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Subaru Sumeragi (皇昴流, Sumeragi Subaru) is a fictional character created by Clamp. He is the protagonist of Tokyo Babylon and one of the Dragons of Heaven in X.

An alternate version of the character appears in Clamp's crossover series, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

Profile

Early life

Subaru was born in Kyoto on 19 February 1974, the younger of a pair of fraternal twins, his older twin being a girl named Hokuto. Their parents (who are never seen) were members of the Sumeragi, a clan of onmyōji who have served Japan and its emperors for hundreds of years.

Subaru was trained from an early age to become the 13th head of the Sumeragi clan, replacing his grandmother. At the age of nine, he was separated from his sister Hokuto for a year of intensive training in Tokyo. On the day he ascended to the head of the clan, Subaru encountered a strange young man under a cherry tree. The meeting would subsequently be expunged from his memory.

Subaru's grandmother ordered him to wear gloves from that day onwards, and never to allow anyone else to see his hands. The old onmyoji cast a spell that would repel any attempts by others to remove them. Subaru never removed his gloves, and was known to wear them even when sleeping.

Tokyo Babylon

By 1991, Subaru had grown into a cheerful yet bashful teenager, utterly devoted to helping others -- both in his capacity as Japan's most powerful onmyōji and in "normal" life. As well as exorcizing demons, helping lost souls ascend to the afterlife, entering the minds of comatose people to bring them back to the world, and fighting those who abused spiritual powers, he would often also stand up to bullies and provide comfort and friendship to their victims.

Subaru lives in an apartment in Tokyo, in the same building as his sister Hokuto, whose personality had become the polar opposite to his own -- eccentric and outgoing. Hokuto is vexed by her brother's selflessness, encouraging him to think of himself once in a while, rather than placing the good of others above himself. Although she encourages him to be cheerful and polite, she also criticizes his excessive deference to others, including his habit of bowing to people on the phone "like a salaryman". Subaru wears effeminate costumes designed by his sister, her own outfits being even more outlandish.

Subaru and Hokuto are good friends with a kindly and magically-aware veterinarian named Seishirō Sakurazuka, who they met at a railway station after Subaru's shikigami led him on a bizarre chase. Seishirō acts as guardian to both and claims to love Subaru romantically. Subaru is frequently embarrassed by these claims, as well as Hokuto's gleeful attempts to bring the two together, but gradually grows to accept the older man's apparent love.

During Tokyo Babylon, Subaru has dreams of the day he became the head of the Sumeragi clan: he recalls the strange meeting beneath a cherry tree unseasonably in bloom, with a young man who told him the Japanese folk tale that every cherry tree has a corpse buried beneath it, whose blood dyes the white blossoms pink. When the 9-year-old Subaru asked if the buried people were in pain, the young man, initially confused but becoming oddly amused, made a bet with him, the only words of which he heard were: "If ever we meet again..." and "...but today... I will let you go." Recalling this dream, Subaru begins to wonder if the sinister young man is actually Seishirō, despite the different personality shown between the two. He also ponders Hokuto's suggestions that Seishirō's surname links him to the Sakurazukamori, a ruthless magical assassin clan, but dismisses it due to Seishirō's kind nature.

After Seishirō loses the sight in his right eye protecting Subaru, the onmyoji realizes he loves the man. Unfortunately for Subaru, Seishirō reveals that he is indeed the Sakurazukamori, raised to be incapable of either love or hate. Lifting the veil he had placed on the boy's memory, Seishirō states the nature of the bet he had made: that if they met again, he would live with the boy for a year to see if his heart could be moved. However, the assassin claims he was as barren of emotion as ever, and attempts to kill Subaru, only for the boy's grandmother to rescue him at great personal cost. Subaru becomes catatonic as a result, but recovers when, telepathically, he senses Hokuto's self-sacrifice to the Sakurazukamori.

Subaru decides at this point to drop out of school so that he can focus on training. He continues his work as an onmyōji, remaining compassionate to others but acting more reserved; he also takes up smoking, like Seishirō before him.

X/1999

By the time of X/1999, Subaru is his twenties, continuing his work as an onmyōji under direction from his grandmother. Although he is recognized to be one of the Dragons of Heaven, and thus capable of creating a kekkai (spiritual barrier) to protect others during his battles, he has no interest in the fate of humanity; his only concern is to settle his score with Seishirō. However, with persuasion from Sorata Arisugawa and Arashi Kishū, he joins the other members of the group in Tokyo. One of his first acts is to bring Kamui Shirō out of the catatonia into which he had fallen after seeing his childhood sweetheart, Kotori Monō, killed by her brother Fūma. Subaru and Kamui develop a close friendship based on their similar hardships, with Subaru acting as a mentor to Kamui during his further trials. Series creators Clamp, jokingly, refer to Kamui and Subaru's relationship as "sisterly".

