SOS Bros React - Frieren Episode 19 - Well-Laid Plans 

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Frieren: "Man, I should really connect with and cherish the people I encounter more, cause even if it's just a blink of my life, it's pretty big in their shorter lives." Bros: "Are we still here with these people, I don't care about them cause they will just be here for a blink of the show."

This is the most impressive L I've ever seen anyone take, and on this show of all of them? You have to kind of admire it.

"dissapointed at how slow this arc is going" and "its unfortunate we're still in this section of the story" is crazy. WE ARE 2 EPISODES IN

The thing about thinking of this as a tournament arc is it's really not a tournament in the shonen sense, and having that frame of reference even subconsciously will hinder this exam arc. This is Frieren; everything is slow-paced and revels in the details, so even when it comes to a combat/magic/puzzle-oriented exam, the pacing will continue as it has been. Slow and detailed. I really enjoyed the puzzle-solving aspect of their plan to catch the Stille, and that the factors of it were revealed so methodically, including the world-building elements and magical mechanics that made them work.

I'm very disappointed in the bros right now. I love their quick analysis usually but they immediately have decided that this is a generic shounen arc and wont change their minds about it (it's been only TWO episodes). The heart and soul of this show is and always has been about getting to know people. There's always going to be time for Stark, Fern, and Frieren. I get the dislike of exposition but they didn't understand what the plan was until it was spelled out for them like an impatient Dungeon Master would do.

704 dislikes compared to 574 likes according to the "bring back youtube dislikes" plugin? Wow, that's the worst like to dislike ratio I've seen for SoS.

Wow, that discussion. The amount of irony calling it dbz level exposition for stupid people when they don’t understand their plan. And the hypocrisy of saying this arc is dragging just to turn around and say they need more of this otherwise they have no reason to care about the characters being introduced.

"I need a lot more from these characters to feel invested." Bros, you're _two episodes_ into a new arc. _Let the show cook!_ ("Ew, you put raw eggs in your cake batter? Gross-I'm not going to eat _that!"_ -Semblance of Sanity, probably)

I've noticed this in Caleb's Persona streams too, but it feels like they're really developing an issue in regards to letting plot cook. Rather than allow the set up and other things establish themselves and build up over time, if they're not impressed or find fault in it, they chalk it up to bad writing and allow that to influence how they view what is presently happening or what is to come. Frankly, I think it's insane that either of them could "lose faith" in something that has wowed them from the beginning and has consistently done so. They really need to get out of that headspace and tendency before it becomes a regular issue. And in regards to clichés, I think they need to really remember that something having a cliché doesn’t matter, it's the execution that matters. I've seen them yell "Tournament Arc!" For other Anime and loved them, but for them to look at the exam arc, when it isn’t even a Tournament Arc in the general sense, and give it heavy scrutiny feels like a double standard, in a way. It wouldn’t hurt for them to rewatch these episodes, turn off their brains, and just take in the information instead of trying to find problems. There's also the issue they have with the characters of this arc. Where was this assumption that they shouldn't care when they met Kraft? Or Voll? To assume that these characters don't matter when they're named, have unique characteristics and designs, and are Frieren and Fern's peers when we've had minimal exposure to other Mages, is a bit shortsighted. Love them, but I didn’t subscribe to watch them nitpick or act like they can do better writing, when they've been wowed by the writing of Frieren many times before.

I wondered why they think we'll never see those characters again or something, like wtf, they can predict the future?

Why are they so resistant to letting the arc develop? Like guys it’s the second episode of a major arc that will cover the remainder of the season. The reason you haven’t gotten details on everything yet is because it’s still cooking. The proverbial cake is still being made and you are complaining about how it tastes.

How is this discussion even worse than last week's, I need a drink

I understood the complaints of last episode, and actually agreed with somewhat. But here I'm just confused. Feels like you are looking for issues that aren't there.

Huh. I've seen some tournements in various anime, but even so, in both the manga and anime, the exam arc in Frieren still seems fairly unique to me. But I guess not to Bros, so, just a difference in opinion, I guess, or they've just seen soooo many tournament and exams arcs that they won't even give it a chance, I suppose.

Really rough how both the Frieren and Apothecary Reactions are looking right now. :/

Very hard to watch the reaction. Jacob seemed like he was trying to find things to complain about.

lol For that much criticism, they still haven't realize this arc will extend all the way to the end of this anime: First 60 chaps of the Frieren manga = all 28 eps of the Frieren anime adaptation (S1).

