God, I just love the _why_ of Frieren breaking the barrier. It's not cause she thought it would give her an edge, or she was mad at the test, or wanted to one-up Serie. She just wanted Kanne to be able to use her full abilities, and feel the awe of magic.
there is a lot of water in the pool for her to use . THe barrier is keeping many mages from using their full potential . It is actually unfair ,since Kanne is using external resources apart from the playing ground . Frieren didnt destroy the dungeon ,in the next exam then why this?
@@Youalrightboi didn't they explicitly say that Kanne needs more time to infuse her mana into large bodies of water in a prior episode? so even if she used the lake she wouldn't be able to create a water sphere that's as big as the one she made in this episode, since, y'know, she needs to infuse mana into water to control it? also there's more distance between her and the lake so I imagine her mana can't reach that far
The real highlight of this episode is that Denken showed that the most basic combat spell available to any mage is not Zoltraak. It's Fist! It is most optimized if cast by those having the Swolcaster specialization but even without that, it is still available to any mage.
And now we return to the idea of Academic Genealogy, with Fern being only 2 steps removed from Serie. Edit: And we introduce the idea of _imagination_ in regards to what mages are capable of. It's not just that Serie and Flamme couldn't defeat the Demon King. They couldn't even imagine it. Man,I love how this show weaves the themes into everything so subtly.
Flamme wouldn’t have needed to “ask for barrier magic”. Flamme is the legendary mage who basically created the magic system humans use. She was plenty capable of creating her own barrier magic.
Sometime I wish that he was actually a dwarf, since it would be interesting to know of a dwarf that uses magic but still have the brute strength of being a dwarf.
@@Zack_Zander I think there's nothing lost in it. as an imperial mage, he is a noble, sure, but he is a soldier. he's only out of options when he's dead. that's a fun contrast to every other mage 'giving up' once their out of mana, and here's "I heard no bell" Denken fighting to his last.
Richter creating the barrier but still having that "welp, that's it for me, then" expression right before the gigantic water ball clobbers him has the same energy as Wile E Coyote helplessly holding up a teeny-tiny umbrella over his head right before the giant boulder hits him in the Looney Tunes cartoons.
What is hilarious about Denken is how he told Laufen, the only one of them with mana, to stay back. I get she was guarding the Still, but once you see what she can do outside the speed spell... you know Denken was so frustrated that getting the still was second to punching something.
I mean he also tasked her with taking the cage if she saw an opening since she's still the fastest even without being able to Jilwer, but your interpretation is so goddamn hilarious I'm accepting it as canon anyway
Richter lectures the girls on magic because he can't imagine a better way to put two teenagers to sleep (as Denkin requested) than giving them an educational lecture. It isn't for the benefit of building the setting and magic system for the audience or anything.
I watched a video where someone broke down the frames of the scene in which Frieren releases the beam. In the final frame before she does her silhouette turns into Serie. I think this is because resolving the barrier is like a math equation - you start from the answer and go backwards until you reach the beginning of it (Serie). reverse engineer
In the translated version I watched, based on Kraft and Frieren's dialog in ep.11 Serie is the oldest. She refers to herself as the mage from the mythical era - the only time in which the Goddess appeared. Then it's Kraft, and then Frieren. In my opinion Serie is either daughter of the Goddess or her 1st student. This is based on pure speculations and not on
Well, something about the Goddess must be real. Her magic is too different from how normal magic works. Serie doesn’t seem to even use Goddess magic at all.
For me it's come down to, is Serie know anything about Kraft or not ? Kraft is one of the hero in the past and just like he said everyone that know about him is already dead. So if Serie is truly older she's would at least know something about Kraft in the past but if not she's maybe younger.
"Magic is a world of visual imagination" "I have been bested by mages with fewer mana than me [...] Six were humans" "Can you imagine defeating a water mage in rain?" Seems to imply that in this specific scenario, Kanne could probably best Frieren.
