I have been waiting for you to do a video on Frieren! And it's gonna be a series?! I fell in love with the adaptation that I read the manga starting on where the show ended. Just wanted to share, idk if it's just me but there's this creeping sadness? as we witness the current journey Frieren is on. Knowing that some decades after it ends, she'll be alone again. It makes me want to treasure all of the characters introduced so far.
I feel like an immortal would see humans somewhat how we see fish. When I was a kid we had a huge fish tank with guppies, since they were the cheapest and simplest to take care of, but also had their own flare in the form of their scale colors that were all different - and then they'd breed, their children had colors similar to their parents in a new mix of patterns. But, of course, guppies only had a lifespan of a couple months, and it wasn't long before I had to experience the ritual that every fish owner has to perform to lay their aquatic friends to rest. At first it was said... then the next time, it was melancholy then, it was normal. And over time I grew to get more attached to the lineages of my favorite fish rather than their individual lives. I went from naming my fish to giving them family names, identifying them by their colors passed down over generations, and enjoying the overarching view of these short but colorful lives that I was curating. The saddest part for me wasn't the end of an individual life, but the end of a dynasty passed down sometimes for years, because their family colors would no longer grace my world. That informed a lot of how I tend to see and write immortal characters - in my fictional world, immortals tend to be either the advisors to family lines or the rulers of nations, seeing their people in terms of how we see fish, these terribly fragile but also beautiful creatures that they're charged with curating and maintaining over generations. The immortal king doesn't cry for a single man's death, but takes pride in seeing that man's son take over the business that has thrived for generations and contributed greatly to the nation as a whole, anticipating what additions that son will make to their family line. Every individual is but a link in a great chain, and their contributions to society live on in the eyes of these immortal observers, and in the tangible effects they left behind. It may seem callous to a human that an immortal would care more for a building their ancestors constructed than for them as a person, but in the immortal's eyes, that building and the function it serves are the lasting legacy of a family line who devoted generations to improving the world they lived in, while the current individual presiding over it is merely the latest inheritor - not the first, and hopefully not the last, because the loss of a family line en totalle is more tragic to an immortal than the death of any one individual, as it's the death of an entire legacy.
Lord of the Rings actually tackles this idea as well, just not at a personal level like Frieren. The Elves cope with living forever by creating realms for themselves where they don't have to experience it. Rivendell and Lothlorien are basically unchanging and immune to the passage of time, which is why there's always calendar wonkiness when characters visit. The nature of these realms is supported by the Three Rings which is why they're only reluctantly willing to destroy the One Ring, since its existence supports the existence of the others. Once the One Ring is destroyed, the lands the Elves built for themselves start to change and age and the Elves are unable to cope with that and eventually all leave Middle Earth for the Undying Lands.
Agreed! This, on top of how Arwen chooses to give up her immortality to stay and die with Aragorn. That's always been one of my favorite parts of the LotR story.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not that deep into LotR lore, but aren't the Elven rings the least connected rings to the One, because Celebrimbor(sp?) forged them without direct evil interference?
@@voshadxgathicCelebrimbor made them without Sauron’s direct help, but since Sauron was the one who taught him how to make them in the first place they are still tied to the One Ring. They don’t have the evil drawbacks that the other rings do, but the One can still control them, and they fail when it is destroyed.
I also think the symbolism of the meteor shower burning out as Himmel looks at it shows us how fleeting life as it burns out and comes again in a generation for the next humans to see. But for Frieren it is a constant that goes by so often that she knows where it might look best.
I know this isn't at all the main point of the video. But I think Frieren choosing magic as something to pursue amidst the lack of anything else to do touches on a very real concept. While there's always exception, and this won't apply to everyone. I've found it can be very helpful to set yourself both long-term and short-term goals to work toward in your life. Without anything to work toward, you can sometimes feel your life might be meaningless, and so much like how video games can keep someone hooked via daily login bonuses, quests, battle passes, and weekly rewards. You can also help keep yourself motivated, and by extension happy, by setting a list of short-term and long-term goals to work toward. Sorry if this isn't really the place for existential advice on finding happiness in life, but I hope the extra video-engagement at least helps more people see your awesome videos. Keep up the good work man !
