Is anime the future? No. Because it's also the past. Anime has always been a strong genre for fantasy worlds and I don't expect it to stop. This may really be an issue that Western fantasy has fallen off, no? I could be wrong but I think it's always been this good?
When i started reading Dungeon Meshi a few years ago, it straight up re-awakened my love for medieval style high fantasy. I spent so many hours just drafting my own fantasy world for a d&d campaign i knew i realistically didn't have time for, just because it inspired me so much and i couldn't stop thinking about it. I'm so happy more people are finding this series now that the anime is out. Also, 🤖
admittedly, i wouldnt have found it if it weren't for a recommendation and the popularity of the anime BUT HOLY SHIT. its so so so good. like frieren, it completely give a fresh breath of air to the genre. completely reimagines traditional dungeon crawling with an extremely simple premise. but what it does so masterfully is build characters who are simple/complex at the same time and you end up caring about them so so much. i was just watching last night and was laughing/crying all in the same episode
Dungeon Meshi has been such an incredible surprise. It will lure you in with the food and suddenly hit you with a deep high fantasy story, it's such a good show.
And sorry I did not say. Great video happy noon day! It was interesting to hear about these shows. I watch Frieren now and have seen Magus but haven’t watched Delicious Dungeon. You have mentioned it before so now I will start it!!! But your hair was having a bad day? 😅😅😅
I'm currently OBSESSED with Dungeon Meshi. I loved Frieren too. The same people who praise these series also highly recommend Witch Hat Atelier (anime adaptation is coming soon). You might want to check it out!
🤖 of course but i actually had this same thought after last season of frieren and dungeon meshi. not that i actually think all western fantasy is bad now, i do not agree. but the best fantasy now is anime. i like house of dragons, rings of power is very bad. and i like the witcher a lot. but then even then actually it is not anything new. part of what is the best about fantasy is unique and new ideas. and you are actually right about isekai, and right that its not everything. good video! they keep getting better for me!!!
thank you king! what you mention is a big issue for me. there's no new IP for the high end western fantasy. a lot of it is really good! but another star wars or lotr series doesnt scratch the same itch for me. i want both, ideally. thank you for the nice comment! i really appreciate it
Another fantasy anime that is good is "Slayers" Basically it's about a sorceress named Lina Inverse and a swordsman, named Gourry going on adventures. A lot of the comedy is how these two interact with each other.
I recently had the opportunity to watch Record of Lodoss War - a high fantasy OVA series from the 90s. Just viewing the 1st episode I was amazed to see the similarities it shares with Dungeon Meshi in terms of characters and some story details. Ryuko Kui sure did elevate her manga with unique concepts but this old classic did its part in laying the foundations.
2:10 I would argue that chainsaw man and demon slayer are low fantasy demon slayer take place in Japan if demons exist in its era and chainsaw man same thing. The world is similar to harry potter or Artemis fowl both low fantasy Edit 🤖
king shit. yeah this is the big debate. whats the line between low and high, as they arent clearly definable. the way the systems in chainsaw man and demon slayer change their world compared to ours make them demonstrably different. its not just like, a fantasy element exist but no one knows about (like HP or JJK), but that the world has been built around those facts. i generally say thats high fantasy, but just barely. but i know others disagree and i think its valid
DUDE. ITS SO GOOD. Like easily my second favorite show from the last season. Ive been waiting for something to scratch that SAO but way better itch and SLF did it so easily. I am so close to starting the manga bc I'm so impatient about the next season lol Who's your fav character?
