RIP Atsuko Tanaka (1962-2024). She was Flamme (Frieren), Major Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell), Caster (Fate), Lisa Lisa (JoJo), and many other anime characters through the ages. A true legend.
She was also Rose from "Wrong way to use Healing Magic" and imo her character and the way she could emphasize Rose's emotions in her voice were a big part of that show. RIP
@@jaideepshekhar4621 It's like the Back to the Future meme: "If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits -88 miles per hour- OST Track 36: Frieren the Slayer, you're going to see some serious shit!"
The details in this anime are amazing! If you look at the flashbacks after Flamme's death, that montage lasts about 50 seconds. The montage of Frieren's journey after meeting Himmel and joining his party consists of 5 0.1 second stills of their journey, lasting 0.5 seconds, or 1/100th of her thousand years of solitude! It shows how little 10 years are to her and how quickly they appear to pass for her.
There is something that not many mention, but i have to say that Himmel was probably very but very powerful. In this episode you can know that for 2 reasons: 1. Aura started to appear right after Himmels death even tho she knew the rest of the party was still alive. So she was actually scared of Himmel, not Frieren, not Eisen, not Heiter, but only Himmel. And that gives the question of, why? if she had the "scales" to put humans on her control. Well, we learned that the scales can be countered not only by having more mana than the one casting the spell, but also by WILLPOWER. So here comes reason number 2. Himmel probably had a very very big determination and willpower, so he probably was immune to the scale because of how determined he was. We can also see this on one of the first episodes where Frieren and Fern fight this monster that creates illusions, Himmel says to Frieren "Shoot me". Which means that even the monster of illusions couldnt find a weakness of Himmel in Frierens head to bend Himmels willpower and determination.
I don't think Himmel was under the effect of the scale. There is literally no indication you can ever be immune to the scale, you can just temporarily resist its influence. This is of course very inconvenient since it could give you an opening to kill her or refuse her order momentarily which is insanely dangerous for her so that's why she cut everyone's head, but nowhere in the story does even remotely imply you can resist the scale entirely. If he had been under the scale's influence, he would be under her control most of the time at least until she died. Since she survived, Himmel was likely not hit by the spell. The much more likely answer that also fit the few panels we see in the story is that he just beat her with speed. Speed is the solution if you don't have enough mana, if you can knock the scales out of her hand before she can summon their power, she's done. She probably ran away, and got one of her minion to get the scale for her while the party of hero had to fight the army that was covering her retreat. And it makes sense, see how confident she is with the scale? If Himmel resisted the scale, she'd be much more cautious that it could happen again, especially with other members of the party of heroes. She knows willpower can make it a bit unreliable so she cuts people's heads off, but she has not a single second of fear that someone could resist the entire spell. It just doesn't happen. But it is strue that because of their encounter, she was clearly terrified of Himmel.
Back in episode 5, before they met that monster that turns into your loved ones, frieren said “I’m used to hearing my master beg for her life”. This is why she’s used to it. Flame would pretend to be weak by pretending to beg for her life
honestly i figured it would just be the monster pretending to be flamme begging for her life to pull at her heart strings having someone one looked up too begging you not to kill them but i figured frieren is just smart enough to know its a lie and blast it anyway
@@nakuvampI mean the monster takes its victim's memories to form the illusion. If Frieren saw Flamme begging for her life in the illusion is because she remembers Flamme as someone who would do that, right? That's why Himmel's "ghost" asked to be shot. That's what he would do according to Frieren's memories
One cool detail: In the flashbacks you'll notice that all the architecture, and the cloths everyone is wearing, are like Greco-Roman style instead of the medieval style of the rest of the show. Frieren even has scrolls instead of books. That's because it was literally over a thousand years ago.
Its amazing that her master founded her as a way to keep her work after her death, frieren is her pass to die in peace knowing that frieren is saving the people she would be saving.
At 14:30 there is a rapid sequence of images from Himmel's party on their quest to defeat the Demon king. That is 0.5 seconds in length and therefore 100 times shorter than the 50 second sequence of Frieren living after the death of Flamme. Compare this to her life of 1000 years (approx) and their 10 year journey, and you'll notice it is the same ratio. It is a beautiful way to see how time feels in Frieren's perspective, and powerful knowing that sliver of time had such an impact on her.
Yeah, I'd never even sorta kinda gave it a thought, just went on enjoying this 20/10 anime. Now, I see so many insightful bastards laying down glorious symbolism of this work of art. This perspective on those montages and their influence and importance is just amazing.
If you go back to Episode 2, when they're doing the montage of the years Frieren spent living with Heiter and Fern, translating the grimoire and training Fern, there's a scene where Frieren has drawn a circle on the ground around Fern, which now makes you realize that was training for Mana Suppression, as the circle likely is meant to show how little Mana Fern must show at that point. Another little great callback is made all the way back to the very end of Ep1, as Frieren asks Fern if she loves magic, and Fern answers she does, somewhat, with Frieren replying she's just like her then. Here we see that Flame was the one who originally asked Frieren that question, with Frieren answering that yes, she does, somewhat.
There's another nice detail from when Frieren first went to start training Fern, Fern was already supressing her mana, and Fern says that "it's a good thing" that Frieren had trouble sensing her Heiter had already started training Fern in the image of Frieren, I believe the circle drawing scene you mention shows that he did a rough job, but it seem that he at least told her to try and supress her mana as much as possible
18:20 That 900+ years she spent alone, just refining her mana suppression. It's unfathomable for us to even consider. We get upset if we have to sit in silence, waiting for more than 5 minutes w/o our phones. Truly explains a lot about why Frieren is the way she is.
I loved you pausing and sharing your thoughts mid episode, that was so clutch. We could literally have seasons of Flamme and Frieren and Frieren and the old party and yet they crammed all of this in a mere episode. Thank you so much for reacting and sharing your thoughts and analysis!
If you look carefully at Frieren's mana while she's learning to suppress it, it's drawn kind of ragged and unsteady, but as you see it later on, it gets smoother and a lot more stable as she masters the control over it. It's those little details like that and the town growing over time before Himmel and crew show up to recruit Frieren are what make this anime so amazing. There's so many small details that are present throughout the anime that you have to rewatch it to catch everything. Remember how big Frieren's mana looks when she lets it expand...it has meaning in a later episode.
9:06 This scene in particular strikes me every time I see it because "By the way, how long should I keep suppressing my mana? *It starts to get tiring if I do for it too long.*" Now recall Frieren's infamous sleeping habits...
I can't believe you noticed the earrings on your first watch. It took me my 4th viewing to realise that. Also just realised that the Fern training montage right at the beginning (ep2 or 3) doesn't show her meditating in the wilderness just to look cool, that was her learning to suppress her mana. This show is very very neat :-D
3:00 Earrings! When Himmel and the Hero Party meet Frieren, she isn't wearing the earrings. She is, however, wearing the earrings in flashbacks after joining the party. I believe that she had kept Flamme's earrings after her passing and decided to wear them when she finally went out to kill the DK. It's how she brought Flamme along with her to show Flamme her dream. Freiren continues to wear the earrings to show Flamme the 'peaceful' world she wanted. Yes, they look a bit different, but that's what happens to things over 1k years.
I like that with most anime, you watch 2 episodes and have a 20-25 min video. With Frieren your videos are just as long as the episodes, because Frieren does not mess you about. Every scene is important and worthy of note.