The meaning of life is by default reproduction, passing on life to the next generation. But for those able to dwell on the individual meaning of their words individual life, we have the ability to choose what our lives mean. You just figured out the meaning of life- its whatever you choose to dedicate your life to in order to keep going. An aimless individual often feels like they have lost meaning, and finding some purpose is the way to combat that.
I enjoy Frieren for the same reasons that Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite shows ever. It's a show about characters where the setting and plot generally exist for the purpose of accenting the characters personalities, flaws, and strengths vs having characters who exist to push along the plot.
The moment you said ".and Frieren finds herself crying." at 4:21 hit me like a truck i almost started to cry. I totaly forgot that scene and damn it. Good video, realy nice voice and pace.
Goddamn, you're making me cry over this anime all over again! Watching the first three episodes of Frieren for the first time is an experience i'll never forget. I wish there was more media that hit me in the feels like this show does; it's always the symbolism and the "show, don't tell" part of beautiful stories that make me tear up. Frieren is definitely my favorite anime.
I have heard that immortality can be either a blessing or a curse, and its entirely dependent on if you can generate meaning or purpose for yourself, or have to have it given to you by some outside force. If you can generate meaning for yourself, immortality is a blessing. You can generate infinite meaning for an infinite life. But if you have to get meaning from outside yourself and you live forever....eventually the world will always change. The meaning of the things you do will change. And you will constantly be forced to change with it or loose it and have to find new meaning elsewhere. A sysphisian cycle that would turn immortality into torment.
Man, just that one shot of Himmel's funeral, and I started bawling all over again. It's remarkable because I don't care much about Himmel himself - despite the few memories that are touched upon during the show, I don't feel like I know him. He's just an acquaintance of an acquaintance. But, that's immaterial because it's not the loss of Himmel which brings the pain, but instead a feeling of Regret. As someone who's felt Regret at some point (and who hasn't?), all the creators needed to do was to tap into that feeling ... and they were able to do this in only one episode. Come to think of it, Frieren herself resembles little more than a background character. She lacks personality - she doesn't do much, doesn't react to much, doesn't grow or mature at all. Only bits and pieces are shown about her history, her values, or her goals. Almost like they don't matter. She seems to serve only as a vehicle for the expression of concepts like Regret, Nostalgia, and Love. And yet, she doesn't even display those emotions strongly herself, merely hinting at them with the occasional small smile (and that one tearful breakdown in the first episode). So how is the show so effective at making me feel these emotions so strongly?
That little bit of editing at 2:10 was perfect. Continuing to smoothly explain things, while using the visual medium to convey more information. It's half an editing flourish, and half a meaningful piece of information. Very classy.
Aww jeez ya showed Frieren crying twice, now I'm gonna cry. Also I don't have like anything cool or philosophical to say in a comment, but I am enjoying these essays.
I'm Filipino and an aspiring writer. Forgive my English, but I wanted to leave a message for you. I fell in love with your video essays starting with the ones you did for HBO's The Last of Us. I’ve been a fan ever since. I kept rewatching your videos, studying how well you organize and express your thoughts. I watched Frieren months ago and instantly fell in love with its storytelling. I kept rewatching it, appreciating and studying every detail of this masterpiece. Just tonight, I discovered your new videos, where you've not just made one, but a whole series of video essays-and it just made my night. You have a beautiful gift of turning your thoughts and ideas into such compelling pieces. I just wanted to leave a note to show my appreciation and let you know that there are many others like me around the world who are fans of your work. Oh, and you have a very calming and soothing voice too, which I believe complements your videos perfectly. Thank you for sharing your insights with us, especially for aspiring writers like me. I look forward to your future videos. Please keep doing what you do-your work truly makes a difference.
