If you don’t want to watch the video, I hope I can give a decent synopsis for you here. The titular character Frieren is an elven mage with a lifespan so long she's practically immortal, and the manga follows her over decades starting from one of the most pivotal moments in her life. It's a manga about mortality, yes, but also about finding one's purpose, the affect you can have on others (even when you weren't trying), and on how it's never too late to change who you are.
I think the manga has a great hook in it's first chapter, summarized behind the spoiler (and spoilers for that chapter):
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End starts, in media rez, after the defeat of the Demon Lord with our four triumphant heroes returning with great fanfare to the capital city from where they started their journey. To cap off the celebration, they’re treated to a beautiful meteor shower that occurs once every 50 years. Frieren, the party’s mage and an elf remarks that there’s a much better place to view this event and promises to take everyone there 50 years from now. Her other party members, two humans and a dwarf, reply with sad smiles:
Elves live for millennia. For the other adventurers the 10 years they journeyed together were the greatest years of their lives. For Frieren, 10 years was hardly any time at all. Certainly not enough time to get to know her traveling companions. After she parts ways with them, the next 50 years fly by for her in the time it takes us to turn the page. As she reunites with her traveling companions and they go on their final adventure to watch the era meteor shower from her preferred viewing spot Himmel, the hero, reflects on their previous journey and all the memories from it. "It's beautiful" he remarks, meaning both this final moment they'll be together under the falling stars and of the journey they started on 60 years previously. On the next page Frieren and the remaining heroes gather at Himmel's funeral together:
Grief, like any emotion, is transitory, especially when the timescale of the panels on each page can be years apart. Himmel's death from old age is a pivotal moment for Frieren; she decides she's going to try to understand humans better (read: learn to empathize) and so sets off on a new adventure.
Past the opening chapter, Frieren continues to explore how the passage of time affects people, their perceptions, and the progress of humanity. It focuses on how those things change, but also how they stay the same. While the Demon Lord is dead, there are still many dangers to the world, and Frieren assembles a new party of adventurers to accompany her. The manga isn't really about the dangers of the journey, rather the experiences they have along the way. It's slow, purposeful, sad, and introspective. It reminds me a bit of Grimgar in that way.
Frieren is good but I feel like it gets more conventional as it goes on, to its detriment. My favorite part is just the first few early chapters of Frieren just kinda walkin around and thinking about mortality.
I understand the sentiment, and those opening chapters are powerful, but I think the later chapters of Frieren are just as good! They slowly flesh out the setting, answering questions like why Elves with their near infinite lifespans aren't the dominate race in this fantasy world (which was always a question I had from D&D-esque settings). While there are some generic fantasy and RPG tropes (like literal treasure chest mimics), the worldbuilding does a great job of making the setting immersive and belieavable. It's been a page turner for me so far and that hasn't diminished so far (nearing chapter 50).
Well, at least Sound Yuriphonium S2 still gets pretty gay.
Come study alone, riiiiight.
Naoko Yamada stopped being the lead director on sound euphonium after S2E1 and you can reaaaally tell as soon as she leaves
Like s1 is pretty subtexty but I don't really think of it as queerbaiting, Kumiko is super super gay all the time, even before she starts flirting with Reina.
Then she leaves and there's still like a bit of flirting now and then, but all the little shots and lines and stuff disappear.
I should mostly be sick of subtexty yuri, but when done well there's still something sort of compelling about like, how do we write this character as gay without ever actually explicitly saying they're gay. Just kinda a style of "if you know you know and otherwise you're missing part of the story and we're not spelling it out." Similar to Rakugo Shinjuu, too.
It feels like S2 still has plenty of subtext too, if not outright making it blatant. Maybe I have my goggles on too tight and it's just girls being pals and inviting each other alone for private make out study sessions, who knows.
To me season 1 works really well because the whole A plot is Kumiko discovering a passion, wanting to be great, and then resolving to even be in conflict with the larger group if that's what it takes. Which is really anti social from a Japanese perspective, every goddamn anime is like, make friends, form a group consensus, succeed together.
