Frieren episode 27 reaction and commentary: An Era of Humans

[@rediciclepop4639]

The symbolism around flower magic is most clear when you contrast it with the other prominent technique shown in this episode: mana suppression. Mana suppression is a pure combat technique. It has no use outside of battle. It is as Flamme puts it magic for “fighting.” Suppression by nature is meant to hide away magic. You put aside the wonderful elements of it for pragmatic purposes. Even though Flamme and Frieren love peaceful and spells, they dedicate their lives to honing and practicing this magic technique because it allows them to kill what they hate: demons. Their desire for vengeance drives them to engage in something they, by nature, would normally despise. In my mind, this is why Flamme considers it shameful. It’s not that she views it as cowardly but because it is in affront to what she loves about magic. It epitomizes hatred: hatred so strong that it suppress our love of other things in favor of developing the capacity to hurt that which we despise. Despite the dedication and effort of Frieren and Flamme to use mana suppression to defeat the demon king, it actually does not work on him. As Serie says, the demon king realized the ruse at a glance. The “magic of revenge” that Flamme taught Frieren cannot bring about peace. Flower magic is the opposite of that. It is not a combat spell at all and it doesn’t even have much other practical use outside of fighting either. However, it is beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that various characters are touched by it and driven to act. Flamme learns to love magic because her parents show her this spell. It motivated her to spread magic and, in doing so, ushered in the era of human magic. Himmel fell in love with magic (and probably Frieren) when he saw this spell. It’s what made him choose Frieren, in particular, for his party’s mage. When Flamme entrusts the spell to Frieren, she does so in hopes that it rekindles Frieren’s love for magic which was dying out due to her training for mana suppression. It is the only non-violent spell she teaches Frieren and she does it simply out of love. This gesture is what leads to the end of the demon king’s reign. The “useless” flower magic led Frieren to Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen. Only together, as Frieren says, they could triumph. An era of peace is fittingly brought about by a peaceful spell. Flower magic is the symbol for connection. It represents the love Flamme’s family had for her. It represents Flamme’s affection towards her student. It represents the inherent kindness within Frieren that is revealed to Himmel. Flower magic’s success over mana suppression thus can be viewed as connection and love overcoming hatred and vengeance. A better future is made possible not by surrendering to our darkest impulses but embracing the best part of humanity: our capacity for love and beauty.

[@AGoodwinTV]

Really nicely put! Thank you

[@flowerdolphin5648]

I also love the symbolism between Fern and Frieren's relationship in this sense. Frieren who fell in love with magic because of a flower spell and Fern who fell in love with magic because of a butterfly spell. A butterfly feeds on flowers and in turn helps the flowers procreate. They both need each other to help each other grow. Frieren is the flower that helps Fern spread her wings and Fern is the butterfly that helps Frieren see a wider world. I don't know if this was intended by the people who made the show, but it's what I interpret and I love it deeply.

[@moss8809]

Shitting and crying rn

[@itzmehDevi]

This is beautiful ❤

[@JasmineTeaEnjoyer]

Serie does a little bit of trolling

[@Airwave2k2]

walking thousands of years the earth you get a bit cynical after a while and have your fun in trolling i guess.

[@Everest2]

Series mana must be massive if her suppressed version is the size of frierens released size

[@Richardwho-vv5bh]

well, she is the most powerful mortal in the manga, only the goddess is more powerful.

[@sadimdjubair7628]

​@@Richardwho-vv5bh Wasnt the strongest character Kraft?

[@Richardwho-vv5bh]

@@sadimdjubair7628 we dont know how powerful he is, only that he was a legendary hero, but we dint even know how old he is really.

[@JasmineTeaEnjoyer]

@@Richardwho-vv5bh thanks for the spoilers, really appreciate it

[@Richardwho-vv5bh]

@@JasmineTeaEnjoyer what spoiler?? i dint say nothing that the anime dint explain alredy.

[@ruchagoddessofpurgatory8513]

Serie is a tsundere, watch her interactions again and tell me I'm wrong

[@zaqmackraken673]

Flamme wanted Serie to train mages for the emperor and Serie rejected that. Now Serie's organization is above the empire's authority. She can fulfill Flamme's wishes for her to teach humans and also be able maintain her own values of only teaching those she finds worthy.

[@elmender7655]

6:50 A goodwin financial advice podcast when

[@rantingrodent416]

This is all my own theory based only on what we've seen to this moment: Recall that Serie said that humanity was going to surpass elves in magic eventually. I think her whole purpose with the magic association is to promote that future. She's looking for the absolute pinnacle of human mages so that she can foster those human mages that will exceed her powers. Look at how she talked about teaching Lernen here, and how excited she was when Fern outperformed him at such a young age. She said she would take Fern to heighs no other mage had attained. She was including herself in that "no other mage". Fern is basically the jackpot Serie has been looking for in creating the magic association.

