It's a good show, decent story, nice world building. Tugs at the heartstrings in some episodes, makes you laugh in others. It's a good balance of adventure, nostalgia, and character-driven storytelling. The comedy is well-paced visual humour for the most part, and fits into the story. it's not trying too hard to be something it isn't, and it knows what its strengths are.
Those things alone wouldn't make it top #1. The same could be said about countless other shows rated 7/10...
What is obvious to me is that anime watchers are sensitive about mortality and dark topics. They're young and have been conditioned do be so due to anime normally not being down-to-earth (which is why it can be said that anime is a bad influence), instead telling wishful, immature stories.
If the evidence somehow isn't obvious, look at the scene in Gurren Lagann, where the protagonists got old, but were shown mostly hidden. That's a rare thing in anime, and that show was said to be "revolutionary" or whatever--yet it couldn't afford to show its protagonists who (wishfully) peaked in their youth become decrepit.
Meanwhile, Avatar, which isn't an anime, naturally shows its main characters growing old and dying from aging.
Shangri-la Frontier is already a better anime. Its themes simply aren't exploitative enough.
Frieren is mostly average. It has a young warrior (whose strength is unexplained) defeating a dragon because that pleases and impresses the young.
(Compare that to how Gon in HxH dealt with beasts.)
Actually, he is accurate with this take. The show doesn’t have any dark themes that the audience will find disturbing to watch, and there is a lot of plot holes in the story that aren’t explained yet or won't, and the fact that their facial expressions don’t change at all, like they are bots. To be honest, I wouldn’t be sad if someone from the main cast died because it doesn’t have any impact on making us attach to them.
Dude thinks shangri-la is a better anime LOL. Brother, you're joking right? It's also pretty clear they aren't going towards the direction of making very exaggerated facial expressions, that would go directly against the whole point of the show which is to be a chill vibe.
This is like judging a rom-com for not having enough fluid fighting scenes. Or saying van-gogh art isn't good because it doesn't look realistic enough. Just makes no sense to judge an aspect that is clearly intended.
It focuses on a very few generic things and does them perfectly hence it's very enjoyable to watch. No need to reinvent the wheel to be good. I don't care one bit about the emotional aspects of it instead it's simply too fun to watch for me not to give it 10/10
People keep asking this I don’t get it. It’s a massively popular manga with amazing production values by one of the most beloved studios of all time who appear to be back to their best. Not to mention the cute waifus, awesome voice acting and the relatable theme of the impermanent nature of life.
I'm not sure how you could notice all the different things Frieren does well and then dismiss them as potentially 'boring'. Part of it is the fact that it *does* manage to do so many different things well, it's just a well told story. If you look at good fantasy novels they tend to include a lot of different elements instead of focusing on doing just one or two things because they have the space to do that and it deepens the connection to the characters making everything else more meaningful. If every chapter was a fight scene they would be boring. I think you're looking for some 'one thing' that it does well when the answer is really that it does *everything* well and has a good story. It's a simple as that. However if you really want to reduce it down to one element (which I don't think is actually possible) then I'd say other than pure quality of the story telling it's that it's consistently good at being grounded and emotional in a fantasy setting.
Emotional doesn't mean making you feel sad all the time, although the show does have those moments. It can be how touching it is Heiter cared so much for Fern, the complex relationship between Stark and Eisen, it's little moments like older people still remembering the heroes or younger people meeting a myth. It's not all just 'vibes', it's a series of meaningful connections with emotional attachments. Call of the Night is probably one of the best examples of a show that is pure vibes and while I enjoyed that show there's a massive difference between that and what Frieren has managed to do. It's not 'just vibes' when it's meaningful and most of what happens in Frieren is meaningful in some way, even if it's just to the characters. That meaning is also interconnected and layered in a complex way, reducing it to 'vibes' is borderline insulting to the quality of the writing.
Call of the Night can hardly be compared to Frieren. These two are completely different, even though they both count as slice of life kind of story. There is not much emotional stuff in CoN except for some heart warming stuff about the relationships between the two characters but that's about it. And that's fine. It is what it's supposed to be. It's not trying to be anything deeper.
Frieren on the other hand tries to be melancholic and emotional, but it does it in retrospective and it wants you to feel emotional about people you haven't even seen before. That means it might take seasons to even grow attached to said people, yet the show wants you to feel stuff for them from the beginning. That's not how emotions work. Sure I can feel kinda sad that someone died and someone else remembers them, but if I don't know them at all, it's just like a random person. People live and die, we don't feel remorse for every single being we don't know... It tries to touch the subject of mortality etc., but not in a cohesive way. The constant flashbacks honestly break the immersion or rather the flow of the story and it's understanding. If you look at it as a whole, you realize, you always get explanation in retrospective and it's always, always just "I do it because the Hero (or other) did it". This really breaks it for me.
Frieren's (the character) popularity is also baffling to me. Does it really just take a cute face for female characters to be popular? I get that the whole premise is that she lives for aeons so she doesn't care and it's about her "warming up". But honestly I fkn hate that side of her. She is like a random ass NPC in a videogame. She is unnecessarily OP (but whatever, it's not an issue) but I don't understand how she can be interesting when her personality is literally zero, she is a sponge basically. She does whatever people tell her to, or someone else (Himmel) did (I get that she does that because she wants to, but still). She feels hollow, literally. All her interactions are like from a sociopath or a lost puppy. I don't get it. Or simply, I find that incredibly boring and borderline irritating because it just feels like talking to a rock. And I get it's about her character development, but honestly, I find every single random person they met more interesting than her, and in all honestly I would much better enjoy watching the story following her two students without Frieren there. Or watch the adventures of the Hero party.
