Once a fairy tale
The defeat of the Demon king marks the end of the ten-year adventure of the elven mage Frieren and her party. They reminisce on their adventure, but since Frieren is an elf and has a significantly long lifespan compared to humans, she has a different perception of time, and thinks that ten years is a small and inconsequential amount of time. Decades pass and Himmel the hero, the leader of the party, passes away, and Frieren suddenly weeps, wondering why she did not get to know Himmel better despite being together for "only ten years."
Thus... Sousou no Frieren is the story of Frieren's journey of discovering new spells, while learning to understand humans and slowly facing the regret that she has with not bonding with her former comrades.
(Spoilers for Sousou no Frieren, possibly until Season 01 Episode 09.)
When I was only two, three episodes in, this greatly reminded me of Violet Evergarden. Both Violet and Frieren were trying to learn about humans. Frieren is trying to learn about humans in general, and Violet was trying to figure out what "I love you" means, but learns a lot about relationships in general as well. Also, while it is clear that Violet deeply loves Major Gilbert, a lot of what Frieren does is related to Himmel - either for him, because of him, or because it is what Himmel would do.
I don't know if it's because of the little fantasy anime that I have watched that disables me from making a good baseline or comparison, but the usage of a fantasy world as the anime's "tool" to convey the story is very wonderful and very beautiful.
An example would be using magic to conjure flowers around a statue of Himmel to make it beautiful, but in a flashback Frieren remembers that Himmel spoke of "blue moon weed flowers" which grow on his hometown, that they were beautiful, and that he would want Frieren to see them someday. Since Frieren can only conjure flowers that she has seen before, she made it her quest to look for the flowers - and succeeded.
I am having trouble explaining how beautiful this is. Frieren's journey of learning new spells allowed her to fulfill one of Himmel's wishes. We witness both Frieren's journey progress and character development, and we learn about her relationship with Himmel and her former party members.
One other example would be that a monster was creating illusions of people very dear to them, and use these illusions to lure people and... I guess kill them? Frieren and her apprentice Fern set out to destroy this monster. They both encounter the illusions, and Frieren was surprised to see an illusion of Himmel instead of her master.
Sousou no Frieren is expected to have 28 episodes probably spanning until the end of 2024-Q1. Nine of them have aired. The latest episodes seem to be more... combat-oriented and not story-oriented. But who knows? Frieren seems to have fought the demon before, so maybe there is still some memory on how she and the party have fought the demon.
TLDR: My assessment of Sousou no Frieren so far is that it is a beautiful anime, and that Frieren, too, is beautiful. Which is... kind of the same thing I say about Violet Evergarden.
Also, apparently I have not written about Violet Evergarden.
Screenshots below.
Frieren's default expression, as she usually appears listless
Fern, right after blasting a demon with offensive magic
Stark, the warrior who seemingly lacks in resolve. And lacks in...
The magi duo prior to their battle with Qual, the Elder Sage of Corruption
Seeing Frieren smile is... a wonderful treat
When Frieren is shown up close, her eyes are drawn with red lines on the upper part of her irises, which is a lovely detail. I wonder if that has any bearing, if not purely aesthetic
Yes, I just called Frieren beautiful. Fight me
Creating this gif took more time than I would have liked.
Thus... Sousou no Frieren is the story of Frieren's journey of discovering new spells, while learning to understand humans and slowly facing the regret that she has with not bonding with her former comrades.
(Spoilers for Sousou no Frieren, possibly until Season 01 Episode 09.)
When I was only two, three episodes in, this greatly reminded me of Violet Evergarden. Both Violet and Frieren were trying to learn about humans. Frieren is trying to learn about humans in general, and Violet was trying to figure out what "I love you" means, but learns a lot about relationships in general as well. Also, while it is clear that Violet deeply loves Major Gilbert, a lot of what Frieren does is related to Himmel - either for him, because of him, or because it is what Himmel would do.
I don't know if it's because of the little fantasy anime that I have watched that disables me from making a good baseline or comparison, but the usage of a fantasy world as the anime's "tool" to convey the story is very wonderful and very beautiful.
An example would be using magic to conjure flowers around a statue of Himmel to make it beautiful, but in a flashback Frieren remembers that Himmel spoke of "blue moon weed flowers" which grow on his hometown, that they were beautiful, and that he would want Frieren to see them someday. Since Frieren can only conjure flowers that she has seen before, she made it her quest to look for the flowers - and succeeded.
I am having trouble explaining how beautiful this is. Frieren's journey of learning new spells allowed her to fulfill one of Himmel's wishes. We witness both Frieren's journey progress and character development, and we learn about her relationship with Himmel and her former party members.
One other example would be that a monster was creating illusions of people very dear to them, and use these illusions to lure people and... I guess kill them? Frieren and her apprentice Fern set out to destroy this monster. They both encounter the illusions, and Frieren was surprised to see an illusion of Himmel instead of her master.
Sousou no Frieren is expected to have 28 episodes probably spanning until the end of 2024-Q1. Nine of them have aired. The latest episodes seem to be more... combat-oriented and not story-oriented. But who knows? Frieren seems to have fought the demon before, so maybe there is still some memory on how she and the party have fought the demon.
TLDR: My assessment of Sousou no Frieren so far is that it is a beautiful anime, and that Frieren, too, is beautiful. Which is... kind of the same thing I say about Violet Evergarden.
Also, apparently I have not written about Violet Evergarden.
Screenshots below.
Frieren's default expression, as she usually appears listless
Fern, right after blasting a demon with offensive magic
Stark, the warrior who seemingly lacks in resolve. And lacks in...
The magi duo prior to their battle with Qual, the Elder Sage of Corruption
Seeing Frieren smile is... a wonderful treat
When Frieren is shown up close, her eyes are drawn with red lines on the upper part of her irises, which is a lovely detail. I wonder if that has any bearing, if not purely aesthetic
Yes, I just called Frieren beautiful. Fight me
Creating this gif took more time than I would have liked.