Oct 1, 2020
Never before have I felt the need to write down my thoughts or review an anime but this one just left me speechless so I am going to give it a try.
As people before me have already stated: DO NOT watch this show if you are suffering from depression or have/ have had suicidal thoughts. Just skip this one if you think suicide as a topic might be triggering to you in any way.
!This review will contain some spoilers!
Babylon centers around Zen, a police officer that is following a case related to an upcoming election in the fictional Shiniki district. As it turns out, the
...
new major of the district is aiming to legalize suicide. Zen comes across a mysterious woman named Magase Ai who seems to be able to hypnotize people into taking their own lives.
Babylon starts off super promising, well paced and intriguing. When I first started watching the first few episodes, I was immediately hooked and thought I had finally found the psychological murder mystery I had been looking for. This was, sadly, not the case.
The story takes an immediate turn in episode 4 and after this, the topic of suicide turns into the main focus of the story. The show starts bringing in a philosophical aspect that questions the moral standpoint of taking one’s own life. What they were trying to do with this subject, I still have no idea.
While I was sceptical of the new direction of the show, I was still mesmerized by the storytelling and suspense of the story, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and continued watching to see where they would take it.
Up until episode 8 the show was still looking pretty promising to me. Despite the bizarre story, it was something new and unpredictable. The psychological thriller aspects also had its moments to shine and was executed in a way that made me feel a terror and adrenaline rush that I haven’t felt from an anime in ages. There were parts of the show that were so well made that I truly thought this might go on to be one of my favourites. This anticipation only made the fall worse once the show went downhill.
Unfortunately in episode 8 everything takes a turn for the worse when international politics get introduced. The last four episodes of the show are mainly a try at a philosophical discussion on what is good and what it evil, and if committing suicide is morally right or not. It feels like the creators were trying to be really deep and controversial but it all just feels laughably stupid and frustrating. It feels like a dragged out debate on something that didn’t need to be debated in the first place. Why would the world’s leaders be discussing the moral aspect of suicide instead of looking at a way to reduce them? The fact that the topic of mental health is only brought up once (in the very last episode), in a show which main focus is suicide is just flat out riddiculus.
In the end, the whole show just feels like propaganda. The conclusion to the questions that have been asked continuously throughout the show is vague but it still feels like you’re being told that “suicide is an okay way to go”. The last two episodes were just highly unsettling and felt like a big headache. It gave you the feeling of trying to be deep and philosophical while just spouting bullshit.
The show left with way an unsatisfying ending and way too many loose ends. I think they were going for an “open ending” that would leave the viewer thinking about the show’s (disturbing and propaganda-like) message but after the mental strain this show put on my poor brain, I never want to think about it again. It left off in an unsatisfying way that left me with way too many questions.
In conclusion this show was a rollercoaster that started off really promising and got gradually worse. It tried to be deep and new-thinking but just came across as disturbing pro-suicide propaganda once the story spiraled out of controll.
Never has a show left me with this much frustration. Maybe my brain is just too pea-sized to comprehend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
