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PaperclipPerfector
14hr ago
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So what's up with Frieren: Beyond Journey's End? It's the number one show on MAL with an average rating of 9.24 after almost a million reviews. However, it doesn't really fall into traditional categories of top anime. For example, the rest of the top 10 is:
While some of the list is made up of actually good shows, a lot of it is the final season/bonus content for a popular anime. Basically the only people who watch this stuff have already seen everything in the show up to this point, so they are rather predisposed to like the ultimate content. Longer anime (like FMA:B and HxH) also have some of this effect because if you watched (e.g.) 150 episodes of something you'd better like it (not to say that they're bad anime, just that this helps push them into the top 10). But Frieren is the first season of a new show and only has 24 episodes so it doesn't really fall into this category.
It's also not exactly a groundbreaking anime. It's heavily trope-y and mostly uninterested in examining the assumptions of its world, except of course for the ramifications of having effectively-immortal beings. This latter aspect is explored in depth (especially through Frieren's interpersonal relationships) and this is done reasonably well. Narratively, the show is incomplete, and doesn't even end on a particularly dramatic note (with the last 8 episodes or so spent on a mostly-self-contained subplot). None of the ongoing hooks were resolved at the end of the season. The art/music/VA are neither exceptionally good nor bad. Overall, I would say it's a fine anime. I talked with someone else I know IRL who likes anime, and he agreed that it's good, but not greatest of all time.
So why is it rated so highly? Perhaps it's the second season, but (as discussed above) in that case the second season should be rated higher than the first, but it currently sits at 8.84. Maybe because it's widely available on streaming platforms? Paging @Lewyn @vorpa-glavo who have recommended this in the past.
Frieren is probably my favorite anime, not even considering the second season, so I’ll try to answer. I would say combination of a few things is why it has a high rating. The characters, they feel more real and are much more well developed than typical anime. Isekai fantasy has been huge for a few years now, and this is just fantasy, but a lot of the elements are there and done in a very high quality way; the fight scenes were very well done, and done in a grounded and realistic manner for fantasy. That feeling of nostalgia, and comparing the past adventure to current adventure, is a good hook, and gives a certain weight to the world in the story, you get a sense the world has history, etc. I think the characters themselves are really popular but I’m not too familiar with that.
It’s a slice of life fantasy anime with tons of great fight scenes and memorable characters, high quality animation, what’s not to love.
Also these types of anime pretty much never end and so there is not an expectation of climax or conclusion at the end of the first season.
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