Their preconceptions about this arc need to be toned down and someone should tell them that this exam is taking the rest of the season. They should drop the show if they don't want to watch it or see the new characters. These guys made it through HxH and yet they can't sit through TWO episodes of a new arc without immediately complaining about it being generic and having bad pacing. I just know I'm not gonna watch them be sulky through the rest of the show, so I'm not watching their next Frieren reactions. At least I appreciate the honesty.

They really forgot what show they are watching for the sake of shallow criticizm, dude is complaining the arc is slow when this whole show is slow by design and been slower, that's how the show has been from the start, by comparison this arc is the more fast paced action packed part of this first season so far, he complains that they are just setting up character we won't see but the entire show has literally been about setting up characters you only see in one episode or 2 before going away (by comparaison now we've already setup that we're gonna see these characters for more than 1 or 2 episodes) but it is suddenly only a problem now ? They complain about characters thinking or talking to do exposition about what is happening and what other characters are doing but that literally how the entire show has been, they literally give you flashback that do exactly that right after something has happened, in all their fights everyone was going on about how Demons fight or how Fern is fast at firing magic or Aura's power work, that's how the entire show has been but it is only an issue now ? The entire show is thematically about the passing of time and the slow paced life of adventure of Frieren but they somehow only now (in the actually not slow part of the show) did they notice that ? Such weird and inconsistent takes. The funny part is that none of them understood what Frieren's plan was nor what any of the stuff that the "people were expositing" until the character actually explained it lol but then Caleb goes and critizing it as "exposition for the sake of the audience " and compares it to DBZ LMAO insinuating it is bad, none of the stuff exposited by the characters was something you guys actually figured out on your own (weither the fact that the birds are attracted to water and not to magic or why they froze the water or anything Denken talked about,..etc). And how you complain about that being a bad thing because Frieren is an "all powerful mage" that they shouldn't go into the mechanics of it or how it works is just dumb, it's like you guys magically forgot what show you are watching while disregarding the context and narrative of the story entirely, Frieren always explained the mechanics of her magic even the stupidest one like making flower field (the fact that she needs to see the actual flower) or flying magic or Zoltraak or defense magic, and now it is even more important because this part of the story involves around strategizing and using your magic with its constraints to reach a goal that many other mages with their specific type of magic and constraints are all fighting for. And the fact they are complaining about character names showing up is just crazy lol, Caleb really said "as if we are gonna care about them", dude is literally prepared from the start to not care about the characters just because he wants to hate this arc, what a shallow and bad faithed argument. Also missing the entire point of Ubel and the exam and then their nonsense complains about the guy saying that he was aiming to kill her insinuating it is badly written when they know absolutely nothing about the characters and then they will obviously continue to misread and misunderstand the subtle characterization of these characters until the show explains it and spoon-feeds it to them and only then will they get it but will complain that the show made them actually understand the character lol (that is if they understand it but from their track record they seem to miss entirely these stuff) They also seem to really want to convince themselves this is a shounen tournament arc where they expect fast paced mage fights and some climactic battles and disposable characters, bruh this is Frieren, you've watched enough already to know what kind of show this is and what the themes and focus of this anime is about, if you liked the start of the show then you're still getting exactly that now, the anime is still character focused focusing the human relations and Frieren's development and the people around her, the only thing that changed is that now we're getting more of that from multiple characters and more good world building outside of Frieren's view of the world and magic which is biased by her being an old powerful mage elf. I'm really disappointed in their analysis and reviews of the shows they watch, they are starting to get lower and lower in quality while being more condescending and don't even accept criticism or corrections. SOS's reviews lately in all shows and especially on Frieren (also Vinland Saga, Apothecary diaries,...) are pretty bad, they always seem to miss tons of details and miss the entire point of what is happening and just criticize or do predictions based on their own speculations on what is happening and stuff that was already proven wrong lol.

Even some reactors who watch mostly shonens had better discussions than them.. I'm REALLY disappointed.. :/

did these guys get lobotomized between episode 17 and 18 ? It's been only 2 episodes since arc the started and they are trying to pull out any excuse they can from their sphincters which are all mostly nothing burgers.

The review - Thanks idiot show for treating us like idiots and reminding us the rules of the game One literal series over - Nah fam this isn't the Emperor at all even if everyone in the show admitted it is. There's a reason most of us dip after the reaction.

