Jan 30, 2020
This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of 2019 and considering Carole & Tuesday exists, this is saying something. If I ever wanted a prime example of why I show a lot of hesitation to recommend something as a show is airing this is why. So to start properly let's go from the beginning.
Babylon started off initially as something that is actually an interesting idea, covering suicide. The way the show treats suicide seems like it'd be very similar to the marijuana debate which is actually a great idea if it wants to present suicide as something inherently morally gray. Especially the proponent of this Kaika
...
Itsuki. But however this highlights one of the first problems of it is that rather quickly the show will disregard this morally gray stance in favor of what I dub the comic book villain, Ai Magase. So you'd think the story would present Itsuki as the antagonist especially for the protagonist Zen Seizaki but you'd be wrong it's Magase. Magase is just without a doubt evil without the slightest hint of good, she's practically as evil as Dio but Dio being evil made sense, they don't even try showing how Magase ended up being as evil as she ended up being. So naturally in a show like Babylon introducing Magase completely ruins the narrative and why would you do this? It makes no sense.
What also makes no sense in the Whore of Babylon which is supposed to be a symbol for Magase and why the show is named Babylon and that symbol is evil as in clearly not good or even in between. It's not only misplaced in this show it makes me hate the name, so this is what Babylon is named after? Wow, I'd rather them not answer that at all. Also, the “Whore Of Babylon” (Magase) has the ability to kill people by speaking vague words into their ear? I know anime isn't reality but I doubt it would go even that far this is just someone taking acid instead of a good writing class. She's definitely the worst offender of the poor characterization in Babylon with Seizaki being up there as he never really changes from being a moral puritan and if he does there aren't any sense of natural progression or an epiphany. The rivalry between Seizaki and Magase in the end feels like an inferior take of the rivalry between Tsunemori and Makishima, if anything this feels like inferior Psycho-Pass.
So in this steaming pile of crap that is this show why is it any good? I'll list two things that prevent me from giving it a one. #1 the soundtrack wasn't awful, it's just a shame it couldn't fit the tonally inconsistent mess that is Babylon. #2 the directing which I'd actually praise. The director Kiyotaki Suzuki directed Babylon amazingly well. He experiments with angles, aspect ratios, and even though Magase isn't actually that threatening of a character his direction can make her feel threatening or have quite a presence. I hope he gets better work as he has some amazing talent.
My last point of contention is the ending, while I won't spoil it in this review it's basically if Murphy's law could apply to an anime, everything that can go wrong in an ending did. It's a fireworks display of nonsensical debating, complete lunacy and utter mindlessness. It culminates into an epic shitshow that you'd have to see to believe but for now you'd have to believe me because I do not advise anyone to watch this anime at all, I doubt you'd enjoyed it, hell I didn't enjoy this anime at all, it wasn't even hilariously bad just bad. If it gave up taking itself seriously and just became a comedy it could've at least redeemed itself with that but it still would've been a horrible anime. I even enjoyed Carole & Tuesday more than this and that anime had a horrible ending as well. I'd rather watch Goblin Slayer 3 times then watch Babylon ever again.
Overall I give this a 2/10 and is one of the worst anime I've had the “honor” of completing. I'd use this as an example of what not to do when writing an anime, especially an anime focused on a morally gray topic.
Also this is my 2nd review so any constructive feedback of my review is appreciated, hope you enjoyed my review.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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