Assuming elves were effectively humans that don't age, I imagine their life span would be something like this: Birth to mature functioning adult (however long it takes) -> sage and master of chosen field -> mental decline often resulting in madness -> death or some way to create total amnesia to move back in this list. Eventually the end result will be suicide or death by someone else. Framing things in this perspective, it makes sense why so many elves would choose to be warriors. They get death by proxy and exchange literal immortality with figurative immortality. Elves true power isn't their immortality, but their ability to choose when to cast it off
Damn, that opening reminded me of why I’m salty about anime. I don’t see a lot of fantasy anime truly exploring things. Not sure of I just fail to find it, or if its super rare. I feel like you’re more likely to find deeper exploration of immortality in other mediums… but I’m not sure. I can’t put my finger on where I have found great explorations of immortality. It might have been books, but the main explorations of immortality I can think of are actually songs… (see Pushing the Speed of Light for a more human example) Shout out to the person that mentioned vampire media, because I think there were some good explorations of it there, even in some anime I’ve seen.
Yearly reminder that we are the elves to our dogs. The hours they spent waiting for you at work, or outside your door while you busied yourself were days to them. Cats? Nah they are the elves. I firmly believe they remember all 9 lives.
So, in case you'd like to know, the majority of what seem like important character choices that happen in Frieren are actually only due to 2 very common Japanese themes that go hand in hand. Japanese cycle of life and death themes and Japanese self-identity. There's a lot of good storytelling in general sure but the overwhelming majority of what the show is trying to say is tied up in these 2 themes. Frieren goes through the show learning the first one, and is exemplified as a flat character due to the second one. Her favorite spell and her conversation in the final episode about it? That's all self-identity. Frieren is relatively unique in that the show isn't trying to undercut her immortality at least, unlike most Japanese stories with immortal characters.
True, the show subtly always keeps reminding the viewer that "oh...right, she's immortal...the others are gonna die" And then she's all alone again, it's beautiful and yet very heart-wrenching Good thing Frieren isn't fully immortal lmao, she just has a long asf lifespan, one day she'll die and reunite with the others again
I think one of the most telling things of the diconnect of her view of human lives is that the onlt reason frieren goes back to see himmel again is the gqct that he has a spell tool she gave him. He views it as this special thing an item that for the rest of his life has cast an ominous aura in the cabinet it is kept and as friren is given it, she walks away thinking all of that when its just a simple spell ingredient. It is an underlying ignorant selfishness she has that she doesnt understand his aging and lifespan fully until he dies
I finally have a place to share this, and is how to survive inmortality. Your mind can only survive that, I believe, if you reinvent your life as much as possible. Frieren does that collecting spells, an apparent eternal task. That helps her move on with a task that takes forever, while her disconnection with the world around her helps her avoid existential dread UNTIL she understood that it is a cope mechanism that works for her for her long lifespan. Reinventing for us, people, would be to have many lifes. 100 years a doctor, a 100 years an engineer, and make new friends and family. Also avoid attachment. It is hard for us now, but maybe in the future is something we should start thinking about that.
1:17 Unnamed Memory is a romance anime that aired during the second cour of season 1 for Frieren. It at one point explores one of the protagonist’s past.
Talking about time reminded me immediately of Steins Gate. On the topic of Frieren though, it's an absolute masterpiece in my opinion and point of view. Every scenic shot is a candidate for a top high-res wallpaper background that you could brag to everyone. The story itself is entertaining and will absolutely get you hooked even though at first glance; you might think it could have been a boring story. The topic of time itself in Frieren is fascinating and does reflects how immortality, or at least longevity that spans thousands of years or more is more painful than what it first seems. And that's how I resonated with the anime itself after it came to my mind just from the very first episode. If I have enough free time, I will absolutely binge watch Frieren again; and if I have a chance to wipe any one story out of my memory so I could enjoy it again, it will definitely be Steins Gate.
I think you'll enjoy Apothecary Diaries too. It's a psychological mystery thriller set in Imperial China with one of the best main characters of the decade.
