Yes I’m alive. Consider this short review a message to myself: Stop getting annoyed that people like Frieren “too much”. Yes Frieren has its fair share of issues. Its world, for starters, is boring. You don’t have to make a medieval fantasy setting with elves and magic and demons this bland and forgettable, but it feels like Frieren set out with that specific goal in mind. It makes any interaction with the world less interesting as a result. Any interesting details about the world feel incidental. I’m also not particularly keen on Himmel the Hero. He feels very flat as an aspirational figure. I also think the way the show depicts demons feels very off in a way that made me uncomfortable, like it’s trying to justify baseless hatred. Also having Frieren as the main character has the same problem all overpowered main characters have in that there isn’t any real tension in the show, because you know Frieren could wipe the floor with anyone.
…and so on, but this is where I stop myself. Because I like the show. I like Frieren. I enjoy how stupidly over-animated it is, where shots of them just sitting around eating bread at dinner is so lovingly animated that it conveys so many extra layers of emotions and details in their movements. It enhances the story whenever I can tell Stark feels super awkward about his current predicament from his actions. Speaking of Stark, I fucking love everything about Stark. Whenever he deflates because he realises he’s annoyed someone but doesn’t understand how, I can feel that sensation in my soul. He is my spirit animal, and the spirit animal of anyone who suffers from imposter syndrome.
I enjoy watching Stark interact with Fern. When Sein angrily slams his mug down on the table when out drinking with Frieren and yells “just kiss already damnit” about those two, I thoroughly enjoyed my internal feelings being yelled out with as much frustration by an in-world character as I felt. Sein enjoying watching Stark and Fern share an intimate moment dancing, then in his temporary elatedness at the joys of youth asking Frieren to dance, only for her to nonchalantly respond with “no, I’m eating cake” and watching Sein’s temporary exuberance for passion deflate with Frieren none the wiser to what happened was such a fantastic character moment for every person involved in the whole exchange.
I even enjoy when Frieren went all tournament arc towards the end, because I am a sucker for tournament arcs and the sports festival arc of My Hero Academia was where that show peaked too. This was despite the fact every character in the show is a kuudere so responded to every power move by their opponent with a level of detached interest, like they were a golf commentator who hadn’t had his morning coffee. Or indeed perhaps because of that? It certainly gave the show a very different tone from shounen battle anime doing the same routine.
I like a lot of the small details. I enjoyed Frieren being inordinately proud of her mage license pendant and resenting that she was going to have to take the exam again. It speaks to Frieren’s age in a way that is something other than her being amazed others feel the change of time differently to her. There’s a whole story there that I kinda love we’re never told. I also enjoy that Frieren has a kind of juvenile sense of humor and very little phases her anymore, like how funny she finds a magic potion that makes clothes disappear.
Frieren is a long way off being my Anime of the Year. But it does reach a high enough barrier that I consider it “good”. I enjoyed watching it. I would watch more when they make more (and it is “when”, not “if” – you don’t leave something this successful untapped). I have little Frieren figures sitting next to my desk. I am trying to work up the courage to ask my wife if she’ll cosplay as the sunken-eyed chick with the black dress who loves murder because she’s hot.
Yes there are anime from the past few years I prefer. I wish more people watched and liked Migi and Dali. I wish more people watched and liked Undead Unluck. I wish more people watched and liked Delicious in Dungeon…actually loads of people watched and loved Delicious in Dungeon, so no need to worry there. I like all those anime more than Frieren. But there’s so many anime out there that get popular despite being shit that I need to stop my gut reaction of being annoyed people like Frieren more than I think it deserves. So next time someone gushes over Frieren, I should just respond “I like that anime too”.