The fact that I was that hyped about a confrontation that had barely any action. Only a build up that was all about story and flashbacks, and ended with a 3 words sentence. This shows how great this anime is. Nothing over the top flashy and epic like a Fate fight for exemple, just an extremely well written story that pace flashbacks perfectly into the episode, only to make a single moment even more rewarding than an epic fight. And even so the anime do have incredible fight scenes, just like Fern and Stark against the 2 demons right before... It's this episode, this moment that marked me the most. Brilliant.
"Plant flowers around my grave" I'm both really sad but also glad this was one of the last memorable lines Atsuko recorded for one of her characters. I'll be visiting Japan this christmas, and I'll be doing just that.
Regarding why it's mostly Himmel or the "hero's party" who is referenced I think it's more the fact that Himmel was very much the moral and motivational force behind the group, rather than Frieren just adhering to her masters command to remain anonymous. In previous episodes we are shown how both Heiter and Eisan held Himmel and his ethics and morals in really high regard. Himmel was the core of the group and the reason it kept moving forward to defeat the Demon King. To me at least; Frieren is our protagonist in THIS current story BUT in the story to defeat the Demon King Himmel was the protagonist and Frieren was a supporting character.
This adaptation ridiculously enhances the original material which was already so good. The music coming in at the best moments, the flashback placements, how everything is carefully crafted and directed is awesome. The last couple second flashback with the music going wild is so powerful, it's ridiculous. And after all that tension, you almost expect Frieren to blast Aura away but she calmly tells her to off herself. So awesome.
This piece is a really good example of a good adaptation from manga. People praise the manga author so much when they see the anime, but I think It goes also to the director of this show. How each scene is so impactful, has such meaning to it in how they portray each expression, each scene arrangements. Such an amazing piece of videography art.
@@Tedd-emon The author of frieren is also very talented and a storytelling genius. The storyline only gets better after the first class mage exam, and it never disappointed me when it comes to storytelling. If they adapt El dorado arc and goddess monument arc in a big season like the first one. It's going to cement frieren as one of the best anime of this decade easily.
@@mdraj5655bro the way they bring back Frierens ability to break down and reverse magic in the el dorado arc is insane . They were literally giving us for shadowing when she dispelled auras magic in this arc. The amount of “setups” in this manga is insane
Frieren did teach Fern about suppressing her mana, yes, but remember when the two first met and Frieren had trouble finding her? Fern had exceptional control over her mana even as a very young child, and she was able to stay hidden even from Frieren. Fern's words when Frieren noted that she was hard to find are likely also important: "It's a good thing, isn't it?". I don't know for sure why Fern thought remaining hidden was a "good thing", but considering that she lost her parents and was able to survive whatever killed them, my guess is that stealth saved her life then. That could also be part of her motivation to take her own life when Heiter found her, if she had some form of survivor's guilt over what happened with her family.
"Will you let me go if I do?" "I was used to hearing my master beg for her life" "Any elf can do this" "Kxxx all the elves" The way this series gives you a bunch of different information at different times, without particularly pointing it out, and just leaves it to the audience to recall those moments and put it all together is great.
"Kill all the elves" One thing Flamme and Frieren both know at that point is that demons only use language to deceive humans their preferred prey. They had absolutely no intention of letting Flamme live, and she knew it.
One of the biggest themes that people often overlook when talking about this show (time and relationships always get mentioned) is the interconnectedness of everything. It continues on the whole way through the show, and it keeps making previous scenes take on new levels of beauty
This show really demonstrates how cyclical life over and across time is displayed for us through the memories of an immortal elf as she's realizing what she's missed during her span.
I’ve been watching anime since the 90’s and was already in love with this show, but when this episode aired it shot Frieren directly into my top ten. It’s one of the best episodes of ANYTHING that I have ever watched anime or otherwise. I can’t wait for you to get to the end of this season, Frieren really is just HER
I'm very much impressed with your big-brain predictions and insights! You're the only reactor so far who caught on immediately re: their mana suppression. =)
Honestly its so impressive how much is covered in each episode... so much uncovered these last coupe eps 1 detail often missed is this explains why frieren is so tired very often... cuz shes surpressing and training all that mana
Neither in the Manga or in the Anime are the earrings ever mentioned, but it is assumed that the earrings that Frieren wears are Flamme's earrings with one exception. Flamme's earrings have a little bauble under the Red teardrop, but Frieren only wears the Teardrops. Frieren never wears any earrings at all for over a 1000 years, but when she joins Himmel's quest, she puts them on, and never takes them off, even to sleep. She also begins to wear her warrior dress outfit which she never changes except for parties. The earrings are magical, they are not attached to the ear, but dangle with no connection.
Also, unlike with Flamme, the base that the red part hovers near appear to be clip on rather than a piercing. I guess Elf ears are too sensitive to pierce?
@@dhamon45 The following might be considered spoilers by some, so SPOILERS FOLLOW Some further information on this. In Manga VOL 8, Chap 70 - The Norm Company, PAGES 50-51, Frieren is working in the mines of Norm and her earrings have been taken from her by the prison. She wears a mask which acts to bind her hair to her head and neck which gives a full view of her naked Elf ears. In both pictures, there are no puncture marks of any piercings in her ears. So she must wear a clasp. Elf ears are traditionally considered to be very sensitive so piercings might not be in favor as you suggest.
Fern indeed a genius as it’s already difficult for Friern searching her when she was small at the first ep. I heard some rumours said from ep11. there maybe somechance Heiter intentionally told Fern to practice suppress mana when she was small to raise the chance Friern taking her
What you say maybe true but in the 2nd episode montage there is a scene where Fern is standing still and Frieren is drawing a circle around Fern. I think that is when Frieren started encouraging Fern to continue suppressing her mana.
@@kevingibson393 Heiter taught Fern to suppress it, in that scene Frieren taught her how much she should release to make it look natural, hence the circle. Until then Fern suppressed it as much as she could, that's why it's hard even for Frieren to find her. (at least that's how i interpret those scenes)
I was definitely looking forward to the reaction for this episode and the last (Ep. 9). They are my favorites of the first season. I can't wait for more!
Love your reactions! Excited to see your reaction to future arcs and other shows. The little montage at the end of Frieren's conversation with Himmel showing a glimpse of the Hero's journey always gets my eyes a little watery.
I've been watching three different reactions these days and I almost spoil something lol someone is in the episode 20 another one is in the episode 5 and you are in the episode 10 😂😅 this episode is one of my favorites I loved you reaction
This is my first video of yours I've found, love you're reactions. Also, and I'm sure you've been told this already, but with your face you could do an amazing Frieren cosplay! Do it! Do it Do it Do it!!!
Regarding Fern, and with what we now know about mana suppression, if you recall all the way back to episode 01 (at around 23 minutes in the episode), when Heiter collapses and becomes bed-ridden, Frieren goes to find Fern in the woods to tell her. When Frieren finds her, Fern says "Was finding me difficult even for you? Mr. Heiter often tells me I'm practically invisible. It's a very good thing, isn't it?" To which Frieren thinks to herself "It's true. I can barely detect her mana. Her control over her mana is exceptional." This suggests that, even at such a young age, Fern was already suppressing her mana to some extent, either consciously or subconsciously. Also, the line "It's a very good thing, isn't it?" as she looks pointedly at Frieren hints that Fern can tell that Frieren is also suppressing her mana. The writing in this show is just too good.
To be precise, the 'was finding me difficult' hapened right after Frieren agreed to translate the grimorie and teach Fern some magic, after Heiter collapses is the 'it can't be eventually, I have to succed before he dies' scene.
