Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Samintheair
TW: This anime discusses suicide at length, so be prepared for that and avoid it if you can't handle it.
This was perhaps one of the most disappointing dumpster fires I've seen. The anime starts off alright. Art is fine, characters are believable and the story has some intrigue. However, as the story progresses, we start to lose track of the characters, and we get wrapped up in ethical discussions that try to appear deep, but ultimately sound like they were formulated by a child, and we end up with a somewhat expected conclusion. This could have been a much better story, but as one reviewer put it, your best bet is to stop at episode 7, though I personally recommend you don't even bother starting.
It reminded me of Death Note because of the themes it considered and the way it started so…
Read at the sourceRebelPanda
Throughout my high school years, I struggled with an illness in my mind I couldn't put into words. The way I thought of it was a roller coaster that I could never get off. My whole life has been a series of peaks and valleys.
For weeks, the roller coaster would be at a peak. I would have an endless supply of energy. I was able to make friends and enjoy every day to the fullest. Then everything would crash down and suddenly the roller coaster was stuck in a valley. For weeks, I would be exhausted and depressed. Making friends was the easy part, but keeping them was hard. During a valley, trying to talk to anyone was as painful as getting a tooth ripped out of your mouth. I had to avoid my friends altogether so I wouldn’t have an angry outburst and ruin our friendship. Growing up, I didn’t…
Read at the sourceUnluckyCat13
I want to address three points with this review. If you should watch the show; defending the show; criticizing the show.
Should you watch the show? Pretty simple: Yes. This is the best psychological anime I've seen since Psychopass. I think it's even good outside of the realm of just comparing it to anime, but it certainly does things in a way that only anime can.
But, the show is graphic. It deals with a lot about suicide. If suicide upsets you in any way, do not watch the show. Otherwise, please go in blind.
The rest of this review will contain minor spoilers, but not in a describing the things that happened kind of way, however it's worth noting that even the premise of the show could be perceived as a spoiler to some degree. Unlike some other anime , it's not a genre bait and sw…
Read at the sourceG_ifra
Don’t watch this anime.
It is pretentious shit, you will learn nothing useful, you will not find anything but boredom. If I could I would give this 0 points, this anime is a total waste of time.
You don’t have to believe me, you may still want to start this anime. But when you feel the cringe level rising after 2 or more episodes come back to the spoiler section as no, it will not get better.
The voice acting, music and drawing style are reasonably fine, but the action scenes are non-existent, you always arrive afterwards. This might be good enough for a detective show, but after the first episode the anime is chasing a protagonist and it doesn’t work. There is also a lot of talking, 90% is talking going nowhere. Making it sound important and complex talking, but it really is not. In the…
Read at the sourceISeeLifePeople
There is a basic philosophy that has been known for a long time, What is goodness? What is evilness? This is very easy to answer, but when confronted in a universal study, this can lead to ambiguity
Starting from a prosecutor who examined the case of the death of a doctor who allegedly committed suicide, felt dissatisfied the prosecutor and his colleagues further investigated the case until known the witnesses who suspected of being involved were named Ai magase.
When dealing with ai magase, the prosecutor realized she was dangerous because all her actions, words, and body language could influence others. This became clearer when the newly elected mayor of Shiniki adopted the law on suicide.
The counter mayor tried to arrest him but his guard was very strict and also in terms of legalit…
Read at the sourceConsulPrius
This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of 2019 and considering Carole & Tuesday exists, this is saying something. If I ever wanted a prime example of why I show a lot of hesitation to recommend something as a show is airing this is why. So to start properly let's go from the beginning.
Babylon started off initially as something that is actually an interesting idea, covering suicide. The way the show treats suicide seems like it'd be very similar to the marijuana debate which is actually a great idea if it wants to present suicide as something inherently morally gray. Especially the proponent of this Kaika Itsuki. But however this highlights one of the first problems of it is that rather quickly the show will disregard this morally gray stance in favor of what I dub the comic book vill…
Read at the sourcerealsmoky
This anime is my biggest disappointment in a long time. Think about what makes Death Note timeless and Psycho-Pass amazing and kinda throw it all away. The animation and art style and sound and dialogue and the setup are all amazing, but at the middle of the series it all comes down crashing, but not even in a spectacular way but rather in a "it would be sad if it wasn't so funny" way.
