Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

"In the land of the blind - the one-eyed man is already king" "for lack of better, we have to enjoy the little" "No matter how handsome a man is, if he says he is more handsome than Alain Delon, everyone will call him ugly."(с) folk wisdom

"Idiocracy has come..." That's how I would describe this series. If I were asked to write a thesis on the topic of "information cascade", I would take Frieren as a basis. (there may be micro-spoilers in future, but everything is within framework of synopsis)

If I were asked to describe this "masterpiece" in few words, I would answer - "a sweet, measured and soft mediocre story". In this series, absolutely everything is mediocre and ordinary, except for the plot, which is kind of non-existent, and the story is based on small micro-plots and side quests, and this is kind of the show's gimmick, right...Almost everything that people attribute to this title as an achievement is simply fiction, exaggeration, or an add-on and invention of fans trying to create almost a new cult around Frieren. Even if we discard all the inconsistency and absurdity of comparing Frieren with masterpieces of cinema and cartoons,...Frieren is inferior to the same Berserk, as a fantasy, on all fronts. That is, even within the anime discourse itself, there are titles better than Frieren, but here is an example of the great advertising power that memes have.

(Plot/Premise/Message). The idea that "we must value time and loved ones, because they will die tomorrow" is not revealed, is not played out, and other than the fact that this idea simply exists, nothing more can be said about it. The setup itself was made quite cheaply in terms of staging the script, and in fact is a simple tear-squeezer. This is only in the first 4 episodes, later the thread of the narrative is greatly lost, either forgotten, or very strained. For example, in "Invincible" this theme is revealed better in the season 1 finale episode than in the entire first season of Frieren. And don't give Frieren a discount just because that's what the creators "intended". You can't justify or condemn any product based on itself.

(Characters). If you didn't like Frieren, you'll have trouble watching it, I assure you, because there's a lot of her here. The character is flat (in every sense of the word), annoying, uninteresting, but at the same time with a very memorable appearance. The character design is really good, it's worth admitting. But in essence, again, this can be explained by her image, and that she is alienated from the world and is alien to the attachments we are accustomed to, but this is not shown in the series, on the contrary, her actions contradict her image, which I am trying to impute to her. She loves to sleep, loves to eat, and everything we know about her as a person. And with all this, Frieren is the most obvious example of Mary Sue, seriously, why can absolutely imbalanced characters attract people so much? It is simply impossible to empathize with her, because she has nothing to overcome and she has nowhere to grow! Frieren's omnipotence is a plot crutch that prevents much from being revealed in this title.

Himel is the reason why the main goal of the main character seems absolutely unjustified. Himel is a narcissist, and an absurd infantile character, and also a spineless simp.. There is literally not a single quality that this "great hero" has that would make monuments to him and make flashbacks for him. I have no desire to get to know him better, or to empathize with Frieren's desire to see him again and know more about him, because he is a completely anti-charismatic character! According to the idea of ​​the series, after Frieren's memories of Himel, we should understand why she cried, but I was only glad that he was not in the series, so that he would not spoil it with his presence further. It just seems to me that people have a distorted or perverted understanding of who a real hero is. (“a hero can even be a simple ordinary man who covers a child with a blanket, letting him know that the world is a little better than it seems” blah blah blah blah and other such pathos nonsenseXD If everyone is a hero, then no one is a hero, remember the base)

Regarding Fern and Stark. They are extremely one-layered and gray characters: Fern is a tsundere who has great potential, but it is difficult for her to communicate with people, and Stark is an insecure weakling who has "great" strength, but he needs to gather up his courage. Very original and witty...

And the most annoying thing is that they will remain the same until the end of the season, Fern and Stark also have no personal growth and character development, like Frieren, but unlike Frieren, they have the space and potential for this! Even after scene with ballroom dance, their relationship does not change or progress in any way, this is a clear example of filler in anime, which is inevitable (after all, you have a running time of 28 episodes), but on the other hand, it is amazing how in 23-20 episodes from the moment Stark and Fern appeared, it was not enough to at least a little reveal and grow these characters!

