Okay, so, like, I really want to talk about Babylon, and why it’s a good anime. Why
it’s one of the best anime this season and this year, in fact. Why I have to change my
pants every time I watch a new episode. And why I think all of you should be watching
it too. But going into any depth about this series will involve SPOILING THE SHIT OUT
OF IT. The show follows intrepid Tokyo prosecutor
Zen Seizaki and his junior partner Atsuhiko Fumio as they investigate a seemingly simple
case of fraud at a pharmaceutical firm. Something the young fumio finds boring, but which seizaki
insists is still vital for preserving justice. His point is proven in an unlikely manner
when their routine dig through layers of corporate infrastructure hits unexpected paydirt, and
a piece of bloodstained paperwork leads our intrepid sleuths to the location of a dead
body. The corpse is surrounded in the broken strands
of a web of conspiracy, and just how vast that web is is a mystery. But it clearly goes
deep, involving career politicians, powerful businessmen, and an indeterminate number of
prostitutes. And when Fumio turns up dead after following a lead on one of those working
girls, something else becomes crystal clear: this case is way too big… and way too dangerous,
for seizaki to ignore. Some of you might feel like I’ve just gone
and spoiled something major by telling you an important character dies in the first episode,
but trust me, I’ve barely scratched the surface. And that’s my problem. We’re
about 6 or so crazy, game-changing revelations deeper THAN THAT into one of the most compelling,
wild, and unpredictable thrillers I’ve seen in YEARS, and at this point I can’t even
talk about what this anime is ABOUT, let alone what makes it so good, without peeling back
some of those layers. So if you’ve seen the show already, or you
don’t mind being spoiled for the sake of hearing about its most interesting ideas,
carry on. But otherwise, just… be aware that you’re on a spoiler train from here
on out, and feel free to disembark whenever you’ve heard enough to convince you to watch
it. Though, uh, if you do… please come back
and watch the rest of the video, too, so that I can help you appreciate how brilliant this
show REALLY is. And it is BRILLAINT. I promise on my honor as, uh, a guy with a
microphone and a lot of free time to watch anime, that it’s 100% worth taking a blind
leap into Babylon. And worth having to struggle with amazon prime video to do it. Now, for
those of you who already know that, and those who are curious or need more convincing…
let’s carry on with it, shall we? Babylon is based on a book from up-and-coming
Japanese Novelist Mado Nozaki; the same talented author who penned the screenplay for one of
2017’s most thought-provoking original anime, Kado: The Right Answer. I laid out some of
my thoughts about Kado in a video essay from that same year; “How to Begin an Anime:
The Art of the First Episode” – which I’d encourage you to watch too. I think
it’s still an interesting video in spite of the, erm… BOLD thumbnail design choices
I made with it. But I’m genuinely not sure if I’d encourage
you to watch Kado itself in the same way. 2017 was a long time ago. And, unfortunately
I don’t have time to rewatch it and check for myself, at least right now. As I remember
the series, though, it shares a predilection for outlandish twists and turns with Babylon,
and mirrors its focus on sociological storytelling through the very specific lens of Japanese
government bureaucracy. If you’ve seen Gen Urobuchi and Hideaki
Anno’s visionary bureaucratic Kaiju thriller Shin Godzilla, it has a similar feel. But
instead of a giant monster attack, Kado questions how our existing political apparatus – on
both a national and global scale – would deal with the sudden appearance of a benevolent
alien visitor who comes offering easy solutions to war, famine, and the global climate and
energy crises. It then, uh, escalates… a bit, until it
goes – and this is the only way I can describe it without spoiling the whole damn thing – full
on anime. When I initially watched Kado, that ending
really put me off it. It diverged so wildly from the realistic, politically charged brand
of science fiction that made me love the series in the first place that I couldn’t help
feeling disappointed. But looking back… I remember that crazy twist a LOT more vividly,
and fondly, than I do the equivalent “shark-jumping moment” from, for example, Darling in the
Franxx. And even back then – unlike Daaaahling – Kado’s
ending always gave me the impression that it wasn’t a compromise on the creators’
original vision, but rather a very intentional part of the statement they were trying to
make. And I am all for stories doing crazy things to make a point. I probably need to
revisit Kado from a fresh perspective to say definitively whether it works or not… but,
well, that’s not what we’re here to talk about today, is it?
I bring all of this up… mostly to delay the inevitable point where I’ll have to
say what Babylon is ABOUT, honestly. But also because I think this show balances its more
“realistic” political components with the supernatural, metaphysical elements of
its storyline a lot more effectively than Kado does. And if you’re someone who enjoyed
Kado, whether or not you were disappointed in its ending, I think you’re going to LOVE
Babylon. It definitely goes to some wacky places, but
so far, for me, at least, it’s made it a lot easier to accept those story shifts.
As our view of the conspiracy widens, it becomes clear fairly quickly that this show has a
similarly broad sociopolitical scope. Though it’s not quite as constrained by existing
politics. Babylon is set in Shiniki, a fictional new district of Tokyo that’s meant to act
as a test bed of sorts for radical political ideas; a place where Japan can try out new
policies that will shape its future without having to implement them on a national scale…
but also a place where big businesses can operate with less oversight.