Dungeon Meshi is _dangerously_ close to my perfect fantasy story. The world building is insane, the action is awesome and tense and the tone is a good balance between humorous and serious. It's a lot closer to D&D than most anime fantasy settings, and I presume the author must be a legit fan of traditional western fantasy. It also deals in dungeon crawling/ancient ruin exploration, which is easily my favorite fantasy trope. I just wish it wasn't about food. Look, I just don't really care about cooking, and it annoys me a bit when an otherwise great story has to have some sort of gimmick. As for Sousou no Frieren, I honestly don't quite get it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's definitely a good show with an unconventional approach, which is to be commended. But I don't really understand why everyone is quite so impressed with it. I think my issue here is that it's _too_ character focused, and the world itself isn't very interesting. Seriously, it's just the same old Dragon Quest-type setting used by every other fantasy anime that _isn't_ Dungeon Meshi, and even that would be acceptable if the author did something interesting and creative with it. But it really feels sorta generic, like the setting is an afterthought. That bothers me because I think the setting is kinda what good fantasy is all about: The world, and how the characters live in and interact with it, is the main point. The world itself almost becomes a main character, in a sense. Yes, sure, stories about people and human feelings and relationships and philosophy, fine, but you're supposed to do that stuff _anyway._ That's just storytelling, it's not a genre thing. Oh, and a bit of a tangent, but I object to classifying Kimetsu no Yaiba as high fantasy. It's set in early 20th century Japan and is about vampire hunters. (I don't care if they're called demons, they're functionally vampires.) So, it's technically a sort of historical action horror. Bare minimum a high fantasy story is set in a world distinctly different from ours. I wouldn't really count Bleach as high fantasy either for similar reasons, and I haven't seen Chainsaw Man but from what I gather it's a similar thing.
Thank you so so much for this comment! I deeply appreciate anyone who's willing to take time and leave me a comment like this. truly made my day. Ok so just to run through the first two: Agree 100% with the dungeon mehsi thing. it's close to the best thing i've ever watched. with frieren, i see that point but would say it gets so much better as the story progresses. the world is a lot more interesting, and the deep history and lore they start breaking into about 12 episodes in is really entrancing. there are so many questions i have! but its interesting that the author really buried that lede. ok so for the classifications, i know these arent hard categories but i think that living ina world with demons that have access to a different plane of existence, and there being a direct path to human's afterlife being demons and having their entire world structured around it edges it into high fantasy. i thought about this for awhile, because i wouldnt classify JJK as high fantasy but i would with demon slayer. and the main difference i came down to is the question "does the majority of the world know?" in jjk, the vast majority of people are ignorant even though theres a structural change in the world that impacts everyone. in demon slayer, everyone is aware and it has a strong distinct impact on society and people. this is the same line people argue on if harry potter is high or low fantasy. just curious if you think HP is high or low fantasy?
@@fromnoonon Well, glad to hear one of my huge rambling comments was appreciated by someone. Just to clarify, I've watched all 28 episodes of Frieren already, so my opinions here applies to the whole thing. As a general rule, I don't like dishing out potentially controversial critiques of stories I'm not fully familiar with. Heck, just writing this made me go rewatch some stuff just to make sure I remembered it right. Actually, this happened a couple of days ago as well on a different video, where I also said I really liked Dungeon Meshi but wished there wasn't so much focus on food. I got replies that were like: "Keep watching, there's a lot more story stuff in the later half." And I was like: "No, see, _I know that._ I've watched everything that's currently available. And I'm not going to deem a show to be almost perfect if there's any chance I'll drop it after the first few episodes." Going back to Frieren, you know that part towards the end when they have to go through an ancient tomb as part of the magic exam? That's a great example. Like I said, I love dungeon crawling so that got me a bit excited. That _should_ be my favorite part. But again, I found it kinda generic. Or, maybe that's the wrong term? More like it wasn't treated as something we were supposed to care about. It felt like it was only ever intended as a backdrop, and most of the exploration is skipped over. It wasn't quite that mysterious, marvelous place I'd hoped for, where just looking around is an adventure. It doesn't have to be a city-sized mega-dungeon with it's own ecosystem, like in Dungeon Meshi. (Though to me that's pretty ideal.) Even a relatively small location can be fascinating if given its own character, history and attention to detail, with weird and fantastical features that make you want to know more. See, I totally get what Himmel meant when he said he liked to meticulously explore dungeons just for fun. Dude's just like me fr fr. When the characters go into an ancient ruin, or a magical forest, or a mysterious cave or whatever, I want to explore that place with them. Mind you, this all is just one aspect of what I was trying to describe before. I also found the magic system in Frieren sorta lackluster, but this has dragged out enough already.
