Sousou no Frieren: ●● no Mahou

If you're a fan of Frieren, this review would not be even needed for you to even watch it. You would watch it regardless of what me and other reviews say.

This is extra content about mundane magic spells. The subtext would be that magic spells should be part of day-to-day stuff contrary to the idea that magic is for killing, which resonates well with Serie.

There's some humour here but nothing earth-shattering. It's just a good watch, about 2 minutes per episode.

It's only 12 episodes compared to 28 episodes of the main Frieren anime. As far as I know, as of the date of this ... writing, which is the 5th of April, 2024, there's no guide that ties each episode of these chibi series to the main series. Though not required, it would have been handy.

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.