@@llllavemder"yeah the 2 thousand year old demi god didnt like what i said to her 1000 years ago. Shes still got beef, whatever." Frieren, unbothered, hydrated and moisturized
Frieren embodies everything I love about a show; Spectacle, World Building, Fun characters, Perfect blend of Realism n Fantasy, and what most shows never get right; a slow enough pace where you're immersed into the world, yet never bored. Its the perfect anime.
it low-key has everything. something for everyone. Incredible OSTs, Immersive atmosphere, immaculate background arts, Toptier animation and sfx, Efficient Screenwriting, enetertaining character dynamics, absolute solid side/main cast, solid Romance and best ships, Comfy SoL moments, absolute banger action scenes, 2d dragon fight, Hype af non-action moments, an incredibly well done OP mc, a unique yet intuitive magic/power system, subtle but solod power scaling, incredible worldbuilding, just enougj subversion here and there to keep it unpredictable and most impressively and importantly: it has an incredible pacing , to string all these together. doesnt matter what genre you prefer, the show has got you, unless someone is shounent@rd and thinks making every story's arc a copy paste and as relentless as shibuya arc is the only best way tell stories or something
@@jackreacher7495 glad you understood the joke. FMAB fans are notorious (especially on online ranking sites like MAL) to downvote, downplay and shittalk any anime that just remotely threatens FMAB's status as absolute and indisputable pinnacle of art. that's why i said "don't tell 'em", because those fellas would get mad if you even dared to compare Frieren to FMAB.
So we're talking about how good fights were in an anime, where fights weren't even the main objective. It's like they want to make a cake, and they make it, and then they even give you a whole other dessert as a bonus. That's how good Frieren is.
The thing about battle Shonen is that the genre oversells the fights, everything has to be a set piece to sell the product, whether it's anime or manga. When everything is trying to oversell the flashy, fancy fight scenes, you WILL get bored. By giving the reader or watcher a chance to breathe and take in the world, and getting to know the characters without constantly pushing for the next fight to one-up itself, you get a chance to care about the characters and the world they live in so you'll actually care about the fights when they happen.
@@isirachehansa4886 I guess this anime doesn't focus much on the fights but more about storytelling, like New Game+. If they wanted to do more fighting they would've set this before the hero team fight the demon king fell
What so good about fights in Frieren is that there is intention and goal, it uses fight as a method to tell and show more of the narrative in its story. Unlike many shounen battles, it is there jsut to show cool fights and to show that the MC are cool nothing more. But with Frieren we see the point of how she grow from the first time she battled Aura, after 80 yrs she isn't the same to mindlessly blats everything. And in the mage exam arc, there is a strong need for them to enter the north by having one of them becomes 1st class mage. In this arc, we also have seen alot more about flamme and her influence to frieren. And from frieren's influence to Fern. There's more to talk here than just the figth scenes. The fight scenes were another method to deliver a great narrative.
I have been watching many anime for 15 yrs already. I come to question what's there to many of these battle shounen. What's the point in fighting and become more powerful. What's even the point in becoming all powerful? I am not saying everyone of them was just an empty fights design to amuze audience, there a few exceptions and Frieren is one of them.
The fights were, like in one of the episode's title "A Necessary Death" iirc, like a key, or icing on cake, that one needs to be introduced into the substance within, the character building for a better story progression.😍
@@roxroe6731 Name one mainstream long running shonen that doesnt use fights for character development. New gen fans really are just yapping about shit to make modern stuff look better 💀
I think the third exam was something I appreciated about frieren. It follows the series' idea that life just continues. There isn't a big payoff to the fight because thats basically the point of the whole series. Great vid btw.
Yeah and it’s a logical way of thinking. Serie wanted to quickly weed out weak mages without needless effort. Why expend large amounts of energy fighting, when there’s an easier way you can resolve things? It’s like how Frieren defeated Aura without lifting a finger. She could’ve used Zoltrak on Aura when she was paralyzed but Frieren just said “kys” and that was it.
Stark versus the demon girl was one of my favorite fight scenes, I loved seeing her twirl through the air like a feather and then hit him like a truck. Guess the dwarf hits harder tho
I guess I didn't understand the fight or why the hell it seems everyone liked the fight. It was just the demon girl slamming Stark until he had a flashback and he straight up one shots her, it was too stupid
@@juggram_99. not really? it was stark’s first legitimate fight and it perfectly illustrated his entire character at the start. he was being beat cause he was scared. his whole point is being cowardly and insecure and being faced with a mirror of your mentor can confuse you and harp on your issues. thats what makes it go so hard. when stark is so wrapped up on technique when realistically, all he needed was doing the job he’s supposed do.
@@juggram_99 Oh, Stark could always one shot her. To be fair, he’s capable of one-shotting most beasties. He was just worried that the demon girl would also be able to one shot him in that time. The demon girl moves just as fast, but unlike Eisen, she hits like a wimp. Stark just needed to realize he could tank one of her hits while getting the decisive wind up, ez win.
Freiren’s story arcs runs much like TTRPG campaign. Most of the plot points are gonna be character focused and exploration/world building focused. But when your Party gets in a fight, oh it’s gonna pop off! Especially when one of your party member is an OP high level elf wizard grandma
It's kinda obvious, but regarding the bit about Frieren not being very strong for an elf her age, I like that small detail a lot since it makes sense. Frieren is a scholar first and a battle mage second, she doesn't much care for getting as strong as she possibly can, her strength is just a byproduct of how long she's had to hone her skills, even the ones she didn't spend as much of her immense amount of time on.
Frieren and Fern are also the two mages out of the mage exams with no gimmick, no unique moves they call their own, just unrelenting force and absolutely rock solid fundamentals
Frieren has no need to prove to anyone how strong she is or is not. I think if she had spent those 1000 years between Flamme's death and joining Himmel's party fighting on the front lines, instead of laying low, she would most definitely be objectively stronger, but she would be a lot less wise in turn. Beating the Demon King may not have worked out if she had, because she would not have been able to keep her true power levels unknown. That would have resulted in all the obstacles between her and the demon king not underestimating her. The way an Army prepares for an asymmetric fight (as the stronger entity) vs a near peer conflict is very different. As the weaker party in a asymmetric fight? The Demon Kings forces would have interacted a lot differently with the Hero's party if they had known. That is one of the big driving forces as to why Frieren and a few friends could do what a much more powerful mage (Serie) and her cohort of battle mages could not. As an aside, I also think Frieren is way stronger than Serie thinks she is, but Frieren doesn't feel any need to win a pissing contest and doesn't show that to her. She may not have Serie's mana levels (almost definitely does not given how old Serie is implied to be), but she is more inventive and would trounce Serie's rigid way of thinking in terms of spontaneous ingenuity. Serie may know all the spells ever recorded, but I'd be willing to bet that, like Flamme's Barrier over Graf Granats town, Frieren has a bunch of tricks that have never been written down.
Bocchi the Rock did not need to go so hard with the animation, but it was a passion project for the director & encouraged his crew to be creative as they didn't have much to work with from the simple 4 koma series it was adapted from. He basically did the same with Frieren. People say Madhouse was on the decline; this is their flagship return: the entire series was meticulously planned out, which allowed the composer to precisely score each episode They released it as a 4 part premiere They animation work is at times movie quality on a tv budget. Mages standing around casting spells can make for a static fight scene, but they always went for something creative.
Madhouse WAS on a decline. I could argue that it still has declined, a bit. if you have ever seen Redline, that was the "magnum opus" of Studio Madhouse. a completely original movie (a MASSIVE gamble in Japan's ultra-cautious animation industry) where they spent 7 years hand drawing every frame to add CGI on top of it. And it flopped, despite how good it is. Madhouse accidentally killed the willingness of investors to ever risk greenlighting an original work for animation again.
Frieren fights really fit the series of a world with a lot of mages, mages fight mages, they don't yap and scream their strongest attack name, and most of them don't try to make enemies needlessly. I'd say Frieren is my number 2 when it comes to realism in fights, #1 has to be Lord of the Mysteries. Absolute peak novel, every fight is so well described even me with an "alright" imagination has no trouble understanding what's going on, and it's all perfectly explainable about what happens, no pulling attacks out of their rump and having a "true form". Peak fiction, try it out.(It's a Lightnovel)
@@chongwillson972 Chainsawman fights occur very randomly, especially the ones vs katanaman. The quick fights that are very truthful regarding the strength of each character was nice. If a character stood no chance, they died, if a character did stand a chance, they might still lose. I liked these aspects of the fight very much. The power system did leave a bit to be desired. I'm probably spoiled by LOTM though.
