Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front – Babylonia

Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front – Babylonia

Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia anime series cover art
Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front – Babylonia

Series Overview

Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front – Babylonia (Fate/Grand Order: Zettai Majuu Sensen Babylonia / Fate/Grand Order -絶対魔獣戦線バビロニア-) is the anime adaptation of the Seventh Singularity from the mobile game Fate/Grand Order. And although it’s the Seventh Singularity, it was the first to be adapted.

Basically FGO is structured into three parts (so far). Part 1 contains Singularity F, Singularities 1 – 7, and the Final Singularity. Part 1.5 contains Pseudo-Singularities 1 – 4. And Part 2 contains Lostbelts 1 – 7 (that we know of so far), with only 1 released on the international version of the game and 1 – 5 released on the Japanese version.

So why was Babylonia selected to be the first portion of FGO to be animated? A simple popularity contest. And since Camelot — the Sixth Singularity — came in second, that’s being animated next as a two-part movie.

Ishtar from the anime series Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia
Ishtar

As for the plot of Babylonia, it’s probably easier if I start by explaining the basic plot of all the FGO singularities. The main character (in this case Ritsuka Fujimaru) and Mash Kyrielight (a pseudo-servant) travel into various singularities in order to correct history as we know it — and time and space.

When they enter the Babylonia singularity, what they find is that the ancient civilization is being attacked by demonic beasts led by an unknown enemy. Also, since this is known as the “age of the gods,” there are various deities going around and doing whatever they want — often at the expense of the civilians.

Fujimaru and Mash basically need to solve the “problem” of the singularity, which in this case means defeating whoever or whatever is leading the demonic beasts against the city. By doing so, they will then theoretically obtain the Holy Grail which caused the singularity, and all will be fixed.

Featured Servants

There’s going to be some spoilers in here regarding the servants (and their true names) which are featured in this series. Also some smaller plot points may be spoiled as well. Skip to the next section to avoid the spoilers.

There are a lot of great servant characters throughout the Fate series, but it seems like Babylonia has even more of the most popular ones than usual — which may be in part why it was voted to be animated first.

I’m probably going to be missing a few servants here, but there was Ishtar, Gilgamesh, Merlin, Enkidu, Ereshkigal, Medusa, Ushiwakamaru, Leonidas, Jaguarman, Quetzalcoatl, and Benkei. These are all pretty popular servants for one reason or another, with Medusa or Quetzalcoatl probably being the least popular, yet still popular, of the bunch.

Ushiwakamaru from the anime series Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia
Ushiwakamaru

Ishtar and Ereshkigal are popular because Rin, and Gilgamesh is popular because Gilgamesh. But many of the others are either fan favorites from FGO, like Ushiwakamaru, or are beloved because they’ve been meme’d into oblivion, like Benkei.

Now, if your only exposure to the Fate series so far has been other Fate anime, then the differences between the types of servants here might not be clear at first. This isn’t a Holy Grail War where servants are summoned to fight for the Grail in the traditional sense.

So there are kind of four “classes” of servant in this series. Mash is a pseudo-servant (human x servant hybrid) who was sent into the singularity to fix it. Merlin exists outside space and time, and so technically isn’t a servant and can come and go as he pleases. Gilgamesh, Ishtar, and Ereshkigal simply exist within the “age of the gods” in Babylonia. And the rest are traditional servants summoned by the Grail itself.

It should also be noted that only the Grail can summon deities, not masters (technically).

How Does it Compare?

Honestly, I don’t think any of the storylines from FGO are particularly good, and I’ve generally skipped through them ever since the Second Singularity. That sentiment still applies to the Babylonia anime, and for that reason I actually think it has the worst plot of any Fate anime I’ve seen.

Yes, I’ve seen Apocrypha, and while we can all agree that Sieg is a terrible main character, I do think that has more of a “plot” than Babylonia does. In fact, it will probably make a lot of you mad to know that I rated Apocrypha the highest out of any Fate simply because it was some great fan service.

And, that’s kind of how I view Babylonia as well. I don’t think it’s particularly good as a series for someone to randomly watch. But for someone who’s already heavily invested in the Fate franchise, such as by playing FGO, it’s honestly some good fan service — which is how I view it.

Gilgamesh (Caster) from the anime Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia
Gilgamesh (Caster)

If you’re looking for an actual plot in your Fate anime, then watch Zero or Prisma Illya (my favorite) instead. But if you’re just wanting to see a bunch of your favorite Fate servants doing cool things in anime format, then Babylonia is pretty enjoyable.

This series has some great animation, though not really on the same level as the Heaven’s Feel movies. It also has a bunch of exciting moments, such as when characters use their Noble Phantasms. And the soundtrack is potentially one of the best in the Fate series — though Heaven’s Feel may again be better.

As for my favorite scene of the anime, I liked when Ishtar finally used her Noble Phantasm and showcased exactly why masters can’t summon deities in traditional Holy Grail Wars. Karna in Apocrypha is divine, but he’s not a deity in the same sense that Ishtar is. So even though he was overpowered in that series, Ishtar is on another level.

Conclusion

Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front – Babylonia is a 7/10 for me, which I feel is what I end up giving to basically every Fate anime series. It’s definitely good, but like I said, probably not if you’re going into it expecting a well thought out plot.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. Also follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in Discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Leave a Comment