It's been several years since I've read this, but no, I don't think the parents are ever really mentioned. Teenagers living alone in Tokyo is such a common trope in shoujo (I've seen it s bit in shounen, too, but shounen is both less likely to have as much focus on that part of the characters' lives, and has a smaller percentage of stories set in the real world) that I have to wonder how often it happens IRL. Though at least now, they usually explain why they're living alone.
I've seen a theory that that reason that there are so many female ghosts in TB and that most of Yuuko's clients are female is because Clamp is drawing attention to the fact that because of social pressures and structures, women are more likely to be desperate or unfulfilled. Which might be true, but the fact that most of them aren't portrayed sympathetically, but are instead seen as nuisances and/or getting their just deserts kind of kills any social commentary or deconstructive merit.
X/1999 is an entirely different beast from TB. It's apocalyptic SSF through a bit of a gothic lense (it is still Clamp) as opposed to pure Gothic "city as person." It...does better with women simply in that there are many more in the main cast and most are portrayed sympathetically and get development, but is still bad there in a lot of ways.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2015-03-08 03:00 pm (UTC)I've seen a theory that that reason that there are so many female ghosts in TB and that most of Yuuko's clients are female is because Clamp is drawing attention to the fact that because of social pressures and structures, women are more likely to be desperate or unfulfilled. Which might be true, but the fact that most of them aren't portrayed sympathetically, but are instead seen as nuisances and/or getting their just deserts kind of kills any social commentary or deconstructive merit.
X/1999 is an entirely different beast from TB. It's apocalyptic SSF through a bit of a gothic lense (it is still Clamp) as opposed to pure Gothic "city as person." It...does better with women simply in that there are many more in the main cast and most are portrayed sympathetically and get development, but is still bad there in a lot of ways.