FRIEREN vs. AURA ⚖│FRIEREN : Episode 10 Reaction

[@Jakovdred]

This episode is maximum storytelling, you know what's going to happen long before halfway but you will still enjoy every minute of it.

[@farohreacts]

EXACTLY

[@Алексей545-т6б]

@@farohreacts Magic is something you should show proudly - this is basicly accumulation of all your hard work. This why conseal it treated as disgrace for mage

[@gino85455]

@@Алексей545-т6б yeah, even the effort they put on concealing would be better put on improving ones magic. It's like a scientist forced to work on things he dislikes, when he could be improving on the things he likes.

[@cream7226]

@@gino85455 it's more like hiding a dagger behind your coat and acting like a weakling/coward, in the real world thats what many thieves do to win 1s

[@gino85455]

@@cream7226 in this she was hiding a nuke ngl

[@wrexgrafix84]

Frieren is such a savage! And Aura’s VA did a great job in portraying her arrogance, worry, desperate anger, then utter horror as she faced her end by her own hands. What a boss moment that last scene was.

[@raynorshineee]

Flamme taught her magic Himmel taught her of valuing her loved one's time and having deeper connections with them, in which Flamme regretted not being able to teach her...

[@farohreacts]

SHE DROPPED THE MOST INSANE BAR OF 2023 pls

[@KRP71390]

‘Displaying one’s mana’ seems to be more than just ‘how much does this person have’ in this show/series. That’s why, both when Frieren was first analyzing Aura, and when Aura was “analyzing” her in turn, they mentioned things like ‘her mana shows that she has (X) years of training and development’, and so on. What Flamme, Frieren, and Fern are all doing, is basically lying about how much power, training, and experience they have. On top of everything Flamme mentioned in her lecture to Frieren, about how ‘mana’ equates to ‘status’, what they’re doing is like if someone joins in a pickup sports game, say, with college level basketball players, tells everyone they ‘played a bit in high school’ and acts like that’s true, only to secretly have been playing all their life and have won multiple NBA titles and such. It’s “not fair”, and someone with that much skill and experience basically making a mockery of their opponents and the “sport” by pretending to be far under their actual level, especially when they could probably win anyways, without the deception. Sure, it’s a battle to the death, so such things probably _shouldn’t_ matter, but it’s ‘not being very sportsmanlike’, so it’s dishonorable. Demons take great pride in their mana and magic, after all. Also, big shout out to the Priest in the Hero’s party: Aura said Frieren’s mana showed ‘about a hundred years of training, and hasn’t changed much in 80 years”. 80 years ago, that guy judged her displayed mana as “one fifth of his own”. Basically, that guy had the equivalent of 500 years of mana training! That party was composed of absolute beasts!

[@itsnobody3696]

well said, cant said it better myself, the reactor really doesnt understand the concept of mana and why its mockery what Frieren did, so glad you explained it to her

[@dalouma-1]

This is how I like to think of it: Imagine a really beautiful person covering their face with a layer of mud and mix dirt into their hair for the rest of their life. I think that's basically what concealing one's mana for life is to mages and also why they think it's incredibly dumb. Now can you imagine that the mana reveal was actually just Frieren washing up and being like "I'm prettier than you, kys."

[@ZainKaneko]

@@dalouma-1 i like to think of it like Aura likes to eat $200 sushi every weekend to show it off on social media while Frieren eats at mcdonald's even though she's a multi-millionaire.

[@CheesusCrusts]

Another way of viewing the act of hiding your mana being disgraceful, is to convert it into an honorable warrior's duel. What Frieren is doing is effectively hiding a dagger or drugging her opponent before the actual duel. It is underhanded and "disrespects" the duel itself. But this is just one big irony since demons trick others as well. Frieren is giving them a taste of their own medicine.

[@kennethhwang3425]

Technical wise, it may also because, for its time consuming nature, mana concealment is not a worthwhile skill to learn. It takes years to master the sheer mindfulness of both the body, its channels, apertures, temperature's fluctation, etc... and the mindfulness of magic: its intensity, its frequency, direction, its quality, etc..., yet in the end, the only application is just one thing: mana masking. That much time could be used to learn, research and invent any other better magic (since magic in this universe is progressive) or seek out magical materials or formations or spells or techniques that are similarly effective. Thus, to spend decades mastering something so niche and with such limited usage is logically seen as foolish. So unless you're an elf or incredibly prodigal or both, it's a waste of time. I'd dare surmise that there are materials and formations in this universe that could achieve the same effect, albeit perhaps less inconspicuous or less potent. Flamme and Frieren are just perfectionists that way. Prudence is a virtue.