@@GeneraliE That is very true. Although she seems to pull through when she gets any sort of boost in confidence. Whether by Lawine or rain. Hell, Frieren might even give her confidence by flat out saying "Hey Kanne, you could beat me with your magic"
I disagree tbh. I think that this is a case that can be understood/interpreted differently based on how literal one wants to be and how much value they give to the context and other known information. Frieren says: Anime (Crunchyroll Subs): "Magic is a world of visual imagination. Can you imagine defeating a mage who controls water in the rain? At the very least, I can't." Manga (Official translation by Viz): "Magic is the realm of imagination. Can you imagine yourself winning against a mage who can manipulate the rain? I can't." Manga (Unofficial translation by Kirei Cake): "Magic is the world of visualization. Can you visualize yourself defeating a mage who can manipulate water, in the rain? I cannot, at the very least." -------------------------------------------------- Now, you could interpret these statements in the following two ways imo: (1) Literally and without considering other information; Frieren is saying that she cannot beat any water mage in the rain (including Kanne). (2) However, by including and considering this new piece of information into our overall knowledge base, we can conclude that Frieren is saying that she herself cannot beat a comparably strong water mage in the rain (eg, a water mage as competent as Denken or Lernen can almost certainly defeat Frieren in the rain). But, if the skill gap (ie, mana pool, control, detection, etc) is too high, then Frieren can still most likely win (eg, Kanne even in the rain cannot beat Frieren). And I personally think that this is the more reasonable and consistent interpretation/understanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Consider checking out my analysis below for how Frieren vs Kanne in the rain could go as a bonus if you're still not convinced: To guess Kanne's potential abilities based on what has been shown in the anime and even the manga (since there hasn't been more content for her yet), she can; (1) Create massive water balls to crush basic defensive magic. But they move slowly, and so Frieren should be more than able to dodge them (to say nothing of potentially destroying them with Vollzanbel or some other spell). (2) She could create small and potentially fast water balls/spears/etc. But Frieren can probably dodge or even defend with a full spherical shield (if she's forced to) for extended periods of time due to her massive mana pool. Even if she's forced to defend, the water balls/spears/etc will not be able to break the shield due to their low mass/volume. On the other hand, Frieren just needs to get one good Zoltraak or any other spell to hit Kanne. We know that Kanne is not particularly good at mana detection, so it's likely that she would get taken out in a surprise attack if not outright overpowered directly by Frieren's Zoltraak spamming or Vollzanbel or some other spell. Remember how Denken was surprised that Frieren managed to shoot him, while under bombardment of light spears and was only able to defend within a very small margin of error. That's Denken. Kanne stands no shot in a similar scenario. (I do know how the anime made it seem like Frieren shot a stray Zoltraak, which she then curved for a long time to use as a surprise hit on Denken. However, the method is not so important since this is technically an anime-only detail. All that matters really, is that Frieren has the experience and ability to be able to pull off such a stunt.) Therefore, while bad match-ups are definitely a thing, and Frieren is by no means all powerful or invincible/unbeatable or anything like that, it's still far more likely that she can beat Kanne even under the rain than not.
@@Diablos-pi2qy Absolutely I would say that even without all the nuances of interpretations you have presented, Frieren is most likely to win. The reason I entertained the idea in a more literal sense has more to do with foreshadowing the events that will occur in future episodes of this season. For obvious reasons, I won't go into it because of spoilers. Of course, I also wanted to present that Kanne is a capable mage in her own rights, since up until this point, we haven't really seen anything exceptional from her. Having said all that, I would have to say Kanne would lose to Frieren 95% (I won't say 99% because I think Kanne has the potential to still have a fighting chance) purely because of her character. She is way too timid of a person to go toe-to-toe against Frieren. As another person commented, Kanne would never be able to imagine herself defeating Frieren. So of course, everything I said now is in contrast to my original post, but the purpose of it is mostly to highlight something that's to come. And as Team Four Star from DBZA say: "Power Levels are Bullshit"
I love the disconnect in the way Serie and Frieren mirror each other. Frieren just wants to wander around peacefully collecting folk spells for everyday use and has only had a single apprentice, yet she is known as The Slayer, while Serie is a warrior mage who loves battle but she's known as The Living Grimoire because she knows practically every spell ever created and is the head of the Continental Magic Association and has had a ton of students, starting with Flamme and up to all the First Class mages proctoring the tests.
I also like the dichotomy of Serie saying Frieren has no ambition yet Serie won't take down the DK because she has so much ambition she can't imagine an era of peace. Yet Frieren isn't at Serie's level and she still went on her journey to face the DK and despite not being the OP mage she is now managed to be successful at it.
@@bate_0o7 Regarding the ambition thing, I think it's more of difference in point of view and/or philosophy. Serie has one definition of ambition, but it's not the be all end all tbh. I think Frieren's ambition lies in creating and sharing joy with other people through magic, which Serie at least somewhat disagrees with her on.