@@RelativelyBest no i totally totally get it. i also think i agree on it all. obviously the characters and story really hits for me, but the world is definitely the weakest part. the part that really gets me interested isnt necessarily worldbuilding either, its the like political piece of the history of the world. what motivated the demon king to originally start genociding elves? why had humans never used magic like flamme? why was she so unique? what has she done that has lasting impacts on this world that we'll discover? and totally agree on the power system. its... boring. ubel highlights something super interesting thats becoming more relvant in the manga about the base of it being about belief and imagination thats a bit unique. but i need it to be fleshed out before i can say its good. i can recognize frieren is the best story that came out lasts season from a writing perspective, but its not my favorite.
I don't know... I've seen _Delicious in Dungeon_ and I'm really enjoying it. Also heard a lot of good things about _Frieren_ and I'm planning on watching it too, and I'll probably like it. However I don't find them challenging the genre of fantasy. You repear that Anime is the ideal medium for fantasy but... why? You don't quite make any argument to back up that claim? what central feature of high fantasy do you consider key that only anime is suited to serve exactly? I have quite low expectations for the in the anime industry lately: Even though they produce some rather good shows, the Japanese animation industry is so overcrowded and underpaid that it seems to rely on copying successful tropes and aiming low-risks, mass appeal.
I think it might count as high, hmm I don't know thats a really good one. There's this class of anime that use a portal to go from our primary world to a clear secondary world, and it's hard to classify them. the classification is more of a guide than a rule anyways. but i got into it with a friend about this about lion the with and the wardrobe lol
I think Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe would count as high fantasy because Narnia is a more separate world vs. Inuyasha's world being the same as Kagome's just in a different time.
If we're talking about TV anime definitely clears. But that's only because for SOME REASON all the adaptations of western fantasy from novels simply sucks. If something like Cosmere, Malazan, First Law, Realm of Elderlings, The Green Bone Saga or Red Rising got a good adaptation the talk would be very much different. And then there are adaptations which completly shit on the source material like The Witcher, The Wheel of Time, Rings of Power or the Ghibli Earthsea. And that's just the biggest series. There is plenty of equally great series with smaller audiences. When a proper adaptation is done we get LOTR, Dune, the Expanse, Game of Thrones (when it followed the books). Sometimes we might get great stuff that isn't faithful to the source material like The Bladerunner or The Shining but that's rather rare. House of the Dragon follows the book it's based but also has a lot of space to fill the gaps because of how the source material is written and it was a great first season. Rings of Power had the same chance to write something great (although it had restrictions with the source material) and it fumbled the ball both at creating something new and not shitting on the established canon, like literally chaning the order in which the rings of power in a show called Rings of Power were made. Frieren is a story which adds one good element to a very bland world. The whole premise revolves around the overplayed trope ridden and done to death plot from most isekai and does something interesting with it. But I don't think that just that will ever be enough to make it the best fantasy. The only reason people say it's the best fantasy anime is because it's set in the most cookie cutter world that has become synonymous with fantasy. The Demon Lord, the guilds, the classes, the races, the spells with those weird glyphs appearing are so unoriginal it's painful. For example in a series The Band by Nicholas Eames there are also groups of "heroes" that go on quest but they are treated in the world in the same way that we treat music bands. They go on tours, live like celebrieties and do stuff for fame. It takes stupid DNDesque idea and changes the world around it. Frieren took stupid DNDesque setting and changed one character's interaction with it. Meanwhile when in anime a world is actually something interesting like One Piece, Hunter x Hunter or Fullmetal Alchemist it is not thought of as fantasy. Frieren needed to be set in a unoriginal world because it was the only way for it to be able to establish it's core idea quickly enough to grab the attention of the reader. Imagine trying to tell the same story but in the world of One Piece from Brook's perspective. The journey would be to grand and interesting to be handwaved like in Frieren. But defeating the Demon Lord/King/other-title is so basic there is no need to explain anything. And not needing to explain anything in a fantasy world should be a sin.
