(spoilers, long review)

Sousou no Frieren is an incredible anime that immerses you right into its world with its osts, its warm colorimetry, its scenes of contemplativeness and its believable dialogues. It's relaxing to watch but it also has the ability to leave you on the edge of your seat. The comedy is simple but there's also a sort of dry humor with how indifferent or emotionless the characters seem despite their situations. Overall, it's an extremely refreshing anime with unique approaches to storytelling and ridiculously polished visuals.

It actually grew on me really slowly, I practically hated it somewhere around episode 7 to 10 and now I consider it as one of me favorite anime. This review is structured into 3 parts that could chronologically be seen as my gradual appreciation towards the story. The first section being centered around Aura the Guillotine Arc, the most flawed part in my opinion. The second section deals with the anime's unique storytelling and magic system usage. And the final section is a philosophical look into Sousou no Frieren and my personal general interpretation of it.

Aura the Guillotine: Bland, script-wise

In Frieren, characters really are anchored into their archetypes. You can sum up one in few adjectives and honestly, that wouldn't even be dumbifying them. They're quite simple yet the way they're characterized is very appealing. Fern is calm and disciplined which makes her react negatively whenever Stark or Frieren act inconsiderate. She's true to her feelings and will let people know she's mad but her seriousness prevents her from explicitely telling others why. Her diligence isn't so extreme she won't consider her feelings but it simulteanously makes her even more withdrawn when she's moody. Her main trait serves a double edged sword and it's very cute on top of making her likeable. Stark is a humble scaredy cat brave enough to face dangers despite his fears and ambitious enough to call himself a warrior despite his passiveness. Him being a 'coward' isn't pushed to the extremes like a Zenitsu and his 'simple minded stronk' side isn't as exaggerated as a Luffy, rather, it's incredibly mild in all aspects, making him believable, almost as a human being despite his character being absurd. In shorter terms, the characters being simple is justified, for it allows good characterization.

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Unfortunately, this type of writting doesn't work all the time and if the scenario, which is what allows characters to be characterized, is a lackluster then the characters will suffer the same fate. Many series and books fall short when it comes to writting politics or at least inter-conflicts/large scaled strategies and Frieren is sadly no exception. Aura's strategy of lowering the barrier by faking peace with humans, all relying on demon's ability to mimic human speech is interesting but sending all of her right-hand men on enemy teritory was silly. They seemingly don't even really care about the mission since one of them go around and kill a guard even though they're supposed to act as peace convoys. When Granat, the ruler of the town, discovers the murder, the demons immediatly abandon the plan and kill every guard but Garnat. Then, their super plan consists of torturing him until he explains how to lower the veil. Personally, I wouldn't expect the responsible of a whole town whose family have been fighting demons with generational hatred for centuries to obey, even under torture. And since they don't even try to hide they'll kill everyone with Aura's army once the barrier is lowered, Garnat included, why would he ever do that? And it's not like it's an elaborated torture, he was quite litteraly dying with all the opened bleeding wounds. If it means dying he might as well die without revealing the secret that would destroy everything he and his family ever fought for. TL;DR: their torture plan was just lazy writting.

It gets even goofier if you try to deep it: why are demons and humans even fighting for? I assume that, the demon species basically being human's predator, their battle is intrisic to nature. But then, if the conflict started out by demons trying to kill humans, luring them with human speech since begining of times as Frieren says, then why would humans ever trust them? It's not like they want lands or whatever, they litteraly just kill for fun and pleasure. What 'arrangments' was Lügner even going to propose? It's not a regular conflict about ressources, it's litteraly one group trying to exterminate another. I can accept that the leader of the small village in the flashback with Himmel and Frieren could get fooled, but Garnat who's been fighting with them for so long? Hard to believe. The character is also quite bad as most of his dialogues in this arc consist of him non-subtly explaining his hatred for demons or screaming 'LUGNERRRR' and he backtracks on his decisions every two seconds. It has to mostly be intentional but it still doesn't feel well executed regardless.