@@Diablos-pi2qy okay I can agree to this. Frieren sees the fun side of magic with her quirky spell hunts while Serie wants powerful mages who are battle ready and morphed the mage association to her views of what magic should be. The exam for example is designed to filter out mages whose ambitions are not because they love magic but more towards because they want to survive. I wonder if at the end of it all Frieren manages to shift the views on magic towards what makes it magical and away from being about power.
Edit: I saw and this discussion you guys caught this. Visualization is everything when it comes to magic in this world. So the reason Kanne couldn't blood bend is the same reason that Flamme told Serie they couldn't defeat the Demon Lord. Since they seek out battle, they cannot imagine a time of peace or a time where the Demon Lord did not exist it implies that no matter how strong their magic may be, even stronger than Frieren's, it wouldn't be effective against the Demon King. It would be like trying to use fire magic against lava, it would be pointless, even if your fire magic was the strongest in the universe.
This episode really makes me thing that Flamme could see the future or is intuitive enough to see the path of someone's life, such as Frieren. Knowing Frieren will regret not knowing people and sending her off to Heaven and here with her saying that Frieren will destroy the Demon King and lead the way to a peaceful era and be the mage that leads it into it. Serie's introduction caught me a little off guard since I wasn't picturing that voice. Flamme's small smile when Frieren says that magic should be discovered and decliining the spell is a great little note. This is all after Flamme's training and Frieren saying that she only somewhat likes magic, I'm imagining. There's some more nice building of the world of magic with Richter's lecture. Great finish to the first exam!
The problem with flashbacks is the non-chronological way they can be layed out. Flamme was in her old age when Frieren said she only somewhat liked magic. "50 years ago, you confidently said you loved magic." This scene with Serie, Flamme still looks quite young. I really like your point though. It adds another of layer of sadness to Flamme's regret of ruining the thing Frieren once loved. I have this horrible idea that Frieren has been obsessively collecting spells because she been trying to fill that void without realizing what she was doing. The closest she has rationalized is, "I am doing it because Himmel liked the silly spells." She hasn't figured out she needs them for herself yet.
Not sure if someone already mention this, but the reason Denken used that fire tornado spell wasn't just to showoff but that it is so that it would quickly surround Frieren forcing her to put up a full barrier to quickly deplete her mana, due to barrier magic using more mana than attacks... However, what Denken didn't realized is that Frieren has more than enough mana to outlast Denken's.
Really Sense was asking Frieren what is the spell she most desires and Frieren said there isn't one. The subtitle makes it look like more of a direct rejection by Frieren but when Frieren speaks she's really just saying there isn't a particular spell she's been wishing for. Then Sense says Frieren has no ambition.
13:29 if you watch frame by frame as Frieren destroys the barrier, there's a single impact frame where Frieren's silhouette is replaced by Serie's silhouette. I think this suggests that the barrier has some sort of ID system that Frieren used to dispel the barrier by tricking the barrier into believing that whatever spell she cast to destroy it came from Serie rather than her. 14:42 This point is also very important I feel, it really highlights how the Magic of Frieren is more complex than just 'whoever has more mana wins', and it further develops the point Frieren made to Fern at the start of this arc about being defeated by weaker mages before. After all, if a relatively inexperienced and young water mage is extremely dangerous to even Frieren in the rain, then its no surprise that she's been defeated by 11 mages weaker than her before, since that includes basically all humans (aside from Flamme and possibly a couple others) including extremely skilled mages. Imagine if Kanne had the experience and power of Denken and was battling Frieren in the rain - Frieren probably wouldn't stand a chance.
I think you over analyzed that scene on 13:30 lol, I checked it (thanks youtube for having frame-by-frame stepping) and it just looks like an elf's silhouette, which Frieren is
@@Moxie326 I looked at it, it is 3 frames and in all of them, all you can see is what might be the shadow of frieren's ponytails, the elf ears and the explosion effect itself, if there was any other female elf in the series we could confuse them with that frame too since you can't really make anything out of it. Cool theory still, but I'd like to believe this would've mentioned in the novel if it was the case
@@Moxie326 I'll agree to disagree, because we are not seeing the same thing and I can't convince you otherwise. I still stand on the fact that this wasn't mentioned anywhere in the novel or manga, and it'd be weird of the anime to stray itself from the novel on this particular detail
Thank you for a very fun reaction! Genau, the proctor, was wrong about the barrier being unbreakable; maybe he's wrong about luck being a skill. Although he was right that 1/3 of the teams would pass (6 of 19) and that Denken would be one of them. Kanne getting to show what she can do with water magic was so much fun. "I think these first class mages have weird vibes." is an interesting extension of Ubel's theory that the kind of magic people have depends on the kind of person they are. Only 45 of 2,000 mages are First Class, so it makes sense they're very focused on their magic, and maybe in turn that shapes the kind of person they become.