This goes to show that we don’t hate female lead anime’s or movies. We hate poorly written stories. Frieren is definitely a great anime with Studio Ghibli vibes plus beautifully animated fights, definitely top tier 👍🏽 Also my favorite character is Himmel I find that guy hilarious.
I agree that Himmel is best boy. What I loved most about him was the fact that he stayed loyal to Frieren and never loved anyone else, even though she was gone for 50 years…
@@Kureemy Not to mention that one guy who stopped a mugging or something because - and I quote - "It's what Himmel the Hero would have done." Dude didn't even let being a fictional character stop him from inspiring others to do good.
@@Stint45678 A Taiwanese dude stopped a knife attack because Himmel inspired him to do good. There're whole Reddit threads about this guy, so it shouldn't be hard to find one. They'll explain it better.
I’ve been on the fence about watching Frieren, but this video solidifies the fact that I must watch it. Your writing in this video was really really good Teddy, good shit my guy.
part of why this series has been so great is because of the amazing manga it is based on and the sweat blood and tears the studio put into the production to tell this story. They really did choose the perfect length. i think this is also part of the reason we got 28 episodes instead of the usual 24 since they didn't want to skip the more quiet episodes which are core to the story of the manga.
The amount of effort and attention to detail the animation did put in, into every single second of screen time, is simply astonishing. And they didn’t have to do any of that. The story and characters are compelling enough that the series would have been a commercial success even with relatively ordinary animation. This is a labor of love. And it shows.
Serie is thousands of years older than Frieren. Kraft appears to be somewhere in the middle. The reason the first class mage exam didn’t have a round three climax was because the world building dictated that this valuable resource of mages not be wasted. The section in the dungeon arch where they collectively reveal all their strengths and weaknesses wasn’t an accident. It was a set up for future conflict among mages where there are real stakes. Think of it like this, Kraft saw through Übel immediately when saved the bandits. Likewise, Fern recognized Serie’s mana suppression. Serie not only saw through Land’s magic but used it and created a clone at his true location. Frieren tested and studied the protective barrier during the first stage of the exam without anyone knowing that it was she who was doing it and she shattered something no one thought possible. We see that mages recognize when other mages are using spells they know. We see that large gaps in power are recognized but closer peers can distinguish each others’ specific strengths. Truly powerful mages conceal their strength and skills opting to use only what’s needed. Frieren behaves like a scientist or hacker in that she seeks to fully understand a system before leveraging its weaknesses against it. So why does she keep studying and finding delight in seemingly obscure “folk” spells? It’s because they reduce millions of years of study to its essentials. She is then able to make connections no one else can see. Frieren has mastered all the core elements of her discipline and she continues to travel expanding the breadth of her knowledge and robustness of her understanding. My prediction is that there will be a final showdown between her and Serie which was hinted at when Serie’s disciple attacked her after the exam in an attempt to get his name in history. Whatever happens, it’s worth the wait.
I think Kraft is the oldest Elf we have seen, even older the Serie, because he physically looks the oldest, and is mentally also way ahead of Frieren and Serie both. Also he has that aura of mysticism around him, that suggest that the dude has seen some stuff that is probably not meant for mortal eyes to see.
@@djx7134 Lol, who is the one not paying attention? He is a monk of the goddess herself, Frieren is the one that thinks she is not real. He is a devoted follower.
The part about the spell Fern asked for in the end was when I vulture-squawked laughing coz it literally was the "Like Mentor Like Mentee" but also coz it was a practical spell? Like it made sense? 😂 This series, Man. ❤ 100/10 would wish for dementia to watch it the first time every time again.
@@libertybell5876 frieren was failed mostly because the elf at the heart of the association has a beef with her direct disciple, frieren's master. she didn't fail her because she failed. she failed her to spite her long dead disciple who she felt was the greatest disappointment/failure of her life. Understand frieren's master Flamme, loved magic. As does Frieren. But both dedicated their lives to killing demons, so Frieren was trained "differently". The elf felt both wasted their time on their passion. she once loved magic herself, now she does not. And frieren's love of magic mostly upset her. Because Frieren did something she could not, which was kill the demon king. why? because magic is partly about envisioning the result. Neither Flamme or whatshername could envision a world without the demon king, so neither could actually kill him. Frieren could envision a world without demons let alone the demon king, so she was able to kill him (or at least help Himmel do it). She's jealous and angry, and became petty. what really pissed her off though was frieren not caring. To frieren the "classification" test was just something amusing to do in her spare time, she saw no value in it. (which is why the top elf girl felt fine about being spiteful. she knew it wouldn't really hurt frieren to fail her)
@@arizona_anime_fan genuine question, how impactful is this visualisation shi, is it like an actual thing or just a metaphorical non real thematic thing. like if stark truly truly believed or somehow imagine how he could kill serie, flammes teacher, could he do it? if ubel believe or somehow imagine cutting a mountain in half, could she?
@@NaMe-zg9qs Well, think of it this way. I can imagine myself rich and powerful, but if i don't have the skills to make it happen it won't happen. So it's not enough to be able to envision a world without a demonking, you need to actually be able to kill the demonking. The "Envision" concept is best displayed with Ubel and the limits to her magic. She technically doesn't really understand how magic even works. She doesn't really care, because to her, magic works the way she believes it works. and in her case she can understand and cast a spell if she empathizes and understands the magician who cast the spell. Now this is not how magic is supposed to work; or at least magic doesn't work like this for people who were told you need to learn how magic works. But it works fine for her. Because she believes that's how HER magic works. Now how useful is Ubel's magical copying ability? well compared to a magical genius it's painfully limited. Frieren for example can pretty much learn any spell she sees often in real time and copy it, reverse engineer it and make it work better for herself. She doesn't have to empathize with the caster, or even know their name. But for Ubel that's exactly how her magic works. What's even more mindbending is she improves upon the magic she copies by bending it to work how she wants it to work as well. This also shouldn't be possible. but there is Ubel making it work. So this raises a question. Does magic work with rule because someone one day made up rules and told others this is how you use magic. or is Ubel utterly unique? Well we learn the answer to this with the explanation of why Flamme and Serie couldn't kill the demon king. In short, due to their inability to imagine a world without him, they were unable to make their magic kill him. So it seems Ubel's magic works because magic works based on how you envision it working. For frieren and most traditional mages its something you learn and teach. But in reality it works according to the internal "belief" rules you've constructed for yourself with your understanding of how the world works.
Frieren just has that dawg in her, I agree that watching Fern develop that dawg and even getting acknowledged by someone as detached and uncaring as Serie is most definitely a feat.
Serie, detached? Uncaring? She's the exact opposite. She has a problem with Frieren because Frieren doesn't care enough/isn't forceful or ambitious. And she cares about her students a lot. The whole grumpy grandma act is just a coping mechanism. It becomes obvious when you notice that her actions contradict her words at almost every turn.
Something you overlooked a bit is that this progression is a loop. That 3rd stage of the arc isn't just the pay-off, but its also a lore package. You touched on it a bit talking about learning about Serie and that glimpse into her journey of taking apprentices, but we also see into the mages hierarchy and what sort of attitudes and people Serie values as additions to it. We have more insight into the characters who went the distance in the exam and we learned or had confirmation of what in their personalities made them special. That information dump, when done well, often leaves us with new questions to chew on that we dig into at the start of that loop and through the next arc.
I agree. Serie pointing out the unique qualities/philosophies of each character really made the 3rd test special. That test further characterizes the examinees and validates why they deserve to pass.
i think people say its not a fighting anime because every other fighting anime is generally too scared to allow their characters to feel things. number 1 way to look for an anime that'll pull away from feelings is if they pull a gag after something emotional happens
I was on the fence about Methode until that moment of hers with Serie... Just about everyone else was either scared to approach this millennia old arch wizard or crazy enough to consider attacking her. Methode: SMOL AND CUTE!!!!! Heh, it even freaked out Serie.
Honestly, I even got a lot from the fight between Fern and Ehre, even though it's mostly just looping Fern attack magic against Ehre's defence. That emotionless expression Fern has while beating a mage of this generation with basic attack spell
Because it's the classic Fern strat. "Oh no, I'm just a poor little girl with weak mana, I hope no one bullies me because I'm so vulnerable". Opponent gets overconfident, suddenly eats a hail of arcane arrows, either dies or goes OOM defending with no opportunity to counter-attack. The end. It's very simple and yet surprisingly tricky and strategic.
I think a lot of that has to do with the manga. Keep in mind that the manga focuses on action very rarely, and when the show was first coming out we didn't know that madhouse was going to go crazy with it.