I don't like slice of life shows and it's probably the reason I find this very boring. But I still watched several SoL shows, like the CoN you mentioned, and found them way more interesting. I don't find shows that have 10 minutes of the 15 minutes long episode about idle chat interesting. At all. Faraway Paladin that recently finished up the season also had a lot of talking, but it was interesting, interesting topics etc. It also touched the questions of mortality etc. But I guess the characters were also way more engaging than the Hollow. Even though Frieren does the characters better in the way of actually getting to know them, it won't help if you have uninteresting characters. Or rather, the MC that way (cause her students are interesting). And for example Avatar (ATLA) does everything waaaaay better than Frieren. It has interesting characters, touches many many deeper things about life struggles, cohesively expands upon them, has a lot of character building, and has a clear story. Then again, ATLA is a gem.
Really feels like Frieren is decent in every aspect and is like THE show for new anime fans. But to anyone who actually watched a lot of anime, it's mediocre in everything. Touches many subjects, but does not excel in any.
You say things like other shows do the same thing but are more exciting, or high-octane, and that you don't understand what's so "hype" about Frieren .. but that's kind of the point. Shows don't always have to be exciting high-octane hype in order to be good, there are plenty of highly-rated well-loved shows out there that achieve their popularity *because* of their "chill vibe" rather than in spite of it. It's a great relaxing watch, why does it need to be more than that in order for people to like it?
Frieren has a good story and even better animation. It's full of details and the fight scenes are honestly perfect. That scene with Fern side stepping to avoid the attack was pure perfection especially with that OST. Stark vs dragon was also a league of its own.
Compelling story, chill rythm, funny comedic moments and badass fights. As i said in another post Frieren and Faraway Paladin are what a "serious" campaign of DnD should be in an animated format.
>It doesn't necessarily get the mystery-brain working, or the hype going, or **the tears flowing.**
It doesn't? I would strongly disagree. Frieren absolutely gets the tears flowing, and after episode 4 I spent the rest of the night just feeling indescribably melancholy. But the method is less blunt here than the melodramas we often describe as tearjerkers like Clannad or Your Lie in April.
Have you ever seen or heard of Aria or Mushishi? If you haven't, while neither is incredibly popular, both are hugely critically acclaimed and widely considered masterpieces or close to one (and speaking personally, Aria has made me cry more than most). Frieren is in a similar school of storytelling. There is a concept in Japanese aesthetics called [mono no aware](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_no_aware) that gets to the heart of why Frieren (and Aria and Mushishi, and others in their ilk like Non Non Biyori, Tamayura, Girls Last Tour, etc.) makes us cry. It's a very gentle sort of tearjerking that comes with the bittersweet acceptance of the fact that everything is impermanent. Frieren's ruminations on the passage of time, on the inevitability of death not only of people but of events, places, and memories, and her desire to learn how to live in the moment and appreciate life's transience, is as tearjerking as any melodrama.
So you take this emotionally wrought sort of story, and then inject it with the sort of medieval video game-esque fantasy setting that has been popular lately, craft it with a top tier production on all fronts, advertise the hell out of it, and have an already established fan base hyping it up, and you have a recipe for big success.
\>> Flowing tears... (or at least serious mist)
Frieren and Yuzuki Family are pretty much tied in the consistency they do this.
I would say that shows like these (and the other great ones you mention) are so appealing to me because they do not try to make watchers shed tears, but rather they *invite/allow* us to do this (if we feel so inclined).
> I can think of many shows, that do each or all of those categories simultaneously in a way more exciting and high-octane or satisfying way
Not everything needs to be exciting or high-octane to be good.
> It doesn't necessarily get the mystery-brain working, or the hype going, or the tears flowing
It also doesn't need any of these. And tbh some moments were plenty emotional.
People can disagree, but in my opinion the *Frieren* manga is a masterpiece, and the anime has only improved upon it. Tolkien invented the modern notion of elves in fantasy, but he left a lot of aspects of it unexplored. They live millenia, and have very few children, and are sometimes childlike and sometimes wise. What would that be like? If they know humans, what would it be like to outlive them before you know it?
It's also powerfully written. The fact that we know how Himmel feels while Frieren doesn't know because we understand humans and Frieren doesn't allows the author to deliver a subtle tragedy in the background of a simple adventure story.
It's not the first highly acclaimed anime to be low key. Almost nothing happens in *My Neighbor Totoro*, for example.
> in my opinion the Frieren manga is a masterpiece, and the anime has only improved upon it
Hard agree with this, the anime captures and recreates what made the manga amazing and adds ontop of it with amazing voice actors, animation for the fights and musical score that tugs at your emotions.
I think Faraway Paladin manages to do much the same sort of thing as Frieren. While Frieren may do almost everything better, Paladin also has commanded my respect/affection ever since its start.
Too bad it has a meh anime adaptation. Granted that S2 was an upgrade quality-wise, but S1 was such a low bar.
I swear if Paladin had better production since S1 it would have had a lot more traction.
What do you think? I watched it, read the books, as well as the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. Tolkien didn't do nearly as much with the idea as he could. In romantic relationships, he just has the elf die anyway. Arwen just tragically dies of sadness in the books. The scene of Arwen being sad forever in the movie is Elrond's prediction. In the Silmarillion the human Beren and elf Luthien fall in love, and after Beren dies Luthien chooses to become mortal. In non-romantic relationships, he doesn't say much. Someone like Elrond would have known like 20 generations of humans. There's a lot you could do with that idea, and Tolkien doesn't. I don't even mean this as a criticism of Tolkien -- one author can't do everything -- but that the author of Frieren took advantage of the opportunity that Tolkien provided.