Not a spoiler at all, but you'll see in episode 22 the basis of Denken and Laufen's (the orange haired ninja girl) Grandpa/Granddaughter relationship. The hows and whys that their "ship", for lack of a better term, is called Denken Donuts by the fandom.
@FTF-Media if you rewatch the fight scene between Frieren and Denken, Frieren launches like a bunch of projectiles (like 6-7, you can count it) and a second later she launches another to her side seemingly nowhere in particular. The bunch she first launches follow Denken and hits him/his barrier. It's the other projectile, that she launched before, that comes and hits Denken when "he's sure he didn't give her any openings". Frieren had one free projectile flying around for a future opening.
One thing I've come to like about Richter's fight in hindsight is that his bluffing is literally him puffing himself up so the girls hesitate to act against him. Even without the magic rules, this is just basic mind games. If magic involves a mental battle, we'll take every advantage we can get
It drills down on the fundamental of how in this series magic is a concept of manifestation. If you believe something, you have a higher possibility to achieve it. He does these mind games to shake his opponents' resolve. If he can make them think they don't stand a chance, he's already winning.
Now that you've released the episode 21 reaction/discussion, I want to give a spoiler-free explanation of the magic-system in the Frieren world. There are 4 components to a mage's magic-casting in the Frieren world: (1) Mana (2) Control (3) Spell: The magical formulas that they know and are able to use. Examples: Basic Offensive/Defensive Magic. Note that the spell formula dictates what is possible or impossible. Examples: (a) Basic Offensive Magic cannot pierce dragon scales or Basic Defensive Magic, regardless of the attacker's visualization. Otherwise, Frieren would've taught Fern how to do it when she asked Fern to attack the Solar Dragon in S01E05 in the former case, and Basic Defensive Magic would actually be useless in the latter case. (b) Frieren's spell to clean a bronze statue not being usable for a stone statue. If it was purely a visualization based system, then there is absolutely no reason for why Frieren wouldn't be able to use the folk spell in S01E16 to clean Kraft's & Unknown-Priest's statues. (4) Visualization: Needed to activate/use a spell since a mage cannot make something happen if they can't clearly/exactly picture the desired outcome. Note that to clearly/exactly picture an outcome, one needs to have a complete understanding of said outcome. Therefore, they should have a complete understanding of the process that created that specific outcome/result as well (since only understanding an outcome without understanding the generating process, will be incomplete at best and flawed at worst). This is pretty much how it is in real life as well. Furthermore, a weak visualization can weaken a spell, but a strong visualization cannot strengthen a spell. Examples: (a) Regardless of Aura's visualization, her scales were already tilting towards Frieren, even though Aura was unaware that Frieren had more mana at that point. If it was a purely visualization based system, then Aura would've been able to dominate/control anyone including Frieren. (b) UBEL EXAMPLE REVEALED IN S01E26. -------------------------------------------------- In summary, the visualization component of magic is just like in real life; you will surely fail if you have a 'bad' mindset, but a 'good' mindset does NOT guarantee success (ie, a 'good' mindset is a necessary, but insufficient condition for success since external factors are still a thing). Visualization is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all. Spells determine what's possible or not, and a mage's visualization can make them achieve between 0% to 100% of a spell's potential. They cannot just bs visualize/imagine themself into winning and/or doing the impossible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, there is technically one more component, which may fall under Control, but since I'm not convinced that it definitely does (and also because it's not completely crucial for just casting magic alone as a singular mage), I've written it below as a separate point: (5) Detection: How accurately a mage can detect mana in a certain radius with themself at the center. This is extremely important for battle, since it relates to: (a) Finding hidden enemies (who are probably concealing their mana). (b) Becoming aware of surprise attacks not caught by the physical senses (eg, being shot from behind). (c) Not underestimating a strong foe who's pretending to be weaker than they are (ie, mages who suppress their mana like Flamme, Frieren, and Fern). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The above info is from: S01E02: First half of the episode with Frieren teaching Fern. S01E03: Second half of the episode on Killing Magic. S01E05: Second half of the episode with the Solar Dragon. S01E08: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E09: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E10: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E15: First half of the episode on Goddess' Magic. S01E16: Second half of the episode with the statue cleaning quest. S01E20: Pretty much all of it. :) S01E21: Pretty much all of it. :)
The above is an excerpt from my full post on rFrieren titled "Important lore that a lot of people get wrong". Also, as for your question about spells from last episode regarding spell specialties/restrictions; Any mage can probably learn any spell like how any person in real life can eventually learn high-level scientific topics. However, the amount of time/effort needed to do so, will most likely differ for different people. Similarly, mages have a multitude of reasons such as talent, interest, etc that will help/motivate them to learn a branch of magic (eg, Kanne decided on Water magic and Lawine decided on Ice magic).
