Babylon: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Babylon: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Babylon is an action-packed science-fiction anime with a psychological horror element. The series comes from producer Kōji Yamamoto (Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress). A series from creator Mado Nozaki, Babylon features animation produced by production company Revoroot (Deep Blue Song, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level). The series also showcases original character designs by Zain. Babylon is a complex series exploring crime and corporate greed.

Zen Seizaki (Yūichi Nakamura) serves his community as a public prosecutor and he fights for the truth and against the evils of corporations. Zen finds himself on a spiraling mission when he discovers the truth about a case of major fraud from a massive corporation producing drugs. The pharmaceutical corporation is involved in a drug which is causing seriously dangerous side effects – including a big, mysterious issue that potentially cause users to commit suicide.

The stakes are high as Zen Seizaki is faced with battling the evils of corporations while fighting for the little guy. Can Zen trust anyone? Is there no hope left for the future? As the crime investigations continue, Zen pushes forward and faces up against the cold faced enemy of the pharmaceutical corporation.

Zen is the central protagonist of the series. As someone determined to fight for justice and against the evils of corporate greed and manipulation, the series focuses on his characterization and how he is a strong investigator searching for the truth. The procedural element plays in with his characterization, imbuing the series with a sense of darkness while exploring Zen’s own personal mission along the way.

The series benefits from character designs by Keisuke Goto (Yatterman Night, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level). The character designs are somewhat simplistic looking and not as impressive as one might hope to find. Unfortunately, despite the cool box-art for the release, the series features more standard character designs that don’t seem as distinct or original as some might hope to find. The results are certainly undercooked and not as fascinating as one some productions. The results underwhelm.

The art direction by Norifumi Nakamura (Battle Spirits Burning Soul, Hayate the Combat Butler!) fares a bit better than the character designs. The artistic approach is sometimes creative and a little bit more experimental. Even as the character designs themselves fail to be as organic or original as desired, the overall production scope for the animation is more compelling with decent production merits by art director Nakamura.

The results might not be a total home run – certainly hope in the top echelon of anime productions – but the results are still reasonably impressive and work well enough for the series. These elements are also enhanced by the chief animation direction by Keisuke Goto (My Isekai Life, Nurse Witch Komugi R). The animators did a solid enough job to reflect the investigative and dark corporate greed overtones of the production.

The cinematography by Shunsuke Nakamura (The First Slam Dunk, Gatchaman Crowds) and Yasuhiro Asagi (Gatchaman Crowds insight, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn) is one of the best series elements. The cinematography strikes a nice balance between light and dark visual elements. These components certainly manage to make an impression and cause the series to look all the better on the whole. The results shine with good visual finesse.

The score composed by Yutaka Yamada (Tokyo Ghoul, Vinland Saga) is reasonably engaging and fits the investigational element of the program. The series is procedural and the score reflects that with solid background music to fit the mood and tone of the series. Yamada understands the series style and is certainly one to explore the dark and gritty elements of the story.

Written by Minaka Sakamoto, Naohiro Fukushima (Dai - Shogun - Great Revolution, Puzzle & Dragons X), Yutaka Yasunaga (Erased, Pet), Babylon could have used a more interesting screenplay. The storyline is average. The concept is only somewhat interesting. The script simply doesn’t offer much fun and is an underwhelming component. This is unfortunate as the concept could have played out better under certain arenas.

Directed by Kiyotaka Suzuki (Infini-T Force, Deep Blue Song), Babylon isn’t much to write home about but it is a modestly decent anime in the investigative and procedural series realm. Anime fans looking for a crime-case investigation series with some basic mystery elements might gravitate towards the series even if it is average on the whole. While not spectacular, Suzuki is a decent enough director, crafting something that some fans will enjoy despite some otherwise average aspects.

Babylon: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Babylon is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series has an impressive presentation. Encoding is solid on the release. Colors are excellent and the video quality is quite worthwhile (showcasing the range of the series animation). A solid effort from Sentai.

Babylon: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless audio sound mix is quite impressive on the release. Dialogue comes through nice and clear on the release and the score sounds nicely detailed as well. The sound effects on the series make an impression with the stereo audio sound imaging. Fans will be pleased with the multitude of lossless options provided on the release.

Babylon: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Clean Opening Animations (HD, 1:04)

Clean Closing Animations (HD, 4:33)

The release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Sentai Filmworks: Gate (HD, 1:32), 7Seeds (HD, 1:37), Baki (HD, 1:31), and World Trigger (HD, 1:30).

Babylon: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Babylon isn't the Hollywood spectacle film you might be expecting. No, Babylon isn't that – ahem – box-office bomb (but underrated) effort from writer-director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) and featuring Margot Robbie as a sexy vixen you can't take your eyes off of. No, it's a procedural crime investigation anime that simply doesn't tick all the right boxes to be as glamorous a spectacle. Nonetheless, crime procedural series fans might find it interesting to check out. The Blu-ray has impressive video and audio. Worth a look for fans of crime anime series.