All the events leading to the climax seemed desultory and nothing really seemed to matter in the plot, the plan, Frieren going in and out of prison, the killing of the guards and Garnat being a captive but NO ONE in the whole village noticed, including the other guards etc. I knew the story was tying to convey something more meaningful that its half baked scenario but I had so many critics against it that I genuinely couldn't enjoy the anime... That was, until episode 10 dropped.
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Frieren's formula & Magic System

This scene left me with cold shilvers. The building up to the plot twist, the ost, the sound design, Frieren not even looking at Aura while she tells her to off herself, seeing the sheer despair of Aura being forced to cut her throat through her own POV with her head rolling off her neck and the last thing she sees being Frieren's back. Holy f#ck. That was cinema. In fact, this scene was so good that it absolutely eclipsed every single reproach I had with the anime. Litteraly. Of course, it's not just because the scene was cool but because it allowed me to watch Frieren in a light much more intersting than the one I was initially looking at. And I'll explain why in detail in this section.

The way this scene was written made me remember the third episode with Zoltraak. Then, a similar plot pattern occured again in other episodes later on. After some analyzing, I concluded that this was so recurring that it deserved a name. I'm glad to present you what I call the Frieren Formula:

• 1 Fight OR event going one way (settings of a scene)
• 2 The story hints us that the fight or event going one way is weird (makes us question the settings of the scene)
• 3 Flashbacks gives us context as to why the fight or event goes one way (reveals the actual settings of the scene)
• 4 Leads to climax

I'll take episode 10 as an example. Fern dominates Lügner and Frieren goes up against Aura. That's the Fight OR event going one way.
We're informed Aura can control her opponent if the latter has a smaller amount of mana than her. We don't understand why Frieren is so confident even though she knows about this and even though 'she has less mana than her'. Similarly we don't understand how Fern was able to spam her E skill against Lügner despite her 'not having that much mana'. That's the The story hints us that the fight or event going one way is weird
Frieren's flashback with Flamme explains the strategy Frieren has refined for centuries. She concealed her mana actively, everyday to the point it became a passive skill, unnoticeable to basically anyone. She enthrusted this secret technique to Fern who also acquired it. It explains why she was able to mess up with Lügner's strategies in their fight and it explains the confidence of Frieren. That's the Flashbcaks gives us context as to why the fight or event goes one way
And it all leads to the climax, Frieren overpowers Aura and kills her.

This is what happened in the third episode. 1. Fern was able to block the Zoltraak attack with a basic defensive spell. 2. It doesn't make the slightest sense since the Zoltraak attack was so powerful back then it made him one of the strongest demon in history. Frieren's whole former party struggled against him so why is Fern able to block it so easily? 3. Flashbacks about humanity egearness to find a defense against the Zoltraak attack gives us context. 4. It all leads to Frieren & Fern defeating Zoltraak.

Episode 26, 1. Übel is persuaded she can beat Sense's clone. 2. It's odd because Sense is much more powerful than Übel 3. Flashbacks about how Übel's perception of reality directly impacts her powers, notably for her cutting technic 4. All leads up to Übel cutting the clone of Sense's hair.

Culture:

Of course, this formula is tangible and what makes it actually good is what it allows the story to convey. In Aura the Guillotine Arc, the demon specie is represented as wild beasts that only use human speech to slay them more efficiently. They have no parents, they're left by themselves since birth. The only way they know to interact with the world is through violence and domination, making their whole culture revolve around strenght. Magic being the best vector of power for them, their hierarchy is entierly based around this and they dedicate their entire life to perfectionate their magic skills. Mana naturally develops the more they interact with magic, making mana the most reliable direct indication of their strenght. Mana to them is like money and ranks to us. Frieren partially hiding her own mana is the most treacherous thing she could do to them and it makes complete sense in the narrative given how much time it was said Frieren deceived her foes to beat them. I said the flashback comes in third but in reality most episodes are filled with flashbacks and call backs to previous scenes, making the whole episode a build up to the sole climax moment. The author managed to convey to us many informations about demon's culture and lore through, not magic itself, but the usage of magic. Seeing how magic shaped different species and affected history and understanding the different species with how they interact with magic is just crazy-creative worldbuilding.

Similarly, the Zoltraak episode makes us learn about humans and their relationship with magic. 'The idomitable human spirit against fatality' would be a good way to dumb down the informations relayed to us in this episode. Humans, due to their low longevity are actively forced to leave their mark before their demise. They're more pressed and eager to achieve things than other species because they don't have much time. They communicate more, they live more closely, they share more knowledge and experience, they build and conquer more. This behaviour is translated into their ability to catch up and surpass other species with magic.