Flamme’s advice to Frieren to remain anonymous corresponds with her advice to suppress her mana. With no public reputation, when demons see Frieren they have no idea how powerful she truly is. Also, no reputation doesn’t mean Frieren didn’t fight demons during her lifetime after Flamme’s death, it just means that Frieren made sure there were no witnesses left alive.
Frieren is peak and I will not be convinced otherwise. It deserves its rightful spot at the top and this is coming from a DIE-HARD anime fan ever since the 90s. It's in the same breath as Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Berserk, Code Geass, Vinland Saga and even Ghibli classics (which is in a whole other convo of its own). Every episode was cinema but THIS was my favorite episode among the 28 glorious ones we have in season 1. I'm excited to know that there's been rumors of Season 2 production.
There are a lot of great moments in the anime, but when Frieren says to Aura, 'Off' yourself, That was so savage I LOVE IT!! Best wishes and much love always Flexie sweetie!! 🙂❤
Easily missed but I really like here the call back of the conversation of Frieren with Fern and Himmel. Frieren and Fern both respond 'somewhat, I suppose', when asked if they like magic. Frieren and Himmel both says ' just a feeling'..
In episode 2 Frieren was drawing a circle around Fern while teaching her, which ,now after the last 2 episodes, we understood why - to teach her how much to suppress her mana. Lugner was seeing exact amount of Mana coming from Fern, as it was the diameter of the circle. P.S: Flamme's neckless is also on Frieren's staff.
If I remember correct, its implied that Fern did not learn from Frieren to surpress her mana but from Heiter. Remember how often they mention that she is hard to find (when she was still a kid) and obviously Heiter missjudged Frierens "1/5th of my Mana" manapool immensly in the first meeting. Therefore I'm pretty sure he was the one who told Fern to surpress it (because thats what the mightiest mage he knew did) and Frieren just might have finetuned her later on. Also, i'm not sure if u maybe overread this part (most likely because u were in awe of what would obviously come in the next scene) but Aura the guillotine mentioned that Frieren has not shown any signs of surpressing her mana/aura (because she is accustomed to it) so in theory mages should be able to see if an enemy is surpressing his/her mana if they not mastered that technique themself. (Little flickers besides or inside the auras, you could see that in Ferns aura when Lügner finally saw through the trick ;) therefore Fern maybe isnt yet 100% perfect surpressing it yet (no spoiler, generally dont know myself) Good reaction vid, u gradually become my fav. anime reaction channel
Such a great episode of learning about Flamme's and Frieren's relationship. Love how they have things come back around and watching Frieren's time alone and seeing the town grow into a city and then Himmel echoing Frieren's own words to Flamme. I think Flamme had that power to see the future which is why we have the notes open to her telling Frieren about Heaven and here, where Frieren will defeat the Demon King.
20:00 One minor correction/nitpick, but demons are aware of mana suppression as something that could be used against them. They just consider their own senses to be refined enough that they can see through suppression. What they don't consider is the idea that someone could train so much that it could fool even their senses.
They see that the mana exposed out of combat is the same in combat, and do not notice the fluctuations induced by suppression, so they are easily driven to the wrong conclusions. A simple strategy, but really powerful, and insanely difficult to train.
@@pierluigidipietro8097 They generally do notice fluctuations though. SPOILER As explained later in the series, it is very difficult to fool demons this way. Without innate talent for it, it takes centuries of training. A Great Demon even later in the series notes that Fern is currently not capable of fooling a demon of their rank.
A detail that goes unnoticed within all the info we get this episode: Heiter says that Frieren's mana, when suppressed, corresponds to 1/5 of his own. He's the only member of the party we haven't seen fighting, but he's not there for nothing lol
@@jaideepshekhar4621 idk if it's ever confirmed by the manga I haven't read it yet but we don't know for sure at that point how much mana Frieren has. When she first starts training under Flame she's told to suppress her mana to 1/10, presumably to appear weak to demons. We're told mana grows with training so presumably Frieren's mana would have grown quite a bit during training under Flamme and probably after that as well even if it was a much slower rate than when she was actively. We also know she's significantly more powerful in the current time than she was when travelled with the party of heroes even though during that time period it seems she didn't do a whole lot of fighting or training. If her mana grew significantly since the time she almost died fighting that demon in her village which I think is a safe assumption, she would probably have to further reduce her mana beyond the 1/10th to still seem weak to demons. Otherwise 1/10th of her mana would eventually just still too much to fool demons. I still think Heiter is crazy powerful for someone his age when they meet, but I don't think it's as simple as his sensing her 1/10 being equal to 1/5 his mana means he's actually got half her mana.
@@peanutbutterpanda19 right but OP meant at the time of when Flamme said that, not current. Back then she still had a TON of mana and for Heiter, a human, to have half what she had back then is still absolutely insane
@@peanutbutterpanda19 Aura said frieren mana barely change from the 1st time they meet,Aura has also said frieren mana is at least worth 100 years...100/1000 is 1/10 mana suppression...80 years is a lot for mana increament but Aura only saw 8 years worth of mana training from frieren(this is my assumption)...and to fool demon, its not the ratio that is important but the fluctuation that comes with it...
@@jaideepshekhar4621 He said she had roughly 1/5 of his nana and that was her at 10% (roughly) or 1/10 so at that time that would mean he had roughly half of her mana . That’s not half of her nana when flamme saved her, he had half of the mana that we see her use in this episode essentially. Dude was a beast , but really ALL the members of the hero’s party were op asf
Maybe Frieren vs Aura´s fight doesn´t have an amazing coreography like Fern and Stark´s fights on the last episode but the final scene with Frieren telling Aura to kill herself was wild! In future episodes you will see more about how Frieren meet Himmel and they begin to travel as a party and other key moments that happened during their ten year adventure. The mana suppression concept and the spell to create a field of flowers will be important in the future. This episode ends the "Demons" arc. Next episode has an special song that is use both during the episode and as a special ending. Is called "Bliss" and is performed by Milet, who also sings the main ending song "Anytime, Anywhere".
This anime is visceral with the action, it’s surprising. You have qual getting obliterated in one shot, the demon assassin getting his head exploded by frieren, aura doing… that
I love every ep of this anime…not exaggerating, discovering this show has legit changed my life. That said, this is hands down my favorite ep of this whole first season. Truly spectacular.
I love this episode. The fact that she conceal her mana just so demons will want to flex in front of her. And they realize to late that she doesn't want to a word from them x) And that gives an other understanding of what she said when they met the Einsam : "I was used to here my master crying for her life". I SO want to see Flamme witj low mana level crying "Pls don't kill me 😢 I'm such a poor and unskilled mage. Wow you have so much mana, tell me how much you care about it"
I've been watching anime almost my whole life, about 25 years starting with Dragon Ball and Inuyasha. Telling Aura to end herself is THE SINGLE coldest kill I've ever seen in a power play scene.
@zmortis111 I remember watching Blue Submarine No. 6 when I was about 5, and I've been hooked ever since. Hands down, Black Lagoon is my favorite anime ever.
It was the cruelest way for Aura to die. Aura went from the feeling of total victory to absolute helplessness, without a single direct attack from Frieren. After taking the heads of so many soldiers, removing their ability to resist the power of the scales, the last head Aura The Guillotine took was her own.
I think the town near the forest that Frieren lived in was the town where Himmel originally grew up in before he lived in the city shown in the first episode.
10:55 While watching the flashbacks with Flamme in them, pay attention to the surrounding background. The cloths they are wearing, the building architecture. It will give a hint how long ago that was, and thus how old Freiren is.