Eh, they're thinking about this in such a one-dimensional way, expecting quick payoffs like "Why should i care about these characters" etc. Which i guess can make sense, since a lot of the episodes so far have been standalone little stories and snippets. This episode mostly dealt with Frieren's plan and its fallout, setting up some conflict. They have barely even gotten started with fighting and revealing the different types of modern magic and their own philosophies. It's frustrating to see them have such an anxious and impatient take on what is very obviously a larger story arc. In Frieren no less, where "slow burn" goes without saying.

I'm not here to hate on the either of you guys but these last few reactions for the series have been weird. You guys are making a lot of assumptions about what the arc and characters are about. You are complaining about not feeling invested in 4-5 new characters after literally not getting anything from them except there names in single episode. I really would like to understand how you would prefer to have a new group of characters introduced. Clearly you cant be suggesting that the story is supposed to set up the mage exam, the first test and also give you an emotional connection to 4-5 new characters in 22 minutes. Hell, even in this reaction you guys went from not caring about Denken to liking him and last episode you didn't care about Lawine and Kanne until the end. It seems like the show is doing a pretty good job of making invested in the new characters if they can make you like 3 of them this fast. Its just so weird to see you guys act like this when I've literally watched you guys be wrong about arcs like this numerous times in the past. (HxH, MHA). I don't think you guys hat the show by any means but it does come off like you were more invested when you where mainly shipping Fern and Stark and now that you don't have that you've proceeded to make assumption and nitpick the hell out of the show for daring to take its time in establish new characters and worldbuilding as opposed to rushing through everything.

Kinda out of nowhere, weird discussion. It seems like the Bros are trying to find problems where there are none, which puts them in a negative mindset from the get-go and they don't give the show time to develop anything. Anime burnout?

The discussion was pretty much just criticizing the show for 10 minutes and we're only 2 episodes into the arc. Not looking forward to the upcoming reactions...

+1 comments to feeling disappointed. I REALLY like your guys videos back in the day. I even defended you guys during the Kaguya Movie downvote spree. But this one really grated on me. I'm sad.

Oh man.. I've been requesting this show thinking it would be THE PERFECT SHOW for them.. How disappointing *insert Desperate CJ meme here*

You guys are way too author brained on your analysis. You want to view everything through some macro "what was the creator doing" lens and it's skewing your commentary. Stop basing each episode on what you THINK is gonna happen in 4-5 episodes and getting disappointed at the SHOW instead of YOURSELVES when those 20 minutes of theory crafting and discussion aren't the same.

Generally, I'm a fan of their reaction tho… I feel that they just try to adopt their "knowledge and experience of reacting japanese anime" to understand the show and complained coz it doesn't work. So sad. You just need to enjoy the show with flat mind and no assumption or forecasting.

Man, the comments 😂. First their Apothecary Diaries reaction and now this. I’ve watched some of their reactions where they make a whole new story in their discussions but these recent ones are in another level. I wonder if they need a break from anime.

I didn't really resonate with the discussion. I do agree there is a shift in direction and the arc is taking the conventional route of introducing a "tournament". I still like it in spite of the flaws because it introduce new characters that I quickly like and I remember their traits very well even if they are not as fleshed out as the main cast. I got to see Frieren being outside her comfort zone as she has to mingle with characters on a different wavelength than hers. I learnt more about the world outside the main cast's perspective. They mostly visited villages and cities that lack of mages. What would a city for mages look like? Looks to me that because there are fewer mages around the world, the ones remaining would be those who are tough enough to survive especially in the North where Demons are more prevalent. I agree with their point that the action so far in the arc hasn't been special. Though those action scenes weren't really intended to be spectacles or set pieces. I didn't mind the exposition at all. Though it's kind of unfair to compare it to DBZ because the exposition from Denken serves to explain the environment which we're not that familiar with and brings insight to what kind of person Denken is. Additionally those exposition didn't really take anything away since this is a new environment compared to the previous villages and cities. Can't be help if the bros were disappointed but their points didn't really click with me. Maybe Ep 20 or 21 will change their mind, but something tells me that they may double down.

I didn't comment last week on this episode hoping the next one would make you understand better what this arc is about, spoiler for the viewers, it gets worse. I honestly think you should quit anime for a while if every single trope bothers you this much, no matter how well it's implemented. It's sad to see

I was wondering why there's quite a lot of dislikes than usual. Then I listened to the discussion, no wonder. Very disappointing, even worse reactors had better reactions and discussions. Have another dislike.