How to make a great combat scene: 1- There is an objective beyond the fight itself. 2- The opponents use the resources available that make more sense. 3- The rules of confrontation are logical and known, not arbitrary. 4- The stakes are proportional to the risks accepted by the opponents, which are also proportional to the characters motivations. 5- The interchanges within the fight don't flatly repeat: each one is different and changes the next available options. 6- There is a story being said through violence, a story that is personally relevant for the characters. 7- Victory is never guaranteed or granted, but earned. 8- Actions within combat feed from the actions taken previously, outside combat. 9- The fight ends the very moment there is a simpler way to get the objective. 10- Combat changes the characters and the world. Consequences are strong and inevitable. Frieren does all of these without fail. The combat scenes are AMAZING.
It’s also crazy that they animated a character putting on a jacket so detailed but still meshing with the rest of the animation I can’t tell if it was straight up rotoscoped or not. And they did that like a couple times. They really were flexing
teddy back in the youtube feed we love to see it. and he on frieren too? we've been knowing that he had good state but he just needed to remind the haters real quick 😤😤😤😤
I'm so glad you talked about the action in frieren. I agree with you that anime's spectacle is the thing which carries the genre and frierens ability to produce spectacle is basically my favorite thing about it
I felt like the third test was a testament to Ferns development as a mage, but also to Frieren's development in her character. The two things we explore in this show is Frieren discovering how much her friends impacted her, and the growing strength, ingenuity, and knowledge of humanity. That the era of humans had come. Fern really grows in her capabilities, and Frieren admits that she was just lucky Lucky to find such great friends to change her life so much It didn't feel like Frieren was just swept under the rug, but that she had some victory over Sere. That she had grown more herself than Sere ever had.
Frieren (The show not the character) does something that many people over look when people talk about good stories, and you briefly covered it but I think its a major part why many movies and shows fall flat eventually. It flocculates the energy of the show and Frieren does it masterfully. Many shows will just escalate and keep escalating, stay mellow, or straight up refuse to take itself seriously. But for a really good story you need to be able to go between the three. You have those fun moments to get your audience to enjoy your cast, you have the mellow moments to get your audience invested, and you have the moments where make the audience worry about what's going to happen. All three are important, all three easy to mess up. This is the reason why Lord of The Rings is still considered a master piece even though it has massive slow parts to it. Because the slow parts are there to get you invested for the spectacle later.
6:10 my guy literally called Kanne and Lawine novices even though they're third class mages, which honestly speaking, they really are when in comparison to Frieren
Because they were clearly less capable than most of the other mages there. Esp. Kanne. Without having rainfall as a win condition, Lawine & Kanne, the two that can only fight well together, were getting bodied by a Richter who wasn't even trying. He's a powerful mage, but not top tier. They're probably good compared to average, but bad compared to the best. I don't think we've seen a truly average mage yet.
As much as I love all the fights, I always think of the encounter with Qual first. He gets set up for Fern as this big bad guy that was unbeatable back when Frieren first fought him with Himmel's group, but due to mages studying his spell and working out a counter-measure, he was beaten by "regular" defensive and offensive magic-something Fern probably would have figured out was possible before the fight if she had actually read that history book like Frieren told her to. A beautifully animated fight with great world building as both the lead up to and pay off for how it ended.
It kinda reminds me Mob Psycho 100 situation. Where the pretty damn wholesome story about basically slice of life and experience of growing up (emotionally, as a person, etc.) end up having absolutely badass fighting scenes.
The battle of Frieren vs her Speigle clone is one of the best animated magic duels I have ever seen. The quality of the animation, the high framerate, the destructive abilities thrown around. Even when the camera is focusing on Fern hiding in a corner, what's going on in the background feels significant, and the action doesn't stop for a breather. Very compelling sequence, and I hope there are more like this in the future.
I love how ingrained the path for power progression is. Frieren is uber strong, and Fern is to. But Stark is also a prodigy really. That dragon actually did leave the village alone because of Stark. Not to mention that Hieter struck him instinctively, out of fear. He has the potential to stay neck and neck with the other two.
Honestly, the exam was some of the stuff I was most hyped for. When I found out we were getting all of that in season one I was so ready for it. It's really the first time we get a lot of other mages and we get to see how other mages do their stuff, and then it not focusing on one on one fights and helping to flesh out how the magic system works was pretty great.
What makes frierens story so good is that it feels like almost every character could have their own standalone story and still be engaging to watch. It’s like grafting multiple plants into one giant super one that gives you everything you want and then some.
Frieren isn't about combat, just like real life. When combat does happen though it is fairly brief but PACKED with these explosive displays of power and the talent of the animators. I think fights feel more grounded than in any other anime because when a blow connects and someone gets hurt They Actually Get Hurt and can't just walk it off. It's short, sweet, to the point, and awesome
To be fair, Serie changed the third exam because a usual one would have killed a lot of these mages. Which also tells us that Serie do care about them.
I think it probably helps that there isn't constant action that lets the action scenes shine even more, and probably easier on the animation budget and time
The thing about the fights in Frieren is that they all tell a story they all pay attention to going deeper into characters or the world at large the fights are beautiful on their own but within context it's a beautiful way to world build.
My favorite moment in any of the fights is during the mage exam when Fern defends her use of spell by saying, "My master told me basic attack magic is all I would need against any of you." COLD AS ICE!!!!! I love it
something that was extremely refreshing about frieren was the battle scenes. They weren't dragged out and were paced like how a real battle would take place. No long monologues or stretching out scenes with screaming. It was too the point and concise while still being beautifully animated and engaging
Great video! I agree especially with the last part when Fern gets some acknowlegement (with perspective of course). Even though Serie has a negative bias towards Frieren, she has very good points about her: the fact that she spent the past milennium training the mana supression technique (+ ofc mana stock and manipulation) makes her lack in other departments that other mages are more balanced. Like, it's most likely the reason Frieren has this "fatal weakness" regarding mana detection and probably why Fern has a fastest cast speed (although this is argued as it is because Fern's more used to it (?)). Meanwhile Fern, even tho she's nowhere near in "power level" to Frieren for obvious reasons, she's growing as a more complete mage than Frieren and by this point in time she's closer to the level of Denken than the level of mages her age which is incredible in itself considering how GOATED the chad Denken is. And the cherry on top, as you mentioned, fucking Serie wanted to directly be her master after being so disappointed that humans live so little to acquire their full potential and whatnot.
i saw someone comment this before: frieren is like your grandparents that don't really understand technology (internet, smartphones, etc), so they use their gadgets slowly. you zoom through your gadgets 'cuz it's just natural to you. Same concept to modern day magic.
Good fights and visuals Diping into multiple genres and dominating all of em Every character is multidimensional and lovable/ understandable Nothing is bland Just amazing show
The amazing thing in the fights in this anime is the use of parallax. It gives a sense of depth that most battle anime don't have outside of feature films.
The Spectacle! You had me there, man!!! This is how I have felt since I was young. Before CGI, animation was only the medium where imagination can somewhat be realized. Well, to be truthful, CGI is simply animation brought to almost realistic levels visually. Therefore, I think animation, anime to be specific, is the best medium for imagination realization.😍🤩👍 Love this video essay, btw. Agreed to all your points.👍😍
Frieren is going to be studied for how it nailed everything. Like its going to have an impact on how other studios make stories now. Also imagine they save a ton of money on how low key most of the anime is, and in doing that they can save their budget and energy for those amazing battles.
Well... Most anime do what you describe, which is to put most of their resources, more specifically talent (big name animators) into 1 or 2 eps per season, IF they even have them at all or the time to do it (usually not). While Frieren is much like CSM, Mob, Tengoku, JJK s2, etc., where they've got a large amount of talents every single ep. Even in slower scenes from non-action eps the animation isn't limited (still frames with no movement) and there is a decent amount of character acting animation. Obviously it still allocates more talents to bigger/more demanding eps, but it's not like they were able to use the other eps to "take a breather", so to say... The perks of having the One Punch Man s1 producer and most of the industry animators working on this show I guess... alongside JJK s2. (That's how the anime industry is like nowadays... 2 or 3 shows per season get all the big names in the industry and every other anime has to just deal with the cards they've been dealt).
Casuals voted it to the first place, because of "story" (which is kinda meh and the trope of "journey after the end" is almost as all as myths). On the other hand, sakuga was so good yet there was so little of it, it's truly a shame. It could have been peak goated battle shounen, undisputed number one.
