Babylon Series

[orion]

Originally Posted by Haak

I was actually quite impressed by the first three episodes. I wasn't a fan of the overly SRSBSNS posturing and "justice-boner"-ing in the first episode but things really kicked into a higher gear with the death of Seizaki's colleague. His interrogation of Ai was very well directed with tons of double meaning, subtext, body language and other visual cues. I was a bit annoyed when his boss revealed himself to be in cahoots with the corrupt politician (its such a cliche at this point) but was then impressed by it turning out to be far more complicated and with Seizaki being put in a position where he has to indirectly help corrupt politicians so he can solve a bigger crime.

I do admit the ending worries me though. Ai's powers of persuasion were stretching incredulity in the interrogation but that's nothing compared to what we're seeing here and I have a hard time seeing any plausible explanation for that. I wonder if this story will be brave enough to write a scene of Ai directly persuading someone to kill themselves instead of everything being off screen, because that's the only way I'll be able to judge the plausibility of her persuasion.

We did get a taste of her methods during her interrogation. She turned the tables and profiled Seizaki and didn't give any testimony. By the end of the Seizaki interview, they were blinking their eyes the same way.

She then "disarmed" a fellow police officer and walked out of an interrogation room without having an alarm raised.That lady might be a deranged psychiatrist like Hannibal Lecter.

[Irenesharda]

Originally Posted by orion

We did get a taste of her methods during her interrogation. She turned the tables and profiled Seizaki and didn't give any testimony. By the end of the Seizaki interview, they were blinking their eyes the same way.

She then "disarmed" a fellow police officer and walked out of an interrogation room without having an alarm raised.That lady might be a deranged psychiatrist like Hannibal Lecter.

Actually, to me, if they can do her right, Ai reminds me of a female version of Johan Liebert from the anime series, Monster.

Johan was able to change his appearance with ease, he could be anyone and yet no one. He was an expert at manipulating others and could very easily manipulate a person into killing themselves simply by talking to them. And Monster was quite a down-to-earth psychological thriller, though it always had the wonderful knack of making you wonder if there was something otherworldly about Johan.

If Ai can be even half of what Johan was, I'll be impressed.

[LKK]

Episode 4 is up on Amazon Prime now.

I watched all 4 episodes back-to-back this afternoon. Wow, what a ride. I'm not sure I followed everything that happened. But I'm definitely intrigued. I'm not going to try and predict what's going to happen next because based on my prediction track record from the first four episodes, my success rate going forward is likely to be nil.

[Tenzen12]

I wonder if her ability change persona is good enough to switch VA as well. When Sekurou Hiasa walked in, my first though was she could be Ai. If it was case it would also explain why she had Fumio kill himself.

In most shows they would keep same VA for every alter ego though.

[Grifis]

Oh no. Main guy needs to watch out. The enemy is right beside you.

[Nachtwandler]

It may be exgagerration to suspect any female charecter being her. But the new girl indeed looked a bit suspicious.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

It may be exgagerration to suspect any femmale charecter being her. But the new girl indeed looked a bit suspicious.

I strongly hope that the new girl isn't her mostly because it would be a nice change of pace from the predictable.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by LKK

I strongly hope that the new girl isn't her mostly because it would be a nice change of pace from the predictable.

Me, too.

Have we seen Zen spend any time with his wife and kid?

Japan ranks 14th in the world by suicide rate. There were 23,500 suicides in Japan in 2018, for an average of 64 per day. According to that article, "It is the leading cause of death in men among the ages of 20-44 and for women among the ages of 15 to 34." Also

Japanese men are twice as likely to commit suicide as their female counterparts, particularly after a divorce. Of special concern is suicide among men who have recently lost their jobs and are no longer able to provide for their families.

I can see why this subject is important to the Japanese.

The chart in Babylon wasn't far off. It put the daily rate in the high fifties and the spike at 237, which was described as a four-fold increase.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Why's Ai's womb highlighted in her biodata. Is that normal?


If I were Seizaki I'd literally demand the new assistant follow me everywhere 24/7 lol. Can't be too sure...

[Wandering Soul]

I don't think the new girl is her, but I do think she should be treated with a healthy amount of suspicion.

[orion]

I hope the new girl isn't Ai also. However, she does seem to be watching Seizaki a bit too closely imo.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by orion

I hope the new girl isn't Ai also. However, she does seem to be watching Seizaki a bit too closely imo.

I'm guessing it's a ship tease because there are other signs. It actually made me laugh pretty hard when Seizaki said it was awkward calling her by her family name and she basically told him to get fucked.

I'm loving the nitty gritty of this show and it's remarkably good at portraying the nuances of politics, ideologies and public perception. It's not surprising that the public is overwhelmingly against Itsuki's policy so one has to wonder why he's committing such blatant political suicide (excuse the pun). But it's also good to see that Seizaki isn't being remotely complacent and knows that he still needs to pursue Itsuki and Ai Magase.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Haak

I'm guessing it's a ship tease because there are other signs. It actually made me laugh pretty hard when Seizaki said it was awkward calling her by her family name and she basically told him to get fucked.

I'm loving the nitty gritty of this show and it's remarkably good at portraying the nuances of politics, ideologies and public perception. It's not surprising that the public is overwhelmingly against Itsuki's policy so one has to wonder why he's committing such blatant political suicide (excuse the pun). But it's also good to see that Seizaki isn't being remotely complacent and knows that he still needs to pursue Itsuki and Ai Magase.

Meh, it isn't suicide when you have someone who can brainwash people like nothing on your faction

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Ugh I think Amazon fucked up the translation for ep4? He asked Tsutsui to investigate Magase Ai but during the phonecall they used male pronouns all around. "His family", "he had an incident while in middle school", "he was in and out of the hospital a lot". Then in the ending scene MC's reading up on Ai's data. I think that the phonecall was meant to be about Ai?

Ep4 was boring fwiw. The babble between characters about politics and laws is really phoned in. It might just be me but the art / animation quality also went down noticeably.

I don't think the new girl is Ai, but it was a low hanging fruit for the story to put a female assistant up for MC right after the Ai reveal. I don't think she's working for Itsui / Ai either but there were some weird lines about her from her uncle / the other politician guy that implied that she's new to the city / project so I am not too sure on that one.

[Haak]

Episode 5

I don't know what the author was smoking when he came up with Ai Magase but the more the story focuses on her the harder it becomes for me to take it seriously. It's so over the top and weirdly out of place compared to an otherwise gritty procedural.

[Applehell]

The author here has parchment for doing supernatural stuff so this right in his wheelhouse it seems. Moreover the Ai stuff is core part of the plot. Personally I bigger investment seeing how Zen and Hiasa combat someone like her and finding out just what she is than the background politics of the plot. I mean enjoy the procedural parts of the story too, but the bit at end was most exciting part of the episode imo.

[Wandering Soul]

Yeah, there is clearly supernatural going on with Ai. Her ability to manipulate people through her sexuality stretches disbelief otherwise. The fact that she's adopted meaning her exact origins are unknown only reinforces that idea to me.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by orion

I hope the new girl isn't Ai also. However, she does seem to be watching Seizaki a bit too closely imo.

EP5 pretty much proofed she isn't. Unless she can be at two places at the same time.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

EP5 pretty much proofed she isn't. Unless she can be at two places at the same time.

Or unless the author is pulling an unreliable narrator + Lelouch's ability to foresee dialogues and Ai was never there on that street, at least not at that precise time.

I really hope that's not the case, but I'm still not convinced I should trust this author.

[Grifis]

You mean she's not changing her appearance anymore? I'm a little disappointed.