy this at all though. Better spent the money on a couple of manga volumes. Had I bought it the value would drop further
Despite its age I found it a good title. Certainly much better than X-Movie. Even if I hadnt known about the characters beforehand. The first episode was mediocre but not the second. The second one transferred the atmosphere of the manga quite well. Sure, the 3 main characters hadnt time to evolve as in the manga but for such short time limit nothing more could be done. Thats why it is the first time that I nearly got a nervous breakdown while listening at Mokuto's laughter. Such sillyness wasnt necessary. Perhaps a third or fourth episode was needed to know the characters better. Only Mirei and the serial killer in episode 2 were impressive. It had some good elements for a supernatural thriller.
Since I like CLAMP's style in their manga titles the animation remained faithfull to the manga. THe various visual FX were also impressive. If animation is the main focus here I feel satisfied.
As for the sound, if it wasnt that outrageous song in the first episode I would have been impressed. Atmospheric and action paced.
Overall a good title for CLAMP fans. For the rest there are better titles.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Tokyo Babylon was a decent if short OVA. Though it is a prequel to X it didn't seem to have much to do with that movie. Because it was an OVA there wasn't much time for character development. Despite its short length it was a decent experience, although I didn't really care for the main character. If you want to know more about this decent OVA read on.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Among the reams of throwaway one-shot or two-part OVAs that inundate the anime market, Tokyo Babylon manages to stand out for a few key reasons. Its pedigree, the animated adaptation of a CLAMP brainchild, certainly helps to win support, and its surprisingly engaging storytelling manages to keep it. Though there is no real impetus to propel these short stories forward, no beginning and ultimately no real ending, this anthology of supernatural tales maintains its entertainment value and overall quality.
Of course, this isn't a CLAMP title for nothing. Many of the studio's typical trademarks find themselves sitting pretty among the exposition, including but not limited to: shonen-ai subtext, cherry blossoms, at least one oddly-dressed female character, at least one character who also appears in a different series, and tall buildings that play an important role in the plot. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of CLAMP. Because of these surprisingly prominent hallmarks, their anime and manga has always been uniformly uninteresting to me. However, Tokyo Babylon actually went out of its way to keep me watching; its first offering was a surprisingly subdued, brooding atmosphere, offset only a few times by Subaru's obnoxious sister. In downtime between fights and action sequences, the anime is reserved and manages to communicate without showy displays of melodrama, both of which are certainly a plus. Unfortunately, I can't say that this works 100% of the time; I fell asleep during a fantastically boring conversation in the middle of the first episode and had to rewatch it all.
This foray into slumber was probably prompted by my overall lack of interest in the main characters. Subaru Sumeragi, our exorcist protagonist, is mostly a loser. He is full of funny hats, women's clothing and kowtowing submissiveness, none of which tend to make for a very compelling protagonist. His lack of backstory can be forgiven because the OVA is short and focuses mostly on storytelling, but because most of the characterization is devoted to the episode-specific characters, he ends up very one-dimensional in the long run. Hokuto, his sister, is completely irritating as most anime sisters tend to be. She is the anime's outlet for 'cute' verbal humor and bizarre costumes and tends to find herself providing very unwanted comic relief. She has one plot-pertinent scene in the entire OVA and it's only thirty seconds long. Seishiro is an unexplained character who lives with the Sumeragis; there's no depth to him, but it seems like there could be potential for it. There's something a little bit creepy about his possessiveness of Subaru. The strongest parts of the characterization, however, are the two characters who find their duties or desires intertwined with Subaru's path in each episode. The first paints a compelling tale of revenge, and the second is a character tormented by a gift that she can do nothing with.
The characters themselves are not that strong, but the plots they are embroiled in take the cake. The OVA is divided into two different stories; my personal favorite was the second one, but the first is not too far behind. Episode 1 of the OVA deals with a construction supervisor who is always surrounded by messy accidents that put him into a position of higher power and a widowed woman determined to stop the murders he commits. This plot is a little less interesting because we know right away that this man was responsible for all of their deaths and there's no real element of suspense to it. There's still a fairly engaging fight scene to be beheld, though. The second story is far stronger, chronicling the tale of a subway murderer and a woman with post-cognition who is called in to help with composite sketches. Her power tears her apart since she can only see what has happened in the past, making her feel helpless in the face of the tragedies she has witnessed. After this murderer strikes close to home, however, her demeanor changes. I put this tale above the previous one because not only is the character of Mirei stronger than the other woman in the first episode, but the ending is also a lot better.