Luck is a skill. It's interesting, but everyone there got Stille because of luck, of course it takes effort but not 100% effort from zero, one of the proctors said there was only 1 team that didn't rely on luck, which was Frieren's team because they planned it from zero.
The series is so well written, you really have to pay attention to the little details of everything that is said, because it will always explain what happens next. For example, what Stark said about feeling bad.
One of the best things about the English dub of Frieren, that I prefer, is that you can get the pronunciation of the names better. Serie is pronounced Zairia. And Sense is pronounced Zenza.
This is my theory on Flamme's barrier: Every person is taught general magic, but learn to specialize in one specific type, as we saw with Lord Lugner's conversation, because it takes time to perfect one type of magic. Flamme invented the barrier magic and perfected it, thus why her spell is still in-use and protects Graf Granat's town today. Serie may have learned that spell from Flamme, rather than vice versa. It takes a genius (read: a great mage) to CREATE a spell instead of just learn one already invented, because they have to be able to imagine the spell working in the first place. Frieren was able to decipher the way the barrier works because she knew the origin, the purpose, and had interactions with barriers created from start to finish due to her association with Flamme. She reverse engineered the creation process, which sounds simple but probably takes a lot of work. Flamme's barrier may also have been more powerful than Serie's. That being said (this is my theory), that may also mean Frieren has one specialized type of magic. We just haven't seen it up to this point. Also, this episode goes back to Episode 2, when Fern said to Frieren "It didn't have to be magic" and Frieren said "yet you chose magic", it implied Fern IMAGINED herself as a mage, which is probably the key component to becoming a great mage.
@@Ryodraco Probably an elves thing, since it's similar to how Frieren changed Zoltraak into a spell specialized in killing demons. However, I'm assuming Frieren does it more for humanity efficiency (whether or not it was intentional), while Serie does it as a show of her strength in mana (basically whatever they do, she can does it better), which she does it again in the last few episodes.
I actually hadn't considered before that Serie herself could possibly be "the Goddess", but it's actually an interesting theory. It would be very much in line with the themes of the show regarding knowledge being lost to time. Serie has certainly been alive long enough to become famous and then be forgotten several times over. As for the "can't kill the demon king" thing, I think it's specifically tied into the idea that "magic can't produce effects you can't visualize". Flamme says she and Serie and "can't imagine living in a peaceful era". But Frieren can, because she is "a mage of a peaceful era". Anyway, don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to discuss the role of visualization/imagination in magic in future episodes.
That was a nice reaction!!👍🏻Scene of breaking the barrier and BGM was so good it gave me chills.😱 For some reason I started crying.🥹 I'm looking forward to the next video. 🇯🇵ナイスリアクションでした‼︎👍🏻私も結界を破るシーンは鳥肌が立ちました。😱しかもアウラ戦のBGM!!凄すぎて涙が…😭😭😭次回も楽しみにしています。 🙏 I'm sorry for my poor English.🙏 (Always relying on Google translate.😅)
Please just start demon slayer a humble request you'll love it.... the emotional storyline character depths and everything is just perfect for your taste with a little more action than frieren and the best animation japan has to offer
It is always insane to me how among the humans it's like "Himmel the hero and others" while among demons it's "Frieren the Slayer and others". Humans of the current era really didn't know how good she was. And tbf she didn't want to be seen as the greatest either.
I like to think Himmel took all the glory because he knew Frieren enough that she doesn't like the attention. So he was doing it flashily to take the attention off Frieren.