[@detectivemittons9020]

I'm not sure if you caught that, but Frieren's flower field spell was the one that Himmel praised. That's why it was such a special moment for her, and why it mattered that it came from her teacher. Himmel praised the spell that had so much love in it.

[@topek8693]

A mage concealing mana is like a knight having an assassin kill the opponent of a deal, or a cowboy whipping out a gun in a one on one fist fight. It's smart, logical, but considered dirty. It goes against the mage version of chivalry I think.

[@nephtys369]

Frierens motto is basically “I can’t be bothered”. Didn’t even take aura out herself, she made her do it 😂

[@artsey_key8452]

The reason why its probably seen as a mockery of magic, might be because of the culture surrounding magic in this universe. Like Flamme said those 3 demons revealed themselves completely when they realized they were going against mages, maybe when mages fight against each other its normal to not control your mana release so you can fight honestly and all out, while Frieren controls hers to deceive her enemies, plus its exhausting to do so which means your less effective in battle too if you control your mana while fighting, but in Frieren's case she's specifically trained to do so.

[@agooglyminotaur169]

I just found your channel but it is so much fun to watch through the show with you! There are so many great moments that bowled me over and it's awesome to watch your reaction to those same points in the story.

[@christianhowell3140]

I JUST noticed something. Flamme says that demons can't conceal their mana, but also says at 4:34 that the demons pursuing them were concealing their mana to get the drop on them. Some reactors I've seen thought that these statements contradict, but really it just proves that this is solely an issue of pride for demons: it's not that theyre INCAPABLE of concealing it, it's that once they're in the open, they can't BRING THEMSELVES to conceal it. Such a good detail and im glad you picked up on it

[@Barry587]

I was rewatching reaction and interpreted it as Demons can conceal mana completely to "sneak up" but they can't make it seem less so like 0 or 100 and not like frieren fern to show a bit of mana to deceive

[@JustAlex2000]

Yeah Flamme literally explained in that same scene that demons only ever conceal mana for strategic purposes, just how human mages do too. They could conceal mana to get a drop on someone, but nobody conceals their mana constantly, even when outside of battle

[@tharushafernando4410]

She learned the flower spell because Flamme wanted her grave to be surrounded by flowers. Then she showed that flower spell to her old party. Since the spell made them happy, she started collecting more spell. She even said that she started collecting spells because it made a "certain idiot" happy. That idiot was Himmel.

[@261maulanahikamsuaedy4]

Frieren didn't even bother to kill her, she didn't even see when Aura killed herself, and I think that's really cool, I love that

[@GamingClipz96]

Himmel: are you her? And then the whole episode with the flashback shows why she's her 😂

[@Seluecus1]

Frieren walking away as she tells Aura to kill herself is the same level of badass as that one action movie guy walking away from an explosion. :D I had the SAME exact expression as you Faroh! it was just an awesome moment! plus the level of detail was insane as well. I had to rewind it when the blade cut Aura's hair before she beheaded herself, just to make sure i saw what i saw.

[@nicksantos8035]

The idea of it being a mockery of magic has to do with the core of what magic is and the culture surrounding it and it’s adoption by humankind. It will be explained later on but it is extremely nuanced. Plus a lot of this has to do with building hindsight bias into a show. It is set fairly far back in terms of relative history and societal progress compared to us. People being prideful and ignorant compared to what we expect makes the setting more believable and authentic. Ideas develop over time and just as how we look back at decisions made by people of the past as obviously absurd, we look at some of the societal attitudes in this show as somewhat lacking and stupid. In another 1000 years the attitudes towards hiding mana might change but then again that has to do with the core of what magic is in the setting.

[@VelcroSnake93]

12:40 - Around 1,000 years, as they've said that's about how long Flamme has been gone, not multiple thousands.

