Contains spoilers

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Time is inevitable; it can be both your greatest ally or your worst enemy, depending on how you reflect on it. Similar to money, it is also limited, but the memories you spend with it are priceless. If you had all of the time in the world, would you be wise enough not to waste it? Frieren has recently become one of, if not my favorite high medieval fantasy story of all time. It achieves a perfect balance of slice of life and action-adventure along with , amazing character writing, reflective dialogue, meaningful themes, immersive world-building, a unique take on magic as a power system, a crisp artstyle fitting for the show, breathtaking animation, and a transcendent OST.

************ # Story 10/10 The whole gist of Frieren is that she's a mage who spent a decade as a member of the Hero Party, who were responsible for slaying the Demon King and restoring peace to the world. As decades pass, her comrade begin to succumb to the passage of time, and prompting her to regret not taking the time to truly know them. Later on, she takes Fern as her apprentice who was previously under the care of Heiter before his death. Together they embark on a journey, filled with side missions with no clear overarching goal. Later in the story, Eisen encourages Frieren seek out Aureole, a land where souls rest in the Northern Lands, which was previously inhabited by the Demon King. The rest of the story becomes a series of side missions slowly leading towards the discovery of Aureole.
Frieren is unlike a lot of fantasy stories, where the characters themselves are the main focus, instead of one huge goal or obstacle to overcome. There's no ambitious goal like becoming King of the Pirates, or becoming Hokage, there's no big obstacle to overcome like titans threatening to end the human race. Even though her main goal is to reach Aureole a land where souls rest, she doesn't lose anything if she fails, and can simply go on about her day without ever reaching that place. The purpose of this journey is to allow her to have a full understanding of human emotion, and to retrace her steps through an adventure with Fern and Stark (hopefully Sein comes back). It's like going to Disneyland with your family as a child, and years later, doing the same thing with your friends or romantic partner. And it's by reliving these adventures, that Frieren slowly understands her feelings towards Himmel, the importance of being remembered, and how lucky she was to have met the people in her life. Since the story isn't plot-driven, it often relies on characters' motivations, growth, personality, wisdom, and memories (flashbacks) as the narrative's driving force. The anime uses a lot of flashbacks, and by a lot I mean nearly every episode, but I think this is one of the few anime that does it right. Flashbacks in this show are used to enhance the message the episode is trying to convey, info about a character that's relevant to the events of the episode, and connect events from the past to the present, giving it a sort of parallelism between the Hero Party, and Fern's Day Care Center. In fact, a large number of my favorite scenes are from these flashbacks, most notably: Himmel giving Frieren the ring of eternal love, Serie reminiscing Flamme's childhood, Frieren using the flower spell for Himmel, Himmel being a fake hero, Stark's brother being a true warrior, etc (wow most of these involve Himmel lol). Unlike other shows where flashbacks sometimes feel redundant due to them being used as filler time in an episode, every Frieren flashback adds something new to the table, and adds a layer of depth into the characters, and lore. Another element I love is how often the series can completely subvert your expectations, while still adhering to the most logical reasons within the context of its world and characters. Frieren is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you're gonna get, and it would taste just right. ************ # Characters 10/10 # Frieren's character writing is probably the biggest reason why I've grown so attached to this series. Nearly every named character brings something and have their own distinct personalities, yet these traits don't define their entire character. Unlike many other works that attempt to make characters complex by revealing hidden depths, Frieren's characters feel genuine and multidimensional from the start. They don't feel like archetypes that beat that one trait to death. The series showcases its characters through their actions and interactions with others, rather than keeping them mysterious until a major traumatic event is revealed. By presenting the characters' personalities upfront, the story achieves a sense of genuineness, allowing us to view these characters as real people rather than mere devices to keep things interesting. ##Frieren: The titular character of the series, Frieren's an elf who's lived through centuries upon centuries of human history. She was part of a village that was slaughtered by demons, where the great mage Flamme took her under her wing. Centuries later, she meets the Hero Party where she spends a grand 10 years on a journey to -ah you get the point. What makes Frieren so special compared to every other human is her perception of time. Due to the short lifespan of humans compared to hers, spending time with them seems fruitless if they're just going to die in only a few decades. That is, until Himmel's death made her regret not spending enough time with a human that had a significant impact on her. It's this impact Himmel had on her that motivates her to understand humans more with her new party. The experiences from the past pays off as she slowly learns about what Himmel's words, and her own feelings really meant and applies them in the present. Additionally, she's probably the best example of how to create an overpowered main character. Sure, she can solve most problems, but she always gives Fern and Stark opportunities to shine in order for them to grow like what a good mentor would do. She's incredibly powerful, but she still has weaknesses or faults that her party members help balance out. In fact, she has lost plenty of times to both humans and demons in the past. At first, you may think she's a typical kuudere where she's devoid of all emotions, but finish episode 1, and you can see she's perfectly capable of expressing empathy and grief. In fact, I feel she's ironically the most expressive member of her new party. Lastly, I want to point out that some of Frieren's behaviors initially seem odd like learning a spell that creates sour grapes, an obsession for collecting grimoires, or having her favorite spell to grow a field of flowers. However, all these traits are linked to a previous memories she holds dear such as the grapes spell is her way of remembering Eisen, grimoires being the last remnants of Flamme's existence, and the field of flowers both linked to Flamme's own favorite spell and the reason why she met Himmel in the first place. ##Himmel: Probably the most important human in Frieren's life (besides Flamme), Himmel's both the hero in the story, and to Frieren herself. Himmel is a bit of a narcissist that thinks incredibly high of himself, but is compassionate towards others. Himmel honestly has the best dialogue so far, and is one of the main driving factors behind the show's themes. It's crazy that he's one of the most popular characters in the entire show, even overshadowing some of the main cast, and he's only ever featured in flashbacks. The fact that even though he never pulled the sword out of the stone, yet decided to defeat the Demon King as a fake hero just shows how much of a real hero he really was. The title isn't given to you, it is earned. I also love how one of his motivators is to be remembered in history, even if it's more a minor action, which is a selfish wish, but a goal people should strive for. Another thing I love about him is that the main reason he left behind statues of himself is so that in the future, Frieren wouldn't be alone cries. ##Fern + Stark: Fern is a war orphan who was adopted by Heiter, and later became an apprentice of Frieren. She is a skilled mage who started training from a very young age, and was motivated to assure Heiter that she can survive in this world on her own. Fern's presence gives Frieren a sense of urgency whenever they're stuck in a town for long period of time, and acts as Frieren's mother sometimes. She retains a calm, mature manner unless you anger her long enough until she starts, pouting My favorite aspect of her is how she represents the Era of Humanity arriving when she helped defeat the Frieren clone, and passed Serie's test.

