Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
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Generations
 Posts: 206 |
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I am absolutely obsessed with this new ED. It's too early in the year to says it's my ED of the year, but I've rewatched it so much already. Given that it will be just mostly Frieren and Fern this season, it makes sense for the ED to focus on Frieren and Fern's relationship. They both lost someone important to them, but they found comfort in each other. Frieren's earrings (that she got from her master Flamme) becoming Fern's hairpiece (that was gifted to her by Frieren) is such a great symbolism of Frieren finally learning to pay forward what she learned not only from Flamme but her journey with Himmel and the others. It's also kind of ominous that Fern takes the place of Himmel's grave in the same shot of the same hill at the end. I think it's an indication that Frieren understands the fact that Fern will eventually die and it will just be a blink in her long life, but she has learned to no longer take the time they do have together for granted. |
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Shay Guy
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Tears of the Kingdom has been taking over my life, so I only just got around to watching the new episode tonight.
The biggest thing that strikes me: This is easily the most "shonen anime" the show's been yet. Like tintor2 said, the description of the 1CM exam is straight out of the Hunter Exam, or maybe the Final Selection in Demon Slayer -- this test to filter out those unworthy of being fighty, often lethal and sometimes with a 0% pass rate, apparently with little in the way of organized instruction or training preceding it. The sort of insane thing that'd be a terrible certification process in real life, but that shonen manga lends itself very well to. (Kakashi's introduction in Naruto and Aizawa's in MHA are a different trope, one distinct from but clearly related to this.) Kanne's flashback is also something that's stuck with me in a weird way, ever since I first read it in the manga -- it's also very "shonen" thematically. Like, "tough love is the best love and 'responds better to praise' is something a whiner says about themself, JUST PUSH HARDER". (Kazuichi Soda also had a line like that in Danganronpa 2's first trial; he's not framed positively.) Honestly, it's gotten kinda weird to me lately the way fiction idealizes relationships like Kanne and Lawine's, because I can't imagine wanting to spend that much of my life with somebody I fight with all the time. It seems like a recipe for exhaustion, not growth. Like, I have to wonder -- is it just that fiction tends toward that sort of thing because stories feed on conflict, and relationships with contrasting layers are interesting? Or is this actually what people see as a healthy relationship in real life? |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10012 Location: Virginia |
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@Shay Guy
In real life, there are a lot of friends that constantly snipe at each other verbally, married couples also. They don't actually see it as fighting. I expect the physical fighting is probably a short hand animation style for such a relationship. Mind you, I personally find such people exhausting to be around and would nope out of such a relationship immediately. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2658 |
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To the first part, couples and others that act that way I believe are definitely not in a healthy emotional relationship and are on the slope toward abuse, so I wouldn't blame anyone from staying away. The Bible mentions avoiding such perpetually angry people "lest you learn their ways" i.e. get caught up in expressing in that dishonest way. As for the physical part, I take that as an easy/acceptable way to have physical contact with the other person that the "sniping" is used to provoke while avoiding the connection with sexuality even if there are some of those desires under the surface... |
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tintor2
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The series does feel different with this arc to the point it feels a fresh of breath air. Frieren is finally dealing with other people with a really minor flashback (I guess they are obligatory per episode) while Fern is the same. Still, it seems like a double edge sword considering how different the manga feels now. Sein only appears in the opening and his face is not even shown and the author didn't even let Stark have a farewell to Frieren and Fern before the test's begin. I assume the cast will reunite between the tests or something cos it feels kinda jarring to suddenly change the formula of the series.
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Generations
Posts: 206 |
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MANGA SPOILERS spoiler[boy I hope you're not looking for Sein anytime soon, because even us manga readers have no idea where the hell he is. Don't expect to see any Stark this season except for small cameos until the very end of the exam either.] |
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MFrontier
Posts: 13642 |
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It's cool getting to better know the other mages, their perspectives, and methodology to their magic, as well as some solid strategy and creative use of spells.
Love getting to hear voices for certain characters now, especially Denken. Also any excuse to hear Kanae Ito. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2107 |
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You'd think that Frieren might have a little concern that her strategy may negatively impact Fern, had her team not already caught a Stille (And I do hope there are interesting explanations about how the other teams caught theirs). But I guess so long as either one of them gets the qualification to move on with their journey, then Frieren doesn't care. Also Fern is almost an adult and needs to stand and manage on her own, so tough love.
Are you, by chance, an only child? Otherwise this is typical sibling behavior. Kids fight just as often as they look out for each other. While certainly not ideal, it's actually common and entirely normal. In many ways, the rivalry also can be cathartically healthy as in such relationships you can be more freely and comfortably open with each other than with others without worrying that your relationship will end. Everyone needs an outlet to vent. This actually demonstrates that they are close to each other despite not being related. They are more like sisters. I was surprised that one of them froze an entire lake, which seemed high level, and even earlier they demonstrated good coordination. But I realized that to qualify for this exam means you already had to be a sufficiently skilled mage to begin with. It would not surprise me if it turned out that together they could hold their own in combat, though the incident with the bird monster suggests they still don't have sufficient experience with wild creatures. |
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tintor2
Posts: 2112 |
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Ouch. So this arc has 20 chapter that have yet to be adapted? A shame. I kinda digged more the classic style of Frieren where the journey was calm but the pacing was pretty good as it was rare to stay in a place for over one episode but they still further developed the main characters. I doubt this arc will mark a change in Frieren considering her experience.
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1120 Location: Puget Sound |
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I dunno about that. In the one scene where they almost captured the Stille, the two immediately synced up and took action.
Reminds me of some forms of military training. Though modern militaries take extensive precautions against injury and death, it's not kindergarten. When you're training for a dangerous profession, the training itself perforce carries an unavoidable level of risk of death or injury. Heck, I was in a technical rate on a submarine - but even my training carried non zero risk. When I opened up a piece of gear in the trainer, even though I followed the required safety procedures, there were still some pretty eye popping voltages and amperages within inches of my (properly gloved!) hand. And that's not getting into the flooding and firefighting trainers. |
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Iron Maw
Posts: 504 |
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Maybe its because it playing the shounen tropes straight but i honestly feel like this episode dragged quite a bit with excessive dialogue during the combat bits. Also the segue into Wirbel's flashback was just bad. No you don't get a pass for point the contriveness of a plot point in-universe and then play it out anyway.
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MFrontier
Posts: 13642 |
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Wirbel looks like an Accelerator knockoff but turns out to be far more humane and reasonable than Ubel. Same with Denken compared to Richter.
No wonder Ehre admires Wirbel so much.
I thought it was fine because it got you into the characters' head and backgrounds. |
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Shay Guy
Posts: 2294 |
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I have three sisters. And frankly, what we see between these two -- especially in the context of anime and manga's broader pattern of berate-to-motivate and overall contempt for "weakness" -- is well beyond what I'd consider a healthy dynamic. |
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Jabootu
Posts: 239 |
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Well, different strokes for different folks. Differences in perspective like that are what makes the world go around. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 13642 |
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They really nailed all the big moments and action animation in this episode, while not at all sacrificing all the important character bits in the process. Everyone really had a nice moment in this episode.
We finally get introduced to Serie and Mariya Ise really finding a new typecast for herself this season and the legacy of menortship from Serie -> Flamme -> Frieren to I guess even Fern. Denken proves just how based he is. Lawine and Kanne get a win and Fern is a proud mom (to both them and Fern). Some cute comedy bits with the water. Stark feels like a husband getting a break from his wife. |
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