my hot takes on frieren lol

originally written back when it was airing; frieren discourse is making a tiny resurgence and i feel like getting my thoughts out there.

#1

incredible first showing. have not seen it, but getting VEG vibes from Frieren's coming to terms with what it means to be human, and the inherent transient nature of it. the burial scene coming after she was badmouthed for not showing sadness, and that's what made her realize that she didn't really know all that much about him, despite all the time they spent together. iyashikei vibes, but even though the fighting's over, emotions can still run high in these isolated moments over the decades-long span of this ep. the visual storytelling of time passing was as communicative as you'd expect from saito. montages, multiple big events in this one episode, Frieren setting off on her real journey only 18 minutes into the episode, even showing a sort of title card at this point. it really felt like the end of the episode! up until it continued, lol. all of this to show just how much time is passing, and yet how fast that time seems to go by from Frieren's perspective. Where every event is so insignificant in the grand scheme of her life, and yet... even though she only knew her companions for ten years, their deaths affected her so much... coming to appreciate the insignificant things in life before they fade away to the sands of time...yeaaa that's the good shit right there.

#2

・Fern's episode. Heiter saving her because that's what Himmel would've done. Even though he died long ago, the virtues & lessons he taught him still live on, lessons that he'll pass down to Frieren and onto Fern. In that sense, both of their lives aren't truly over. In the B Part, we see a case where that legacy is dying. One of the villages that Himmel saved, and yet his statue is worn down and forgotten. The Blue Weed Flowers that symbolize his life and unfulfilled promise with Frieren have gone borderline extinct. Frieren spends months trying to find the flower, all the while bringing Fern along with her. It's only when Fern brings up her honest feelings of wanting to move on to help more people, does their path to the flowers open up. Nostalgia towards the past is a power that can hold us back, but when viewed in the context of the present, and in our hopes for the future, the past can serve to teach us how to move forward, even in the face of transience and death.

・Even though Fern is more aware of the transience of life out of anyone in the show, being an adopted war orphan and experiencing the death of her guardian at a young age, there's a similar apathy that she feels towards her magic. Perhaps because, up until now, it only served as a tool, proof that she could live on her own after Heiter's death—proof that she needed so urgently that she didn't give herself the time to appreciate it. Even though we have so little time, being able to dedicate a large amount of it to something we're passionate about is something that's truly valuable in spite of it all

#3

・A Part shows Frieren buying a gift for Fern's birthday. Nice dynamic here, where Fern is able to see her true self, guessing her favorite pudding in the same way Himmel did long ago. Frieren sees that she doesn't know that much about Fern in the years that she's known her now. this dynamic will be expanded upon next ep
・B Part, Frieren returns to a village to finish off one of the Demon King's bosses that she sealed away in the past. In the time since then, magic has developed enough to make the fight a cakewalk, even for the relative newbie Fern to fend off. Frieren never checked in on the village in the many years since she sealed it, which Himmel did in her place. Knowing that he wouldn't live to see the seal be broken, he had the faith in Frieren that she'd eventually return to finish her work. To have been known so well by her peers, to such an extent that Frieren didn't even realize herself—all of these realizations about her friends that she's only coming to terms with after their deaths.

#4

・Incredible A Part... Frieren seeing the sunrise she missed all those years ago. On its own, it really is just a regular sunrise, but it's Fern's response to it, a rare smile that makes it so special. It's only thanks to her being involved with others, with Fern in particular, that she can appreciate these moments. It's merely one moment of many for her, but to humans, each moment is one to cherish. Even though Frieren's life is long, Fern's life isn't, and as such the time she gets to spends with her is small—when you think of it like that, the long length of Frieren's life only makes these moments feel that much shorter.
・B Part was transitory, revelations about Frieren's master being Flamme, a legendary mage of the past. Once again, someone who knew Frieren more than she knew herself, knowing she'd come back with regrets about not truly getting to know the people she travels with. The show's approach to magic is also one that feels pretty refreshing. First with Heiter getting Frieren to research life-lengthening/immortality magic because of his fear of his soon-to-come death, and now they're heading off to the "heaven" of this world, just because Frieren wants to see Himmel again. The show refuses treating magic as this sacred thing that shouldn't be used for one's own benefit. This episode's view on religion and the afterlife reflects this as well, that they don't know for sure whether heaven exists—but it ought to exist, because the alternative of nothingness would be too sad to bear, so they choose to believe in it even without having any proof. Thinking about the uncertainty of the future, of death, and choosing to believe in the most optimistic scenario, because that's what will make living in the present more "convenient".

#5

not much to say this ep. honestly this one was wayyy weaker than all four episodes of the premiere. definitely still a fun watch tho, and there are fun tidbits here and there. stark seems fun, but considering this is only part 1 of his introduction, i can't really make much judgment on him yet. one of the many cons of watching seasonally :pensive:

anyways, this tweet highlights sheng meng chen's part is another example of what i talked about last ep, where magic is treated much more candidly than you'd expect from a fantasy setting, and it really adds to the laid-back, low-stakes nature of this show.