Hey guys, at exactly 13:30. If you pause, you can see a glimps of Serie in the spell Frieren is casting to break the barrier. A nice little easter egg.
You're right! It's very fuzzy, but the outline of Serie is instantly recognizable in the few frames of that explosion because of her grin and longer ears.
Luck is a skill is actually pretty common way of thinking about luck, although I'm more familiar with luck is a *part* of skill version. What it means is that it's not enough to get lucky in order to achieve something. You have to be skilled/prepared enough in order to take advantage of getting lucky, so just luck itself is meaningless. Basically you need to put all the necessary work and effort to create the foundation first in order to be able to properly benefit from getting lucky. So you have to be able to properly use your luck, just like any other skill.
Serie problem is not her magic, is that she can not imagine herself in a world without a conflict with a possible doom... and remember... magic is all about imagination.
It has been decided that season 2 of Frielen will be produced. The video link is posted below! !ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-407jIZe28vA.html😝
I know Frieren has a ridiculous pool of mana that we've already seen. But I still find it crazy she can easily keep her entire shield up throughout Denkens tornado/firenado magic without exhausting her mana. Episode 2 she tells Fern it drains mana rapidly and can't keep full shield up for very long
Yes, both Serie and Flamme are "battle mages". On episode 10 when Flamme asks if Frieren still loves magic as she confidently said that she loved it when they first met. Frieren answers "somewhat" and Flamme goes on saying "In the end I only taught you how to fight". In this world magic is only possible if you can visualize what you want to achieve. Both Serie and Flamme couldn't visualize an era of peace, as they use magic as tools to fight. Frieren collect spells on a whim as a hobby. On episode 6 Stark says that Eisen told him that she made the Hero's Journey ridiculous and fun with random spells. She can visualize peace. That's (one of the) reasons she was able to defeat the Demon King, despite Serie being way stronger than her (in a fight). Thats why I love this show so much, everything ties in together.
Interesting that you focused on the "luck is a skill" theme from the last episode in your discussion about this one. There's actually some fascinating science around that, but to talk about this episode first: what an amazing reaction by you two! There's so much that is revealed in this short twenty minutes, and both of your observations as you watched it were on point. I loved it when Kim noticed the small detail of Denken catching Richter with his legs. Denken really is a fan favourite, and smart actions like that are what I think endear him to so many. And as a fun aside, the "Denken Donuts" joke you made is probably going to get a lot of traction in the near future 😆. But anyway, the worldbuilding, lore, and payoffs that are crammed into this one episode are simply incredible. So much about the magic system (with callbacks to how Zoltraak changed defensive magic, but left mages somewhat vulnerable to powerful physical attacks, as shared and demonstrated by Richter), the lore (one fan theory posits that the reason Denken repeated Frieren's words exactly about the joy of magic being found in the search for it, is because that particular philosophy was communicated to a large number of mages by Frieren during the period when she was helping humanity in overcoming Zoltraak), and character motivations (Flamme having a powerful teacher who is still around and influencing events) get established in this short twenty minutes. There are even future setups about "the world of magic being turned upside down" that sound exciting. Also, the animation when Frieren brings down the barrier is simply awesome. First it looks like she is channeling directly into space and time and messing with the raw fabric of the universe with her spell, as there is incredible use of black and white shadings to depict the magical effects she is creating. A sort of "negative geometry" image occurs, where light and dark are reversed at random, creating an unsettling "figure and ground" confusion (the concept of "figure and ground" is explored a lot in many Escher paintings if you're interested), before the magic finally erupts in bright colours of blue and green as the barrier is impacted, ending in uncountable shards of glass falling in glorious slow-motion. The stunned reaction shots of Denken and Genau also elevate the scene greatly. And it's accompanied by such epic and majestic music as well! The importance of the barrier is known to the viewer, because it has been set up more than once in the last few episodes. So, once again, the entire scene of it being brought down is simply awesome! What a perfect payoff! You also note the dichotomy of "competition" vs "cooperation" regarding Fern sharing the spells she knows with Ubel, and how that will likely affect the upcoming tests and potential alliances that get formed. Then there's the fascinating contrast between Serie and Frieren, and how they are opposing forces in many ways. And yes, Frieren has stayed true to her philosophy of enjoying the search for magic for well over a millennia, which is impressive (in fact, both her perseverance and your observation of this fact about her are impressive). Honestly, the word I would use to describe this kind of tenacity is not "icy" or "stubborn", but I see her more as just being a genuine, grounded person. She