[@InstantSilence]

I think it's far less altruistic than that. Serie, by her nature, is a battle mage. She craves conflict, and it's why Flamme says they cannot imagine living in peace. The Continental Magic Association has only existed for about 50 years, which means Serie established it some 30 years after the Demon King was killed by Frieren's party. If she really wanted to promote that future, she would've accepted Flamme's will immediately, and she wouldn't have bothered to tell Frieren not to neglect her training. In essence, she's bored. She wants an equal and has been seeking one since training Flamme. If a human mage manages to actually surpass her, that would just be a happy accident. She's funneling the best mages in the continent to her association to speed up the process of finding a mage with the potential to be her equal. Richter states that the CMA specifically prefers powerful mages akin to those who fought in the war against demons. Even the offering of a privilege is her way of accelerating their growth. This is also the root of her disappointment with Frieren. Serie states that Frieren is unskilled for her age, and Frieren admits she's not the kind of mage Serie wants. When they first met, Serie saw something in Frieren that excited her so much that she offered Frieren a privilege on the spot a thousand years before it became known as a privilege. Frieren is an elf who has the talent and potential to be Serie's equal, but she has no desire to train to become a battle mage. That's why Serie is so petty towards Frieren. Everything Serie has ever wanted exists in Frieren, but Frieren has no interest in it. And by no means does Serie's wants diminish her relationships with her previous students. She thinks she wants an equal, but by taking in students, it directly contributes to her actual needs, which is connection. Training human mages, remembering every detail about them, and never regretting taking one on all feed her primal need for connection.

[@senbujohns4489]

Serie's intuition is always right. Meaning if she doesn't think a mage has what it take she must fail them and I agree with her. Frieren is the exception and it's just her being petty

[@Aznarel]

Even with Frieren, it is beyond just pettiness. Frieren said it herself. "I still haven't become the mage Serie wishes I were." Frieren was born with immense talent (seen when she defeats a demon general as a (seemingly) self-taught mage, and when Serie offers her the Privilege on sight. But after losing to Macht, Frieren gave up on Flamme's mission and spent almost 1000 years hiding alone in the forest like a hermit, training a skill that most mages consider cowardly. She learned almost no new magic, did not seek to unleash her potential and for a 1000 year old mage, she is relatively unskilled with beginner-like flaws, her defences outdated (as noted by Methode). Sure, her mana is immense, thanks to her age, but she could have been so much more. Even the most unskilled mage can become powerful, given 1000 years. Which is what makes Serie so angry. "She lacks the burning ambition". Whenever Serie looks at Frieren, she sees what could have been. All the wasted potential. And that is not a mentality a first class mage should have. That is the root of their conflict. (Contrast it with Serie herself, who, while learning almost all spells known to mankind and probably elvenkind, even the useless ones, and suppressing her mana, never stops seeking the limit of her art. She pours her entire existence into advancing magic, whether her own or others she considers worthy. Hence Serie is known as Living Grimoire while Frieren is only known as Slayer.)

[@James--Parker]

Did you miss the Serie is supressing her mana? You didn't comment on it and you seemed a little confused when Fern said her mana was fluctuating. What impressed her so much was that Fern was able to see the fluctations right away. When not even Lernen her top student has ever noticed it and he was able to see Freiren's mana fluctionations instantly. (He's also the guy who made the Gollem's they used in the 2nd exam).

[@Credemis]

18:00 it’s funny you talk about a thread between Flamme and Himmel with the flower spell, because the same piano music that’s playing at this time stamp, plays in episode 10 when Flamme is telling Frieren about how her parents taught her the spell and it’s what made her love magic. For those curious, the song is “A Sunrise Worth Seeing” from episode 4. Just the piano party plays in episode 10, but the whole song plays here in ep 27

[@Credemis]

Sorry, it would be right before this timestamp

[@rodvincetolosa9386]

Serie doesn't really say what she actually feels, she's probably the biggest tsundere out there. Says she doesn't care about Flamme and her goals but oversees the human's magic association, says that Flamme' favorite spell was useless but has a field of flowers made by that spell in her garden. Says she doesn't want to train humans but has students of mostly humans, and offers to train Fern. Maybe she's also emotionally stunted not just physically.

[@KennedyRichard]

In my honest opinion, even though it may not be your intent, sharing insight gained from a future episode is also a kind of spoiler.

[@rodvincetolosa9386]

@@KennedyRichard Maybe it is a bit spoilery, as I've just realized now. Because the next episode sort of addresses this. But I just pointed out the things in this episode, some of which Alex already picked up on. Plus don't worry he probably already watched it on patreon anyways.

[@luigimanzelli3786]

Serie valus magical talent over anything else, and her assessment is fair, the only assessment that wasn't fair was Frieren's, however i would argue it was still fair, she was simply measured with different parameters compared to humans, for obvious reasons. In addition to this, Serie created this system for humans (as asked by Flamme), so this license is meaningless for Frieren, and Serie knows that. This was Serie's chance to tell Frieren she didn't maximizer her potential in the last thousand years, it probably won't matter, as Frieren is not geared towards battle, however we can see she highly values Serie's judgment, as she says twice she's never wrong, which i mean, we can pretty safely assume she's greated mage to ever live, she would never be wrong in assessing someone's affinity for magic.