#6

great stuff this episode, glad things are back after last ep. that frank honesty when it comes to magic is being extended to Stark's character when it comes to his and his Eisen's fear. nice connective tissue between the A & B parts as well, with Frieren's tendency to mess around teaching Eisen (and now Stark) that the くだらなさ is as much a part of their journey as the fearful parts. having a grand journey is all well and good, and the incredible concept art by Seiko Yoshioka does a great job of conveying that, but behind all that is this human approach to living day by day, without thinking of how much time we have left. this leads Frieren herself to act pretty dryly (the one thing I feel like this show has similar to Sonny Boy), so it's not exactly my favorite, but it's perfectly enjoyable and makes for a more relaxing experience than anything for me. despite the fight going crazy this episode. lol.

oh also the breast size joke & skirt lift joke in the premiere, and now a dick joke in this ep, were the last things i expected from a show like this... they got a chuckle out of me, but...yeaaa it does not fit the vibes at all, lol. much like the OP song >.>

so far, i think i agree with the ppl that are slightly disappointed with frieren... it's not bad, but to expect something like bocchi or saito's sonny boy ep from it was unreasonable of me. i was definitely expecting something more along the lines of his sonny boy eps esp considering he's with fukushiP on this one, but idk, the way its ideas are conveyed isn't nearly as subtle or nuanced as i was expecting & hoping from it. idk if it's just a problem from the source material (apparently it's not the best, especially panelling-wise), and it's clear that there are a lot of subtle details that are being added, particularly with the worldbuilding/design. but nothing is rly pushing me to take those details in while im watching the show...maybe this is just me being bad at watching things weekly. i definitely think I'd like it better as a binge watch

#7

great A part with Frieren visiting a town that keeps the tradition of honoring the heroes alive. Her asking whether they'd still be carrying on the tradition in a hundred years. With the perspective of the village elder, we see that 80 years after Himmel's death, while that isn't long to Frieren, is long both to the village's people and to Himmel himself. Probably pretty soon, the time after his death will be longer than his entire lifespan—and yet his life can still be remembered through these traditions.

B part kicks off the demon arc, and it's already starting off pretty questionable. I'm definitely of the opinion that this show's at its least interesting when it indulges in its action spectacles; last episode's was only really interesting because of the framing and context around the fight scene. In much the same way, Yamada tries to keep it interesting with a particular writing technique that's always been a petpeeve of mine, something that plagues this post-ironic postmodern era—self-aware subversion. The fantasy genre starting off as your straight-up simple fairy tales with short-sighted messaging (demons are bad and should all be exterminated). To subvert these tropes, tropes that writers see as problematic for obvious reasons, they try to make subversions of these stories (actually we should use words and talk with them). Because enough time has passed, this "subversion" of these past norms has become so commonplace that what was formerly meant to be unique & contrary has become the new "normal". It's at this stage where Frieren is trying to come in by making a subversion of that subversion (actually no, the demons were always bad we should exterminate them after all).

It's just overall... not a really interesting idea to write about, nor something I feel the humanity that I felt from past episodes of the show (especially the premiere). If they really wanted to make a subversion of the norms, why does it have to put things into the extremes that the fantasy genre keeps putting stories in? The way the scenario is written out, I could see how it could be taken in that more nuanced direction. It isn't a matter of "all demons are [insert good and/or evil here]", but they could still be like how Frieren describes them: otherworldly creatures who don't and can't understand humans, no matter what tactics they use to get close to them. Just like any other animal, just because they may pose a threat to human life, is the correct response really to bring them to outright extinction? Really, Frieren?

It just feels... devoid of nuance. The type of nuance that I know that this team is capable of creating because they've done it before in works that they've been permitted to like in Saito's Sonny Boy episode. But, and I hate to bring this up, the show's origins as a shonen manga are coming through loud and clear, and these problems are so foundationally present in this arc that I don't think even Saito's transformative mind as a director (citing: BTR) was enough to improve this (either that, or he just wasn't allowed to, didn't even want to, or most likely a combination of all three).

Anyways, true to its origins, the episode ends very abruptly & unceremoniously on a "cliffhanger" between Frieren and one of the demons. The art of making each episode feel like its own complete story is dead in this arc. It's more fine now since I'm binge watching this arc, but thank god I'm not watching this weekly, lmao. Sigh. At least the Part A was self-contained and was pretty much entirely what I love about this show. Hopefully there will still be nuggets of that in this arc.