I don't know if it counts as high fantasy but I've been searching for the name of an anime with a girl in black and blue armor riding a red motorcycle probably from the 80s and 90s. Does anybody know about it??
Frieren was a bit of an anomaly for me. Firstly, it ended up keeping me pulled in with its perfection of Slice of Life, which I am not a big fan of. In Frieren, I loved it. I can't exactly explain why, but it was the most compelling facet of the show. The other was it's magic system. After so many years, I've gotten kind of tired of power scales and magic theory, where you can, definitivelyx say "that one is stronger than that other one." That's where the show disappointed me. The magic system is easily explained and, as per characters from the show, human's understand the principles of their magic to a degree that we understand many of the sciences. It takes away from the _fantasy_ of the world and, in my opinion, can highly limit character development. I was able to overlook that with Frieren though, because they don't linger on that and they don't explain the actual details. The characters understand it, but we, as the audience, do not. So far. I hope that doesn't change in the second season, because that will borderline the show for me at that point. It's also very vague about things like the life spans of Elves. We know humans are 60+, Dwarves are 300+ and that Elves aren't even hitting their stride at 1,000 years old. Frieren, herself, is, at least, over 1,000, as she was trained by Flamme, but she was already mature (as far as we can tell) when that happened. Serei is also old. Much older than even Frieren, as we find out with her discussions with Frieren at the third test. As far as we know, Elves are, effectively, immortal. We haven't heard of an elf dying of natural causes yet and that feels very Tolkien. Anyways, rambling. I'll end it there.
@@fromnoonon As long as they don't go in to too much detail about _how_ it works, sure. If they do, yeah, I will, likely, drop it, because I am so bored of that. Just let Elf Gandalf use her magic and let us wonder.
yes agreed. i think Dungeon Meshi by the end will have one of the best written worlds in anime. It seems like the author is doing a REALLY good job of not overextending it and keeping it contained, yet connected to a larger world
Frieren feels like it's not even trying but each episode makes me feel so many things, p.s love old man Voll!
old man voll!!!
Is anime the future? No. Because it's also the past. Anime has always been a strong genre for fantasy worlds and I don't expect it to stop. This may really be an issue that Western fantasy has fallen off, no? I could be wrong but I think it's always been this good?
no this is 100% right! like the shows i mentioned have been around for 20+ years. this is nothing new
When i started reading Dungeon Meshi a few years ago, it straight up re-awakened my love for medieval style high fantasy. I spent so many hours just drafting my own fantasy world for a d&d campaign i knew i realistically didn't have time for, just because it inspired me so much and i couldn't stop thinking about it. I'm so happy more people are finding this series now that the anime is out.
Also, 🤖
admittedly, i wouldnt have found it if it weren't for a recommendation and the popularity of the anime BUT HOLY SHIT. its so so so good. like frieren, it completely give a fresh breath of air to the genre. completely reimagines traditional dungeon crawling with an extremely simple premise. but what it does so masterfully is build characters who are simple/complex at the same time and you end up caring about them so so much. i was just watching last night and was laughing/crying all in the same episode
Dungeon Meshi has been such an incredible surprise. It will lure you in with the food and suddenly hit you with a deep high fantasy story, it's such a good show.
i thought i was getting food wars+dungeon crawling and i got the best series ive ever seen
And sorry I did not say. Great video happy noon day! It was interesting to hear about these shows. I watch Frieren now and have seen Magus but haven’t watched Delicious Dungeon. You have mentioned it before so now I will start it!!!
