what a fantastically well-written & well-edited video essay. really liked the end about the show being analogous to LotR; and also really liked the original covers you did, lol. although I do dislike the comment section not listening to the video & correcting for things that were already mentioned in the video, but that is not the essayist's fault.

"There are no boobs" *my jaw meets desk* freiren 1/10 for no boobs. Lol.

I find the deamon lore fascinating, one of the better parts of the show I think, because there is a lot to explore about them, their psychology etc.

This is poignant. The people who whined about the vid are misogynistic asf.

All the issues are the "bad" list aren't things I agree with and the Demon one would be a problem if Frieren was a show about Demons vs the world but it's not. That was the story BEFORE the story that Frieren's group went on. Demons are now side characters and this series has shown it doesn't need physical antagonists for an arc, it can be more existential and loose than a beat em up battle shounen tends to be. I've only given one show a 10/10 before Frieren and that was March Comes in like a Lion for very similar reasons to Frieren. They both have nunace and subtext beyond a story of good and evil or right and wrong and delve into that from so many angles and unique ways. Not every story needs to be like this, but I always appreciate when it does since it feels less like a weiter following the dos and don'ts of writing and more like a research paper on whatever the author wants to talk about showcased through hypotheticals.

Lernen is a lot better as a character upon thorough analysis. If you're just looking at the surface level of Frieren, it might be easy to ignore that the golems in the bottles of the second test are specifically Lernen's golems and an experimental spell that Sense asked for use of for her exam. A fact which tells you that he is not only passively creating new spells (which will itself be an everlasting legacy for people like Frieren) but that his contributions, even the ones that probably seem to him like lukewarm obligations, are seriously saving people's lives and improving the world. Lernen has already left his mark upon history, and it's already far from insignificant. As Wirbel says with his backstory in the final episode, any good deed will leave a positive influence that can change the world, and throughout his lifetime, Lernen has surely done plenty of good deeds in making the world safer for everyone, despite how he never killed any top tier demons or ventured in a hero's party. But Lernen, corrupted by Serie's way of thinking, cant see it that way. The whole protagonist-like ideal of leaving your mark on history by killing god is fundamentally wrong, silly, misguided and based in principals that are equally so, and Lernen's story is trying to say that, and thus to put a final nail in the coffin of Serie's toxic stupid conception of how the world works and what's important within it.

I see the Demons as an example of "Pretty Privilege" or the "Halo Effect". A lot of people kill spiders because they look scary even though most are harmless and mutually beneficial to keep around. On the other hand, people try to domesticate Zebras and Hippos. Both are remorseless killers, but they look cute.

If you want high octane monster punching action that is actually well written check out Kaiju no. 8

Interesting video. I enjoyed the spaghetti parody, especially the way Stark simply said "Yeah". That made me laugh quite a bit... You said that Himmel, Heiter and Eisen are portrayed as "ideal" people but that's not true at all. Here are some of their flaws: Himmel is a narcissist who is obsessed with his own beauty. He also failed to pull out the hero's sword from the rock inside the cave. Furthermore, he kept flirting with Frieren even though elves are romantically and sexually incapable. This sort of implies that he didn't respect Frieren's boundaries. In one episode, he also said that Heiter mocked him as a "fake hero" when the two of them were kids. So Himmel and Heiter didn't have a fully harmonious relationship. Heiter is obviously an alcoholic and this had negative consequences on his health when he became an old man. And of course, he was a corrupt priest as the overused line says, since priests aren't supposed to drink alcohol. This makes him a hypocrite with bad self-control. Eisen was shaking from fear when the party faced a powerful monster one time, so he wasn't a perfect warrior. He also hit Stark in the face because he was afraid of how strong his student became. This means that he lost control of his temper. After that, he regretted hitting him. They weren't powerful enough to defeat Qual who invented Zoltraak so they had to seal him. Himmel and Eisen once spoke improperly to a king, and they were almost executed as a result. Frieren and Heiter intervened to save them. These are a few examples. These three heroes are very flawed people. In fact, I would say that Fern and Stark are less flawed than them. Especially Fern.