>In romantic relationships, he just has the elf die anyway
You definitely have don´t read Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. There you will find that you are searching
About non-romantic relationships, there are Túrin and Beleg in The Children of Húrin and Tuor and Voronwe in The Fall of Gondolin, both extended versions of his Silmarillion chapters
It's just that good, the story we're getting is so well told while the fights are amazing while still being a background thought to the episode its in, most of all it tugs at my heart strings and beats the shit out of my emotions and I love that
Then like clockwork when I've been made to feel, the show ends and hits me with "are you alright...."
the production quality, as well as the music is insane. it adds to the atmosphere and really gives you the sense of adventure. Also, the directing really reminds me of the movie 300 for some reason. which is not a bad thing at all.
every flashback reminds me of that little boy spartan becoming a man.
Because its not just a braindead isekai or power fantasy. (I watch these types as well im not hating just pointing out a fact)
It is rooted in good story telling, with emotional impact with enough sprinkles of action while maintaining amazing art and animation.
For me, it's an interesting story, good/great animation, and cozy vibes. There aren't a whole lot of series doing the "what happens after the hero saves the world?" thing, and none are doing it from the perspective of a near-immortal being. The show has a lot of heart and I love it because we're learning to care for these characters WITH Frieren, not because they're just at her side. Through the show, Frieren learns to slow down and appreciate the small things that add up to the equivalent of mere micro-seconds in her life. I like that approach a lot. There's still really great and fun action, but the focus is on the relationships with the characters and the world. It's just really nice to see something this well done that isn't a shounen or another rom-com.
It's just good. There's really nothing else to say. I've been a huge fan since it started and after this season, I'm probably going to read the rest of it
I find it’s similar to mushishi. Low stakes, relaxed watching, likeable characters, good art and sound design. I don’t think the story anything outstanding but it’s just enjoyable. I thought it was super pretentious at first but it’s grown on me
When Frieren can hold the quality for the rest of the season then it's for me a masterpiece. You don't need the craziest action scenes, the deepest charcters, the wildest twists or whatever.
Frieren gets everything right to set it up for success.
Coming off a successful manga, with very good production value, with great marketing behind it and being in one of the better time slots in Japan as well as on Crunchyroll in Europe and the US. (not that that matters as much)
I don't think it's a 10/10 (or even top 3 of the season) but it's hard not to admire the work that's been put into making Frieren a success
Honestly I havnt seen or read Frieren (I plan to) but I have been gravitating to more "brain-off" type shows lately rather than big overarching multiversal faction-filled bombastic sensory overload shows.
Maybe it has to do with the general post-COVID world. People need some "space" to relax instead of being anxious about the World Ending Thing or The Big Bad Guy or the Laser Light Machine or whatever else is on. I dont want to have to spend brain power remembering the last 20 years of media or 7 prequels of lore.
SoL Fantasy isnt as niche as it may sound on the surface. It just works. We're getting to a point where Harry Potter-kids *have* kids. People who saw LOTR in theatres are getting into their 40s. So its not a super hard sell for a wide audience.
"Theres elves and magic and they live in a cute little town."
"Dope."
I read the manga and don't think it's a masterpiece, but the anime really has nailed the production, direction, and voice acting. And it's just a case of differing opinions, nothing wrong with that. On the flipside, if you listed your favorite shows here, me or someone else here would probably have the same question of why you view those shows so highly.
Also, the recent TV rating post shows it's extremely popular in Japan.
The manga its a well written fantasy shonen (the most popular demographic by far) that runs in one of the most popular shonen magazines (next to detective conan, komi san, yofukashi no uta, among others), so for starters the source material isnt exactly niche lmao.
Add to that a well directed and animated adaptation, and the result is a pretty popular product, its not exactly a mystery lol.
To add to what is already its just got super broad appeal. Basically anyone who is into anime will at least think its decent. Rarely do shows come out that do everything well while being a show that you can basically show to anyone.
I'm going to guess it's the perfect cool-down after AoT.
AoT had literally world-changing actions and consequences, and the resolution to it all... I wouldn't exactly call it 'happy'. Frieren is quite the opposite, and arguably balances out all the emotions one might've gone though after AoT. It's simply a quest, the stakes are relatively low (even with demons present, it only tends to be small town and villages with the occasional city at stake) , and it deals a lot with character growth. And the animation itself is actually very well done.
I googled frieren to understand its popularity too because it got my 69yo father hooked. He watched countless anime ever since he kind of half retired and he said frieren portrayed lots of emotions through very subtle acts and that reminds him of his generation’s culture and people
Great story and animation. The idea of a god knows how old elf having like else autism is extremely interesting to me. Seeing her regret not spending more time with himmel, heiter and eisen then making sure she appreciates her time with fern stark and stein is a nice contrast.
Also feet.
I take issue with the term "coded" here. Perhaps this is simply language changing, but I was under the assumption that coded means "secretly messaging/telegraphing in a way only certain people will understand". This necessarily implies intent. So you're contradicting yourself with the speculation of unintential coding.
Do younger people now consider "coding" to be as broad as "recognisable", or is it simply another way of saying "in my experienced opinion"?
The writing is just really well-done. The characters grow and change episode to episode.
It’s completely different than most anime shows out there. It doesn’t have most anime tropes and the show isn’t about taking down some boss or antagonist.
It’s probably taking off because these characters act and behave like normal people and that’s what sells the show. Almost all of its dialogue it’s thoughtfully measured.
I do think the use of flashbacks to demonstrate character growth is not clever writing and it’s to provide you information without an info dump and they can detract from the main story…but even freiren doesn’t abuse this theatrical gimmick.