As a day 1 manga reader I was one of the people that was telling people "if you're looking for action animation only probably pass on it" but that was before it came out, a lot of the fights in the manga are barely 2 pages long at the point in the story, ik thats obviously hyperbolic, but something like Stark vs the Solar dragon was only 8 pannels, I couldn't predict that they would turn it into that amazing bit of animation that it turned into
I kind of like how the tempo and pacing of the fights really reflects the character development and world building. Like, mage fights are mostly super quick - when you're both firing off devastating spells, it's more a game of rock paper scissors or who trumps who first, quickest. Qual was built up as the Demon King's strongest mage but he got taken down in seconds - because he would've learnt the magical advancements quickly if he wasn't, and it showed how human magic has advanced so much in the 80 years he was sealed. Stark cuts down the dragon in a few minutes because he was stronger than he realised. The fight between Frieren and her clone is epic but almost incomprehensible to follow - two millenia-old mages firing off magic that has probably been lost to time would be alien to see for all modern mages. Frieren and Aura has a few episodes of backstory build up to be over in seconds because Frieren is simply more powerful than Aura. Fights that take a little longer like Fern vs Lugner use that length to build the world in multiple ways - it shows how demons view magic, it shows their arrogance and how Flamme/Frieren weaponise it against them, and it is one of the first time we realise that holy shit Fern is actually a magical prodigy. Tbh the first test in the mage exam arc wasn't as compelling for me purely because the fights felt a bit longer, because they had to introduce and ground a buttload of new characters relatively quickly, and it felt a bit out of pace with the rest of the slow, measured storytelling of the rest of the series - but by the second exam, and the cut and dry 'pass or fail' of the third exam, it pulled it back.
9:00 "the choreography, the animation" choreography is apart of animation, its not a seperate thing. Its like saying, "the effects animation, the animation" as if its completely different.
That’s part of what makes this anime so amazing. It’s not only got a great cute story with charming characters, but some of the best and most CONSISTENT fights I’ve seen. Frieren does everything and does it well. And this is something that the anime can uniquely be praised for because even though the fights in the manga are cool, they’re nothing exceptional, whereas Madhouse really gave it their all.
Not "Fresus christ" Hahahahahaaa. Some great ideas and framing in this essay. Also fun fact about Land, in the dub he's voiced by a Black guy and I think that's neat. lol
One thing I like about Frieren is that they don't overexplain their abilities, we've been shown what spell Fern practiced before she met Frieren and what level she must reach to be good enough to travel with her, but no context about how it works and how strong it is, they just showed it. Then she was taught another spell during their journey, which was a barrier spell and it was later on that they explained what it was and of the offensive spell she used. It wasn't explained during the fight, well, it was explained before, during and after the fight, but in a way that didn't interfere with it and instead elevated its significance. We learned that the basic spell she used, was in fact a demon spell that was so potent and effective against mages that it was reverse-engineered and made a counter of, which was the barrier spell. During the fight with the demons, (The blood demon fight) we learned that demons take one field of magic/spell as their core, spending their whole life to perfect it. This goes back and further increases our understanding of the spells Fern uses. The power system in Frieren, though not the core of the story, is consistent and thorough, involving even story world's history in its make-up. The barrier spell is the most advanced and combat viable defense spell in the story, but it's weakness is too much physical force, which is also explained in the first round of the magical exam. It was made so because going further would make it too complex and mana expensive, even the flight spell they constantly use to still be an enigma that limits its usage. Making the other flashy and elemental spells not useless, because it doesn't devolve it into just a rock-paper-scissor fight where anything other than those are rendered redundant. I really like this as some power systems have turned stale or unchanging, which turns into a whose trump card is better than whose. Even if HunterXHunter has good power system, but you can't deny the fact that even if a thousand years has passed in that world, nen abilities would not really change that much.
I feel like the mage test arc had the same double theme going that you mention at the start. For Fern, it was definitely the shonen fighting arc. She proves herself over several tests and is acknowledged in the end. For Frieren, it falls back to the revelation of her charactet growth. In test 1, she cpuld have just dominated all the mages attacking her.. but instead she "turns the world upside down", dismantling the barrier, because she felt bad for her teammate who controls water not having access to the rain. In test 2, she shows both Fern and Sense what she learned from Himmel about clearing dungeons, and how to enjoy everything about it. She also reveals her flaws (what little there was), and through her double, at least one ace up her sleeve. And finally in test 3 we see the difference between the two points of view of magic. Frieren fails, not because she's incapable, but because she was never meant for this test in the first place. She even peels back the inadrquacies of those "childish battle mages". .. And while I'm talking about themes.. the relationships/romance did have some screen time with the friendships between Kanne and Lawine, Ubel and Land, and even Denken being fatherly towards Richter and Laufen. There was more comraderie, but those were the ones that it spent time focusing on. Like you said.. remove any one of these and the show would still be a good show. Having it all together makes it amazing.
One of the most overlooked part of the show Is zoltraak vs barrier magic. Zoltraak exists as a One hit kill spell, and in order to adapt to It humans created stronger and stronger defense spells. The very design of the barrier spell Is the result of this research: instead of a single costruct of a magic shield, like a normal barrier, the defense spell Is made of a cluster of smaller barriers, that both create a defensive Wall and a flexible defense with the various combinations of the smaller shields. Just perfect.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Also let's be honest... Frieren Clone's death stare? That's a hell of an knowledgement too.
The fact that she casted that shit with no staff or hand, and Fern confirms it wasn't a spell, Frieren definitely got that dawg on her
Frieren has a second phase that only the Demon King and Fern got to experience.
Good point lmao
@@dareka9425 Now i'm curious what type of dawg the demon king was
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊@@mohmedabdo4681
Stage 1: Fortnite
Stage 2: Dark Souls
Stage 3: Vibe Check
Imagine in 3rd exam, you're waiting outside the interview room and Frieren came out failing ...
@@reaperandyel you know people were shitting bricks at that point🤣
“SHE FAILED??”
@@llllavemder"yeah the 2 thousand year old demi god didnt like what i said to her 1000 years ago. Shes still got beef, whatever." Frieren, unbothered, hydrated and moisturized
Frieren was so peak I peaked.
i guess u enjoy re:zero and frieren. so in the end i’m guessing you have good taste (my taste lol)
@@StormArtificial The taste of demoness isn't bad.
@@StormArtificial re:zero is ass bro don't compare it to frieren (i quit when subaru rejected rem)
@@LightbornLight I quit when I got spoiled(apparently subaru died )
@@LightbornLight fucking subjective
Frieren embodies everything I love about a show; Spectacle, World Building, Fun characters, Perfect blend of Realism n Fantasy, and what most shows never get right; a slow enough pace where you're immersed into the world, yet never bored.
Its the perfect anime.
Don't tell FMAB fans
it low-key has everything. something for everyone.
Incredible OSTs,
Immersive atmosphere,
immaculate background arts,
Toptier animation and sfx,
Efficient Screenwriting,
enetertaining character dynamics,
absolute solid side/main cast,
solid Romance and best ships,
Comfy SoL moments,
absolute banger action scenes,
2d dragon fight,
Hype af non-action moments,
an incredibly well done OP mc,
a unique yet intuitive magic/power system,
subtle but solod power scaling,
incredible worldbuilding,
just enougj subversion here and there to keep it unpredictable
and most impressively and importantly:
it has an incredible pacing ,
to string all these together. doesnt matter what genre you prefer, the show has got you,
unless someone is shounent@rd and thinks making every story's arc a copy paste and as relentless as shibuya arc is the only best way tell stories or something
@@dimitrilepain3821FMAB is great but it's nowhere near as balanced and consistent as this anime.
@@jackreacher7495 glad you understood the joke. FMAB fans are notorious (especially on online ranking sites like MAL) to downvote, downplay and shittalk any anime that just remotely threatens FMAB's status as absolute and indisputable pinnacle of art. that's why i said "don't tell 'em", because those fellas would get mad if you even dared to compare Frieren to FMAB.
@@jackreacher7495cap
The animators are really flexing in Frieren, even just "Stark putting on his jacket" is better than the entirety of 7 deadly sins s3.
you know the animation is good when people mention 7ds
Frieren's har have more animation than 7ds 3
If I didn't know any better, I would've sworn Stark sprinting toward the dragon with his ax was rotoscoped because of how crazily accurate it was.
Bro 7ds already had enough of shit on bro let it r.i.p 🙏🙏
better than the entire shibuya arc
So we're talking about how good fights were in an anime, where fights weren't even the main objective.
It's like they want to make a cake, and they make it, and then they even give you a whole other dessert as a bonus.
That's how good Frieren is.
The thing about battle Shonen is that the genre oversells the fights, everything has to be a set piece to sell the product, whether it's anime or manga. When everything is trying to oversell the flashy, fancy fight scenes, you WILL get bored. By giving the reader or watcher a chance to breathe and take in the world, and getting to know the characters without constantly pushing for the next fight to one-up itself, you get a chance to care about the characters and the world they live in so you'll actually care about the fights when they happen.
