Anime that addresses thoughts you may have on your death bed.
You only realize what you want once it's gone.
== Main Theme ==
Sousou no Frieren finds beauty reminiscing the virtuous words from someone you loved, but never realized it. With memories left to nobody else but yourself, you witness the birth of the legacy your old comrades. Most are remembered by their good deeds, rather than the silly day-to-day mistakes and defects you witnessed so many times. Some even got their legacy after you split up. While meeting this ozymandiesque fate of life, Frieren also begins a "new" journey, but around familiar scenes. Like revisiting your home town, you can see some continuity of past events, yet so much has changed. As the world around you has changed, perhaps you have changed too? This time, what will you do differently?
== Why it matters to me? ==
[1] The writing of the anime shines the most, with the theme of life and death mentioned above. It's great to witness how we, people, treat our own old legacies. There's nothing wrong with it: The living happens to be more within our scope, that's what we end up focusing on. And perhaps, we're overlooking some great things we have right now.
> i.e. [Sousou no Frieren] provokes self-reflection in search for gratification in your day-to-day.
[2] Still talking about old legacies and the past. It's great to the first-hand exploration of the past, through the lens of an unaging elf. It also feels like Frieren is going through a rebirth, by starting exploring a newly shaped world with a new party - yet she can't let go of her old memories. It's weird having to start new beginnings, while maintaining your old self intact. In adulthood, every single new action you begin requires this sort open-mindedness, acceptance of all the differences you may encounter, while attempting to find consonance with all the experience you previously had.
> i.e. [Sousou no Frieren] talks about what's reminisced about the past; and how to tackle new challenges in the present.
[3] We need more anime that treats life not as a competitive way of showing off quantity of power; but quality of love. I'm all in favour of more anime like this. Specially if it throws this themes alongside a genre that involves a bit of action and adventure, since I may get too bored to watch a slow-paced drama.
> i.e. Because the theme is fun, and want to see more anime attempt to talk about these, specially in an adventure scenario.
== Other stuff ==
So, to be clear, the Main Theme is what makes Frieren a Masterpiece. To add colour to the world, there's some great animation action scenes, and the sound design is satisfying for the most part. The world itself is pretty basic: Some kingdoms, magic, forests - The usual vast fantasy world with kingdoms. I like the pacing, slowly naming the location of our current mission, rather than throwing in a map with way too many names of lords. The comical scenes of the anime are average, and so are some side-characters. These sides characters often have their own quirks: Some are prideful, others are still finding themselves. These subtle quirks communicate well with the main theme.
Now, what do you think matters most to someone such as Frieren? (For a comical answer: Collecting new scrolls, since that's her favorite hobby). But for a realistic answer, what do you think it might be? If I learned anyting, is that a reasonable answer to this question should come naturally.
Have a lovely day.