The fairly strong storylines presented in Tokyo Babylon are used in tandem with some fairly strong aesthetics as well. The animation is typical older CLAMP charge, with some beautifully rendered and captivating scenes punctuating the gist of the animation, which is dated and marginally attractive. Spell effects look pretty cool, at least. The audio is par for the course, except for a downright painful soft-rock vocal song used in the middle of the first episode complementing an introspective angst scene by the window. And of course it's a Japanese vocalist...singing in English. Someone shoot me. The ending theme is similarly painful.
Despite my lack of passion about the visuals and sound, however, Tokyo Babylon still makes for a good hour and a half of viewing entertainment. Chances are, you'll either like it or hate it, even more so if you're a CLAMP fan. If you're an X fan, however, keep in mind that this actually has very little to do with X TV, despite how the box bills itself. View this as an independent story or you will probably be disappointed.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Caireen |
(2005-08-07 06:49:45) 2005-08-07 06:46:41 |
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Tokyo Babylon suffered the fate of many early anime, where just a small portion of it was turned into an anime and none of the backgrounds were explained, but even so, it's still a very enjoyable anime/story from Clamp and although it can't really be classed as a prequel to "X", it gives a little insight into Subaru, Hokuto and Seishiro and why they were so important to each other in "X".
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
5 |
| Sound |
3 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| This has got few enjoyable scenes, but the rest isn't the best *cough* To say the truth, it's kind of crappy. The animation is bad, I didn't like the music at all and all the characters look strange; the best example is Seishirou. I couldn't believe my eyes ("WTF?! Sei-chan?!"). That's why you shouldn't necessarily watch it unless you've got nothing elese to do. This may sound harsh but this anime should have never been produced.
Therefore skip this one, and go read the manga which is one of the best EVER. Seriously, it's awesome!
But this anime sure isn't.
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| Average |
5.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Although Tokyo Babylon is almost completely lacking in scope, it’s definitely one of the better miniscule OVAs that, uh, should not exist.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Tokyo Babylon is a short 2 episode OVA that can be classified as a detective story with lots magic inclusions, just like Villain said...
Animation:
This is kinda hard to judge..Well i guess it's pretty good for an ova of that age, the backgrounds and cars are really well made, but the characters look a bitt strange... the young men in suits have very disproportionated bodies, they have huge shoulders, long legs and really small heads, you can really see what i'm talking about by looking at Seishiro and Nimura... and then Subaru and Hokuto both look like girls and dress really wierd, well i guess that style was considered fresh and original in the late 80's and early 90's, i wouldn't really know.. You'll also notice that the second episode has a better animation, and i understand that it was mde one year later.
Sound:
Well the voice acting was mediocre, all harcters played out in this value class or just above it, exept for Hokuto who's voice was bad... i can't really give it and accurate grade.. BG music sounded like one of those 80's hollywood cop movies, not very spectacular.
Story:
Well i haven't seen X yet so i can't really make any connections... It's composed out of 2 episodes who have nothing in common exept 3 characters, magic and some serial murder chases. I'll call it a cop movie with supernatural/magic characters and elements, but it really lacks the mystery factor since we already know the killer, thus concentrating more on the magic and character interactions, wich turns out to be quite a big turndown for me... The second episode was better then the first as it managed to create more suspance... I wouldn't really call out the logic mistakes or anything else, but i'll just say it looks a lot like a hollywood cop movie.
Characters:
It only has 2 episodes so don't expect any real character developement... The main character Subaru had his fair slice of deepness, so had some secondary characters who seem to have been more developed and taken into the spotlight then Seichiro and Hokuto
Value and Enjoyement:
I can't say i liked it, but it didn't bore me either.. as for the value? can't see any since it doesn't have any real character developement, meaning or emotional ending, or a story to connect to... i guess it can stand alone as a separate anime, but as a separte anime it doesn't relly have any value.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
5.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| A short detective OVA with a strong supernatural theme. Tokyo Babylon tells of the young Sumeragi twins, Subaru and Hokuto, and their involvement in sinister serial-murder cases.
Being a big fan of the other CLAMP-anime "X" (TV version), I expected a lot of this prequel to that great series. My expectations were probably too high. Even though Tokyo Babylon and X are both set in the same mystic alternate-reality Tokyo and share some characters, the former has only a very little of the latter's hopeless atmosphere and almost none of the polished dark style that made X-TV so great.