[@mustsnip537]

the worst she can say is no 16:27

[@brodericksiz625]

When I learned there was going to be a Frieren anime I knew people would lose their shit at this scene. It was fire in the manga, it's fire in the anime. The build up is perfect

[@DKannji]

I think the shame she feels to hide her mana would be the same shame a warrior would have if they hid their muscles. There's pride in warriors showing their might with muscles and fat, the same would there be pride in a mage sowing their prowess with mana. But in this world where there are creatures that have a pecking order based on mana and are predators of human and elf, it's sensible if disgraceful to hide your mana. In the same kind of world if there were orcs that had a pecking order based on ones strength, they would proudly show it off, and if they're predatory towards elves and humans, it would be sensible if disgraceful to hide your warrior muscles.

[@sanitarycockroach9038]

It's a good thing her name is Frieren, because that was ice cold.

[@StupidAnon-gn8ih]

6:18 It's all based on what is conventional at the time. Believe it or not, we had our own similar rules of warfare and engagement once upon a time. It was actually the USA that first broke those rules of engagement, in the first war that they participated in. You see, up until the Revolutionary War, you fought battles openly, in uniform, with your forces vs. the enemy forces, in previously agreed-upon times and locations. It was seen as honorable, as forthright, and honest. It left no room for doubt who the better commander and soldiers were, who, say, best deserved, to win. You might not agree with that today, but that was how wars were fought for a very long time. The first time the US colonial forces sprang out from behind a tree line and shot all the officers dead and disappeared back into the woods, the British didn't know what to think, because they couldn't even imagine someone doing something that horrific and barbaric. It didn't even give the opposing soldiers a chance to fight; such action was seen as tantamount to murder, shooting someone in the back, instead of actually fighting them. To this day, what was then new combat doctrine, has persisted as standard operating procedure within the US military, encapsulated in an amusing adage which goes like this; "it's not your job to die for your country, it's your job to make the enemy die for his country."

[@Goudlock]

6:06 i like to see it as a cultural thing. Like in war it seems to be stupid to not use chemical war, like it's the easiest possible way to win !

[@izzydubmusic]

Thought the same thing about the mana hiding thing. However, you could also say its common in a world full of mages. It's weird for me cause each time I'm trying to understand what common sense is in another world.

[@Lorelei_saphlor]

Vinland Saga S2 was easily my pick for Anime Of The Year but god if Frieren keeps up this quality and writing for all 28 episodes of S1, it'll probably by my favorite anime of this year. Thorfinn and Frieren are easily the best Main characters this year

[@tehlinik5951]

Maomao exists too you know

[@Lorelei_saphlor]

@tehlinik5951 mhm I love maomao as well but i think frieren and especially thorfinn are a smidgen better

[@Lucydity_]

@@Lorelei_saphlor for me personally, i'd put thorfinn on the 1st place, frieren on close 2nd and then maomao

[@Lorelei_saphlor]

@martinez3991 yep vinland saga s2 in my opinion, is the best season of anime I have ever seen. Thorfinns development is extraordinary and extremely moving. Vinland still is my anime of the year. Why I put frieren on par with it is due to it's fantasy setting that scratches an itch I have: fantasy is my favourite genre, and while i don't think it'll reach the same level of vinland saga in character writing, the world and the lore are so rich and the entire cast has been so good, each episode filled with brilliant writing choices and of course, beautiful animation. Maomao is a really strong contender for fmc of the year as well, but I love frieren just a tad bit more because of the fantasy element. Either way, these shows are so good we've had a lot of them this year and I'm just happy to be able to watch them haha

[@Lucydity_]

@@Lorelei_saphlor based. It's sad to see quite a lot of people hating on the 2nd season of Vinland since it has less fighting/action and more to character development. I honestly love it more than the 1st season, the storytelling is beautiful and Thorfinn's growth is phenomenal. For Frieren, i didn't expect it to hook me in but it did. I got quite bored by the usual fantasy/isekai trope where the mc got an OP power out of nowhere or defeating a Demon King boss etc. It's the story AFTER they defeated the Demon King and how they continue their journey after that, and their growth are things that pull me in immediately into it.

[@ibr-2doe323]

16:54 that was my exact same reaction... f***ing awesome!