Much like other so-called “special economic zones” in the real world.
The conspiracy that Seizaki stumbled onto is actually… a lot less obviously sinister
than it first appears; it’s certainly undemocratic: a plot by several of the minds behind Shiniki
to install a young, visionary politician named Itsuki Kaika as the new city’s first mayor.
But everyone involved believes they’re working for the greater good. Seizaki’s OWN BOSS
is one of the conspirators, and he pulled the detective onto the case because THEY don’t
know why people are dying, either. And they want it to stop.
Now, I’m the type of nerd who gets excited simply from seeing anime tackle concepts like
that atall; but I know that dry political science fiction… poly-sci-fi, if you will…
isn’t for everyone. Luckily, Babylon’s main draw doesn’t lie in the ideas and systems
that it explores, but rather in the PEOPLE it creates to explore them; and the atmosphere
that it creates around them. Babylon’s direction and storyboarding is
nothing short of incredible. The series presents every moment of its story with bold, expressive
camerawork, editing, sound design, and animation. In doing so, it seeks to help us get inside
the heads of its characters, but also, in its most impactful scenes, to worm its way
inside our own minds, and get us following new, sometimes uncomfortable and frightening
trains of thought. Babylon’s real power to do that becomes
clear in the interrogation sequence that it uses to frame episode 2. Which is hands down
one of my favourite episodes of anime EVER. Its A-plot focuses on Seizaki’s efforts
to bring Ai Magase, a prostitute involved in the conspiracy, in for questioning. Its
B-plot, meanwhile, repeatedly cuts forward in time to that interrogation; and the portrait
these scenes paint of Magase’s character is… utterly chilling.
I can see Ai Magase going down as one of the all-time great thriller villains. Anime or
otherwise. Stellar writing, direction, and animation conspire with a virtuoso vocal performance
from veteran voice actress Yukino Satsuki to lend the character a screen presence rivaling
Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter and Havier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. But Magase isn’t
quietly menacing, or cold and calculating. She’s warm, cheerful, attractive, and charming.
Dangerously… overwhelmingly so. As the interview goes on, just by poking and
prodding at Seizaki with leading questions, Magase takes control of the conversation,
charging the air in the interrogation room with an overwhelming atmosphere of sex. As
errant thoughts begin creeping into Seizaki’s mind, the episode’s direction reflects them,
becoming increasingly horny and avant garde, until we’re watching Magase essentially
swallow our protagonist whole from the POV of her luscious, bow-shaped lips.
And this isn’t just an example of anime being horny because, you know, anime. It’s
a vital demonstration of our villain’s power. See, the Shiniki conspirators weren’t working
with a prostitution ring to influence their political allies. It was all one girl. Magase
is a woman of many faces, able to change her appearance such that she’s unrecognizable.
Or at least, she is until she speaks. There’s no mistaking her presence; her enticing, seductive
mannerisms. It feels like she could convince folk to do damn near anything.
And, as a point of fact, she can. Seizaki presumes, at first, that all of the deaths
he’s investigating are staged suicides – cover for murders – but the truth is at once simpler
and more complicated. Every suicide is quite real and voluntary. Because every person who
dies in the show, with one significant exception, is talked into it – into dying with a smile
on their face – by Ai Magase. And it’s still not entirely clear whether
that’s the result of some supernatural ability, or her Charisma stat is just that high. Although,
given the show’s name and her involvement in politics, it is pretty obvious that she’s
at least inspired by the biblical – and supernatural - “Whore of Babylon.”
Magase’s abilities present an interesting conundrum by themselves – how, exactly,
does one investigate and prosecute the crime of making other people earnestly want to be
dead under any present law? Will Seizaki have to bend his morals and go outside the law
to get her? That question only gets more complicated when you factor in her accomplice, Itsuki
Kaika – the new mayor of Shiniki – who begins his term in office by proposing some
contentious legislation: A suicide law, enshrining the right to die.
Ai Magase is without question an EVIL person. She says as much herself to Seizaki in the
middle of a livestream where she does some unquestionably EVIL things. But whether the
goal she’s trying to reach by doing those things – Itsuki’s goal – is itself evil
is… well, that’s a lot less clear cut. Seizaki and his fellow investigators frequently
tell each other, and themselves, that it is. That Itsuki’s suicide law will only lead
to more deaths, and that he needs to be stopped at ANY COST.
But then, Itsuki himself makes a pretty compelling case for the idea that giving people the legal
option to die, if they want to, might be a good thing. And he does so on ethical, legal,
pragmatic, AND emotional grounds, all at once, in a debate scene every bit as compelling
as that interrogation. I don’t want to spoil what happens – you
really should watch the debate for yourself. It managed to convince ME that Itsuki’s
proposed law could do even more good than I initially thought it could, all while presenting
some remarkably sound arguments against it. There’s good reason to have misgivings about
legalizing suicide, which the show fully acknowledges, but the issue is far from black and white.