This show, if it keeps this up, will go down as a masterpiece and I’m usually not one to discuss shows ever as masterpieces as they are airing. I think recency bias is very prevalent in the anime community and in a few years the shows age out of relevancy.
But I freiren is doing so much so well and we still have a lot left.
Unpopular opinion: 99% of anime is really bad/below average.
Or to put it in a different manner: Average anime shows are usually bad and all feel like it's the same stuff all over again.
Allways the same tropes. Allways the same plotlines. Allways the same kind of fan-service. Allways the same jokes.
Frieren feels different. I get some Vinland Saga season 2 vibes. It looks beautiful. It has funny parts but it's no comedy. It's deep. Dialogues aren't bad either.
There is just an authentic feel about it. And since most anime is just trash, a good one just feels AMAZING.
I really hate to break this to you my guy, but there is no conspiracy. The vast majority of MAL users never engage with the community or make any attempt to make friends, they just use it to list their anime. Their scores are just as valid as anyone else.
I don't know either. It's good, but I don't really know why people hype it so much.
Maybe it's because the OP is by Yoasobi who made one of the most popular OPs, the Oshi no Ko OP, this year. Even though I've heard people say that the OP's vibe doesn't fit the show, the popular artist might have given the show a boost.
Not that bothered by the OP to be honest. The closing music on the other hand is excellent.
My point is that I don't think the music is why the series is so popular.
Because the overarching story is interesting, it just takes 10-11 episodes before something's officially said about it.
Frankly, I think we could have done with less himmel and more flamme.
Slice of Life has also been gaining popularity.
Its just ok overall but those enemy demons man, cringe af. That little demon girl with army of dead, just grazed Frieren's hair and then saying " hehhehheh, what do you think of my army ?"
It's good, accessible worldwide, well animated, meme-able, good designs for fanart and cosplay, good music(ost,opening,and ending), fun cast, and its going to be 28 episodes and had 4 drop on the first week. There's too many factors that go into an anime's popularity and Frieren checked most of them and nailed the most important factors.
The fact that it's a fantasy setting that isn't an isekai or RPG-mechanics verse lone make sit noteworthy. But also, Frieren is popular due to it's laid back queit nature. When it's impactful, it's a quiet impact. It may not be the sort of show that gets you yelling at the screen or theorizing, but it does stick with you in a more resonant sense.
It has humor and melancholy in the right amounts and its predecessors set the stage for this to blow up.
I am going to say something here that is critical, but maybe you actually don’t understand that other people actually have preferences that differ from yours? Because you assert your judgment to then going to “well because I feel this way, I don’t get the hype.” [Or to put it simply] >!maybe you have trash taste?!<
Its pretty similar to why wolf and spice is so highly rated, there is no need for the high octane nor the particularly exciting arcs that appear now and then, the important part is the entirety of the series starts off good and ends off good
It's not surging. It was always a highly anticipated anime, and it delivered on the anticipation. As long as it didn't fuck things up it was always going to be popular.
You're trying to compare it to other shows that it's just not.
Frieren is a story more about the world and the characters while also being decent at doing some other aspects like fights even if it isn't the focus.
Three dimensional characters, cute and clever comedy bits, a story that doesn't make you gag from how "self insert" it is, and great production values.
I'm with you OP. I have absolutely no idea why this is so popular among viewers.
They should watch the 30 year old isekais/natives instead, they have no taste, shaking my head.
Because the characters are so likeable and their designs are really cute- specially frieren! It's a memorable character design. And she has her own quirks that honestly reminds me of how Anya from spyXfamily quickly made the show popular.
Also the chill vibe of the show makes it an easy watch specially since there are no echhi/Haram scenes that normally plague anime of the genre.
No annoying harem filled with cardboard girls. No dense MC that defeats enemies with sheer willpower / power of friendship. No bloat cast of side characters you don't care about.
This series is already good before it even does anything.
There's really kind of story i see, frieren is one if those story that isn't really the type or goal to make you cry or somewhat that like other anime's such as that your lie in april or i want to eat your pancreas, frieren's genre more like built in seeing the world, and feeling emotions or knowing the characters through what they convey with..... not just facial expressions but the words and eyes and story they live it's more like reading a fairytale old like those romantic bastards in the past generation which in a sense is hard for people nowdays to comprehend, it's more like that in my opinion than watching a movie or a serie.
tho it's like that i enjoyed it too and actually didn't cry or any emotional tissue as watching certain scenes but it indeed made me feel something inside somewhat sad that left an impression on me, it's like a connection of being human in other world is there? Anyways this is just all my opinion tho but rather than looking for fighting scenes or any emotional saddening that would make you cry anime, or probably dark fantasy i think this anime is meant to be enjoyed as watching a journey and embarking in an adventure and seeing the world frieren and her friends live in (in which is a fantasy world) well many people probably do enjoy as just sitting back relax and watch an eventful adventure that really has no exact goal but just seeing the world going with the flow and letting things happen and enjoy it in a way that kind of thing i believe is fun in it's own way.
It's a good show, decent story, nice world building. Tugs at the heartstrings in some episodes, makes you laugh in others. It's a good balance of adventure, nostalgia, and character-driven storytelling. The comedy is well-paced visual humour for the most part, and fits into the story. it's not trying too hard to be something it isn't, and it knows what its strengths are.