Between this and apothecary diaries I just can’t even watch these reactions

big L this time fellas

Just let it cook, all of your problems are solved in later episodes.

Instead of an introduction to the other mages, I view these last two eps as an introduction to the greater magic system and the association that controls it. Which is why I'm okay with the expositions. Magic's too far removed from our own reality that it needs a bit more prodding along for most viewers.

Bros are really preemptively biased, "tournament arc" = bad. They really watched too many shows because they are reluctant to let the show do its thing because other anime did this type of arc badly. Why is the interaction between the community and them so bad. What are even the mods doing, there's limited talk on the opinion/criticism that community offers. I'm disappointed frankly.

Man i really hope they can enjoy the next tournament, i mean the dungeon arc easily one of the best arc in Frieren anime so far

I'm so happy people are calling you guys out lol. Your reactions have gotten so rough

This is a really rough reaction to sit through, what a shame.

This arc is still ongoing currently and probably gonna last the rest of the season. I thought it was pretty obvious that this arc will be long considering the number of new characters introduced. And with only 2 eps in, i feel like your dissatisfaction with the arc is premature. I think your issues with the arc, characters and magic system will be easily resolved after a few eps😅.

First Alicia and now the bros? i wonder whats about this arc that makes ppl brain shortcircuit for a bit

They're coming around to Denken the GOAT, all according to plan.

Frieren is a slow story. Started that way and returned to that way

Denkens monologue was very well written. No action, suspense, etc but it captures your attention

Alright boys, I think that’s it for me. Not just talking about Frieren reactions, but like, y’all in general. When I first discovered you guys, you seemed very passionate about everything you watched, and your discussions stood out because of your enthusiasm for what you’re watching. That enthusiasm is gone, and now all we’re getting is pointless complaints, theories that are just really badly conceived headcanons, and a noticeable lack of passion or care for anything you’re watching. It’s almost as if you guys hate everything you’re reacting to, and now have an ego, as if these stories are so beneath you. Jacob especially has very uninformed takes regarding animation and weirdly impatient takes regarding writing. I guess it could be attributed to burnout, but when you guys market yourselves with your personalities/willingness to delve into and analyze fiction, being as unlikeable as you are isn’t doing you any favors. Also, I took a look in y’all’s Discord, and wow. People in there really don’t like you guys anymore, and are instead just there for the community that also doesn’t like you anymore. Don’t think that’s how it should be, but hey, whatever I guess

The amount of bullshit in the discussion surpassed even the amount of bored Caleb's face during the episode. They really should go on a break imo

I was looking forward to this, but after reading the comments I guess i'll pass, maybe the whole series in general. I like these two but they have a chip on their shoulders about the genres they like to consume.

Its crazy how fast they turned on this arc and show in general as if they werent watching a show based on rpg cliches just very well written one. I dont understand their aversion to this arc.

Denken is a terrifying wise old mage, makes me think if he has kids, would they end up like Fern

Semblance of Sanity is the Benjamin Button of reaction channels, but instead of aging backwards they improve backwards. Becoming worse with each passing year.

Guys please…

You guys need to touch some grass.

I'd write a long constructive critisism of these reaction/discussion vids here but others have already done it in these comments better than I ever could, SoS wouldn't read it anyway, and the mods probably won't show it to them. Really dissapointed in how they're going about this.

Admittedly, this is an arc that takes a moment to grow on you, but give it time because it's so damn good. Remember that of during the first half we haven't really lingered in a single place for a while, this is an arc that needs to set up people concepts and relationships. It's different, but it will 100% pay off.

Please trust the show in setting up, it knows what’s it’s doing 🙏🙏

Jjk spends half an episode explaining cursed techniques = bros like OMFG THIS IS PEAK MAPPA IS GOATED Frieren explains how spells work = bros like omfg this is so slow and lame and lets get out of this arc already 😩😩🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

I'm not sure I understand. It seems like they almost wanted this exam to be like some of the other episodes where it's done in like an episode or 2 and then we've already moved on or something. We did have that demon arc though which took more than 2 episodes. Also the show heavily implies the journey to Ende would take about 10 years again but also the demon king is already dead so naturally at least part of what is going to make this a true journey is all kinds of pit stops and side arcs, like it's a slight tone shift but I feel like it's also expected given the way the journey is set up. The only other option I can think of is they thought those 10 years would be highly condensed in like 2, maybe 3 seasons of anime and then that's it and also that it would be highly episodic with random one-off stories the whole way. I definitely don't dislike some of the single episode stories that we've seen up to this point but at the same time idk that even a show as good as Frieren would be able to keep things interesting staying episodic for more than like 2 seasons, I think it needs moments like this where it goes into a proper story arc for a bit.