[@ineedmorecarrots6063]

she casually flexes her mana and used the scale against her, the disrespect and badassery

[@ConClasher3]

Is it just me or is the video frozen at around 5:30 minutes for like 10 seconds

[@norniru]

same i just thought it was my phone lol

[@marcoftheninja6278]

The major issue with longevity is, you outlive every friend, lover, child etc. and watch them grow old and die... Such a life is constant solitude, because relationships last only for a short time compared to her lifespan

[@VelcroSnake93]

1:00 - Chill, no need to understand everything immediately, not all shows straight up give you the answer right away.

[@originaldcjensen]

@faroh reacts it is believed by many of us is that the mana suppression is why she is tired all he time.

[@JTByrd386]

12:06 fascinating insight.

[@angelsambition2179]

What Frieren did was some of the coldest shit I’ve seen in anime 😂

[@prodi16]

frieren the gamer, split from squad, tells them to handle business in base, she off raiding enemy, tops her team kill-wise, go to the enemy leader, do some trolling then, gg scrub but no respawn tho, proceeds walk away not even paying attention to the enemy boss doing sepuku..

[@UltraHD.7]

Isn't Frieren the most badass, ice cold character ever 😏 And she's not about slaying and butchering demons and enemies left and right, like in so many other shows. No, she just non chalantly says "kill yourself". And I love it 😁

[@ReyReyzzz]

Hiding your mana is only considered cowardly by demons, but flamme instead of denying it, plays into it and uses it on them anyways, since she doesn’t give a fuck about what a demon thinks of her methods since she hates them anyways. There’s no point in trying to appease a demon’s opinion on what’s cowardly and what’s not. What matters is that they die. Simple as that.

[@bobbombar6711]

Mu guess is that demons wiped out falmmes village like freirean's so she taught her her methods of revenge.

[@Its_Dave_Just_Dave]

Its funny as the VAs for Aura and Erin (AOT) are married and both their characters get decapitated in the same week.

[@dalouma-1]

curb your spoilers

[@kurtnelle]

What a reaction. Tis epic!

[@ChrisH43]

I definitely need a Frieren the Slayer Displate - some kind of limited Edition...

[@ObiwanNekody]

It is also dishonorable to them because they both love magic and believed it to be beautiful, but decided to allow their thirst for vengeance to taint that beauty. I believe this is partly why Fern is limited to basic magics - it's plenty for what she needs and keeps her from seeing magic as just a tool for killing.

[@christopherhanton6611]

28 episodes goat

[@chronics23]

Cold blooded Frieren, lmao

[@lunarAureola]

hiding how much mana you actually have being seen as disgraceful amongst the mages is like if you decided to have a sword duel with someone and then suddenly your opponent pulls out a gun at you at the last second. its seen as cowardly, thats all!

[@icollect1003]

フリーレンは怒っていました アウラが死者を冒涜したからです フリーレンもかつて死者を冒涜する戦い方をしてヒンメルに怒られました そのヒンメルすらもアウラは冒涜する発言をしました 500年血の滲む努力をしてきたアウラにその成果が無意味になる方法で勝ちました フリーレンの魔力を見せずとも勝てたのにアウラの誇りを踏み躙り屈辱を噛み締める時間を与えて葬りました

[@syaondri]

Other shonen trying to be cool: *destroy a whole planet and also the anime's budget* Frieren the coolest girl: *uses her enemy skill to win and the animator just need to focus on the sudoku process*

[@Twoseconds001]

Both husband and wife lost they head that week, both Eren and Aura VA are married irl

[@scipug3048]

demons use human language to decive humans. and frieren uses demon language (mana) to decieve demons in the same way. that s why i think the show portrays it as disgracefull. because they are basically in a way stooping down to the demons level in terms of "morals". but since the show spent 2 or 3 epsiodes showing what kind of low demons are, i think its not disgracefull or honorless etc. those things (demons) are an actual pest. its less akin to a war against beings and more like a illness that you just find the right medicine for, and totally justifies the complete emotionlessness in dealing with them from Frieren.

[@Adiarby13]

why hiding mana is frowned upon?. because in today’s world people would say .. “smurfing is bad”

[@DaElfer]

there is a word... brutal...

