OK, what's with the get-up, kid? A young psychic crime investigator – dressed like Boy George and sounding like him too – uses powerful runes and innate abilities to help solve crimes in Tokyo Babylon. With the help of a similarly talented twin sister and a family friend, the boy shows maturity beyond his years in his abilities.

Split into two parts, Tokyo Babylon is two separate OVA stories based on a manga (and it's the prequel to X: The Movie), following a trio of psychic private investigators, led by the young Subaru Sumeragi, an onmyouji, or shaman. Using their powers and mystical runes, they help the police when regular investigative techniques come up short.

In the first part, an advanced building project is progressing just fine, until the heads of construction and the company building it start dropping like flies. All the deaths look like accidents, but the police are rightfully suspicious. When Subaru steps in (to exorcise the site), he finds a tangled mystery of curses and old grudges.

In the second part, Subaru witnesses a murder on the subway, and despite his attempts to stop the killer, the murderer runs free. A beautiful psychic who can see into the past is called in to help, and though Subaru is only a witness in this case, you know he'll be getting involved. When it turns out this is a serial killing, the psychic may be on the killer's list.

A couple things bugged me about Tokyo Babylon. There's a blatant McDonald's product placement right at the beginning of the show, an entire bag of fast food sitting on a table, with Subaru's sister Hokuto spouting that she loves junk food, and "you're only young once." Too bad Morgan Spurlock wasn't Ronald-busting in 1994. Hokuto herself is mostly around to be cute and loud, a mood-lightening character with little to do with the story. When her powers are displayed, it's both unexpected and too convenient. The first half hour is disjointed character introductions meshing uncomfortably with the mysterious deaths at the construction project, and it runs very slowly and purposefully. The third investigator – Seishirou – may be the most powerful, though his past is merely glanced over. For all these characters, I never really got a feel for who they were, or what they're motivations were.

But once we come to the real action-heavy parts of this show, I was no longer disappointed. A high-rise fight between Subaru and a man whose blood is a weapon was excellent and eye-catching. I found myself not caring that the explanations for why this guy's blood is a lethal weapon made no sense. The second OVA is far better, with action omnipresent, and a violent, sadistic killer running loose.

The animation is at times sharp and pleasant on the eyes, and at other times it's a bit tame and sorry looking. When it's time for action, everything is detailed and looks fantastic. When the scenes revolve around dialogue, the animation seems simplified.

Tokyo Babylon all-in-all is an enjoyable anime, with enough action and mystery to entertain. But viewers who've never seen X: The Movie or the series will have a lot of questions at the end.

Not too shabby, not at all. Tokyo Babylon is a 1994 production, and the animation – though not impressive all of the time – is clear, sharp, and mostly free of ugly scratches and specks. A few bits of noise will be noticed by the videophiles (most notably with black and white cells and scenes with lots of shadows) but this DVD looks OK. Some daylight scenes feel a bit washed out, and the backgrounds have a soft quality to them, but the colors are good and the characters are well-defined. Fullscreen presentation.

Simple Japanese and English 2.0 options, but for what it is, both tracks are pretty good. I thought the Japanese voices were much more crisp, though there's nothing wrong with the English track. The ambient noises – trains, traffic, police sirens – are well-done. The music, though it has a slightly cheesy feel sometimes, is mysterious and fitting for the story.

I really like the special features on this DVD, not because they're all-encompassing or overly detailed bits of Tokyo Babylon, but because they're unique. We get a brief history of studio Clamp, with an explanation of their members, past work, and how characters from this show crossover to other anime and manga. An art gallery is included, a pretty standard feature, but it has nice music set to the moving stills of the show.

Quite a few trailers, including – my favorite – several manga previews. I'll say it again, CPM has the best promotions for manga (it almost … almost … makes me want to start collecting them). A Tokyo Babylon trailer is set aside from the rest. There's also a short show highlighting the 2002 Big Apple Anime Fest (a little hometown love from New York-based Central Park Media). A DVD-ROM feature sends users to CPM's Web site, with links to scripts, cast list, credits and other extras.

The menus are easily navigated, and the inside of the cover has all the credits.

I'm sure the big X fans out there will note all sorts of character and plot references that I missed, and as the prequel to X: The Movie, Tokyo Babylon will probably be a must-have for those fans. As a standalone anime, Tokyo Babylon is borderline Recommended: a nice mix of playful characters and creepy storytelling, but a hard sell based on the replay value.