@ M.G.
I think TYOB is a rare jem as it deals with things that you see so infrequently in manga. And just to think the CLAMP girls started to write it when they were in their early twenties *head desk* I think they mentioned something about what motivated them to write a story about such troubles in society (it was started during the few years they lived in the city, IIRC) in the TYOB issue of CLAMP no Kiseki. I'll have to look that up.
It deal with the issues in a honest way, and the fact that Subaru still professed to love Tokyo despite the fact that he so often saw the worst in society, the things others wouldn't be able to pick themselves up from, was inspiring. But, in relation to that, the fact we also see the way it starts to affect him, his breakdown after dealing with the mother who had her daughter murdered... Just has such depth for a manga that is actually pretty short.
@ Jimi-Jam
Yeah, X is currently at halfway through volume 19 in Japan (so only 18 volumes published), but has been on hiatus from 2002, I think. Rather than explain the whole story, this post will explain it better than I can:
http://www.manganews.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1736
Hopefully it will be back soon (though Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC will most likely be finished first), especially as it's at quite an important part.
I think Vol. 5 is the part where Subaru is first mentioned, where Arashi and Sorata are trying to figure out who the last Seal is. Unfortunately Sei-chan isn't in it as much as I would have liked (you don't really get a great sense of who he is in X unless you've read Tokyo Babylon), but Subaru becomes one of the main characters as he and Kamui become incredibly close friends.
@ Ya both
Unfortunately I'd read a good chunk of X before I started Tokyo Babylon, so I knew the ending, just not quite how it all came about or the relationship Sei-chan and Subaru had had. M.G., even despite that fact, I find it hard to read the ending. I tend to have to put the book down for a moment as it's so hard to get through. The flashback of Hokuto dressing Subaru up in the final volume...
You always know from the first hints that there is something more about Sei-chan, and that there is going to be something bad happen, but I think what actually happens at the end is surprising as there could have been any other number of possibilities.
God, what I would do to be able to forget what happened in X and to read TYOB without knowing the ending.
I was a little worried about starting Tokyo Babylon too as it was so old (ran in the phone books between 1990 and 1993). I was only seven at the time it's set, and I can remember hating fashion, etc. at that point in time (it was one of my most hated time periods) and feeling when I started it that it was dated. Anything set/written in that period is automatically dated and the clothing Hokuto dressed herself and Subaru up in just dated it even more.
But after a few chapters, it became one of the reasons I fell in love with it and it really has increased my tolerance for older anime and manga (I've just finished watching Sailor Moon R again, made back in 1992/3 and loved the animation as it is so dated now).
I don't tend to like things that are episodic, but I do love that with TYOB. I think it was a very effective way of placing Subaru into different situations where we can see him grow and get a good grasp upon his personality.
With NANA, I think I'm pretty much up-to-date with it all
I've seen the first movie (watched it before the anime or manga), have episode 34 on download at the mo, and have read up to chapter 65 (vol. 17) in scanalations (while I buy and re-read the English version as it's released). I really adore the series.
I've actually only been reading Aizawa recently (starting when ParaKiss started on Japanese TV back in late 2005), and so far have only read/seen NANA, ParaKiss, Gokinjo Monogatari and Kagen no Tsuki (Last Quarter). Hoping to check out Tenshi Nanka ja Nai next.
