English Dub Review: Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia; “Decisive Battle”

 

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Fujimaru and his retinue come up with a strategy to infiltrate Gorgon’s lair, the Blood Fort. En route to the confrontation, Merlin and Ana deliver some key introspection. 

Our Take

Having successfully recruited all of the other members of the Three Goddess Alliance like some sort of goddamn harem show protagonist, Fujimaru and his party are finally ready to confront Gorgon. 

The crew rallies around the newly revived Gilgamesh, who has a plan to infiltrate Gorgon’s base, the appropriately named Blood Fort. Normally the Blood Fort is impenetrable, but fortunately, they have already acquired the one thing that can penetrate it: the Axe of Marduk. The issue now is that the only person who is strong enough to throw the Axe at the Blood Fort is Quetzalcoatl, who is bound by the contract of the Three Goddess Alliance and cannot harm the other members of it. While she wouldn’t be hurting Gorgon directly, it seems that throwing an axe the size of a truck at her house counts as harm, which is probably fair. 

I don’t take issue with the rules of the alliance, but I do take issue with the fact that we weren’t made aware of the rules until just now. If they had laid out this rule of the goddesses being unable to harm each other, I think some earlier situations regarding them would’ve been made clearer. It would’ve explained why Ishtar could freely attack the other goddesses when we thought that she was a member, and also why Ereshkigal being severed from the alliance was such a big deal. This is yet another example of this anime explaining how its rules work at the last possible minute. 

Merlin has a plan to try to circumvent this rule though; Quetzalcoatl will throw the axe at Merlin, and Merlin will just stand next to the Blood Fort and dodge. It’s dreadfully simple, but it makes enough sense. It kind of shows just how flimsy these rules can be when you think outside the box a little. 

The night before the battle, Fujimaru has a conversation with Merlin. Merlin opens up about himself more than he really has before. He talks about how he has a strange fascination with humans and their history, for as much as he likes them he does think they are foolish. His ultimate desire is to watch the end of humanity and view the dream of the last human alive. Merlin’s explanation of himself and his motives further establish him as an aloof, otherworldly observer. He fully admits that he’s only helping out Fujimaru to ensure humanity survives for his own pleasure. This doesn’t garner him any sympathy as he’s made out to be inhuman and therefore not very relatable. In the end, it seems he’s still just here to be a conveniently omniscient ally. 

Ana also receives a moment alone with Fujimaru. She’s recently begun to wear her hood down regularly, which is indicative of her warmer attitude towards people. While Fujimaru was in the underworld, Ana occupied herself by helping the people of Uruk, including a decrepit old woman who she befriended. Ana goes on about how her time in Uruk has opened her eyes and her heart to humans, whom she finds herself wanting to spend more time with. While her sentiments are compassionate, they carry with them a sad undertone as they’re contrasted with the truth of who she is. This is a quaint and contemplative scene for her, acting as a solid lead-in to the reveal that waits at the end of this episode. 

The battle against Gorgon’s demonic beasts begins as all the members of Fujimaru’s crew are shown slicing and dicing every beast that comes at them. As the focus shifts to Quetzalcoatl, she is intercepted by the ever-so-rude Kingu disguised as Enkidu. They have a battle that is as intense as it is short. The contrast between the combat styles of Kingu, who uses long chains to punish his opponents at a distance, and Quetzalcoatl, who loves to rush in and make every battle a melee battle, provides some powerful, fast-paced action. 

Unfortunately, this battle cannot last very long, as Quetzalcoatl as an appointment with an oversized axe. She throws the axe like Mario throws Bowser, lobbing it at Merlin and successfully opening an entrance into the Blood Fort. Quetzalcoatl is still half-punished anyways for this though; I guess divine contracts know when you’re trying to be a smartass and skirt around the rules like that.

The party enters the Blood Fort, and as expected, it’s dank and gross and full of humans in pods being converted into fuel. They head deep into the lair and find Gorgon, who launches into yet another diatribe about how all humans should die. Then for some reason, Gorgon offers to become Fujimaru’s servant if he’s willing to go along either her plan. It would be incredibly hilarious if Fujimaru actually obtained all of the goddesses in Mesopotamia as his servants to complete his divine harem, but obviously, Gorgon’s plan is a no go. 

Then everyone starts dunking on Gorgon, calling her a weak monster who only got where she is because of the power of the Holy Grail. Surprisingly, this seems to work on her a little bit. You’d think that being a giant snake goddess that can fire big lasers would render you immune to harsh words, but I guess if your skin is that thin then perhaps you are that weak. 

When Gorgon sees Ana she starts freaking out about it, almost like she can’t fully interpret her existence. This leads into the big reveal that I imagine most people had at least somewhat figured out by now. Ana is a younger version of Gorgon, who would supposedly go on to forget all of the kindness she experienced with humans and become a raging misanthropic goddess. Ana unleashes her divinity, along with her own Mystic Eyes, and sets them on Gorgon. 

If the plot of the past few encounters that went like this is any indication, we should have a fairly epic battle on our hands next time.