[@jexelld]

I think the question of why suppressing mana is considered dishonorable, both by demons and other races, must be something cultural. It really doesn't make any sense to those of us looking in from the outside. But I think it must be something so ingrained in their society that it simply isn't questioned, it was like that thousands of years ago and it still is, you know? anyway, that's the impression I got, because it's the only way I've found to explain the logic of it

[@ObiwanNekody]

I'm really surprised that you didn't notice that Frieren wears Flamme's earrings.

[@fletarious]

the thing about fair or unfair it relate to feeling and pride. lets make this more make sense. you had a compitetion, your opponent use something that very normal way, and then you doing the same but did something that still not count cheating like rigged the score. it does seem unfair right? what flamme teach frieren does clever and tricky as result it is best outcome. but by most magician either human or demon that is unfair. hiding their mana for a while is one thing like you want to ambush someone or running away, but doing that for the rest of your life is like decieve all people. what if some situation that frieren capable doing it, but she ignore by accident because need to hide what she capable.

[@kayc775]

Epic!

[@muhammaddimasfachriakbar7430]

In essence, human tricking demon by hiding their mana is the same thing with demon tricking human by using their word. It's the same things. You can't understand why demon having a problem with frieren hiding her mana, you can't understand because the demon should already expect someone to hide their mana. And it's the same thing for demon. Demon can't understand why human feels after having the trust their forge through words broke. In demon perspective, human should already expect the trust would be meaningless regardless. That's why, they feels hatred after having what other's thought so little being.. well, not respected. They feels annoyances and hatred to what other side feels as little as insignificant. Honer in magic. Honer in words. It's different but both races treat them too high for their own good.

[@anonymousnovelite]

hi faroh. really enjoy your reacts! i've been waiting for this one cuz i was really curious to see your reaction. interestingly, i feel like you're the first reactor to point out the equivalence of word deceit and mana deceit. i hope you don't mind me posting from an analysis i posted on another reactor's channel, and then elaborating it toward your specific reactions. "I think what's most interesting about this episode to me is that Flamme is kind of not a great person. I guess that's not fair to her. The stakes involved are pretty much the fate of all of humanity, or even all races that aren't demonkind itself. In the conversation at sunset where she makes her last request to have flowers planted at her grave, she says she doesn't regret it. Maybe it's true she doesn't. But she couldn't stop herself from realizing what she'd done by essentially condemning Frieren to be a pure demon slaying revenge machine with, essentially, no other thoughts or feelings. In just fifty years of Frieren's long life, she loses her passion for the one thing that matters the most to her: magic. And it's only Himmel who restores it. It's clear the demons are completely unsalvageable as a race. What's interesting is that... sort of what makes them 'less evil' is also what makes them more disgusting and repulsive. It's the uncanny valley, but psychology, the same feel you'd get from Ted Bundy. They're essentially a race born to be sociopathic psychology predators. And, I really think the mangaka knew exactly what they were doing here, the craziest thing is that it's almost as if they don't consider word deceit as deceit. They have such strange and pure reactions to Frieren disguising her mana. They actually feel disgusted by the concept. In a really weird way, that makes Frieren, to them, like... a demon serial killer. Their language is mana, and she lies to them in mana. They can't understand what a verbal lie could possibly be or why it would matter. "What's the difference between words and swords?" But when someone lies to them in mana, it's as if they've never been lied to before. For the first time in their lives the experience what it's like to be deceived, and it's painful for them. Now, let's not get it twisted, this is not to equivocate the two sides morally lol. As far as I'm concerned, an anime that's willing to have completely amoral villains without apologizing is amazing. I honestly don't really care if it's their 'nature' or if they 'don't get that it's a lie.' That's like... that's what evil is, honestly. Evil is something that doesn't even understand good. I mean, that's a whole can of worms that's sort of tangential here, though. I just want to reiterate that Frieren, as far as being an ally of good, has the most correct attitude possible. So, what makes it sad isn't that she's doing wrong by the demons, but that she's doing wrong by herself. It's clear that doing what she does with her magic creates some level of self-loathing in her. Again, go back to the scene where she's asked to plant the flowers at Flamme's grave. It almost feels a little gross (to me at least) how she can stand to make that last request of Frieren, in the twilight of her life for such a beautiful and evanescent gesture, only to immediately then make sure Frieren knows that until she kills the demon king she must live in obscurity. I mean, Frieren is obviously not someone who cares about fame, but it's not really about that. What's implicit in the words is that no matter what it takes you WILL dedicate your life to the end of the demon lord, even if we have no idea how long that will be. "