I always ask the same thing to people that watch this episode. Did you see how Aura's hair was already being cut by the blade before it touched her neck?. That is something that really blew me away from the animation. The attention to detail is insane and I love it so much. If you didn't see that, go watch it again and get your mind blown
It is important to realize that demons are amazing at reading mana: Aura was confident because it's like asking Stephen Hawking in his later years about simple math, they are experts beyond anyone at it. It's just that with over a 1000 years of training (keep in mind Frieren was already the strongest mage in her village) you get beyond good at hiding mana.. (at the expense of being tired all the time and not being able to focus on other spells as much). As for the hero party: the demon lord was also there for over a 1000 years (well could be several over the years, but since no new one stepped up, likely the same one): likely there have been many adventurer and hero parties questing towards killing the demon king and failing over the centuries.. Frieren might have been approached by some of them, but it was Himmel's words and party that she finally picked. Himmel, Heiter and Eisen are/were likely amazingly powerful indeed and it all clicked for her. Enjoy the show :)
I love that the whole episode only builds up how frieren is going to cook aura that you would already know that frieren will win and STILL the ending leaves every reactor with the same 😯🤯 reaction 🤣
Remember, Heiter said he and Himmel grew up together (it was somewhere in episode 1-3. I believe it was where we were introduced to Fern). There's no doubt that the two of them started the party bringing in Eisen and Frieren along the way. With both Frieren and Eisen seeming more the loners that came along for the ride it kind of makes sense.
Yeah, Frieren really gets you to want to play something yourself. For me its Pen & Paper though. It has such a different approach of the use of magic apart from combat, you really want to start playing a character with these kind of spells.
Great review. BTW, Frieren is called as Frieren the slayer, but I think it does not cover all of what the author meant. The original title is Sousou No Frieren which means Funereal Frien in Japanese. IMO, the title has double meaning. Her life is just continuous sending off. Send off demons and must be the one who sends off beloved ones those her precious friends. That is her destiny for her long life.
Freiren continued to suppress her mana and true ability all the way till they fought the Demon King. If she had let it slip earlier and a demon survived tto report, the Demon King might have changed strategies and had tons of powerful Demons fight her all at once or some sort of sneak attack to eliminate her. Saying hiding behind Himmel is really good way of putting it.
I have watched anime for more than 25 years. I rarely if ever have changed opinion on what I believe my favorite anime was/is. When I stumbled upon Psycho Pass (season 2 was already done) it quickly became my all-time favorite anime and to my surprise I liked season 2 more than season 1, which is to say the very least a RARITY to even happen. That was somewhere around 2014-2015. After that, no anime came even close of dethroning Psycho Pass for me, that's how much I passionately loved Psycho Pass. Then, the very first episode of Frieren came out. I didn't even want to watch it, because I just read the cringe german name like the japanese often really like to do; put nonsensical german words in their anime. (Thankfully that didn't apply to Frieren in hindsight) After three weeks and with that the third episode of Frieren coming out, I was so bored I just said fuck it, it matches the genre I like why not. No friend or anybody said anything about this anime. So I started Frieren episode 1. *Frieren dethroned Psycho Pass barely half-way through the first episode.* The Aura vs Frieren episode is also very precious to me, because it almost perfectly described the process I had between Psycho Pass and Frieren. The "deceptive" name of the anime made me underestimate it just like Aura underestimated Frieren. Aura's mana is already massive (Aura being Psycho Pass in this analogy) and then Frieren, the deceptive anime name, exploded and released everything quickly overwhelming Aura. (Frieren anime overwhelming Psycho Pass) This anime has everything from uniqueness, to worldclass animation, OST, pacing, situational emotion and overall building. This anime made me cry buckets, especially the first episode. I have absolutely no idea how an anime in the future is going to top Frieren for me personally. Nothing in this world for 36 years made me feel the way this anime did and it almost felt effortlessly on the anime's side.
I mentioned the technique last episode but I can't let this use of it pass without comment. The choice to *end* the episode from the first person perspective of Aura's falling head is absolutely wild on so many levels.
"I love magic, somewhat" = The passion is (partially) lost, because of the gruesome training regime. It happened to Frieren during her 50 years of training with Flamme. And it happened to Fern when she trained hard to make it before Heiter passes away. Just before Heiter collapses, Frieren even points out that it's not a good thing how quickly Fern advances, because she knows she trains too hard and is thus killing her passion. Frieren collecting the little spells can perhaps be understood as her way of trying to re-kindle her passion for magic, which might have started with her learning the flowers spell from Flamme.
RIP Atsuko Tanaka (1962-2024).
She was Flamme (Frieren), Major Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell), Caster (Fate), Lisa Lisa (JoJo), and many other anime characters through the ages. A true legend.
She was also Rose from "Wrong way to use Healing Magic" and imo her character and the way she could emphasize Rose's emotions in her voice were a big part of that show. RIP
Such a loss! Relevant to this channel, she was Hanami in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Oh noo, rose was such a great performance 😭😭😭@@annabethchase2569
@@annabethchase2569oh no, rose too! :( she was so wonderful
my favorite female seiyuu. She will be sorely missed.
The music when Frieren finally confronts Aura is called "Frieren the Slayer". It's Frieren's personal boss theme.
Not the last time you'll be hearing it either... 👀
@@jaideepshekhar4621 It's like the Back to the Future meme: "If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits -88 miles per hour- OST Track 36: Frieren the Slayer, you're going to see some serious shit!"
Now in want a soulslike game with her as last Boss just to lose every time to listen to the music xD
I'd argue "Demons Bane" is the final phase boss theme
Naah, heres my take:
Phase 0: Frieren
Phase 1: Frieren, the Slayer
Phase 2: Frieren, Height of Magic
Phase 3: Frieren, Journey's End
The details in this anime are amazing! If you look at the flashbacks after Flamme's death, that montage lasts about 50 seconds. The montage of Frieren's journey after meeting Himmel and joining his party consists of 5 0.1 second stills of their journey, lasting 0.5 seconds, or 1/100th of her thousand years of solitude! It shows how little 10 years are to her and how quickly they appear to pass for her.
this thing always blows my mind everytime I think about it. *mindblown*
man, she has been lying on that bear-like creature for a long time, lol
Aura: cuts off her head
Are you alright? 🎶
you are my special, same vibes😂😂
Looking for this comment. Best segue
There is something that not many mention, but i have to say that Himmel was probably very but very powerful.
In this episode you can know that for 2 reasons: 1. Aura started to appear right after Himmels death even tho she knew the rest of the party was still alive. So she was actually scared of Himmel, not Frieren, not Eisen, not Heiter, but only Himmel.
And that gives the question of, why? if she had the "scales" to put humans on her control. Well, we learned that the scales can be countered not only by having more mana than the one casting the spell, but also by WILLPOWER.
So here comes reason number 2. Himmel probably had a very very big determination and willpower, so he probably was immune to the scale because of how determined he was. We can also see this on one of the first episodes where Frieren and Fern fight this monster that creates illusions, Himmel says to Frieren "Shoot me". Which means that even the monster of illusions couldnt find a weakness of Himmel in Frierens head to bend Himmels willpower and determination.
Na we better get a prequel of him going crazy 😭
Not just Aura. ALL of the remaining demon forces kept quit until Himmel passed...
@@MichaelRBrown-lh6kndude was actually HIM
@@angelcarma5730 we kinda gonna fet that later prob s3
I don't think Himmel was under the effect of the scale. There is literally no indication you can ever be immune to the scale, you can just temporarily resist its influence. This is of course very inconvenient since it could give you an opening to kill her or refuse her order momentarily which is insanely dangerous for her so that's why she cut everyone's head, but nowhere in the story does even remotely imply you can resist the scale entirely. If he had been under the scale's influence, he would be under her control most of the time at least until she died. Since she survived, Himmel was likely not hit by the spell.