Yeah the show was pretty bad but the light novel was even worse

Something I will say about Gushing over Magical Girls is this. Utena acknowledges at the beginning that what she is doing feels very wrong, but something inside her makes her want to do it. She knows it’s wrong, but at the same time she feels happy doing it. That dichotomy made me interested in it. That and it’s quite funny. I can’t recommend it to anyone, but I can say I enjoyed seeing someone discover she CLEARLY needs to think long and hard about what makes her happy.

As a personal bias. I really want the review of Deadpool fan fiction in the form of Undead Unluck is the next one

Okay, but what anime was he describing at the beginning because that second one sounds INSANE.

Maybe this is just because I'm used to hard magic systems that are more complicated (the Black Prism series, all of Brandon Sanderson's works, Worm, Shadow of the Conqueror) but... where's the system here? There's magic, sure. Rune circles and energy beams and what have you. But aside from Fern and Frieren, almost no one in this cast is operating by the same rules. Fern and Frieren get to have a myriad of spells and the basic energy beams, but everyone else is just. Ice. Water. Hair. Dirt. Cutting. Cloning. Et cetera, et cetera. The only connecting threads between all of these mages that I can see is how they have no connection, given that each person's powers are unique.

i really like this video's concept, while i love the anime so much, i still have some nitpicks here and there about the anime, i think you presented that nitpicks quite well.

What is the show at 0:24 - 0:37?

... What anime is he reffering to at 0:25?

PLEASE DO SHANRI-LA FRONTIER PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE THEME SONG i just cant that makes me laugh so much every time. i hope if you read this you feel happy because this vid made me happy. :D

What's the name of the anime at 1:08, where the man married all of them little girls?

"everyday all i can think about is dyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyinggggg 🙄🙄"

Yeah, I think you nailed why I don't like Frieren. I'm a sucker for organic dialogues and character writing, and this story is very bad at those things.

Welp, I'm glad I just didn't like the show. It's easier this way.

Love videos like this

I feel like some of your complaints are a "but that was the point" kinda deal. Frieren's journey is about her appreciating the time sha had spent with her previous party. She is travelling to meet hemmel cause she didn't get to know him well enough, but through this second journey she is already starting to know him like she wanted to. I agree that the dialogue could have been better, but I don't think calling it "bad" or "all over the place" is fair at all. Like I don't disagree that it could have been better, but you are being WAY too harsh on what at least I consider to be minor aspects of what makes good dialogue. Not every show's dialogue is going to have banter as good as steins;gate, or use subtext and poetic Irony as well as made in abyss. I would say the same about the old man plot point. It was wasted potential sure, but it was definitely not bad. it still "worked" there is nothing about it that straight up ruined the plot point. the show spent very little time on it, and was mostly building it up in the background, so given the time investment, the payoff wasn't a bad one. It could have been better with more time, but for what it was, it was very efficient. The funniest part is I am saying all this while probably not thinking of frieren as highly as you do since there are quite a few anime from the past quarter of a century that I would put above it. I think the biggest for I would give it also a 9.5 instead of making it one of my like 12, 10/10 anime, is because it doesn't have enough high points. It had a few EXTREMELY impactful scenes, but not enough for me to call it a masterpiece. not yet at least.

That dude was there to make Fern matter more.

Cry.....just twice. Brave.

We are actively experiencing the best.

0:37 Speak for yourself, I love myself some well written furry yakuza horny school romance involving stage plays!

Yeah and it's sus that Kishirika is a 5 year old in a chain underwear where you can barely not see her va jay jay. Im starting to think it's less a Rudeus problem and more an author problem.

With regards to your point about the stilted dialogue, I do agree that it comes across that way. But I also feel that at least when it comes to Frieren herself it's part of her charm. She's a socially awkward person who has a hard time communicating and I find it charming that she isn't the best with words, and how that's rubbed off on Fern a bit. It is weird when it comes to the other characters though who seem like they're meant to be more "normal" and outgoing. Maybe it's just because I have autism, but I find Frieren relatable in that way.

