Television Dragonlord's Recommendation: FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY'S END

RIGHT YOU ARE!!!
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Got to ep 10 last night. (I have a lot more opportunities to watch now that my lady's into it.)

This hit home with another very profound analogy for irl... this time regarding energy work. We've seen bits & pieces here & there about Mana, but now they've really expanded on it big time.

As someone who has dabbled in training the energy system (etheric energy) surrounding the human body, I have been finding the visuals of their Mana to be fascinating.

This series is about someone who’s mastered that art & advanced beyond teh point of building it into a mammoth energy... but then consolidating that around her so that she isn't just firing on all cylanders at once. In this way she not only can surprise her enemy with bigger blasts than they thought she was capable of... she can use those reserves to continually fire them without draining herself.

Brilliant!!! The scene where she showed the true full strength of her Mana was epic AF!!!




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So Gansteh~
Yup, that was a gangster move by Frieren.
I love that she just simply said "kill yourself" to her enemy instead of the show doing a long overdrawn battle like what a typical anime does.

Also love the attention to details when Aura tries to cut off her head with a sword. You can see some part of her hair gets sliced off before the decapitation part.

I love the sub-theme to episode 9 which is deception. It kinda felt like our heroes (Frieren, Fern and Stark) where at a disadvantage against a superior enemy. But each of our heroes deceptively hid their true power (unintentional in Stark's case) and vanquished their enemies who underestimated them. Yeah, that Frieren revelation was epic but the Fern battle was equally epic.

After episode 10, there's a bunch of filler episodes before they start a new major arc. The filler episodes are still great to watch and adds more humor and depth to the characters and to the story overall.
 
I purchased teh first season from Amazon, only to find out that they only offered teh first 13 eps. Fookin' fookehz (grumble grumble)

Since ep 13 waz a "mid-season conclusion" I wasn't in any hurry to get back to it as other thingz were pressing in my queue, but I'm back now!

Got some feelz when Frieren realized the significance of teh ring Himmel teh Hero gave her on their adventure.

Ep 14
...is a neat lesson for human evolution. The theme is that girl's upset because she expects boy to read her mind to know everything she wants, while the others point that out & explain that she needs to communicate her expectations before just getting mad about them.

I like how they point this out & expand upon it in this ep. & eventually reaching a reconciliation.

irl, I read a book that outlined that same lesson early on in my relationship with my wife (of 30 yearz & counting)... & we cleared up the past misunderstandings & made some new understandings.... & it's a fantastic lesson. Honestly, if a couple doesn't have this understanding, they're fated to be triggered... & nobody needs nor benefits from that. It's a negative hole of mis-emotion that is 100% trouble with zero benefit.

ep 15
Nice to see them fighting demon spawn again. Ep was basically to show teh priest's value... as only a priest could resist the baddiez magic. It's a nice lesson on appreciating others in your group who have their individual talents, though not perfect.

There's an expectation for us to live up to teh standardz of others... but teh strongest stance is to have nothing to defend. I yam what I yam.

Other's have to accept us wit whatever we are in any given moment, & try to see that if it's quirky to them (or whatever disturbance is triggered in them) they need to recognize that not everyone will have every single grace that you have, & so we forgive things in others, just as we expect others to forgive things in us when we fall short.

I'm speaking of minor quirks there. Obviously if you bleed out teh mail-man on your porch because he crinkled your package, we've got deeper issuez.

Ep. 16
lol... Frieren: "if we're staying here for 10 yearz, then we'll need to find work."
Fern: "we're staying for 1 week"

Loving teh difference of time value between them. That's been a great theme throughout teh seriez.

Everyone's name fades with time. Get used to it... no need to fight it.

Ep. 17
New Theme song
[<dunn]
Great lesson about appreciating friendz.
...accepting loving care when we're sick... despite how old we are.
 
