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PaperclipPerfector
10hr ago
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Notes -
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.
It's certainly a strange inclusion when you look at the rest of the anime list, but if you look at top X lists for media in general it doesn't stand out.
Every publicly voted top list is always a mix of "reddit picks" with actually good content, typically biased towards the former. You need the right set of circumstances for the good stuff to break through, which most properties miss out on. To use a few examples of Anime which are far superior to anything in that list:
Frieren manages to be recent, high quality in every aspect*, and not too off-putting for a more general audience. Maybe it doesn't trouble your personal top 10, but then none of MALs list would trouble the top 10 of a discerning viewer.
A unique factor for MAL in particular is the tendency for some shows to blow up in popularity and fall off just as quickly - though in part due to competitive voting from different fandoms. The FMA fandom is notorious for voting down anything which threatens its position at the top of MAL (at least until Frieren broke through). I recall shows like Oshi no ko suddenly claiming the top spot, before a combination of a mediocre follow-up with agressive down voting took it off. For this reason, I would be stunned if Re:zero managed to cling on
*I haven't actually watched the anime, I have only read the manga. The manga is excellent, and I understand that the anime is a well done adaptation
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