The much more likely answer that also fit the few panels we see in the story is that he just beat her with speed. Speed is the solution if you don't have enough mana, if you can knock the scales out of her hand before she can summon their power, she's done. She probably ran away, and got one of her minion to get the scale for her while the party of hero had to fight the army that was covering her retreat. And it makes sense, see how confident she is with the scale? If Himmel resisted the scale, she'd be much more cautious that it could happen again, especially with other members of the party of heroes. She knows willpower can make it a bit unreliable so she cuts people's heads off, but she has not a single second of fear that someone could resist the entire spell. It just doesn't happen.
But it is strue that because of their encounter, she was clearly terrified of Himmel.
17:05 What a gamer move from Frieren. Left the League lobby with a casual KYS 😅
Damn skippy.
Back in episode 5, before they met that monster that turns into your loved ones, frieren said “I’m used to hearing my master beg for her life”. This is why she’s used to it. Flame would pretend to be weak by pretending to beg for her life
I never even made the connection that that's why she's heard her beg for her life.
Ohhhhh wow this whole time I stillndidnt understand that line, makes sense thanks! 😂
honestly i figured it would just be the monster pretending to be flamme begging for her life to pull at her heart strings having someone one looked up too begging you not to kill them but i figured frieren is just smart enough to know its a lie and blast it anyway
@@nakuvamp Nah, the illusion of Himmel said “shoot me” so that means the monster doesn’t have control of what it says.
@@nakuvampI mean the monster takes its victim's memories to form the illusion. If Frieren saw Flamme begging for her life in the illusion is because she remembers Flamme as someone who would do that, right? That's why Himmel's "ghost" asked to be shot. That's what he would do according to Frieren's memories
15:10 Boss theme starts playing
16:00 Aura realizes that that isn’t *her* boss theme
I smiled real good. Thanks.
One cool detail: In the flashbacks you'll notice that all the architecture, and the cloths everyone is wearing, are like Greco-Roman style instead of the medieval style of the rest of the show. Frieren even has scrolls instead of books. That's because it was literally over a thousand years ago.
Its amazing that her master founded her as a way to keep her work after her death, frieren is her pass to die in peace knowing that frieren is saving the people she would be saving.
At 14:30 there is a rapid sequence of images from Himmel's party on their quest to defeat the Demon king. That is 0.5 seconds in length and therefore 100 times shorter than the 50 second sequence of Frieren living after the death of Flamme. Compare this to her life of 1000 years (approx) and their 10 year journey, and you'll notice it is the same ratio.
It is a beautiful way to see how time feels in Frieren's perspective, and powerful knowing that sliver of time had such an impact on her.
Haven't seen this comment before. THis is great info. thx
Yeah, I'd never even sorta kinda gave it a thought, just went on enjoying this 20/10 anime. Now, I see so many insightful bastards laying down glorious symbolism of this work of art. This perspective on those montages and their influence and importance is just amazing.
It's so much more fun watching a smart reactor who actually gives thought to what's happening. Appreciate you
If you go back to Episode 2, when they're doing the montage of the years Frieren spent living with Heiter and Fern, translating the grimoire and training Fern, there's a scene where Frieren has drawn a circle on the ground around Fern, which now makes you realize that was training for Mana Suppression, as the circle likely is meant to show how little Mana Fern must show at that point.
Another little great callback is made all the way back to the very end of Ep1, as Frieren asks Fern if she loves magic, and Fern answers she does, somewhat, with Frieren replying she's just like her then. Here we see that Flame was the one who originally asked Frieren that question, with Frieren answering that yes, she does, somewhat.
There's another nice detail from when Frieren first went to start training Fern, Fern was already supressing her mana, and Fern says that "it's a good thing" that Frieren had trouble sensing her
Heiter had already started training Fern in the image of Frieren, I believe the circle drawing scene you mention shows that he did a rough job, but it seem that he at least told her to try and supress her mana as much as possible
13:40 This scene is now really sad... Unfortunately voice actress Atsuko Tanaka "Flamme" has passed away (August 20, 2024) 😥
grats on being one of the few who picks up on the ear rings.
she's more sentimental than she first appears.
Easily the coldest moment in all of modern anime. the instinctive "F%%%!" reaction is so relatable 😂
Another reason Himmel is the most remembered is because he was the most memorable (personality and deciding to help everyone, even with mundane tasks)
18:20 That 900+ years she spent alone, just refining her mana suppression.
It's unfathomable for us to even consider. We get upset if we have to sit in silence, waiting for more than 5 minutes w/o our phones.
Truly explains a lot about why Frieren is the way she is.
I loved you pausing and sharing your thoughts mid episode, that was so clutch. We could literally have seasons of Flamme and Frieren and Frieren and the old party and yet they crammed all of this in a mere episode. Thank you so much for reacting and sharing your thoughts and analysis!
If you look carefully at Frieren's mana while she's learning to suppress it, it's drawn kind of ragged and unsteady, but as you see it later on, it gets smoother and a lot more stable as she masters the control over it. It's those little details like that and the town growing over time before Himmel and crew show up to recruit Frieren are what make this anime so amazing. There's so many small details that are present throughout the anime that you have to rewatch it to catch everything. Remember how big Frieren's mana looks when she lets it expand...it has meaning in a later episode.
9:06 This scene in particular strikes me every time I see it because
"By the way, how long should I keep suppressing my mana? *It starts to get tiring if I do for it too long.*"
Now recall Frieren's infamous sleeping habits...
Except Fern didnt, she also suppresed her mana output but not sleeping lot, still morning person
I can't believe you noticed the earrings on your first watch. It took me my 4th viewing to realise that. Also just realised that the Fern training montage right at the beginning (ep2 or 3) doesn't show her meditating in the wilderness just to look cool, that was her learning to suppress her mana. This show is very very neat :-D
3:00 Earrings!
When Himmel and the Hero Party meet Frieren, she isn't wearing the earrings. She is, however, wearing the earrings in flashbacks after joining the party. I believe that she had kept Flamme's earrings after her passing and decided to wear them when she finally went out to kill the DK. It's how she brought Flamme along with her to show Flamme her dream. Freiren continues to wear the earrings to show Flamme the 'peaceful' world she wanted.
Yes, they look a bit different, but that's what happens to things over 1k years.
I like that with most anime, you watch 2 episodes and have a 20-25 min video. With Frieren your videos are just as long as the episodes, because Frieren does not mess you about. Every scene is important and worthy of note.
The fact that I was that hyped about a confrontation that had barely any action. Only a build up that was all about story and flashbacks, and ended with a 3 words sentence. This shows how great this anime is.
Nothing over the top flashy and epic like a Fate fight for exemple, just an extremely well written story that pace flashbacks perfectly into the episode, only to make a single moment even more rewarding than an epic fight.
And even so the anime do have incredible fight scenes, just like Fern and Stark against the 2 demons right before... It's this episode, this moment that marked me the most.
Brilliant.
"Plant flowers around my grave" I'm both really sad but also glad this was one of the last memorable lines Atsuko recorded for one of her characters. I'll be visiting Japan this christmas, and I'll be doing just that.
you will?
@@dariogutierrez6716 I intend to, whether I'll be able to is another story.