Speaking of nuggets, let's end on a positive note and actually talk about them. I know that whole backstory was in an entirely different village, but there's still a slight connective thread between the A part and B part here, where the lack of tradition (or just communication between generations) meant that the humans forgot the nature of the demons, and it's only Frieren's long lifespan that allows her to be the only one to know how to deal with them. By the end of this arc, I can see things becoming more interesting if the humans take those lessons from Frieren even after she leaves their city—it'll continue that theme of legacy and actually be really interesting in the way it applies to Frieren herself. As she's said herself, for as long as their lives are, elves are a rare and dying-out species and not-too-soon, the only things that will keep their memory alive are the traditions of those who will live after them. Even within her lifespan, this is probably her second time ever visiting this city—the impact she can have in the world around her is actually pretty small—she can only be in one place at any given time, after all. Just like anyone else, the only way she can leave a lasting impact is by teaching her own values to the people around her, who will then spread that to the people around them, and so-on and so-forth. Who knows if this arc is going down that direction, but...it'd be nice.

#8

・Frieren's deadpan reaction to everything can get old, especially when everyone around her is having a similarly deadpan reaction. It makes sense considering how there's pretty much nothing that she hasn't seen before. That's actually something that makes Stark a great addition to the cast. Fern's early experience with death (and also being Frieren's apprentice for most of her life lol, ofc she'd be similar to her) gave her that similar attitude, but Stark actually wears his heart on his sleeve much more by comparison—his outright expressions of fear in these past few episodes are appreciated, and even if his gags are pretty hit-and-miss, it adds that much-needed levity and emotion that's important in Frieren's journey to understand humans. So yeah, I was a bit skeptical on Stark at first, but I really am liking where his character is taking things in this show.
・Stark & Fern's brief meeting with Frieren was a great moment of Frieren being a teacher to them, telling them to stand up to the enemies, no matter how strong as they are. It was a comedic scene, but through that you can see Frieren passing down to them the values of Himmel's party long after his death—I wonder if they're going to be the main "heroes" of the city and be honored in the same way Himmel was while Frieren tries to lay low (both to avoid the spotlight that she's bad with, and also because of the spotty situation she's gotten herself in, lol)
・A great hostage rescue situation, one that exemplifies all the positive attributes from the SOL scenes I've talked about already. Fern's magic being the spitting image of Frieren's magic was also a great example of Frieren's legacy living through Fern.
・In addition, the demon's hatred of "prodigies" definitely adds an interesting layer to this, saying that they're an insult to the lifelong effort demons put in to researching their magic. And... yeah, you can definitely see how that's wholly inaccurate. He called Frieren's master a "prodigy" who was able to develop the barrier magic keeping them from attacking the city. But you can also see how that's informed by his perspective as a demon, who was raised in that environment of solitude—they probably don't consult with each other in their research of magic. So, from their perspective, when a human gains their level of magic in such a short amount of time, they see them as "prodigies", ignoring the decades of collective research and experience from the generations of humans who came before them, and who passed that knowledge down to them. Fern was taught by Frieren, who was taught by Flamme, who in-turn was probably taught by some other magician who came before her. It's that theme of legacy again, and the demon's long lifespans being used as the antithesis to Frieren's is one of the things that actually makes these fights interesting.

#9

・the fighting episode. not much to write about here, because it's just an exemplification of what i've already said in the last episodes. it's just the payoff for the ideas that were already set up pre-battle, it's very shonen-like in that aspect. it's not bad, and it's especially made better thanks to Fujimoto's direction and his team. it's just...the subtlety of the writing has already been covered, and now we're just in the catharsis phase of the arc. which is fine, but it's just a matter of preference of what parts you like about this show.
・the sheer contrast between the high-octane fight going straight into the tranquil & melancholic ED says it all, lmao. it just feels like a completely different show. it's definitely entertaining, and the ideas that are there were great, but the sheer density of ideas and details in the worldbuilding that I loved in the premiere just isn't there. hopefully they'll return in the next arc.

#10

・Another backstory episode with Frieren's first encounter with Flamme. Once again, I pretty much already described the ideas in the third bullet point in ep. 8. It's cool that the arc is so focused, but it also says a lot that I could pretty much predict exactly where things would go a whole two episodes before this one... where did the subtlety go??? 😭😭
・Well, either way, the episode does add some much needed detail to the premise. The parallel Flamme draws between the humans' hierarchical view on wealth and status, and the demons' own hierarchy based on magic power was interesting. With her teaching Frieren to perpetually suppress her own mana, to the demons, Frieren is like the most powerful & influential of nobleswomen lowering herself to the class status of a peasant for her entire life—and thus she and Flamme are "cowards" who are a "disgrace to magic itself". In a way, it's a continuation of what I talked in episode 4 about the show's candid outlook on magic, that magic to these characters isn't this sacred thing that must be respected, and doesn't need to be anything more than something that brings smiles to their loved ones' faces. That's the kind of subversion I actually respect—one that isn't trying to one-up its audience and their expectations, but one that's trying to be honest. That's all a show really needs.
・Probably my favorite episode of the arc—uncoincidentally, the most understated one as well with most of it in flashback form far away from the present fight. Hopefully that's a sign of things to come.

very abrupt ending to this post bc i dropped the show after hearing that the next arc was a fuckin exam/tournament arc straight out of shonen jump and i just...checked out after that.