also i just generally think frieren is a bit of a boring and cliche fantasy story. i think you're going a bit far in praising it, it doesn't really feel like it does very much new and its plot points are extraordinarily conventional and predictable to the point of making the whole thing feel a little boring. i think it does what its doing well but the claim there's something innovative or special about it feels a little silly. it is, not even a particularly new combination of tropes to put together at once

the demons arent simple though, the canon already contradicts everything said about them. they clearly do have motivations and desires and feelings. it's claimed that they don't, but they don't act as beings untethered from anything. they get upset when their comrades die and they enjoy things even when there's no humans around to deceive. they're said to have no emotions and yet they do things. why would you ever want to do anything if you had no emotions? what's the need for them to be haughty or arrogant if they don't feel and it doesn't provoke a desirable response? why would they want to manipulate people if it does nothing for them? why if they only speak to manipulate people and have no feelings to each other, do they speak to each other? there's dialogue between them which very clearly has no strategic purpose and is for the sake of their bonds as fellow demons, they don't actually act anything like what's said about them theyre frankly vindicated by the story every time in that being manipulative and murderous is frankly what they should be doing as the people they interact with have absolutely zero interest in having even a strategic understanding of how they work and comfort themselves with blatant falsities about what demons are

Lets not count stark issue as an issue yet he could be a grower and also what is she comparing it too lol. He could be stacked or average but she doesn't have much to compare it too or maybe Heiter/or her original dad was stacked lol(don't assume this is weird I mean it in the possible family bathing/bonding sense)

I had to go watch Iida Yuuichirou's episode and damn you did not undersell him at all he is EVERYTHING to me.

@VICTORZITOSS 1 day ago Yaaaah Let's get this video to a lot of views in the first hour so that it gets love from youtube Algorithm bless this video which i liked even before watching it because it's that good Seriously, sometimes i end up pissed off because i can't like it again after watching it, fix that youtube Lots of words lots of engagement, yadda yadda

The best part of Explanation Point is you never know which references will suddenly drop in their video. Loved that Stardew Valley ref on this video!

16:00 A perfectly valid observation. But as I think a few others have said. THATS THE POINT! it is a story about someone who has had that "larger than life" perfect hero adventure already.

Bro you killed it with the singing! ❤

The discussion in this video was very interesting and well thought out but as a huge Ouran fan I was very struck by your analysis of ~that~ scene because it reads completely differently to me. I don't see Kyoya's actions being framed as heroic at all. If anything, that scene reinforces Kyoya's characterization as kind of an awful person. Haruhi doesn't thank Kyoya after that scene because he "taught her her lesson!" and she thinks it was ok, she's calling his bluff! She knew the whole time he wasn't gonna do anything! She says as much when she tells him he wasn't gonna do it, because she knows him well enough to know it wouldn't benefit him to assault her. She knows the whole reason he tried to scare her in that way is 1) because he DOES actually care about her and more importantly 2) because he cares about Tamaki and is trying to help prove his point. The whole dynamic of the show is carried by the fact that Haruhi enters the host club and can immediately see right through the walls everyone has put up (except for Honey, which itself is played as a joke). Haruhi sees how cold and conniving he is from the beginning. That's why she's the one who explains to Renge that he's not the fairy tale prince from her video game. That's why in the flashback where we see his origins with Tamaki, their big moment of emotional vulnerability resolves when Tamaki sees how evil he truly is. But in spite of those parts of him, Kyoya still cares about his stupid little found family. That's his whole character! When you were explaining the various perspectives on that scene, I saw a lot of familiar criticisms, but your overall reading of it was so completely different than mine that I was taken aback, like we'd watched a different show. I'm aware that that scene is broadly disliked, at least by western fans, and I totally understand why! Like you explain in the video, it touches on a very visceral, emotional thing that is bound to upset people. Bisco Hatori could've chosen to write a different scene that got across the same ideas about the characters. But the way you framed it, you presented the scene one way, and then framed everyone else's reactions around that interpretation. But your interpretation excludes a lot of important contextual elements that make it read completely differently with the way you described it. I just found it ironic how you did so well to explain the differences between an emotional reaction to a text vs a logical one, but your own reading was so informed by your own emotional reaction to the text. And that's totally fine! As interpreters of art, we can't fully divorce our emotions from how we read a text, we can only acknowledge them. Even if there was a way to have written that scene differently, I personally can't be mad at it the way it is, because it does a good job of building both Haruhi and Kyoya as characters. I don't need Kyoya to be a good person in real life for me to enjoy him in a story. I did not see that scene trying to frame him as heroic in any way, and as the narrative progresses, it only reinforces the idea that he's a cold, conniving person who only really cares about the small group of people he feels emotionally connected to. And again, I'm aware that for a lot of people, that scene is a deal breaker for them and I totally understand why! But I also feel like it often gets misrepresented in ways that are so divorced from the actual text that it sounds like we're talking about a completely different story.