I like your insights. Im happy that I found someone who analysizes this great Manga/Anime. But I would like to tell you one thing. While you are explaining and talking in your videos. You talk so fast. Not to fast that non-native english speakers cant understand you. It is not that. It is that, so often throughout your videos you are stringing thought, after thought, after thought together. We as an audience cant even think about your first point because you rush through your sentences/points that there is no "mental break". It is not about giving us 30 seconds of time. But sometimes 2 seconds can do a lot Keep up the work!
Also I think later down the line we see Serie the teacher of Flama who taught Frieren. Serie dislikes all her students in some ways as or at least she doesn't show love to them directly. Serie tells Frieren that she might be killed by a human mage and the time of humans has come. She fails Frieren because of the difference in ideology even though it is a peaceful era. Also the bit with the Demon using Zoltraak being 80 years ago and humans learning to counter act in that time. Yet still not being able to understand the deepness and complexity of magic. Frieren feels time like the demons but the demons seems to be animalistic and Elves being close to humans seems to be numbed by time like Serie is after seeing all the death and passing of all her students.
Excellent video on immorality! As you say, Mother Nature does not create immortal living things. Natural Selection would not work to sort through mutations finding new good ones, if the species lived forever. That's why my dogs pass so fricking soon compared to my life and I hate, always saying goodbye. Frieren is so real in this respect, not fantasy at all.
About immortality or long living being, we already got Kinsou no Vermeil. The idea of showing the perspective of long living being is great for a story but Kinsou no Vermeil failed the base character design and story overall. The only good thing from that title is the ending song which reflects to the story and feels like the immortal being writes the lyric. The storytelling on the ending song is better than the anime.
What if they just have a more controlled hormone system, and also some controll over what information they store in there brain. They were made to be inmortals.
that's a super interesting point. I have some trans friends that have gone through hrt and they shared that at times it felt like they were going through a second puberty and they were like, "no wonder i was so emotionally volatile as a teenager, hormones are nuts" and i wonder if elves development and mental inclination is at all proportional to their long lives? Is frieren still in her 20s mentally despite having lived so long????
Yours cloud be an example. Or they just have a kind of compressed memory, a mind palace. More advanced brain. And a great griefing process. Or they just live in the moment.
My only problem with this, that branches throughout the video, is that it *has* been explored before. A lot. I admit, the angle that Frieren takes upon the subject is rare and precious, but it is not unique in that it views a long life as a curse; just about every piece of literature on the topic of immortality waxes poetically about it, often even portraying immortality's influence and the grief that comes with it as a corrupting influence, even. The most obvious is vampirism; the longer these creatures live the less the lives of mortals matter to them, and the easier it is for them to view even their former kin as little more than livestock. You wax on about how media oft portrays immortality as a good thing... I've never actually seen it.
Its nothing terrifying in living forever, its just our own copium to deal with death. In Firen's story realistically problem is that her friends dont last fore ever, not that she is.
I have been waiting for you to do a video on Frieren! And it's gonna be a series?! I fell in love with the adaptation that I read the manga starting on where the show ended. Just wanted to share, idk if it's just me but there's this creeping sadness? as we witness the current journey Frieren is on. Knowing that some decades after it ends, she'll be alone again. It makes me want to treasure all of the characters introduced so far.
I feel like an immortal would see humans somewhat how we see fish.
When I was a kid we had a huge fish tank with guppies, since they were the cheapest and simplest to take care of, but also had their own flare in the form of their scale colors that were all different - and then they'd breed, their children had colors similar to their parents in a new mix of patterns. But, of course, guppies only had a lifespan of a couple months, and it wasn't long before I had to experience the ritual that every fish owner has to perform to lay their aquatic friends to rest. At first it was said... then the next time, it was melancholy then, it was normal. And over time I grew to get more attached to the lineages of my favorite fish rather than their individual lives. I went from naming my fish to giving them family names, identifying them by their colors passed down over generations, and enjoying the overarching view of these short but colorful lives that I was curating. The saddest part for me wasn't the end of an individual life, but the end of a dynasty passed down sometimes for years, because their family colors would no longer grace my world.
