Babylon Series

[Anh_Minh]

There may be several "Magase".

[Applehell]

That was a hell of an episode.

Zen loses every one of his allies to Ai Magase, Itsuki ends up coming off as more sympathetic to general populace. How does he even begin to comeback from any of that. Ai is definitely testing his sense of justice beyond anything he has ever encountered.

[Yu Ominae]

Magase went axe crazy.

[ArrowSmith]

I wonder if Magase even chopped off any limbs from the female investigator. Maybe it was faked to make the guy feel totally desolate. It will be interesting to see if my theory holds in Episode 8.

[Dark Wing]

I'm glad I finally took the time to see this because you don't see too many anime crime thrillers. I want to see where this goes for sure now. That aura of other worldly evil that Ai gives off with everything she dose shakes me to my core.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

I think the law is really more about de-stigmatizing suicide. Itsuki said it himself, by making it legal it's no longer just about running away, but it now becomes a legitimate choice. A choice that someone can openly talk to and discuss with other people about. It would force the whole nation to discuss and confront the elephant in the room. Also, there's a big difference between something technically not being illegal, verses something actually being legal. When the government makes something legal, that also means it can be regulated. And, the government can set up things like safe suicide homes, so people who want to commit suicide can first try to get help, and if they still want to are at least not jumping in front of cars, off of buildings, off of bridges, or jumping in front of trains. You know killing themselves in ways that inconvenience other people.

About the episode itself, yeah the politicians tried, but you could see Itsuki's counterarguments from a mile away. The "if you make it legal everyone will want to do it" argument always makes me laugh though. But, yes, how in the world did they not check this kids background.

In regards to episode 8. So, the exact things I said could happen if suicide was made legal, and not just left as technically not illegal happened. Shinichi has established suicide centers, and the number of people committing rash suicides has actually decreased. Now the rest of the world has taken notice, and four other places have adopted Shinichi's "Suicide Law". The only thing is that this all seems to be happening a bit to smoothly.

Zen has now lost his whole team, and appears to be on relief from work, but the FBI come calling, probably something to do with Magase. Honestly, Magase is the part of the show that I don't particularly care for. Her near supernatural presence just doesn't help what I feel is a somewhat realistic look at our society, and our relationship with suicide and death.

[Kismet-chan]

I'm very curious to see where this goes. I was honestly surprised that Alex is going to play so crucial a role to this plot that they added his silhouette to the mini opening sequence. I was also surprised that this was probably the first time in a long while that I've seen an anime not make America's government look utterly incompetent or inherently greedy/evil. At least, not right off the bat. For now.

As for my own thoughts on Ai... I find her kind of fun to watch, but waiting so long to see whether or not we'll learn what her actual motivations are is going to be a huge detriment if it ends up being nothing more than "well, I'm evil and that's fun, this is just how it is".

After Kado ended the way it did, I have the MOST critical eye trained on the character due to her weird nature and how it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to keep following this seriously... If I see even the tiniest little peep of her being the literal Whore of Babylon, some sort of demon, an alien, or a being from some fucking weirdo dimension? I'm so out, lmao.

[Anh_Minh]

I don't know how it is in Japan or Canada, but I'm pretty sure in France, a single city doesn't get to decide a "suicide law" will apply within its confines or not. We're not even a federal state. That's the kind of thing that's decided at the national level.

[Jan-Poo]

Well at least it seems clear that what Itsuki wanted to do and is doing is to legalize abetting and assisting suicide, which is really not the same thing as legalizing suicide (which is legal to begin with).

Unfortunately since he always only said that he wanted to "legalize suicide", all the arguments that were made against him aimed to explain why it's bad for people to kill themselves and not why it's bad for people to help others, assist others and advise others to kill themselves.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I don't know how it is in Japan or Canada, but I'm pretty sure in France, a single city doesn't get to decide a "suicide law" will apply within its confines or not. We're not even a federal state. That's the kind of thing that's decided at the national level.

I'm pretty sure it isn't allowed in any of those places. In the first place the reason Shiniki could make such law was explained by the fact it is under a special jurisdiction system (which doesn't exist in the real world). Perhaps in the Babylon universe the same anomaly exists in other cities around the world? If the author implicitly acknowledges that a normal city in Japan cannot make its own laws he should be aware that the same applies to Canada, France and the U.S.A.

[ArrowSmith]

Is the anime trying to play devil's advocate for a suicide law or are they actually pushing a death cult? I'm very weirded out by this show. I mean why would a normal person want to off themselves?

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

Honestly, Magase is the part of the show that I don't particularly care for. Her near supernatural presence just doesn't help what I feel is a somewhat realistic look at our society, and our relationship with suicide and death.

I agree entirely. I've noticed we've recently gotten a spate of detective stories, but all of them have some supernatural aspect. I was hoping Babylon would steer clear of that trend and remain humanistic, but it would take some doing to convert Magase into a realistic character for me.

[magnumcyclonex]

On the one hand, this anime presents some serious topics for discussion. The line about animals not committing suicide made me think that we as humans might actually have TOO many things to think about - to our own detriment.

Anyways, this is a pretty dark anime and it keeps getting weirder. How does this become a global phenomenon? Are there other Ai Magase type people affecting those other "special cities"?

Lastly, that was QUITE the introduction to the President of the United States, in stark contrast to how they described the trivialities of the French President (who they also said was quite cunning and tactical). I don't think I've ever seen an anime introduce a new character in this way.

During this sequence, I was wondering what was AWW's relevance to the story. Was he a scholar? Was he a university professor? Why does he need to mention his really hot wife? And why was that game so prominently shown? Will there be more "in real life" discussions "within the game"?

In short, I'm looking forward to the next episode.

[Anh_Minh]

I thought the game aspect was pretty stupid. It's an MMO that's been around for what, 15, 20 years at least? And finding stuff in it is somehow impressive and will land you a hot wife? And the PotUS still has time to play it?

[ArrowSmith]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I thought the game aspect was pretty stupid. It's an MMO that's been around for what, 15, 20 years at least? And finding stuff in it is somehow impressive and will land you a hot wife? And the PotUS still has time to play it?

Maybe the LN author is a big fan of this MMO and he has a very active fantasy life.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I thought the game aspect was pretty stupid. It's an MMO that's been around for what, 15, 20 years at least? And finding stuff in it is somehow impressive and will land you a hot wife? And the PotUS still has time to play it?

All Presidents have some free time. Obama still managed to play basketball, and Trump still golfs. We've only seen Alex play the game once while as President. Why an MMO? From a meta standpoint, I'm assuming it's because it allows him to mingle with the commoners without anyone knowing it's him.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

All Presidents have some free time. Obama still managed to play basketball, and Trump still golfs. We've only seen Alex play the game once while as President. Why an MMO? From a meta standpoint, I'm assuming it's because it allows him to mingle with the commoners without anyone knowing it's him.

He doesn't just play once in a while. He's still a famous top player. At least, that's how I interpreted the scene.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

He doesn't just play once in a while. He's still a famous top player. At least, that's how I interpreted the scene.

That felt more like a your reputation precedes you types of deals to me. He doesn't need to still be a top player now for people to know who he is, if he had been one previously for quite a while.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Was that bootleg Ultima lmao

[Anh_Minh]

The author's completely forgotten that Shiniki was a special case, hasn't he?

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

The author's completely forgotten that Shiniki was a special case, hasn't he?

Scratch that, did I misunderstand something or the President actually threatened to take military actions against a city of his own country?