What is your favorite Frieren episode? (Unmarked spoilers for full series)

jairo_zeppeli said:
The first episode is my favorite

FrierenSimpKing said:
Like I know Frieren has some great battles with amazing animation and production, and all of that, but I’ll be honest, my two favorite episodes are the ones that are just people talking, and memories of people talking:

EPISODE 14 - PRIVILEGE OF THE YOUNG: This is the favorite episode for me. I love everything about it. I love how sweet Fern and Stark’s story is here. I love how Sein works through it. I love Heiter telling Frirren that even at the end of his life, he feels like a child pretending to be an adult, and that he will keep up the ruse for Fern’s sake – in fact, this hits me particularly hard, the idea that you never really “grow up”, you just pretend to know what’s going on. And then, of course, I love the second part of this episode, with Frieren losing her ring (her “I have gotten used to losing things” line is still not appreciated enough for how much weight and baggage it has). And then, of course, the Himmel proposal scene at the end of the episode, and I can never stop bawling.

EPISODE 27 - AN ERA OF HUMANS: This one is very close to being my favorite episode, mostly because of how thoroughly it establishes that, even though Frieren may struggle with emotions and empathy, she is inherently and fundamentally a kind person. She does not need to understand why something matters to someone to act on it. She doesn’t understand why Fern is upset at the staff being broken, but she knows that she is – that’s enough for her to spend all that time and energy on trying to make sure that the staff gets fixed. She did not know why the young little boy lost in the forest was so uncomfortable – but she knew he was, and she cast that spell with the field of flowers to comfort him a little (and in the process, saved the world and ended the Demon King’s reign). I love it, I love her inherent kindness, I love her faith in Fern, I love her acknowledgement of the bonds she formed and how much they mattered.

—

I am sure I will get a lot of answers here for the Frieren vs Aura/Frieren vs Frieren episodes (and those are amazing!), but I wanted to highlight just how much I appreciate the slower, more contemplative episodes of Frieren. To me, these episodes are what this show is about – the smaller moments of kindness, the more human moments of vulnerability and interaction, and the acknowledgment of those moments with the passage of time. Those moments, and Frieden’s insistence on not ignoring them in favour of the next big battle or set piece, are why Frieren stands apart from almost every other anime series to date.

aurora_yuuki said:
@cloud-ma 𝙱𝚛𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝚊 10/10.

siraqOrNoraq said:
The best episode is the one when fern had to keep stark warm🫡