And that’s the real point here. This fictional depiction of a national conversation
about the pros and cons of giving man the right to die (which is, for the record, a
conversation that we probably should have on non-fictional terms) is intended to provoke
a strong reaction from us as an audience. And then to get us to reconsider our initial
stance, whatever it may be. I think babylon’s handling of this topic is, in itself, fascinating
enough to carry the series. But the real purpose of raising that question is to make us consider
a deeper one. At its outset, Babylon seems to be a simple,
thrilling, story of good cops hunting down evil criminals. At least, that’s how Seizaki
describes the work of prosecutors to Fumio But in reality it is a philosophical deconstruction
of those very concepts. A vehicle that takes viewers on a tour through the foundations
of modern morality, and encourages them to question those foundational values.
Babylon – named for the ancient empire ruled by Hammurabi the Lawgiver, whose ideas STILL
form the basis of our legal systems today - is about the question of what justice really
is; and it argues that unquestioning adherence to strict moral principles is not always the
opposite of pure, unambiguous evil. In fact, it can easily be its bedfellow.
When Seizaki realizes that his prosecutors can’t make a case against Itsuki – because
everyone who died did so willingly, and thus the politician has broken no laws – he and
his team resolve to take matters into their own hands. They hatch a scheme to kidnap Itsuki
following the debate; in their eyes, bringing him to justice for his crimes…
But from another perspective… it sure does look an awful lot like a pack of self-appointed
moral guardians who think they’re above the law using violence to thwart a democratically-elected
official because they don’t agree with his policies. Policies that he’s not trying
to enforce unilaterally, mind you; but that he wants to put to the test of public referendum
through the city’s council elections. Oh, and Seizaki is willing to go through with
that kidnapping, even if it means doing it in front of Itsuki’s son
Seizaki is not a bad guy. From our perspective – or rather, his perspective, since that’s
the one the series chooses to show us – he’s a good man, driven by a passion for justice
and a desire to protect his people, doing what he thinks is right. But to do “what’s
right,” he sure ends up doing a lot of questionable, and at times unambiguously BAD things.
Not all of them on the scale of becoming a terrorist kidnapper. Just on a personal level,
he often ends up hurting his own family, missing important moments in his son’s life while
he’s off chasing justice, (and he does so with such regularity that his wife has taken
to saying “it’s alright, there’ll be other YEARS”). His family is so ancillary
in his mind, that we don’t even learn they exist until several episodes in… and…
I mean… getting arrested for kidnapping would only exacerbate his absence.
But he doesn’t even think of that. So, yeah, it’s pretty fucked up that Ai
Magase convinces most of Seizaki’s accomplices to off themselves. And even more fucked up
what she does afterward; even if she does manage to make it look… shockingly sexy
and fun in the moment. She is a bad person who needs to be stopped from doing bad things…
but, uh, maybe Seizaki is, too? Maybe it’s the doing of evil itself that determines if
we’re good or evil. Not the justifications we come up with for our actions
And maybe, not even the net good that evil might help bring about
But then, if that’s the case, it only takes doing good to be a good person. So maybe Seizaki
can redeem himself by recognizing his mistakes and doing some good in the world. The philosophy
of justice that he espouses to his new partner, Sekuro in episode 5 is certainly flexible
enough to account for it. I mean, he kinda states the show’s whole
thesis up front in that moment; that there’s not always a clear answer to what is and isn’t
just, but a just person will always do their best to find an answer. And that continuing
to question your own definition of justice, even when you’re sure of it, is the only
way to ensure that you don’t behave unjustly. I think that’s a sound moral philosophy.
Though again, Seizaki does follow this up by doing an attempted terrorism, so maybe
he’s not the best at practicing what he preaches.
I’m saying “maybe” a lot here because I don’t yet have my own hard answers to
most of these questions, and even seven episodes in, I can’t predict with any confidence
whatsoever where Babylon is going. Side note: the fact that I’m gonna have
to wait until the series returns from hiatus on December 30th to find out is killing me
a little inside each day. I’m not sure what stance the series is ultimately
going to take on the questions it’s posing, if it takes one at all. It’s done such a
good job of making all of its characters complex and comprehensible in their convictions that
it could believably go any number of ways. But I like that it doesn’t seem to expect
me to reach the same conclusions it does; that it’s main goal is simply to encourage
me to ask these questions and contemplate them seriously for myself.
And I like that it recognizes both the danger and the potential benefits that having such
conversations about our moral convictions can bring. Babylon is a smart, engaging, philosophically
fascinating thriller unlike any anime I’ve ever seen. And if any of that sounds enticing
to you – if you haven’t already, of course – I can’t urge you enough to see it for
yourself. If and when you do, or if you have already,
please tell me what you thought of it, and what your answers to the questions babylon
raises are, in the comments below. But also, please, for the love of all that is moe, be
respectful to everyone else who’s doing the same. Charged as we all know debates about
these topics can get… please bear in mind that it’s still just an anime, y’know?
I’m Geoff Thew, Professional Shitbag, signing out from my Mother’s Basement.