CLAMP Premium Collection Tokyo Babylon, Vol. 1

Didn't feel premium at all. Cover felt cheap, not worth the price sadly.

This book series is the bomb, I wish they would make a hardcover of these books too

Bought the original Japanese version of the ‘Premium’ version and it was so well put together and felt like excellent quality. The English release is unfortunately not at the same level. The cover feels incredibly cheap and there is no slip like the original Japanese release. Really, really disappointed with the quality of this release…

My problem with this "premium collection" series is that it truly isn't "premium" at all. I have ordered volumes 1-3 two times because I thought the damaged corners and torn cover was just a circumstance of the damaged box it was shipped in. I returned all three books for a replacement of the same three volumes, thinking I would get better quality books. However, due to the material of the cover, the "brand new" books I got in came damaged right out of the box. The shipping offered minimal packaging to minimize damage, but the soft matte material of the covers themselves just lend itself to being worn super easily. The matte material used for the cover looks and feels great, and I like the designs of these covers a lot more than the original Tokyopop ones. But the quality in these are truly abysmal. They should've used a thicker material for the covers, and brighter white, glossy pages inside. The comic pages inside are not any different from the old versions, and for the price I would expect at least a tougher, thicker cover for the books instead of the cheapest quality matte stock available at a Office Depot. I would've preferred a heavy, maybe even hardbound, cover for these. I don't even mind if it was more expensive if that were the case. The 3-in-1 X/1999 books had way better quality than these. On top of that, the manga is printed on a creamy, off-white color. I much prefer the nicer quality papers with bright white found in Clover or the Cardcaptor reprints.

As the celebration of 30 years, the word premium collection might just reserve the purpose of it's 'literal" meaning, which says, the packing is, in my opinion " Basic". you definitely would say "omg, c'mon, it's 15 bucks, don't be so mean." Well, despite the new typo for Babylon, and a new designed cover, I would love to see more for this 30 years premium collection from CLAMP, maybe a embodied fonts, some special prints dedicate to it? Nada!. It's okay, in this chaotic time, we can simple mumble, simplistic is the key, simplistic is the key. oh damn, I forgot Clamp is all about flamboyant. anqi to Yen Press.