Review of Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia

Enjoying something doesn't necessarily mean that that something must be good. The Fate franchise has dozens of entries between anime, video games, manga, OVAs -- enough to make you lose track, and 90% of those are, frankly, not very good. So why do I like Fate? It's simple. I am a simp for a specific handful of characters, which makes me willing to slog through hours of middling content just to see those characters get their moment to shine. However, I can definitely say that FGO: Babylonia is ACTUALLY, objectively, a decently good anime that is worth watching. And my simping for Gilgamesh has surprisingly littleto do with it (though it helps.)

I haven't played the original FGO, so I only have this anime to go on. You also don't need to have watched any other Fate anime to understand this one, as it's a fairly self contained story.

This show is basically just a series of well thought-out, beautifully animated, battles. That's really what it's about. And it works. The fights are a treat to look at, they are fluid, dynamic, and each character has unique and interesting abilities to make each of those fights feel distinct from one another. The sound effects and the BGM also add a lot of impact to the fights, as well. There's really not much more I can say about this; if you are a fan of shonen battles, stop reading and go watch this, you don't need the rest of this review.

If that's not enough to convince you... err, nothing else might, considering that like I said, the battles are the main selling point of this anime. But let's talk about the rest.

The story is nothing crazy: it's just an excuse to show off the characters, both their fighting capabilities and their personalities outside of battle. It's really not about the main characters, Ritsuka and Mash, but rather the people they meet on their journey. And said journey is really simple. Our heroes get dumped into the past and have to prevent a catastrophe from happening. They are thrust into side quests, adventures, and battles in order to move closer to their goal and recuit allies. There are a handful of plot twists, but nothing particularly shocking. There is a big, seemingly undefeatable enemy at the end of the anime that has to be defeated. Nothing that hasn't been done before.

Yet, it's effective. It's easy to follow along, but not boring. The pacing feels good; the show alternates the battles with scenes of downtime where the characters get to relax, know each other, and give us, the audience, a chance to know them, too. There is a consistent level of tension throughout, and a satisfying opponent as the final enemy to defeat.

Although not every characters has the same amount of screen time (obviously) it felt like most of them get sufficiently fleshed out. By the end of the series I felt like I understood all those characters, and while none of them have an incredible level of depth or development, I still found them enjoyable. Some of them are kinda stereotyped, but then we are shown different sides that help make them feel more rounded out. Ishtar is a textbook tsundere for example, but she has other qualities, too, like being surprisingly compassionate and kind. Gil is Gil, but he gets a ton of characterization that really defines his character outside of what we are shown in Fate/Stay night. Quetzalcoatl might look like an unserious, smiling fool at first, but she has a very thoughtful side too. They even made me like the obviously joke character Taiga expy.

I'd say Ritsuka and Mash are the only characters I found kind of bland, but they are not truly the focus of the story, so there were plenty of other characters to keep me entertained. And altough they are pretty bland, they are quite sensible and not actively annoying, so they don't offend me like some other main character in the franchise does, whose name starts with E and ends with Miya Shirou. But I don't want to name names so let's move on.

The themes of the story are, again, simple but well-executed. You can find stuff like the power of not giving up, coming together to overcome a threat, power of friendship, of being compassionate of the enemy in front of you, the struggle of understanding oneself, etc. I especially appreciated the "resilience of humanity" thing the show has going on -- the whole of Uruk fighting and persevering, despite knowing they have no chance of winning. Again, it's nothing that hasn't been done before, but it's still executed in a surprisingly enjoyable manner, with some genuinely emotional moments along the way.

The dialogues are also decent. It's not high art, but it is, at least, a far cry from some other stuff you can find in the franchise. At least here they don't tell me that people die when they are killed. Which is a low bar I know, but the point is, none of the dialogue made me groan or crige in pain, some of them actually made me laugh, and the voice acting was pretty damn good too.

While it's an anime and it's going to have the classic anime tropes, they weren't overdone to the point of being annoying, so that's another plus. There is a good amount of fanservice, for example with some of the girls being basically half-naked and having several panty or ass shots during the battles. Normally I hate this in an anime and severely dampens my enjoyment of it, but for some reason it didn't bother me much this time. It probably has to do with the fact that many of the guys are in a similar state of nakedness. It's hard being angry at being shown Mash's panties when I can clearly see Gilgamesh's underwear in every scene as well. Seriously, what the heck is he even wearing. The guy is basically naked. I am not complaining though, if anything, I think every anime should equally objectify both women AND men. I am bisexual and this is equality! Ahem. Anyway.

I already mentioned this but the art and animation are top notch. There are some parts that use CGI that are a bit of a hit or miss, especially the last boss looks pretty bad. But overall it's really good. The music, voice acting, and sound effects are all excellent as well.

I ran out of things to talk about so this is the end of the review. TLDR; if you like shonen battles, watch this. If you like Fate, watch this. If you like to see hot men and women half naked, watch this. If you like well-animated series, watch this. If you are a Gilgamesh simp, also watch this, though you probably already did. If none of that applies, eh. If you're really bored you might still enjoy this, who knows. Give it a try! Bye!