Your analysis is better than most, and the AI dialogue leading to the Costco joke was very funny. Good point about visual cues that suggest the demons aren't necessarily pure evil, but at the same time I just thought all of that was to hold a mirror to the audience and make us doubt our own optimism bias like, "No way, they can't ALL be THAT bad." I thought it was a brave choice in a world full of vapid "tolerance" messages to suggest that sometimes prejudice is warranted.
@4:40 And that is why all my stories turn out to be shit. Because they are just a bunch of stuff that happens instead of a concept. You are a damn literary genius man. I am so glad I found this channel.
Frieren stoically watching Sein as he is stuck in the swamp isn't (just) a gag. It is the episode prologue that lays out the entire episode. We just don't have all the information to understand it to begin with, at first viewing. Frieren explains it later. She instantly recognized that he was exactly the way she was before Himmel reached out to her. And she hated him for that. His "relatable" story was all too relatable to Frieren.
Frieren not trying kill Sein. This scene appears just as simple gag, but if think little more it show that Frieren first think then act, what if she lose time to find stick, but Sein drow too deep? So she decide to use spell that save Sein with guarantee. Also this scene show that Frieren like to do everything at last moment
I love it when an analysis of a good media is not just something hyper superficial that is there to be largely negative or positive, but rather a true criticism and sincere analysis. Excellent video, keep up the great work!
35:25 i liked his inner monologue,it shows his mistrust issues, his doubts, his character. It's important cause then when he's about to give up he suddenly remembers what he was told about frieren years ago, that she could always be trusted, so he decides to lunge into this uncertainty, half not believing she can actually kill the monster in 5 seconds time. And ehen actually does it shatters all his previous emotions we just heard/saw via the inner dialogue.
One of the things that I've thought about Frieren as I watched it was that the people who don't fall in love with it seem to be the younger crowd. I think to truly and fully appreciate and understand the story you have to have had time take someone you love away from you. Then, and only then, can you understand the meaning of the story.
'Then, and only then' - only? Seems rather dismissive. One does not need to have experienced deep loss to know what loss is. It's also perfectly possible to understanding something without appreciating it. Just cos someone doesn't love something doesn't mean they didn't grasp it. The corollary is also true - I'm fairly confident there are people who love Freiren who haven't lost anyone they love deeply, including some young people. Taste is by nature subjective, and varies greatly.
Like the comment that was replied here, I believe they don't really necessarily need to experience that loss. Hell, we wouldn't want anyone to go through that and sadly, at some point in time, they will only learn it the hard way later in their lives. But I think you pointed out why exactly some people don't like Frieren after first watching it--they're younger people. I'm at least 23 years old, and although that's still considered a very young age, the reason why Frieren suddenly got to me because I've been becoming more aware of time passing by and I'm processing at the fact that I'm growing old and I'm moving on with my life right now. And within the same year, someone I knew and grew to love as a child passed away too. I got to know what that loss was like and I never resonated more with Frieren and her regrets to my own.
No, I wouldn't say you're wrong. Our opinions mostly converge, but are slightly different when it comes to scale. For example I don't mind repetition of the "Mimic gag" not only because first I've read the Manga and there it was spaced decently (at least temporally, when you had to wait for another chapter, though from memory also it was spaced out between chapters), but also because I knew people that were very intelligent and made the same mistake over and over. Even though others could identify said decisions as mistakes easily. So there are details where I disagree with which gag was the annoying one and which wasn't. I would maybe allow for slightly more exposition and inner monologues than you would, but still less than what anime has etc. I do hate when people hate for Frieren for no reason or even call it mediocre (unless it's an opinion and matter of taste - I mostly have issues when they try to state it as "objective fact"), but also I have to say I'm unnerved by people who say it is "the best Anime ever", when I see many parts that could have been done better. Though IMHO there is no show that couldn't have been done better. Hindsight and definitely if we allow for personal preferences. I also see how much the Director changed the Anime for the better from Manga. Not only translating it between mediums - which is a given (assuming director is competent), but also minimizing flaws and adding positives. One place that Anime fails to do it is a scene which you've shown - when Frieren has a flashback to the fight and Heiter is drunk. I'm not 100% certain, because I've read it over a year ago, but I'm almost certain that in Manga while Heiter is initially shown drunk, when the fight is there he is fighting. But indeed the author has problem when it comes to "showing" what Priests do in the battle. At least if we look as far into Manga as Anime went, without what happens later. And I'd say that author has problem visualizing fights in general - that is why they are so short in Manga (with few exceptions when author took a lot of time - sometimes half a year IRL - to prepare a fight). And weirdly it's still 10/10 to me. Not that I care about MAL ranking, but to me Anime doesn't have to be perfect, to perfectly affect me. That is the beauty of art. I remember "not understanding" Picasso for a long time. I didn't understood why people loved his paintings, which are famously... let's just say - "not photorealistic" ;) . But then I was reading the story of "Guernica" and when my father heard about it, he showed me the painting. And it sort of "clicked" for me. Not that I now love the style of Picasso or anything, but I'm not the "hater" I used to be, if this makes sense. And of course important disclaimer - the beauty of art is that there is no such things as "objectively true interpretation" of it. What people get from engaging with form of art is important to them. So if anyone disagrees with me, this is fine. I'd say it would be very creepy if everyone agreed with me exactly ;) P.S. Yes for "The place further than the Universe" being masterpiece.
The fan service, I barely noticed. The mimic gag, I think it would have benefited from establishing two things: 1.) their mimicry is so good there is no was discerning if it's a mimic or a chest without opening or destroying it. 2.) showing that Frieren's gambles sometimes win (I vaguely remember they actually did that).
While your takes on demons are still extremely based, I feel like this video has a bit of that weird attitude, that some artists have e.g.: 21:25 I'm pretty sure, that what Otaku spirit talked about here, was something else. If I remember correctly, he said that it's not enough for anime to be well animated - to look nice - but that it needs substance too. He is decidedly not saying that visual storytelling is not a thing, instead he praises it a lot in his videos, particularly for Frieren. And he also tends to dislike excessive expository dialogue. The mimic gag: It seems, like Frieren just becomes dumb for a gag, or she has a weird fetish right? But I think we see the joke around four times over the course of 28 episodes, so even if it was that dumb, it wouldn't be too bad. But in the clone dungeon, she actually explains that stuff: there's a whole 1% chance, that the mimic detection spell gives a false positives! In that case, there might be a new spell in there. Since mimics pose no threat to her, she is gambling on literal lootboxes at a cost of frizzy hair at worst. This and other running gags (thogh probably not all of them) are also ways too show character. You already said, that it would be better to show them just once, but that is false. If Frieren was shown to fall for a mimic exactly once, it wouldn't show her nonchelant whimsy and excitement for magic, but just her making a mistake and learning from it for good. We already have plenty of Frieren learning a lesson though, so that would be a lot more useless than the running gag is. This is also true for Kanne's and Icegirl's fighting, Fern's repeated moping and other stuff. If it just happened once, it would be a truly useless gag. If it happens repeatedly, It's a character trait, that usually will come back in some important moment. for the mimic against Frieren clone joke: literal bs! it's not like she would be distracted by that in battle. The running gag serves to show this, by always taking place in a secured room, probably after all the nearby monsters have been cleared. It#s a funny joke to say: "just throw a mimic and the clone takes care of itself!" But to seriosly consider it, even just to make a point is clearly in bad faith. Which is weird, since you have loads of good faith towards the show. Your wish of almost zero internal monologues and even less expository dialogue is on I share for most anime. But Frieren is already very light on that. Much less of it, e.g. in the Sein-plant-fight would make his decisions incomprehensible and random to most audiences except people like you, or it would need a lot more time to fit in all the ideas for all audience members to understand. If Frieren went your way too much, I think it would become one of those shows, that nobody but the critics care about. You shouldn't need a degree to watch movies or anime ;) Some of your critique on Frieren also seems less about how her development is shown, but also just, that you don't agree with her development: around 43:00 you basically want her to be a different character, one who already had more development than the actual Frieren did. I guess it's fair to want a quicker story and similar but different character. But that's more taste, than valid criticism. I do like your format thogh :). While I wrote a lot of paragraphs on where I disagree, I like how you presented those points, to where I get what you mean, despite disagreeing;)
I agree with your mimic gag breakdown, it is very much intentional and shows that the "used to be uninterested and cold to the world" frieren has found some sillyness with the hero group, she still has this curiousity and kind of childishness.
yeah, this guy comes off as the stereotypical pretentious film student that wont shut up about how he's better than everyone else because he understands some obscure movie, even though he's correct in a lot of what he says
The video is very interesting, especially the part about artistic techniques, but there are a couple things I would argue with. I disagree that Fern should have been more emotional in the fight with the demon. Fern traveled a lot with Frieren and she was basically the one who dealt with most of the monsters, it's stated in the exam arc. She just might have gotten used to it. You could compare this moment to the appearance of the dragon. Fern only knows one attack spell and it didn't even leave a scratch on the dragon, which was the reason why she was scared. The case of the demon is different, she already knows their weaknesses and she easily manages to land the first blow on the demon while Stark was distracting the demons on himself. To add to the weight of this, the attack spell itself is set up specifically against demons and she's been holding back mana for years to trick demons. Because of which she has more confidence in herself. Also disagree about the gags. We were shown in episode 2 that Haiter quit drinking because of Fern. And that gag showed us how much Priest liked to drink, which makes that scene even stronger. The fact that Fern is constantly sulking shows that she's going through a difficult age, and she's been sulking so often since Stark came along, which also says a lot. And about the Mimics - yes, Frieren is a gambler who believes in the 1%, probably for a reason. And that's just funny. And about fanservice. People miss it so much here that people have accepted just showing legs or armpits as fanservice. That's saying a lot.
Important lore that a lot of people get wrong (part 1 of 2) Short version; Visualization is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all and Frieren doesn't fall for mimics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long version; (I) The magic system and especially the thing about visualization A spoiler-free explanation of the magic system in the Frieren world is as follows: There are 4 components to a mage's magic-casting in the Frieren world: (1) Mana: How much mana/magical-energy they have. Note that other than a mage's initial mana-capacity, which is affected by the following; (a) The mana in each of the parents when the child was conceived (and maybe even the mother's mana until birth). This is because mana is to some extent inherited (eg, Ehre benefitting from being Lernen's grandaughter). (b) MAYBE their race (ie, demon vs elf vs dwarf vs human). However, it's unknown how this affects the initial mana-capacity (eg, Flamme in her 20s-30s? and Aura in her 500+ years of age, had similar amounts of mana). (c) Other currently unknown factors (eg, maybe the Goddess' Blessing since Heiter had a ton of mana even in his 20s?). a mage's mana-capacity is directly proportional to the amount of time that they have been training it (which correlates to their age). Also, mana has other uses than just being the 'fuel' for spell-casting. Specifically, mages with lots of mana have additional benefits compared to 'normal' members of their race. This point will be further expanded upon in a later arc as well. (2) Control: How much mana and how precisely they can control it. This also includes controlling spells after they've been fired off (eg, Frieren curving her Basic Offensive Magic around Fern's Basic Defensive Magic in their practice duel). Note that even raw mana can be used to achieve simple yet effective results if a mage has a high degree of control (eg, Frieren defending her neck against Draht's wire). This point will be further expanded upon in a later arc as well. Another very important case of mana control, is the act of limiting output. Any decent mage (with a good amount of mana control) can temporarily limit their mana (for the purpose of surprising a foe). This is called Concealment. It's basically a mage reducing their mana output from 100% to as close to 0% as they can, while they try to sneak attack an enemy. However, after the sneak attack, there is no value to doing this, since an enemy with magical abilities can probably detect that the attacker is reducing their mana output from the fluctuations seen through mana detection (and even the attacker's unconcealed mana level can be detected, thus making the limiting completely useless at this point). Examples: (a) Fern sneak attacking Lugner in S01E08. (b) Lugner sneak attacking Fern in S01E09. Suppression, on the other hand, is the technique of limiting your mana output at all times (to say 10%). This is a useful technique because it can easily create situations where your enemies underestimate you. A mage that performs Suppression, can also do Concealment and how that works is as follows: They reduce from 10% to as close to 0% as they can, and then go back to 10% after they lift their Concealment. Now, the reason why Suppression isn't feasible for most HUMANs (and here I literally mean just humans and not dwarves and definitely not elves) is that to be able to fool demons and monsters, you either need to be very talented at mana control like Flamme and Fern, or have a very long amount of time (ie, at least a few centuries) to practice Suppression and reduce the fluctuations as much as possible like Serie and Frieren. Thus, making this technique not worth it, since the return for your time-investment is so little. As Serie says, you're better off training other things. As for why Suppression is a dishonesty and a mockery of magic, consider the following examples, which are somewhat equivalent to what mages practicing this technique are doing: (a) A black-belt joining a white-belt martial-arts tournament. (b) A soldier disguising themself as a civilian, and then attacking a target. Basically, mages performing Suppression are hiding their power to intentionally create situations where their opponent is led to underestimating them. This would make them dishonest, but also shows them to be not truly proud of their achievements in magic to be confronting their foes straight-on with their full force and without trickery. (3) Spell: The magical formulas that they know and are able to use. Examples: Basic Offensive/Defensive Magic, Reelseiden. Note that the spell formula dictates what is possible or impossible. Examples: (a) Basic Offensive Magic cannot pierce dragon scales or Basic Defensive Magic, regardless of the attacker's visualization. Otherwise, Frieren would've taught Fern how to do it when she asked Fern to attack the Solar Dragon in S01E05 in the former case, and Basic Defensive Magic would actually be useless in the latter case. (b) Frieren's spell to clean a bronze statue not being usable for a stone statue. If it was purely a visualization based system, then there is absolutely no reason for why Frieren wouldn't be able to use the folk spell in S01E16 to clean Kraft's & Unknown-Priest's statues. (4) Visualization: Needed to activate/use a spell since a mage cannot make something happen if they can't clearly/exactly picture the desired outcome. Note that to clearly/exactly picture an outcome, one needs to have a complete understanding of said outcome. Therefore, they should have a complete understanding of the process that created that specific outcome/result as well (since only understanding an outcome without understanding the generating process, will be incomplete at best and flawed at worst). This is pretty much how it is in real life as well. Furthermore, a weak visualization can weaken a spell, but a strong visualization cannot strengthen a spell. Examples: (a) Regardless of Aura's visualization, her scales were already tilting towards Frieren, even though Aura was unaware that Frieren had more mana at that point. If it was a purely visualization based system, then Aura would've been able to dominate/control anyone including Frieren. (b) Ubel's visualization is ONLY taking advantage of Reelseiden's formula to cut anything in a 5? meter radius. Even she is unable to fully maximize the spell, since she cannot visualize cutting Basic Defensive Magic. However, she can visualize cutting more things than most people, so she's still a very proficient user of this spell. -------------------------------------------------- In summary, the visualization component of magic is just like in real life; you will surely fail if you have a 'bad' mindset, but a 'good' mindset does NOT guarantee success (ie, a 'good' mindset is a necessary, but insufficient condition for success since external factors are still a thing). Visualization is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all. Spells determine what's possible or not, and a mage's visualization can make them achieve between 0% to 100% of a spell's potential. They cannot just bs visualize/imagine themself into winning and/or doing the impossible.
