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".

Amazing chibi styled 1 minute shorts.
Having more or less the the four cell structure to them,
known from news papers.
( You start at one end, develop conflict in the middle two panels, and resolve with a punch line at the end )

They're not groundbreaking,
however they're funny and amazing nonetheless.
Character names aren't as much of an issue here and kinda ad more towards it being more funny.


... The only problem is that publishing dates are sort of random,
making it hard to predict the next upcoming episode.

9/10, definitely worth watching this amazing chibi styled Version from Frieren.

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.