An Anime Review of 'Babylon'

Babylon transformed from a show that I had an interest in watching, to being one of my favourites of the year. It is based on three novels by Nozaki Mado, and was adapted as an anime by the studio Revoroot, the same studio behind FLCL Alternative. What I was expecting was a simple detective thriller, however what we ended up getting is possibly the most fascinating exploration of human understanding that I have seen from an anime in a while. While this is a show that I loved, and wish more people saw, this is simultaneously a show I am not certain if I can recommend without multiple heads ups.

The story revolves around a public prosecutor, and what starts out as a simple case of investigating possible false advertising, sends us down a rabbit hole that even Alice would turn away from. It goes on to touch upon political corruption, the interpretive nature of justice, and exploring the nebulous meanings of the words good and evil, in a global political sense, and much more. What is most impressive is the fact that it is all packaged in a tight twelve episode run time that clocks in at just under six hours in total. Every episode felt like an event, and it is without a doubt an series that is not for light viewing.

The narrative is tightly woven, with events that happen in the first episode coming through to have relevance late on in the show, the careful placement of answers is masterful. It gives enough for us to be on the same level as the central character Seizaki, never more than him, nor less than him. It is a delicate balance that gets you to be in his head space, to look at things as he would, to suspect as he would, and theorize as he would based on the information that has been presented to us. In addition, the writing has the dexterity to balance character with the narrative that it wants to portray, and the ideological study that it progresses to explore.

The character writing is fantastic, each one stands out on their own, and leaves a strong impression. Even the side characters that are present for a single episode with barely any screen time. Their personalities ooze out of the screen and you cannot help but be drawn to them, and root for them as they chase the antagonist. This allows us to be emotionally involved in a narrative that is incredibly heavy with regards to the things that it chooses to explore. This is fantastic writing that develops the characters and puts them in an interesting journey through the narrative, however as an audience member, you will start to empathise more and more with Seizaki as the show carries on, due to the callous nature in which the show treats said characters.

There are certain characters in the media that have embodied an ideal to such a degree that in my mind they have become synonymous with the word itself. Optimism, Luke Skywalker. Courage, Samwise Gamgee(in fact insert hobbit here). Anarchy, Joker. Virtuous, Superman. Compassionate, Wonder Woman. Determined, Sarah Connor. For a long time, pure evil was a title that was held by Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. Evil in its purest form now has a new face in my mind, and it is that of Magase Ai.

From a visual point of view, it looks stellar. The landscapes are magnificent. The detail in the backgrounds are fantastic, helping with the immersion of the show as a whole. The integration of 3D and the 2D is well handled, and do not stand out unless you are actively looking for it. The colour palate of the show is beautiful. Purple is my favourite colour and there are ample shades of it throughout making it very aesthetically pleasing for me to look at. The character models and their movements are well defined, helping each of them stand out individually. I do have one point of criticism toward the visuals, and that is in the final act of the narrative where six individuals are sitting on a table and talking. The use of otherworldly animation made it seem as if the show runners did not have the confidence to let the scene play out in a realistic fashion, and broke the visual consistency of the show to make it seem more interesting. This decision baffled me when watching it as some of the best scenes in the show involved people sitting and talking, and in the climax they chose to break style. This gave the impression of putting on a thick coat of glitter onto an already enthralling picture, out of worry that it may not be interesting enough, and it only served to distract from what is going on, rather than enhancing.

The music by Yamada Yutaka is fantastic, and out of the three anime that I have watched, where he composed the soundtrack, I have loved all three. The Tokyo Ghoul soundtrack is one that I still listen to, the Vinland Saga soundtrack is fantastic, and Babylon’s soundtrack is no different. The track ‘A Given’ is a particular favourite of mine.

So far I have heaped praise upon praise on the show. Yet I still have a hard time fully recommending the show. The reason why is because it touches upon some very sensitive topics, a major one is that of suicide, and whether it is good or not. There are some scenes that are shocking to digest, and will leave you very affected. Due to university commitments I had to put a few shows on the back burner and this was one of them. So I was able to binge the second half of the show. I have watched a lot of ‘shocking’ media. Episode seven of Babylon left even me shaken. So much so that I had to stop the binge for the day, grab a shower immediately afterwards, and slowly calm myself down to normal over a couple of hours and a cup of tea. In fact this episode alone is what is really holding me back from a go watch it right now. In fact, when I was watching it the episode started with a sensitive content warning, this is something I have never seen in front of an anime before. I should have taken the hint and prepared myself. It was episode seven that caused me to have such a strong impression of Magase as I do.

Ultimately, do I recommend this show? I do not know. This is the best show I have seen, that I have the hardest time deciding to recommend or not. That is because I know there are people in my circle of friends that I cannot in good conscience recommend the show to. Not because of any on screen violence, but the visceral nature of the minds interpretation of the violence. That is how I would describe the violence, it is not gratuitous, nor a gorefest. It is simply visceral. At times, they do not even show the violence, it is implied and these scenes hit harder than any other. I have taken a couple of weeks to digest this show and come up with a recommendation. I would recommend it with a stipulation, take your time with it, watch an episode every couple of days, and really be in the mindset to watch it. If you cannot handle sensitive topics, and extreme suspense, be warned. I consider this show too good to not recommend. You can watch Babylon on Amazon Prime Video.