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Every time I read something again, I pick up something new.
Tokyo Babylon remains my favorite manga after over ten years. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it, mulled over its scenes, contemplated fanon involving these characters or interpreted canon.
Now I’m seeing a parallel between the woman who punishes her baby and the last story and Hokuto. Or perhaps I should say Subaru’s perception of Hokuto.
Subaru saw his twin dying in his place at the sakurazukamori’s hands, a fate he was resigned to. Perhaps he felt he deserved to be punished to loving a man like Seishirou, only he’s denied that punishment by Hokuto sacrificing herself.
The woman hits her baby because it’s like hitting herself. She failed to retain her husband’s love. She didn’t stop him from running off with another woman. She can’t herself, but she hits the child, whom she considers part of herself.
Subaru failed to win the bet, to change Seishirou. Hokuto died because of that failure, but she also left her twin behind by dying in Subaru’s place. It’s too late to yell at her, to cry at her not to go. He can only make himself suffer, living on as she wished, living on as she never would have wished.
In a way, it’s the ultimate revenge, a punishment as bad as Subaru could ever deliver to his sister for sacrificing herself to Seishirou, for stealing his sacrifice. Only is he really lashing out at Hokuto? Or is he seeing her as part of himself and lashing out at that?
The little girl, however, points out something Subaru had forgotten, something Hokuto herself would have reminded him of, if she were still alive. The baby isn’t his mother. He’s his own person.
Hokuto isn’t, wasn’t Subaru. She made her own choices. She decided to face Seishirou, to sacrifice herself in Subaru’s place. Subaru couldn’t have altered that decision, not in the state he was in. If he could go back in time, change things, maybe he could have. Punishing himself now, though, won’t change Subaru or Hokuto’s choices now. Hokuto and Seishirou won’t come back. All Subaru is doing is hurting himself.
Perhaps he does realize that at the end of the story. Perhaps this is where his dangerous, destructive wish begins, a wish that changed his resolve to kill Seishirou into something else. As painful as it might be to his grandmother or Hokuto, as imcomprehensible as it might be to Seishirou, Subaru starts thinking about what he, Subaru wants. There’s something dignified in the tragedy of this resolution, an assertion of the self, even though it may end in the annihilation of the self.
This is something CLAMP shows again and again in their stories, the value of an individual wish. It also shows how much our wishes can hurt other people.
Subaru is perhaps one of the most tragic characters CLAMP has ever created, because while he’s inclined to be kind to others, he’s also makes destructive choices for himself. Without Seishirou swooping into destroy the perils that menace him, or Hokuto kicking him into look after himself, Subaru isn’t going to bother.
It’s his choice, though, and there’s no one to stop him from making it. Or is there?
Perhaps the tragic events to come in X 1999 was Seishirou stepping in one last time to save Subaru from himself. For all his protestations of not caring, the sakurazukamori did that.
This is one of the reasons this manga stands out so strikingly among others. It gives a reader a lot to think about what truly makes a person happy, and the consequences of our choices. It explores them in a depth I find fascinating.
Perhaps this is why Tokyo Babylon remains my favourite manga.
Tokyo Babylon remains my favorite manga after over ten years. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it, mulled over its scenes, contemplated fanon involving these characters or interpreted canon.
Now I’m seeing a parallel between the woman who punishes her baby and the last story and Hokuto. Or perhaps I should say Subaru’s perception of Hokuto.
Subaru saw his twin dying in his place at the sakurazukamori’s hands, a fate he was resigned to. Perhaps he felt he deserved to be punished to loving a man like Seishirou, only he’s denied that punishment by Hokuto sacrificing herself.
The woman hits her baby because it’s like hitting herself. She failed to retain her husband’s love. She didn’t stop him from running off with another woman. She can’t herself, but she hits the child, whom she considers part of herself.
Subaru failed to win the bet, to change Seishirou. Hokuto died because of that failure, but she also left her twin behind by dying in Subaru’s place. It’s too late to yell at her, to cry at her not to go. He can only make himself suffer, living on as she wished, living on as she never would have wished.
In a way, it’s the ultimate revenge, a punishment as bad as Subaru could ever deliver to his sister for sacrificing herself to Seishirou, for stealing his sacrifice. Only is he really lashing out at Hokuto? Or is he seeing her as part of himself and lashing out at that?
The little girl, however, points out something Subaru had forgotten, something Hokuto herself would have reminded him of, if she were still alive. The baby isn’t his mother. He’s his own person.
Hokuto isn’t, wasn’t Subaru. She made her own choices. She decided to face Seishirou, to sacrifice herself in Subaru’s place. Subaru couldn’t have altered that decision, not in the state he was in. If he could go back in time, change things, maybe he could have. Punishing himself now, though, won’t change Subaru or Hokuto’s choices now. Hokuto and Seishirou won’t come back. All Subaru is doing is hurting himself.
Perhaps he does realize that at the end of the story. Perhaps this is where his dangerous, destructive wish begins, a wish that changed his resolve to kill Seishirou into something else. As painful as it might be to his grandmother or Hokuto, as imcomprehensible as it might be to Seishirou, Subaru starts thinking about what he, Subaru wants. There’s something dignified in the tragedy of this resolution, an assertion of the self, even though it may end in the annihilation of the self.
This is something CLAMP shows again and again in their stories, the value of an individual wish. It also shows how much our wishes can hurt other people.
Subaru is perhaps one of the most tragic characters CLAMP has ever created, because while he’s inclined to be kind to others, he’s also makes destructive choices for himself. Without Seishirou swooping into destroy the perils that menace him, or Hokuto kicking him into look after himself, Subaru isn’t going to bother.
It’s his choice, though, and there’s no one to stop him from making it. Or is there?
Perhaps the tragic events to come in X 1999 was Seishirou stepping in one last time to save Subaru from himself. For all his protestations of not caring, the sakurazukamori did that.
This is one of the reasons this manga stands out so strikingly among others. It gives a reader a lot to think about what truly makes a person happy, and the consequences of our choices. It explores them in a depth I find fascinating.
Perhaps this is why Tokyo Babylon remains my favourite manga.