I purchased teh first season from Amazon, only to find out that they only offered teh first 13 eps. Fookin' fookehz (grumble grumble)

Since ep 13 waz a "mid-season conclusion" I wasn't in any hurry to get back to it as other thingz were pressing in my queue, but I'm back now!

Got some feelz when Frieren realized the significance of teh ring Himmel teh Hero gave her on their adventure.

Ep 14
...is a neat lesson for human evolution. The theme is that girl's upset because she expects boy to read her mind to know everything she wants, while the others point that out & explain that she needs to communicate her expectations before just getting mad about them.

I like how they point this out & expand upon it in this ep. & eventually reaching a reconciliation.

irl, I read a book that outlined that same lesson early on in my relationship with my wife (of 30 yearz & counting)... & we cleared up the past misunderstandings & made some new understandings.... & it's a fantastic lesson. Honestly, if a couple doesn't have this understanding, they're fated to be triggered... & nobody needs nor benefits from that. It's a negative hole of mis-emotion that is 100% trouble with zero benefit.

ep 15
Nice to see them fighting demon spawn again. Ep was basically to show teh priest's value... as only a priest could resist the baddiez magic. It's a nice lesson on appreciating others in your group who have their individual talents, though not perfect.

There's an expectation for us to live up to teh standardz of others... but teh strongest stance is to have nothing to defend. I yam what I yam.

Other's have to accept us wit whatever we are in any given moment, & try to see that if it's quirky to them (or whatever disturbance is triggered in them) they need to recognize that not everyone will have every single grace that you have, & so we forgive things in others, just as we expect others to forgive things in us when we fall short.

I'm speaking of minor quirks there. Obviously if you bleed out teh mail-man on your porch because he crinkled your package, we've got deeper issuez.

Ep. 16
lol... Frieren: "if we're staying here for 10 yearz, then we'll need to find work."
Fern: "we're staying for 1 week"

Loving teh difference of time value between them. That's been a great theme throughout teh seriez.

Everyone's name fades with time. Get used to it... no need to fight it.

Ep. 17
New Theme song
[<dunn]
Great lesson about appreciating friendz.
...accepting loving care when we're sick... despite how old we are.
Episode 15 showcased how badass Frieren was. Within 3 seconds after waking up from a sleep spell, she quickly understood the situation and dealt with the monster.

If you are now seeing the new opening song, then that means you are now in the mage exam arc.
 
I purchased teh first season from Amazon, only to find out that they only offered teh first 13 eps. Fookin' fookehz (grumble grumble)

Since ep 13 waz a "mid-season conclusion" I wasn't in any hurry to get back to it as other thingz were pressing in my queue, but I'm back now!

Got some feelz when Frieren realized the significance of teh ring Himmel teh Hero gave her on their adventure.

Ep 14
...is a neat lesson for human evolution. The theme is that girl's upset because she expects boy to read her mind to know everything she wants, while the others point that out & explain that she needs to communicate her expectations before just getting mad about them.

I like how they point this out & expand upon it in this ep. & eventually reaching a reconciliation.

irl, I read a book that outlined that same lesson early on in my relationship with my wife (of 30 yearz & counting)... & we cleared up the past misunderstandings & made some new understandings.... & it's a fantastic lesson. Honestly, if a couple doesn't have this understanding, they're fated to be triggered... & nobody needs nor benefits from that. It's a negative hole of mis-emotion that is 100% trouble with zero benefit.

ep 15
Nice to see them fighting demon spawn again. Ep was basically to show teh priest's value... as only a priest could resist the baddiez magic. It's a nice lesson on appreciating others in your group who have their individual talents, though not perfect.

There's an expectation for us to live up to teh standardz of others... but teh strongest stance is to have nothing to defend. I yam what I yam.

Other's have to accept us wit whatever we are in any given moment, & try to see that if it's quirky to them (or whatever disturbance is triggered in them) they need to recognize that not everyone will have every single grace that you have, & so we forgive things in others, just as we expect others to forgive things in us when we fall short.