Important lore that a lot of people get wrong (part 2 of 2) Also, there is technically one more component, which may fall under Control, but since I'm not convinced that it definitely does (and also because it's not completely crucial for just casting magic alone as a singular mage), I've written it below as a separate point: (5) Detection: How accurately a mage can detect mana in a certain radius with themself at the center. This is extremely important for battle, since it relates to: (a) Finding hidden enemies (who are probably concealing their mana). (b) Becoming aware of surprise attacks not caught by the physical senses (eg, being shot from behind). (c) Not underestimating a strong foe who's pretending to be weaker than they are (ie, mages who suppress their mana like Serie, Flamme, Frieren, and Fern). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The above info is from: S01E02: First half of the episode with Frieren teaching Fern. S01E03: Second half of the episode on Killing Magic. S01E05: Second half of the episode with the Solar Dragon. S01E08: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E09: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E10: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E15: First half of the episode on Goddess' Magic. S01E16: Second half of the episode with the statue cleaning quest. S01E20: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E21: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E26: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E27: Second half of the episode with the CMA heads meeting. (CMA = Continental Magic Association & CMA heads = Serie + 1st class mages) S01E28: Credits showing Ehre introducing Lernen to Wirbel, which when combined with the info from S01E20 with Ehre & Wirbel, allows us to conclude that Lernen is Ehre's grandfather. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, there are a few additional minor notes for points 2 and 3 (ie, Control and Spell) that I have not included due to being spoilers for anime-onlys. (II) Frieren vs Mimics Putting aside jokes and memes, I have seen far too many people and even video essays on RUclips (some of which claiming to be serious analysis types) thinking/saying that Frieren falls for mimics. However, the truth is; Frieren doesn't fall for mimics. She chooses to take the risk when it's safe to do so (ie, outside of battle situations) because she doesn't lose anything of value (and because the mimic-check spell is only 99% accurate). Specifically, she loses a little time while in the mimic and then later when fixing her hair (but she doesn't care about that because she has practically infinite time), and suffers a little reputation damage (but she doesn't care about how others view her all that much). On the other hand, she may gain something (eg, maybe the shaved-ice spell shown in the flashback in S01E06). In summary, she loses nothing and may gain something so why not try them all?
@@amenoyoni You're welcome. I hope it wasn't too long or too much of a chore to get through it. :) Also, if you have any comments, feedback, or whatever, I would be happy to hear them. Otherwise, have a good day/night. :)
For me when it comes to the one-note gages every character has it reminds me of both myself and the friends I had in high school. Yes, we as well as the characters in the show are very complex with a wide range of ways we interact with the world and others around us, but we also tend to do things that others will find to be very silly and may seem out of character. Now I get that the show does use these gages a lot and it can get grating for some people, I know people right now with character traits that they often express that do get old fast. However, for me regardless of how I may feel about Frieren's Mimic or Fern's Pout Face, I feel it lets us see a bit of a deeper layer of the character that is more than just their more common traits. Frieren falling for a mimic is odd, but the reason the Frieren copy in the exam arc could never fall for it is the weird logic Frieren has for why she will always go for them. Sure from an outside perspective, it is dumb, but I think everybody on some level has a similar weird thing about them that just may not make sense to those around them. Nevertheless, this is a story at the end of the day, and not everything that happens in reality can translate well to text or the big screen. Gages and jokes are probably the most objective part of a narrative if I were making a tier list, and you have the right to like and not like whatever joke you want. I just need to give my two cents. Great video by the way. I can understand why you don’t see it as a masterpiece, like myself and others, but I am always happy to see someone poke and the pros and cons of a story. It allows me to notice things I didn’t before and allows me to better understand why I still deeply connect with a story despite its faults.
The first part about analyzing scenes was pretty good. I enjoyed that. Your video pretty much falls apart when you decide that the parts that don't tickle your personal tastes are somehow objective views of the value of the anime. I'll point out just a few things. Fern wasn't fighting the creatures who wiped out her village when she fought Lugner. She is a war orphan from the south. The creatures that wiped out her village and her parents were humans. I think you watched Sein's battle with the plant too much to be a fair judge of what information a new viewer can process in the time given. I agree that it's possible for that fight to work without the inner monologue, but it probably would have taken at least five more minutes of run time to do it. For example, the when you say that the visuals show that his attack did damage to the surrounding area, did you pick up on that the first time without it being explained? To make it clear it needed to take a LOT more time showing the deflected attack damaging things that are of obvious value and Sein's regret that his deflected attack did that damage to effectively convey the same information that his dialog did in a single sentence. Sure it would have had more impact, but we're also dealing with an entire story that takes up half of a 23 minute show. How much time do you really have to show what you need to show to get rid of the inner dialog? You presented clips of the mimic gag from after they indicated exactly why she was falling for it. Did you not notice? Allow me to explain. It represents Frieren's hope. She knows the detection magic has a 99% accuracy, but she is always holding out hope for that one percent chance. Frieren only tries the check when she knows someone has her back or when she's confident she won't be attacked. And she DOES know how to get out of it on her own, she just doesn't want to use it when she doesn't have to. If your objection is that you just don't like running gags, well, sorry. I just guess you'll have to grin and bear it since your personal tastes are not universal. As I said (and as was pretty much confirmed by the dialog) the mimic represents Frieren's hope, so how much do you want to bet that somewhere toward the end of the series, that mimic gag will pay off somehow? And to pay off an aspect like that in a long running series, it has to be repeated a number of times. (Chekhov's gun and the rule of threes that goes with it only works for a play that only lasts a couple of hours at best.) Wow. When you decide you don't like something, you really miss crucial details. Frieren DID save Sein when he was in the mud pit. Didn't you realize that? She was spending her time trying to remember the spell to get him out of it, and at the end of the scene she says something like, "Oh, I remember," and there's a popping sound of Sein being saved. As was shown in the mage exam arc, Frieren can do things like remembering and analyzing while she's doing other things, in this case, talking to Sein. Dude, you don't like gags, don't bother with works based on Shonen Sunday manga.
I fully appreciate your take and the new insights you bring, as well as the time put into this. I feel what is often missed it the loss that each character had and the situation and people who were around to get them through. I don’t know if we have a character with any backstory that has not has some loss that sidetracked their entire life, but one of the big differences is how that person handles that loss and the people around them to help. Frieren’s loss was almost everyone she knew and was then saved and trained by by someone who’s loss had them raised by the Oldest elf. Siri wanted Flamme to become a mage that reached her heights, that’s not what she wanted. While she envisioned how to beat the demon king and destroy demons she could not envision it being done till she met Frieren Flamme turned Frieren into a weapon and never did anything to heal her emotionally. She even had her stay under the radar , and like a she did. Himmel was that person who was concerned about that, and saw the best in every person. He affected everyone one he touched, but many of the things he did were to try and help this emotionally damaged person who had saved him when he was a child Like many of us we don’t understand when that touchstone type of person leaves out life what it will be like or how it will affect us. We see how much all of her group appreciated her and we miss the key moment of this character’s transformations. “I search and gather these spells because a fool praised me for it”, while this was Himmel it’s also eisen and heiter. She realized she could bring happiness to them with something she loved to do. The first story is he doing anything to help heiter. The second is for Himmel. The third is for Fern and the fourth is for Eisen. As she does these things for the people in her life she’s healing and recontextualizing moments in her life to do better this time. She shields and pushes fern and the stark. She took extra time to do things because fern wasn’t ready, but never holds her back. She is now on a mission for her friends and growing family around d here, but she is focused on enjoying and making those happy around her. Even in the mage exam the only time she backtalks and annoys Siri is when she criticizes Flammes favorite spell. Fern and Stark are healing too and being with someone who encourages and praises them is transformative My 2 cents at least, loved the video
The director is amazing here in Frieren but i feel like he did way way more in the other show he directed (Bocchi the rock). While in Frieren the anime enhanced the experience of the manga on another level (to best adaptation ever i want to timidly say) in Bocchi imho the animation crew and direction elevated a funny 4 gag panel manga to not only a new level but on another planet, the use of animation to explore feeling and interactions is phenomenal and imho his best work.
25:14 I'm not too confident in my analysis but here it goes... We're told in the story that a mage's power is determined, at least partially, by their own ability to imagine themselves performing the desired magic. In the case of the battle against the Frieren replica, Fern was able to deal a critical, though not immediately fatal, blow to the replica, suggesting Fern's acceptance that she will one day surpass Frieren in magical power, if not already. Moreover, it displays character growth on the part of Frieren herself. She's likely come to terms with the likelihood that her magical power has plateaued, and, therefore, unable to beat her clone, but she's compensated for that with her faith in Fern's growing strength as both a mage and a friend. She trusted that Fern would be able to jump in and land the crucial blow. An earlier, un-emotional and un-empathetic Frieren would likely not have been able to do that, signaling that Frieren is mastering a different kind of strength, that of knowing how to rely on the bonds she's made with others. Anyways, thanks for the great video. Laukiu daugiau jūsų darbų!
Tbh I feel like some parts of this video remind me of that classic meme about literature teachers talking about blue curtains representing depression or something, when in reality all that line meant was that the curtain were 'f***ing blue'. It's true that many parts of Freiren do have deeper meaning and are meant to represent something, but that doesn't mean that everything does. The complementarity between the two water mages' magic for instance was clearly alluding to their bond, but otoh Ferns' rapid casting may not have been meant to be a reference to anything. So why does she have that trait? Simply cos every mage in Freiren has their defining style of magic, so the author gave her that as hers (and to separate hers from Freiren's casting of the same spell). Similarly the earth magic user was doing common earth magic things, that you see in many other shows featuring earth magic (like Avatar). It doesn't necessarily represent his character. All shows with combat try to give their characters unique combat traits to differentiate them, and Freiren is no different. It's actually very unrealistic for that to be the case if you think about it - unlike say x-men, the mages in Freiren aren't each granted some unique ability by fate or something, but rather magic is a learned ability. In such a world you would actually expect all mages to operate very similarly, much like most soldiers or engineers do things very similarly IRL. But that's boring, hence why most shows have all of them be very distinct. The reason Freiren made each of its mages distinct in some way may very well be the same - simply to differentiate them as unique. After that the author may have chosen the specific traits of some of them with some kind of metaphor or deeper meaning in mind, but that doesn't mean they all were written to represent something. Some clearly are, but for others it just feels like the interpretations are reaching.
'rankings compared to the anime greats like Psychopass, Death Note or A Place Further Than The Universe' - interesting picks there. Firstly it's interesting for the anime you didn't mention. Like Monster, an anime widely regarded as one of the best anime ever made, and also imo one that seems like it should be right up your alley. Psychopass is also usually compared to Ghost In The Shell, and usually the latter is seen as the greater show (although Psychopass is still considered very good). Then it's interesting for the examples you gave themselves. Death Note, while widely praised, is exposition and monologuing central. Considering you'd just criticized Freiren for the monologuing it contains, it's kinda ironic to hold up Death Note as a pinnacle when it has over 10 times as much monologuing and exposition. As for A Place Further Than The Universe, while it has its fans, it's not typically mentioned as one of the 'anime greats' like Monster, Serial Experiments Lain, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Maquia or Ghost In The Shell are. Btw, since you're quite big on visual storytelling and trusting the audience to interpret situations, maybe try watching a short anime film called ANGEL'S EGG. It has barely any dialogue, and is VERY metaphorical and interpretive. Also Monster ofc, and Baccano that I recommended to you earlier.