[@anonymousnovelite]

"Flamme is... also, as far as being an ally of humanity, kinda doing the most correct thing possible. Frieren's happiness really isn't very large compared to eliminating the world's most dire, existential threat. But it's still sad, and it still makes the stomach churn a bit. It's amazing how well Madhouse pulled off the atmosphere that all of this is just barely barely nascent energy, and tbh I don't think most people caught it. I mean I could also be totally off. But the anime always plays these beautiful swells and has this idyllic atmosphere at the same time that Flamme is essentially indoctrinating Frieren to become the elf/demon version of "I am Legend." Remove the music from the scenes and I honestly think it would be rather chilling. Which, frankly, the ending is. The ending is, of course, cold as HELL, and just... so sick. I even read the manga, though it's been ages, and I forgot how it ended, and my jaw dropped. Just like... the sad, humiliated and fearful noises Aura makes ... it's poetic justice, of course, because this is exactly what she'd done to so so many people. But they really went in hard with making it pathetic and pitiable. And so it's chilling. I don't think there's really much to say about it morally. Frieren is a veteran of war doing what needs to be done, but sometimes what needs to be done is foul work. Which, I guess is another angle of the tragedy. Someone has to do this vile and reprehensible thing (the way it's vile and reprehensible to kill a demon child even if it's fully justified, as you can see even at the end Himmel hated it). And the only one who can is this long lived elf. I think Himmel understood all of this. And it's why he never tried to stop her on her journey for magic. He lived decades of his life not even trying to visit her, because he understood just how much Flamme sorta screwed her up mentally. Loving spells, going out to find them however silly they are, it's what was giving Frieren the chance to become uh... well she's an elf, but 'human' again. Her brain wouldn't even be able to process romance, kinda like someone in the middle of overcoming trauma. She'd lived her life so long purely for the world's sake, that she has the right to take as long as she pleases to find herself. Which is why there's a certain kind of sweetness too when Frieren just enjoys herself reading grimoires and oversleeping and lazing around."

[@anonymousnovelite]

"This is only sorta relevant, because it's more of a digression into a philosophical reaction to the episode, rather than a theme in the episode itself... but I found myself thinking quite a lot about the way Frieren decided to kill Aura. First off, just from the perspective of art as something that is highly stylized and does its best to stand out, make an impact, and activate those neurons, Frieren's auraGeass is incredible. It is absolutely sick. It's the kind of move that made Code Geass so addicting back in the day, but honestly it is better than any Geass Lelouch pulled in the entire series. But I digress. To me, I always try to make a separation between stylistic/impact aspects of art versus stuff that is more thematically and narratively cohesive. I'm a pluralist so I really don't like designating anything as superior or inferior, so this isn't a dig at aesthetically centered art, it's just a natural distinction I make. I mean, that said, lots of western tv in particular strikes me as unappealingly lurid and gimmicky when it comes to using violence in a way that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but that's really neither here nor there. If this Frieren episode had no deeper reason behind the coldest kill outside of Antarctica, I don't think it would detract one bit. That said, I do think there are deeper reasons, sort of, and they add a lot. Let's make note of something important. There is genuine brutality to how Frieren kills Aura. Decapitations are of course gory and brutal, but forcing Aura to do it herself is emotionally vicious. Why does she do it? Because she believes Aura deserves to feel what every single one of her victims felt. A complete loss of control, as well as absolute humiliation. Keep in mind, Aura kills herself right after she was trumped in the one thing she thought she never would be trumped in. Given her demonic pride, it was the entire basis for her being and identity, one that presumably she's held for hundreds of years. To her, in the span of maybe ten minutes, what seemed like another grand victory in her life, just one more stepping stone to her great story, wasn't just transformed into ultimate defeat... she was essentially reduced to livestock, at the very very very very end. In fact, from the moment she starts having doubts to the end must be like five minutes. The full reveal of Frieren's mana, to the order of death... probably like... one minute. Aura is scared at the end in a way no other demon was. If you'll notice neither of her subordinates experienced that kind of fear. In so many ways they experienced more dignified deaths, and also calmer deaths. Lugner was outraged at the end before he was blown away, and Linnie was surprised, but overall their emotions were very even keeled, to the degree that it's clear demons just have muted emotions in general. Even the young demon child has extremely muted emotions at the end, pretty much along the lines of "oh. I guess it's over." So, is Aura just a coward? She's so much more prideful than the rest she fears death more? I don't think so. One, I think killing yourself without any control is probably intrinsically more terrifying and agonizing than being killed, even if you know it's inevitable. Second, it follows the huge emotional shock of the negation of Aura's identity. She's no conqueror. She's swine, standing in front of a true conqueror."