Regarding why it's mostly Himmel or the "hero's party" who is referenced I think it's more the fact that Himmel was very much the moral and motivational force behind the group, rather than Frieren just adhering to her masters command to remain anonymous.
In previous episodes we are shown how both Heiter and Eisan held Himmel and his ethics and morals in really high regard. Himmel was the core of the group and the reason it kept moving forward to defeat the Demon King.
To me at least; Frieren is our protagonist in THIS current story BUT in the story to defeat the Demon King Himmel was the protagonist and Frieren was a supporting character.
This adaptation ridiculously enhances the original material which was already so good. The music coming in at the best moments, the flashback placements, how everything is carefully crafted and directed is awesome. The last couple second flashback with the music going wild is so powerful, it's ridiculous.
And after all that tension, you almost expect Frieren to blast Aura away but she calmly tells her to off herself.
So awesome.
@@XSaebaYRyoZ And she says it while casually walking away. She REALLY earns her name.
This piece is a really good example of a good adaptation from manga. People praise the manga author so much when they see the anime, but I think It goes also to the director of this show. How each scene is so impactful, has such meaning to it in how they portray each expression, each scene arrangements. Such an amazing piece of videography art.
@@Tedd-emon The author of frieren is also very talented and a storytelling genius. The storyline only gets better after the first class mage exam, and it never disappointed me when it comes to storytelling. If they adapt El dorado arc and goddess monument arc in a big season like the first one. It's going to cement frieren as one of the best anime of this decade easily.
@@mdraj5655bro the way they bring back Frierens ability to break down and reverse magic in the el dorado arc is insane . They were literally giving us for shadowing when she dispelled auras magic in this arc. The amount of “setups” in this manga is insane
Frieren did teach Fern about suppressing her mana, yes, but remember when the two first met and Frieren had trouble finding her? Fern had exceptional control over her mana even as a very young child, and she was able to stay hidden even from Frieren. Fern's words when Frieren noted that she was hard to find are likely also important: "It's a good thing, isn't it?". I don't know for sure why Fern thought remaining hidden was a "good thing", but considering that she lost her parents and was able to survive whatever killed them, my guess is that stealth saved her life then. That could also be part of her motivation to take her own life when Heiter found her, if she had some form of survivor's guilt over what happened with her family.
You are becoming one of my favorite reacters. I loved your episode analysis!
The reason why they showed you the swing, its because in ep7 when they were chatting about elves existance, Frieren had that swing flashback.
"Will you let me go if I do?"
"I was used to hearing my master beg for her life"
"Any elf can do this"
"Kxxx all the elves"
The way this series gives you a bunch of different information at different times, without particularly pointing it out, and just leaves it to the audience to recall those moments and put it all together is great.
"Kill all the elves"
One thing Flamme and Frieren both know at that point is that demons only use language to deceive humans their preferred prey. They had absolutely no intention of letting Flamme live, and she knew it.
One of the biggest themes that people often overlook when talking about this show (time and relationships always get mentioned) is the interconnectedness of everything. It continues on the whole way through the show, and it keeps making previous scenes take on new levels of beauty
There is insane rewatch value. I still catch new things.
This show really demonstrates how cyclical life over and across time is displayed for us through the memories of an immortal elf as she's realizing what she's missed during her span.
I’ve been watching anime since the 90’s and was already in love with this show, but when this episode aired it shot Frieren directly into my top ten. It’s one of the best episodes of ANYTHING that I have ever watched anime or otherwise. I can’t wait for you to get to the end of this season, Frieren really is just HER
I'm very much impressed with your big-brain predictions and insights! You're the only reactor so far who caught on immediately re: their mana suppression. =)
Honestly its so impressive how much is covered in each episode... so much uncovered these last coupe eps 1 detail often missed is this explains why frieren is so tired very often... cuz shes surpressing and training all that mana
Neither in the Manga or in the Anime are the earrings ever mentioned, but it is assumed that the earrings that Frieren wears are Flamme's earrings with one exception. Flamme's earrings have a little bauble under the Red teardrop, but Frieren only wears the Teardrops. Frieren never wears any earrings at all for over a 1000 years, but when she joins Himmel's quest, she puts them on, and never takes them off, even to sleep. She also begins to wear her warrior dress outfit which she never changes except for parties. The earrings are magical, they are not attached to the ear, but dangle with no connection.
Also, unlike with Flamme, the base that the red part hovers near appear to be clip on rather than a piercing. I guess Elf ears are too sensitive to pierce?
@@dhamon45 Yes. Flamme appears to have pierced ears, but Frieren looks like a clip-on. Good catch.
@@dhamon45 The following might be considered spoilers by some, so SPOILERS FOLLOW
Some further information on this. In Manga VOL 8, Chap 70 - The Norm Company, PAGES 50-51, Frieren is working in the mines of Norm and her earrings have been taken from her by the prison. She wears a mask which acts to bind her hair to her head and neck which gives a full view of her naked Elf ears. In both pictures, there are no puncture marks of any piercings in her ears. So she must wear a clasp. Elf ears are traditionally considered to be very sensitive so piercings might not be in favor as you suggest.
Fern indeed a genius as it’s already difficult for Friern searching her when she was small at the first ep.
I heard some rumours said from ep11. there maybe somechance Heiter intentionally told Fern to practice suppress mana when she was small to raise the chance Friern taking her
What you say maybe true but in the 2nd episode montage there is a scene where Fern is standing still and Frieren is drawing a circle around Fern. I think that is when Frieren started encouraging Fern to continue suppressing her mana.
@@kevingibson393 Heiter taught Fern to suppress it, in that scene Frieren taught her how much she should release to make it look natural, hence the circle. Until then Fern suppressed it as much as she could, that's why it's hard even for Frieren to find her. (at least that's how i interpret those scenes)
I was definitely looking forward to the reaction for this episode and the last (Ep. 9). They are my favorites of the first season. I can't wait for more!
Aure beheaded herself and milet be like " And U alright, can you hear me? 😂 It's just too funny to me
Love your reactions! Excited to see your reaction to future arcs and other shows. The little montage at the end of Frieren's conversation with Himmel showing a glimpse of the Hero's journey always gets my eyes a little watery.
I've been watching three different reactions these days and I almost spoil something lol someone is in the episode 20 another one is in the episode 5 and you are in the episode 10 😂😅 this episode is one of my favorites I loved you reaction
This is the one. The best episode I've seen in multiple decades of watching animé.
This is my first video of yours I've found, love you're reactions. Also, and I'm sure you've been told this already, but with your face you could do an amazing Frieren cosplay! Do it! Do it Do it Do it!!!
Regarding Fern, and with what we now know about mana suppression, if you recall all the way back to episode 01 (at around 23 minutes in the episode), when Heiter collapses and becomes bed-ridden, Frieren goes to find Fern in the woods to tell her. When Frieren finds her, Fern says "Was finding me difficult even for you? Mr. Heiter often tells me I'm practically invisible. It's a very good thing, isn't it?" To which Frieren thinks to herself "It's true. I can barely detect her mana. Her control over her mana is exceptional." This suggests that, even at such a young age, Fern was already suppressing her mana to some extent, either consciously or subconsciously. Also, the line "It's a very good thing, isn't it?" as she looks pointedly at Frieren hints that Fern can tell that Frieren is also suppressing her mana.
The writing in this show is just too good.
To be precise, the 'was finding me difficult' hapened right after Frieren agreed to translate the grimorie and teach Fern some magic, after Heiter collapses is the 'it can't be eventually, I have to succed before he dies' scene.