I'm speaking of minor quirks there. Obviously if you bleed out teh mail-man on your porch because he crinkled your package, we've got deeper issuez.

Ep. 16
lol... Frieren: "if we're staying here for 10 yearz, then we'll need to find work."
Fern: "we're staying for 1 week"

Loving teh difference of time value between them. That's been a great theme throughout teh seriez.

Everyone's name fades with time. Get used to it... no need to fight it.

Ep. 17
New Theme song
[<dunn]
Great lesson about appreciating friendz.
...accepting loving care when we're sick... despite how old we are.

Love your episodes reviews I have been waiting for them to continue thanks for the tag.

These reviewed episodes were slower just for us to have more time with the characters in different situations, they were nice but now you enter the final arc of the season and here things get more interesting.

Some really fun and funny moments from Frieren up ahead.
 
Season 2 needs to be shown early next year dammit. I might go back to reading subtitles to keep up after swearing that off.
 
Episode 15 showcased how badass Frieren was. Within 3 seconds after waking up from a sleep spell, she quickly understood the situation and dealt with the monster.

If you are now seeing the new opening song, then that means you are now in the mage exam arc.
Oh yeah, that waz sweet AF how Frieren rocked up that quickly vs teh flower demon.

Yup, I'm almost to the end now actually. This long arc caught me by surprise. It's like every mini adventure plays out in an episode or 2 or 3, and so I got used to that pacing. Now we've been sticking with the one theme almost this whole 2nd half that's actually a side quest to the main plot.

I wish they had foreshadowed this trial a lot more. It came on like almost a passing thought. Like oh yeah, in order to proceed, one of us needz to pass this trial. It really was sold as another quick plot point but turned into a much bigger thing, that didn't seem to have enough meat behind it for such a big plot point. I feel like I need to go back & watch it again now that I know how important it is, but I wish they would've built that expectation up ahead of time.

I hope they explain a reason for facing them off with incentive to kill each other. I'm not sure if I'm detecting a sinister plot by those in charge to thin out magic users, but it seems like they could have a test that eliminated candidates without death being a promoted & suggested consiquence.

I'd think magic userz would want as many of their kind to be out there killing demons & so would make tests that didn't promote the thinning of the population.

At least in the dungeon tests, they gave people a way out. Still quite potentially deadly though.

@Dragonlordxxxxx & @One MMA Fan what do you make of this?

I'm going to finish it today, before I return back here.
 
Is the dubbed version of part 2 on Amazon yet ? I'm not getti g crunchyroll as all the ani.es I like are on Netflix and Hulu anyway
 
Season 2 needs to be shown early next year dammit. I might go back to reading subtitles to keep up after swearing that off.
I refuse to watch a anime in subs. Unlike live action you cant even tell its dubbed in anime at leat to me
 
I wish they had foreshadowed this trial a lot more.

After an episode or two inside this arc I was looking at the number of the episodes left and figured they will end the season with this trials so I wasn't caught by surprise after that.

Yet it does enough in the end to keep you plenty satisfied and to have closure.

About the killing test part it was kinda not on theme with the anime but then again that is just humans being gatekeepers to powers, we see that all the time across many stories.

Worry not: minor spoilers heads up: the final part of the test is very in theme with Frieren, no more fights just words and lessons.
 
I hope they explain a reason for facing them off with incentive to kill each other. I'm not sure if I'm detecting a sinister plot by those in charge to thin out magic users, but it seems like they could have a test that eliminated candidates without death being a promoted & suggested consiquence.

I'd think magic userz would want as many of their kind to be out there killing demons & so would make tests that didn't promote the thinning of the population.

At least in the dungeon tests, they gave people a way out. Still quite potentially deadly though.

@Dragonlordxxxxx & @One MMA Fan what do you make of this?

I'm going to finish it today, before I return back here.
I really don't have an answer for that nor do they address why the need to kill in the exam. Yeah, I agree with you that it's more practical and logical to have more mages in their world, especially since there are still pockets of demon invaders roaming around the land.
 