That informed a lot of how I tend to see and write immortal characters - in my fictional world, immortals tend to be either the advisors to family lines or the rulers of nations, seeing their people in terms of how we see fish, these terribly fragile but also beautiful creatures that they're charged with curating and maintaining over generations. The immortal king doesn't cry for a single man's death, but takes pride in seeing that man's son take over the business that has thrived for generations and contributed greatly to the nation as a whole, anticipating what additions that son will make to their family line. Every individual is but a link in a great chain, and their contributions to society live on in the eyes of these immortal observers, and in the tangible effects they left behind. It may seem callous to a human that an immortal would care more for a building their ancestors constructed than for them as a person, but in the immortal's eyes, that building and the function it serves are the lasting legacy of a family line who devoted generations to improving the world they lived in, while the current individual presiding over it is merely the latest inheritor - not the first, and hopefully not the last, because the loss of a family line en totalle is more tragic to an immortal than the death of any one individual, as it's the death of an entire legacy.
That's an intriguing and fresh way of presenting immortals !f you'd be willing to share, I'd love to read some of your stories.
very well made comment
all of this from fish? this is amazing!
Well said!
This is such a beautiful comment ❤. Thank you
Lord of the Rings actually tackles this idea as well, just not at a personal level like Frieren. The Elves cope with living forever by creating realms for themselves where they don't have to experience it. Rivendell and Lothlorien are basically unchanging and immune to the passage of time, which is why there's always calendar wonkiness when characters visit. The nature of these realms is supported by the Three Rings which is why they're only reluctantly willing to destroy the One Ring, since its existence supports the existence of the others. Once the One Ring is destroyed, the lands the Elves built for themselves start to change and age and the Elves are unable to cope with that and eventually all leave Middle Earth for the Undying Lands.
Agreed! This, on top of how Arwen chooses to give up her immortality to stay and die with Aragorn. That's always been one of my favorite parts of the LotR story.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not that deep into LotR lore, but aren't the Elven rings the least connected rings to the One, because Celebrimbor(sp?) forged them without direct evil interference?
@@voshadxgathicCelebrimbor made them without Sauron’s direct help, but since Sauron was the one who taught him how to make them in the first place they are still tied to the One Ring. They don’t have the evil drawbacks that the other rings do, but the One can still control them, and they fail when it is destroyed.
That’s not tackling it, that’s a dodge.
The conversation between Andreth and Finrod explored this pretty interestingly. And heart-wrenching
I also think the symbolism of the meteor shower burning out as Himmel looks at it shows us how fleeting life as it burns out and comes again in a generation for the next humans to see. But for Frieren it is a constant that goes by so often that she knows where it might look best.
If I was fríeren I would have found a hair growing spell
somehow you'd still end up bald
Which kind of hair ?
@@zurielssspuebes
I know this isn't at all the main point of the video. But I think Frieren choosing magic as something to pursue amidst the lack of anything else to do touches on a very real concept. While there's always exception, and this won't apply to everyone. I've found it can be very helpful to set yourself both long-term and short-term goals to work toward in your life. Without anything to work toward, you can sometimes feel your life might be meaningless, and so much like how video games can keep someone hooked via daily login bonuses, quests, battle passes, and weekly rewards. You can also help keep yourself motivated, and by extension happy, by setting a list of short-term and long-term goals to work toward.
Sorry if this isn't really the place for existential advice on finding happiness in life, but I hope the extra video-engagement at least helps more people see your awesome videos. Keep up the good work man !
nah this is a great comment! I agree :)
The meaning of life is by default reproduction, passing on life to the next generation. But for those able to dwell on the individual meaning of their words individual life, we have the ability to choose what our lives mean.
You just figured out the meaning of life- its whatever you choose to dedicate your life to in order to keep going.
An aimless individual often feels like they have lost meaning, and finding some purpose is the way to combat that.
the only show where it actually made me realise how immortality has its ups and downs
I enjoy Frieren for the same reasons that Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite shows ever.
It's a show about characters where the setting and plot generally exist for the purpose of accenting the characters personalities, flaws, and strengths vs having characters who exist to push along the plot.