If you Haven't watch MoonLit Fantasy and do a Video on why it's Litteraly Sword Art Abridged master baby

It's interesting that you didn't say anything about Frieren's life span and how her long-lived elf nature changes her perspective on her friends... This tends to be one of the first thing people say about Frieren the show, but you didn't. I wonder if this was a deliberate choice -- as if considering the whole quasi-immortality issue not as important as the fantasy characteristics (magic, friendship, humanity, the evil of demons...).

The Friendly Local Game Store image brought back fond memories. They're closed now, bought out by a chain 😢

What do you mean "no boobs" Fern is absolutely /stacked/ You mean no focus or exposure on boobs? Sure if you're into that sorta thing look elsewhere but while Frieren the elf is the embodiment of impartial justice, Frieren the show, lemme tell you, /has/ boobs.

I'm very happy so many people are able to enjoy this show as much as they do, but some of the glowing praise it gets seems a bit over the top, especially when we're comparing it to some of the best fiction in general. Above the stilted dialogue and ham-fisted flashbacks, the most distracting element of the show for me was the setting. FMAB is set in a fictional version of the 1900s, filled with numerous warring countries, distinct towns with varying religions, and the scars of military oppression. Attack on Titan is set within the only walls protecting mankind from immortal monsters, and anyone who's seen the show could tell you how much that setting is explored. Cowboy Bebop is set in a dystopian future where there's plenty of technology, but lacklustre law enforcement. The Earth is scarcely habitable, so people make do with what they have. Castlevania is set in middle-ages Walachia, in a world where magic exists but many fear it. Humans are uneducated, afraid, and often preyed upon by vampires and demons. On the other hand, Frieren is set in perhaps the most generic, stereotypical videogame fantasy world I've ever seen. I literally couldn't make it more generic if I tried. It was downright distracting throughout the entire season. I find this really difficult to overlook, since it's not even really a fantasy world so much as it's a *Dragon Quest* world. Demons being a generic evil presence in the series isn't some sort of narrative subversion, it's just because that's what the heroes kill in RPGs so here they are. Why are there rogues and warriors with superpowers that somehow rival magic? Because RPGs. Why did a party of 4 defeat the demon king? RPG. The show does play with some interesting twists on these tropes here and there, but only occasionally. I don't mean to be too mean-spirited about this, since there's a lot to like about the show. It just feels a bit like when you ask someone for a sci-fi movie idea and they say "the hero has a lightsaber and a droid and they wield the force." We start our story in the stereotypical green fields of 'RPG town' and travel to quite a number of settlements and villages, yet nearly all of these locations are completely indistinguishable. Sure, you could argue that the world and locations aren't the focus of the story, but given that travelling is the core narrative vehicle of the show and intrinsically tied to the motivation of our protagonist, I feel it's quite important and a pretty significant flaw with the series. I never really got the impression that it's an intentional choice meant to represent Frieren's perception of the world either. If we're evaluating Frieren against the best of the best, I think the shallow setting needs to be considered since it's kind of laughable compared to even a show like Cowboy Bebop, which tells very personal stories and hardly focuses on the world much at all compared to something like FMAB or AOT.

You can say it's bad writing, but Frieren calling Heiter "corrupt priest" is like my high school friend Brittany calling me slut. We're in our 30s and she still calls me this as an ironic nickname (as I'm definitely not promiscuous in any way). It's an in-group joke. It's just a thing long standing friends do, and its purpose is to develop on screen the depth of the bond between Frieren and her former party. Perhaps it translates a little bit clumsily into English but that's to be expected in today's localization industry full of unimaginative public school educations.

Full ver of a capella Haru cover when Edit: oh crap, a second verse in the video and a shill to the patreon, ExPoint knows what he's doing

The spaghetti bit was funny, and I'm glad you went all the way through with it 😂 "Corrupt priest" didn't seem like a problem since I watched the subbed version, but you're quite right with that nitpick. It doesn't roll off the tongue the way a nickname should.

I disagree with your dioilouge criticism.

Wait, when does Fern canonically get an idea of what a big or small penis would look like? You know, before she saw Stark's and immediately made the comment.