Back to renardTrickster's Profile renardTrickster's Profile

Frieren is rightfully compared to Dungeon Meshi in that it takes familiar fantasy trappings (though more Dragon Quest than D&D/Wizardry), and asks questions about them, extrapolating a more thoughtful premise from it. What happens *after* the world-devastating era-defining BBEG gets take down, and what if the "elf side character who is long-lived" was the main character, and we see her come to terms and struggle with her role in the shifting sands of time?

The character designs are striking, the animation is beautiful, especially during the fight scenes. The soundtrack is similarly amazing, wonderfully evocative to the point where one can listen to particular track and ... envision the scene it was paired with. It also uses folk instruments which fit the medieval setting, sound like they came straight out of Lord of the Rings, and need to be in your TRPG campaign right now! My favorite is "Phantoms of the Dead".

As for the story, it begins slow and appropriately philosophical. The weight of time Frieren carries can always be felt, with one character in particular practically haunting the narrative, even as she focuses on the now and moves forward into her new future. Even as it shifts into "more typical shonen" storytelling later, it still retains its thoughtfulness (helps that it's really good shonen). And the worldbuilding, while not groundbreaking, certainly is interesting enough to make the setting feel a bit more unique than the boilerplate it's obviously built upon. In terms of downsides, I can only think of two. First is that, while the show can overall be very funny, they're really fond of the "guy does something stupid and the girl calls him an idiot" comedy routine, but they forget to make the guy do something stupid and it just feels like bullying (also it's not funny). They let up on it eventually though. The second is more pernicious.

For as thoughtful as Frieren's world and story are, the Demons are the least interesting part of it in a way that actually drags everything down with it. The idea the author was going for is the "always chaotic evil race allied with the main villain", but seemingly upon realizing that these would make for really flat characters, decided to inject some Nuance by making them bipedal predators who evolved language for the purpose of deceit. Putting aside the inconsistencies with how this is presented, this Nuance ends up splitting the baby and is jarring for it. Frieren is at its best when it's curious about the Standard Medieval Fantasy assumptions and builds upon them, and when the main character takes active interest in the world and the people in it. So to tune in for that, and then get hit by an overly didactic explanation that Demons are ontologically evil philosophical zombies, any curiosity you display is The Sin of Empathy which they will exploit to destroy you, and it'd be better if these non-person intelligent animals were all wiped out, every last woman and child? I like Warhammer 40K, but not when it's pressing against my Demon Slayer time, is what I'm trying to say. That this much time is spent rationalizing just so we can have Non-People That Frieren Can Kill Without The Audience Feeling Bad About It ends up being do distracting that it actually holds me back from giving it a "10". Luckily the Demons are only the focus of roughly one arc. I imagine that if I get into the manga, how they handle them moving forward will either recover that 10, or bump it down to a 6.

DESPITE MY GRIPES, the rest of Frieren is strong enough to make watching more than worth it. If you love fantasy, or are into elves, you're only depriving yourself by holding back. If you're not into elves, there's still time to learn and grow. It's a masterpiece with a weird noticeable blemish is all.

I read (and reviewed!) Demonic Gene first, so I'll be using that as a baseline for this review.

If you're a Jonathan Connoisseur, you are most definitely in the right place. In the same way that Demonic Gene felt quintessentially Walter, with its dark and gritty art style and troubled but understanding depiction of Funny Agi Man, Prayers is very quintessentially Jonathan. The art style is notably softer and lighter, making use of minimal shading, maximal contrast, and heavy use of white highlights instead of black shading. It's less detailed than Demonic Gene (and lacks the gore factor, even when things get bloody later on), but ... it definitely fits the tone. This is Jonathan's story, and it captures his dignity and idealism while still making him work to see those ideals through.