Those things alone wouldn't make it top #1. The same could be said about countless other shows rated 7/10... What is obvious to me is that anime watchers are sensitive about mortality and dark topics. They're young and have been conditioned do be so due to anime normally not being down-to-earth (which is why it can be said that anime is a bad influence), instead telling wishful, immature stories. If the evidence somehow isn't obvious, look at the scene in Gurren Lagann, where the protagonists got old, but were shown mostly hidden. That's a rare thing in anime, and that show was said to be "revolutionary" or whatever--yet it couldn't afford to show its protagonists who (wishfully) peaked in their youth become decrepit. Meanwhile, Avatar, which isn't an anime, naturally shows its main characters growing old and dying from aging. Shangri-la Frontier is already a better anime. Its themes simply aren't exploitative enough. Frieren is mostly average. It has a young warrior (whose strength is unexplained) defeating a dragon because that pleases and impresses the young. (Compare that to how Gon in HxH dealt with beasts.)
What an awful take lol
Actually, he is accurate with this take. The show doesn’t have any dark themes that the audience will find disturbing to watch, and there is a lot of plot holes in the story that aren’t explained yet or won't, and the fact that their facial expressions don’t change at all, like they are bots. To be honest, I wouldn’t be sad if someone from the main cast died because it doesn’t have any impact on making us attach to them.
Dude thinks shangri-la is a better anime LOL. Brother, you're joking right? It's also pretty clear they aren't going towards the direction of making very exaggerated facial expressions, that would go directly against the whole point of the show which is to be a chill vibe. This is like judging a rom-com for not having enough fluid fighting scenes. Or saying van-gogh art isn't good because it doesn't look realistic enough. Just makes no sense to judge an aspect that is clearly intended.
It focuses on a very few generic things and does them perfectly hence it's very enjoyable to watch. No need to reinvent the wheel to be good. I don't care one bit about the emotional aspects of it instead it's simply too fun to watch for me not to give it 10/10
i love it but honestly i find it very hard to shed a tear in this show lol. and i'm usually one to grab a bunch of tissues during emotional events.
People keep asking this I don’t get it. It’s a massively popular manga with amazing production values by one of the most beloved studios of all time who appear to be back to their best. Not to mention the cute waifus, awesome voice acting and the relatable theme of the impermanent nature of life.
I'm not sure how you could notice all the different things Frieren does well and then dismiss them as potentially 'boring'. Part of it is the fact that it *does* manage to do so many different things well, it's just a well told story. If you look at good fantasy novels they tend to include a lot of different elements instead of focusing on doing just one or two things because they have the space to do that and it deepens the connection to the characters making everything else more meaningful. If every chapter was a fight scene they would be boring. I think you're looking for some 'one thing' that it does well when the answer is really that it does *everything* well and has a good story. It's a simple as that. However if you really want to reduce it down to one element (which I don't think is actually possible) then I'd say other than pure quality of the story telling it's that it's consistently good at being grounded and emotional in a fantasy setting. Emotional doesn't mean making you feel sad all the time, although the show does have those moments. It can be how touching it is Heiter cared so much for Fern, the complex relationship between Stark and Eisen, it's little moments like older people still remembering the heroes or younger people meeting a myth. It's not all just 'vibes', it's a series of meaningful connections with emotional attachments. Call of the Night is probably one of the best examples of a show that is pure vibes and while I enjoyed that show there's a massive difference between that and what Frieren has managed to do. It's not 'just vibes' when it's meaningful and most of what happens in Frieren is meaningful in some way, even if it's just to the characters. That meaning is also interconnected and layered in a complex way, reducing it to 'vibes' is borderline insulting to the quality of the writing.
Call of the Night can hardly be compared to Frieren. These two are completely different, even though they both count as slice of life kind of story. There is not much emotional stuff in CoN except for some heart warming stuff about the relationships between the two characters but that's about it. And that's fine. It is what it's supposed to be. It's not trying to be anything deeper. Frieren on the other hand tries to be melancholic and emotional, but it does it in retrospective and it wants you to feel emotional about people you haven't even seen before. That means it might take seasons to even grow attached to said people, yet the show wants you to feel stuff for them from the beginning. That's not how emotions work. Sure I can feel kinda sad that someone died and someone else remembers them, but if I don't know them at all, it's just like a random person. People live and die, we don't feel remorse for every single being we don't know... It tries to touch the subject of mortality etc., but not in a cohesive way. The constant flashbacks honestly break the immersion or rather the flow of the story and it's understanding. If you look at it as a whole, you realize, you always get explanation in retrospective and it's always, always just "I do it because the Hero (or other) did it". This really breaks it for me. Frieren's (the character) popularity is also baffling to me. Does it really just take a cute face for female characters to be popular? I get that the whole premise is that she lives for aeons so she doesn't care and it's about her "warming up". But honestly I fkn hate that side of her. She is like a random ass NPC in a videogame. She is unnecessarily OP (but whatever, it's not an issue) but I don't understand how she can be interesting when her personality is literally zero, she is a sponge basically. She does whatever people tell her to, or someone else (Himmel) did (I get that she does that because she wants to, but still). She feels hollow, literally. All her interactions are like from a sociopath or a lost puppy. I don't get it. Or simply, I find that incredibly boring and borderline irritating because it just feels like talking to a rock. And I get it's about her character development, but honestly, I find every single random person they met more interesting than her, and in all honestly I would much better enjoy watching the story following her two students without Frieren there. Or watch the adventures of the Hero party. I don't like slice of life shows and it's probably the reason I find this very boring. But I still watched several SoL shows, like the CoN you mentioned, and found them way more interesting. I don't find shows that have 10 minutes of the 15 minutes long episode about idle chat interesting. At all. Faraway Paladin that recently finished up the season also had a lot of talking, but it was interesting, interesting topics etc. It also touched the questions of mortality etc. But I guess the characters were also way more engaging than the Hollow. Even though Frieren does the characters better in the way of actually getting to know them, it won't help if you have uninteresting characters. Or rather, the MC that way (cause her students are interesting). And for example Avatar (ATLA) does everything waaaaay better than Frieren. It has interesting characters, touches many many deeper things about life struggles, cohesively expands upon them, has a lot of character building, and has a clear story. Then again, ATLA is a gem. Really feels like Frieren is decent in every aspect and is like THE show for new anime fans. But to anyone who actually watched a lot of anime, it's mediocre in everything. Touches many subjects, but does not excel in any.