Which links right into the story's B plot, Kumiko getting presented with a perfectly serviceable male love interest and instead chasing after Reina instead. Like, yuri isn't offensive to the patriarchy when it's just cute girls trying out romance in an all-female environment before they graduate. But this is a more realistic setting where Kumiko's friends are all sitting around gossiping about what boys are cute, and there's plenty of boys around, and Kumiko's just like lol what are they talking about I don't get the appeal. But meanwhile every shot admiring a cute girl is shot explicitly from Kumiko's pov.
So like the first season feels like it fits together as a queer coming of age metaphor pretty well, even though it's all still subtexty. It's about being in a minority and deciding that actually that's OK, not about if kumiko and Reina are gonna smooch.
S2, otoh, is a lot of Kumiko trying to find group cohesion. The anime will still check girls out sometimes but it's no longer shot from Kumiko's pov, it's just generic horny anime camera. It's hinted more that actually Kumiko might like Shuuichi, she's just not ready to date yet. There's still girls flirting but it's more like that generic cute girls doing cute things and not having boyfriends, instead of the sense of unspoken queer longing you get from s1 Kumiko.
None of it by itself is really like a big deal, but I think they add up to a really fundamental change. S1 is like, a queer story. S2 is more of a cute girls show with some yuri undertones.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
I was reading some Warhammer fiction where an atmospheric fighter stepped hard on the rudder to initiate a brake turn and I just fucking lost it. It’s like, don’t you know anyone in this field? Just ask someone what this thing that you know nothing about should look like. We’ll probably do it for free!
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
+1
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I walked out of armageddon. Straight out of the theatre and did something else.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
I think I saw an interview where Bruce Willis asked Michael Bay, “Why it was easier to train oil riggers to be astronauts rather than training astronauts to be oil riggers?” To which Bay allegedly replied, “Shut up.”
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
+13
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
I caught up to the most recent Iruma-kun chapters, and the mangaka, Osamu Nishi, is still a master of using page turns into dynamic two page spreads to create a visceral impact.
I like the anime a lot, but it's never managed to make me feel things like the manga version does. Just top class.
Chapters 301-303:
Iruma and Alice team up for a big damn heroes moment, but Baal's plan was the engineer then solve a crisis of his own making, to make the princess swoon for Baal in place of Iruma for once. Clever, subverting the normal manga dynamic where Iruma selflessly helps everyone and picks up followers.
Then Iruma reunites with Kirio, and holy shit that guy is just a depraved pervert. Physically uncomfortable seeing him drool over Iruma.
Then Alice shows up, levels up, and steps in for Iruma, but wait, entire series scale secret reveal cliff hanger drops. See you next week!
What a whirlwind of emotions.
0
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Well, at least Sound Yuriphonium S2 still gets pretty gay.
Come study alone, riiiiight.
Naoko Yamada stopped being the lead director on sound euphonium after S2E1 and you can reaaaally tell as soon as she leaves
Like s1 is pretty subtexty but I don't really think of it as queerbaiting, Kumiko is super super gay all the time, even before she starts flirting with Reina.
Then she leaves and there's still like a bit of flirting now and then, but all the little shots and lines and stuff disappear.
I should mostly be sick of subtexty yuri, but when done well there's still something sort of compelling about like, how do we write this character as gay without ever actually explicitly saying they're gay. Just kinda a style of "if you know you know and otherwise you're missing part of the story and we're not spelling it out." Similar to Rakugo Shinjuu, too.
It feels like S2 still has plenty of subtext too, if not outright making it blatant. Maybe I have my goggles on too tight and it's just girls being pals and inviting each other alone for private make out study sessions, who knows.
To me season 1 works really well because the whole A plot is Kumiko discovering a passion, wanting to be great, and then resolving to even be in conflict with the larger group if that's what it takes. Which is really anti social from a Japanese perspective, every goddamn anime is like, make friends, form a group consensus, succeed together.
