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This was a surprisingly fun take on the villainess show formula. It mixes it up by having players interact with the world instead of reincarnate into it, which initially gives the show some fun parody energy, and develops into some interesting dynamics later on. While it's not the deepest show around, the execution was pretty good. I laughed out loud many times, was surprised at the twists, and got invested in the romance.

The Japanese voice cast is pretty top-class too. Lots of iconic veterans here, putting in solid performances. The animation wasn't anything too special but they did more than the bare minimum so it ... didn't really hold the show back either.

It may still be sort of a filler show, but overall I'd rate it as binge-worthy and genuinely fun enough to be worth your time.

As a fresh take on the villainess reincarnation trope, Doctor Elise started out promising. The medical drama aspect is fairly unique for anime, presenting a variety of detailed and somewhat intense medical procedures. The romance is engaging too, with plenty of time spent on the leads growing together naturally.

However, the confused time period of the setting really threw things off. Despite the rest of the setting being vaguely pre-industrial, the medical knowledge and technology is more advanced for some reason, kind of all over the place but usually something like 20th century. A show about an alternate medical history to our own would be fascinating, ... but it feels like very little thought went into this aspect. It boils down to them having many modern tools for safe surgery, but lacking knowledge of more complex procedures, which is extremely convenient for our isekai’d protagonist to show off her superior surgery skills.

My other issue was with the animation, which is fairly barebones and static. Most of the time it wasn’t too big of a deal, but I was really pulled out of the show during a certain dance scene where they kept going on about how intense it was, but they were just standing there in position the whole time.

By the end of the show, I kind of wished I was rewatching The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent instead, which has the same VA playing a similar lead character but has more depth and feels less contrived. Regardless, I won’t be too harsh on Doctor Elise—it was entertaining enough as a filler show and scratched the medical drama itch that I haven’t seen anything else do the same way.

Frieren doesn’t demand your attention in quite the same way as other masterpieces. The action, comedy, and heart-tugging you would expect are all there, but instead of relying on intensity to keep your focus, it’s understated in a way that means you have to actively choose to stay engaged. I’m really glad I made the effort, because as I did I kept getting more and more out of it.

The show leans into some familiar adventuring tropes and then consistently goes beyond them, creating something very different from the shallow, generic template it came from. For one, the story begins after the battle with the demon ... king, where we see what it’s like for life after the climax, especially for the thousand year old elf Frieren. Despite the characters fitting party role archetypes, they are extremely lifelike as they muse on age, memory, relationships, and joy in the journey. The story puts less weight on the grand wars and conflicts, and focuses on the impact of our ordinary interactions as we go through life. Even Frieren’s new adventure, a years-long journey on the way to a place called Heaven, functions as an analogy of life itself.

And oh boy, the animation. Right away I was struck by the careful film grain and blurring, applied on top of crisp, polished visuals. That mix of nostalgia and modernity makes a perfect anachronistic art style for our anachronistic protagonist. It’s clear that a lot of effort went into the splendid character animation and background art. The contemplative scenes really work, and the action scenes hit so hard and fast they leave you wanting more (even though they’re not the point of the show).

It’s hard for me to find fault with a story that so excellently conveys the importance of enjoying the journey—that would feel like going against the whole point. For me the themes, and the understated, beautiful tone in which they were presented, really worked. If you’re looking for something gripping or climactic you might not find much here, but if you’re looking for something contemplative, subtle, lifelike, and finely crafted, I’d highly recommend Frieren.

This is isekai narrowed down to its pure essence—people losing their minds over food every few minutes. I thought it would get repetitive but somehow it was funny every time. I loved seeing what foods would come up, and in what over the top ways it would be impactful to the characters.

The focus here isn’t on deep plots or characters. Instead, it’s a great chill vibe that gets you to think about everyday life from different perspectives. Despite it meandering a bit, the different storylines intersect in some interesting ways. It pulled me in and was easy to binge my way through.

If you like ... isekai where they introduce things to the new world, or you like calming slice of life at all, this is worth checking out.