But your hair was having a bad day? 😅😅😅
haha oh shit 😅
I'm currently OBSESSED with Dungeon Meshi. I loved Frieren too. The same people who praise these series also highly recommend Witch Hat Atelier (anime adaptation is coming soon). You might want to check it out!
OH. MY. GOD. YOU JUST UNLOCKED A MEMORY.
Read the first chapter of the manga years ago and loved it, and completely forgot about it
🤖 of course
but i actually had this same thought after last season of frieren and dungeon meshi. not that i actually think all western fantasy is bad now, i do not agree. but the best fantasy now is anime. i like house of dragons, rings of power is very bad. and i like the witcher a lot. but then even then actually it is not anything new. part of what is the best about fantasy is unique and new ideas. and you are actually right about isekai, and right that its not everything.
good video! they keep getting better for me!!!
thank you king! what you mention is a big issue for me. there's no new IP for the high end western fantasy. a lot of it is really good! but another star wars or lotr series doesnt scratch the same itch for me. i want both, ideally.
thank you for the nice comment! i really appreciate it
Another fantasy anime that is good is "Slayers" Basically it's about a sorceress named Lina Inverse and a swordsman, named Gourry going on adventures. A lot of the comedy is how these two interact with each other.
Really cool video dude
Just subscribed cause i think you deserve more
Thank you so much I really really appreciate it. Comments like this mean so much to me and really keep me pushing
I recently had the opportunity to watch Record of Lodoss War - a high fantasy OVA series from the 90s. Just viewing the 1st episode I was amazed to see the similarities it shares with Dungeon Meshi in terms of characters and some story details. Ryuko Kui sure did elevate her manga with unique concepts but this old classic did its part in laying the foundations.
Someone else recommended this in these comments! It’s on my list. I have to watch it
Dungeon Meshi made me want to play character who cooks monsters in a tabletop game, the youngsters must be fed.
this is SUCH a good idea lol. constantly cooking what youre killing into huge buffs
2:10 I would argue that chainsaw man and demon slayer are low fantasy demon slayer take place in Japan if demons exist in its era and chainsaw man same thing. The world is similar to harry potter or Artemis fowl both low fantasy
Edit
🤖
king shit. yeah this is the big debate. whats the line between low and high, as they arent clearly definable. the way the systems in chainsaw man and demon slayer change their world compared to ours make them demonstrably different. its not just like, a fantasy element exist but no one knows about (like HP or JJK), but that the world has been built around those facts. i generally say thats high fantasy, but just barely. but i know others disagree and i think its valid
@@fromnoonon fair fair
Anime will first have to save itself from isekai.
lol true theyre getting whooped rn
🤖 Shangri La Frontier mentioned in the description, let’s gooo!
DUDE. ITS SO GOOD. Like easily my second favorite show from the last season. Ive been waiting for something to scratch that SAO but way better itch and SLF did it so easily. I am so close to starting the manga bc I'm so impatient about the next season lol
Who's your fav character?
1:25 I'd argue that Elden Ring is the peak in the last 10 years.
Oh this is soooo fair. I could/should do a whole video on games
Dungeon Meshi is _dangerously_ close to my perfect fantasy story. The world building is insane, the action is awesome and tense and the tone is a good balance between humorous and serious. It's a lot closer to D&D than most anime fantasy settings, and I presume the author must be a legit fan of traditional western fantasy. It also deals in dungeon crawling/ancient ruin exploration, which is easily my favorite fantasy trope. I just wish it wasn't about food. Look, I just don't really care about cooking, and it annoys me a bit when an otherwise great story has to have some sort of gimmick.
As for Sousou no Frieren, I honestly don't quite get it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's definitely a good show with an unconventional approach, which is to be commended. But I don't really understand why everyone is quite so impressed with it. I think my issue here is that it's _too_ character focused, and the world itself isn't very interesting. Seriously, it's just the same old Dragon Quest-type setting used by every other fantasy anime that _isn't_ Dungeon Meshi, and even that would be acceptable if the author did something interesting and creative with it. But it really feels sorta generic, like the setting is an afterthought. That bothers me because I think the setting is kinda what good fantasy is all about: The world, and how the characters live in and interact with it, is the main point. The world itself almost becomes a main character, in a sense. Yes, sure, stories about people and human feelings and relationships and philosophy, fine, but you're supposed to do that stuff _anyway._ That's just storytelling, it's not a genre thing.