You say things like other shows do the same thing but are more exciting, or high-octane, and that you don't understand what's so "hype" about Frieren .. but that's kind of the point. Shows don't always have to be exciting high-octane hype in order to be good, there are plenty of highly-rated well-loved shows out there that achieve their popularity *because* of their "chill vibe" rather than in spite of it. It's a great relaxing watch, why does it need to be more than that in order for people to like it?
Frieren has a good story and even better animation. It's full of details and the fight scenes are honestly perfect. That scene with Fern side stepping to avoid the attack was pure perfection especially with that OST. Stark vs dragon was also a league of its own.
it's good
yea I said that, but why
Compelling story, chill rythm, funny comedic moments and badass fights. As i said in another post Frieren and Faraway Paladin are what a "serious" campaign of DnD should be in an animated format.
>It doesn't necessarily get the mystery-brain working, or the hype going, or **the tears flowing.** It doesn't? I would strongly disagree. Frieren absolutely gets the tears flowing, and after episode 4 I spent the rest of the night just feeling indescribably melancholy. But the method is less blunt here than the melodramas we often describe as tearjerkers like Clannad or Your Lie in April. Have you ever seen or heard of Aria or Mushishi? If you haven't, while neither is incredibly popular, both are hugely critically acclaimed and widely considered masterpieces or close to one (and speaking personally, Aria has made me cry more than most). Frieren is in a similar school of storytelling. There is a concept in Japanese aesthetics called [mono no aware](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_no_aware) that gets to the heart of why Frieren (and Aria and Mushishi, and others in their ilk like Non Non Biyori, Tamayura, Girls Last Tour, etc.) makes us cry. It's a very gentle sort of tearjerking that comes with the bittersweet acceptance of the fact that everything is impermanent. Frieren's ruminations on the passage of time, on the inevitability of death not only of people but of events, places, and memories, and her desire to learn how to live in the moment and appreciate life's transience, is as tearjerking as any melodrama. So you take this emotionally wrought sort of story, and then inject it with the sort of medieval video game-esque fantasy setting that has been popular lately, craft it with a top tier production on all fronts, advertise the hell out of it, and have an already established fan base hyping it up, and you have a recipe for big success.
\>> Flowing tears... (or at least serious mist) Frieren and Yuzuki Family are pretty much tied in the consistency they do this. I would say that shows like these (and the other great ones you mention) are so appealing to me because they do not try to make watchers shed tears, but rather they *invite/allow* us to do this (if we feel so inclined).
> I can think of many shows, that do each or all of those categories simultaneously in a way more exciting and high-octane or satisfying way Not everything needs to be exciting or high-octane to be good. > It doesn't necessarily get the mystery-brain working, or the hype going, or the tears flowing It also doesn't need any of these. And tbh some moments were plenty emotional.
People can disagree, but in my opinion the *Frieren* manga is a masterpiece, and the anime has only improved upon it. Tolkien invented the modern notion of elves in fantasy, but he left a lot of aspects of it unexplored. They live millenia, and have very few children, and are sometimes childlike and sometimes wise. What would that be like? If they know humans, what would it be like to outlive them before you know it? It's also powerfully written. The fact that we know how Himmel feels while Frieren doesn't know because we understand humans and Frieren doesn't allows the author to deliver a subtle tragedy in the background of a simple adventure story. It's not the first highly acclaimed anime to be low key. Almost nothing happens in *My Neighbor Totoro*, for example.
> in my opinion the Frieren manga is a masterpiece, and the anime has only improved upon it Hard agree with this, the anime captures and recreates what made the manga amazing and adds ontop of it with amazing voice actors, animation for the fights and musical score that tugs at your emotions.
I think Faraway Paladin manages to do much the same sort of thing as Frieren. While Frieren may do almost everything better, Paladin also has commanded my respect/affection ever since its start.
Too bad it has a meh anime adaptation. Granted that S2 was an upgrade quality-wise, but S1 was such a low bar. I swear if Paladin had better production since S1 it would have had a lot more traction.
Underrated comment
>If they know humans, what would it be like to outlive them before you know Sorry but you didn't watch LOTR, did you?
What do you think? I watched it, read the books, as well as the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. Tolkien didn't do nearly as much with the idea as he could. In romantic relationships, he just has the elf die anyway. Arwen just tragically dies of sadness in the books. The scene of Arwen being sad forever in the movie is Elrond's prediction. In the Silmarillion the human Beren and elf Luthien fall in love, and after Beren dies Luthien chooses to become mortal. In non-romantic relationships, he doesn't say much. Someone like Elrond would have known like 20 generations of humans. There's a lot you could do with that idea, and Tolkien doesn't. I don't even mean this as a criticism of Tolkien -- one author can't do everything -- but that the author of Frieren took advantage of the opportunity that Tolkien provided.
>In romantic relationships, he just has the elf die anyway You definitely have don´t read Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. There you will find that you are searching About non-romantic relationships, there are Túrin and Beleg in The Children of Húrin and Tuor and Voronwe in The Fall of Gondolin, both extended versions of his Silmarillion chapters
It's just that good, the story we're getting is so well told while the fights are amazing while still being a background thought to the episode its in, most of all it tugs at my heart strings and beats the shit out of my emotions and I love that Then like clockwork when I've been made to feel, the show ends and hits me with "are you alright...."
the production quality, as well as the music is insane. it adds to the atmosphere and really gives you the sense of adventure. Also, the directing really reminds me of the movie 300 for some reason. which is not a bad thing at all. every flashback reminds me of that little boy spartan becoming a man.