I really don't have an answer for that nor do they address why the need to kill in the exam. Yeah, I agree with you that it's more practical and logical to have more mages in their world, especially since there are still pockets of demon invaders roaming around the land.

After an episode or two inside this arc I was looking at the number of the episodes left and figured they will end the season with this trials so I wasn't caught by surprise after that.

Yet it does enough in the end to keep you plenty satisfied and to have closure.

About the killing test part it was kinda not on theme with the anime but then again that is just humans being gatekeepers to powers, we see that all the time across many stories.

Worry not: minor spoilers heads up: the final part of the test is very in theme with Frieren, no more fights just words and lessons.

Great point on humanz/Elvz etc... being gatekeeperz to powerz. That waz shown very clearly by Super Mage'z reasoning for failing Frieren. It's an unfortunate reality in our world. Teh entire Skywalker saga is also based on this very premise.

It's all good with the longer arc. It was fun, provocative & entertaining. Frieren is known for keeping huge thingz almost meaningless to her, and so this fits in with her character. Kind of comical actually now that we've seen the trialz... how she'z just going about her day in town & mentionz on teh side that "oh yeah, we have this lil test we have to pass to get this silly cert that will give us authority to proceed.

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Then all hell breaks loose... lol. Contrast Frieren's pov wit teh otherz whom this test means everything to them. Very provocative difference. Even when Frieren knew she could tell Super Elf what she wanted to hear in order to get teh cert... she still didn't give a fook. Love It!

I have a feeling that "thousand year ban" that Super Elf gave her waz a bit of cat n mouse, because she obviously knowz Frieren'z worth it. She even changed teh 3rd trial because Frieren'z so powerful that she tilted teh scales of teh prior tests. It's literally a quirk in Super Elf's psychology that's holding her back from giving "Demon King Slayer Frieren" a fooking badge of honor that offers her special access & privilage. Perhaps you'd prefer Demon King's rool?

Frieren doesn't give a fook doe, any more than she cares to use her status as Demon King Killer to advance her adventures. She never mentions it, even when imprisoned... & is happy just allowing fate to decide. She's teh ultimate Taoist.

So I still would've preferred a bit more build-up to teh Mage test, due to its importance & long arc... but that's easily overlooked. I will watch the last half of season 1 from teh episode or two prior to teh Mage Cert Trial again, so to take it in better now that I know what's what. I will certainly marathon teh hole season 1 prior to watching season 2. (do we know when that comez out?)

Teh "Cert Folks" did redeem themselvez in the next 2 trials regarding the death theme... & even addressed teh death aspect wit Super Mage insisting on doing teh final test without consequence... after subjecting them to such horrorz. That waz a very provocative change that she made, & with good reason imo. Honestly, they could've just made teh hole trial be to come before Super Mage "who's alwayz right" & let that be teh hole test.

As it waz though, I understand that each trial was created by a specific high mage, & so perhaps there are clues in there that I missed as to why that specific Mage who created teh first trial, included that death element. It also makes me think that they will upgrade their testing protocol in the future.

Interesting that Mage at the end that could see teh size of Frieren's true Mana. Super Mage chick commented that only teh Demon King had been able to do that. 🧐

He's also playing a bit of teh foolz roll, that even Super Mage waz fooled by... so I wonder if he might become a big bad in teh next season. I was half expecting him to try & join teh party. Not too late though I guess... they're barely out teh door. It would be understandable for him to show up at any time in teh adventure though.

Cool how many of teh otherz in teh trial were deemed worthy, & that it was exceptional that so many made it.

I loved teh switch of that seemingly gangsteh dude who picked up teh lady's groceries close to the end & then explained to Frieren that it's not only the epic tales of conquest that people remember. He was influenced by simple acts of kindness by none other than Himmel teh Hero who most people honor for his big heroic deeds, yet what stuck with this kid waz the little things he did. Such a great lesson for us all!!!