Oh, and a bit of a tangent, but I object to classifying Kimetsu no Yaiba as high fantasy. It's set in early 20th century Japan and is about vampire hunters. (I don't care if they're called demons, they're functionally vampires.) So, it's technically a sort of historical action horror. Bare minimum a high fantasy story is set in a world distinctly different from ours. I wouldn't really count Bleach as high fantasy either for similar reasons, and I haven't seen Chainsaw Man but from what I gather it's a similar thing.
Thank you so so much for this comment! I deeply appreciate anyone who's willing to take time and leave me a comment like this. truly made my day.
Ok so just to run through the first two: Agree 100% with the dungeon mehsi thing. it's close to the best thing i've ever watched. with frieren, i see that point but would say it gets so much better as the story progresses. the world is a lot more interesting, and the deep history and lore they start breaking into about 12 episodes in is really entrancing. there are so many questions i have! but its interesting that the author really buried that lede.
ok so for the classifications, i know these arent hard categories but i think that living ina world with demons that have access to a different plane of existence, and there being a direct path to human's afterlife being demons and having their entire world structured around it edges it into high fantasy. i thought about this for awhile, because i wouldnt classify JJK as high fantasy but i would with demon slayer. and the main difference i came down to is the question "does the majority of the world know?" in jjk, the vast majority of people are ignorant even though theres a structural change in the world that impacts everyone. in demon slayer, everyone is aware and it has a strong distinct impact on society and people. this is the same line people argue on if harry potter is high or low fantasy. just curious if you think HP is high or low fantasy?
@@fromnoonon Well, glad to hear one of my huge rambling comments was appreciated by someone.
Just to clarify, I've watched all 28 episodes of Frieren already, so my opinions here applies to the whole thing. As a general rule, I don't like dishing out potentially controversial critiques of stories I'm not fully familiar with. Heck, just writing this made me go rewatch some stuff just to make sure I remembered it right.
Actually, this happened a couple of days ago as well on a different video, where I also said I really liked Dungeon Meshi but wished there wasn't so much focus on food. I got replies that were like: "Keep watching, there's a lot more story stuff in the later half." And I was like: "No, see, _I know that._ I've watched everything that's currently available. And I'm not going to deem a show to be almost perfect if there's any chance I'll drop it after the first few episodes."
Going back to Frieren, you know that part towards the end when they have to go through an ancient tomb as part of the magic exam? That's a great example. Like I said, I love dungeon crawling so that got me a bit excited. That _should_ be my favorite part. But again, I found it kinda generic. Or, maybe that's the wrong term? More like it wasn't treated as something we were supposed to care about. It felt like it was only ever intended as a backdrop, and most of the exploration is skipped over. It wasn't quite that mysterious, marvelous place I'd hoped for, where just looking around is an adventure.
It doesn't have to be a city-sized mega-dungeon with it's own ecosystem, like in Dungeon Meshi. (Though to me that's pretty ideal.) Even a relatively small location can be fascinating if given its own character, history and attention to detail, with weird and fantastical features that make you want to know more.
See, I totally get what Himmel meant when he said he liked to meticulously explore dungeons just for fun. Dude's just like me fr fr. When the characters go into an ancient ruin, or a magical forest, or a mysterious cave or whatever, I want to explore that place with them.
Mind you, this all is just one aspect of what I was trying to describe before. I also found the magic system in Frieren sorta lackluster, but this has dragged out enough already.