Rock-Paper-Scissor powerscaling:

Talking about powerscaling in Sousou no Frieren might seem like insane shonentard chronical behaviour but I don't actually care about x being stronger or weaker than y and... It doesn't really work like that here. Battles in the anime are all about deception, strategy and using spells efficiently. If I wanted to make a comparaison, I'd take playing football, for instance. You have to surprise your opponent, make your intentions unclear with numerous body feints and false indications. Having random skills is useless if you can't actually apply them efficiently in-game. In that regard, the powerscaling is quite realistic.

One of Übel's power is to cut. The effectiveness of her power against a target depends on if she can picture this target being cut. This is completely broken or absolutely useless depending on the situation. If she's up against a magic user that uses water or earth, this skill is negligible since cutting such things is not feasible. However, it's an entirely different story if it's a magic cloak or mana incrusted hair. As soon as the flashback with the cloak guy began I instantly knew where this was going. This not only deepens our understanding of the psychology of Übel but it also introduces the Rock-Paper-Scissor powerscaling mechanic. In football, someone who can run fast and make use of big areas will be completely useless if he's cornered into small spaces. One spell can be more effective against another depending on the nature of the spell rather than the power behind it. Magic users have the responsibiltiy to ameliorate their chances and manipulate their match ups in order to always win even if they're 'weaker' than their opponent. Übel intimidating Sense with her pair of scissors in the flashback is one of the coolest thing I've watched and it's really peculliar because if I were to explain this scene to someone who's never watched the show there really isn't anything crazy about it. The same for Frieren concealing her mana, it's actually quite common in fiction. It only works within the story. It's the very definition of simple yet effective. The execution of the Frieren formula is just too strong. Scenes that would've made me sleep with different execution made me go OHHHHHHHHHH. I can't explain the sheer hype and interest I had watching a simple dialogue in episode 27.

Ideologies:

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The Frieren formula also works for dialogues. The penultimate episode shows Serie being disappointed with her humans students. The double edged sword of humanity's greatness with magic is that it's mainly true if we consider human as a specie that evolves. If we take each individual, their potential is very limited due to their longevity in contrast of the robustness of the human race as a whole. There's a scene about her human student being one of the only creatures capable of seeing fluctuations in Frieren's mana. According to Serie, his potential would've only been reached if he was able to last longer. The scene ended with her revealing to the audience that she herself conceals her mana and he never noticed it. This scene itself follows a mini Frieren Formula pattern but it's only the first stage in the bigger Frieren Formula picture. What you're supposed to understand from this scene is Serie's values and interests: she wants to see how far magic, through magic users, can go. Hence why she's disappointed in human individuals that have a defined finality. Since we know for a fact Frieren doesn't actively try to upgrade her skills as a mage, Serie doesn't like her and intends to fail both Frieren and Fern. Those are the settings.
What makes viewers re-evaluate the settings is Frieren saying to Serie she'll be impressed with Fern and make her pass the test. The scene with Serie's student, Frieren and Serie's conflict & theming coherence (since the begining of this sets of scenes starts off with Serie dissing humans, the logical conclusion would be to prove her wrong in the narrative): everything led to Fern passing, but how?

The flashback introduces the notions of beauty and relatability. Series thinks the flowers spell is useless since it won't make a magic user improve. However, we learn that Himmel originally wanted to become a hero because of Frieren's flower spell. Knowing that Serie actually respects the Hero's Party for defeating the Demon King, an immensly talented magician, it cracks a hole in her logic. A useless spell was at the source of one of the defeaters of the Demon King. Knowing that Himmel chose Frieren for his party because of the spell Frieren herself showed to him in the past is interesting, was it fate or coincidences? I think it was a bit of both. To make it concise, they liked the same thing about magic and it eventually reunited them. Serie's vision of magic created many talented magic users but the thing she really wants is to find a magic user with potential as close or as greater as hers to see the very heights of magic. She doesn't relate to any of the magic users she failed and she doesn't find beauty in ephemeral things like flowers.
The climax is when Fern tells Serie she can see her mana fluctuating. Series tries to endorse Fern but she intends to stay with Frieren. To me, thematically wise, it's because they share the same vision of magic and find the same beauty in things. Frieren inherited Flamme's ideologies and the same goes for Fern with Frieren. Symbolically speaking, Serie has the very thing she wants right in front of her eyes, Fern, but she can't have it because she doesn't understand what's beautiful in the flowers spell (they don't share the same values). The mage she's been searching for is the heir of Frieren's teachings that she hates so much, isn't that ironic? (That's one interpretation, there're definitely other and better ways to look at this scene)

Despite not seeing much of the world for now, the way the magic system is executed allows great levels of worldbuilding, despite Sousou no Frieren not being fight-oriented, the powerscaling and fights are rich and interesting & despite the story being quite simple, the execution and the storytelling elevate the quality of the plot.
I'm glad that I was able to to guess some plot twists with the Frieren Formula and I sincerely feel like I have a good understanding of the story and its purpose which leads to the next section.