Subaru faces Seishirō several times, but each time, though defeated, is allowed to live; he begin to imagine that the assassin does not consider him "worth" killing. When Subaru faces Fūma in battle, he sees the younger man as Seishirō, and allows the Dragon of Earth to blind him in his right eye -- a lesser wish Subaru had held for some time. However, in single combat against Seishirō at Rainbow Bridge, Subaru reveals his true desire: he no longer wished to kill Seishirō (having tried unsuccessfully to eradicate his feelings for the man), but instead wished to be killed by him, as thus he would exist in Seishirō's heart, even if it was only as "another victim of the cherry blossom". However, due to a spell cast by Hokuto at her death, the killing strike (a "spearhand" stab through the heart) is reversed, and Subaru kills Seishirō instead. The assassin's last words to Subaru -- which are not fully stated to the audience -- have a profound effect on the young man, being something he had not expected.

From this point, the manga and TV series differ. Following Seishirō's death, Subaru becomes the new Sakurazukamori and thus a Dragon of Earth, charged with destroying humanity; although he refuses to harm innocent people or function as an assassin, he is rendered unable to create kekkai any longer. His fate beyond this is unknown as the manga remains incomplete.

In the TV series, his status as Sakurazukamori is not directly alluded to. Instead, Subaru sinks back into a catatonic state, urging Kamui to look to his own wish and advising him that "it is impossible for everyone to be happy". He is, as in the manga, unable to create a kekkai, having lost the one person in the world for whom he truly cared. Because he addmited his love for Seishirou He is, as in the manga, unable to create a kekkai, having lost the one person in the world for whom he truly cared and show his love for Seishirou

After the incident on Rainbow Bridge, Subaru is slated to become the next Sakurazukamori, for the ritual of succession for Sakurazukamori is to kill their predecessor.

Seishiro wished for Subaru to return to being as he was before they met. As such, he asks Fuma to give Subaru his eye for the one the young man lost. This act completes this ritual and, after regaining his full sight, Subaru becomes the 14th Sakurazukamori and one of the Dragons of Earth.

Subaru appears briefly in the movie version of X/1999; he and Seishirō destroy each other in magical combat early in the film.

Creation and Conception

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Subaru and his twin sister Hokuto, as well as Seishirō, were first conceived by series creator Ohkawa for a dōjinshi novel about an onmyōji who hunts elves, of which only the beginning exists. The characters were twice drawn for covers, and when South asked Clamp to create a new series for them, these characters were used. Originally, the twins were conceived more as mascots.

Subaru and Seishirō appear in X because their relationship parallels Kamui and Fuuma's. They serve as an example to Kamui and Fuuma: One of X's most important developments is the question what these two will do so they won't end up like Subaru and Seishirō.

Appearances in other media

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Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle

In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Subaru reappears as one of a pair of twin vampires (the other being Kamui Shirō) for whom Seishirō Sakurazuka is searching. A correlation is also shown in Subaru's relationship with Seishiro, for he seems worried about him when he asks Fuuma how he is doing in the Tokyo arc. Also, though Kamui appears to have an intense hatred for Seishiro, Subaru is much more lax about their situation of being chased and seems to silently disagree with his twin.

He makes his first appearance in the Tokyo arc, in which he talks to a comatose Sakura and urges her to wake up before she is lost to her dreams. It turns out that he himself was left in a comatose state at the bottom of a large water reservoir, leading to Kamui's fierce protection of the site, particularly from Fuuma. Eventually he wakes and is at last rejoined with his twin.

xxxHolic

In volume one of xxxHOLIC, Yūko Ichihara mentions knowing an onmyoji with a twin sister whom she has known since the onmyoji was very young. She hopes that the boy will be happy, but there are many definitions for happiness. The onmyoji turns out be Subaru, as explained in the extra pages at the end of the book.

References

1. ^ Subaru gives this date of birth in Tokyo Babylon book 3, vol.3, though at the same time he lies about his place of birth being Tokyo.
2. The kanji used for the family name literally means "emperor"; "Sumeragi" is an archaic pronunciation.
3. Tokyo Babylon OVA episode 1.
4. Tokyo Babylon book 1, vol.1.5 (English translation by Tokyopop). Note that a slightly different translation appears in book 7.
5. ^ Ten years of X. PUFF magazine, January 2002, 19-21.
6. "Interview with Clamp: Tokyo Babylon)" in Clamp no Kiseki, Volume 3. Egmont Manga & Anime, 2005. ISBN 3-7704-2953-2.

• Clamp characters
• LGBT characters in anime and manga
• Fictional exorcists
• Fictional characters in anime and manga who use magic
• Fictional mediums
• Fictional twins