The moment you said ".and Frieren finds herself crying." at 4:21 hit me like a truck i almost started to cry. I totaly forgot that scene and damn it.
Good video, realy nice voice and pace.
They tackle this concept a lot in vampire fiction, but I love how you tied this concept in with the fantasy genre.
Goddamn, you're making me cry over this anime all over again! Watching the first three episodes of Frieren for the first time is an experience i'll never forget. I wish there was more media that hit me in the feels like this show does; it's always the symbolism and the "show, don't tell" part of beautiful stories that make me tear up. Frieren is definitely my favorite anime.
I have heard that immortality can be either a blessing or a curse, and its entirely dependent on if you can generate meaning or purpose for yourself, or have to have it given to you by some outside force. If you can generate meaning for yourself, immortality is a blessing. You can generate infinite meaning for an infinite life. But if you have to get meaning from outside yourself and you live forever....eventually the world will always change. The meaning of the things you do will change. And you will constantly be forced to change with it or loose it and have to find new meaning elsewhere. A sysphisian cycle that would turn immortality into torment.
But on the other hand... one must imagine sisyphus happy, no?
@@Elatzy Only if he enjoys rolling the boulder.
Man, just that one shot of Himmel's funeral, and I started bawling all over again. It's remarkable because I don't care much about Himmel himself - despite the few memories that are touched upon during the show, I don't feel like I know him. He's just an acquaintance of an acquaintance. But, that's immaterial because it's not the loss of Himmel which brings the pain, but instead a feeling of Regret. As someone who's felt Regret at some point (and who hasn't?), all the creators needed to do was to tap into that feeling ... and they were able to do this in only one episode.
Come to think of it, Frieren herself resembles little more than a background character. She lacks personality - she doesn't do much, doesn't react to much, doesn't grow or mature at all. Only bits and pieces are shown about her history, her values, or her goals. Almost like they don't matter. She seems to serve only as a vehicle for the expression of concepts like Regret, Nostalgia, and Love. And yet, she doesn't even display those emotions strongly herself, merely hinting at them with the occasional small smile (and that one tearful breakdown in the first episode). So how is the show so effective at making me feel these emotions so strongly?
That little bit of editing at 2:10 was perfect. Continuing to smoothly explain things, while using the visual medium to convey more information. It's half an editing flourish, and half a meaningful piece of information. Very classy.
Just found your channel and this playlist. I adore Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and look forward to the rest of your insights on this masterpiece.
Thank you for this beautiful love letter to one of the greatest shows of our time
Truly, thank you for these words.
Aww jeez ya showed Frieren crying twice, now I'm gonna cry. Also I don't have like anything cool or philosophical to say in a comment, but I am enjoying these essays.
I'm Filipino and an aspiring writer. Forgive my English, but I wanted to leave a message for you. I fell in love with your video essays starting with the ones you did for HBO's The Last of Us. I’ve been a fan ever since. I kept rewatching your videos, studying how well you organize and express your thoughts.
I watched Frieren months ago and instantly fell in love with its storytelling. I kept rewatching it, appreciating and studying every detail of this masterpiece. Just tonight, I discovered your new videos, where you've not just made one, but a whole series of video essays-and it just made my night.
You have a beautiful gift of turning your thoughts and ideas into such compelling pieces. I just wanted to leave a note to show my appreciation and let you know that there are many others like me around the world who are fans of your work. Oh, and you have a very calming and soothing voice too, which I believe complements your videos perfectly.
Thank you for sharing your insights with us, especially for aspiring writers like me. I look forward to your future videos. Please keep doing what you do-your work truly makes a difference.
Thank you for the kind words! Good luck in your artistic journey 😁
Just discovered this channel, really love what you did there and I'm looking forward to see the rest of the exploring frieren Playlist
As someone whose favorite childhood book is Tuck Everlasting, I appreciate the writing of Freiren a lot.
