Fate/Grand Order is by far the most successful part of the Fate franchise in recent years, taking the core concepts of the original and adding as many new characters to the fold. Of the myriad arcs in the mobile game's long-running story, one of the most acclaimed was Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia.
Released in 2019, Babylonia adapts one of the game's most popular arcs, following Chaldea's efforts to stop a cataclysm in 2655 B.C. Mesopotamia. The show had a 21-episode run produced by CloverWorks and directed by Toshifumi Akai, a seasoned animator and the director of Porter Robinson's Shelter music video. Babylonia might be CloverWorks' shining achievement, a bold claim surely given their recent work on Spy x Family, but the production of this show is genuinely impressive. In 21 episodes, this team of incredible key animators delivered quality action animation with every single episode, and the team producing it seemed to have transcended the typical pecking order of industry standards.
The Anime Production Hierarchy
Ever look up popular anime directors that have risen to prominence recently, thinking "wow they look fairly young" only to realize they just look excellent for someone pushing 50? That's because, in anime, it takes a long time to become a big director, because the directors often started as in between animators and key animators for decades.
Toshifumi Akai might be pushing 40, but that's still somewhat young compared to most directors of their ilk, and make no mistake, Akai's work on Babylonia more than justifies that comparison. To be able to corral such a group of gifted artists is a blessing in itself, but without the flexible production schedule, it could easily become a pool of talent wasted.
In discussing the finer points of animation and the production pipeline, it's easy to stumble upon the unfortunate truths of the industry, namely overwork and underpay. While it's unclear how well compensated the staff were, having a better timetable to work on a show this stacked with action is a luxury that not even the biggest studios can always afford.
Babylonia's Storytelling Trick
For the above reasons - given the industry standards - this adaptation feels like a miracle and one that boasts its finer qualities. Again, consistency is one thing, but having a top-tier animated fight every episode feels like flexing. And considering the source material, it's also fairly appropriate.
FGO is a mobile game, after all, one in which the story is progressed by visual novel-style dialog scenes and combat encounters. To have a battle every episode is likely not only a creative decision but a necessity to adapt from such a formulaic medium in which storytelling is not the primary goal.
From the prologue episode's opening action set piece to Gilgamesh and Enkidu's thrilling battle in the early episodes, the series gets off to a grand start (not a pun) and seldom slows down. The sound design by Yoshikazu Iwanami pronounces every impact with a bass-boosted symphony that can be felt in the heart.
In theory, this series is everything one could want from an action anime, and it deserves to be praised for the totality of the animation staff's labor. However, many probably wouldn't consider the time commitment worth it. Because unfortunately, this isn't just a Fate story, it's Fate/Grand Order.
Fate/Grand Order's Complexity
Fate isn't a series that is absent of flaw, least of all in its overabundance of parallel works that are unrelated yet insist on drawing connections between each other. And yet, Grand Order stands as one of the most perplexing of all the works to achieve huge popularity.
The premise is simple from the outset: the world is ending, so a group forms to send a "master" through time to different moments in history to stop world-ending catastrophes. The goal is to find a holy grail to prevent the destruction of the world. The only issue is that it's far more complicated than that.
These time periods aren't in our world, but rather pocket dimensions that have a murky connection to our own. Plus, in the context of the anime, it isn't made entirely clear what purpose the grails serve in stopping these calamities. This franchise isn't entirely accessible to new viewers because so much of the lore hinges on knowing the original Fate/Stay Night and the significance of terms like "Masters" and "Servants" in that context.
Even when those basic building blocks are understood, Babylonia is itself an isolated arc among many. Between episode 0 - the prologue - and episode 1, six different arcs have taken place in the game's story, of which only a few have gotten adaptations after the fact. The protagonists are somewhat stagnant and unchanging characters through which mobile players could easily self-insert.
The goals of the story are laid out in plain terms, but the metric by which the heroes' mission is deemed successful is unclear. The grail doesn't feel important as much as it's just a familiar word that brings to mind Fate. Instead, the end seems to be indicated by some main villain's defeat.
There is so much about Fate/Grand Order that boggles the mind and yet despite its narrative flaws, it is still a fairly entertaining series under the right circumstances. Not just because the action and animation are sublime, but because the characters - or some of them at least - are quite entertaining.
Pushing The Right Buttons
It can be said that media is all about pushing peoples' buttons, eliciting stronger positive or negative reactions, and making it easier to overlook flaws depending on what is done well. In Babylonia, the servant characters are often hilarious, heartwarming, or highly charismatic, and the exchanges between characters are where the series shines brightest. Scenes like Ushiwakamaru learning from the protagonist about how her legend is the subject of a nursery rhyme in modern Japan is heavily endearing. Such scenes make her successive battles have much more weight. Alternatively, characters like Ishtar and Jaguarman are hilarious, while Quetzalcoatl is just plain fun to watch in every frame.
Fate/Grand Order might be a victim of the difficulty of adapting a mobile game to be a full story. It's also a victim of the franchise's growing complexity and unwieldy narrative machinations. And yet, the sheer quality of how this series is made carries a significant amount of the weight left on the pavement by the story. A story might be mediocre, but the way a story is told can elevate the media. Storytelling is just as if not more important in visual media for how it can change the perception by an audience. Not just action either, but expressive and powerful character acting that can take what could be dull moments and make them captivating.
For mainstream audiences, it's far easier to praise masterworks like Mob Psycho or new shonen like Jujutsu Kaisen when they have competently done stories not hinging on ancillary lore. There are plenty of franchises that almost require research before watching, but how engaging the story is plays a big role in if that research is worth it. Fate/Grand Order Babylonia doesn't have that same allure as other narratively rich and dense franchises like Monogatari. There's plenty to praise about its production and this isn't the first piece to be composed to dissect it. What positive reception that can be found may even call it one of their favorite fate series.
It was blessed with talent, keen direction, and reception far more positive than one might have anticipated, but it is also not a story that leaves the audience thinking about it for days to come. It will, however, leave audiences with imagery that will stick in the mind, and ultimately, something as simple as that can make the entire enterprise well worth it.
Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia is available for streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Source: Anime News Network