Which links right into the story's B plot, Kumiko getting presented with a perfectly serviceable male love interest and instead chasing after Reina instead. Like, yuri isn't offensive to the patriarchy when it's just cute girls trying out romance in an all-female environment before they graduate. But this is a more realistic setting where Kumiko's friends are all sitting around gossiping about what boys are cute, and there's plenty of boys around, and Kumiko's just like lol what are they talking about I don't get the appeal. But meanwhile every shot admiring a cute girl is shot explicitly from Kumiko's pov.
So like the first season feels like it fits together as a queer coming of age metaphor pretty well, even though it's all still subtexty. It's about being in a minority and deciding that actually that's OK, not about if kumiko and Reina are gonna smooch.
S2, otoh, is a lot of Kumiko trying to find group cohesion. The anime will still check girls out sometimes but it's no longer shot from Kumiko's pov, it's just generic horny anime camera. It's hinted more that actually Kumiko might like Shuuichi, she's just not ready to date yet. There's still girls flirting but it's more like that generic cute girls doing cute things and not having boyfriends, instead of the sense of unspoken queer longing you get from s1 Kumiko.
None of it by itself is really like a big deal, but I think they add up to a really fundamental change. S1 is like, a queer story. S2 is more of a cute girls show with some yuri undertones.
Yeah, I can totally see that, but I still think that S2 manages to be more compelling despite the backpedaling(even if it's with heavy goggles on).
I notice S2 does feel a bit more male-gazey with all the short skirt shots, too.
I think I saw an interview where Bruce Willis asked Michael Bay, “Why it was easier to train oil riggers to be astronauts rather than training astronauts to be oil riggers?” To which Bay allegedly replied, “Shut up.”
Cheaper to send a suicide team of oil-riggers who know just enough to be temporary astronauts than it would be to lose an entire team of professional astronauts who learned to be temporary oil riggers.
Sure if the asteroid isn't destroyed then Earth is doomed but think of the shareholders
I think I saw an interview where Bruce Willis asked Michael Bay, “Why it was easier to train oil riggers to be astronauts rather than training astronauts to be oil riggers?” To which Bay allegedly replied, “Shut up.”
Watched the first two episodes of Magical Destroyers last night, which certainly didn't feel like the first two episodes of a show to me, somehow. I'm on the fence about continuing.
Watched the first two episodes of Magical Destroyers last night, which certainly didn't feel like the first two episodes of a show to me, somehow. I'm on the fence about continuing.
The visuals are what I'm enjoying the most. Trippy psychodelics, visceral, over the top fights, etc. The protagonists have good chemistry with each other too, without any obnoxious stupid melodrama between them.
But the overall plot/story is rather incomprehensible nonsense, and a few episodes have been just plain bad.
Episode 11
If I'm understanding this correctly, dude was pissed off that people didn't like his little doujin game, which caught the eye of some elder god, previous in Anarchy/vat girl's form, now in the form of the magical pet, and turned him into Shobon/kicked off turning the entire world into the game, with the girls all spawned from... somebody??? and with the girls all broken and mindwiped from the drugs and killing all their other selves (or Slayer for Anarchy), all according to the game script Shobon set up, they're now the Magical Destroyers for carrying out his vision? And he might be Otaku Hero's missing father or something?
It's all such a weird mess, but the animation, visuals, and music, particularly of the important scenes, nailed it.
Was really hoping they'd just replace the rape with just like a torture scene or something, but nope. What an unpleasant, godawful way for this show to go out.
1) I suspect the Gospel books are tied to the Sin Archbishops' powers/longevity.
2) Subaru writing in the book and standing firm before Bethelgeuse has big "priest banishing demons by affirming his faith" energy
3) Subaru being damn sure that Emilia will fall for him has an uncomfortably large amount of "I'm 90% sure you'll sleep with me tonight" energy. I'm also interpreting Emilia's hesitation before smiling as representing the psychological work she's doing to interpret what Subaru is literally saying (a literal denial/ignorance of her agency over her affections) in a positive light (maybe "he's trying to express his intentions the best way he can, and that's the best line he could come up with"). Subaru's smirk in the next cut lends credence to the idea that he picked that line as a move, knowing it didn't quite fit his feelings, and is glad that it was taken well anyway.
