Frieren & Emotional Intelligence (Series in Review)

Would love some feedback on this one, especially the ending. 

Hello again,

Today I am here to discuss Frieren at the Funeral or as its anime adaptation is known Frieren After Journeys End. I read the manga in 48 obsessive hours a few months ago and am finding the anime every bit as enthralling.

That’s my recommendation, now let’s get to some heavier analysis.

But first, a thank you to my wonderful Patrons for making these episodes possible.

So, spoilers ahead, Frieren is about a a "fake" Hero, "corrupt" Priest, "Cowardly " warrior and a "Disgraceful" mage overcoming the demon king.

Psyche, that’s where our story starts, with our triumphant heroes returning to the kingdom their adventure first began in to celebrate their deed, but this is merely a prologue.

The actual core of the story is established fifty years later with the passing of Himmel the Hero and leader of the party.

The elven mage Frieren, while not shocked by the brevity of human life is deeply regretful that she did not take the time to know him better, as the weight of their memories together and how little she knew him really hit her.

Thus she resolves to try and understand people better whole continuing her travels to study magic; taking on party member Heiters adopted daughter as an apprentice and stewardship of Aizen the warrior's student along the way. 

The series intermingles great use of flashbacks to give us a sense of the original party and their impact on Frieren, as well as weaving new stories. Many small such as seeking out a particular flower or grand, such as defeating one of the Demon Kings surviving generals.

Despite a heartstring tugging start, the story is more whimsically bittersweet or perhaps nostalgic than angsty or action packed, though when it wants such moments to hit they hit.

That’s the general premise, and as I said I already recommended it.

I could talk about the amazing music, or animation, its VA’s good work, themes regarding time or story structure but people are already doing that.

So, what I want to discuss is how emotional intelligence plays such an integral role in the story and its characters.

There’s a litany of little scenes I could use to discuss this, such as:

Heiter the Priest praying for Aizec’s deceased family even while dwarves don’t believe in an afterlife.

Rather than him trying to push his religion onto Aizen he accepts the rationale there may be nothing after death, but notes he finds it more convenient to believe those who lived hard lives can now enjoy themselves.

Followed by Aizen, who, while not adopting the religion does embrace the sentiment in which his friends’ words were intended.

Or more overtly how during the funeral of Himmel the public begins expressing anger at Frieren for seemingly showing no emotion.

Rather than turning it into a fight that would keep her as the focus or not understanding her reaction, Frieren’s surviving party members basically make obnoxious spectacles of themselves to draw the ire off her entirely.

The party members both past and present always understanding and acceptance of Frieren’s long view of time is in of itself something seen perpetually but always understated. No one resents her for being how she is or tries to force her to be like them.

Let alone how Fern, Heiter the priests daughter, is well aware of and takes her mentors various eccentricities into consideration with a good mix of gentle support and firmness that keeps their relationship balanced.

But Frieren herself is not bereft of emotional intelligence of her own, or at least she is not a mere cypher to be written on by her comrades, nor are they perfect in themselves.

It was Frieren who convinced Heiter not to try and distance Fern from himself before he passed on and she who helped Fern realize why she chose magic as her profession.

Similarly, Aizen accidentally wounded his own student in a sparring match when his body reacted on instinct and he was too shocked with himself to address the matter at the time and doesn’t want to force his presence on Stark after it. Instead ensuring Frieren looks out for him, and she proves herself quite capable at reading and supporting the youth.

Still, the series best example of emotional intelligence and its impact on others is in the character Himmel, a man whose been dead for 98% of the story.

Leader of the party and seen by the public as the legendary hero who was destined to save the world from calamity, Himmel can on the surface appear vain, a little petty and all to cavalier.

But while the vanity is real, his relaxed demeanor obscures a very thoughtful man. 

As a child, after aiding a merchant and being give a replica of the legendary hero sword, and rather than rising to fellow orphan Heiter's bait, took his cynical comments and turn them into motivation. A resilient sort of charm that ended up leading Heiter to join his party.

Also his response to failing to draw the legendary sword was simply to say it would be all the more impressive then when he slayed the Demon King as a “fake hero”.

We see in a separate flashback, Aizen confessing that he is perpetually afraid and in his own eyes a coward who fled when his home came under attack, and asking if they should keep him.

In response Himmel simply welcomes this facet of Aizen’s personality and assures the man if he runs, they will be running with him, essentially validating his emotions rather than trying to dismiss or overcome them.

Still, it’s clearest of all when it comes to his interactions with Frieren.

Off the cuff is the fact he is obviously utterly in love with her, but also entirely cognizant she doesn’t and perhaps cannot see him that way. This never once undermines or even influences how he interacts with her, not even fifty years of silence mired this casual acceptance of his friend who he knows may regard him as nothing more than a drop of water in a barrel.

There’s also his insight that Frieren takes great joy in seeing how others react to things such as her magic or a grand scenery and being able to tell she’d enjoy something based on that alone even though it takes Frieren millennia to realize the same fact about herself.

This didn’t stop him from being willing to disagree with her though.

From contesting Frieren’s decision to carelessly obliterate what were essentially zombified knights because it showed a disregard for the dead. A fact which Frieren, while not sharing the belief takes seriously even after he passes and that we see the positive knock-on effects of.

But also in him advocating for potential peace between humans and demons when it seemed possible despite her assurance it was not but also accepting reality when it stood before them.

Qucik aside, but I find it interesting how Frieren herself makes it a point to confirm demons are still monsters before fighting them. It’s subtle, but always there.

Still, the peak of this wisdom comes when during a flashback Frieren mentions she is likely the only one who remembers her mentors face, who remembers the Legendary Mage Flamme as something other than a fairy tale.

Not long after we see Frieren ask why Himmel even wants statues of them everywhere they save and he offers the usual vain answer first, before in all seriousness explaining:

Insert scene here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRN8dPBcdw&list=PLRe9ARNnYSY6RO65QSz2jVhfdd7P1R9ju&index=5

There’s not much more I can say to that, Himmel was thinking about how his friend might feel alone in a thousand years and wanted to do everything he could to ensure that was not the case. All cos of an idle comment and we see these statues do bring her a sense of comfort and how influential Himmel was in her life. 

As I said, I really appreciate the fact that both accept frieren as is and know not to push her when it comes to human connections while still being firm in regard to at least respecting social rituals and ideas.

The parties are, I think, very good models friendship in general and especially between those who experience the world very differently from one another.

& that’s all for now, thanks for tuning in!

Example of people covering the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzocTU0lHFc