Needless to say, I still stand by everything I said in the first section, the flaws didn't magically disappear. It's simply that I was only focusing on the flaws so much so that I couldn't see anything else until the LowTierGod scene has made me focus on the good aspects so much so that I don't really find the flaws this important anymore.
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The usage of Frieren past for her character arc

In Sousou no Frieren, time can be seen as an antagonist. And at the begining of the story, the antagonist already won against the protagonist. The scene that marked me the most in the first few episodes was when Frieren outright told her former party to their face that they were inconsequential existences that weren't even worth one one hundredth of her life. This scene actually kind of hurt me for Himmel because he loved her but she couldn't even see him as a potential partner due to their longevity difference (https://anilist.co/activity/659692929 more on that stuff on a post I made some months ago, where I compared Frieren with Omni-Man, if you're interested). She will long outlast any human she ever meets, making her devalue her relationships with humans and others in general. Time took away her yearning for relationships. She was similar to a nihilist finding connections futile since they were bound to vanish. It makes Frieren a sort of superior existence, insensible to everything and always composed. The thing she hadn't anticipated was the deep sadness and bitterness she experienced when Himmel died. If this existence didn't matter then why was she crying? Why did she felt regret? The longevity of something doesn't always dictate its value. One one hundredth of her life spent with her friends might have been the most important out of the thousands of years she's lived. Unfortunately, time can never go back. She realizes she never really knew Himmel and she never tried to deepen their bond. All she has now is memories and regrets. A second chance is given to her with Fern. This time she has to enjoy the moments they share while living together before it's over.

The former party of Frieren are like shadows, present in many episodes in spite of most of them being already dead. They're a reminder of Frieren's mistakes so that she doesn't repeat them with Fern. Every of their apparitions echoes with the present and at times it almost feels like watching two storylines simulteanously. It's kind of cruel to make us attached to dead characters. It's a way to make us accept what's unchangeable while also making us look forward to the future with Frieren, Stark & Fern.

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The past is the past and the future has yet to exist. The only real thing is the present. The chill and cozy vibes the anime gives off is a testament to that. It's all about appreciating the little moments in life. Here's a quote that really marked me when reading Witch Hat Atelier 'Instead of focusing on the satisfaction gained from being able to do something new, she's fixated on the apprehension she feels over the things she's not able to do yet.'
Being in a loop where you waste time on instant pleasure and things of the sort is a type of hell but with self improvement comes another type of hell: disatisfaction. Not being able to enjoy the process of working on yourself and on your skills in x areas towards your goals and only wanting the end results is missing the whole point of living. If the only thing that matter is the results, your life is a living paradox. The results depend entierely on the actions taken to create such results. Your mindset will directly reflect on the outcome of your work. If you do not enjoy the path towards it then you will not enjoy the prize. When I was younger, I had the luxury to just enjoy things as they came but as I'm growing older, the results are getting more and more important. Frieren is a sweet reminder not to miss out on my own happiness. I don't want to look back at my past regreting not enjoying things enough when I could and I refuse living anxious of the future as if the present didn't exist.

In that sense, Frieren reminds me of what's really important.
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For the conclusion, I'll focus a lil on the things I haven't talked about: The sound design is excellent. In this scene, if you wear headphones, you'll hear Lügner voice in your right ear as he walks away.

The animation is smooth and the animation of scenes that wouldn't normally be animated that carefully like someone putting clothes on and someone getting off their bed only further accentuate the immersion.

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Couldn't make a Sousou no Frieren review without mentioning my GOAT, Sein, I hope we'll see him again. That's the end of the review, thanks to @adrx24 for unknowingly feeding me with perfect Frieren shots. Also self promoting moment but I made a comedy skit with some friends on Frieren you can check that out and leave a like but it's in french lmao