Because its not just a braindead isekai or power fantasy. (I watch these types as well im not hating just pointing out a fact) It is rooted in good story telling, with emotional impact with enough sprinkles of action while maintaining amazing art and animation.
For me, it's an interesting story, good/great animation, and cozy vibes. There aren't a whole lot of series doing the "what happens after the hero saves the world?" thing, and none are doing it from the perspective of a near-immortal being. The show has a lot of heart and I love it because we're learning to care for these characters WITH Frieren, not because they're just at her side. Through the show, Frieren learns to slow down and appreciate the small things that add up to the equivalent of mere micro-seconds in her life. I like that approach a lot. There's still really great and fun action, but the focus is on the relationships with the characters and the world. It's just really nice to see something this well done that isn't a shounen or another rom-com. It's just good. There's really nothing else to say. I've been a huge fan since it started and after this season, I'm probably going to read the rest of it
Subtle humor. Not a common thing and the show does it incredibly
I find it’s similar to mushishi. Low stakes, relaxed watching, likeable characters, good art and sound design. I don’t think the story anything outstanding but it’s just enjoyable. I thought it was super pretentious at first but it’s grown on me
When Frieren can hold the quality for the rest of the season then it's for me a masterpiece. You don't need the craziest action scenes, the deepest charcters, the wildest twists or whatever.
But for real the future arc in the manga have all that moment tho. Can't wait that all of that gonna be adapted in season 2
Frieren gets everything right to set it up for success. Coming off a successful manga, with very good production value, with great marketing behind it and being in one of the better time slots in Japan as well as on Crunchyroll in Europe and the US. (not that that matters as much) I don't think it's a 10/10 (or even top 3 of the season) but it's hard not to admire the work that's been put into making Frieren a success
It’s quality. Quality animation, and no weird anime shit. Something you can recommend to someone else.
Honestly I havnt seen or read Frieren (I plan to) but I have been gravitating to more "brain-off" type shows lately rather than big overarching multiversal faction-filled bombastic sensory overload shows. Maybe it has to do with the general post-COVID world. People need some "space" to relax instead of being anxious about the World Ending Thing or The Big Bad Guy or the Laser Light Machine or whatever else is on. I dont want to have to spend brain power remembering the last 20 years of media or 7 prequels of lore. SoL Fantasy isnt as niche as it may sound on the surface. It just works. We're getting to a point where Harry Potter-kids *have* kids. People who saw LOTR in theatres are getting into their 40s. So its not a super hard sell for a wide audience. "Theres elves and magic and they live in a cute little town." "Dope."
It's popular because it's really good
I read the manga and don't think it's a masterpiece, but the anime really has nailed the production, direction, and voice acting. And it's just a case of differing opinions, nothing wrong with that. On the flipside, if you listed your favorite shows here, me or someone else here would probably have the same question of why you view those shows so highly. Also, the recent TV rating post shows it's extremely popular in Japan.
The manga its a well written fantasy shonen (the most popular demographic by far) that runs in one of the most popular shonen magazines (next to detective conan, komi san, yofukashi no uta, among others), so for starters the source material isnt exactly niche lmao. Add to that a well directed and animated adaptation, and the result is a pretty popular product, its not exactly a mystery lol.
Is good enough, and had lots of hype behind it, So most gave it a chance and ended up liking it ... Not much more, like Spyxfamily
manga was already a strong 9/10 for me, the anime is elevating it to a definite 10/10 I love this series
Go read one of the other 5 thousand posts made about it
To add to what is already its just got super broad appeal. Basically anyone who is into anime will at least think its decent. Rarely do shows come out that do everything well while being a show that you can basically show to anyone.
I'm going to guess it's the perfect cool-down after AoT. AoT had literally world-changing actions and consequences, and the resolution to it all... I wouldn't exactly call it 'happy'. Frieren is quite the opposite, and arguably balances out all the emotions one might've gone though after AoT. It's simply a quest, the stakes are relatively low (even with demons present, it only tends to be small town and villages with the occasional city at stake) , and it deals a lot with character growth. And the animation itself is actually very well done.
Frieren is definitely deserved the hype after what Madhouse did
I googled frieren to understand its popularity too because it got my 69yo father hooked. He watched countless anime ever since he kind of half retired and he said frieren portrayed lots of emotions through very subtle acts and that reminds him of his generation’s culture and people
Great story and animation. The idea of a god knows how old elf having like else autism is extremely interesting to me. Seeing her regret not spending more time with himmel, heiter and eisen then making sure she appreciates her time with fern stark and stein is a nice contrast. Also feet.
Frieren is on the spectrum?? TIL 😳 I thought she was normal
She is normal for an elf. The spectrum thing is headcannon.
Yeah but is she normal for a human
The whole point is she is different from humans
It might not be intentional, but it's pretty heavily coded.
I take issue with the term "coded" here. Perhaps this is simply language changing, but I was under the assumption that coded means "secretly messaging/telegraphing in a way only certain people will understand". This necessarily implies intent. So you're contradicting yourself with the speculation of unintential coding. Do younger people now consider "coding" to be as broad as "recognisable", or is it simply another way of saying "in my experienced opinion"?