Instead, we get two individual murder-mystery stories with some nice but short macigal battles. The focus is on "catch the murderer" instead of the more common "who's the murderer", as we get to know the villains and their deeds quite early on in both cases - only their motives get solved through the investigations.
The second episode is in every way superior to the first one (they were made more than a year apart from each other, I've been told): it has not just better animation (the respective scores for the individual episodes would be 5 and 7), but also more interesting side-characters and a darker mood - not quite on the level of X, but there's a similar kind of sad atmosphere with some excellent brooding moments. Too bad the overall quality of this OVA is so much below those few moments in the second episode.
(Note: To prevent this review from becoming too long I left only the general description to this section and decided to use the optional fields for a closer inspection of the specific aspects of the anime.)
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Oh CLAMP... WHY? WHY? WHY?
This is obviously an early CLAMP anime, before they had really got the hang of animation. It fails in the same why the X movie failed.
For more detail, see full length review.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Many people call this a prequel to X-TV. Although its possible, I'd like to call it something else - a first try. Third times the charm, they say, and this is the first failure (first this, then X 1999, then XTV).
Not to say that this is bad, no. It just like they were just batting around some ideas that they had in their heads for super-powered people and decided to try a few out on the populus. I wouldnt be surprised if the movie release came with a survey. (Yeah, i know this is based off a seperate manga, and that its a crossover. I'm just saying that it FEELs this way).
The anime came out in 1992, and the animation therefore was not impressive. I didnt see the highest-quality version either... if i ever come accross 700 MB episodes that are dvd quality maybe I'll raise the score. The character designs were a little wierd, every male had shoulders like paul bunyan, and the main male character looked like a woman. The clothing was also a little weird for the most part, but it didnt have too much of an effect on me. Some of the fight scenes were cool.
The sound was good in some parts. The voice acting was decent.
I felt that the actual story was a little lacking. For one, they never took the time to explain how the individuals
acquired some of these powers...they just had them. Without the whole "x-planation" from X-TV you wouldnt really know what to say about that. The story itself wasnt connected between the two episodes, they were just seperate cases. That being said, I didnt think that the first episode was that good (interesting how they tested out the spirit-dog in this anime). The second ep was a lot more intriquing and I felt they did it better overall, with story and character development.
You might want to give this anime a chance. If you can look past older animation, and loved X TV you might want to see this little spin-off of one of X-TV's best characters.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| Ok... So Michael Jackson decided to make himself an Anime character? The main guy looked JUST like him though, and sadly, this was the most interesting thing about this Anime. For an Anime to be good there needs to be two things. 1. A good story the makes sense, and 2. Characters that evolve. None of this was really present. I understood WHAT was happening, but not WHY. Nor did I care, cause nothing tied in.
Watch ONLY if you are extremely desperate. Otherwise find something else!
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
4.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
| what a let down !
I just knew it was made by CLAMP and so I thought it had to be good but how wrong I was...
The main character Subaru doesn't actualy do anything besides being beat up or getting in the way of the other character. I even doubt you can call him the main character...and I'm not even speaking about his sister.
This was really getting on my nerves like "come on DO something,damnit!"
The real main characters are a girl seeking revenge on her murdered brother and a woman who can see into the past.
The feeling when watching this anime was somewhat like X TV but while in X TV the mysterious and deep events were followed by explainations to make it clear here you only get the first part and have to figure the rest yourself.
At least the design and animation was ok and CLAMP-style.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
5.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
4 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Pretty damn hard movie to find in Japanese with subs OrO +_+ The two episode movie I guess has it's ups and downs. I truly think it could have had improvements in it. Such as better characters, animation, and sound. For starters I couldn't even tell if the main character was a boy or a girl... I hate freaking animes alot when they do that. There so shitty at drawing they cant make them look like a boy or a girl like Love Hina with that damned monkey girl, and then Noir with the little girl main char. And again in countless anime's I have seen they had hardly any music at all in it, and the music that was in it was not good. They need to work on that alot I think. Other than that though I think that the two movies were kinda nice in their own way. I think the only two characters in the movies that were cool was the girl who could touch things and see into the past, and the guy who saves the main characters girl/boy two times. I think these movies are worth a look and POSSIBLY worth keaping, not too much chances though. Not really and sleep factor to it so thats good.
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