I have both sidez of that character in me. My hard front is simply a defense caused by the hard bombardment of teh hard people in teh world... but far beyond that, I'm an artist, musician, gardener, cook, metaphysician, "shade tree scientist", family member, husband & many thingz akin to a domestic skallywag, that lurk beyond teh surface of what a ruffian might encounter were they to attack me physically or verbally.

Absolutely Amazing that Fern picked a simple spell for her reward. I mean... clothez gotta get pretty nasty on all those travelz & that takes a lot of time & effort to try & clean up to only sub-quality standards. It's very much like teh field of flowerz spell that Super Mage pointed out was a flaw of Frieren's for calling it her favorite spell. So sweet when Frieren turned it back, pointing out that Super Mage used teh same spell in her garden.

Love your episodes reviews
Thank You Bro~
l@nd0

I have a lot more comments that I jotted down about teh final arc, but I want to watch it again. I might start from an ep or two before the arc, just to get teh full feel for it.

I think I forgot to mention the intricacies of Frieren meeting that other hero elf (Kraft) while they were trapped in teh cabin over winter. So cool we later find out in Ep. 16 that he'z a hero with statues that pre-date Himmel n crew. I'm fully expecting them both to join teh band of gypsyz later on, & end teh seriez wit a lil' Sprite or 3. Pixie, Nixie & Trixie

522505f3d711cb28cf8b4e204db5f14e--lotr-elves-hobbit-art.jpg


Perhaps after teh 1,000 yearz ban on Freiren are up, one of them can get a fookin' cert! ;)
 
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I will certainly marathon teh hole season 1 prior to watching season 2. (do we know when that comez out?)

I suggest subs re-watch I feel the original voices will give it even more power.

No idea, the people behind this Japanese anime productions don't really understand marketing and creating hype and the importance of settings dates and expectations. They are very secretive and kinda wait a long time and then just drop stuff out of nowhere.

Anyhow how good was this anime ? the writing, my oh my what powerful lessons just in the pen.

Thanks again @Dragonlordxxxxx for the recommendation, totally worth it.

anime-frieren.gif



Absolutely Amazing that Fern picked a simple spell for her reward.

Haha, she made Frieren proud with her choice. *Good girl ~ pets her on head.*
 
Ep. 14
Teh original drunken priest seems to be down on himself for "still being a child at heart while others consider him an adult." I feel this is a flaw in logic, as the energy of youth is what he feels, and it's experience compounding through the years that what makes you an adult... not as he eludes to as still feeling like a youth. That feeling of youth is the energy itself that we should cultivate as we age. Understanding that experience & understanding is what makes one an adult. We don't want to hamper in the least that feeling of youth. That way of thinking in itself strikes a metaphysical blow to the energy itself. Better to embrace that youthful energy & outlook while building upon it with smarter decisionz based on experience.

As a 52 yr old personally, I still feel that same youthful outlook. I feel it's healthy. We offset the elderly decline with exercise & keeping the body as youthful as we can. We can still endulge in youthful experiences... even do things we know are detrimental over-all to our health, but our experience tells us that we simply need to keep those indulgences to a more minimal amount. I'd wish to tell my younger self the same, except that now that I know such thingz, I see I've become an adult. "Feeling young & youthful in mind" is not the problem... it's thinking an adult has to alwayz do all thingz perfect that stuffs that youthful energy. So lets not let teh slowly declining body make our minds less youthful, but be more strategic with our experiences about how we act them out.

That scene was an interesting contrast that I would conclude, is why many older folk submit to the physical & mental declines of aging. IMO... that decision itself can escallate a mental decline. That thought is a disease in itself. By contrast, we can still feel youthful, while making smarter decisions... and thinking otherwise is only a mental game designed by human thought.

Ep 15
So fun how Frieren alwayz endz up falling for teh chomping treasure chest. lol. I Loved teh contrast to this in teh finale of teh season, where teh great Mage who rose above them all endz up squirming in a "Banjo-Kazooie Treasure Chest."