Flamme’s advice to Frieren to remain anonymous corresponds with her advice to suppress her mana. With no public reputation, when demons see Frieren they have no idea how powerful she truly is. Also, no reputation doesn’t mean Frieren didn’t fight demons during her lifetime after Flamme’s death, it just means that Frieren made sure there were no witnesses left alive.
The very tools a Demon assassin must hold tight as a mage.
Frieren is peak and I will not be convinced otherwise.
It deserves its rightful spot at the top and this is coming from a DIE-HARD anime fan ever since the 90s.
It's in the same breath as Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Berserk, Code Geass, Vinland Saga and even Ghibli classics (which is in a whole other convo of its own).
Every episode was cinema but THIS was my favorite episode among the 28 glorious ones we have in season 1. I'm excited to know that there's been rumors of Season 2 production.
There are a lot of great moments in the anime, but when Frieren says to Aura, 'Off' yourself, That was so savage I LOVE IT!! Best wishes and much love always Flexie sweetie!! 🙂❤
Easily missed but I really like here the call back of the conversation of Frieren with Fern and Himmel.
Frieren and Fern both respond 'somewhat, I suppose', when asked if they like magic.
Frieren and Himmel both says ' just a feeling'..
*head gets sliced*
AND YOU ALRIGHT.
In episode 2 Frieren was drawing a circle around Fern while teaching her, which ,now after the last 2 episodes, we understood why - to teach her how much to suppress her mana. Lugner was seeing exact amount of Mana coming from Fern, as it was the diameter of the circle.
P.S: Flamme's neckless is also on Frieren's staff.
If I remember correct, its implied that Fern did not learn from Frieren to surpress her mana but from Heiter. Remember how often they mention that she is hard to find (when she was still a kid) and obviously Heiter missjudged Frierens "1/5th of my Mana" manapool immensly in the first meeting. Therefore I'm pretty sure he was the one who told Fern to surpress it (because thats what the mightiest mage he knew did) and Frieren just might have finetuned her later on.
Also, i'm not sure if u maybe overread this part (most likely because u were in awe of what would obviously come in the next scene) but Aura the guillotine mentioned that Frieren has not shown any signs of surpressing her mana/aura (because she is accustomed to it) so in theory mages should be able to see if an enemy is surpressing his/her mana if they not mastered that technique themself. (Little flickers besides or inside the auras, you could see that in Ferns aura when Lügner finally saw through the trick ;) therefore Fern maybe isnt yet 100% perfect surpressing it yet (no spoiler, generally dont know myself)
Good reaction vid, u gradually become my fav. anime reaction channel
Such a great episode of learning about Flamme's and Frieren's relationship. Love how they have things come back around and watching Frieren's time alone and seeing the town grow into a city and then Himmel echoing Frieren's own words to Flamme. I think Flamme had that power to see the future which is why we have the notes open to her telling Frieren about Heaven and here, where Frieren will defeat the Demon King.
You're absolutely right. She didn't put herself forward. Thing is, now that demon king is gone she STILL doesn't for situations just like this.
20:00 One minor correction/nitpick, but demons are aware of mana suppression as something that could be used against them. They just consider their own senses to be refined enough that they can see through suppression. What they don't consider is the idea that someone could train so much that it could fool even their senses.
They see that the mana exposed out of combat is the same in combat, and do not notice the fluctuations induced by suppression, so they are easily driven to the wrong conclusions.
A simple strategy, but really powerful, and insanely difficult to train.
@@pierluigidipietro8097 They generally do notice fluctuations though.
SPOILER
As explained later in the series, it is very difficult to fool demons this way. Without innate talent for it, it takes centuries of training. A Great Demon even later in the series notes that Fern is currently not capable of fooling a demon of their rank.
@@Ryodraco the Demon King noticed at a glance that Frieren was suppressing her mana, indeed
Seriously, Flexie...when you said I'm gonna cry, my immediate thought was nah...too much epicness is right around the corner for that 😂
No time to cry, too hype
A detail that goes unnoticed within all the info we get this episode: Heiter says that Frieren's mana, when suppressed, corresponds to 1/5 of his own. He's the only member of the party we haven't seen fighting, but he's not there for nothing lol
He's insanely op! He had half of Frieren's full mana when she was saved by Flamme. That's a couple CENTURIES of mana training!
@@jaideepshekhar4621 idk if it's ever confirmed by the manga I haven't read it yet but we don't know for sure at that point how much mana Frieren has. When she first starts training under Flame she's told to suppress her mana to 1/10, presumably to appear weak to demons. We're told mana grows with training so presumably Frieren's mana would have grown quite a bit during training under Flamme and probably after that as well even if it was a much slower rate than when she was actively. We also know she's significantly more powerful in the current time than she was when travelled with the party of heroes even though during that time period it seems she didn't do a whole lot of fighting or training. If her mana grew significantly since the time she almost died fighting that demon in her village which I think is a safe assumption, she would probably have to further reduce her mana beyond the 1/10th to still seem weak to demons. Otherwise 1/10th of her mana would eventually just still too much to fool demons.
I still think Heiter is crazy powerful for someone his age when they meet, but I don't think it's as simple as his sensing her 1/10 being equal to 1/5 his mana means he's actually got half her mana.
@@peanutbutterpanda19 right but OP meant at the time of when Flamme said that, not current. Back then she still had a TON of mana and for Heiter, a human, to have half what she had back then is still absolutely insane
@@peanutbutterpanda19 Aura said frieren mana barely change from the 1st time they meet,Aura has also said frieren mana is at least worth 100 years...100/1000 is 1/10 mana suppression...80 years is a lot for mana increament but Aura only saw 8 years worth of mana training from frieren(this is my assumption)...and to fool demon, its not the ratio that is important but the fluctuation that comes with it...
@@jaideepshekhar4621 He said she had roughly 1/5 of his nana and that was her at 10% (roughly) or 1/10 so at that time that would mean he had roughly half of her mana . That’s not half of her nana when flamme saved her, he had half of the mana that we see her use in this episode essentially. Dude was a beast , but really ALL the members of the hero’s party were op asf
Maybe Frieren vs Aura´s fight doesn´t have an amazing coreography like Fern and Stark´s fights on the last episode but the final scene with Frieren telling Aura to kill herself was wild!
In future episodes you will see more about how Frieren meet Himmel and they begin to travel as a party and other key moments that happened during their ten year adventure. The mana suppression concept and the spell to create a field of flowers will be important in the future.
This episode ends the "Demons" arc. Next episode has an special song that is use both during the episode and as a special ending. Is called "Bliss" and is performed by Milet, who also sings the main ending song "Anytime, Anywhere".
Greatest moment in anime, we all expected a missive display of multiple forms of magic on this battle, we got something even better.
Fun reaction stuff! Love you!
Just a feeling.
This anime is visceral with the action, it’s surprising. You have qual getting obliterated in one shot, the demon assassin getting his head exploded by frieren, aura doing… that
I love you as a reactor. You are the first one to catch earrings of flamme. Frieren is really a cutie pie.
PEAK EPISODE THAT BROKE THE INTERNET THAT TIME! 🎉
I loved your stream today
Hands down the best episode of any anime that season.
I love every ep of this anime…not exaggerating, discovering this show has legit changed my life. That said, this is hands down my favorite ep of this whole first season. Truly spectacular.
Its so cold, Frieren goes full on Low Tier God when she delivers that "Aura, kill yourself"
There’s more to how Frieren joined the party that you’ll learn later. All I’ll say is that it is intensely beautiful.
I love this episode.