@@guardiansoulblade2673 and they ALWAYS make the fights multi episode long spectacles. So much so that any Anime that doesn't people call "Boring"
@@jonathanwessner3456 remember a famous shounen that took more than a year with 1 episode a week to conclude 1 night of a battle :D
@@isirachehansa4886 depends on how you define a good fight. Surely the scales of Naruto is much higher, interplanetary even
@@isirachehansa4886 I guess this anime doesn't focus much on the fights but more about storytelling, like New Game+. If they wanted to do more fighting they would've set this before the hero team fight the demon king fell
What so good about fights in Frieren is that there is intention and goal, it uses fight as a method to tell and show more of the narrative in its story. Unlike many shounen battles, it is there jsut to show cool fights and to show that the MC are cool nothing more. But with Frieren we see the point of how she grow from the first time she battled Aura, after 80 yrs she isn't the same to mindlessly blats everything. And in the mage exam arc, there is a strong need for them to enter the north by having one of them becomes 1st class mage. In this arc, we also have seen alot more about flamme and her influence to frieren. And from frieren's influence to Fern. There's more to talk here than just the figth scenes. The fight scenes were another method to deliver a great narrative.
I have been watching many anime for 15 yrs already. I come to question what's there to many of these battle shounen. What's the point in fighting and become more powerful. What's even the point in becoming all powerful? I am not saying everyone of them was just an empty fights design to amuze audience, there a few exceptions and Frieren is one of them.
The fights were, like in one of the episode's title "A Necessary Death" iirc, like a key, or icing on cake, that one needs to be introduced into the substance within, the character building for a better story progression.😍
@@roxroe6731 Name one mainstream long running shonen that doesnt use fights for character development. New gen fans really are just yapping about shit to make modern stuff look better 💀
@@roxroe6731 i argue that frieren isn't really shounen, it never tries to cater to that audience
@@dc7981 the only "long runner" that is actually good is Hunter x Hunter, none of the 500+ episode long runners are that great.
I think the third exam was something I appreciated about frieren. It follows the series' idea that life just continues. There isn't a big payoff to the fight because thats basically the point of the whole series. Great vid btw.
Yeah and it’s a logical way of thinking. Serie wanted to quickly weed out weak mages without needless effort. Why expend large amounts of energy fighting, when there’s an easier way you can resolve things? It’s like how Frieren defeated Aura without lifting a finger. She could’ve used Zoltrak on Aura when she was paralyzed but Frieren just said “kys” and that was it.
Stark versus the demon girl was one of my favorite fight scenes, I loved seeing her twirl through the air like a feather and then hit him like a truck. Guess the dwarf hits harder tho
I guess I didn't understand the fight or why the hell it seems everyone liked the fight. It was just the demon girl slamming Stark until he had a flashback and he straight up one shots her, it was too stupid
@@juggram_99. not really? it was stark’s first legitimate fight and it perfectly illustrated his entire character at the start. he was being beat cause he was scared. his whole point is being cowardly and insecure and being faced with a mirror of your mentor can confuse you and harp on your issues. thats what makes it go so hard. when stark is so wrapped up on technique when realistically, all he needed was doing the job he’s supposed do.
@@juggram_99 Oh, Stark could always one shot her. To be fair, he’s capable of one-shotting most beasties. He was just worried that the demon girl would also be able to one shot him in that time. The demon girl moves just as fast, but unlike Eisen, she hits like a wimp. Stark just needed to realize he could tank one of her hits while getting the decisive wind up, ez win.
@@Hilliam66 definitely, it's to develop Stark's character more.
@@arthurianking9776 bro wasn't even damaged that much, as he said, she doesn't cut deep enough, most of his wounds are superficial
Freiren’s story arcs runs much like TTRPG campaign. Most of the plot points are gonna be character focused and exploration/world building focused.
But when your Party gets in a fight, oh it’s gonna pop off! Especially when one of your party member is an OP high level elf wizard grandma
Frieren’s chunin exam literally hooked me so hard, they got a little bit for everything
It's kinda obvious, but regarding the bit about Frieren not being very strong for an elf her age, I like that small detail a lot since it makes sense. Frieren is a scholar first and a battle mage second, she doesn't much care for getting as strong as she possibly can, her strength is just a byproduct of how long she's had to hone her skills, even the ones she didn't spend as much of her immense amount of time on.
She also spent a majority of her lifetime dedicated only to work on her mana suppression.
Frieren and Fern are also the two mages out of the mage exams with no gimmick, no unique moves they call their own, just unrelenting force and absolutely rock solid fundamentals
Frieren has no need to prove to anyone how strong she is or is not. I think if she had spent those 1000 years between Flamme's death and joining Himmel's party fighting on the front lines, instead of laying low, she would most definitely be objectively stronger, but she would be a lot less wise in turn. Beating the Demon King may not have worked out if she had, because she would not have been able to keep her true power levels unknown. That would have resulted in all the obstacles between her and the demon king not underestimating her. The way an Army prepares for an asymmetric fight (as the stronger entity) vs a near peer conflict is very different. As the weaker party in a asymmetric fight? The Demon Kings forces would have interacted a lot differently with the Hero's party if they had known. That is one of the big driving forces as to why Frieren and a few friends could do what a much more powerful mage (Serie) and her cohort of battle mages could not.
As an aside, I also think Frieren is way stronger than Serie thinks she is, but Frieren doesn't feel any need to win a pissing contest and doesn't show that to her. She may not have Serie's mana levels (almost definitely does not given how old Serie is implied to be), but she is more inventive and would trounce Serie's rigid way of thinking in terms of spontaneous ingenuity. Serie may know all the spells ever recorded, but I'd be willing to bet that, like Flamme's Barrier over Graf Granats town, Frieren has a bunch of tricks that have never been written down.
@@logikx1325 remember tho even frieren couldnt kill zoltraak demon, there were defo some similar stuff demons had during the war
@@ThyFloorestFloor This, she's basically just a demon slayer one trick who as a byproduct can defeat other enemies too
Bocchi the Rock did not need to go so hard with the animation, but it was a passion project for the director & encouraged his crew to be creative as they didn't have much to work with from the simple 4 koma series it was adapted from.
He basically did the same with Frieren.
People say Madhouse was on the decline; this is their flagship return:
the entire series was meticulously planned out, which allowed the composer to precisely score each episode
They released it as a 4 part premiere
They animation work is at times movie quality on a tv budget.
Mages standing around casting spells can make for a static fight scene, but they always went for something creative.
fr
Madhouse WAS on a decline.
I could argue that it still has declined, a bit.
if you have ever seen Redline, that was the "magnum opus" of Studio Madhouse.
a completely original movie (a MASSIVE gamble in Japan's ultra-cautious animation industry) where they spent 7 years hand drawing every frame to add CGI on top of it.
And it flopped, despite how good it is.
Madhouse accidentally killed the willingness of investors to ever risk greenlighting an original work for animation again.
but, in a way, this work seems like a way to edge that caution and push for freedom once more.
Frieren fights really fit the series of a world with a lot of mages, mages fight mages, they don't yap and scream their strongest attack name, and most of them don't try to make enemies needlessly. I'd say Frieren is my number 2 when it comes to realism in fights, #1 has to be Lord of the Mysteries. Absolute peak novel, every fight is so well described even me with an "alright" imagination has no trouble understanding what's going on, and it's all perfectly explainable about what happens, no pulling attacks out of their rump and having a "true form". Peak fiction, try it out.(It's a Lightnovel)
@Eridna
how bout chainsaw man?
@@chongwillson972 Chainsawman fights occur very randomly, especially the ones vs katanaman. The quick fights that are very truthful regarding the strength of each character was nice. If a character stood no chance, they died, if a character did stand a chance, they might still lose. I liked these aspects of the fight very much. The power system did leave a bit to be desired. I'm probably spoiled by LOTM though.
honestly, you people are just boring
@@ratedr7845
who is boring?
@@chongwillson972 me, sorry guys for being boring 😔
This goes to show that we don’t hate female lead anime’s or movies. We hate poorly written stories. Frieren is definitely a great anime with Studio Ghibli vibes plus beautifully animated fights, definitely top tier 👍🏽 Also my favorite character is Himmel I find that guy hilarious.
I agree that Himmel is best boy. What I loved most about him was the fact that he stayed loyal to Frieren and never loved anyone else, even though she was gone for 50 years…
@@Kureemy he never even expected anything from her, he just wanted to love her TT
@@Kureemy Not to mention that one guy who stopped a mugging or something because - and I quote - "It's what Himmel the Hero would have done." Dude didn't even let being a fictional character stop him from inspiring others to do good.
@@TheRedMan77can you tell me more?