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Frieren - "When it comes to treasure chests teh reward alwayz out-weighz teh risk"

Later...

"those who's mystery's we have yet to unravel are labelled as curses."
Great line... & very true as we look into our history of things people labelled as curses but were later understood by science.

I wouldn't put voodoo into the same catagory, but even our modern understanding of metaphysics can explain that. Put into context, if someone projects negative energy upon another & it effects teh way they act... then that could be considered a curse. Though that's different than someone putting an entire village to sleep... which they found the cause too... I just felt to make that contrast.

Hilarious how Frieren congratulates teh new priest by patting him on teh head... lol.
She's completely clueless on how to use words for that, and it's super sweet that she's trying. He appreciates the effort~

Stark's experience with his brother being better at everything is a neat lesson.

Ep. 16
Foreshadowing Frieren's future husband & Ghorilla Warrior joining teh quest in teh next season.

Ep. 17
Stark: "Legendary magic spells, have you already run into magic like that?"
Freiren: "Uh hu... we found one great spell to get rid of mold, & another to eradicate tough oil stains.
Fern: "Those little spells have been nothing short of life changing"

Foreshadowing Fern's choice of spellz after passing teh Mage test yeah~

Freiren: "Himell gave me the joy of spending time with friends. Tell me Sein, have you felt that joy?"
Sein: "Hmm, this has been a lot of fun."

Great lesson on appreciating those around us. Is an ongoing theme of this series. Very nice.

"Time to get up Frieren"... "just give me 12 more hours." <lol>


Ep. 18
Lesson: Differencez among peirs could be considered as strengths.

Oh wow, I forgot Kraft (Frierens future baby daddy) showed up outside of teh town where they had teh Mage test. He said he knew that was Frieren's destination from the cabin they shared. Strange he went that way but didn't at least try to see Freiren. This supports the idea he joins up with them again.

I watched ep. 11 again, & teh king of the town they saved (just before their winter cabin stay with "baby daddy Kraft"), told them they'd need to be level one certified Mages to go where they wanted to go. They had a quick chat about it... so I guess they foreshadowed it back then. 7 episodes later & I had forgot about that. It's all good, but they definitely could've used a reminder in teh last ep. That's a petty gripe though.

Frieren was about to split teh trials because you had to be certified as at least a class 5 Mage to take teh exam. Then one guy saw her ancient pendant & allowed her to pass. Just a little tidbit that I didn't think much of the first time around.

A little bitching here about death trials for the dwindling number of magez.

"Before teh Demon King killed teh Mages off, you'd run into a Mage in almost any town, now-a-days it's rare to even encounter one at all while on teh road." At present, there are 2,000 known Mages (including apprentices) who have certified. 600 5th class or better & only 45 1st class Mages named since this guild began.

Injury & Death are expected outcomes of the test according to a printed book Frieren was reading. So trial 1 wasn't an oddity created anomaly by a single creator.

The pompous ass who created teh first (& deadly) trial said that if they're not worthy of class 1, then fook em... they're not worthy of living. FFS, they could evolve if you'd just let them live.

While I think this odd that they'd make the trial so deadly to their otherwise sparse group... I can easily overlook this for the enjoyment of the story as a whole which is otherwise pretty solid.

Super Mage chick claims to not recognize Frieren... though her student trained Frieren.

All right... I'm back checked & loaded up for teh trialz! I probably won't get back to it till next week, but it was nagging on my mind to see the build up. I did miss a few thingz, so it waz worth it, & also enjoyable to see it again after knowing how it plays out. Takes a bit of new meaning.

Back next week for more!!!
 
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@Bornstarch I already found a copy of Planetes yesterday and I watched two episodes. I'm really liking it so far. I love the attention to detail and the application of realistic physics. Just seeing the space station rotate to create artificial gravity and the image (see below pic) at the 2-minute mark, I can already tell that I am going to like this. It gives me The Expanse and For All Mankind vibe.

ckhSOSZ.png
 
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