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| 2.
Iodine 
Another short OAV meant to a promotional tool for the CLAMP
manga it was based on. Fortunately, the supernatural adventures of the Sumeragi
twins are a good watch, detailing two specific cases where Subaru finds it neccessary
to interfere with his supernatural gifts. Though hints about past and future events
are dropped, the stories pretty much stand alone, and the characters take to the
screen very well. Unlike other OAVs, introductions are made without the feeling
that too much is missing, and conversely the amount of information is kept from
being overwhelming. Sporting a nice moody urban atmosphere and good, solid writing,
there's a darker edge to Babylon despite the little moments of humor strewn
throughout. There are some nods to the manga continuity, specifically in the subtle
suggestions of Subaru growing relationship with his ambiguous ally, Seishiro. The
designs are stylish and the animation's top notch, particularly when Subaru and
Seishiro are showing off their powers. Hokuto and Subaru's outfits are quite eyebrow-raising
at first, but they're only meant to lend a little personality and aren't too distracting.
The one big flaw of the show is the inclusion of a horrid English-language J-pop
song in the first episode called "Kiss Kiss" ,that conveys a
saccharine hideousness that can't be described in words. In short, the OAV is
a marvelous introduction, and a decent stand-alone. The story would not be continued
in animated form until the semi-sequel to the Babylon manga, X/1999
was made into a film and television series. |
| 1. Dreamer
Tokyo Babylon OVA 1, one of the early anime I've watched
is not bad at all. Subaru, a medium and a leader of some sort of a spiritual clan.
A young lad who is so polite and apologetic or a creep as his twin sister Hokuto
(a tomboy) calls him. The story is about a believed-to-be curse set on a building
company big project that made a lot of key persons die but the project managed
to make it in time and under budget. Kazami, an architect's sister tried to cast
a spell or a curse on who she believed to be the root of the evil. The thing is,
she cast it in a wrong way and so that may have some unknown effects and here
comes Subaru in order to put things back to normal. While the story did not impress
me that much, the excellent action sequences make up for that. The dub is okay
and the pacing of the show is well kept. Tokyo
Babylon OVA 2 improves on the first part in almost every aspect - a better
presentation, slightly better animation, more inside the characters, and, most
importantly, a better story. This one is really worth watching. A new psycho in
Tokyo started slaying women at the late night train and the police, totally clueless,
asked the help of Mirei, a lady who has the ability of past cognition, which is
to say has the ability to see the past with her fingers. She was called to reveal
the identity of the murderer which Subaru was not able to stop. And so on they
become friends. The story is much better done than the first OVA with more realistic
action and a better pace. |
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