PDS also produced a live-action feature film sequel, Tokyo Babylon 1999, which was released in August 1993, which is set after the events of the manga.
A full anime television series adaptation, Tokyo Babylon 2021, was announced in 2020, but was cancelled in the wake of accusations of plagiarism.
The writers' heavy focus on Subaru's character development stood out alongside the art produced by Clamp.
The manga is notorious for its open and tragic ending which is followed in Clamp's next work, X. Sixteen-year-old Subaru Sumeragi is a very powerful Japanese magician, often referred as a modern onmyōji.
He lives in Tokyo with his twin sister Hokuto, an exuberant girl, whose chief occupations are designing eccentric clothing for herself and her brother, and their mutual friend Seishiro Sakurazuka, a kindly, 25-year-old veterinarian, who often declares his love for Subaru.
Tokyo Babylon is based on a one-shot that Clamp head writer Nanase Ohkawa wrote for a magazine that featured dōjinshi.
[4] Subaru and his twin sister Hokuto, and Seishiro, were conceived by the series' creator Ohkawa for a dōjinshi novel about an onmyōji who hunts elves.
Like Kero from their other manga Cardcaptor Sakura, the staff thought about drawing a pet, with Subaru and Hokuto originally being considered as one.
[5] When Tokyo Babylon's serialization began, Clamp was also writing RG Veda for the monthly magazine Wings.
Based on their experience in Tokyo, Clamp incorporated dark social themes, making the series realistic despite its focus on occultism.
Although when the series began, the ending was already planned, it was not until the Tokyo Tower chapter that Clamp set the general atmosphere, with the pilot being perceived as a comedy.
The next chapter involving Subaru's past meeting with a man, later revealed to be Seishiro, then sets the stage for the series' future.
In retrospect, Ohkawa believes that while RG Veda was their first series, Tokyo Babylon was their most original first work as they did not use other people's materials for this manga and it was influenced by their way of living.
The character's faces have much thicker lines in the third volume of Tokyo Babylon compared to when the story first got serialized in South.
[7] Zona Negativa stated that despite the series is serialized in a shōjo magazine for young women, Subaru's hero journey felt more like that of a manga serialized in a shōnen magazine for young men, due to the many types of enemies he faces while finding his foes' deep nature.
[9] Due to the dark nature Seishiro hides from Subaru, the two can be regarded as the yin and yang as the former contrasts his the latter's kind self even when interacting about his job.
[11] When Subaru realizes his feelings towards him, his state can be compared to that the one of a hatched bird egg as a result of the maturity he shows in the process.
The first episode has Subaru investigating the meaning behind several accidents in the construction of a building, while in the second he meets another onmyōji who is helping the police find a serial killer.
[36] Due to the necessary changes to be made, on December 24, 2020, the anime production committee announced that the series was delayed to an unspecified date.
It takes place five years after the end of the manga and its plot is based on the Tokyo Babylon story "Call.A" in volume three.
[4] Director George Iida requested the help of the OVA producer Yumiko Masujima in casting the main characters.
Before his death, Kaneyama had undertaken a new project: teaching seven girls how to use dark magic to take revenge on those they deem "guilty," beginning with an abusive teacher.
The story, set nine years following the end of Tokyo Babylon, has the two onmyōji on opposite sides during the final battle for humanity's future.
[48] It received generally positive critical response with the writers from Manga Bookshelf and Mania Entertainment referring to it as one of Clamp's best works based on the social themes reflected in the main cast whose traits, are developed across the story.
[13] Besides its focus on supernatural events, the series is famous for exploring young homosexual romance, shonen ai, seen in the interactions between Subaru and Seishiro.
[14] Comic Book Resources regarded Tokyo Babylon as one of Clamp's most famous works despite lacking an anime.
[55] When the series was reaching its climax, Wings editor Miki Ishikawa remembers receiving several letters from fans asking for a happy ending.
[56] The writers from Manga Book Shelf noted that the series' open ending has also been a subject of controversie with fans, but Seishiro's dark revelation, despite how it seems, had a major impact on the reader.
Silverman commented that this change is paralleled in their next work, xxxHolic, where its lead character Kimihiro Watanuki, began to act like his former boss Yuko Ichihara.
[50] Most of the reviewer's compliments referred to the landscapes and the atmosphere, while Mania Entertainment also praised its simple state created by Mokona.