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Carnival Babel

The theme tune of the TV animation Blue Seed. The song was released on 11th March 1994.

"Mysterious T.O.K.Y.O"
Take It Easy Dangerous Night
Mysterious T.O.K.Y.O
Pick Me Up Foxy Night Game

Tsukikage saewatari betsu no yoru e izanau
Sameta tokai no kodou abiru KLAXON

Aoi aoi toki ga tokedashita
Hakanaku uwakiagaru mirai
Inochi wa hikari no kazu dake kirameite chiriyuku

Kodoku yori taikutsu na seijaku wa rabirinsu
KAIRAKU ni mi wo yudanete midaru yoru wa ILLUMINATION

Zawameki to kutsuoto ga afurete 'ru CONCOURSE
Mure ni oyogitsukarete naida MONOCHROME

Uso wo kazaritatete 'ru biru no SHOW-WINDOW
Yami kara yami ni kiete 'ku shinjitsu wa aseri-iro no PRELUDE

Aoi aoi kokoro tokedashita
Setsunai namida ga furu ame
Inori wa hikari no kazu dake kagayaite chiriyuku

thanks to Shinobi Chirlind-Byouko for this transliteration.

Lyricist: Matsuba Miho
Composer: Iizuka Masaaki
Arranger: Nishioka Haruhiko
Singer: TAKADA BAND

In the present the Aragami have been freed by the splitting of the Kushinada bloodline that occurs when twin sisters Momiji and Kaede are born. The Aragami begin spreading their influence by implanting people and animals with blue seeds (or mitamas) that mutate them into monsters. The few people who realize the truth of the legend form the Terrestrial Administration Center (TAC) to learn about and combat the Aragami. The TAC’s leader, Mr. Kunikida, is given custody of the older twin, Kaede, and raises her as his own daughter while Momiji is left with her family.

The TACs study of Kaede has revealed that a particular type of ceramic crystal can absorb the Kushinada’s energy, and can thus be used by the Aragami to protect themselves from her. This line of research is abruptly terminated when a large supply of the ceramic is stolen from a government vault. Years later, when the twins are 15, Kaede vanishes into an Aragami infested building, certain something is calling her.

The horrified members of the TAC are certain she is dead and plan to take Momiji into protective custody. They are barely in time. Kusanagi, a young man implanted with seven blue seeds as a baby and brainwashed by the Aragami to prevent Kaede from being sacrificed, decides to take matters into his own hands. Kusanagi had become emotionally attached to Kaede and is so enraged by her death that he decides to take revenge by sacrificing Momiji and banishing the Aragami.

His first attempt is stopped by Mr. Kunikida and his second in command, but the confused Momiji runs off to catch the bus and the Aragami catch up with her at school. Momiji, who has been told nothing about her heritage, has no idea why she is suddenly being attacked by monsters who call her "Princess Kushinada."

Kusanagi briefly manages to get her away from them and begins to have doubts about killing her. (In fact, the two spend their brief respite arguing.) They are both recaptured while the TAC struggles to arrive in time, and Kusanagi finally decides he can’t harm Momiji. Unfortunately, the Aragami are more than willing to, as they have set up a ceramic ring to absorb her death-energy. The TAC arrives in time to stop the Aragami with an experimental biological weapon, and Kusanagi breaks free to pull Momiji out of the ceramic field . The monster decides to use the last remaining strength of its blue seed to eliminate the traitor, but Momiji courageously interposes herself between it and Kusanagi. The creature diverts its attack at the last moment and attaches the seed to her.

Momiji wakes up in the TACs custody and is finally told the whole truth about her family. Despite Mr. Kunikida’s assurance that the TAC will do everything in their power to prevent her from being sacrificed, she is very nervous and confused about her role in the conflict. When another Aragami appears, Momiji decides that she wants the chance to fight rather than wait to be attacked or for someone to decide she must be sacrificed. Kunikida refuses at first, but his effort to keep her safe only leaves her vulnerable to another attack. When she singlehandedly defeats the murderous Aragami, the TAC is forced to accept her as a member. Meanwhile, Kusanagi has appointed himself her bodyguard, just to get revenge on the Aragami (or so he claims).

Momiji integrates herself into the team and makes friends with her new co-workers: artillery-obsessed Kome, formerly of the National Defence Agency; ex-policewoman Ryoko Takeuchi, second in command; the brilliant Dr. Matsu-Daira; computer expert Yaegashi; and Mr. Kunikida, who becomes the father figure she never seems to have had. She soon learns that she can control the seed on her chest and use it to locate Aragami. This ability makes her vital to the TAC and she helps them keep the threat in check. Momiji is constantly shadowed by Kusanagi, who periodically appears to tease her (since the first episode he has made a hobby of keeping up with her cartoon-animal underwear) or help her fight. She also acquires a rival in Sakura Yamazaki, a teenage exorcist who can’t stand the fact that Momiji has stolen some of her glory as an "Aragami buster". Sakura’s attempts to flirt with Kusanagi force Momiji to admit that she is in love with him.

Kusanagi soon acquires an arch-rival in Murakumo, a humanoid Aragami who has eight mitamas to Kusanagi’s seven and comes close to killing him several times. The only way Kusanagi can hope to compete is by joining his power with Momiji’s, but he’s just too stubborn to ask. Murakumo soon completes his mission of performing a ritual of resurrection.

As Momiji tries to work herself up to telling Kusanagi that she loves him, she is summoned by a mysterious force to witness the appearance of a baby with a mitama on its forehead. Murakumo introduces the baby as the Aragami’s guardian diety Susana-O! Kusanagi arrives to rescue momiji just as Kaede appears, picks up the baby, and departs with Murakumo. In the aftermath, Momiji finds the courage to tell Kusanagi how she feels about him, but he is still in shock over Kaede’s appearance and doesn’t even hear her.

The TAC seems unable to cope with the fact that Kaede is working with the Aragami, since they all remember her as an angelic child. Momifi’s self confidence is severely undermined by the way her sister is presented as a model of grace, neatness, and good manners- everything she believes she is not- and the fact that Kusanagi has abandoned her to search for Kaede.

However, everyone soon has problems besides the emotional ones: the baby Susana_O , who is not quite the good guy the story makes him seem) is stirring up more powerful Aragami all over Japan and something is causing plants to die in huge numbers all over Japan, as well as other environmental catastrophes. By the end of volume 9 it seems that a crisis is approaching fast as Susana-O matures from an infant to a child and Kaede announces that Japan will be destroyed.