(this is more of a critique than a review and contains spoilers)
A lot of people love this show and I kinda understand why. The art and animation are incredible and it's rare for a fantasy anime to give of a cozy, calm and nostalgic vibe. There is no fan service, no annoying shouting side character, no typical anime bullshit... Frieren is ''clean'' and ''pure''. Unfortunately it's also boring as fuck.
Alright, so what's wrong with frieren?
Is it the lack of action? Is it the slower pacing?
Nope. It's the fact that the show is afraid of conflict and lacks creative ideas.
All storytelling needs some kind of
...
conflict to be engaging, even the most goofy and lighthearted feelgood comedies. That's why flawed characters are interesting and drama is engaging. But this show seems to be afraid of conflict. It wants to be kind and cozy so much that it forgets how good storytelling works. All of the main characters are kindhearted, calm and awkward. There is almost no contrast between them, which makes their dynamic bland. There is no chemistry. Think about characters that work great together. They are often polar opposites. (spongebob and squidward, mob and reigen, jesse pinkman and walter white)
Each episode does introduce some kind of conflict, but except for the first few episodes, this conflict is never interesting and is solved almost instantly to retain that cozy vibe. (fern being mad at stark. frieren losing her ring and then finding it with some convenient spell.) All of this would be kind of fine if frieren was a basic slice of life anime. But it's not. It has action scenes and magic battles and tries to tackle deeper themes about death, the passage of time and how we want to be remembered after we are gone. But these are serious darker topics and clash with it's kind and cozy vibe, so they aren't explored in any interesting way, just barely enough to ad that cheap nostalgic sadness to it's vibe.
Death is constantly mentioned, but except for the first few episodes, it is never a point of focus. It's just used like this: ''My wive died many years ago... I loved her, but after all these years I can't remember what she looked like...'' Cheap writing tricks to give bland side characters a tiny bit of depth without connecting any of their backstories to the main story or the world-building.
We are often told how dangerous some parts of the world are. But luckily the main characters have noting to be afraid of. After all frieren is extremely overpowered, so much so that every fight lacks any tension or excitement. And the plot-armor isn't helping either. (during Starks fight with the demon girl she just walks away without finishing him of when he is bleeding out on the ground.)
This kind of tension-less writing is why the second half of this show, the more action heavy part, is also worse than the first half.
The show turns into a shonen, but a cozy and kind shonen, where every character is only bluffing about killing their opponent and is in fact kinda wholesome.
It's not that the show needs edgy characters who like to kill, but it still introduces one and then only has her bluff about killing people while only killing one dude in a flashback.
The second part of the exam arc is constantly introducing something ''dangerous'', that doesn't pose any real danger to any of the characters.
when a girl is caught in a trap and the walls with spikes are closing in on her, she is freaking out for a moment before realizes. ''wait I can just give up and break my glass bottle.''
I have to admit, when frieren fights her clone, the animation is incredible, but the fight itself lacked any meaning or interesting buildup. Something that lots of shonen (like one piece or even fairytail) do so much better. but for some reason so many people don't seem to care, being blinded by the incredible animation, not noticing the bland writing, while at the same time acting as if frieren is so much better than other anime that are just ''mindless action.''
When the fight is over ferns wand is broken, an interesting problem. And fern is mad at frieren for acting so indifferent about it. Great setup for interesting drama. But then the problem is fixed instantly. ''O, i'm sorry. Look this dude fixed your want for you.'' Any decent writer would have made frieren sacrifice something important to her in return for the wand to show that she does care. This would also help with the almost nonexistent character development. (In the past Frieren would have never sacrificed something for someone else, but now she would do it for the first time.)
The potential for frieren as a character is great. having a socially awkward, uncaring 1000 year old elf learn how to build meaningful relationships is actually a good concept. but this would only be interesting if her flaws were seen as real flaws by other characters. Instead her flaws are seen as cute and goofy. Everyone loves her either way. she doesn't need to change.
Himmel loved her the way she was. It's cozy. it's friendly. But it's boring writing.
Imagine if mob from mob psycho 100, also an awkward person who doesn't show much emotion, was loved by everyone from the start and everyone showed interest in him. There would not have been an interesting character arc where he wants to change.
Frieren is overpowered, has a bland personality, and is extremely awkward. But everyone still likes here. sometimes they are just slightly annoyed with her.
While still a better character than 99% of self insert isekai protagonists, she is not that different from them if you think about it.
A lot of stuff in frieren is actually similar to many Isekai:
A basic fantasy world, a bland magic system, bland fights that lack tension, an overpowered main character, forgettable demon antagonists, an Evil demon king, dragons, elves...
compare these basic fantasy concepts to the creative and fresh fantasy concepts of made in abyss, dorohedoro, spirited away or elden ring. The contrast in creativity and personality between real creative fantasy and basic by the numbers fantasy like frieren is insane.
None of frierens ideas are unique. The only thing about frieren that is unique is it's vibe.
But if you are genuinely interested in storytelling you'll know that all of frierens writing tricks are cheap. The inevitability of death creates strong emotions in people, so does thinking about the past and the passage of time.
Frieren is using these themes, without properly exploring them, combined with some extremely basic psychological observations, (wanting to be praised and the meaning of being an adult and some more stuff that I have already forgotten) to create a ''vibe'' instead of writing an actually interesting story.
6/10
Jul 7, 2024
Sousou no Frieren
(Anime)
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Not Recommended Funny  Spoiler
(this is more of a critique than a review and contains spoilers)
A lot of people love this show and I kinda understand why. The art and animation are incredible and it's rare for a fantasy anime to give of a cozy, calm and nostalgic vibe. There is no fan service, no annoying shouting side character, no typical anime bullshit... Frieren is ''clean'' and ''pure''. Unfortunately it's also boring as fuck. Alright, so what's wrong with frieren? Is it the lack of action? Is it the slower pacing? Nope. It's the fact that the show is afraid of conflict and lacks creative ideas. All storytelling needs some kind of ... 
Aug 16, 2023
Edens Zero
(Anime)
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Vinland Saga Season 2
(Anime)
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(this is more of a critique than a review and contains spoilers)
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