[@anonymousnovelite]

"At any rate, even decapitating Aura by her own hands would have been a more merciful death. The most merciful death Frieren could grant, probably, would be a quick Zoltraak blast. It's worth saying, I don't think, this is just artistic flourish. When Frieren kills Qual, she essentially praises him before his death. Qual is not exactly a good being. Qual spent his entire life dedicated to creating, essentially, the most efficient killing spell possible. And when Frieren kills Qual, she offers him the choice of a merciful and painless death. In fact, at the very end of things, he still has a merciful death, all things considered. He's just oneshot. Easy peasy. So, why? Respect might be a strong word, but it comes a bit close. Qual properly developed his magic his whole life, and fought his part in what was still a war between demons and humans. Frieren might have zero respect for demons as a race, but she clearly has some basic respect for Qual as a combatant who followed implicit rules of honor. But you know what? I think there's a little more here. Do you know who the most similar character to Qual would be, from the other side of the war? Honestly? As crazy as it sounds? It would be Frieren. It is something the arc takes great pains to make sure the audience knows: Frieren has basically modified Zoltraak into her own spell, and made it into a demon slaying spell. It is powerful, quick, and efficient. Her apprentice Fern is also efficient. Obviously Fern was hiding her mana levels to defeat Lugner, but it's still probable that she had worse technique than him. So what is the one thing that Fern can do? She can shoot the demon killing spell very very very very very fast. Lugner is clearly fast. He tells her straight up, you're not going to beat me in a Mexican shoot out. Fern is faster. She's only 17 by this point, but she has essentially been trained to be a very specific thing: a demon killing machine. This is how Frieren operates. Frieren is very pointedly quick and efficient in her killing methods. Her Dracht kill? Clearly showing she's a little calloused, but overall quick, efficient, and frankly merciful. Back in the day when she'd use big AOE spells that didn't take much mana in order to defeat Aura's army? That's efficient. Her going out of her way to dispel them now is inefficient. But calloused is not the same thing as brutal bordering on cruel. Calloused means you are willing to do things that are cold in order to do things in the most efficient manner. Frieren knows Dracht is simply going to use words to babble ways to survive, so she kills him before he can even talk. But what does she let Aura do? She lets her talk. She gives her time to let the impending sense of doom, defeat, comeuppance, and humiliation sink in. Frieren won the exact second Aura cast the spell. Now, obviously, there is some level of having an eye for artistic impact here. Frankly, even if there were no themes involved, having Aura cast the spell and then one second later be blasted away with Zoltraak would be way too anticlimactic, even if it made the most sense for Frieren as a character. So, we can objectively note that. But still! This is not just a case of wanting to make an impact. The signs are all setup for establishing exactly what Frieren is, a demon killing machine, and showing the two ways in which she deviates from being just that. One: she goes out of her way to save the bodies of the fallen knights. Two: she goes out of her way to make sure Aura experiences full brutality. And why? Perhaps rage. There's clearly some muted undercurrent of rage in Frieren. Otherwise, she wouldn't mention early in episode 10 that she wishes she could exterminate every last demon. But honestly, I think it's mostly a matter of justice for her. A lot of people don't realize it, but there are conceptions of justice that are not always fully compatible with mercy. The belief that those who inflict suffering deserve comeuppance, and to experience it themselves... that's not just rage. That's justice. And justice is its own ideal, and shouldn't simply be seen as a crude and imperfect form of mercy. Aura is literally holding scales at the end. TBH, I don't think there's like... actual deep symbolism with the scales. But it definitely feels to me that the author was making a little bit of a artistic flourish, a nice symbolic ornamentation. The scales of justice finally weigh against her, falling so forcefully to one side it's as if the scales might break. Almost as if every single time it weighed with her, well, it finally came back to bite her all in one go. It's worth noting that the author talks about souls being weighed against each other. This kind of symbolism, the weighing of souls upon the scale, actually goes back to ancient Egypt. Maybe even further. Anubis judges the weight of souls against a feather to see if they deserve punishment in the afterlife or not. For a story that is so much about the afterlife, and that constantly has characters talking about having their good deeds celebrated in heaven... I can't imagine the author is unaware of this particular religiosity."