@@RelativelyBest no i totally totally get it. i also think i agree on it all. obviously the characters and story really hits for me, but the world is definitely the weakest part. the part that really gets me interested isnt necessarily worldbuilding either, its the like political piece of the history of the world. what motivated the demon king to originally start genociding elves? why had humans never used magic like flamme? why was she so unique? what has she done that has lasting impacts on this world that we'll discover?
and totally agree on the power system. its... boring. ubel highlights something super interesting thats becoming more relvant in the manga about the base of it being about belief and imagination thats a bit unique. but i need it to be fleshed out before i can say its good. i can recognize frieren is the best story that came out lasts season from a writing perspective, but its not my favorite.
I don't know... I've seen _Delicious in Dungeon_ and I'm really enjoying it. Also heard a lot of good things about _Frieren_ and I'm planning on watching it too, and I'll probably like it. However I don't find them challenging the genre of fantasy.
You repear that Anime is the ideal medium for fantasy but... why? You don't quite make any argument to back up that claim? what central feature of high fantasy do you consider key that only anime is suited to serve exactly?
I have quite low expectations for the in the anime industry lately: Even though they produce some rather good shows, the Japanese animation industry is so overcrowded and underpaid that it seems to rely on copying successful tropes and aiming low-risks, mass appeal.
I don't think I have a favorite high fantasy anime, but for low fantasy, I gotta say Inuyasha. Or at least I think it counts as low fantasy.
I think it might count as high, hmm I don't know thats a really good one. There's this class of anime that use a portal to go from our primary world to a clear secondary world, and it's hard to classify them. the classification is more of a guide than a rule anyways. but i got into it with a friend about this about lion the with and the wardrobe lol
I think Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe would count as high fantasy because Narnia is a more separate world vs. Inuyasha's world being the same as Kagome's just in a different time.
@@burkesingekyo5672 yeah i think youre right
Nice video
thank you!!!! means so much when someone says this
🤖 great videos 🤖
THANK YOU ROBO KING
🤖 🤖 🤖
I always watch onto the end!!! 12:14
watch time retention king, you dropped this
👑🤖
If we're talking about TV anime definitely clears. But that's only because for SOME REASON all the adaptations of western fantasy from novels simply sucks. If something like Cosmere, Malazan, First Law, Realm of Elderlings, The Green Bone Saga or Red Rising got a good adaptation the talk would be very much different. And then there are adaptations which completly shit on the source material like The Witcher, The Wheel of Time, Rings of Power or the Ghibli Earthsea. And that's just the biggest series. There is plenty of equally great series with smaller audiences. When a proper adaptation is done we get LOTR, Dune, the Expanse, Game of Thrones (when it followed the books). Sometimes we might get great stuff that isn't faithful to the source material like The Bladerunner or The Shining but that's rather rare. House of the Dragon follows the book it's based but also has a lot of space to fill the gaps because of how the source material is written and it was a great first season. Rings of Power had the same chance to write something great (although it had restrictions with the source material) and it fumbled the ball both at creating something new and not shitting on the established canon, like literally chaning the order in which the rings of power in a show called Rings of Power were made.
Frieren is a story which adds one good element to a very bland world. The whole premise revolves around the overplayed trope ridden and done to death plot from most isekai and does something interesting with it. But I don't think that just that will ever be enough to make it the best fantasy. The only reason people say it's the best fantasy anime is because it's set in the most cookie cutter world that has become synonymous with fantasy. The Demon Lord, the guilds, the classes, the races, the spells with those weird glyphs appearing are so unoriginal it's painful. For example in a series The Band by Nicholas Eames there are also groups of "heroes" that go on quest but they are treated in the world in the same way that we treat music bands. They go on tours, live like celebrieties and do stuff for fame. It takes stupid DNDesque idea and changes the world around it. Frieren took stupid DNDesque setting and changed one character's interaction with it.
Meanwhile when in anime a world is actually something interesting like One Piece, Hunter x Hunter or Fullmetal Alchemist it is not thought of as fantasy. Frieren needed to be set in a unoriginal world because it was the only way for it to be able to establish it's core idea quickly enough to grab the attention of the reader. Imagine trying to tell the same story but in the world of One Piece from Brook's perspective. The journey would be to grand and interesting to be handwaved like in Frieren. But defeating the Demon Lord/King/other-title is so basic there is no need to explain anything. And not needing to explain anything in a fantasy world should be a sin.