The fact that she conceal her mana just so demons will want to flex in front of her. And they realize to late that she doesn't want to a word from them x)
And that gives an other understanding of what she said when they met the Einsam : "I was used to here my master crying for her life". I SO want to see Flamme witj low mana level crying "Pls don't kill me 😢 I'm such a poor and unskilled mage. Wow you have so much mana, tell me how much you care about it"
I've been watching anime almost my whole life, about 25 years starting with Dragon Ball and Inuyasha.
Telling Aura to end herself is THE SINGLE coldest kill I've ever seen in a power play scene.
I first watched Macross Saga back in the 1980s on VHS. Frieren is one of the best in my estimation.
@zmortis111 I remember watching Blue Submarine No. 6 when I was about 5, and I've been hooked ever since. Hands down, Black Lagoon is my favorite anime ever.
It was the cruelest way for Aura to die. Aura went from the feeling of total victory to absolute helplessness, without a single direct attack from Frieren. After taking the heads of so many soldiers, removing their ability to resist the power of the scales, the last head Aura The Guillotine took was her own.
Stronger than your Boss's Boss.
I think the town near the forest that Frieren lived in was the town where Himmel originally grew up in before he lived in the city shown in the first episode.
This ep was just "Simply Lovely"
10:55 While watching the flashbacks with Flamme in them, pay attention to the surrounding background. The cloths they are wearing, the building architecture. It will give a hint how long ago that was, and thus how old Freiren is.
Hands down one of my fav animes I’ve watched in a while. Frieren raised the bar dude
The flexing of mana is shown so good.
I always ask the same thing to people that watch this episode. Did you see how Aura's hair was already being cut by the blade before it touched her neck?. That is something that really blew me away from the animation. The attention to detail is insane and I love it so much. If you didn't see that, go watch it again and get your mind blown
Final thought, it is brutal that the last few seconds of the episode are through Aura's eyes as her head falls.
It is important to realize that demons are amazing at reading mana: Aura was confident because it's like asking Stephen Hawking in his later years about simple math, they are experts beyond anyone at it. It's just that with over a 1000 years of training (keep in mind Frieren was already the strongest mage in her village) you get beyond good at hiding mana.. (at the expense of being tired all the time and not being able to focus on other spells as much).
As for the hero party: the demon lord was also there for over a 1000 years (well could be several over the years, but since no new one stepped up, likely the same one): likely there have been many adventurer and hero parties questing towards killing the demon king and failing over the centuries.. Frieren might have been approached by some of them, but it was Himmel's words and party that she finally picked. Himmel, Heiter and Eisen are/were likely amazingly powerful indeed and it all clicked for her.
Enjoy the show :)
I can't wait to see you reactions for the reminder of episodes! ^_^
I love that the whole episode only builds up how frieren is going to cook aura that you would already know that frieren will win and STILL the ending leaves every reactor with the same 😯🤯 reaction 🤣
Remember, Heiter said he and Himmel grew up together (it was somewhere in episode 1-3. I believe it was where we were introduced to Fern). There's no doubt that the two of them started the party bringing in Eisen and Frieren along the way. With both Frieren and Eisen seeming more the loners that came along for the ride it kind of makes sense.
Frieren didn't live in the village that grew into a city, she lived in the forest near it. In a small cabin you mentioned. 😊
Yeah, Frieren really gets you to want to play something yourself. For me its Pen & Paper though. It has such a different approach of the use of magic apart from combat, you really want to start playing a character with these kind of spells.
13:54 Alone for a thousand years... And you thought your ass was dysfunctional XD
"This show is amazing. I love it."
Me each time i rewatch it ^^
Great review. BTW, Frieren is called as Frieren the slayer, but I think it does not cover all of what the author meant. The original title is Sousou No Frieren which means Funereal Frien in Japanese. IMO, the title has double meaning. Her life is just continuous sending off. Send off demons and must be the one who sends off beloved ones those her precious friends. That is her destiny for her long life.
😌 this why we marvel at the Rings in an Ancient Tree … They are Widows to an Eternity of Marriages- Buried in Time 🍂 with each Fall.
@@StephenRansom47 It is a brilliant way to look at.
@@gatograto 🙇🏼
I am reaching 300 animes and God knows how many tv shows, movies watched and still can't find nothing like the story crafting of Frieren!
Frieren with %100 uptime on that poker face, and always having pocket aces.
This show is so good. We need more of it
actual 10/10 episode, i wouldnt even know how to improve it.
Freiren continued to suppress her mana and true ability all the way till they fought the Demon King. If she had let it slip earlier and a demon survived tto report, the Demon King might have changed strategies and had tons of powerful Demons fight her all at once or some sort of sneak attack to eliminate her. Saying hiding behind Himmel is really good way of putting it.
Frieren is a demon killer as a mage and has spent a thousand years training to be one, along with carefully concealing that she's a demon assassin.
Thank you for sharing 😊
I have watched anime for more than 25 years. I rarely if ever have changed opinion on what I believe my favorite anime was/is. When I stumbled upon Psycho Pass (season 2 was already done) it quickly became my all-time favorite anime and to my surprise I liked season 2 more than season 1, which is to say the very least a RARITY to even happen. That was somewhere around 2014-2015. After that, no anime came even close of dethroning Psycho Pass for me, that's how much I passionately loved Psycho Pass.
Then, the very first episode of Frieren came out. I didn't even want to watch it, because I just read the cringe german name like the japanese often really like to do; put nonsensical german words in their anime. (Thankfully that didn't apply to Frieren in hindsight) After three weeks and with that the third episode of Frieren coming out, I was so bored I just said fuck it, it matches the genre I like why not. No friend or anybody said anything about this anime. So I started Frieren episode 1.
*Frieren dethroned Psycho Pass barely half-way through the first episode.*
The Aura vs Frieren episode is also very precious to me, because it almost perfectly described the process I had between Psycho Pass and Frieren. The "deceptive" name of the anime made me underestimate it just like Aura underestimated Frieren. Aura's mana is already massive (Aura being Psycho Pass in this analogy) and then Frieren, the deceptive anime name, exploded and released everything quickly overwhelming Aura. (Frieren anime overwhelming Psycho Pass)
This anime has everything from uniqueness, to worldclass animation, OST, pacing, situational emotion and overall building. This anime made me cry buckets, especially the first episode.
I have absolutely no idea how an anime in the future is going to top Frieren for me personally. Nothing in this world for 36 years made me feel the way this anime did and it almost felt effortlessly on the anime's side.
For me it was Fullmetal Alchemist, which has been replaced. 😂
I mentioned the technique last episode but I can't let this use of it pass without comment. The choice to *end* the episode from the first person perspective of Aura's falling head is absolutely wild on so many levels.
Lexie, you called it perfectly re: the mana suppression, proud of you 🎉
5:20 Gamer Intuition!🗣
First it was Solo Leveling, now Frieren, love it!
16:15 ABSOLUTE CINEMA!!!🫡
Got goosebumps all over again with this reaction
Can't wait for the old Dwarf episode, that thing broke me
They have just announced that Sousou no frieren, second season, is back. 🥳🎉🥳🎉
So happy
"I love magic, somewhat" = The passion is (partially) lost, because of the gruesome training regime.
It happened to Frieren during her 50 years of training with Flamme. And it happened to Fern when she trained hard to make it before Heiter passes away.
Just before Heiter collapses, Frieren even points out that it's not a good thing how quickly Fern advances, because she knows she trains too hard and is thus killing her passion.
Frieren collecting the little spells can perhaps be understood as her way of trying to re-kindle her passion for magic, which might have started with her learning the flowers spell from Flamme.