English Dub Review: Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia; “Hello, Goddess of the Sun”

 

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

With Ishtar now among their ranks, Gilgamesh and Ritsuka proceed with their plan to handle the remaining two goddesses. 

Our Take

Hot off the heels of recruiting Ishtar, Gilgamesh lays out the next step of the goddess elimination plan: obtaining a weapon called the Axe of Marduk, which will help them defeat Gorgon. Unfortunately, the axe is in Eridu, which is the domain of the unnamed jungle goddess. 

Ishtar reveals the identity of the mysterious jungle goddess to be Quetzalcoatl. And just as they’re discussing her, Quetzalcoatl busts down the gates of Uruk and starts killing soldiers, her sudden appearance incredibly convenient for the plot. 

Quetzalcoatl is a potent two-faced character, switching between a demure young woman and a crazed killer at the drop of a hat. She chooses to only kill 100 people a day and leaves the city as soon as she has met her quota. Though she can appear incredibly threatening, she still carries herself in a fairly restrained manner. This, along with her oddly strict creed, shows that unlike the other two goddesses, she may not be such a fan of wanton destruction as they are.

Just as Quetzalcoatl leaves, a familiar goofy face reappears. The irritatingly aloof Jaguar Warrior is seen casually wandering the streets of Uruk, collecting the bodies of defeated soldiers and throwing them over her shoulder and into a comically large basket on her back. These soldiers are to be sacrifices for Quetzalcoatl, to which Ritsuka and the crew object, but they are ineffective against Jaguar Warrior’s superior battle prowess. Now armed with additional motivation to infiltrate Quetzalcoatl’s domain, they set out for Eridu. 

En route to Eridu, Ritsuka and Ishtar have another conversation over a campfire, similar to the one in the previous episode. She sneezes once again, resulting in the same mysterious glow that puts Ritsuka on edge again. This time, the effect of the glow is clearer and we see Ishtar shift into a more regal outfit when she glows. Once again, this goes unquestioned and unexplained. The repeated use of this might be teasing something bigger. 

Ishtar provides more information on Quetzalcoatl; she is originally a goddess that represents all things that are good. Thus, she can only be damaged by things that are inherently evil. This concept of things being morally aspected and how they interact with each other hasn’t been brought up before, but it’s still interesting. It adds up for Quetzalcoatl’s character with how judicious she has acted thus far, even when being compelled to kill others. It also makes the question of how they will defeat her potentially a bit more complex.

Ritsuka also takes this as an opportunity to point out how childish Ishtar acts. It’s meant more as a sincere observation than as an insult, but the honesty in acknowledging her faults is still nice to see. Ishtar doesn’t shy away from this either. She tries to justify this by saying that she hasn’t really talked to very many people, as she was sequestered into her temple as soon as she was summoned. This doesn’t excuse all of her impudence, but it provides a somewhat fair point of reference for her actions. Hopefully, her character develops instead of staying in this childish mode. 

As the gang steps into Quetzalcoatl’s jungle territory, they begin to discuss the finer details of their plan when they casually walk by Jaguar Warrior, who is trying to stop them with an overzealous speech. As they pass her, she jumps back in front of them to try to stop them again, but to no avail. Seeing our band of heroes nonchalantly ignore the gravitas Jaguar Warrior is trying to put on is very effective as a mote of humorous revenge. 

This launches into a conversation where it is revealed that Jaguar Warrior is actually a rogue servant without a master. Barely missing a beat, Merlin immediately suggests that Ritsuka try to take her on as his servant and join their team. Ritsuka deploys an array of weird and questionable compliments, like the sort of compliments an alien neural network would auto-generate. 

But seeing as how Jaguar Warrior is a completely strange person, these compliments seem to have translated properly and she joins Ritsuka with no resistance. Shocked as they are, they don’t question their powerful new ally. As Jaguar Warrior is buttering up her new master, Mash adorably asserts her dominance in the “Ritsuka’s servants” family. 

When they arrive in Ur, they find all of the Uruk soldiers that had been killed are alive and waiting idly by to be sacrificed. Evidently, Quetzalcoatl killed them so hard that she also brought them back to life at the same time. I won’t question the mechanics of this as this is hardly the most confusing thing in the show so far, and it also lines up with Quetzalcoatl’s conflicting morality. 

Amidst all of the slapdash exposition, Ritsuka and cohorts resolve themselves to face Quetzalcoatl despite their reservations. The next episode may prove to be a tumultuous one.