If there's criticism to be made of Prayers, it's probably that the ending is *too* idealistic. Not that happy endings can't exist, but that Walter's increase in power went hand in hand with increased desperation, horrific mutation, and alienation from others. Here, Jonathan basically becomes a shonen protagonist. And while Flynn's presence in Demonic Gene was a bit unclear, the opposite is the case here, to the point where he goes beyond spirit mentor. I wouldn't say they harm the story too much, and they do tie into Jonathan coming to grips with his flaws, but be advised. Further to the story's credit, the new character taking Flynn's place, Asuma, is handled very well. He's a Chaos-aligned foil, and much like Gina, while he initially seems redundant since Walter is already here, he is different enough, and more directly parallels Jonathan, that he earns his place. It helps that the other Samurai have more of a presence in the story than they did in Demonic Gene. Walter, Isabeau, and the other guy aren't *major* characters per se, but they do more here than they did there.

If you're a Walter Enjoyer, you're in the right place. While the story is nominally an alternate universe where things go off the rails before the events of SMT IV, it's best approached as a character exploration of Walter and a new adventure set in the world of the game. The writing is authentic and convincing, capturing the essence of the returning cast and expanding on the setting while feeling right at home in it. As one might guess, Walter is the heart of the show, and his desire for a more free world ruled by strength are given a very deserved treatment, being both ... nuanced and understanding. His ambitions cause massive trouble and ultimately lead the plot down a very dark road, but he's a frustrated son of a fisherman surrounded by untrustworthy authority figures. He's a strong-headed jerk with a kind heart, not a rube duped by tyrants. The art direction is also nothing to sneeze at either, being dark, expressive, and dripping with gore and body horror. This sounds like a joke, but I mean it when I say that this captures who and what Walter is as a character.

The only other major note is twofold. First is the appearances of Flynn, and the overall "meaning" of the story in the broader universe. I'm not sure what it adds to the work, but as mentioned earlier, Demonic Gene is best taken as an independent side-story in the same world. Second is Gina, the manga-original character who effectively takes Flynn's place in the group. On one hand, it is a bit redundant to have a Law-aligned foil to Walter since Jonathan already exists, and he ultimately has no major role in the story (which is a shame in terms of writing and in terms of their bromantic rivalry). On the other hand, it's kind of funny that even in a manga made by someone else, ATLUS still did the "spin-off featuring an important yet mysterious girl you've never seen before" thing again. Ultimately though, she has a strong dynamic with Walter, her journey mirrors that of Walter's gradual transformation, and she more than earns her place in the story. I think she's pretty neat.

I'll end it thus/10

Love Me For Who I Am is, first and foremost, the cutest shit I've ever seen. The art is soft and expressive, equally good at bringing out the emotion in a character's face as it is deforming them into a cartoony blob. The writing is much the same, with likeable characters and endearing, slice of life/maid cafe shenanigans. The marriage between art and writing is best exemplified in the frequent Outfit Porn the manga indulges in. To the audience, it's a chance to showcase cute clothes worn by equally cute boys, girls, and not-boys-or-girls. To the characters, they're an avenue of expression, freedom, and an ... opportunity to live authentically in public with people who understand them, and their passion is palpable. In short, it is *fun to read* and infectiously so, a borderline healing experience and thus easy to recommend in that regard alone.

Love Me For Who I Am is also appropriately serious when the need arises. Not only does this blend well with the above, ensuring that the cutesy feelgood times have some bite, pathos, and stakes to it, the reverse perspective serves to reinforce the central theme of the story. That even if the world might be close-minded or leave you feeling sick and hurt, there's always someone there who understands you, and a happy life is possible despite it all. The central conflict lies with Mogumo's nonbinary identity, through other topics surrounding gender and sexual orientation feature as well, varying in frequency but equal in being well-handled. Coming into your new identity, or having lived for years in public with that identity. Societal homophobia making you feel isolated by convincing you that you're broken and are obligated to be "normal", or knowing you're not broken, but having to keep it secret from others lest you face judgement. Not being queer at all, just a good friend and an ally, or maybe realizing you might actually be more than that. There's a diversity at play not only in identity, but in experience as well. Relatable, aspirational, joyful, painful.