doesn't want to take any lazy shortcuts in life, and so she exudes an aura of honesty and genuineness that makes her very endearing as a character I think. Maybe she just grew up understanding the value of hard work and effort (I'm not sure, but perhaps there is more background on her later regarding this...I don't know any more than this first anime season though). Personally, I think the: "We can't visualize a world without the Demon King" admission from Flamme is not due to her and Serie having a love of battle. Because just think about it for a moment, if they really enjoyed battle so much, then what greater joy exists than fighting a powerful opponent like the Demon King? No, I think it is more that they feel "comfortable" with the world being in conflict, and so they simply have other priorities that - conscious or unconscious - use up their limited time. Frieren, however - because she comes from a "peaceful" world - has the will and motivation to see and bring about that massive change (with a much-needed push from Himmel of course). Regarding the trademark barrier magic from Flamme: I think that's probably her own spell and not a reward given to her by Serie. Remember, it was introduced to us by Lugner when he talked about Flamme being a natural genius with magic, so I see this more as being her signature spell, which she developed because it was closely related to her personality and experiences (recall what Ubel explained in the last episode about the the magic people choose to use and specialize in being closely related to who they are as a person). Seriously, this episode is just packed with so many great setups, revelations and resolutions, and yet it feels like it's over before you know it. This is truly incredible storytelling, and it is one of my favourite episodes to re-watch and to see others react to. Okay, now a bit of background on the idea that "Luck is a skill". Scientific studies have actually been done where people are asked if they consider themselves lucky or not. The question is posed to them in a scientific survey format, hidden in amongst a bunch of other unrelated queries. Then, once the participants of this experiment finish that initial survey they are next directed to look through a book supposedly to do some other mundane task (they are told to look for simple things like counting the number of pictures containing a truck in the book, but that is a red herring for what the experiment is really about). Because one of the pages in the book has a large block of text saying something like: "Congratulations! If you saw this you just won $100!". When the researcher returns to interact with the person, the people who point out this page and ask for their prize are then recorded as the true result of the experiment. And surprisingly, once the test results and survey answers are brought together, the group of people who said they were lucky in the initial survey were much more likely to point out the existence of the page and ask for the $100 prize. The people who didn't ask - and there were ones among both the "lucky" and "unlucky" groups who "failed" this test - either would not notice the page at all, or would just not bring it up to the researcher for various reasons. So yes, there appear to be factors like observation, self-awareness, assertiveness, and perhaps more, in what we describe as "luck". According to the research, these type of traits emerge much more often in groups of people we call "lucky" as opposed to those who are not. So perhaps you could say it is a skill. Although it would still be more correct to say that "luck" is just a shorthand term we use to describe a set of associated skills, such as being observant and being assertive/bold. Nonetheless, it's fascinating and interesting stuff!
Elf is the first race to start civilization in Frieren's world, religion, agriculture and everything in between. Just like human in our world depicting the god in humanoid form, elf depicting the goddess in elven form and then other "human" race just follow & copy it.
Very interesting to understand that defense spells are weaker to physical attacks. And while we're focusing on magic now, is a "stark" ;) reminder that a very powerful warrior could still defeat mages.
There's a quote that goes something like "Luck is when opportunity meets skill" but I don't remember who said it. Anyway, the meaning of it is that good things don't just fall into your hands, you need to have the awareness and the dexterity to catch them.
In my opinion, Serie is the most interesting character in the show, you actually have to use your brain to see behind her outer shell and what she's really about. She and Frieren also have a very interesting relationship, you'll see 😊 Now some more german lesson, the "e" at the end is pronounced, so the names are like Sen - seh, Seh - ree - eh or Lah - we - neh. And the proctors name is Genau, pronounced like Geh - now. It means accurate or exact in german.
Regarding the exposition that the world of magic (the episode title) is purely based on imagination and visualisation - please remember any points or thoughts you have as magic system will be further explored in the future episodes
The visual effects when Frieren goes to break the barrier looked like she was folding more than three spatial dimensions. A reminder that the silly little elf who gets excited over pot cleaning spells can seriously start breaking reality when she has a mind to.
u said that shes cold even without living 1000 years, but idk if thats true. After all the scene where she refuses the spell is after her whole village and family died