So, there is this mysterious woman who apparently kills people by telling them something that makes them commit suicide.
Does she carefully analyze her victims' actions and life to forge a special sentence that will push a specific, vulnerable person off the edge? Or did she figure out something deep about the world that disturbs everyone equally? Apparently, we are to think that the latter is the case, bu…
Read at the sourceCodeBlazeFate
*Prologue*
Approaching this show is a difficult task. This isn’t because the show tackles harsh subject matter involving the likes of suicide as one of its fundamental talking points. It’s not because the show isn’t exactly good at doing so, either. It’s because I’m still coming to terms with what an absolute shitshow this series has become. There’s this immense swirl of emotions that come about from watching a show crumble before your very eyes, keenly aware that there were signs of trouble from the beginning. Babylon showed promise of being a fascinating police procedural with some of the most noteworthy directing of 2019...or at least that was the case for the first 7 episodes. Unfortunately, the last arc happened. Not only was I unable to accept any of the more idiotic decisions the s…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Babylon is one of the oddest series of early 2020. That's impressive considering the fact it's competing against Ishuzoku Reviewers! Babylon is odd because it's tonally all over the place. An adult discussion about the ethics of suicide and euthanasia becomes a poorly written, Shonen cat and mouse game between Japanese Batman and an evil psychic who uses mind control powers to kill people. Did I mention her mind control powers work by being so incredibly sexy? Trust me, it's as dumb as it sounds.
The story begins with Japanese prosecutor named Zen, investigating wrongdoing by a pharmaceutical giant. This leads to him discovering a murder and eventually this leads him to a shady politician named Itsuki. It turns out that Itsuki is bribing and killing politicians and other powerful figures…
Read at the sourcesushiisawesome
Babylon is yet the latest in a series of blunders courtesy of the seinen demographic that in many ways sum up exactly why the majority of people shun it in favor of its younger brother in the shonen demographic. It's not that I personally think seinen can't be fantastic; plenty of series have done a marvelous job living up to what the demographic, well, implies and providing interesting characters, a level of maturity not normally found in their younger contemporaries and fantastic storylines. After all, one only needs to look at the likes of Berserk, Vinland Saga, Boogiepop and Others as well as Ghost in the Shell to know that there are many fantastic titles to find.
What Babylon is, however, is a travesty of the highest order, thoroughly incapable of telling any sort of coherent narrati…
Read at the sourceDarthInvader
*Minimum Spoiler Review*
TL;DR: Psycho Pass meets Mirai Nikki before they have a child so horrible they decide to leave it at the philosophy class for freshman's to decide what religion the child will have.
[Story: 6/10 , Characters: 5/10, Art: 5/10, Sound: 4/10, Enjoyment: 3/10]
“a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” (R…
Read at the sourceAckermanml
What is good ? What is evil ? What is the meaning of life ? If any of these questions pique your curiosity, I recommend you watch this show.
But if you wish you have a wholesome comprehensive dark tale which with a satisfactory conclusive narrative, you are in the wrong place.
My reviews would contain spoilers from this point on.
So, the ending left people really disappointed. But honestly, the kind of direction this show was going, I was anticipating precisely this. First of all, this is not the kind of story with the most unique premise of 30 episodes with several seasons where we invest your hearts into. This is a 12 episodes series which is very direct with its philosophy.
The idea as it presents is that for the determination of good and evil is not possible, no matter how much sci…
Read at the sourceBaegyum
No spoilers ahead.
First things first, don't watch after credits, just assume the ending. It makes the anime feel more satisfying rather than watching the after credits.
I dislike reading and writing too much so this will be brief.
The story is interesting. It is quite catastrophic but gives slight hope meanwhile.
The characters are not too unique but they're not bad. The enjoyment... I don't feel the joy but I would feel a lot better if I didn't watch the after credits. Therefore my first comment is for your enjoyment.
Now my thoughts on the anime's goal. I'm certain it is due to the suicide rates. I believe the author's goal was to make us despise the concept of ending one's life. It was a kind way of saying "No" to suicide (although I almost hated the story).
There is a possib…
Read at the sourceZerity
After just finishing Babylon I am honestly at a lost for words, this show is actually amazing and still love it after it's ending. It leaves you with many questions which are open to different interpretations depending on how you look at things. That is generally what a good mystery does, granted the first half was more intense and the second half went into a different approach focusing on another character but It was still as good.
