#Tokyo Babylon 2021 Delayed Due To “Imitation Issues”

The Tokyo Babylon 2021 website announced that the upcoming anime adaptation of CLAMP’s manga will be delayed from its April 2021 release date, citing “imitation issues”.

The announcement said that a stern response will be carried out, with a “compliance team” being formed within the committee for that purpose. It also said that efforts will be made to achieve greater legal compliance.

The announcement included an apology to CLAMP, fans of the source material, those who were anticipating the anime and giving support, and those involved with the anime for the trouble caused.

Tokyo Babylon 2021 was first announced in October, with more details following in November. The staff includes Shingo Suzuki (K series, Handshakers, W’z) and Susumu Kudou (Mardock Scramble trilogy) as co-directors, Jun Kumagai (Hamatora, Persona4 the Golden ANIMATION) as series composer, Makoto Furuta (Seitokai Yakuindomo) as character designer, Furuta and Keiji Tani (Handshakers, W’z) as chief animation directors, and Takayuki Uchida (Coppelion, K, K: Missing Kings) and Hiroshi Ookubo (Coppelion, K) as main animators. Studio GoHands is in charge of animation production.

The cast includes Aoi Shouta (Symphogear AXZ) as protagonist Subaru Sumeragi, Nana Mizuki (Symphogear series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series) as his sister Hokuto Sumeragi, and Yuuichirou Umehara (Akudama Drive) as Seishirou Sakurazuka.

The Tokyo Babylon manga was first published in Japan in the 1990s and received an OAV adaptation in 1992. Dark Horse Comics describes the story:

It’s 1991, the last days of Japan’s bubble economy, and money and elegance run through the streets. So do the currents of darkness beneath them, nourishing evil spirits that only the arts of the onmyoji—Japan’s legendary occultists—can combat. The two most powerful onmyoji are in the unlikely guises of a handsome young veterinarian, Seishiro, and the teenage heir to the ancient Sumeragi clan, Subaru.