The characters names, in german, are literally the concepts they represent. Himmel means "sky" and you can see he is the exact same color as the sky and Frieren looks at the sky when she talks or thinks about him. Heiter means "drunk", Eisen means "Iron", Stark means "Strong" etc. There is no question that the characters intentionally represent concepts, as they typically do in fairy tales. "The Big Bad Wolf" or "The giant beanstock" aren't as much names as they are concepts. You are underestimating the amount of work the author put into creating the story. Good authors aren't just randomly picking things and slapping them together.
@@ArawnOfAnnwn yes and honestly the fact that you think so much about death note doesn't make you think particularly well, in short death note is largely a tean drama disguised as a thriller which could have ended in 8 episodes if L, a character framed by the plot as the best detective of the world had remembered to install microphones as well as microcameras, in short, not as good as you think
I love your analytical approach to stories (it's very insightful to aspiring comic artist like me), but you really didn't have to shit on other youtubers (jk) About the mimic thing. (Besides it being a gag) I always saw it like emphasis on her obsession with spellbooks. I think Frieren can distinguish mimics (because she's old and powerful mage), but the very idea of missing out on a spellbook is just so painful to her, so she's willing to risk xd
Dont worry I like their content, but when i was looki g for any interesting observations, all i got was a summary of events, which i found rather underwhelming. As for mimics, I understand what she wants. But she doesn't have to risk it. Poke it with a stick before diving head first into it.
Finally! Analytical breakdown and not just spewing emotional impactful words! Great video! Also I am Frieren maniac, but I consider videos like this one as great platform for constructive, poignant and mature conversation, even if we do not agree on some elements. About the fight - Frieren is fighting her shadow. Shadow representing what she could have become if she was not embracing her humanity. The quote "This is so not you" which Fern said is the same one that Frieren said to Flamme when talking about the flower spell. it makes a contrast between a mage from peaceful era displaying such a destructive power, and warrior mage showing that her favorite spell is a peaceful one. Embrace the shadow to become more complete person. Quite Jungian. About the Mimic gag I would disagree with you. It's representing the excitement/surprise of finding something new no matter the odds. Life should be a surprise and that quirk is very human. Not sure how the mechanics of those things work since its never shown, so I don't know if poking it with a stick works.
30:00 Stark may not be as charismatic as Himmel but he sure does tries to help people in any way he can, no matter how big or mundane the task is. it is highlighted on Stark's birthday episode. and once again in a future chapter of the manga. but IMO, it mainly comes down to opportunity, in Himmel's time, demons and monster's were everywhere and he got to liberate so many towns and villages but Stark's time is a very peaceful one with only occasional monsters here or there. and the one time we saw Stark liberate a town, he was treated like the hero of the town. So if Stark had similar opportunity as that of Himmel, he too would've had his name written in the history
@@RoamingTrend me too. that Hero Sword legend episode gave everyone the hope that Stark would get his own "Hero" status someday. at the very least it is not like Stark is completely forgotten while the focus is on Frieren and Fern. IIRC any time we see them leave a place, we can see people and kids saying goodbye to stark as well and technically has his "arc" going the background, slowly learning from all the master warriors that he comes across during their travels
it is absolutely criminal that this video didnt gather as much traction as the hazbin hotel one did, despite being WAY better and packing so much more valuable information . i really hope you will get a bigger audience because you have a top-notch quality narration.
Id actually like to make a counter argument to some of the running gags. Pouty fern does tend to take up a little to much time when it does happen ill give you that, but the mimic thing I can still fully vibe with because it helps cut though the seriousness of the show. I think what they may be trying to say with it is that its always important to be able to laugh along the way. On a second point about the number of stoic characters I think its one of 3 things, either 1. lazy writing but I dont think this to be the case. or 2. with the number of stoic mages it may be a mage thing, as it requires disipline and study to be a great mage and often times intelligence comes at the cost of social skills. 3. you mentioned how Frieren is the "outsider" perhaps by having so many stoic characters they are also trying to show that despite her otherness she is not so different from those around her. I dont think your wrong on any of your points but like you said each interpretation is going to be slightly different and perhaps this is just an expansion of your interpretation. I very much enjoyed the vid and the analysis.
I am in the middle of watching right now and I have to comment. I just lost my shit laughing at the AI Costco bit. That said, I very much enjoy your analysis of the visual story telling of the show. I think that some of the light criticism you gave such as the over done exposition during the plant fight is something that might better have come out of editing if this were live action. During the editing process in live action they would have been better able to see the story is already being told visually well enough and make alterations to let the visuals do the story telling. I say this because of my understanding of the animation pipeline. There is a story I read about Spielberg during the making of An American Tail, after watching the nearly completed movie, he had some notes to add a scene here or extend something there, but was told it wasn't possible and at that point he learned what makes animation different. Those things need to figured out way ahead of time when you are just doing animatics and then you have to just trust in the pipeline. I imagine things are way worse in TV animation where you start to get under the gun as your series starts to air and you still have 10 of your 13 episodes that aren't finished yet. I think this can lead people to sometimes be overly cautious or they feel the need to fill in time as they need to get those 24 episodes out where as 17 would have been a better fit for the content they have.
I would have described it as an immortal learns to appreciate wabisabi. It also explains why lack of variety in emotions. We all have difficulty with the ephemeral.
Yeah, Frieren is not an original plot but is so good that it can become an instant classic! The themes it has, the vibe of RPG like and the characters make this story grow on you. Meanwhile the gags aren't the best, you can only laugh at them for how the spectator emphatize with em and see them like old friends you can relate with. Kanehito Yamada and Madhouse did an amazing work on this series, I'm will not be surprised if still get popular even after 10 years or so!
@@il3fortunato664 Ah, fair enough. I feel that that's more of a premise than a plot, though, and I don't think that a story needs to have a unique premise in order to have a unique plot. I'm interested in the similar stories of adventures after the big battle. Have any recommendations?
"It will end up being an above-the-average fantasy anime and not the masterpiece it could have been" Me: ZOLTRAAK. 😂😂😂 I really appreciated your analysis, thank you for your video even if I don't agree with everything. I read the manga and it's keep getting better. I need to wait the end of the piece to call it a masterpiece but it is a serious manga/anime to become one.
39:30 did you know that the mimic detection spell is only 99% accurate ... the thing is with that gag she has already proven that it's the case and got a grimoire from it once (and she was pretty smug about it too ) So I think it's more about your own endurance in seeing her pull that gacha again (which for better or worse is a popular type of gameplay, and I think people that did play gacha wouldn't care as much cause we still want to see her pull that one percent again, I guess the rest of the analysis should explore cultural differences and similitude.. )
@@RoamingTrend Well since she has been adventuring for quite a while maybe she already tried things and just doesn't bother anymore, maybe it just has never occurred to her seeing has she's sometimes an airhead about the most peculiar things ... She a thousand year of peculiarity stocked I don't expect them to go over all of them, and the same way you argued roughly about a 'show don't tell' I don't think they need to show everything ... also that wouldn't be the first problem she has, is aware of, and is unwilling to do anything about which i personally think is part of the charm of the character ... Though I do understand the frustration
Brilliant video essay, RT. You elucidated some vague thoughts I had when watching "Frieren". Agree that Frieren's first team was more varied, interesting and charismatic. Her current team is more CINEMATIC tho... witness the battles! The show wants to be smarter than it is. As anime storytelling, it's above-par, but could have been better. I'm going to rewatch it with a friend, so I'll refine my impressions and opinions. Cheers!
This is one of the few video Essey that realy understod the goal of the creaters of the show. I realy liked the show, so much so that I found my self surprised and questiond why... I could not find a specific answer yet until I listed to your essey! Yes the show is great with alot of potential for the future, but as you said... it might platto at some point if the people behind the production tweek some aspects here and there! Great video, great animation and comedic sense. I had a great time! I definitly will look forword to your next project🌻
That's fine. I think the gags and repetitive plots points offer a different experience as I mentioned and I can see why people like it. It's just what stops me from calling it a masterpiece, but it's still very good!
@@RoamingTrendTo be frank with you, that being the one thing that drops it a little ways off from being a masterpiece is a little silly. It's a gag, it's dropped like barely 5 or so times for the whole 28 episodes. It's literally just a humourous moment to show "powerful elf girl has lived 100s of years and she still can't differentiate between mimics and chests". I can understand not finding it hilarious or even just simply not caring but for you to take it as a genuine flaw is beyond nit picky. I like your takes and your analytical views but there's no need to make something of nothing
i think season 2 will cover much more interesting things and elevate this show way higher than the plateau you expect given the remaining manga content so I disagree with you on that part but solid analysis brother
I hope so, though after reading some of the manga, I found that the stories still follows the same beats. Oshi No Ko is my favorite example, where it sets up a mystery and drama at the start, and then it just goes off to do standard anime stuff.
Your analysis really better than the others that i have ever watched. But that very dismissive attitude towards not only your audience, other content creator and even the author felt too much. The tone you used in the whole video felt like you are speaking pure simple facts that 100% correct. Even though in actually , many of your talking points are just your opinion, interpretation and conjuncture too.
@@RoamingTrend you did dismiss them tho, like with Otaku Spirit, twisting his words like he meant something totally different and then taking his original meaning as your own analysis.
@@Ozone946 I would argue his dismissive stare at the camera when someone tells him that the show is carried by the animation would be seen as the hostility. I acknowledged that Otaku Spirit has a point if he meant that there needs to be good writing behind the visuals but when people says its carried by the visuals, it's not something to dismiss. What Frieren shows is that its not a story that has nice animation, the animation is the story.
What I mean by that is that is that its closer to what the original intent of DnD was, an epic fantasy adventure with friends, fighting monsters, exploring Dungeons, etc. Vox Machina and Critical Roll are more focused on making jokes and entertainment, so you are always aware they aren't taking the campaign too seriously. The way the characters talk and behave is too modern day, so it fails to be an immersive fantasy story.
I don't think that shade tossed at other Frieren fans was necessary, and I disagree with your critique on the flashback format and mimic joke, but otherwise I agree with your video. Really, the bulk of the season doesn't have the mimic joke. It's mentioned in passing in the first episode and then it happens a couple times during the second test, and that's it. Also, I see the comparison between Frieren's current journey and her previous one as fundamental to the story as well. It's part of the point for her to make those kinds of connections. I know the Costco thing was a joke, but comparisons between market shopping now vs then is totally a real thing, or if not that specifically then something similar. There's nothing wrong with having an episode template, especially with a show like this, which is largely episodic anyway. Also, don't you think its kinda unfair to praise the commonality between Frieren and Fern and then turn around and say it's a bad thing? Okay, enough of the disagreements. Now for the good stuff. I super appreciate the visual storytelling critique. I just watched the Frieren vs Frieren bout, and I recalled what you mentioned. I might have missed that otherwise. Also, because of your video, I noticed this in other shows, like 86. This one scene in episode 3, for instance, I got so much more out of that because I recalled the thing about the visual storytelling. And the point about magic, too. There's a trope, Tell Me How You Fight, and I Will Tell You What You Are. Lawine and Kanna is upfront about its meaning, I didn't notice Fern's magic or her staff. Finally, yeah, thematic monsters that serve more purpose than a punching bag are always appreciated.
Y-yes. Finally, some sense. You kind of voiced perfectly all my concerns about Frieren. It's a good, solid work. I enjoyed it way more than I expected, and I loved it. Not a masterpiece, though. For me it has lost momentum somewhere around the exam arc. I mean it's the exam for seasoned mages. Why all of the sudden all those Mahou Soujo's in bikinis? Okay, yeah, Fern was trained by a literal legend from the very young age, and she's been referred because she was exceptionally talented. Still a great show. Still love it. But all those "anime moments" is a good reminder why I stopped watching anime a decade ago.
@@aicek You know. Then they have all those roman style clothing in Flamme's time. And then they have 16~18th century European style clothing in Fern's time. But then you have Lawine and Kanne who out-of-place narratively, wearing modern time fetish dresses and getting physical on each other in most annoying and narrative breaking way possible. That in-your-face immersion-breaking fanservise (in otherwhere good show) I call an "anime moment"
I dunno some of your complaints make it sound like you disingenuously hate fun. For the record I like monologues sometimes pairing them with visual story telling is less about strictly conveying information to the audience and more conveying to the audience how the character sees themselves or their situation with how either the audience is supposed to see it or others. Also complaining about a format is stupid they are going on a low stakes quest, trying to hard to give it an overarching plot might ruin the vibe, I know a few people that didn't like the longer arcs compared to the slice of life episodic format so if what one person sees as a flaw the other person sees as a plus, either one of you is wrong or it's a matter of preference and trade offs. For the record I think Freiren is way better than any of the other "masterpiece" anime you mentioned. The problem with focusing so much on subtext is that you might watch a show to look for the subtext for it's own sake and when it doesn't conform to your expectations that becomes a flaw It because porn for art school students. Basically just shut up and watch the show for fun. If I need to be "taught" why something is bad then it's probably a you problem and devolves into Elitism.
I don't think I said Frieren is not fun. All I'm questioning is whether I would consider it a masterpiece or not. For me, a masterpiece has to push a bit more boundaries and have a consistent level of quality. Frieren is an outstanding anime, but I think its gag comedy doesn't hold up to the dramatic elements, which is what I wanted to bring up. But I also noted why keeping it light can also be enjoyable. So while not a masterpiece, in my opinion, it's still a great show.
