FIF#106-Fate/Grand Order-Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia

For years, the Chaldea Security Organization have gathered minds who accept both science and Magecraft to monitor history behind the scenes.  In 2017, the organization receives an alert: Humanity will cease to exist in 2019.  The direct cause of this calamity is hidden in realms across history the organization cannot observe, known as Singularities.  Mage Ristuka Fujimaru and his Demi Servant, Mash Kyrielight, have traversed six of these Singularities in search of an answer and now approach the seventh and final Singularity, Mesopotamia 2655 BC.  It is a time when Gods and Humans still coexist and it is here that the final battle for the future of Humanity will be fought.

Ive covered many of the Fate/Stay Night Anime adaptations here at the Gundam Anime Corner (Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero, Unlimited Blade Works, Fate/Extra: Last Encore; even the Prisma Illya series had a major presence during the first season of First Impression Fridays).  I’d like to say I am a fan but I’m not the kind of die hard that would throw myself into the eternally popular Mobile Game Fate/Grand Order.  From what little ive come to understand about this game, it basically brings every bit of Fate lore under one umbrella and you get to fight just about every character that has appeared in every main entry, spin off and everything in between.  The game has been around for years so im surprised the only Anime we’ve seen from Grand Order is a short OVA a couple years back (Fate/Grand Order: First Order).  Well, we’re finally getting a TV Series in Fate/Grand Order-Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, complete with its own Episode Zero preview episode.  So…how it is?

Uhhhh…well there are one or two concepts I thought were interesting.  An organization trying to implant heroic spirits into human beings could be both the worst idea ever from an ethical standpoint but a really cool concept seeing how two minds possibly interact and how the human body uses the heroic spirits abilities (hey it worked to a degree in Prisma Illya when Illya and Rin could use Servant Cards to become Archer and Lancer respectively).  There’s also the genuinely fascinating Mash Kyrielight, one of the few successful attempts at this fusion.  Not only does she have a heroic spirit inside of her, she also has a limited lifespan and a severe lack of understanding of human nature.  Much of Episode Zero focuses on her doctor, Roman, trying to teach her how to be human.  Both concepts have a lot of promise…

Buuuut I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bored by it all. It shouldn’t surprise me that Fate likes to get really, really talky and preachy about how it interprets life, the universe and everything.  But the preview episode was super dialogue driven with nary any action.  Plus conversations jumped back and forth between a half decade time span, which left me scratching my head at the sudden introduction of new characters and their philosophies added on to everyone elses need to speechify their feelings in a 1000 word essay.  At the core of the series, the plot is simple: at some point Humanity will cease to exist and Mash and her Mage, Ritsuka, have to travel through time to find out what that is and stop it.  But the preview makes it sound wayyyy more complex than it needs to be.  Either that or im just not interested in hearing what Fate GO has to say compared to Zero, UBW or especially Heaven’s Feel.

I feel like Fate/Grand Order-Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia is a present for fans of the game who have wanted to see it as an Anime series for a long time.  For an occasional Fate viewer like myself, most of it is bound to go over my head.  The lack of action in the preview episode didn’t help matter either (and that’s mostly what I come to a Fate series for in the first place…well the action and Rin Tohsaka).  I might pass on this one and leave it to the true fans who enjoy Fate and the Mobile Game that continues to dominate the market.  Me?  I’ll patiently wait for Heaven’s Feel III in the meantime.