Tokyo Babel is a Visual Novel written by Yuichiro Higashide, developed by Propeller, and has a notable amount of special effects compared to other works of the medium. It was first released in Japan in 2012, and later got an official translation by MangaGamer in 2016. The story depicts the journey of angels, demons and humans across the floating purgatory of "Tokyo Babel".
For thousands of years, angels and demons observed humanity together across several universes, which are many variations of our own. But one fateful day, the gates to Heaven were suddenly shut to the archangels, preventing them to communicate with God, while Hell was suddenly flooded with their leader Lucifer mysteriously disappearing. Furthermore, the multiple Earths suddenly destroyed themselves, one after another.
Due to the severity of their situation, angels and demons gathered and worked together to create a Purgatory of sorts named Tokyo Babel, with the objective of reaching out to their masters and re-open the gates of Heaven. To this end, they also recruit humans on dying worlds to help them embark on a pilgrimage through the layers of Tokyo Babel. Among them, the human Tendou Setsuna was taken to Tokyo Babel by the demon Lilith and the angel Raziel as part of the organization Pandora.
However, none of the pilgrims managed to successfully reach the last layer of Tokyo Babel, and several among them eventually lost their minds in the process: they are known as "Masters", wreaking havoc across the floating purgatory.
The story begins with the misadventures of Kugutsu Sorami upon discovering that her entire highschool is actually a Dream Land created by the psychotic master and former angel Gethel, who spent her time toying with her until the intervention of Setsuna, with Sorami's eventual recruitment into Pandora. Despite being horrified at the idea of being Trapped in Another World and forcibly given a Magical Eye by Gethel, she quickly adapts to her new home and companions.
Tokyo Babel features the following tropes:
- A God Am I: The objective of two characters: The Angel Metatron who wants to become the new God of a future world and Lilith/Tiamat, who wants to be praised and acknowledged as one after centuries spent as a half-dead goddess forgotten by everyone.
- A God I Am Not: Despite his status as the World's Strongest Man, Setsuna doesn't consider himself a god, but more of a man-made monster lacking a sense of self.
- Ambiguously Human: Despite appearing as a human, the protagonist Setsuna has multiple Elemental Powers and has greater agility and strength than normal humans, rivalling angels and demons. It's because he was actually man-made, and he was given DNA from the most dangerous animals on Earth.
- Angels, Devils and Squid: Played With. Angels and demons are seen working together with humans, and the Masters are mostly fallen angels.
- Artificial God: Setsuna is actually is man-made God created to serve as a messiah to guide humanity to new heights.
- Artificial Human: Adam is revealed to be a copy of Setsuna, whose framework was stolen by Angels who wanted him to become their new leader and kill God.
- Ax-Crazy: Anyone who succumbs to the chorus of the higher stratums of Tokyo Babel becomes one.
- Badass Bookworm: Raziel and the Dantalions are huge fans of books, but they are perfectly able to defend themselves.
- Battle Butler: Lucifuge serves as one to Astaroth, he even dresses as one.
- Big Bad: Across the three routes, we have God itself, who became mad in Raziel's route, the Angel Metatron in Sorami's route, and the original Lilith, fused with the goddess Tiamat in Lilith's route.
- BFS: Camael's "Death", Astaroth's "Mushussu", Oshiba's Kabanemaru, and not to mention Adam's arsenal of huge swords.
- Bittersweet Ending: Raziel's route ends with Setsuna ceasing to function, having used all of his power to deactivate God.
But he does leave a few loving sons and daughters to his beloved Raziel at least. - Boxing Battler: Astaroth, a self proclaimed enthusiast to the sport, resorts to this when he has to fight unarmed.
- Brown Note: The chorus, which causes those who listen to it to gradually lose their sanity, it intensifies the further one ascends Tokyo Babel.
- Crapsack World: Tokyo Babel is mostly composed of destroyed cities and ruined buildings.
- Fallen Angel: Angels who became Masters all turn against their kin. It was also crossed by the Angel Eve a long time ago, and spent centuries waiting the perfect opportunity and enact her vengeance against people from Heaven and Hell who made her discover the concept of eternity.
- Gentle Giant: Leviathan is this, believe it or not. He has the appearance of a giant sea dragon, but all in all, he's a very nice and rather talkative fellow. He is not afraid to protect his friends from those who wish them harm, however...
- God Is Evil: Upon discovering eternity, God became mad and ordered Raziel to reveal it to the council of Angels, causing the entire Divine Calamity.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Hoo boy. Many of the conflicts of Tokyo Babel originate from the sudden realization of angels that they are gifted with eternal life, rendering them mad because they discovered the concept of "time". It was first discovered by Eve after being forced into Walking the Earth after eating the Forbidden Fruit, and eventually realized her own immortality after seeing humans dying of old age. She then engineered the whole plot by revealing to God the concept of eternity, making him mad in the process.
- The Man Behind the Man: The mastermind behind the destruction of the multiple earths, Heaven and Hell is revealed to be God, who became mad after learning of the concept of eternity, themselves manipulated by the angel Eve, who intended to destroy everything after learning herself about eternity.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Despite being responsible for almost all of the plot, Eve is not a fighter and has to rely on her husband Adam.
- Personality Powers: A Raison d'être is a power that reflects their respective user, given that one has to come to a realization to attain it, also doubles as Enlightenment Superpowers.
- Post-Modern Magik: Commonplace, Angels and Demons alike make use of modern technology. Many magical spells and attacks resemble a digital interface and program commands, respectively. Conversely, a character created through advanced science, is taught and uses magic.
- Purgatory and Limbo: Tokyo Babel is one for the cast as a whole.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The groups of Pandora are nothing more than a loosely band of angels, demons and humans trying to claw their way through Tokyo Babel.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Even when they're supposed to be working towards a common goal, tensions remain high between the Angels and Demons. In one route, it escalates to a full on civil war.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Angel Metatron, the Big Bad of Sorami's route, intends to use Sorami as the passageway to a new world, somewhere in the future, free of the madness of God. To this end, he kidnaps her and forces her to use her raison d'être, regardless of her actual consent, and intends to kill anyone unwilling to follow him to become the new God of the future world.
- Winged Humanoid: Most of the angels and demons seen in the story can sprout wings on their backs, but they are not mandatory to fly.
- World War III: The world Setsuna came from is heavily implied to be the result of a nuclear war. Turns out he was actually an Artificial God made in a world where the very concept of God didn't exist, but he eventually rejected his role as a savior of mankind, revealing his nature to the world and caused the entire planet to wage war out of despair.