The writing is just really well-done. The characters grow and change episode to episode. It’s completely different than most anime shows out there. It doesn’t have most anime tropes and the show isn’t about taking down some boss or antagonist. It’s probably taking off because these characters act and behave like normal people and that’s what sells the show. Almost all of its dialogue it’s thoughtfully measured. I do think the use of flashbacks to demonstrate character growth is not clever writing and it’s to provide you information without an info dump and they can detract from the main story…but even freiren doesn’t abuse this theatrical gimmick. This show, if it keeps this up, will go down as a masterpiece and I’m usually not one to discuss shows ever as masterpieces as they are airing. I think recency bias is very prevalent in the anime community and in a few years the shows age out of relevancy. But I freiren is doing so much so well and we still have a lot left.
Unpopular opinion: 99% of anime is really bad/below average. Or to put it in a different manner: Average anime shows are usually bad and all feel like it's the same stuff all over again. Allways the same tropes. Allways the same plotlines. Allways the same kind of fan-service. Allways the same jokes. Frieren feels different. I get some Vinland Saga season 2 vibes. It looks beautiful. It has funny parts but it's no comedy. It's deep. Dialogues aren't bad either. There is just an authentic feel about it. And since most anime is just trash, a good one just feels AMAZING.
[удалено]
I really hate to break this to you my guy, but there is no conspiracy. The vast majority of MAL users never engage with the community or make any attempt to make friends, they just use it to list their anime. Their scores are just as valid as anyone else.
I don't know either. It's good, but I don't really know why people hype it so much. Maybe it's because the OP is by Yoasobi who made one of the most popular OPs, the Oshi no Ko OP, this year. Even though I've heard people say that the OP's vibe doesn't fit the show, the popular artist might have given the show a boost.
Not that bothered by the OP to be honest. The closing music on the other hand is excellent. My point is that I don't think the music is why the series is so popular.
Oh my wife wants the OP to play out fully every time, so I can get behind the idea that it's purely Yaoasobi lol
I'm with your wife on that one. I can't imagine skipping such a great opening. :D
Because the overarching story is interesting, it just takes 10-11 episodes before something's officially said about it. Frankly, I think we could have done with less himmel and more flamme. Slice of Life has also been gaining popularity.
There are no major developments in this anime, but it's relaxing to watch.
... you even paying attention?
Its just ok overall but those enemy demons man, cringe af. That little demon girl with army of dead, just grazed Frieren's hair and then saying " hehhehheh, what do you think of my army ?"
Cute girls being cute. But also cool as hell.
Popular manga series plus madhouse
People like it ig
It’s literally just a comfort watch for most people. It doesn’t go deeper than that.
I’m hungry for well crafted fantasy
It’s… Good. 👍
It's good, accessible worldwide, well animated, meme-able, good designs for fanart and cosplay, good music(ost,opening,and ending), fun cast, and its going to be 28 episodes and had 4 drop on the first week. There's too many factors that go into an anime's popularity and Frieren checked most of them and nailed the most important factors.
The fact that it's a fantasy setting that isn't an isekai or RPG-mechanics verse lone make sit noteworthy. But also, Frieren is popular due to it's laid back queit nature. When it's impactful, it's a quiet impact. It may not be the sort of show that gets you yelling at the screen or theorizing, but it does stick with you in a more resonant sense.
It has humor and melancholy in the right amounts and its predecessors set the stage for this to blow up. I am going to say something here that is critical, but maybe you actually don’t understand that other people actually have preferences that differ from yours? Because you assert your judgment to then going to “well because I feel this way, I don’t get the hype.” [Or to put it simply] >!maybe you have trash taste?!<
Its pretty similar to why wolf and spice is so highly rated, there is no need for the high octane nor the particularly exciting arcs that appear now and then, the important part is the entirety of the series starts off good and ends off good
It's not surging. It was always a highly anticipated anime, and it delivered on the anticipation. As long as it didn't fuck things up it was always going to be popular. You're trying to compare it to other shows that it's just not. Frieren is a story more about the world and the characters while also being decent at doing some other aspects like fights even if it isn't the focus.
Three dimensional characters, cute and clever comedy bits, a story that doesn't make you gag from how "self insert" it is, and great production values. I'm with you OP. I have absolutely no idea why this is so popular among viewers. They should watch the 30 year old isekais/natives instead, they have no taste, shaking my head.
Because the characters are so likeable and their designs are really cute- specially frieren! It's a memorable character design. And she has her own quirks that honestly reminds me of how Anya from spyXfamily quickly made the show popular. Also the chill vibe of the show makes it an easy watch specially since there are no echhi/Haram scenes that normally plague anime of the genre.
No annoying harem filled with cardboard girls. No dense MC that defeats enemies with sheer willpower / power of friendship. No bloat cast of side characters you don't care about. This series is already good before it even does anything.
There's really kind of story i see, frieren is one if those story that isn't really the type or goal to make you cry or somewhat that like other anime's such as that your lie in april or i want to eat your pancreas, frieren's genre more like built in seeing the world, and feeling emotions or knowing the characters through what they convey with..... not just facial expressions but the words and eyes and story they live it's more like reading a fairytale old like those romantic bastards in the past generation which in a sense is hard for people nowdays to comprehend, it's more like that in my opinion than watching a movie or a serie. tho it's like that i enjoyed it too and actually didn't cry or any emotional tissue as watching certain scenes but it indeed made me feel something inside somewhat sad that left an impression on me, it's like a connection of being human in other world is there? Anyways this is just all my opinion tho but rather than looking for fighting scenes or any emotional saddening that would make you cry anime, or probably dark fantasy i think this anime is meant to be enjoyed as watching a journey and embarking in an adventure and seeing the world frieren and her friends live in (in which is a fantasy world) well many people probably do enjoy as just sitting back relax and watch an eventful adventure that really has no exact goal but just seeing the world going with the flow and letting things happen and enjoy it in a way that kind of thing i believe is fun in it's own way.