@@RoamingTrend How "boundary pushing" something is should have NO bearing on it being a masterpiece one way or another, then it just turns into how much of a novelty fetish it fulfills for elites and a way for talentless hacks to grift by being "subversive" or "deconstructing" Even by your own logic how was Death Note or a Place Further than the universe "ground breaking." The former is a cat and mouse thriller the later is literally a cairpe Deim Hollywood chase your dreams Story. Both have been done before. By your own logic not masterpieces.
@dpolaristar4634 It's all about creative execution of those ideas. Death Note (at least season 1) is outstanding at building tension and dramatising a mostly intellectual battle. It never lets off the gas like a lot of other anime that seem to do gripping and deep stuff for the first few episodes and the finale. As i pointed out, Frieren seems to be quite content being a "quest of the week" and does a great job at being that, but it's means it's not pushing storytelling a little further than it needs to, which is fine if they want to do that. It's less risky to do.
@@RoamingTrend not letting up the gas is all it takes to push boundaries? All I see is you have something against episodic format. If it's about execution then Freiren is still goated. This reads as you claiming your preferences as intellectual canon and snobbish elitism dressed up politely.
@dpolaristar4634 I don't know what else to tell you. I explained what I think is good and not good and why. 😅 it's up to you to agree or disagree. Thinking of what could be improved is a useful part or analysis because it encourages people to think about the goal of the story and execution. Do mimic gags improve the goal of the story or not? Maybe? How many? Can it be done differently? Why? Why not? 🙂 by saying "well, I don't see it as a problem" means you are choosing not to question the narrative structure, which is fine, I am not stopping you from enjoying it. 👍
Very useful and original video on Frieren. I also echo along with some other commenters that some of your critiques are a bit silly. The mimic gag i don't think was worth saying more than a word. I agree with the portrayal of heiter and also think thats a bit true with stark as well. He seemed overly forced to be the whiney weak type for little comedic effect. The plot beats seem to be there to give a semblance of structure. Also totally right about the needless stoicism of the other characters and on screen in general. It makes the interaction feel so flat and hapless, plus plain boring. Fern being such a badass to not even react in the slightest to major injury during a close fight with a terrible enemy, only for her to turn around and have funny pout moments just seemed very stupid. Generally I find her character to be the least compelling so far. But all in all the show has some things to appreciate which definitely raises the bar for anime lmao.
'rankings compared to the anime greats like Psychopass, Death Note or A Place Further Than The Universe' - interesting picks there. Firstly it's interesting for the anime you didn't mention. Like Monster, an anime widely regarded as one of the best anime ever made, and also imo one that seems like it should be right up your alley. Psychopass is also usually compared to Ghost In The Shell, and usually the latter is seen as the greater show (although Psychopass is still considered very good). Then it's interesting for the examples you gave themselves. Death Note, while widely praised, is exposition and monologuing central. Considering you'd just criticized Freiren for the monologuing it contains, it's kinda ironic to hold up Death Note as a pinnacle when it has over 10 times as much monologuing and exposition. As for A Place Further Than The Universe, while it has its fans, it's not typically mentioned as one of the 'anime greats' like Monster, Serial Experiments Lain, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Maquia or Ghost In The Shell are. Btw, since you're quite big on visual storytelling and trusting the audience to interpret situations, maybe try watching a short anime film called ANGEL'S EGG. It has barely any dialogue, and is VERY metaphorical and interpretive. Also Monster ofc, and Baccano that I recommended to you earlier.
I think you have the Lugner figght wrong. Lugner doesn't stop talking to find a way to destabilize Fern. Fern almost never talks, She knows it's useless. She lets her magic destabilize Lugner. Talking is a useless mental effort for her in this situation.
0:55 this is somewhat of an elitist mindset, not everyone has the 'knowledge' to discuss the intricate details of a story. If someone discusses these things that's outside their field of expertise, then they're more likely to spout nonsense or misinformation. On the contrary, their aggregated opinion on the show is what "most" of the people see the show, and they see the show as good even without the intricate knowledge about storytelling. 21:20 "visuals being unable to carry the story is flat out wrong" Not sure if its intentional or not, but you're kinda twisting some words out of context. Otaku is saying an anime with godlike animation but without substance behind it would still be a "bad" show. They're specifically talking about the quality of the animation, not about having "visuals" carrying the story of a show. I just feel like you're barking up the wrong tree here.
1. Which is my point. I found a lot of their videos lacking. It's not about being elitist, it's about asking them to have some kind of insight or unique opinion. I don't think my interpretations are all correct either, but that's what I want to encourage the audience to think about, especially writer who might want to write a story like that. Just saying it's good feels underwhelming. As I said, nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to get more out of their engagement than just summarising the plot. 2. I later bring up his point about writing being necessary for good visual storytelling, but I found he undermined the importance of visual storytelling in this show. When people say "it's carried by the animation" they don't mean "the visuals are pretty." He is dismissing the idea that you can tell a story through visuals alone.
Your analysis is as simple as the other people you mention, yes, you know a little bit more about how to construct a story, so what? You didn't find the red tread of destiny there, you just burst and endless chitchat about the obvious even when you make simple errors like naming a character wrong like calling a demon "Qual" ( who seems someone put that out of their behinds and you don't even try to correct that ) instead of his real name which is "KVAR", you just had to LISTEN to find that out. How can some take you seriously then?? when you don't even pay attention to the most obvious?, anyway, even then, most of your so called "analysis?" is not wrong, but as i said before you didn't find anything that anyone can't find easily if just puts some little attention to the story and HEAR carefully... it's appropriate to say that here applies the famous quote: "NO S&T SHERLOCK"
Bro, great storytelling? It's just one punch man without comedy. All Frieren does is listen to characters' sob-stories then fixes the whole situation with her Mary Sue powers. Like more than half of characters in this anime don't have a personality aside being stoic and quiet. Only thing I can praise this anime for, aside it's production budget, is that it's not just another edgy fantasy/isekai slop.
Yup, those are critiques I pointed out. However, there is a lot more artistic intent and execution that is above your typical anime which I wanted to highlight and praise. It's not a masterpiece, but the way it uses visual storytelling and themes is still something to highlight.
@@RoamingTrend Don't know, man. The setting of this anime is as generic as fantasy settings go, and like 90% of the story is told through dialogue and flashbacks. I'd be fine with just Frieren's flashback of her adventure, since that's the point of the show, but c'mon, literally every relevant character gets to tell his/her (((sad))) backstory through flashbacks, and the majority of them have absolutely no impact to the story, to the point that even Frieren herself basically shrugs off everyone she meets.
I don't think it's a masterpiece either... and frankly calling it One Punch Man without comedy feels really accurate. I think it's still above average and found it to be a bit of an oasis with the amount of sludge that's somehow so popular. I'd be kinda curious to hear what you enjoy if you think so little of Frieren. I've been struggling to find anything satisfying to watch.
your interpret that phrase in the worst way possible tho, I think most people even if they are uncoscious about it, they get the meaning a visual can have, they get the subtext, look at any recent marvel morvie, of godzilla x kong, they have the "visuals" (cool fight scenes, and pretty shots), but they have no subtext to elevate those visuals.
There was no need for you to disparage other content creators. It in no way improved this video. The corrections later on where you disputed incorrect of subpar criticisms were good. I would also point out that for most of your criticisms, if your suggested fix was applied would make definitely make Sousou No Frieren more enjoyable for you, but less enjoyable for 90% of other people.
Oh, I didn't feel like I disparaged other content creators, I found it amusing how overdramatic they are with their views on the show, but I was underwhelmed by a lot of their analysis. As I said in the video, their videos are perfectly fine, but I wanted a bit more. I wouldn't consider that attacking other youtubers. Critique is subjective in most cases. My methodology is to examine what the show is trying to achieve and then examine whether they succeed or fail. My suggestions are there to highlight where the show could improve their goals. I can see the show intending to make Frieren an outsider, so having so many cold and emotionally distant characters works against that goal, so I bring it up. I can't predict the reception or speak to the quality of how these changes would be implemented, but neither can you, so your 90/10% argument is a little redundant. But even if you don't implement the changes, I still brought up what the show achieves by doing what it is doing. In the end, it's up to the creators to decide what they want out of this show.
@@RoamingTrend Perhaps disparage is the wrong word to have used there. I didn't mean to imply that you were attacking them. Rather, I found your negative criticisms of their videos unnecessary and negatively impacted your video. Whether you intended it or not, it creates the feeling that you were saying "These suck, so here's my good video to offset that." It's also not really a good opener as it doesn't introduce the rest of the video well, nor does it give better context to the video. Again, "It in no way improved this video." I don't think it's as big of an issue, but I could understand your point about Frieren being surrounded by too many cold characters and why you might feel that is a misstep or missed opportunity. But you have plenty of other suggestions that I feel would make the show less accessible or enjoyable to the general audience. An example is your criticism of Frieren falling for mimics. Quite frankly, it's not that big of a deal, even in the universe, as the show has shown. Frieren clearly only does it after the room has been cleared and there is no danger. The mimics have been shown not to be a danger to her, and are really more of an inconvenience. The whole, they should have just thrown a mimic at the Frieren clone shares all the same ignorance as saying the eagles should have just flown the hobbits over the volcano and airdropped the ring in. There are plenty of other comments who have pointed out some of the flaws of your other criticisms and/or suggestions so I won't fill this up with my own (though I don't agree with all of them).
21:16 What do you mean?!!?! how can a show be carried by visuals/the animation *alone*? can you not imagine with a shit story, shit dilogue, shit characters and amazing visuals and animation? and this would include expository dialogue being shit. bcause it could be shown with bad visuals/aniamtion or with better dialogue between characters that implies more and is not just expository dialogue. 23:20 I don't see why you have to even add that you have to give a "good faith" interpretation. what he said is a very literral understanding of the words he used. "A show can not be carried by visuals alone". Do you not know what carried means, maybe? "When a member of a team does outstandingly well and does most of the work leading his team to victory. " -> MOST of the work, aka the writing is bad. like you said in your "good faith" interpretation
You should watch Samurai Jack. Sometimes there is no dialogue at all, but the visuals provide you with all the information you need. Would you not say that show is carried by animation alone? My argument is that that it's stupid to say that animation cannot tell a story when it certainly can and people who think that it can't end up writing expository dialogue because they have no idea how to present the story through visuals.
Why the hostility tho? I see you are a practiced user of the "Elevate myself by bringing others down" technique, but there is no need for that here, it really sours the video. Im clicking off the video cause of it, its really annoying.
I love how you use and move your avatar around the enviroment, sometines in the background, near another character's space, in top of a building.
He gets around. Though characters don't normally notice him
Your analysis is better than most, and the AI dialogue leading to the Costco joke was very funny. Good point about visual cues that suggest the demons aren't necessarily pure evil, but at the same time I just thought all of that was to hold a mirror to the audience and make us doubt our own optimism bias like, "No way, they can't ALL be THAT bad." I thought it was a brave choice in a world full of vapid "tolerance" messages to suggest that sometimes prejudice is warranted.
Thats stupid because humans aren't demons.
Frieren is a racist.
@4:40 And that is why all my stories turn out to be shit. Because they are just a bunch of stuff that happens instead of a concept. You are a damn literary genius man. I am so glad I found this channel.
Frieren stoically watching Sein as he is stuck in the swamp isn't (just) a gag. It is the episode prologue that lays out the entire episode. We just don't have all the information to understand it to begin with, at first viewing. Frieren explains it later. She instantly recognized that he was exactly the way she was before Himmel reached out to her. And she hated him for that. His "relatable" story was all too relatable to Frieren.
And yet, she didn't try to save him from quicksand until Fern shows up. 😅
@@RoamingTrend His hand was dirty.
@blshouse "your hand is dirty- bye."
Frieren not trying kill Sein. This scene appears just as simple gag, but if think little more it show that Frieren first think then act, what if she lose time to find stick, but Sein drow too deep? So she decide to use spell that save Sein with guarantee. Also this scene show that Frieren like to do everything at last moment
You're all going in too deep about the Sein scene. Frieren was simply trolling him.
I love it when an analysis of a good media is not just something hyper superficial that is there to be largely negative or positive, but rather a true criticism and sincere analysis.
Excellent video, keep up the great work!
Thanks!
@@RoamingTrend You're welcome!
35:25 i liked his inner monologue,it shows his mistrust issues, his doubts, his character. It's important cause then when he's about to give up he suddenly remembers what he was told about frieren years ago, that she could always be trusted, so he decides to lunge into this uncertainty, half not believing she can actually kill the monster in 5 seconds time. And ehen actually does it shatters all his previous emotions we just heard/saw via the inner dialogue.
One of the things that I've thought about Frieren as I watched it was that the people who don't fall in love with it seem to be the younger crowd. I think to truly and fully appreciate and understand the story you have to have had time take someone you love away from you. Then, and only then, can you understand the meaning of the story.
'Then, and only then' - only? Seems rather dismissive. One does not need to have experienced deep loss to know what loss is. It's also perfectly possible to understanding something without appreciating it. Just cos someone doesn't love something doesn't mean they didn't grasp it. The corollary is also true - I'm fairly confident there are people who love Freiren who haven't lost anyone they love deeply, including some young people. Taste is by nature subjective, and varies greatly.
