Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia 04
#FGO_ep7 #FGOBabylonia
Fate/Grand Order -絶対魔獣戦線バビロニア- Episode 04
Fate/Grand Order: Zettai Majū Sensen Babylonia ep. 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

It has been a month since Mash and Ritsuka arrived in Uruk. After finishing a day’s work, they see an apparent poor man in an ally. Ritsuka offers him food. The man finds this act of pity to be an evil. Nevertheless, he accepts the food. In exchange, he gives them a warning about the three “storms” coming to Uruk. This makes Ritsuka ponder the choices he’s made to date.

The next day, Gilgamesh summons them, having acknowledged their work in Uruk. He dispatches them to Ur to find out what’s going on there. When the group leaves the throne room, Ritsuka notes the Grail Gilgamesh held was not the same as the others they had collected. Before they leave the city, they are met by Ushiwakamaru (Ushiwaka), who wishes them well.

Outside of Uruk, they have to battle Mushussu, small, dragon-like creatures spawned from Primordial Goddess Tiamat. They make it to the jungle, where they are beset upon by a woman in a jaguar costume, calling herself Jaguarman. After the bizarre encounter, they make it to Ur. The group is happy to see the people still alive here. However, the residents don’t want to be rescued.

The next day, the people of Ur are summoned. Merlin reveals that Ur is being forced to sacrifice one male a day. The elder woman in charge confirms this as there’s nothing they can do. Jaguarman arrives and attacks. Despite her comical appearance, she is actually a powerful goddess. Ritsuka is again forced to make a difficult decision. He opts to retreat for now, so Merlin teleports the group to safety. However, Ritsuka vows to save the people of Ur.

Thoughts/Review

And so we have Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia 04, which is a good episode. Unfortunately, it also suffers from not having all of the previous stories adapted.

Looking Back

One element in Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia 04 that could have been more meaningful is the flashbacks to the past. In the episode’s opening sequence, there’s a flashback to Servants dying and the Mage King having words with Ritsuka. For casual audiences, this moment has little meaning, other than “something bad has happened.”

Another such moment came from a previous incident where Mash is talking to Caster Amadeus. For casual viewers, the flashback scene is one to have someone in Mash’s past conveniently give her some advice that applies in the present.

And finally, there’s the death of Director Olga Marie Animusphere. At least there, there’s a chance that casual audiences may remember her from the Fate/Grand Order: First Order anime TV special.

My point is that had the Japanese done a proper anime adaptation of ALL of Fate/Grand Order, by the time we reach the Seventh Singularity, these flashbacks would have had greater meaning. And with that greater meaning, Ritsuka’s anguish wouldn’t have come off as cliched. It would have felt real and organic because we made the journey with them. But alas, the Japanese often do things just as a means of fleecing the otaku rather than anything better.

Another Fate/stay night Face

One thing people watching the show who’ve not played the game will note is that we continue to have the faces of characters from the original Fate/stay night series. Obviously, we have Gilgamesh here, though in a somewhat different light from what he was in Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero. And we’ve seen Ishtar with the face and body of TOHSAKA Rin of Fate/stay night (and Fate/EXTRA).

Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia 04 introduces us to yet another Fate/stay night face. This time FUJIMURA Taiga-sensei shows up as Jaguarman (or probably more properly, Jaguar Man). I suppose at when the game was at this stage in Japan, the development team thought bringing in a bunch of FSN faces and personalities would get people to spend more money on the game.

As an aside, it is a shame Jaguar isn’t that awesome to have as a character in the game.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I’m going to wrap up my review of of this episode with some final thoughts.

• I note that the series didn’t bother with having battles with the Mushussu. It just showed the fight ending. I have no problem with that as the budget was better spent showing them battling Jaguar.
• I appreciate the side scene with Dr. Romani and Caster Da Vinci at Chaldea. Moments like these would not be present in the game.
• I skipped a lot of the story when I played the game. (OK, I skipped most of the story.) So was the old man someone they encountered in the game?

In the end, Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia 04 is a pretty good episode. However, because the series expects folks to have played the game AND not skipped the story, the emotional impact of Ritsuka’s decision at the end of the episode isn’t there. And that’s most unfortunate.

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