Assuming elves were effectively humans that don't age, I imagine their life span would be something like this:
Birth to mature functioning adult (however long it takes) -> sage and master of chosen field -> mental decline often resulting in madness -> death or some way to create total amnesia to move back in this list. Eventually the end result will be suicide or death by someone else. Framing things in this perspective, it makes sense why so many elves would choose to be warriors. They get death by proxy and exchange literal immortality with figurative immortality. Elves true power isn't their immortality, but their ability to choose when to cast it off
"My character for this campaign is a 2000 year old elf."
"You just want to sleep in DnD sessions as roleplay, dont you?"
Damn, that opening reminded me of why I’m salty about anime. I don’t see a lot of fantasy anime truly exploring things. Not sure of I just fail to find it, or if its super rare.
I feel like you’re more likely to find deeper exploration of immortality in other mediums… but I’m not sure.
I can’t put my finger on where I have found great explorations of immortality. It might have been books, but the main explorations of immortality I can think of are actually songs… (see Pushing the Speed of Light for a more human example)
Shout out to the person that mentioned vampire media, because I think there were some good explorations of it there, even in some anime I’ve seen.
Yearly reminder that we are the elves to our dogs.
The hours they spent waiting for you at work, or outside your door while you busied yourself were days to them.
Cats? Nah they are the elves. I firmly believe they remember all 9 lives.
That's so damn sad man.
So, in case you'd like to know, the majority of what seem like important character choices that happen in Frieren are actually only due to 2 very common Japanese themes that go hand in hand. Japanese cycle of life and death themes and Japanese self-identity. There's a lot of good storytelling in general sure but the overwhelming majority of what the show is trying to say is tied up in these 2 themes. Frieren goes through the show learning the first one, and is exemplified as a flat character due to the second one. Her favorite spell and her conversation in the final episode about it? That's all self-identity. Frieren is relatively unique in that the show isn't trying to undercut her immortality at least, unlike most Japanese stories with immortal characters.
True, the show subtly always keeps reminding the viewer that "oh...right, she's immortal...the others are gonna die"
And then she's all alone again, it's beautiful and yet very heart-wrenching
Good thing Frieren isn't fully immortal lmao, she just has a long asf lifespan, one day she'll die and reunite with the others again
I think one of the most telling things of the diconnect of her view of human lives is that the onlt reason frieren goes back to see himmel again is the gqct that he has a spell tool she gave him. He views it as this special thing an item that for the rest of his life has cast an ominous aura in the cabinet it is kept and as friren is given it, she walks away thinking all of that when its just a simple spell ingredient. It is an underlying ignorant selfishness she has that she doesnt understand his aging and lifespan fully until he dies
this is becoming my new favourite channel LOL keep uo the good workk
I’ve already seen a couple of these videos of yours without even knowing it was a series you were doing. Looking forward to watching them all
outsdanding job, pey!
thank you!!
I finally have a place to share this, and is how to survive inmortality. Your mind can only survive that, I believe, if you reinvent your life as much as possible. Frieren does that collecting spells, an apparent eternal task. That helps her move on with a task that takes forever, while her disconnection with the world around her helps her avoid existential dread UNTIL she understood that it is a cope mechanism that works for her for her long lifespan.
Reinventing for us, people, would be to have many lifes. 100 years a doctor, a 100 years an engineer, and make new friends and family. Also avoid attachment. It is hard for us now, but maybe in the future is something we should start thinking about that.
im watching this as im drawing. good stuff you have here bro. good stuff.
Frieren is one of the best animes I've ever watched. Its fantastic
This masterpiece is atemporal
1:17 Unnamed Memory is a romance anime that aired during the second cour of season 1 for Frieren. It at one point explores one of the protagonist’s past.
Watching this to cope while waiting for s2
i would like it if you took a deeper dive into stark and his backstory along with the slight foreshadowing
Talking about time reminded me immediately of Steins Gate.
On the topic of Frieren though, it's an absolute masterpiece in my opinion and point of view. Every scenic shot is a candidate for a top high-res wallpaper background that you could brag to everyone. The story itself is entertaining and will absolutely get you hooked even though at first glance; you might think it could have been a boring story.
