>>280869807
Frieren has a lot of strong points, I like the music and artstyle, the animation is good, the basic premise of the story provides is very strong and potentially timeless… but in a lot of ways, it falls short and fails to deliver on its potential.
The magic system is initially implied to be mystical, esoteric, but quickly becomes the usual gamified DND-esque magic laser beam light show. But I still appreciate that they still use and show a lot more unconventional „toolkit“ DND magic rather than just „blue beam goes pew pew“.
Same thing with the RPG classifications of mage/cleric/warrior/hero existing in-universe, instead of understanding that these are archetypal abstractions to build proper characters from.
It always feels like Frieren really wants to to escape using the same tried and tired J/W-RPG tropes like most other anime do, and instead tell an actual story that happens to play in a more fantastical world; but they always fall back on what they know.
The contrast between the first few episodes, and the school/magic exam arc perfectly encapsulated this perfectly. Simple, but unpredictable adventuring driven by character motivations/struggle, overcoming organic obstacles, as opposed to boring, predictable vidya type game logic in order to unlock the next checkpoint/level.