I'm back to reading Berserk after having taken a break at the end of the Conviction arc because it was all a bit too much.
And while the storyline hasn't exactly lightened up, the bit where (volume 31/32)
Guts rides on Zodd's back so they can team up to (at least temporarily) defeat Ganishka
was such a classic fist-pump "hell yeah" shonen moment, it made the otherwise super-grim rest of the plot feel momentarily a bit more cheerful.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for this particular story beat, but the whole "grr, I hate you" "well, I hate you _more_", then
sort of thing makes me smile every time
I watched through episode 9 or 10 of Spice and Wolf and simultaneously understand why it’s been well-regarded/well-known but also have no desire to continue. I don’t know why now.
How are they going to adapt something that has 1000+ episodes???
By doing a season or two then cancelling it before any automatic pay increases kick in.
+37
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited June 2023
There's no point paying attention to any Netflix series they're like bubbles at the top of boiling water, they appear, pop, and are gone, over and over.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Posts
If you don’t want to watch the video, I hope I can give a decent synopsis for you here. The titular character Frieren is an elven mage with a lifespan so long she's practically immortal, and the manga follows her over decades starting from one of the most pivotal moments in her life. It's a manga about mortality, yes, but also about finding one's purpose, the affect you can have on others (even when you weren't trying), and on how it's never too late to change who you are.
I think the manga has a great hook in it's first chapter, summarized behind the spoiler (and spoilers for that chapter):
Elves live for millennia. For the other adventurers the 10 years they journeyed together were the greatest years of their lives. For Frieren, 10 years was hardly any time at all. Certainly not enough time to get to know her traveling companions. After she parts ways with them, the next 50 years fly by for her in the time it takes us to turn the page. As she reunites with her traveling companions and they go on their final adventure to watch the era meteor shower from her preferred viewing spot Himmel, the hero, reflects on their previous journey and all the memories from it. "It's beautiful" he remarks, meaning both this final moment they'll be together under the falling stars and of the journey they started on 60 years previously. On the next page Frieren and the remaining heroes gather at Himmel's funeral together:
Grief, like any emotion, is transitory, especially when the timescale of the panels on each page can be years apart. Himmel's death from old age is a pivotal moment for Frieren; she decides she's going to try to understand humans better (read: learn to empathize) and so sets off on a new adventure.
Past the opening chapter, Frieren continues to explore how the passage of time affects people, their perceptions, and the progress of humanity. It focuses on how those things change, but also how they stay the same. While the Demon Lord is dead, there are still many dangers to the world, and Frieren assembles a new party of adventurers to accompany her. The manga isn't really about the dangers of the journey, rather the experiences they have along the way. It's slow, purposeful, sad, and introspective. It reminds me a bit of Grimgar in that way.
I understand the sentiment, and those opening chapters are powerful, but I think the later chapters of Frieren are just as good! They slowly flesh out the setting, answering questions like why Elves with their near infinite lifespans aren't the dominate race in this fantasy world (which was always a question I had from D&D-esque settings). While there are some generic fantasy and RPG tropes (like literal treasure chest mimics), the worldbuilding does a great job of making the setting immersive and belieavable. It's been a page turner for me so far and that hasn't diminished so far (nearing chapter 50).
To me season 1 works really well because the whole A plot is Kumiko discovering a passion, wanting to be great, and then resolving to even be in conflict with the larger group if that's what it takes. Which is really anti social from a Japanese perspective, every goddamn anime is like, make friends, form a group consensus, succeed together.
Which links right into the story's B plot, Kumiko getting presented with a perfectly serviceable male love interest and instead chasing after Reina instead. Like, yuri isn't offensive to the patriarchy when it's just cute girls trying out romance in an all-female environment before they graduate. But this is a more realistic setting where Kumiko's friends are all sitting around gossiping about what boys are cute, and there's plenty of boys around, and Kumiko's just like lol what are they talking about I don't get the appeal. But meanwhile every shot admiring a cute girl is shot explicitly from Kumiko's pov.