[@puppetactor2515]

Series to me is like someone who complaints about fireworks (waste of money and effort for something lasting so short) everytime, but still comes back every year to watch.

[@dondonthatsme4050]

Thanks for the insights; I like your advice about being careful with emotional deep dives because one might associate the discovery of pain with growth". I've never thought about it that way before. I was originally going to comment how I loved that the spell that ultimately ended the demon king was the flower spell, but rediciclepop's comment was so eloquent and thorough that I don't have anything else to add. I just love that Frieren always sticks to it's themes.

[@StephenRansom47]

I wasn’t planning on giving unsolicited advice, but 😅 Regarding parenting: The trick to guiding anyone may be the frame you set up for them to receive it. By telling them that these things can make you better; stronger; more intuitive … you seed the ground for events that haven’t happened yet. Offering them a hook to hang things on. - I am becoming more conscious of why my own ego needs to be gratified. And whether I am catering to that, instead of another’s needs. 🙏 be patient with me.

[@JessieBalls]

To me personally Serie doesn’t really feel like a mage, she feels like a warrior whose weapon of choice happens to be magic

[@thomasbirt4725]

Frankly, this test is the most reasonable, because the whole exam process has turned out to be a game designed to select mages based on Serie's students conflicting perceptions of what kind of candidates she should take on as her own students. People literally died in the first test, so why not cut to the chase and just have Serie choose if that's the real point of it anyway.

[@Martyyri]

Serie said this episode that Frierens mana supression is impractical. But this episode shows clearly that Serie is also doing exactly that. And that she is far better at it and has been doing it for far longer. Serie is not honest with her words.

[@eliasfitzgerald1786]

I mean, as a coward, I would rather be escorted through the northern lands by someone who was certified to do so, with the ability and strength that suggests, than take my chances with an uncertified individual (barring exceptions, at least). For as flawed as the test-taking process may be, the first class certification does seem fairly reasonable to me in that particular sense. There's a lot of perspectives to the ideas of the tests and certifications, most of which have some level of validity to them. As someone who probably enjoys this arc more than the average viewer, I do find it all, and your perspective on it all, to be rather interesting.

[@Scyon13]

Visualization is the key to magic in this world, I mean I get it, doing is more important than over thinking, but Serie is a very practical person she's not going to send an unprepared mage to their death, like Frieren says, "Serie's intuition is always right" she knows they're not ready, her beef with Frieren is a whole separate thing, I think she envies Frierens freedom and that she understood her daughter better than her. The northern lands are full of powerful monsters, demons and more, beyond what's been seen so far bar the 3 elven demigods 😂those that were failed definitely need to become stronger, the exam arc is also introducing us to characters that will be important in the future, it's not like some other shows where a character is introduced just to do one cool thing then never be heard from again, just to be killed off for shock value or both.

[@salieri_sg9413]

You are entirely misreading Serie, totally. She is the biggest tsundere around, and also, she didn't decide anything on her whims. All of the mages she failed would CERTAINLY die in the next arc.

[@zaqmackraken673]

First class is more than a license. It's a job like a soldier. First class mages escort people across the northern lands. If they are unqualified, everyone they are protecting will die.

[@NekoJet91]

Mages be like "Ummm who are YOU to decide my worth, you aren't the boss of me!!!" - dies two miles into northern lands.

[@gethina-come7885]

Literally. Even the current First Mage cant handle El Dorado.

[@joesoq]

honestly i share the same sentiments with having children. a lot can happen even if you mean the best for your kids. its my biggest fear. also its really expensive and this economy isnt helping too lol.

[@Green-3c34y65vrbu]

your talking about parents and the difficulty of parenthood is so real lol. I just want mine to suddenly die, though. LOL

[@RayGunga13]

nice

[@ahnmadehv51]

8:33 I can tell you with confidence that you are wrong My uneducated mother trying to pressure me to lose weight out of love isn't helping me at all. I'm just developping body image issues You can do something to help and out of love and do tremendous damage if you don't know what you're talking about

[@elmatador2139]

I disagree a bit on the third test. While it is questionable why there needs to be so few first class mages, I don't think a qualification that seperates the top 1% is a bad thing and in that sense Kanne was never going to pass. When she first failed Kanne I was annoyed that she jumped the gun but ultimately she explained exactly the reason why we know that Kanne shouldn't pass because we have seen it ourselves over the course of the past 10 episodes. Serie was immediately able to tell what we had learned over the course of knowing Kanne and we can assume she did the same for the others and explained why they failed Still trying something and failing is a lot more rewarding than just being told you wouldn't succeed yet anyway, espiecially when they had risked death to get this far and will have to do so again if they retake the exam.

[@Rannos22]

I really have to disagree with your rant after Kanne is flunked simply because its non applicable. Kanne is simply not ready yet to be at the level of a 1st class mage and even she knows it. That is serie's point. Kanne, and most of the other people that were flunked, are not ready yet for that kinda power.

[@dayakkutai6531]

This guys to much comenting and doesnt even know the plot of the story, he doesnt event understand why serie mana is fluctiating