Like the comment that was replied here, I believe they don't really necessarily need to experience that loss. Hell, we wouldn't want anyone to go through that and sadly, at some point in time, they will only learn it the hard way later in their lives.
But I think you pointed out why exactly some people don't like Frieren after first watching it--they're younger people. I'm at least 23 years old, and although that's still considered a very young age, the reason why Frieren suddenly got to me because I've been becoming more aware of time passing by and I'm processing at the fact that I'm growing old and I'm moving on with my life right now.
And within the same year, someone I knew and grew to love as a child passed away too. I got to know what that loss was like and I never resonated more with Frieren and her regrets to my own.
I agree that Fern pouting got super annoying, but I interpreted it a way for her to be childish in a way she never had when she was actually a child
No, I wouldn't say you're wrong. Our opinions mostly converge, but are slightly different when it comes to scale. For example I don't mind repetition of the "Mimic gag" not only because first I've read the Manga and there it was spaced decently (at least temporally, when you had to wait for another chapter, though from memory also it was spaced out between chapters), but also because I knew people that were very intelligent and made the same mistake over and over. Even though others could identify said decisions as mistakes easily. So there are details where I disagree with which gag was the annoying one and which wasn't. I would maybe allow for slightly more exposition and inner monologues than you would, but still less than what anime has etc.
I do hate when people hate for Frieren for no reason or even call it mediocre (unless it's an opinion and matter of taste - I mostly have issues when they try to state it as "objective fact"), but also I have to say I'm unnerved by people who say it is "the best Anime ever", when I see many parts that could have been done better. Though IMHO there is no show that couldn't have been done better. Hindsight and definitely if we allow for personal preferences.
I also see how much the Director changed the Anime for the better from Manga. Not only translating it between mediums - which is a given (assuming director is competent), but also minimizing flaws and adding positives. One place that Anime fails to do it is a scene which you've shown - when Frieren has a flashback to the fight and Heiter is drunk. I'm not 100% certain, because I've read it over a year ago, but I'm almost certain that in Manga while Heiter is initially shown drunk, when the fight is there he is fighting. But indeed the author has problem when it comes to "showing" what Priests do in the battle. At least if we look as far into Manga as Anime went, without what happens later. And I'd say that author has problem visualizing fights in general - that is why they are so short in Manga (with few exceptions when author took a lot of time - sometimes half a year IRL - to prepare a fight).
And weirdly it's still 10/10 to me. Not that I care about MAL ranking, but to me Anime doesn't have to be perfect, to perfectly affect me. That is the beauty of art. I remember "not understanding" Picasso for a long time. I didn't understood why people loved his paintings, which are famously... let's just say - "not photorealistic" ;) . But then I was reading the story of "Guernica" and when my father heard about it, he showed me the painting. And it sort of "clicked" for me. Not that I now love the style of Picasso or anything, but I'm not the "hater" I used to be, if this makes sense.
And of course important disclaimer - the beauty of art is that there is no such things as "objectively true interpretation" of it. What people get from engaging with form of art is important to them. So if anyone disagrees with me, this is fine. I'd say it would be very creepy if everyone agreed with me exactly ;)
P.S.
Yes for "The place further than the Universe" being masterpiece.
The fan service, I barely noticed. The mimic gag, I think it would have benefited from establishing two things:
1.) their mimicry is so good there is no was discerning if it's a mimic or a chest without opening or destroying it.
2.) showing that Frieren's gambles sometimes win (I vaguely remember they actually did that).
While your takes on demons are still extremely based, I feel like this video has a bit of that weird attitude, that some artists have e.g.:
21:25 I'm pretty sure, that what Otaku spirit talked about here, was something else. If I remember correctly, he said that it's not enough for anime to be well animated - to look nice - but that it needs substance too. He is decidedly not saying that visual storytelling is not a thing, instead he praises it a lot in his videos, particularly for Frieren. And he also tends to dislike excessive expository dialogue.
The mimic gag: It seems, like Frieren just becomes dumb for a gag, or she has a weird fetish right? But I think we see the joke around four times over the course of 28 episodes, so even if it was that dumb, it wouldn't be too bad. But in the clone dungeon, she actually explains that stuff: there's a whole 1% chance, that the mimic detection spell gives a false positives! In that case, there might be a new spell in there. Since mimics pose no threat to her, she is gambling on literal lootboxes at a cost of frizzy hair at worst.
This and other running gags (thogh probably not all of them) are also ways too show character. You already said, that it would be better to show them just once, but that is false. If Frieren was shown to fall for a mimic exactly once, it wouldn't show her nonchelant whimsy and excitement for magic, but just her making a mistake and learning from it for good. We already have plenty of Frieren learning a lesson though, so that would be a lot more useless than the running gag is.
This is also true for Kanne's and Icegirl's fighting, Fern's repeated moping and other stuff. If it just happened once, it would be a truly useless gag. If it happens repeatedly, It's a character trait, that usually will come back in some important moment.
for the mimic against Frieren clone joke: literal bs! it's not like she would be distracted by that in battle. The running gag serves to show this, by always taking place in a secured room, probably after all the nearby monsters have been cleared. It#s a funny joke to say: "just throw a mimic and the clone takes care of itself!" But to seriosly consider it, even just to make a point is clearly in bad faith. Which is weird, since you have loads of good faith towards the show.
Your wish of almost zero internal monologues and even less expository dialogue is on I share for most anime. But Frieren is already very light on that. Much less of it, e.g. in the Sein-plant-fight would make his decisions incomprehensible and random to most audiences except people like you, or it would need a lot more time to fit in all the ideas for all audience members to understand. If Frieren went your way too much, I think it would become one of those shows, that nobody but the critics care about. You shouldn't need a degree to watch movies or anime ;)
Some of your critique on Frieren also seems less about how her development is shown, but also just, that you don't agree with her development: around 43:00 you basically want her to be a different character, one who already had more development than the actual Frieren did. I guess it's fair to want a quicker story and similar but different character. But that's more taste, than valid criticism.
I do like your format thogh :). While I wrote a lot of paragraphs on where I disagree, I like how you presented those points, to where I get what you mean, despite disagreeing;)
Don't bother writing that much, he seems wouldn't even consider your point to worth anything.
I agree with your mimic gag breakdown, it is very much intentional and shows that the "used to be uninterested and cold to the world" frieren has found some sillyness with the hero group, she still has this curiousity and kind of childishness.
yeah, this guy comes off as the stereotypical pretentious film student that wont shut up about how he's better than everyone else because he understands some obscure movie, even though he's correct in a lot of what he says
@@Ozone946 which really sucks, because I genuinely love his take on Frierens demons :(
If only becaus he's the only one to post on this
The video is very interesting, especially the part about artistic techniques, but there are a couple things I would argue with.
I disagree that Fern should have been more emotional in the fight with the demon. Fern traveled a lot with Frieren and she was basically the one who dealt with most of the monsters, it's stated in the exam arc. She just might have gotten used to it. You could compare this moment to the appearance of the dragon. Fern only knows one attack spell and it didn't even leave a scratch on the dragon, which was the reason why she was scared. The case of the demon is different, she already knows their weaknesses and she easily manages to land the first blow on the demon while Stark was distracting the demons on himself. To add to the weight of this, the attack spell itself is set up specifically against demons and she's been holding back mana for years to trick demons. Because of which she has more confidence in herself.
Also disagree about the gags. We were shown in episode 2 that Haiter quit drinking because of Fern. And that gag showed us how much Priest liked to drink, which makes that scene even stronger. The fact that Fern is constantly sulking shows that she's going through a difficult age, and she's been sulking so often since Stark came along, which also says a lot. And about the Mimics - yes, Frieren is a gambler who believes in the 1%, probably for a reason. And that's just funny.
And about fanservice. People miss it so much here that people have accepted just showing legs or armpits as fanservice. That's saying a lot.
Important lore that a lot of people get wrong (part 1 of 2)
Short version; Visualization is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all and Frieren doesn't fall for mimics.
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Long version;
(I) The magic system and especially the thing about visualization
A spoiler-free explanation of the magic system in the Frieren world is as follows:
There are 4 components to a mage's magic-casting in the Frieren world:
(1) Mana: How much mana/magical-energy they have.
Note that other than a mage's initial mana-capacity, which is affected by the following;
(a) The mana in each of the parents when the child was conceived (and maybe even the mother's mana until birth). This is because mana is to some extent inherited (eg, Ehre benefitting from being Lernen's grandaughter).
(b) MAYBE their race (ie, demon vs elf vs dwarf vs human). However, it's unknown how this affects the initial mana-capacity (eg, Flamme in her 20s-30s? and Aura in her 500+ years of age, had similar amounts of mana).
(c) Other currently unknown factors (eg, maybe the Goddess' Blessing since Heiter had a ton of mana even in his 20s?).
a mage's mana-capacity is directly proportional to the amount of time that they have been training it (which correlates to their age).
Also, mana has other uses than just being the 'fuel' for spell-casting. Specifically, mages with lots of mana have additional benefits compared to 'normal' members of their race. This point will be further expanded upon in a later arc as well.
(2) Control: How much mana and how precisely they can control it. This also includes controlling spells after they've been fired off (eg, Frieren curving her Basic Offensive Magic around Fern's Basic Defensive Magic in their practice duel).
Note that even raw mana can be used to achieve simple yet effective results if a mage has a high degree of control (eg, Frieren defending her neck against Draht's wire). This point will be further expanded upon in a later arc as well.
Another very important case of mana control, is the act of limiting output. Any decent mage (with a good amount of mana control) can temporarily limit their mana (for the purpose of surprising a foe). This is called Concealment. It's basically a mage reducing their mana output from 100% to as close to 0% as they can, while they try to sneak attack an enemy.
However, after the sneak attack, there is no value to doing this, since an enemy with magical abilities can probably detect that the attacker is reducing their mana output from the fluctuations seen through mana detection (and even the attacker's unconcealed mana level can be detected, thus making the limiting completely useless at this point). Examples:
(a) Fern sneak attacking Lugner in S01E08.
(b) Lugner sneak attacking Fern in S01E09.
Suppression, on the other hand, is the technique of limiting your mana output at all times (to say 10%). This is a useful technique because it can easily create situations where your enemies underestimate you. A mage that performs Suppression, can also do Concealment and how that works is as follows:
They reduce from 10% to as close to 0% as they can, and then go back to 10% after they lift their Concealment.
Now, the reason why Suppression isn't feasible for most HUMANs (and here I literally mean just humans and not dwarves and definitely not elves) is that to be able to fool demons and monsters, you either need to be very talented at mana control like Flamme and Fern, or have a very long amount of time (ie, at least a few centuries) to practice Suppression and reduce the fluctuations as much as possible like Serie and Frieren. Thus, making this technique not worth it, since the return for your time-investment is so little. As Serie says, you're better off training other things.
As for why Suppression is a dishonesty and a mockery of magic, consider the following examples, which are somewhat equivalent to what mages practicing this technique are doing:
(a) A black-belt joining a white-belt martial-arts tournament.
(b) A soldier disguising themself as a civilian, and then attacking a target.
Basically, mages performing Suppression are hiding their power to intentionally create situations where their opponent is led to underestimating them. This would make them dishonest, but also shows them to be not truly proud of their achievements in magic to be confronting their foes straight-on with their full force and without trickery.
(3) Spell: The magical formulas that they know and are able to use. Examples: Basic Offensive/Defensive Magic, Reelseiden.
Note that the spell formula dictates what is possible or impossible. Examples:
(a) Basic Offensive Magic cannot pierce dragon scales or Basic Defensive Magic, regardless of the attacker's visualization. Otherwise, Frieren would've taught Fern how to do it when she asked Fern to attack the Solar Dragon in S01E05 in the former case, and Basic Defensive Magic would actually be useless in the latter case.
(b) Frieren's spell to clean a bronze statue not being usable for a stone statue. If it was purely a visualization based system, then there is absolutely no reason for why Frieren wouldn't be able to use the folk spell in S01E16 to clean Kraft's & Unknown-Priest's statues.
(4) Visualization: Needed to activate/use a spell since a mage cannot make something happen if they can't clearly/exactly picture the desired outcome.
Note that to clearly/exactly picture an outcome, one needs to have a complete understanding of said outcome. Therefore, they should have a complete understanding of the process that created that specific outcome/result as well (since only understanding an outcome without understanding the generating process, will be incomplete at best and flawed at worst). This is pretty much how it is in real life as well.
Furthermore, a weak visualization can weaken a spell, but a strong visualization cannot strengthen a spell. Examples:
(a) Regardless of Aura's visualization, her scales were already tilting towards Frieren, even though Aura was unaware that Frieren had more mana at that point. If it was a purely visualization based system, then Aura would've been able to dominate/control anyone including Frieren.
(b) Ubel's visualization is ONLY taking advantage of Reelseiden's formula to cut anything in a 5? meter radius. Even she is unable to fully maximize the spell, since she cannot visualize cutting Basic Defensive Magic. However, she can visualize cutting more things than most people, so she's still a very proficient user of this spell.
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In summary, the visualization component of magic is just like in real life; you will surely fail if you have a 'bad' mindset, but a 'good' mindset does NOT guarantee success (ie, a 'good' mindset is a necessary, but insufficient condition for success since external factors are still a thing).
