rsa-everything

[rsa-everything]

FRIEREN - a mockery of an anime review

(Anime only perspective) *Although, I am aware of many things in the manga*

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Can an anime be 10/10 perfect score? Possibility, says yes! But time, says no! With time there will always be something better.

9.99.../10

Should you give it a try: 99 % Yes - ( 1% no if you can't control your attention)

Done.

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I finished the first season and I'm amazed at how well this story follows its main theme so well. Starting at the end of what would be the common resolution of most fantasy animes, the victory over the demon lord, Frieren delivers a storyline of how life really works, despite reaching the end of one story, another continues. And in the grand scheme of all life, the story really never ends.

You really need to watch this anime past it's opening prologue (roughly eps 1- 2)

The audience is thrown into abrupt point in the story, you don't see the party of heroes take down the demon lord or any action really. You find your hero party in it's victory parade and you are left with piecing together of what happened and how will this story continue.

Initially, what you get is an at leisure fantasy, slice of life, and a mundane world exploration But it's really an overwhelmingly spacious world building experience. Frieren, the last great mage, is roughly over a 1000 years old in the story we begin and that really correlates with her pace of life and her emotionless outlook. The story starts after 10 years of journeying with the hero's party. Frieren leaves to explore the world, but for every moment or event we watch-time easily passes by. So quickly that we reach the death of main hero of her party, Himmel. This is point where Frieren's sense of time really slows down for the audience and constant event flags stick to the story. She suddenly self realizes what she missed in a blink of an eye, because sudden rush of feelings that are resonating within her for once (IMO regret, sadness and determination *in that order*)

She decides to leave the remaining members to change herself mentally and actually live in the world before her. Of course, her habits of constant leisure are still a foundation of her deminer, but changes are subtle. Eventually the changes pick up when she reunites 20 years later with Heiter, one of her party members, again.

As I would enjoy to retell the story, I shouldn't. it's for ppl to enjoy.

Just stop reading and enjoy watching the anime. It's a masterclass of new perspective in an anime genre riddled with Isekai plot armor. (I personally enjoy that still) But if you already did watch Freiren, watch it in another language. You might find it refreshing for slight changes of context.

For the people that would like to continue:

Feieren explores the idea of what shapes your decisions currently are the actions and events from the past. Simply put, everything is a reflection of the past. I believe this is the main plot driving force of our main cast of characters. Whatever happens, no matter how small it's eventually reflected on future events. If you stop and rewatch episode(s) before the main event(s) you'll realize there's more meaning in what they do. Sure, this anime uses flash backs to explain how this came to be, but the actions are explained often with actions and dialogue from previous episodes. Frieren, the mage, is an odd ball and is questioned often as to why she does things and audience often will understand before the people she speaks with. The amount of layers of this is ridiculous and are splendid tidbits along the way for the audience. (like specific spells for really specific things that wouldn't be really that special or "useful")

Besides the superb story, the animation really doesn't get enough credit. For some reason ppl often bring up the dance scene being amazing with all it's movement in fabric, hair etc. But, looking back at previous episodes, watching the characters hair, earrings, fabric etc..., everything is so subtle that it mirrors reality. The director really knows how to make the audience focus, from cinematic angles to the unusual poses. People will joke feet *cough cough* and armpits *cough cough* but they just make a common conversion or fight more interesting. Speaking of fight scenes, the animation is also highly praised for good reason. They are just pure enjoyment and a nice refreshing change of pace when it arrives. The scenes are not only a spectacle in their own rights, but emphasize the importance of experience and skill development for both the characters and the audience. Even the dialogue during the fights really means something and everything seems to have purpose. It's wonderful that the the dialogue is calm and subdued as if the opponents are using the weight of their experience to dominate the fight.

to be continued...

maybe