@@Stint45678 A Taiwanese dude stopped a knife attack because Himmel inspired him to do good. There're whole Reddit threads about this guy, so it shouldn't be hard to find one. They'll explain it better.
I’ve been on the fence about watching Frieren, but this video solidifies the fact that I must watch it. Your writing in this video was really really good Teddy, good shit my guy.
Thanks jakis 🙏🏾
Denken will go down as a legend for being willing to throw hands without question. Bro said he may be out of mana but he's not out of options
part of why this series has been so great is because of the amazing manga it is based on and the sweat blood and tears the studio put into the production to tell this story. They really did choose the perfect length. i think this is also part of the reason we got 28 episodes instead of the usual 24 since they didn't want to skip the more quiet episodes which are core to the story of the manga.
The amount of effort and attention to detail the animation did put in, into every single second of screen time, is simply astonishing.
And they didn’t have to do any of that. The story and characters are compelling enough that the series would have been a commercial success even with relatively ordinary animation.
This is a labor of love. And it shows.
Serie is thousands of years older than Frieren. Kraft appears to be somewhere in the middle. The reason the first class mage exam didn’t have a round three climax was because the world building dictated that this valuable resource of mages not be wasted. The section in the dungeon arch where they collectively reveal all their strengths and weaknesses wasn’t an accident. It was a set up for future conflict among mages where there are real stakes. Think of it like this, Kraft saw through Übel immediately when saved the bandits. Likewise, Fern recognized Serie’s mana suppression. Serie not only saw through Land’s magic but used it and created a clone at his true location. Frieren tested and studied the protective barrier during the first stage of the exam without anyone knowing that it was she who was doing it and she shattered something no one thought possible. We see that mages recognize when other mages are using spells they know. We see that large gaps in power are recognized but closer peers can distinguish each others’ specific strengths. Truly powerful mages conceal their strength and skills opting to use only what’s needed. Frieren behaves like a scientist or hacker in that she seeks to fully understand a system before leveraging its weaknesses against it. So why does she keep studying and finding delight in seemingly obscure “folk” spells? It’s because they reduce millions of years of study to its essentials. She is then able to make connections no one else can see. Frieren has mastered all the core elements of her discipline and she continues to travel expanding the breadth of her knowledge and robustness of her understanding. My prediction is that there will be a final showdown between her and Serie which was hinted at when Serie’s disciple attacked her after the exam in an attempt to get his name in history. Whatever happens, it’s worth the wait.
I think Kraft is the oldest Elf we have seen, even older the Serie, because he physically looks the oldest, and is mentally also way ahead of Frieren and Serie both. Also he has that aura of mysticism around him, that suggest that the dude has seen some stuff that is probably not meant for mortal eyes to see.
@@zigazdovc6175 Nope. Serie was around at the same time as the goddess. Kraft says that he was not, hence he must operate on faith. Serie is older.
@@djx7134 Stop spewing BS, Kraft was an established Hero in the Mythical Era, so he is at least as old as Serie, but he is likely way older.
@@zigazdovc6175 Didn't he literally say he doesn't know if the goddess is even real ...?
Why are you berating me when you don't even pay attention?
@@djx7134 Lol, who is the one not paying attention? He is a monk of the goddess herself, Frieren is the one that thinks she is not real. He is a devoted follower.
I’m on episode 19 and honestly this is one of the best anime’s I’ve ever watched, easily top 3
U aint even get to the best parts. have fun my friend
Strap in, bud. Your ride isn't nearly over...
@@joeyweinwurm7477 I will
@@quigonkenny great to hear
It gets better and better, keep going
The part about the spell Fern asked for in the end was when I vulture-squawked laughing coz it literally was the "Like Mentor Like Mentee" but also coz it was a practical spell? Like it made sense? 😂 This series, Man. ❤ 100/10 would wish for dementia to watch it the first time every time again.
Oh shii if I get dementia I need to watch series again
“Frieren really isn’t who we thought she was” as a manga all I can say is…..just wait. She is unequivocally HER
Her?
@@libertybell5876 frieren was failed mostly because the elf at the heart of the association has a beef with her direct disciple, frieren's master. she didn't fail her because she failed. she failed her to spite her long dead disciple who she felt was the greatest disappointment/failure of her life. Understand frieren's master Flamme, loved magic. As does Frieren. But both dedicated their lives to killing demons, so Frieren was trained "differently". The elf felt both wasted their time on their passion. she once loved magic herself, now she does not. And frieren's love of magic mostly upset her. Because Frieren did something she could not, which was kill the demon king. why? because magic is partly about envisioning the result. Neither Flamme or whatshername could envision a world without the demon king, so neither could actually kill him. Frieren could envision a world without demons let alone the demon king, so she was able to kill him (or at least help Himmel do it). She's jealous and angry, and became petty. what really pissed her off though was frieren not caring. To frieren the "classification" test was just something amusing to do in her spare time, she saw no value in it. (which is why the top elf girl felt fine about being spiteful. she knew it wouldn't really hurt frieren to fail her)
@@arizona_anime_fanthanks! Im just starting the series so that makes much more sense now!
@@arizona_anime_fan genuine question, how impactful is this visualisation shi, is it like an actual thing or just a metaphorical non real thematic thing. like if stark truly truly believed or somehow imagine how he could kill serie, flammes teacher, could he do it? if ubel believe or somehow imagine cutting a mountain in half, could she?
@@NaMe-zg9qs Well, think of it this way. I can imagine myself rich and powerful, but if i don't have the skills to make it happen it won't happen. So it's not enough to be able to envision a world without a demonking, you need to actually be able to kill the demonking.
The "Envision" concept is best displayed with Ubel and the limits to her magic. She technically doesn't really understand how magic even works. She doesn't really care, because to her, magic works the way she believes it works. and in her case she can understand and cast a spell if she empathizes and understands the magician who cast the spell.
Now this is not how magic is supposed to work; or at least magic doesn't work like this for people who were told you need to learn how magic works. But it works fine for her. Because she believes that's how HER magic works.
Now how useful is Ubel's magical copying ability? well compared to a magical genius it's painfully limited. Frieren for example can pretty much learn any spell she sees often in real time and copy it, reverse engineer it and make it work better for herself. She doesn't have to empathize with the caster, or even know their name. But for Ubel that's exactly how her magic works. What's even more mindbending is she improves upon the magic she copies by bending it to work how she wants it to work as well. This also shouldn't be possible. but there is Ubel making it work.
So this raises a question. Does magic work with rule because someone one day made up rules and told others this is how you use magic. or is Ubel utterly unique?
Well we learn the answer to this with the explanation of why Flamme and Serie couldn't kill the demon king. In short, due to their inability to imagine a world without him, they were unable to make their magic kill him.
So it seems Ubel's magic works because magic works based on how you envision it working. For frieren and most traditional mages its something you learn and teach. But in reality it works according to the internal "belief" rules you've constructed for yourself with your understanding of how the world works.
Frieren just has that dawg in her, I agree that watching Fern develop that dawg and even getting acknowledged by someone as detached and uncaring as Serie is most definitely a feat.
Serie, detached? Uncaring? She's the exact opposite. She has a problem with Frieren because Frieren doesn't care enough/isn't forceful or ambitious. And she cares about her students a lot. The whole grumpy grandma act is just a coping mechanism. It becomes obvious when you notice that her actions contradict her words at almost every turn.
Something you overlooked a bit is that this progression is a loop. That 3rd stage of the arc isn't just the pay-off, but its also a lore package. You touched on it a bit talking about learning about Serie and that glimpse into her journey of taking apprentices, but we also see into the mages hierarchy and what sort of attitudes and people Serie values as additions to it. We have more insight into the characters who went the distance in the exam and we learned or had confirmation of what in their personalities made them special.
That information dump, when done well, often leaves us with new questions to chew on that we dig into at the start of that loop and through the next arc.
I agree. Serie pointing out the unique qualities/philosophies of each character really made the 3rd test special. That test further characterizes the examinees and validates why they deserve to pass.
realistic fights where the enemy actually fights back thats why,and theyre actually strategizing
As "realistic" as any battle shounen with plot armor.
4:44 That Steak joke had no business being that smooth🤣
i think people say its not a fighting anime because every other fighting anime is generally too scared to allow their characters to feel things. number 1 way to look for an anime that'll pull away from feelings is if they pull a gag after something emotional happens
the fights are just the cherry on top for everything else
1:08 indeed, in the manga the fights are nowhere near this epic, some are but they come later in the manga so i can't wait for s2.
"I'm more of a Flamme guy myself."
What, no love for Methode?
Milf of culture, unite, man. Count me in bro!!!🤩😍👍
I was on the fence about Methode until that moment of hers with Serie...
