Don’t get me wrong, this show is absolutely amazing at pretty much every aspect of being an anime, and through 3 episodes, I literally can’t find a single gripe that I have about this series. However, I can easily see how the average anime fan would find the series “boring” or “uninteresting”. Frieren isn’t a flashy series: it primarily deals with character development, symbolism, and storytelling. There are few fight scenes, a whole lot of dialogue, not a lot of effort spent on comedy and a general lack of the “fantasy tropes” that people expect from the genre. However, if you have seen a lot of bland fantasy anime and are looking for a change, or perhaps you have a somewhat nuanced view or sense of appreciation for higher-level stories, Frieren will be nothing short of an amazing experience for you.
Frieren isn’t an anime that you would celebrate in the group chat “DUDE that episode was sooooooo hype”. It’s more of something that you would write a thesis paper for in English class. Our story follows Frieren: an Elven girl who seeks to understand the human perspective of life: one foreign to her as her long lifespan doesn’t allow her to see the value in most human endeavors. The only deep connection she has to anything is to her 3 friends and the adventures they went on together. When the friend she has the deepest connection to dies off, she is willed to reconnect with the other friends before they die off; collecting apprentices from each of them as she looks to retrace that adventure she took for granted. Any doubts that I had about this premise on paper were quickly washed away by the masterclass of storytelling.
The story is primarily told through flashbacks rich in symbols of Frieren’s previous adventures that develop our characters and give them a general sense of direction, followed by an actual storyline acting on these flashbacks. The flashbacks are all succinct enough to remain interesting without feeling long-winded, and each and every flashback has a clear story purpose: whether that be as clear characterization or setting up Chekhov's guns for later. These Chekhov's guns are used perfectly in a way that guarantees you an “oh, *that’s* what that was for” moment every episode. Both of these positive aspects of the use of flashbacks are commonly botched in other anime in the genre, making Frieren just that much more impactful.
*Lightning round of praises*
The story is amazingly emotional, yet nuanced as it tackles heavier-than-normal topics for the genre with a degree of tact. It doesn’t try to be overtly shocking with big *gasp* moments or overtly emotional with moments that make you want to bawl your eyes out, instead, it maintains a constant level of impact on the viewer: a factor lost on some anime that have a degree of variance to their impact.
The characters are deep to the extent simply not found in most fantasy anime. The original party interacts with each other in a way that makes their friendship feel genuine: almost in a Konosuba-esque manner. The new party has fluid dynamics that can even foster a bit of comedy that never detracts from the actual story.
The animation is high quality without being overly showy or bombastic: almost in a way that reminds me of the first season of Mushoku Tensei (minus the cool bread-tearing scenes)
The op is yet another Yoasobi op with depressing ass lyrics atop an upbeat score. It admittedly took me a long time to warm up to it, but by episode 4 I recognized that it was amazing.
Frieren does the Oshi No Ko thing of having a long-ass first episode(granted this one was split into 4 episodes but I digress). This helps the viewer get into the more convoluted premise more easily, and honestly, this should become common practice for anime of this nature.
If any of this sounds appealing to you, I suggest you check out Frieren. I personally see the series as a fantastic representation of what a true higher-level fantasy anime should really be like. However, I do recognize that for some, it simply doesn’t have that traditional anime impact that you need to enjoy a series. That’s perfectly okay, but just know you're probably missing out on something truly great.
Thanks for reading, let's have more Frieren-like fantasy and less vending machine isekai.