So like the first season feels like it fits together as a queer coming of age metaphor pretty well, even though it's all still subtexty. It's about being in a minority and deciding that actually that's OK, not about if kumiko and Reina are gonna smooch.
S2, otoh, is a lot of Kumiko trying to find group cohesion. The anime will still check girls out sometimes but it's no longer shot from Kumiko's pov, it's just generic horny anime camera. It's hinted more that actually Kumiko might like Shuuichi, she's just not ready to date yet. There's still girls flirting but it's more like that generic cute girls doing cute things and not having boyfriends, instead of the sense of unspoken queer longing you get from s1 Kumiko.
None of it by itself is really like a big deal, but I think they add up to a really fundamental change. S1 is like, a queer story. S2 is more of a cute girls show with some yuri undertones.
I was reading some Warhammer fiction where an atmospheric fighter stepped hard on the rudder to initiate a brake turn and I just fucking lost it. It’s like, don’t you know anyone in this field? Just ask someone what this thing that you know nothing about should look like. We’ll probably do it for free!
I like the anime a lot, but it's never managed to make me feel things like the manga version does. Just top class.
Chapters 301-303:
Then Iruma reunites with Kirio, and holy shit that guy is just a depraved pervert. Physically uncomfortable seeing him drool over Iruma.
Then Alice shows up, levels up, and steps in for Iruma, but wait, entire series scale secret reveal cliff hanger drops. See you next week!
What a whirlwind of emotions.
Yeah, I can totally see that, but I still think that S2 manages to be more compelling despite the backpedaling(even if it's with heavy goggles on).
I notice S2 does feel a bit more male-gazey with all the short skirt shots, too.
Cheaper to send a suicide team of oil-riggers who know just enough to be temporary astronauts than it would be to lose an entire team of professional astronauts who learned to be temporary oil riggers.
Sure if the asteroid isn't destroyed then Earth is doomed but think of the shareholders
It's not quite as much of a cliffhanger as last time there was a big pause, but, still, boooooooooooo
The visuals are what I'm enjoying the most. Trippy psychodelics, visceral, over the top fights, etc. The protagonists have good chemistry with each other too, without any obnoxious stupid melodrama between them.
But the overall plot/story is rather incomprehensible nonsense, and a few episodes have been just plain bad.
Episode 11
It's all such a weird mess, but the animation, visuals, and music, particularly of the important scenes, nailed it.
Yeeeep. There it is.
(major and CW)
ep25
2) Subaru writing in the book and standing firm before Bethelgeuse has big "priest banishing demons by affirming his faith" energy
3) Subaru being damn sure that Emilia will fall for him has an uncomfortably large amount of "I'm 90% sure you'll sleep with me tonight" energy. I'm also interpreting Emilia's hesitation before smiling as representing the psychological work she's doing to interpret what Subaru is literally saying (a literal denial/ignorance of her agency over her affections) in a positive light (maybe "he's trying to express his intentions the best way he can, and that's the best line he could come up with"). Subaru's smirk in the next cut lends credence to the idea that he picked that line as a move, knowing it didn't quite fit his feelings, and is glad that it was taken well anyway.
And while the storyline hasn't exactly lightened up, the bit where (volume 31/32)
sort of thing makes me smile every time
whelp
stretchy guy powers still and always will look not good IRL.
these are the totality of my feelings. i will watch it.
I'm getting huge MCU style dialog from from that trailer and I don't like it.
Everything else looks fine though.
Somehow, this one looks slightly better.
that buggy shot has the exact same energy as the ed reveal from the bebop adaptation
that being fucking cursed as hell
By doing a season or two then cancelling it before any automatic pay increases kick in.
And then for brand synergy, Oda should change Luffy's power in the manga to that too.
Also should probably go about doing that change in one of the stupidest ways possible, just to be safe.
He gets his powers because he's a celestial D. ragon
At last, Em and Jackson are free
finished episode 30
What's this?