Like the way its structured to start with is the extremely tight view that drives home that all these other characters have their own lives and existence but you only ever the few bits when Frieren’s around and then they’re gone, while the pacing keeps up this constant feeling of time slipping inexorably away and being lost forever. It hits hard and is structured perfectly for those themes.
Then it hits a point where the story shatters into a bunch of separate threads and grinds to a complete halt in the way that stories that split into a bunch of threads inevitably do. It loses the tight focus and the feeling of “yes, these characters have their own existence but you only interact that during the moments you’re actually there” sort of thing in favor of just showing you a blow by blow of everything that’s going on with them, and instead of time slipping away no matter how hard you hold onto it it instead stands completely still.
It stops being unique and impactful and starts being “that annoying thing from BNHA where they spend like half an entire season going into excruciating detail about some little training exercise with mild competitive elements that every single member of a huge cast is participating in” instead.
OK. I gotta ask do you simply have very high standards (which is fine) or do you not watch a lot of anime ? Because Frieren is easily one of the best shows I have watched in quite a while. Like can you give me 3 recent anime you thought are better ? Mind you im no stranger to disliking popular things…like im no big fan of Cowboy Bebop for example. Not meant to sound combative, I’m just genuinely curious.
It’s mostly that I have high standards, but I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t biased against the rest of Frieren specifically because the first bit is so good (if that part’s a 10/10, the rest of the season is a 5 or 6). I mostly watch stuff that’s well-reviewed as opposed to seasonals so I don’t have anything super recent, but for “within the last few years”, I’d say:
Check out the Apothecary Diaries. Dungeon Meshi and Helck are also very good, but I like the Manga way more.
I couldn’t stand the feudalist bootlicking of apothecary diaries :/
They’re all on the list lol, I’ll get to them eventually.
Those are actually three really good shows, so at least I can confirm that you have good taste. (Because I’m the objective arbiter of good taste). Nah, it’s cool, I was just curious. I certainly agree that the beginning and the rest of ‘Frieren’ have a different vibe.
I would have probably asked you the same if you said Cyberpunk, Chainsaw Man, or Bocchi were trash. I probably wouldn’t call 5 or 6 trash, but I legit watch stuff rated 3/10 at times… doesn’t happen often, but it happens.
Yeah fair enough, it’s why I said it was borderline. And for what it’s worth I’m operating on the compressed “video game score” scale where if it’s below a 7 it’s not worth talking about.
Oh and I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned it yet but Frieren lost a bunch of points with me for having a Goblin Slayer-tier “Racism is Good and Necessary” two-parter.