Stark is a warrior whose village was attacked by demons, and was under the care of Eisen where he trained him to become a strong fighter. However, they get into an argument which prompted Eisen to hit Stark, leaving him the scar on his face, prompting Stark to leave him. Stark's best representation is during his debut episode, where he thought how the dragon leaving the village was just a farce, his training in the ravine says otherwise. When they do fight the dragon, Frieren could've easily helped defeat it, but gave Stark 30 seconds because that's all he really needed to defeat it, proving it was just his lack of confidence holding him back.

Also:

************ #World-building 9.5/10 Frieren's world itself isn't entirely new to the fantasy genre. Elves, dwarves, demons, dragons, they're all creatures that exist in thousands of other stories. What makes it standout, is how the world learns from the present, and evolves for the future. Qual's is a good example, where Zoltraak was a deadly spell that terrorized humans for years, but after a century, has become basic magic after being researched to death. This parallels to the real world where diseases like polio were once deadly, but has now become obsolete due to the creation of vaccines. The Era of Humanity is another element I love, where an age of dwarves, demons, and elves will eventually come to an end, and humans are poised to hold the reigns of the future. This progress of humanity mirrors how we waste no time in advancing due to our limited lifespans, which is why despite elves gaining the gift of longevity, don't use that gift to its full potential due to the lack of urgency to do so (why Serie looks down on Frieren). I feel there's still more this world has to offer, and I will be awaiting that aspect in season 2. Frieren's magic system is one where power levels or numbers don't determine the outcome of a battle. Situations and matchups are what really determine the outcomes in battle as best shown in the mage exam arc, where a third-class mage like Ubel was able to defeat Sense, simply because the matchup is entirely one-sided. Due to the nature of magic only limited by what the user can visualize, how a mage thinks is another determining factor. ************ #Directing (Animation 10/10, Sound 10/10) I would like to give my flowers to Madhouse for crafting this visual masterpiece. The art style they chose is so fitting for setting the tone of the story, giving it a medieval aesthetic. Many of the landscape shots are so breathtaking that they could easily be used as wallpapers. The world feels vibrant yet maintains a serene feeling throughout. What's remarkable is how the backgrounds change depending on the season, adding to the immersive experience. Even small movements like grass, hair, and even clothing are animated like it's real cloth, making the scenes feel incredibly alive. Seriously, who on earth took the time to animate Fern sitting on a stool at 60+ fps?! SHE'S SUMMONING BLACKHOLES. HOLY SHIT NOW THEY'RE THROWING GALAXIES AT EACH OTHER. Madhouse please come back for season 2...(Edit: THEY'RE SO BACK)

Can I just say Evan Call's OSTs are some of the best in the industry. Although I still think Hiroyuki Sawano as the GOAT composer, if someone said Evan Call was better than him I wouldn't complain. The soundtrack brings immense emotional value to the hard hitting moments. It has a combination of celtic tunes for serene moments, orchestral crescendos for emotional highs, and crashing operatic sounds for fight scenes. Moreover, the selection of the right OST at the right time is executed incredibly well, further elevating the impact of each scene.

Just goes to show how the execution of a story often proves to be more important than the quality of the writing itself. It's what separates a good show, from a masterpiece.
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Halfway through the review I realized I've been yapping a lot. If you read all of this all I can say is a erm why...(nah seriously you're a real one). This is my first review, so it's most likely a whole bunch of yapping, and hopefully I can improve in my writing in the future, but yeah I'd just like to thank this series for being a huge part of my anime viewing experience, and having an impact in my life by making me reflect how I spend time with the people around me. It's themes are universally applicable for any stage in life you're in, and if there's any anime I could recommend that don't exhibit all the bad tropes that give anime a bad rep, this would be one of them.
Favorite quotes:

"There's nothing wrong with being a fake hero. I'll defeat the Demon King and bring peace to the world. Then it won't matter if I'm fake or not."
"Even if heaven doesn't exist, I believe it should...because it's more convenient that way."
"Change someone's life, even just in a small way"

Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
World-building: 9.5/10
Animation: 10/10
Music: 10/10
Overall: 100/100