Visualization is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all. Spells determine what's possible or not, and a mage's visualization can make them achieve between 0% to 100% of a spell's potential.
They cannot just bs visualize/imagine themself into winning and/or doing the impossible.
Important lore that a lot of people get wrong (part 2 of 2)
Also, there is technically one more component, which may fall under Control, but since I'm not convinced that it definitely does (and also because it's not completely crucial for just casting magic alone as a singular mage), I've written it below as a separate point:
(5) Detection: How accurately a mage can detect mana in a certain radius with themself at the center. This is extremely important for battle, since it relates to:
(a) Finding hidden enemies (who are probably concealing their mana).
(b) Becoming aware of surprise attacks not caught by the physical senses (eg, being shot from behind).
(c) Not underestimating a strong foe who's pretending to be weaker than they are (ie, mages who suppress their mana like Serie, Flamme, Frieren, and Fern).
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The above info is from:
S01E02: First half of the episode with Frieren teaching Fern.
S01E03: Second half of the episode on Killing Magic.
S01E05: Second half of the episode with the Solar Dragon.
S01E08: Pretty much all of it. :)
S01E09: Pretty much all of it. :)
S01E10: Pretty much all of it. :)
S01E15: First half of the episode on Goddess' Magic.
S01E16: Second half of the episode with the statue cleaning quest.
S01E20: Pretty much all of it. :)
S01E21: Pretty much all of it. :)
S01E26: Pretty much all of it. :)
S01E27: Second half of the episode with the CMA heads meeting.
(CMA = Continental Magic Association & CMA heads = Serie + 1st class mages)
S01E28: Credits showing Ehre introducing Lernen to Wirbel, which when combined with the info from S01E20 with Ehre & Wirbel, allows us to conclude that Lernen is Ehre's grandfather.
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Finally, there are a few additional minor notes for points 2 and 3 (ie, Control and Spell) that I have not included due to being spoilers for anime-onlys.
(II) Frieren vs Mimics
Putting aside jokes and memes, I have seen far too many people and even video essays on RUclips (some of which claiming to be serious analysis types) thinking/saying that Frieren falls for mimics. However, the truth is;
Frieren doesn't fall for mimics. She chooses to take the risk when it's safe to do so (ie, outside of battle situations) because she doesn't lose anything of value (and because the mimic-check spell is only 99% accurate).
Specifically, she loses a little time while in the mimic and then later when fixing her hair (but she doesn't care about that because she has practically infinite time), and suffers a little reputation damage (but she doesn't care about how others view her all that much). On the other hand, she may gain something (eg, maybe the shaved-ice spell shown in the flashback in S01E06).
In summary, she loses nothing and may gain something so why not try them all?
Thank you for you lore clarification comments. They were very interesting to read.
@@amenoyoni You're welcome. I hope it wasn't too long or too much of a chore to get through it. :)
Also, if you have any comments, feedback, or whatever, I would be happy to hear them. Otherwise, have a good day/night. :)
For me when it comes to the one-note gages every character has it reminds me of both myself and the friends I had in high school. Yes, we as well as the characters in the show are very complex with a wide range of ways we interact with the world and others around us, but we also tend to do things that others will find to be very silly and may seem out of character. Now I get that the show does use these gages a lot and it can get grating for some people, I know people right now with character traits that they often express that do get old fast. However, for me regardless of how I may feel about Frieren's Mimic or Fern's Pout Face, I feel it lets us see a bit of a deeper layer of the character that is more than just their more common traits. Frieren falling for a mimic is odd, but the reason the Frieren copy in the exam arc could never fall for it is the weird logic Frieren has for why she will always go for them. Sure from an outside perspective, it is dumb, but I think everybody on some level has a similar weird thing about them that just may not make sense to those around them.
Nevertheless, this is a story at the end of the day, and not everything that happens in reality can translate well to text or the big screen. Gages and jokes are probably the most objective part of a narrative if I were making a tier list, and you have the right to like and not like whatever joke you want. I just need to give my two cents. Great video by the way. I can understand why you don’t see it as a masterpiece, like myself and others, but I am always happy to see someone poke and the pros and cons of a story. It allows me to notice things I didn’t before and allows me to better understand why I still deeply connect with a story despite its faults.
I understand your criticism about the mimic gag, but I just love it, it cracks me up every single time
May the impact of Frieren lead us into a new era of meaningful human expression.
The first part about analyzing scenes was pretty good. I enjoyed that. Your video pretty much falls apart when you decide that the parts that don't tickle your personal tastes are somehow objective views of the value of the anime. I'll point out just a few things.
Fern wasn't fighting the creatures who wiped out her village when she fought Lugner. She is a war orphan from the south. The creatures that wiped out her village and her parents were humans.
I think you watched Sein's battle with the plant too much to be a fair judge of what information a new viewer can process in the time given. I agree that it's possible for that fight to work without the inner monologue, but it probably would have taken at least five more minutes of run time to do it. For example, the when you say that the visuals show that his attack did damage to the surrounding area, did you pick up on that the first time without it being explained? To make it clear it needed to take a LOT more time showing the deflected attack damaging things that are of obvious value and Sein's regret that his deflected attack did that damage to effectively convey the same information that his dialog did in a single sentence. Sure it would have had more impact, but we're also dealing with an entire story that takes up half of a 23 minute show. How much time do you really have to show what you need to show to get rid of the inner dialog?
You presented clips of the mimic gag from after they indicated exactly why she was falling for it. Did you not notice? Allow me to explain. It represents Frieren's hope. She knows the detection magic has a 99% accuracy, but she is always holding out hope for that one percent chance. Frieren only tries the check when she knows someone has her back or when she's confident she won't be attacked. And she DOES know how to get out of it on her own, she just doesn't want to use it when she doesn't have to. If your objection is that you just don't like running gags, well, sorry. I just guess you'll have to grin and bear it since your personal tastes are not universal. As I said (and as was pretty much confirmed by the dialog) the mimic represents Frieren's hope, so how much do you want to bet that somewhere toward the end of the series, that mimic gag will pay off somehow? And to pay off an aspect like that in a long running series, it has to be repeated a number of times. (Chekhov's gun and the rule of threes that goes with it only works for a play that only lasts a couple of hours at best.)
Wow. When you decide you don't like something, you really miss crucial details. Frieren DID save Sein when he was in the mud pit. Didn't you realize that? She was spending her time trying to remember the spell to get him out of it, and at the end of the scene she says something like, "Oh, I remember," and there's a popping sound of Sein being saved. As was shown in the mage exam arc, Frieren can do things like remembering and analyzing while she's doing other things, in this case, talking to Sein.
Dude, you don't like gags, don't bother with works based on Shonen Sunday manga.
I fully appreciate your take and the new insights you bring, as well as the time put into this. I feel what is often missed it the loss that each character had and the situation and people who were around to get them through.
I don’t know if we have a character with any backstory that has not has some loss that sidetracked their entire life, but one of the big differences is how that person handles that loss and the people around them to help.
Frieren’s loss was almost everyone she knew and was then saved and trained by by someone who’s loss had them raised by the Oldest elf.
Siri wanted Flamme to become a mage that reached her heights, that’s not what she wanted. While she envisioned how to beat the demon king and destroy demons she could not envision it being done till she met Frieren
Flamme turned Frieren into a weapon and never did anything to heal her emotionally. She even had her stay under the radar , and like a she did.
Himmel was that person who was concerned about that, and saw the best in every person. He affected everyone one he touched, but many of the things he did were to try and help this emotionally damaged person who had saved him when he was a child
Like many of us we don’t understand when that touchstone type of person leaves out life what it will be like or how it will affect us. We see how much all of her group appreciated her and we miss the key moment of this character’s transformations.
“I search and gather these spells because a fool praised me for it”, while this was Himmel it’s also eisen and heiter. She realized she could bring happiness to them with something she loved to do.
The first story is he doing anything to help heiter. The second is for Himmel. The third is for Fern and the fourth is for Eisen.
As she does these things for the people in her life she’s healing and recontextualizing moments in her life to do better this time.
She shields and pushes fern and the stark. She took extra time to do things because fern wasn’t ready, but never holds her back.
She is now on a mission for her friends and growing family around d here, but she is focused on enjoying and making those happy around her.
Even in the mage exam the only time she backtalks and annoys Siri is when she criticizes Flammes favorite spell.
Fern and Stark are healing too and being with someone who encourages and praises them is transformative
My 2 cents at least, loved the video
Can't wait to see the El Dorado arc animated. Macht is one of my favorites.
"Stop having fun immediately."
The director is amazing here in Frieren but i feel like he did way way more in the other show he directed (Bocchi the rock). While in Frieren the anime enhanced the experience of the manga on another level (to best adaptation ever i want to timidly say) in Bocchi imho the animation crew and direction elevated a funny 4 gag panel manga to not only a new level but on another planet, the use of animation to explore feeling and interactions is phenomenal and imho his best work.
25:14 I'm not too confident in my analysis but here it goes...
We're told in the story that a mage's power is determined, at least partially, by their own ability to imagine themselves performing the desired magic. In the case of the battle against the Frieren replica, Fern was able to deal a critical, though not immediately fatal, blow to the replica, suggesting Fern's acceptance that she will one day surpass Frieren in magical power, if not already.
Moreover, it displays character growth on the part of Frieren herself. She's likely come to terms with the likelihood that her magical power has plateaued, and, therefore, unable to beat her clone, but she's compensated for that with her faith in Fern's growing strength as both a mage and a friend. She trusted that Fern would be able to jump in and land the crucial blow.
An earlier, un-emotional and un-empathetic Frieren would likely not have been able to do that, signaling that Frieren is mastering a different kind of strength, that of knowing how to rely on the bonds she's made with others.
Anyways, thanks for the great video.
Laukiu daugiau jūsų darbų!
By the way, @RoamingTrend, what anime would you consider a masterpiece?
It's a crime this hasn't gotten more views.
My goodness. What a great lesson in finding subtext. Thank you
Glad you liked it!
Tbh I feel like some parts of this video remind me of that classic meme about literature teachers talking about blue curtains representing depression or something, when in reality all that line meant was that the curtain were 'f***ing blue'. It's true that many parts of Freiren do have deeper meaning and are meant to represent something, but that doesn't mean that everything does. The complementarity between the two water mages' magic for instance was clearly alluding to their bond, but otoh Ferns' rapid casting may not have been meant to be a reference to anything. So why does she have that trait? Simply cos every mage in Freiren has their defining style of magic, so the author gave her that as hers (and to separate hers from Freiren's casting of the same spell). Similarly the earth magic user was doing common earth magic things, that you see in many other shows featuring earth magic (like Avatar). It doesn't necessarily represent his character. All shows with combat try to give their characters unique combat traits to differentiate them, and Freiren is no different. It's actually very unrealistic for that to be the case if you think about it - unlike say x-men, the mages in Freiren aren't each granted some unique ability by fate or something, but rather magic is a learned ability. In such a world you would actually expect all mages to operate very similarly, much like most soldiers or engineers do things very similarly IRL. But that's boring, hence why most shows have all of them be very distinct. The reason Freiren made each of its mages distinct in some way may very well be the same - simply to differentiate them as unique. After that the author may have chosen the specific traits of some of them with some kind of metaphor or deeper meaning in mind, but that doesn't mean they all were written to represent something. Some clearly are, but for others it just feels like the interpretations are reaching.
'rankings compared to the anime greats like Psychopass, Death Note or A Place Further Than The Universe' - interesting picks there. Firstly it's interesting for the anime you didn't mention. Like Monster, an anime widely regarded as one of the best anime ever made, and also imo one that seems like it should be right up your alley. Psychopass is also usually compared to Ghost In The Shell, and usually the latter is seen as the greater show (although Psychopass is still considered very good). Then it's interesting for the examples you gave themselves. Death Note, while widely praised, is exposition and monologuing central. Considering you'd just criticized Freiren for the monologuing it contains, it's kinda ironic to hold up Death Note as a pinnacle when it has over 10 times as much monologuing and exposition. As for A Place Further Than The Universe, while it has its fans, it's not typically mentioned as one of the 'anime greats' like Monster, Serial Experiments Lain, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Maquia or Ghost In The Shell are. Btw, since you're quite big on visual storytelling and trusting the audience to interpret situations, maybe try watching a short anime film called ANGEL'S EGG. It has barely any dialogue, and is VERY metaphorical and interpretive. Also Monster ofc, and Baccano that I recommended to you earlier.
The characters names, in german, are literally the concepts they represent. Himmel means "sky" and you can see he is the exact same color as the sky and Frieren looks at the sky when she talks or thinks about him. Heiter means "drunk", Eisen means "Iron", Stark means "Strong" etc. There is no question that the characters intentionally represent concepts, as they typically do in fairy tales. "The Big Bad Wolf" or "The giant beanstock" aren't as much names as they are concepts. You are underestimating the amount of work the author put into creating the story. Good authors aren't just randomly picking things and slapping them together.