Just about everyone else was either scared to approach this millennia old arch wizard or crazy enough to consider attacking her.
Methode: SMOL AND CUTE!!!!!
Heh, it even freaked out Serie.
Honestly, I even got a lot from the fight between Fern and Ehre, even though it's mostly just looping Fern attack magic against Ehre's defence. That emotionless expression Fern has while beating a mage of this generation with basic attack spell
Because it's the classic Fern strat. "Oh no, I'm just a poor little girl with weak mana, I hope no one bullies me because I'm so vulnerable". Opponent gets overconfident, suddenly eats a hail of arcane arrows, either dies or goes OOM defending with no opportunity to counter-attack. The end.
It's very simple and yet surprisingly tricky and strategic.
@@djx7134call an ambulance!
. . . But not for me
@@djx7134 or just open's the door and starts blasting
I think a lot of that has to do with the manga.
Keep in mind that the manga focuses on action very rarely, and when the show was first coming out we didn't know that madhouse was going to go crazy with it.
How to make a great combat scene:
1- There is an objective beyond the fight itself.
2- The opponents use the resources available that make more sense.
3- The rules of confrontation are logical and known, not arbitrary.
4- The stakes are proportional to the risks accepted by the opponents, which are also proportional to the characters motivations.
5- The interchanges within the fight don't flatly repeat: each one is different and changes the next available options.
6- There is a story being said through violence, a story that is personally relevant for the characters.
7- Victory is never guaranteed or granted, but earned.
8- Actions within combat feed from the actions taken previously, outside combat.
9- The fight ends the very moment there is a simpler way to get the objective.
10- Combat changes the characters and the world. Consequences are strong and inevitable.
Frieren does all of these without fail. The combat scenes are AMAZING.
It’s also crazy that they animated a character putting on a jacket so detailed but still meshing with the rest of the animation I can’t tell if it was straight up rotoscoped or not. And they did that like a couple times. They really were flexing
teddy back in the youtube feed we love to see it. and he on frieren too? we've been knowing that he had good state but he just needed to remind the haters real quick 😤😤😤😤
Frieren did it correct way, this how a journey happens not every day is live or die situation. And the way they handled exams is 👌
great video
the rezero OST that started at 7:10 was PERFECT
Oh hell yeah I was in a slump without my teddyslump content we love to see it
I'm so glad you talked about the action in frieren. I agree with you that anime's spectacle is the thing which carries the genre and frierens ability to produce spectacle is basically my favorite thing about it
You’re witty! I like your sense of humor. Caught me off-guard with your joke about high stakes.
I felt like the third test was a testament to Ferns development as a mage, but also to Frieren's development in her character. The two things we explore in this show is Frieren discovering how much her friends impacted her, and the growing strength, ingenuity, and knowledge of humanity. That the era of humans had come. Fern really grows in her capabilities, and Frieren admits that she was just lucky
Lucky to find such great friends to change her life so much
It didn't feel like Frieren was just swept under the rug, but that she had some victory over Sere. That she had grown more herself than Sere ever had.
Frieren (The show not the character) does something that many people over look when people talk about good stories, and you briefly covered it but I think its a major part why many movies and shows fall flat eventually. It flocculates the energy of the show and Frieren does it masterfully. Many shows will just escalate and keep escalating, stay mellow, or straight up refuse to take itself seriously. But for a really good story you need to be able to go between the three. You have those fun moments to get your audience to enjoy your cast, you have the mellow moments to get your audience invested, and you have the moments where make the audience worry about what's going to happen. All three are important, all three easy to mess up. This is the reason why Lord of The Rings is still considered a master piece even though it has massive slow parts to it. Because the slow parts are there to get you invested for the spectacle later.
6:10 my guy literally called Kanne and Lawine novices even though they're third class mages, which honestly speaking, they really are when in comparison to Frieren
Because they were clearly less capable than most of the other mages there. Esp. Kanne. Without having rainfall as a win condition, Lawine & Kanne, the two that can only fight well together, were getting bodied by a Richter who wasn't even trying. He's a powerful mage, but not top tier. They're probably good compared to average, but bad compared to the best. I don't think we've seen a truly average mage yet.
As much as I love all the fights, I always think of the encounter with Qual first. He gets set up for Fern as this big bad guy that was unbeatable back when Frieren first fought him with Himmel's group, but due to mages studying his spell and working out a counter-measure, he was beaten by "regular" defensive and offensive magic-something Fern probably would have figured out was possible before the fight if she had actually read that history book like Frieren told her to.
A beautifully animated fight with great world building as both the lead up to and pay off for how it ended.
It kinda reminds me Mob Psycho 100 situation. Where the pretty damn wholesome story about basically slice of life and experience of growing up (emotionally, as a person, etc.) end up having absolutely badass fighting scenes.
love that you use signoras boss theme in your editing
RIP queen 😢
The battle of Frieren vs her Speigle clone is one of the best animated magic duels I have ever seen. The quality of the animation, the high framerate, the destructive abilities thrown around. Even when the camera is focusing on Fern hiding in a corner, what's going on in the background feels significant, and the action doesn't stop for a breather. Very compelling sequence, and I hope there are more like this in the future.
The, fcuking scara theme in the AMV went unbelievibly hard
Mannnn I been waiting for an upload bro!
3:58 nobody gonna talk about how clean that transition is?
Having no promise of a fight, then delivering so well is crazy lol
2:06 The little staff flourish Fern does to backwards fire zoltrak is so fucking good.
I love how ingrained the path for power progression is. Frieren is uber strong, and Fern is to. But Stark is also a prodigy really. That dragon actually did leave the village alone because of Stark. Not to mention that Hieter struck him instinctively, out of fear. He has the potential to stay neck and neck with the other two.
"it felt like the animators were thanking me for watching their show" such true words
Now i definitely gotta check this show out. That food is looking mad good too ngl lol Fire video Teddy 🔥
Honestly, the exam was some of the stuff I was most hyped for. When I found out we were getting all of that in season one I was so ready for it. It's really the first time we get a lot of other mages and we get to see how other mages do their stuff, and then it not focusing on one on one fights and helping to flesh out how the magic system works was pretty great.
Great video man, insightful and hilarious
What makes frierens story so good is that it feels like almost every character could have their own standalone story and still be engaging to watch. It’s like grafting multiple plants into one giant super one that gives you everything you want and then some.
Frieren isn't about combat, just like real life. When combat does happen though it is fairly brief but PACKED with these explosive displays of power and the talent of the animators. I think fights feel more grounded than in any other anime because when a blow connects and someone gets hurt They Actually Get Hurt and can't just walk it off. It's short, sweet, to the point, and awesome
I'm caught up with the manga and i still go back to re-watch scenes from the anime. It's so good.
To be fair, Serie changed the third exam because a usual one would have killed a lot of these mages. Which also tells us that Serie do care about them.
This is an amazing video no one talks about the fighting and scaling for anime only viewers thank you!!
I think it probably helps that there isn't constant action that lets the action scenes shine even more, and probably easier on the animation budget and time
well well well look who finally decided to fucking upload.( Im so glad youre back my glorious king slump)
6:42 “pure chaos and tweakery”
I aspire to be s tweakery master
This needs more views so teddy can get paid
The thing about the fights in Frieren is that they all tell a story they all pay attention to going deeper into characters or the world at large the fights are beautiful on their own but within context it's a beautiful way to world build.
The combat choreography is extremely well done. The animation is amazing.
My favorite moment in any of the fights is during the mage exam when Fern defends her use of spell by saying, "My master told me basic attack magic is all I would need against any of you." COLD AS ICE!!!!! I love it
something that was extremely refreshing about frieren was the battle scenes. They weren't dragged out and were paced like how a real battle would take place. No long monologues or stretching out scenes with screaming. It was too the point and concise while still being beautifully animated and engaging
Great video! I agree especially with the last part when Fern gets some acknowlegement (with perspective of course).
Even though Serie has a negative bias towards Frieren, she has very good points about her: the fact that she spent the past milennium training the mana supression technique (+ ofc mana stock and manipulation) makes her lack in other departments that other mages are more balanced. Like, it's most likely the reason Frieren has this "fatal weakness" regarding mana detection and probably why Fern has a fastest cast speed (although this is argued as it is because Fern's more used to it (?)).
Meanwhile Fern, even tho she's nowhere near in "power level" to Frieren for obvious reasons, she's growing as a more complete mage than Frieren and by this point in time she's closer to the level of Denken than the level of mages her age which is incredible in itself considering how GOATED the chad Denken is.