I must emphasize that the story contains proper teeth and drama, and it isn't *just* a futzaround gay funtime. Even if things are generally lighthearted and characters spend more time happy than they do unhappy, things can be quite messy. The largely sympathetic protagonist misgenders his sister for a third of manga's runtime, the second major "arc" delves into a crushing examination of internalized homophobia and how badly it can twist someone up, and the final arc is gut-wrenching from start to tearful finish. Whether you're queer and looking for a manga that explores those themes with empathy and understanding, somewhere on the periphery and interested in something as informative as it is entertaining, or just interested in a cute drama with some romance and gender stuff, Love Me For Who I Am will suit your needs perfectly.

I think that Jujutsu Kaisen is a *good* manga, with a lot going for it. The art is strong, with a sketchy feeling that's good at conveying the sometimes gritty mood, and the motion and impact of a battle. The characters all have strong identities, allowing one to instantly "get" who they are and what they're about, and their dynamics flourish and bounce off of each other accordingly. The comedic aspects always hit, and Aoi Todo is the best character because of it (Hiromi Higuruma is 2nd place as "guy with the best writing, concept, and execution"). If Gege Akutami has one strong point though, ... it's generating hype. There's always something to get excited over, and he usually delivers.

The issue is, I don't think JJK can be anything stronger than *just* "good". The characters have strong, distinct personalities, but they don't really significantly change over the course of the story. Which isn't helped by the fact that there's next to zero downtime for them to reflect, interact at length, decompress, or even have low-stakes problems. Escalation hits the story like a truck. In what almost felt like a parody of shonen action tropes, a ranking system for Cursed Spirits is introduced, only for every plot-relevant Cursed Spirit to be Special Grade (the highest tier), effectively making the rankings superfluous. The Shibuya Incident was intended as a "dark hour" where the situation spirals out of control with no time for the heroes to catch their breath, but there was no falling action, lulls in activity, or anything of the sort between it, the Culling Game, and the Shinjuku Showdown, to the point where half of the manga just feels like an extension of the Shibuya Incident. There's actually a month in between the Culling Game arc and the Shinjuku Showdown arc, but it gets skipped over instantly and is only sporadically viewed through flashbacks afterward, mid-fight, robbing the characters of any ability to exist outside of the context of the current battle or the one after that. Because of this, the story as a whole feels like it's missing some essential, emotional core. I struggle to imagine talking about what Jujutsu Kaisen *is* outside of a collection of really cool fight scenes. I also personally thought the power system was a less interesting version of Nen, and the fact that Cursed Spirits and Cursed Energy are both born from negative emotions and hatred had almost no impact on anything (the plot, themes, and characterization would be the exact same if they were Demons and Spirit Energy), but that's small apples compared to everything else.

There are more egregious issues. In two different instances, a female character gets hyped up as an impressively strong fighter, and when she finally debuts in a fight over a hundred chapters later, she gets defeated near-instantly and effortlessly. There's also stronger praise to give. In a genre that loves to introduce an ensemble cast of strong characters (writing-wise and ability-wise), only to shelve them for the final battle as the main hero takes center stage, the final battle sees nearly everyone assembling, contributing nearly equally to the effort. The author knows what works, but is simultaneously disinterested in accounting for what doesn't. It's a great journey, but the excesses of those weaknesses leave me bitter at the destination. At the end of the day, Jujutsu Kaisen definitively earns its 7 out of 10. If you like action and fighting manga, you'll probably like JJK, but you'll undoubtedly think there are better ones out there. It's not bad, or great, but it is good. Also John Werry is a literary terrorist and the anime cleans things up whilst simultaneously expanding on them such that it's the superior way to experience this story.

YURI SUBTEXT: Maki and Kugisaki have strong "yeah we gay keep scrolling" energy together on the cover of chapter 63. Kugisaki in general gives off lesbian vibes, and the fact that she looked up to Saori so much made me think that Saori got kicked out of the village for being gay, though at least part of that is because I initially missed the explanation for why she got ostracized.