The Bros are getting cooked in the comments, man. It's ok. The show is going somewhere they were not expecting and it caught them off guard. Also, this is the first arc that takes it's time to develop, so I understand their confusion. I think they forgot this story is about Fern and Stark too, so the story can't have one time-skip after the other . **Spoilers below** I really think the bros will warm up to the new characters and end up loving them by the time the first test ends. I can't wait for the second test, lmao. I missed Stark too, btw. But this arc is just FANTASTIC even without him.

I don't like the reaction for this episode, not enjoyable

jujutsu kaisen will clumsily exposition its techniques and spend all episode in boring, dragged out, improvised fighting that obviously wasn't in the manga, yet when Frieren does clumsy exposition to a far less offensive degree without the dragged out fighting, it's 'bad'. like, I do think this arc isn't as well paced as the rest of the story, but their criticisms are nothing of the sort, it's baseless assumptions based on the future rather than the present.

Bros, you gotta let the show cook

I feel like the pacing gets questioned because most people aren't used to planning before hand with battles, with any kind of situation, because in most if not all battle anime they don't plan anything until they have to. Frieren always goes into any confrontation with a plan in mind and victory assured or at least a good probability of victory. This one of the most refreshing aspects of the show imo, which means when they take action its fast, not many long battles, whether thats a good thing is a bad thing, it is up to you, i myself think its good it keeps you wanting more instead of it drawing out for too long, e.g. jjk, I feel like a lot of the fights in season 2 went on for too long and especially the "good guys" didnt go in with a good plan or any kinda plan tbh and as a result many died,Frieren dont fuck around... Unless it's her day off 😂

To be honest, I kinda have the same feel as them on this arc I also kinda didn't like it but that was back when I was reading the manga. Watching it now animted is a different experience. I understand following only Frierens group, getting attached to them for majority of the season and then suddenly introducing a lot of new characters be like "ew who R these people" lol but damn they need to chill and just have faith in this show cuz watdafak was dat discussion hahaha. Except for Denken it felt like they just complained about everything.

(adding on to my previous comment) Even though I disagree with you both, I sincerely hope that fact, and the other negative comments here, do not discourage you guys from speaking your mind and saying exactly how you feel about any given show.

Truth is out. This is not their type of fantasy shows. Anything that deviates from the likes of LOTR or Avatar or Mushoku, the serious fantasy, is hard for them to like😮. They are not into chilled fantasy or slice of life wrapped within fantasy

DBZ thing? think the audience is stupid? If they didn't explain you would be lost as you seemed to be and in the end you were still lost

I disagree with most things they said in the reaction, but let's not be disrespectful - everyone has right to have their own opinion, and to be fair, they critisized certain aspects of literally every show they watched (at least from what I've seen). The only thing I'd say - sometimes it would be nice for them to put their personal bias aside for a moment and try to look at it from a different side, there's a reason this arc is rated very highly by many people, otherwise I doubt they (or any fan who watches this video) would enjoy the experience. Other than that was happy to hear your thoughts and looking forward to the future content 🙏

It's tough, I agree with most of their reasoning. I just think they are being a bit too harsh on the show for a dip in quality. Like they even say it themselves that Frieren set a high bar, but then they don't acknowledge that this is still the same show and could return to such a quality in the future. Watching a show is a two way street, and they have given up on TRYING to like any of the new characters unless they show some motivation. Yes it is not as good as what came before it, but I still think you can show interest in the new characters potential without faking it, all you have to do is not disregard them

