The series is very bittersweet

I also feel like if this were D&D, Freiren would be a 50th level character whose stats are like this.

STR 10
DEX 10
CON 10
INT 8
WIS 10
CHA 10

But she makes up for it with sheer experience. She is one of the dumbest mages I've ever known, but she's just got so much cumulated experience that she makes it work. Like she unlocked a bunch of feats to function.

She's very slow on the uptake, which I get is because they're trying to make it come from the pov of a nearly immortal race? Buuuuut... it also makes her seem really dumb

She's also super asexual, which I also get. It does make her kind of funny when, most of the time, you have these super thirsty fantasy series.

Fern is also adorable, but definitely a bit more tragic than the fighter they pick up. I think it's because one was raised by a jolly dwarf, while the other was raised by a dying priest and an apathetic elf mage.

I really liked the episode with the demon who was turned to stone and how his magic and life's work became "common offensive magic" because it was so feared and studied.

Where I had to stop watching for a bit out of seething rage was the characterization and writing of the demons.

The demon who created the offensive magic was fine. The monster who uses the memories of loved ones in their prey's mind was great! BUT THE DEMONS MAKE NO SENSE AND ARE COMPLETELY INCONSISTENT!

The idea that demons only communicate with humans with lies? Fine. The idea that they beg for mercy because it makes humans pity them? Sure! I'll even let you have they might be patient enough to wait as long as the little demon in the hero's time did before killing again. It's not accurate because evil only thinks short term, but...

This series is all about how Freiren thinks in much longer terms than humans because "1000 years isn't that long,' so the demons? They have sort of similar life spans if they aren't killed, maybe in the writers mind that makes them think that way too.

BUT! THE ONE GLARING DETAIL I CANNOT IGNORE IS THEIR INTELLIGENCE MIXED WITH MIND BOGGLING STUPIDITY

Freiren gets an excuse because she's thousands of years old, but the leader of the demon envoy DOES NOT! There is NO WAY he could have thought up that story about keeping his father's room the same way after he eas killed in their war, AND NOT KNOW WHAT A FATHER IS!

In order to weave the stories and words correctly and at the right time, it requires a basic understanding of their meaning! There's so many problems with how these demons are written, I don't even know where to start.

I do plan to watch the rest, and maybe they'll add in some more context, but... gaaaaaaahhhh! It's so frustrating!!!

The first few episodes are stunning in animation quality. It's the only show I've ever seen that felt the need to animate a puddle turning muddy as someone stepped into it. For a bit i was enamored

That somehow changes into me being bored out of my mind for the rest of the show. It bogs down into molasses slow pacing and every single character having the same exact bland neutral expression

No way in hell does anyone in that show have a charisma better than a brick.

IKR? Freiren has like... a 10, mostly because she's a cute elf girl. Otherwise, she'd definitely be in the negatives. I feel like Himmel the hero, actually did have a good Charisma score, WHICH IS WHY HE STOOD OUT.

my weeb coworker gushes about the show but it bored me to death, and I don't like using that word

I sat through the rest of it for Ubel, but like most green-haired unhinged girls they're stuck in disappointing shows

i'm assembling a team

I absolutely loved frieren. one of my faves in terms of recent animes. I'm wondering if the "father" issue is just a translation thing tbh.

Frieren is one of those things I have complicated feelings about

Some of the earlier stuff, and how simple-but-effective it is at showing characters change, is truly good

But characters don't emote on their faces and that drives me fucking nuts

the the whole cast during any given episode