The topic of time itself in Frieren is fascinating and does reflects how immortality, or at least longevity that spans thousands of years or more is more painful than what it first seems. And that's how I resonated with the anime itself after it came to my mind just from the very first episode.
If I have enough free time, I will absolutely binge watch Frieren again; and if I have a chance to wipe any one story out of my memory so I could enjoy it again, it will definitely be Steins Gate.
i love this anime so much
After watching Frieren I don't think I can ever play and Elf in an RPG again. I love this show so much.
I think you'll enjoy Apothecary Diaries too. It's a psychological mystery thriller set in Imperial China with one of the best main characters of the decade.
I like your insights. Im happy that I found someone who analysizes this great Manga/Anime.
But I would like to tell you one thing. While you are explaining and talking in your videos. You talk so fast. Not to fast that non-native english speakers cant understand you. It is not that.
It is that, so often throughout your videos you are stringing thought, after thought, after thought together. We as an audience cant even think about your first point because you rush through your sentences/points that there is no "mental break". It is not about giving us 30 seconds of time. But sometimes 2 seconds can do a lot
Keep up the work!
not the first time Ive been given this feedback, thank you for the perspective. It's something I've been working on in my most recent videos!
I would also appreciate if you left the text on a little longer. Hard to read that fast and hear words.
Also I think later down the line we see Serie the teacher of Flama who taught Frieren.
Serie dislikes all her students in some ways as or at least she doesn't show love to them directly.
Serie tells Frieren that she might be killed by a human mage and the time of humans has come. She fails Frieren because of the difference in ideology even though it is a peaceful era.
Also the bit with the Demon using Zoltraak being 80 years ago and humans learning to counter act in that time. Yet still not being able to understand the deepness and complexity of magic. Frieren feels time like the demons but the demons seems to be animalistic and Elves being close to humans seems to be numbed by time like Serie is after seeing all the death and passing of all her students.
I’d want to find a spell that keeps hair and toe nails the exact size you cast them as 😂
Excellent video on immorality! As you say, Mother Nature does not create immortal living things. Natural Selection would not work to sort through mutations finding new good ones, if the species lived forever. That's why my dogs pass so fricking soon compared to my life and I hate, always saying goodbye. Frieren is so real in this respect, not fantasy at all.
The strange case of darian gray does this as well but mutch darker
About immortality or long living being, we already got Kinsou no Vermeil. The idea of showing the perspective of long living being is great for a story but Kinsou no Vermeil failed the base character design and story overall. The only good thing from that title is the ending song which reflects to the story and feels like the immortal being writes the lyric. The storytelling on the ending song is better than the anime.
What is the name of the music you use for the background of this video? Its absolutely beautiful!
What if they just have a more controlled hormone system, and also some controll over what information they store in there brain. They were made to be inmortals.
that's a super interesting point. I have some trans friends that have gone through hrt and they shared that at times it felt like they were going through a second puberty and they were like, "no wonder i was so emotionally volatile as a teenager, hormones are nuts" and i wonder if elves development and mental inclination is at all proportional to their long lives? Is frieren still in her 20s mentally despite having lived so long????
Yours cloud be an example. Or they just have a kind of compressed memory, a mind palace. More advanced brain. And a great griefing process.
Or they just live in the moment.
Early episodes were better, change my mind 😂 Thanks for your work!
name of the wind mentioned
Tuck Everlasting
My only problem with this, that branches throughout the video, is that it *has* been explored before. A lot.
I admit, the angle that Frieren takes upon the subject is rare and precious, but it is not unique in that it views a long life as a curse; just about every piece of literature on the topic of immortality waxes poetically about it, often even portraying immortality's influence and the grief that comes with it as a corrupting influence, even. The most obvious is vampirism; the longer these creatures live the less the lives of mortals matter to them, and the easier it is for them to view even their former kin as little more than livestock.
You wax on about how media oft portrays immortality as a good thing... I've never actually seen it.
does anyone know name of the music from 1:18 to about 4:20?
Its nothing terrifying in living forever, its just our own copium to deal with death. In Firen's story realistically problem is that her friends dont last fore ever, not that she is.
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