@@ArawnOfAnnwn Angels Egg is great though +1
@@ArawnOfAnnwn yes and honestly the fact that you think so much about death note doesn't make you think particularly well, in short death note is largely a tean drama disguised as a thriller which could have ended in 8 episodes if L, a character framed by the plot as the best detective of the world had remembered to install microphones as well as microcameras, in short, not as good as you think
I love your analytical approach to stories (it's very insightful to aspiring comic artist like me), but you really didn't have to shit on other youtubers (jk)
About the mimic thing. (Besides it being a gag) I always saw it like emphasis on her obsession with spellbooks. I think Frieren can distinguish mimics (because she's old and powerful mage), but the very idea of missing out on a spellbook is just so painful to her, so she's willing to risk xd
Dont worry I like their content, but when i was looki g for any interesting observations, all i got was a summary of events, which i found rather underwhelming.
As for mimics, I understand what she wants. But she doesn't have to risk it. Poke it with a stick before diving head first into it.
Good Vid, I'll certainly have to consider concept as a base to a given story rather than just something to use in passing.
Finally! Analytical breakdown and not just spewing emotional impactful words! Great video! Also I am Frieren maniac, but I consider videos like this one as great platform for constructive, poignant and mature conversation, even if we do not agree on some elements.
About the fight - Frieren is fighting her shadow. Shadow representing what she could have become if she was not embracing her humanity. The quote "This is so not you" which Fern said is the same one that Frieren said to Flamme when talking about the flower spell. it makes a contrast between a mage from peaceful era displaying such a destructive power, and warrior mage showing that her favorite spell is a peaceful one.
Embrace the shadow to become more complete person. Quite Jungian.
About the Mimic gag I would disagree with you. It's representing the excitement/surprise of finding something new no matter the odds. Life should be a surprise and that quirk is very human. Not sure how the mechanics of those things work since its never shown, so I don't know if poking it with a stick works.
40:11
I bursted with laughter upon hearing this and the point still stands
30:00 Stark may not be as charismatic as Himmel but he sure does tries to help people in any way he can, no matter how big or mundane the task is. it is highlighted on Stark's birthday episode. and once again in a future chapter of the manga.
but IMO, it mainly comes down to opportunity, in Himmel's time, demons and monster's were everywhere and he got to liberate so many towns and villages but Stark's time is a very peaceful one with only occasional monsters here or there. and the one time we saw Stark liberate a town, he was treated like the hero of the town.
So if Stark had similar opportunity as that of Himmel, he too would've had his name written in the history
I would like to see his glow up arc, but I fear he may just be destined to be a competent comic relief.
@@RoamingTrend me too. that Hero Sword legend episode gave everyone the hope that Stark would get his own "Hero" status someday.
at the very least it is not like Stark is completely forgotten while the focus is on Frieren and Fern. IIRC any time we see them leave a place, we can see people and kids saying goodbye to stark as well
and technically has his "arc" going the background, slowly learning from all the master warriors that he comes across during their travels
it is absolutely criminal that this video didnt gather as much traction as the hazbin hotel one did, despite being WAY better and packing so much more valuable information . i really hope you will get a bigger audience because you have a top-notch quality narration.
Id actually like to make a counter argument to some of the running gags. Pouty fern does tend to take up a little to much time when it does happen ill give you that, but the mimic thing I can still fully vibe with because it helps cut though the seriousness of the show. I think what they may be trying to say with it is that its always important to be able to laugh along the way.
On a second point about the number of stoic characters I think its one of 3 things, either 1. lazy writing but I dont think this to be the case. or 2. with the number of stoic mages it may be a mage thing, as it requires disipline and study to be a great mage and often times intelligence comes at the cost of social skills. 3. you mentioned how Frieren is the "outsider" perhaps by having so many stoic characters they are also trying to show that despite her otherness she is not so different from those around her. I dont think your wrong on any of your points but like you said each interpretation is going to be slightly different and perhaps this is just an expansion of your interpretation. I very much enjoyed the vid and the analysis.
oh frieren the literal definition of I am 14 and this is the deep 🤣🤣🤣
I am in the middle of watching right now and I have to comment. I just lost my shit laughing at the AI Costco bit.
That said, I very much enjoy your analysis of the visual story telling of the show. I think that some of the light criticism you gave such as the over done exposition during the plant fight is something that might better have come out of editing if this were live action. During the editing process in live action they would have been better able to see the story is already being told visually well enough and make alterations to let the visuals do the story telling.
I say this because of my understanding of the animation pipeline. There is a story I read about Spielberg during the making of An American Tail, after watching the nearly completed movie, he had some notes to add a scene here or extend something there, but was told it wasn't possible and at that point he learned what makes animation different. Those things need to figured out way ahead of time when you are just doing animatics and then you have to just trust in the pipeline. I imagine things are way worse in TV animation where you start to get under the gun as your series starts to air and you still have 10 of your 13 episodes that aren't finished yet. I think this can lead people to sometimes be overly cautious or they feel the need to fill in time as they need to get those 24 episodes out where as 17 would have been a better fit for the content they have.
6:37
Thanks for mentioning A Place further than the Universe. I sometimes feel like a crazy person when looking it up and nobody seems to watch it.
I would have described it as an immortal learns to appreciate wabisabi.
It also explains why lack of variety in emotions. We all have difficulty with the ephemeral.
Yeah, Frieren is not an original plot but is so good that it can become an instant classic! The themes it has, the vibe of RPG like and the characters make this story grow on you. Meanwhile the gags aren't the best, you can only laugh at them for how the spectator emphatize with em and see them like old friends you can relate with. Kanehito Yamada and Madhouse did an amazing work on this series, I'm will not be surprised if still get popular even after 10 years or so!
I'm not sure what you mean by Frieren not being an original plot. It felt fairly original to me. Would you mind elaborating on your perspective?
@@Yxcell
I mean the adventure after the end of the battle with the demon king is not something never explored before Frieren.
@@il3fortunato664 Ah, fair enough. I feel that that's more of a premise than a plot, though, and I don't think that a story needs to have a unique premise in order to have a unique plot.
I'm interested in the similar stories of adventures after the big battle. Have any recommendations?
@@Yxcell
You can try Kino's Journey, it has a similar premise to Frieren. It's the only that comes into my mind rn.
@@il3fortunato664 Thanks. :)
"Image not found" for "Made Communism work."
Based.
"It will end up being an above-the-average fantasy anime and not the masterpiece it could have been"
Me: ZOLTRAAK.
😂😂😂
I really appreciated your analysis, thank you for your video even if I don't agree with everything. I read the manga and it's keep getting better. I need to wait the end of the piece to call it a masterpiece but it is a serious manga/anime to become one.
I gotta say
Your thumbnails are pretty good
And got a unique style
boi soon as i get out the shower im boutta watch tf outta this ♥
39:30 did you know that the mimic detection spell is only 99% accurate ... the thing is with that gag she has already proven that it's the case and got a grimoire from it once (and she was pretty smug about it too )
So I think it's more about your own endurance in seeing her pull that gacha again (which for better or worse is a popular type of gameplay, and I think people that did play gacha wouldn't care as much cause we still want to see her pull that one percent again, I guess the rest of the analysis should explore cultural differences and similitude.. )
But she could stab the chest with a blade, right?
@@RoamingTrend That could mess with the rng ... AND the romance ...
also what's to say the mimic wouldn't be able to react and gobble her up anyway ?
@@maeshg1969 I want her to at least try something else or explain why that wouldn't work. Not just go head first into a mimic. 😅
@@RoamingTrend Well since she has been adventuring for quite a while maybe she already tried things and just doesn't bother anymore, maybe it just has never occurred to her seeing has she's sometimes an airhead about the most peculiar things ...
She a thousand year of peculiarity stocked I don't expect them to go over all of them, and the same way you argued roughly about a 'show don't tell' I don't think they need to show everything ... also that wouldn't be the first problem she has, is aware of, and is unwilling to do anything about which i personally think is part of the charm of the character ...
Though I do understand the frustration
Brilliant video essay, RT. You elucidated some vague thoughts I had when watching "Frieren". Agree that Frieren's first team was more varied, interesting and charismatic. Her current team is more CINEMATIC tho... witness the battles! The show wants to be smarter than it is. As anime storytelling, it's above-par, but could have been better. I'm going to rewatch it with a friend, so I'll refine my impressions and opinions. Cheers!
40:16 lure a mimic for the clone lol
This is one of the few video Essey that realy understod the goal of the creaters of the show.
I realy liked the show, so much so that I found my self surprised and questiond why... I could not find a specific answer yet until I listed to your essey!
Yes the show is great with alot of potential for the future, but as you said... it might platto at some point if the people behind the production tweek some aspects here and there!
Great video, great animation and comedic sense. I had a great time!
I definitly will look forword to your next project🌻
Thanks!
Great video! Thanks a lot
Glad you liked it!
Frieren + Mimic = Love
Best video yet.
Thanks
Doubt that Fern would be able to outgrown Frieren. It impossible for human life
You have such an insightful analysis, I appreciate it.
Thanks!
Listening as I drive. Really good stuff. Been wanting g to dissect the writing of frieren to see what I can learn. Glad to see you beat me too it.
Much appreciated!
Can't watch it now but I'll have a look at it after work.
I think the Demon Arc was better than the first four episodes tbh
Great analysis as always. Well done Trend 👍🏽
Much appreciated!
I like the idea that your a godlike spectator visiting stories. At least that's what I got out of the last couple minutes of the video.
Lore within lore.
I agree with mostly everything, except for a few of the bad points that you said Frieren has. Especially the gag, repeating plot, points.
That's fine. I think the gags and repetitive plots points offer a different experience as I mentioned and I can see why people like it. It's just what stops me from calling it a masterpiece, but it's still very good!
@@RoamingTrendTo be frank with you, that being the one thing that drops it a little ways off from being a masterpiece is a little silly. It's a gag, it's dropped like barely 5 or so times for the whole 28 episodes. It's literally just a humourous moment to show "powerful elf girl has lived 100s of years and she still can't differentiate between mimics and chests". I can understand not finding it hilarious or even just simply not caring but for you to take it as a genuine flaw is beyond nit picky. I like your takes and your analytical views but there's no need to make something of nothing
The ü in Lügner sounds more like the y in sympathy, but a bit longer. Maybe like Lyygner.😊
i think season 2 will cover much more interesting things and elevate this show way higher than the plateau you expect given the remaining manga content so I disagree with you on that part but solid analysis brother
I hope so, though after reading some of the manga, I found that the stories still follows the same beats. Oshi No Ko is my favorite example, where it sets up a mystery and drama at the start, and then it just goes off to do standard anime stuff.
Your analysis really better than the others that i have ever watched. But that very dismissive attitude towards not only your audience, other content creator and even the author felt too much.
The tone you used in the whole video felt like you are speaking pure simple facts that 100% correct. Even though in actually , many of your talking points are just your opinion, interpretation and conjuncture too.
I don't think I ever dismissed the audience or the content creators, only that I was looking for something a bit more from their analysis videos.
@@RoamingTrend you did dismiss them tho, like with Otaku Spirit, twisting his words like he meant something totally different and then taking his original meaning as your own analysis.
@@Ozone946 I would argue his dismissive stare at the camera when someone tells him that the show is carried by the animation would be seen as the hostility. I acknowledged that Otaku Spirit has a point if he meant that there needs to be good writing behind the visuals but when people says its carried by the visuals, it's not something to dismiss. What Frieren shows is that its not a story that has nice animation, the animation is the story.
45:16 bro Vox Machina was literally directly adapted from a dnd campaign, what do you mean it feels less like dnd than Frieren?
To be clear, I'm not saying you're wrong I would just like more explanation for that opinion
What I mean by that is that is that its closer to what the original intent of DnD was, an epic fantasy adventure with friends, fighting monsters, exploring Dungeons, etc.
Vox Machina and Critical Roll are more focused on making jokes and entertainment, so you are always aware they aren't taking the campaign too seriously. The way the characters talk and behave is too modern day, so it fails to be an immersive fantasy story.
So no Match of eldorado? i am waiting for your thought about it
I don't think that shade tossed at other Frieren fans was necessary, and I disagree with your critique on the flashback format and mimic joke, but otherwise I agree with your video.
Really, the bulk of the season doesn't have the mimic joke. It's mentioned in passing in the first episode and then it happens a couple times during the second test, and that's it.
Also, I see the comparison between Frieren's current journey and her previous one as fundamental to the story as well. It's part of the point for her to make those kinds of connections. I know the Costco thing was a joke, but comparisons between market shopping now vs then is totally a real thing, or if not that specifically then something similar.
There's nothing wrong with having an episode template, especially with a show like this, which is largely episodic anyway.
Also, don't you think its kinda unfair to praise the commonality between Frieren and Fern and then turn around and say it's a bad thing?
Okay, enough of the disagreements. Now for the good stuff.
I super appreciate the visual storytelling critique. I just watched the Frieren vs Frieren bout, and I recalled what you mentioned. I might have missed that otherwise.
Also, because of your video, I noticed this in other shows, like 86. This one scene in episode 3, for instance, I got so much more out of that because I recalled the thing about the visual storytelling.
And the point about magic, too. There's a trope, Tell Me How You Fight, and I Will Tell You What You Are. Lawine and Kanna is upfront about its meaning, I didn't notice Fern's magic or her staff.
Finally, yeah, thematic monsters that serve more purpose than a punching bag are always appreciated.
great work!
Thanks a lot!
Y-yes. Finally, some sense. You kind of voiced perfectly all my concerns about Frieren.
It's a good, solid work. I enjoyed it way more than I expected, and I loved it.
Not a masterpiece, though.
