This thing is an alien that has been beaten into a shape that makes it look vaguely human. But scratch it the slightest bit and the alien comes out.
This pretty much describes demons in Frieren. Different demons you have to scratch at harder than others, similar to how better AI models you have to engineer your prompts better to get it to break. The best fictional stories are the ones that can help us to better understand and contextualize the nonfiction world around us.
Another great episode. Really loved the first part about Himmel not wanting Frieren to be alone and that is why he had so many statues made.
One of the (many) things that I really enjoy about this series is its portrayal of demons. They really feel quite alien but relatable at the same time. They fall right into an uncanny middle between human and monster that always has you second guessing yourself about them. Frieren probably says it best in that they can understand our speech, but can't be communicated with; drawing a clear line between being able to speak and being able to understand and convey thoughts and emotions through speech.
There are many parallels I can draw between this series and Mushishi, but this portrayal of demons reminds me a bit of how mushi are described by Ginko. They are more or less wild things living in nature and when they intersect with humans bad things can happen, but it isn't out of malice or any kind of emotion, it is simply surviving in the environment it finds itself. I think Frieren views demons in much the same way. They are not hurting humans out of malice, but simply creatures that find themselves in a world full of humans. As a survival strategy, the demons found ways to use humans to their advantage, it just so happens that those strategies involve manipulating and taking advantage of human emotions.
One of the things I was most curious about how they were going to adapt this season was the explanation of Claire's newfound powers. I never thought that the way the LN described this part was very clear and it is only through later discussions with other fans that I got a good understanding of it. I think that the anime actually does a better job of setting up and explaining this. Plus, we get to see Aurora-sensei and JK Claire in the process, so that is a win.
The fight sequence was quite modified from the source, but I actually really like it. Characterizing Elizabeth's attack as literally raining blood was a great touch. My favorite part of that sequence was Aurora/Claire trying to use Cid's All Range Atomic. This was a great anime original touch and I loved everything about it. From her initiating it, Beta realizing what is going on and freaking out, and finally Aurora trying to do the Cid atomic voice. Just chef's kiss.
We get to see a new ED this episode by Maaya Uchida (voices Nu). We also get to see the setup for the next arc in a post-ED scene. If you liked the design of Yukime and didn't want to see her leave the story yet, then this scene should give you hope. Also, just as a meta-aside, the next arc is probably the overall fandom's favorite, so look forward to it!
Edit: I forgot to mention that this begins one of my favorite ongoing gags in the whole series. In which Cid thinks Claire is just a chuuni having chuuni delusions about things.
It's been ages since I have last played Minecraft (beta probably, yes I am old) so it blows my mind that people are making mods centered around anime. As long as you enjoy the show, that is all that matters. Honestly, what anime doesn't have 1-2 troublesome elements (brocon, siscon, inappropriate fanservice, etc.)? If you dismiss every show that has one problematic thing, then you aren't watching very much and would miss out on some great characters and stories.
I think that if they mess with his brother he could snap pretty easily. One of the only things we knew about Helck in the early part of the season is that he was supposed to have killed his brother. So, I fully expect the humans to force some kind of confrontation between Helck and Cless or just kill Cless and frame Helck so that Helck doesn't spread the truth about the demons.
Welp, one more entire episode devoted to Helck's backstory with another on the horizon based on the episode preview. I like backstory and worldbuilding as much as the next person, but I feel like this could have been paced better. For the first 12 episodes we had almost no backstory about Helck and the humans. Then we are getting at least four entire episodes devoted to it in one giant exposition dump? It feels like it would have been possible to do both story and backstory at the same time rather than put a hard stop on the story so that we can have a whole arc just devoted to backstory.
That being said, I do like the backstory being told and think it is interesting. It was also a solid gag to have Helck be so dense that he doesn't even realize how dense he was being when his buddies were setting him up on a date.
They are really making Rose look like a villain here. Which...thinking about it, isn't entirely wrong either.
I had to look up Yuzuki Family as that show was not even on my radar for this season. There are so many shows coming out each season that it is hard to keep up. On the flip side, that usually means that you can always find a couple shows that really click with you each season. It certainly sounds wholesome from the synopsis. Might be one to queue up when it's been a while since I talked with my brother.
Are you watching Trigun (1998) or Trigun Stampede (2023)? My wife loves Trigun and we are planning on watching it soon (working through another show right now). However, she was really put off by Stampede's art style and gave it a pass.
In my opinion, Your Name is an excellent movie. I am not sure how much you know, but if possible, I would recommend going in as blind as you can. I have read some reviews that criticize the plot being convoluted or full of holes, but I feel like a lot of those come from a place of wanting to be contrarian for the sake of it. There is a reason it has 98% on RT and is #1 most popular title on AniList. Also, if you are a fan of animation as an art, the movie is absolutely gorgeous.
Enjoy!
Perfect Blue is one of those movies that I have always seen discussions about but I have never sat down to actually watch it (I don't watch many movies compared to shows). I finally got around to watching Your Name in the early pandemic for example. So I will have to make the time to sit down and check out Perfect Blue as well. Thanks for the reminder about it.
This is a great point I hadn't thought about before. This is something that is not present in the manga to the same extent due to the medium being inherently black and white and still images. The animation really adds a lot of character to the world in how it is portrayed so peacefully most of the time; Frieren waking up gently in the woods to butterflies landing on her nose for example. Even the demons themselves in this city are smartly dressed, extremely cordial, and outwardly forgiving of being threatened by both Frieren and the local lord. However, their true nature is so discordant with the rest of the world it adds a lot to their "otherness".