Just looking at the comments deterred me from actually watching this... I watch reactions mostly as a comforting tool and to interact with a story on a deeper level. I have watched both of them for a really long time by now and over the years I had some misgivings at times but even then I never really had a huge problem with their content in general since everything is subjective after all, I don't expect or even want them to like everything just because I like it. That said, back then, when I heavily disagreed with a take or multiple takes of the boys a lot of people still defended them and said that they had valid complaints... I see maybe 1% of people here defending this video (which I haven't even seen yet) which tells me that this really won't brighten up my day if I expect to see someone experience and discuss Frieren in a meaningful way (no need to praise it if you have legitamte criticism ofc). If the overwhelming majority of your viewers is this displeased about how you guys are handling this show then maybe you should actually address it, drop it or at the very least take a break. Another commenter I saw under this video said that you guys are too "author brained" and that is a very vaild criticism that I totally agree with. If anyone remembers me from my comments under their HxH reactions I once had a huge rant about their reaction to the Heaven's arena arc back then when they tried to anticipate the author and saw everything through the author's viewpoint. I'm not saying that there isn't value to looking at a story like that from time to time, especially if you want to learn to write yourself but you guys have always overdone that way too much. I've said back then already that Togashi explained in an old interview that he usually lets the characters act by themselves - he asks himself "what would Gon want to do?" etc. and then just let's the story play out that way. If you don't take that into consideration and assume that the whole story is instead railroaded by the author entirely then you completely lose the meaning that characters in a story have. Anyway, not sure if I got my point across. Long story short, your guys' approach to reacting and discussing shows became too "meta" for my liking and I feel like it has only gotten worse from what I saw. It just sadly isn't my cup of tea anymore. If you guys still have fun doing this either way even with pretty much everyone here in the comments being disappointed then feel free to continue as always, I guess. However I suspect getting so big and receiving so much from patreons kinda sucked all the passion and fun out of you guys and you are now just going through the motions so people keep supporting you on patreon to be honest... If anyone feels similarly to me then I can only recommend the channel Autosave. The way I feel about those two as reactors and episode analysts is kind of how I felt about the SoS bros at the beginning when I first found them. I really hope they don't turn out the same and lose all their passion over time as well...

I could swear they did say the show should slow down a bit from the months of time skips and when it happened they are complaining about the pacing since the start of this arc kind of childish but to me what would really decide is next episode becuse it's really good with characters Development and all if they didn't like it Either i fear we really lost their good discussions ... Sigh this is not what i waited a week for...

Fern shielded efficiently against multi directional and super powerful Qual spells when she was still tiny. As for the other groups: Party is split, obviously it'll take longer to resolve on screen. Also, remember the episode where they focused on a random 400 year old dwarf, or the old ass Elf,... As for the test being deadly, there might be reasons behind it, right?! We had a reason, logical or not, for pretty much everything, eventually.

Frieren is in a shounen demografic

This episode was indeed the slowest of all, and had some rough spots with animation. It felt like they tried to stretch the content to fit into the timeframe, simultaneously saving resources for next episodes. Thank God it's only this episode.

this is getting annoying

Anyone have recommendations for other react channels? Preferably ones that aren't too loud.

All I'll say is, Denken got hands.

I also feel this arc felt very off in the first round of the exam. The second round feels normal again tho idk how to put it into words.

Ya'll need to let the show cook, the arc just started bruv

Wow, the best about this reaction was the comment section XD

I get they don't like the change in pace and the typical exam arc trope but I hope they let it cook. They're only 2 episodes in after all. This arc is great and introduces many important characters that reoccur later as well.

If you don't like this direction of storytelling, maybe you should drop the show altogether instead of expecting it to be what you want it to be and reacting for views. That way, both your and the viewers' time and energy will be saved. Don't do what you don't wanna. Just a suggestion.

Really good discussion here. I struggled a lot with this arc and eventually liked what the show was doing but I had plenty of the same worries and criticisms they have here. So it was nice to see someone else struggling. Very curious to see what they will think of the rest of the episodes. I think this really picks up on the next test.

Yeah Denken is a really good intro character in to this arc

Look for homers and the ones who are up to date with the show. I get your grievances, their takes are probably the rare ones in regards to what the overwhelming opinion of the community. Here's what I'll say about their takes this episode. Its been made clear that they're just not fans of exam style, good ol exposition explain for the audience type of schtick while in battle. I think its because frieren is backwards in its style. We see ALLLL the mages besides frieren, denken, and fern have their characters built BEFORE seeing their magic which is why their magic and style ends up being more captivating and interesting. We'll see most of the cast have their characters explored AFTER the exam or during the later stages of the exam so that's the grounds on WHY they probably don't care YET about the other mages. At this point in time, they probably wouldn't expect these other mages to have some character development so their confused on why the show is giving them a lot more airtime. Kanne and Lawine were explained but their characters are the simplest of the bunch so I get that they'd be less interesting so far. Honestly catching up on the episodes, the action of frieren is tactical but slowness in this arc it might be a little unbearable for them because they just don't feel the need to preserve these characters. Mind you this is arc and moving forward is the FIRST time we even get what is considered impactful side characters in the anime that isn't involve with frieren directly so its a change of pace that the bois are probably not expecting from frieren. Last week was unbearable but this week was a little better honestly. Atleast they didn't rag on a character just because they're not OP like Kanne and Lawine. I hated that fern and frieren are not the normal bar for mages as we show next episode with the exposition of modern vs past magic.