Let's just take an example from truly well-deserved and conventionally recognized masterpiece - Avatar The Last Airbender: imagine if Zuko or Sokka remained the same whiny and impulsive and annoying characters in the book of fire as they were in the book of water? It's one thing when you specifically make characters to give them growth and see their transformation later, and another thing to make annoying characters just as an idea in itself. Another bad plot and script decision.

However, it is worth praising the writing of those characters who appear with the tournament arc. There are really interesting and deep characters, although their screen time is much less than that of our trio. Later their team will be joined by a priest, quite a nice character, but as if on purpose, the scriptwriters decided to remove him from the team, although he was a gulp of fresh air, why?! In short, rare case when secondary characters are more interesting than the main ones. (although the tournament arc is very drawn out, and this is another plot crutch to make it easier to add new characters)

(Graphics\visual\animation). Well, only the lazy can fail to praise the quality of the animation and its beauty. As far as anime can be beautiful and well-developed, Frieren has succeeded in this, I praise. This especially stands out against the background of general minimalism in animation, including Western works.

(Fight scenes\epic\combat). Nominally, everything is pretty good, but... The problems stem from the problems I described earlier. A fight scene should not just entertain you by itself, there should be intrigue, excitement, fear for the character, but how to do this when you know exactly how the fight will end? Yes, the omnipotence of the main character is a problem here. However, this does not apply to other characters, their fights are really interesting and exciting to watch, I praise.

(Visual storytelling). You know how good it is when you are not treated as a retard, and the series does not need to directly say some obvious things to convey the essence, or convey a metaphor that even a small child can understand? What a pity that this title does not see anything good in this ... After all, to see how Frieren directly says "you are such a kind girl" or Frieren says "oh, I am so strong, sooo strong! And then I will say it again and show it!" or about the fact that other characters say "ohhh, I can't even survive against Frieren". I get it, I get you series what you want to tell me, really! No need to repeat it to me in different words on behalf of different characters!

(Humor). The same goes for humor, I really have no idea where people here found any humor, let alone call it good humor... But after analyzing it, I came to the conclusion that all humor is based on food, sleep, toilet and vulgar jokes. Perhaps this problem arises because the title itself does not know what it wants to be, and there is a conflict of genres that exclude each other. How to be isekai when you are trying (even if cheaply) to deal with serious themes, morality and adulthood?

(Let's sum it up) Some people perceive this anime as a trump card, something you would use if you had a task: "to recruit a person into anime culture", and that's what happened to my friends, and to me, a person who doesn't watch anime at all, and has watched 3-4 titles in my entire life. And so, having heard incredibly laudatory stories, having reviewed all the reviews on YouTube, which all assured that this creation is such a masterpiece that it will change you for the better, I decided to watch Frieren...And you know, if I didn't know all the hype around it, I would say "well, it's a good and kind anime, a solid 7, but there's nothing special about it" and pass by. But given the context of such massive and loud excitement, I see a problem with this...

And the problem is that people can't separate their personal impression from objective criteria of product quality! Also, people do not have a critical opinion, and it is easy for them to impose on someone else’s opinion or ideals, which is why they begin or continue to adore something only in public inertia! Remember people, please remember forever! Absolutely everything in this life has objective criteria of quality, evaluation and review! Starting from the quality, and freshness, and cooking of food, ending with humor and beauty!

For example, I do not consider "Shawshank Redemption" the GOAT among films, but I can perfectly understand why this film can be considered as such, and I pay tribute to it, because even if the film is not to my taste, I am able to evaluate the thing itself. Of course, I've heard the opinion that times are different now, and that anime is no longer a niche product, and that people no longer want to associate themselves with a huge man with a huge sword, but with a cute little girl, but who is an overpowered one. But I refuse to believe it, and I will never accept the fact that humanity has degenerated so much! (west has fallen, it's over...)

As I already said, I initially rated the show itself as 7 of 10. But the general and excessive praise slightly spoiled the impression from watching, because I was no longer evaluating the product itself, but put forward demands as from "GOAT" to which everyone gives this series. A true masterpiece must meet strict and high quality criteria, and Frieren, unfortunately, did not meet them.

There is nothing to openly hate about the series, and nothing to openly love about it.

6 of 10. For a niche viewer.