I don't know if it counts as high fantasy but I've been searching for the name of an anime with a girl in black and blue armor riding a red motorcycle probably from the 80s and 90s. Does anybody know about it??
Honestly the only thing I can think of is Bubbelgum Crisis???myanimelist.net/anime/1347/Bubblegum_Crisis. Let me know if this was it
Yep! That's it! Can't believe I missed it. Thanks a lot!
@@Samir3to3 yesssss my obscure knowledge helped someone lfg its a good day
Frieren was a bit of an anomaly for me. Firstly, it ended up keeping me pulled in with its perfection of Slice of Life, which I am not a big fan of. In Frieren, I loved it. I can't exactly explain why, but it was the most compelling facet of the show. The other was it's magic system. After so many years, I've gotten kind of tired of power scales and magic theory, where you can, definitivelyx say "that one is stronger than that other one." That's where the show disappointed me.
The magic system is easily explained and, as per characters from the show, human's understand the principles of their magic to a degree that we understand many of the sciences. It takes away from the _fantasy_ of the world and, in my opinion, can highly limit character development. I was able to overlook that with Frieren though, because they don't linger on that and they don't explain the actual details. The characters understand it, but we, as the audience, do not. So far. I hope that doesn't change in the second season, because that will borderline the show for me at that point.
It's also very vague about things like the life spans of Elves. We know humans are 60+, Dwarves are 300+ and that Elves aren't even hitting their stride at 1,000 years old. Frieren, herself, is, at least, over 1,000, as she was trained by Flamme, but she was already mature (as far as we can tell) when that happened. Serei is also old. Much older than even Frieren, as we find out with her discussions with Frieren at the third test. As far as we know, Elves are, effectively, immortal. We haven't heard of an elf dying of natural causes yet and that feels very Tolkien.
Anyways, rambling. I'll end it there.
all i will say as a manga reader is that the power system gets better but in a way you will really enjoy
@@fromnoonon As long as they don't go in to too much detail about _how_ it works, sure. If they do, yeah, I will, likely, drop it, because I am so bored of that.
Just let Elf Gandalf use her magic and let us wonder.
@@MartyrPandaGaming yeah they dont go into it, just discuss one fundamental part that makes it so clear why it fits into the world
Record of Lodoss War, OVA and chronicles.
i just had this suggest to me. is it worth it?
@@fromnoonon the father of D&D style fantasy action adventure anime. Yes I very much recommend Record of Lodoss War.
@@fromnoonon 13 ep ova is the classic, Chronicals of the Heroic Knight is a variation story but still very fun.
@@matthewjaniss4103 ITS NOW ON MY LIST! ty friend
@@fromnoonon glad to hear, it's a classic for a reason.
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two robots just having a great time from a classic video retention-enjoyer. thank you king
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my mechanical monarch, i appreciate you watching until the end
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look at this true watch time retention queen out here doing the robot 🤖🤖🤖
🤖🤖🤖 BYE EVERYBODY
GOODBYE EVERYONE. ITS TIME FOR ROBOT RULERS. THANK YOU QUEEN.
Delicious in dungeon's world building is probably as detailed (NOT AS MUCH OR EXPANSIVE) as one piece
Even better than Frieren tbh
no question, hard agree
yes agreed. i think Dungeon Meshi by the end will have one of the best written worlds in anime. It seems like the author is doing a REALLY good job of not overextending it and keeping it contained, yet connected to a larger world
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my robo-liege, i thank you
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thank you robot king
@@fromnoonon beep boop 🩶
@@strangecitizen beep beeeeeep boop boop boop boop boop boop
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you dropped this king 👑
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Parents named you right. Chad.
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my robo queen, i beseech you