And the cherry on top, as you mentioned, fucking Serie wanted to directly be her master after being so disappointed that humans live so little to acquire their full potential and whatnot.
i saw someone comment this before: frieren is like your grandparents that don't really understand technology (internet, smartphones, etc), so they use their gadgets slowly. you zoom through your gadgets 'cuz it's just natural to you. Same concept to modern day magic.
@@3XZDgg loved the comparison
Good fights and visuals
Diping into multiple genres and dominating all of em
Every character is multidimensional and lovable/ understandable
Nothing is bland
Just amazing show
yes man, yaaas! Nothing to add here, great video and script.
I always come to this guy's videos mostly because his voice is very chill, and i like hearing it
Well, done really well done!👍🏻
It’s such a breath of fresh air in today’s fast paced anime. It has heart and soul
yoo i'm about to watch a lot of your videos. keep it up
The amazing thing in the fights in this anime is the use of parallax. It gives a sense of depth that most battle anime don't have outside of feature films.
Lowkey loved that video x'D
The Spectacle! You had me there, man!!! This is how I have felt since I was young. Before CGI, animation was only the medium where imagination can somewhat be realized. Well, to be truthful, CGI is simply animation brought to almost realistic levels visually. Therefore, I think animation, anime to be specific, is the best medium for imagination realization.😍🤩👍 Love this video essay, btw. Agreed to all your points.👍😍
Beautiful video going over thing other Frieren videos haven't gone over.
Frieren is going to be studied for how it nailed everything. Like its going to have an impact on how other studios make stories now. Also imagine they save a ton of money on how low key most of the anime is, and in doing that they can save their budget and energy for those amazing battles.
Well... Most anime do what you describe, which is to put most of their resources, more specifically talent (big name animators) into 1 or 2 eps per season, IF they even have them at all or the time to do it (usually not).
While Frieren is much like CSM, Mob, Tengoku, JJK s2, etc., where they've got a large amount of talents every single ep. Even in slower scenes from non-action eps the animation isn't limited (still frames with no movement) and there is a decent amount of character acting animation.
Obviously it still allocates more talents to bigger/more demanding eps, but it's not like they were able to use the other eps to "take a breather", so to say...
The perks of having the One Punch Man s1 producer and most of the industry animators working on this show I guess... alongside JJK s2.
(That's how the anime industry is like nowadays... 2 or 3 shows per season get all the big names in the industry and every other anime has to just deal with the cards they've been dealt).
Nobody is going to look back on this junk except to comment on how it was the most overrated anime of the time.
cannot wait for golden city arc to be animated that part is so good
Casuals voted it to the first place, because of "story" (which is kinda meh and the trope of "journey after the end" is almost as all as myths). On the other hand, sakuga was so good yet there was so little of it, it's truly a shame. It could have been peak goated battle shounen, undisputed number one.
As a day 1 manga reader I was one of the people that was telling people "if you're looking for action animation only probably pass on it" but that was before it came out, a lot of the fights in the manga are barely 2 pages long at the point in the story, ik thats obviously hyperbolic, but something like Stark vs the Solar dragon was only 8 pannels, I couldn't predict that they would turn it into that amazing bit of animation that it turned into
Darn. Because of you, now I gotta go and rewatch the whole show again.
I’m 99% sure the song at 9:30 is from a Kiseki game but I can’t pinpoint which one.
Back to the Dorm from CS1 by Tomokatsu Hagiuda.
I kind of like how the tempo and pacing of the fights really reflects the character development and world building. Like, mage fights are mostly super quick - when you're both firing off devastating spells, it's more a game of rock paper scissors or who trumps who first, quickest. Qual was built up as the Demon King's strongest mage but he got taken down in seconds - because he would've learnt the magical advancements quickly if he wasn't, and it showed how human magic has advanced so much in the 80 years he was sealed. Stark cuts down the dragon in a few minutes because he was stronger than he realised. The fight between Frieren and her clone is epic but almost incomprehensible to follow - two millenia-old mages firing off magic that has probably been lost to time would be alien to see for all modern mages. Frieren and Aura has a few episodes of backstory build up to be over in seconds because Frieren is simply more powerful than Aura. Fights that take a little longer like Fern vs Lugner use that length to build the world in multiple ways - it shows how demons view magic, it shows their arrogance and how Flamme/Frieren weaponise it against them, and it is one of the first time we realise that holy shit Fern is actually a magical prodigy. Tbh the first test in the mage exam arc wasn't as compelling for me purely because the fights felt a bit longer, because they had to introduce and ground a buttload of new characters relatively quickly, and it felt a bit out of pace with the rest of the slow, measured storytelling of the rest of the series - but by the second exam, and the cut and dry 'pass or fail' of the third exam, it pulled it back.
9:00 "the choreography, the animation" choreography is apart of animation, its not a seperate thing. Its like saying, "the effects animation, the animation" as if its completely different.
That’s part of what makes this anime so amazing. It’s not only got a great cute story with charming characters, but some of the best and most CONSISTENT fights I’ve seen. Frieren does everything and does it well. And this is something that the anime can uniquely be praised for because even though the fights in the manga are cool, they’re nothing exceptional, whereas Madhouse really gave it their all.
Can we talk about how many frames they put into the booty when purple hair sat down next to red hair in the tavern.
finally a frieren essay video not talking about how sad a long life is
Not "Fresus christ" Hahahahahaaa. Some great ideas and framing in this essay. Also fun fact about Land, in the dub he's voiced by a Black guy and I think that's neat. lol
One thing I like about Frieren is that they don't overexplain their abilities, we've been shown what spell Fern practiced before she met Frieren and what level she must reach to be good enough to travel with her, but no context about how it works and how strong it is, they just showed it. Then she was taught another spell during their journey, which was a barrier spell and it was later on that they explained what it was and of the offensive spell she used.
It wasn't explained during the fight, well, it was explained before, during and after the fight, but in a way that didn't interfere with it and instead elevated its significance. We learned that the basic spell she used, was in fact a demon spell that was so potent and effective against mages that it was reverse-engineered and made a counter of, which was the barrier spell. During the fight with the demons, (The blood demon fight) we learned that demons take one field of magic/spell as their core, spending their whole life to perfect it. This goes back and further increases our understanding of the spells Fern uses.
The power system in Frieren, though not the core of the story, is consistent and thorough, involving even story world's history in its make-up. The barrier spell is the most advanced and combat viable defense spell in the story, but it's weakness is too much physical force, which is also explained in the first round of the magical exam. It was made so because going further would make it too complex and mana expensive, even the flight spell they constantly use to still be an enigma that limits its usage. Making the other flashy and elemental spells not useless, because it doesn't devolve it into just a rock-paper-scissor fight where anything other than those are rendered redundant.
I really like this as some power systems have turned stale or unchanging, which turns into a whose trump card is better than whose. Even if HunterXHunter has good power system, but you can't deny the fact that even if a thousand years has passed in that world, nen abilities would not really change that much.
I feel like the mage test arc had the same double theme going that you mention at the start.
For Fern, it was definitely the shonen fighting arc. She proves herself over several tests and is acknowledged in the end.
For Frieren, it falls back to the revelation of her charactet growth.
In test 1, she cpuld have just dominated all the mages attacking her.. but instead she "turns the world upside down", dismantling the barrier, because she felt bad for her teammate who controls water not having access to the rain.
In test 2, she shows both Fern and Sense what she learned from Himmel about clearing dungeons, and how to enjoy everything about it. She also reveals her flaws (what little there was), and through her double, at least one ace up her sleeve.
And finally in test 3 we see the difference between the two points of view of magic. Frieren fails, not because she's incapable, but because she was never meant for this test in the first place.
She even peels back the inadrquacies of those "childish battle mages".
..
And while I'm talking about themes.. the relationships/romance did have some screen time with the friendships between Kanne and Lawine, Ubel and Land, and even Denken being fatherly towards Richter and Laufen. There was more comraderie, but those were the ones that it spent time focusing on.
Like you said.. remove any one of these and the show would still be a good show.
Having it all together makes it amazing.
Frieren is such a great show. I'm addicted to the world and characters.
8:14 you aint alone brotha' 😭🙏
The amv surprised me omfg i didnt expect for Signora's theme to be there LMAO
One of the most overlooked part of the show Is zoltraak vs barrier magic. Zoltraak exists as a One hit kill spell, and in order to adapt to It humans created stronger and stronger defense spells. The very design of the barrier spell Is the result of this research: instead of a single costruct of a magic shield, like a normal barrier, the defense spell Is made of a cluster of smaller barriers, that both create a defensive Wall and a flexible defense with the various combinations of the smaller shields. Just perfect.
Really nice insight, thanks
I absolutely loved this, can't describe how well made it is. No wonder it's ranked number 1 on myanimelist