For me it has lost momentum somewhere around the exam arc. I mean it's the exam for seasoned mages. Why all of the sudden all those Mahou Soujo's in bikinis? Okay, yeah, Fern was trained by a literal legend from the very young age, and she's been referred because she was exceptionally talented.
Still a great show. Still love it. But all those "anime moments" is a good reminder why I stopped watching anime a decade ago.
where the hell are there "Mahou Soujo's in bikinis" ?
What the anime moment?
@@aicek You know. Then they have all those roman style clothing in Flamme's time. And then they have 16~18th century European style clothing in Fern's time.
But then you have Lawine and Kanne who out-of-place narratively, wearing modern time fetish dresses and getting physical on each other in most annoying and narrative breaking way possible.
That in-your-face immersion-breaking fanservise (in otherwhere good show) I call an "anime moment"
I dunno some of your complaints make it sound like you disingenuously hate fun.
For the record I like monologues sometimes pairing them with visual story telling is less about strictly conveying information to the audience and more conveying to the audience how the character sees themselves or their situation with how either the audience is supposed to see it or others.
Also complaining about a format is stupid they are going on a low stakes quest, trying to hard to give it an overarching plot might ruin the vibe, I know a few people that didn't like the longer arcs compared to the slice of life episodic format so if what one person sees as a flaw the other person sees as a plus, either one of you is wrong or it's a matter of preference and trade offs.
For the record I think Freiren is way better than any of the other "masterpiece" anime you mentioned.
The problem with focusing so much on subtext is that you might watch a show to look for the subtext for it's own sake and when it doesn't conform to your expectations that becomes a flaw
It because porn for art school students.
Basically just shut up and watch the show for fun. If I need to be "taught" why something is bad then it's probably a you problem and devolves into Elitism.
I don't think I said Frieren is not fun. All I'm questioning is whether I would consider it a masterpiece or not. For me, a masterpiece has to push a bit more boundaries and have a consistent level of quality. Frieren is an outstanding anime, but I think its gag comedy doesn't hold up to the dramatic elements, which is what I wanted to bring up. But I also noted why keeping it light can also be enjoyable. So while not a masterpiece, in my opinion, it's still a great show.
@@RoamingTrend How "boundary pushing" something is should have NO bearing on it being a masterpiece one way or another, then it just turns into how much of a novelty fetish it fulfills for elites and a way for talentless hacks to grift by being "subversive" or "deconstructing"
Even by your own logic how was Death Note or a Place Further than the universe "ground breaking." The former is a cat and mouse thriller the later is literally a cairpe Deim Hollywood chase your dreams Story.
Both have been done before.
By your own logic not masterpieces.
@dpolaristar4634 It's all about creative execution of those ideas. Death Note (at least season 1) is outstanding at building tension and dramatising a mostly intellectual battle. It never lets off the gas like a lot of other anime that seem to do gripping and deep stuff for the first few episodes and the finale. As i pointed out, Frieren seems to be quite content being a "quest of the week" and does a great job at being that, but it's means it's not pushing storytelling a little further than it needs to, which is fine if they want to do that. It's less risky to do.
@@RoamingTrend not letting up the gas is all it takes to push boundaries?
All I see is you have something against episodic format.
If it's about execution then Freiren is still goated.
This reads as you claiming your preferences as intellectual canon and snobbish elitism dressed up politely.
@dpolaristar4634 I don't know what else to tell you. I explained what I think is good and not good and why. 😅 it's up to you to agree or disagree. Thinking of what could be improved is a useful part or analysis because it encourages people to think about the goal of the story and execution. Do mimic gags improve the goal of the story or not? Maybe? How many? Can it be done differently? Why? Why not? 🙂 by saying "well, I don't see it as a problem" means you are choosing not to question the narrative structure, which is fine, I am not stopping you from enjoying it. 👍
Very useful and original video on Frieren. I also echo along with some other commenters that some of your critiques are a bit silly. The mimic gag i don't think was worth saying more than a word. I agree with the portrayal of heiter and also think thats a bit true with stark as well. He seemed overly forced to be the whiney weak type for little comedic effect. The plot beats seem to be there to give a semblance of structure. Also totally right about the needless stoicism of the other characters and on screen in general. It makes the interaction feel so flat and hapless, plus plain boring. Fern being such a badass to not even react in the slightest to major injury during a close fight with a terrible enemy, only for her to turn around and have funny pout moments just seemed very stupid. Generally I find her character to be the least compelling so far. But all in all the show has some things to appreciate which definitely raises the bar for anime lmao.
Thank you
You're welcome
Good video 👍
Thanks 👍
Zoltraak vs Trend Scarf
i wonder if records of lodoss war can count as a DnD anime since it's based on it, then again it's more about feeling DnD.
'rankings compared to the anime greats like Psychopass, Death Note or A Place Further Than The Universe' - interesting picks there. Firstly it's interesting for the anime you didn't mention. Like Monster, an anime widely regarded as one of the best anime ever made, and also imo one that seems like it should be right up your alley. Psychopass is also usually compared to Ghost In The Shell, and usually the latter is seen as the greater show (although Psychopass is still considered very good). Then it's interesting for the examples you gave themselves. Death Note, while widely praised, is exposition and monologuing central. Considering you'd just criticized Freiren for the monologuing it contains, it's kinda ironic to hold up Death Note as a pinnacle when it has over 10 times as much monologuing and exposition. As for A Place Further Than The Universe, while it has its fans, it's not typically mentioned as one of the 'anime greats' like Monster, Serial Experiments Lain, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Maquia or Ghost In The Shell are. Btw, since you're quite big on visual storytelling and trusting the audience to interpret situations, maybe try watching a short anime film called ANGEL'S EGG. It has barely any dialogue, and is VERY metaphorical and interpretive. Also Monster ofc, and Baccano that I recommended to you earlier.
Image not found... Good thing you didn't say "communism" three times, Fat Electrician might have shown up.
I think you have the Lugner figght wrong. Lugner doesn't stop talking to find a way to destabilize Fern. Fern almost never talks, She knows it's useless. She lets her magic destabilize Lugner. Talking is a useless mental effort for her in this situation.
❤❤❤
0:55 this is somewhat of an elitist mindset, not everyone has the 'knowledge' to discuss the intricate details of a story. If someone discusses these things that's outside their field of expertise, then they're more likely to spout nonsense or misinformation. On the contrary, their aggregated opinion on the show is what "most" of the people see the show, and they see the show as good even without the intricate knowledge about storytelling.
21:20 "visuals being unable to carry the story is flat out wrong"
Not sure if its intentional or not, but you're kinda twisting some words out of context. Otaku is saying an anime with godlike animation but without substance behind it would still be a "bad" show. They're specifically talking about the quality of the animation, not about having "visuals" carrying the story of a show. I just feel like you're barking up the wrong tree here.
1. Which is my point. I found a lot of their videos lacking. It's not about being elitist, it's about asking them to have some kind of insight or unique opinion. I don't think my interpretations are all correct either, but that's what I want to encourage the audience to think about, especially writer who might want to write a story like that. Just saying it's good feels underwhelming. As I said, nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to get more out of their engagement than just summarising the plot.
2. I later bring up his point about writing being necessary for good visual storytelling, but I found he undermined the importance of visual storytelling in this show. When people say "it's carried by the animation" they don't mean "the visuals are pretty." He is dismissing the idea that you can tell a story through visuals alone.
fanservice wtf there barely any only fanservice i see from artist on twitter being horni
Sadly, gag manga won in the end. It's a battle shonen
Your analysis is as simple as the other people you mention, yes, you know a little bit more about how to construct a story, so what? You didn't find the red tread of destiny there, you just burst and endless chitchat about the obvious even when you make simple errors like naming a character wrong like calling a demon "Qual" ( who seems someone put that out of their behinds and you don't even try to correct that ) instead of his real name which is "KVAR", you just had to LISTEN to find that out.
How can some take you seriously then?? when you don't even pay attention to the most obvious?, anyway, even then, most of your so called "analysis?" is not wrong, but as i said before you didn't find anything that anyone can't find easily if just puts some little attention to the story and HEAR carefully...
it's appropriate to say that here applies the famous quote: "NO S&T SHERLOCK"
K
some of yourvideos hsa 200k views whule other below 10k. wow
Hit or miss. 🙂
Bro, great storytelling? It's just one punch man without comedy. All Frieren does is listen to characters' sob-stories then fixes the whole situation with her Mary Sue powers. Like more than half of characters in this anime don't have a personality aside being stoic and quiet.
Only thing I can praise this anime for, aside it's production budget, is that it's not just another edgy fantasy/isekai slop.
Yup, those are critiques I pointed out. However, there is a lot more artistic intent and execution that is above your typical anime which I wanted to highlight and praise. It's not a masterpiece, but the way it uses visual storytelling and themes is still something to highlight.
@@RoamingTrend Don't know, man. The setting of this anime is as generic as fantasy settings go, and like 90% of the story is told through dialogue and flashbacks.
I'd be fine with just Frieren's flashback of her adventure, since that's the point of the show, but c'mon, literally every relevant character gets to tell his/her (((sad))) backstory through flashbacks, and the majority of them have absolutely no impact to the story, to the point that even Frieren herself basically shrugs off everyone she meets.
I don't think it's a masterpiece either... and frankly calling it One Punch Man without comedy feels really accurate. I think it's still above average and found it to be a bit of an oasis with the amount of sludge that's somehow so popular. I'd be kinda curious to hear what you enjoy if you think so little of Frieren. I've been struggling to find anything satisfying to watch.
your interpret that phrase in the worst way possible tho, I think most people even if they are uncoscious about it, they get the meaning a visual can have, they get the subtext, look at any recent marvel morvie, of godzilla x kong, they have the "visuals" (cool fight scenes, and pretty shots), but they have no subtext to elevate those visuals.
Keep watching. 😆 I mention that. 👍
Could you do a video about jujutsu Kaisen
There was no need for you to disparage other content creators. It in no way improved this video. The corrections later on where you disputed incorrect of subpar criticisms were good. I would also point out that for most of your criticisms, if your suggested fix was applied would make definitely make Sousou No Frieren more enjoyable for you, but less enjoyable for 90% of other people.
Oh, I didn't feel like I disparaged other content creators, I found it amusing how overdramatic they are with their views on the show, but I was underwhelmed by a lot of their analysis. As I said in the video, their videos are perfectly fine, but I wanted a bit more. I wouldn't consider that attacking other youtubers.
Critique is subjective in most cases. My methodology is to examine what the show is trying to achieve and then examine whether they succeed or fail. My suggestions are there to highlight where the show could improve their goals. I can see the show intending to make Frieren an outsider, so having so many cold and emotionally distant characters works against that goal, so I bring it up.
I can't predict the reception or speak to the quality of how these changes would be implemented, but neither can you, so your 90/10% argument is a little redundant. But even if you don't implement the changes, I still brought up what the show achieves by doing what it is doing. In the end, it's up to the creators to decide what they want out of this show.
@@RoamingTrend Perhaps disparage is the wrong word to have used there. I didn't mean to imply that you were attacking them. Rather, I found your negative criticisms of their videos unnecessary and negatively impacted your video. Whether you intended it or not, it creates the feeling that you were saying "These suck, so here's my good video to offset that." It's also not really a good opener as it doesn't introduce the rest of the video well, nor does it give better context to the video. Again, "It in no way improved this video."
I don't think it's as big of an issue, but I could understand your point about Frieren being surrounded by too many cold characters and why you might feel that is a misstep or missed opportunity.
But you have plenty of other suggestions that I feel would make the show less accessible or enjoyable to the general audience.
An example is your criticism of Frieren falling for mimics. Quite frankly, it's not that big of a deal, even in the universe, as the show has shown. Frieren clearly only does it after the room has been cleared and there is no danger. The mimics have been shown not to be a danger to her, and are really more of an inconvenience. The whole, they should have just thrown a mimic at the Frieren clone shares all the same ignorance as saying the eagles should have just flown the hobbits over the volcano and airdropped the ring in.
There are plenty of other comments who have pointed out some of the flaws of your other criticisms and/or suggestions so I won't fill this up with my own (though I don't agree with all of them).
21:16 What do you mean?!!?! how can a show be carried by visuals/the animation *alone*?
can you not imagine with a shit story, shit dilogue, shit characters and amazing visuals and animation?
and this would include expository dialogue being shit. bcause it could be shown with bad visuals/aniamtion or with better dialogue between characters that implies more and is not just expository dialogue.
23:20 I don't see why you have to even add that you have to give a "good faith" interpretation. what he said is a very literral understanding of the words he used.
"A show can not be carried by visuals alone". Do you not know what carried means, maybe?
"When a member of a team does outstandingly well and does most of the work leading his team to victory. "
-> MOST of the work, aka the writing is bad. like you said in your "good faith" interpretation
You should watch Samurai Jack. Sometimes there is no dialogue at all, but the visuals provide you with all the information you need. Would you not say that show is carried by animation alone? My argument is that that it's stupid to say that animation cannot tell a story when it certainly can and people who think that it can't end up writing expository dialogue because they have no idea how to present the story through visuals.
Why the hostility tho? I see you are a practiced user of the "Elevate myself by bringing others down" technique, but there is no need for that here, it really sours the video.
Im clicking off the video cause of it, its really annoying.
Towards who?
algp comment