Man… this reaction was rough. Just shitting on arc

Oh guys... the exam is just a pretext for the show to introduce us to a whole lot of characters very fast. Putting them into a very stressful situation like this we can see very fast who they are, what their strengths are and so on. Basically what we're seeing here is the army that's going to fight the demons in the future.... Also, very importantly, the exam is used to help us understand the magic system in this world. So, let me give you a dislike

I do find it odd that they kinda repeat themselves a bit this episode. Almost like a commercial break that causes characters to restate what they said before the break.

Of all reaction channels never thought i would be dine with this one, found these guys during Haikuuu and they just arent the same, im not the biggest fan of Frieren but damn its the 2nd episode of an arc, do they want them to pull a god of highschool and intrudce a thkusand charecters in three episodes

Quite a lot of fair criticism in your commentary (and a lot of whining in the comments, wow people need to chill). I didn't mind the pacing of this arc in the manga, but when watching the anime I did feel letdown whenever an episode ended, because it doesn't feel like much happens. That did not happen in the episodes prior to this arc, which often had two subplots and at least one of them completely resolved, or had much higher stakes. Here we have a tournament without stakes involving characters we aren't given enough reasons to care about, and Frieren doesn't care about winning, but likely will anyways. Fern's party already caught the bird, but doesn't seem to be in any real danger, and the only characters who actually died didn't even have a story. It's not a bad episode, but it's a little harder to feel invested when the characters are supposedly in a dangerous situation and we, the audience, don't feel tense. But uh, I feel like people are reading way too much into this 10minute review of an episode. I could spend an hour talking about the parts I don't like in my favorite episodes of a show.

Honestly, I'm very disappointed. I held out a 19 episode binge because I loved your Arcane reactions, which made sense in my head. I lost about half my hope for your Frieren reactions when Episode 14 ended and you were too busy making light jests about the state of Frieren and Himmel's thought processes instead of paying attention to the emotional impact two people from different worlds would feel about a human emotion we've coined 'love' This honestly brings me to the brink of stopping my watching of your reactions completely. Your 30-minute long theory-crafting after episodes was a bit ambitious, and filled with hopes, but when the next episode didn't match the show's you seemed to have lost interest in the direction the show veered. As D&D players, I had hoped you would find the most interest in the exposition, world building, and details in characterization, but instead I have seen more and more criticism over the last few episodes. Good luck, gentlemen.

Je-sus christ this comment section. And here I thought a show like Frieren would have an appropiately chill base. It's ok to be wary of what seems like a genre or focus shift of a show you loved up till that point. It's ok to overanalyse and try to anticipate the writer's intent. A LOT of Frieren readers were understandably concerned when the exams came around that Frieren was going to morph into a character menagerie tournament arc, because that was the initial vibe this gave and wasn't even close to the main draw of the series. This, the slightly wary "i wonder where they're going with this" was the default stance. And had it not been, it would still be ok for someone to interpret it that way! That's what media "is", that's what reaction channels are "for", to see other people experiment the things we have and draw their own conclusions. It's not the first time I read this crap on a reaction that doesn't align with what the viewers want, and it's not the last. But I didn't expect it here, on a channel whose main focus is overanalysing everything, on an extremely laid-back and inherently kind show. Be better, people.

Speaking of slow pacing, none of the 2023 anime were as bad as Mushoku Tensei season 2. They actually stretch the 3 or 4 episode story to 12 episodes. Season 2 of Mushoku Tensei had an incredibly slow and pointless story, it was a complete waste of time

cringe

While I agree the bros did not care to dig into this episode as maybe they should, people in the comments were denouncing them as if they were complete amateurs or hacks. The arc is slow, and the characters shown thus far have yet to give us a reason to care about them moving forward. The bros are entitled to dislike how this is going at the moment and still appreciate the show as a whole!

We in the Shonen manga era 😂

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