Sousou no Frieren: ●● no Mahou

This series was really enjoyable to watch, and I'm saying it as someone who is not a huge fan of all those "chibi episodic series". Not that I don't like them. I just prefer said chibi episodic series' main series, that's all. I was worried "Sousou no Frieren: Marumaru no Mahou" would be just another mediocre series, created for the sake of just existing alongside the main anime (in this case: "Sousou no Frieren"). I was wrong. It's a solid chibi episodic anime.

There are 12 episodes, each one dedicated to a different magic spell. What all of them have in common is being just short ... and cute way to show funny gags happening between various characters from Sousou no Frieren. They naturally fit into the main series' storyline, expanding it a little in a wholesome way. I like if such series go that way. Explaining things that did not appear in the main series is cool and always welcome, sure, but I don't think using funny chibi short stories is a good way to do it.

The art is simple, the characters look chibi, and the animation isn't as good as in the main series... And that's perfectly fine. The audiovisual side of this anime is balanced and fits its general atmosphere. All characters look like good chibi caricatures of their official designs known from "Sousou no Frieren", and the animation is good enough to work as a tool for making gags or certain scenes look rather pleasant to one's eyes.

In short, "Marumaru no Mahou" is a nice and fun way to spend several minutes of your time. While it's not obligatory to be watched in order to have better experience coming from watching the main series, I think that it's worth giving it a try, especially if you are a huge fan of "Sousou no Frieren".

This is a neat series of 12 chibi comedy shorts with the topic of each short being a silly spell that Fern or Frieren found.

The comedy in the shorts is good enough and it's nice that there's consistency in the form of having a new spell every episode. Most of the spells aren't mentioned in the main anime but some of them are. The fifth episode features some sort of sauce as an advertisement, probably due to a cooperation between Frieren and the sauce manufacturer.

The characters are Frieren's old and new party. The chibi animation is pretty cute but obviously doesn't look as ... good as the main anime. The voice acting is good and the background music is unimpressive.

Overall this is worth watching if you like Frieren and if the concept of comedy shorts about random spells sounds fun to you but it might not be for everyone due to the chibi animation.

Sousou no Frieren: ●● no Mahou is an average run-of-the-mill mini-comedy series that tries too hard to be funny.
Most episodes are about 1 to 2 minutes long and focus on gag reels about obscure magical spells Frieren and Fern use.
It's meant to be a comedy series, but it misses its mark most of the time due to multiple factors.

The first is that it's a chibi episodic series, so animation, such as Fern's pout or other facial reactions to the comedy situations, is absent, which makes the humour feel flat.
The second is that most of the humour isn't that funny. For example, a ... few skits repeat the same joke about meat and how wonderful it tastes or smells.
The third is that the spells utilized in most episodes aren't funny or interesting, with the exception of two spells in episodes 8 and 9.

Overall, the series is rather stale in humour and animation/visuals. You won't miss anything if you skip this series, even if you're a hardcore Sousou no Frieren fan.

The final rating is a 5/10 because of episodes 8 and 9.
Without those episodes, it would be a 3/10.