[@anonymousnovelite]

Sorry, I know that's a lot... I don't necessarily expect people to read these long things, but I can't help but write and post them. To speak directly to your reaction, I think one thing about mana is that it's not just an instrument of force, and being a mage isn't just a lifestyle or occupation. It's clear there's some level it's intrinsic to their very being, with the emphasis on being as in existing. To lie with her mana is to lie with her very existence. I think it goes deeper than codes of honor of battle. It ties in interestingly with a theme I noticed in the series, which is people's willingness to show themselves to the world and to take credit for their accomplishments. Typically, moral works value humility, right? If you donate to charity don't make a big show out of it. If you've got the most mana, don't flaunt it. If you do good deeds, don't expect anything in return. But so often Frieren shows a lot of value and emphasis on making a show, on letting yourself be known. It's obviously very mixed, because who knows what would have happened if Frieren and Flamme didn't hide their mana. But the character who most noticeably does not hide himself away is the hero. Whereas Flamme told Frieren to always hide away to wait for her chance to strike, Himmel was literally posing like a male model for his statues. To be honest, I'm not actually sure what the series is trying to say overall if it is trying to say something. But notably Kraft also has a similar reaction. That's from the next episode obviously, but he has such an interesting reaction for a long lived character, having an almost childish expectation of praise from the goddess. At any rate, the show takes pains to show that it isn't wrong to wish to have your good deed's noticed. It may be as simple as Himmel was just the right person Frieren needed to meet to undo what was essentially a thousand years of repressing her very person. If you did read this all, thank you for your patience. I hope it gave some interesting food for thought.

[@sawako8764]

DAMN!! MY DUDE WROTE THE WHOLE WIKIPEDIA PAGE ABOUT FRIEREN.

[@Afdch]

Concealing your mana is like stating you're fresh drom college on tour resume, when in fact you have 40 years of experience in the field. From employers point of view, extremely stupid, as it only can warrant you the lowest rank in the organisation.

[@Comandate7]

About the disgrace thing, I think it's best understood by visualising two martial artists, but one used an illusion to look like a 12 yo chubby kid when they are a black belt. Most people would consider it a mockery of martial arts, although to be fair all is fair in love and war.

[@thema8871]

God i love this show so much. IT MAKES ME SO FUCKING HAPPY TO SEE GOOD FEMALE CHARACTERS IN ANIME FOR ONCE

[@rixyl7475]

Honor =/= intelligence.

[@guromaiden2026]

Frieren rhymes with free wins after all

[@wl84728aahdjx]

Damnn!! you said it huh? "KYS" Demonetize 😅 just kidding

[@seonderadam3898]

Frieren isn't your mom, so don't call her with what you call your mom. If your mom is bt-Chi , then that doesn't mean Frieren is like this .

[@farohreacts]

? How does it feel to have never touched a woman

[@MadeForD]

is it just me or your vid froze for 20 seconds? from 5:20 - 5:39

[@carlospinzon5778]

Wtf is that OST?! 😮

[@Nandinandito]

"Why do I feel like Frieren hasn't been popular enough?" Frieren has been like the most popular anime of this season tho?

[@Tony_Montana248]

The portrayal of demons and the mana system is probably the most interesting in this anime than any other fantasy anime I've seen. Great vid and I hope we get to see Frieren eliminate more demons with a blank expression 😭😭

[@tk_kushal]

too much swearing, it is kind of annoying at times other than that I enjoyed the reaction

[@farohreacts]

Then don’t watch :)

[@MCZDANCHO]

@@farohreacts Also you are quite dumb to understand the concept of smurfing in 5:53 damm you need you looks thing from difference perspective instead of just from "I don't see the problem of it~"