After thinking about the series for a bit I can't really find and complaints I had, it was interesting, raised themes which left me thinking and hearing the other character talking about it left me wondering to myself what I think about it. Talking about themes with other people is fun hearing their thoughts on these questions, the show just left me intrigued…
Read at the sourceSerial_Exp_Lain
'Babylon' is an intelligent,logically taut series that asks important & profound questions about virtues,ethics & life itself.What starts out as a show focusing on corruption in the political & corporate world,turns into a much more complex series.The writing is brilliant.The dialogues are great.The characters are well chalked out & they remain consistent throughout the show.I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that 'Babylon' has one of the most terrifying villains in anime.Someone who would give tough competition to Johann Liebert.Our villain functions at a mental level...even without being physically present,they are able to achieve their objective just through their conversational skills.The introduction of this villain & their backstory is top notch.The way the anime showcases th…
Read at the sourceOugiRevolution
SPOILER FREE REVIEW
Story: Psychological thriller anime are so few and far between, that if you like the genre it is possible you have seen most of them to date. Babylon provides a twisted, dark, yet philosophical story that easily sucks its watcher in deeper with each passing episode. I can't recall ever seeing an anime quite like this one. The pacing for episodes 1-7 is flawless, but 8-12 can feel slow at times if you are only in it for suspense. Personally, I didn't mind the slower episodes since I found the topics of discussion interesting. The storyline's clarity (especially the ending) was what I struggled most with, since at points it's was very vague. Of course, I think it's highly possible that the level of uncertainty was intended by the writers, but it can leave viewers disappo…
Read at the sourceanime-prime
Babylon is like a plane crash. It takes off well, flies in the air for a nice while, but in the end it just couldn't stick the landing and it just flopped down in an explosion. What could go wrong for a show with such potential, lets find out.
Story:
Babylon is about a detective who is trying to catch a woman who can kill with her voice. That is it. Imagine Death Note flipped where the main focus is on L who is trying to catch Kira but we never get Kiras perspective. He is just a character who stays in the background. That is exactly this show. And that might have been its downfall.
The rest:
Everything besides the storytelling is very good. The sound, art, and characters are all well done. If it was written better this could have been a great anime.
Enjoyment:
I enjoyed this show until…
Read at the sourceSpikyTurtle
Review contains some spoilers:
This is going to be a short review/rant about Babylon.
I remember when the first 3 episodes came out everyone was impressed since this show had amazing cinematography and direction, a dark and thrilling atmosphere and the story was executed seemingly very well. It continued to be quite good until the 7th episode, then it had a long break and everything went to shit.
Babylon would have been great if if was just a political thriller with mystery elements. But the suicide law going worldwide and the law in general ruined the show. It is just very unrealistic that people would react to this law in such a way (similar laws already exist), the politicians are portrayed very poorly and every decision made in the 2nd half of the show just makes no sense. The discu…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
Every now and then a show comes along and has an absolutely amazing start, dazzles with great narrative, action, characters, etc and then it throws it all away at the end. Unfortunately, this is one of those. Babylon offers one of the most interesting examinations of the classic philosophical debate of Good vs Evil I have ever seen. While on paper, it’s easy for us to say what’s right and what’s wrong, in reality, it’s often much more difficult. Life is more often in shades of grey than black and white. Babylon does a really good job of making you question everything you thought you knew in terms of morality. Unfortunately, the show's premise goes by the wayside in one of the worst endings I have ever seen in anything.
The show deals with a recently passed legislation in a newly built cit…
Read at the sourceSingleH
This review is best consumed pretending you hadn’t just seen the score it’s headed with.
This one’s going to be real prosaic, because Babylon is a very dense, logically tight show for adults in a way you don’t often see in media, especially anime, and is certainly not for people even among older audiences who cannot keep up with sociopolitical factions and legal jargon, as it is a premiere example of a political thriller, a genre both elusive in the medium and almost never laudably delivered on therein or out. Every facet of the show is oozing with a thick sense of seriousness and often boils down to a lot of very grave talk amongst crotchety middle-aged politicians and civil servants trying to solve real crime, all of which is presented without a lick of fun or funniness. It’s exciting s…
Read at the source