This will be a spoiler review, but there isn't anything to spoil anyway, just makes things easier when I can directly tell you what sucks.
Right off of the gate we get introduced to this crystal that has AOE anti-magic effect, it is also indestructible and worth a fortune, insanely powerful artifact and there's a whole cave full of this stuff. What if they can take this with them? I mean if Stark shows up with one of these in his pocket he'd slaughter those demons we saw in season 1 wouldn't he? What was Aura going to do about it when she can't cast any spells and therefore also can't fly? This stuff would also make for impenetrable armour or shield, against both physical and magical attacks. it's also worth so much the party would be forever free of financial troubles. But of course, they toss this garbage in the river and never look back, saying they can't take it because it would stop Frieren and Fern from using magic. Really? That's it? You can't tie it at the end of a rope and drag it along with you? Can't Stark pocket it and walk a few meters away from you? You just give up?
Mechanical nonsense like this don't always matter but I am only highlighting this as an example of sloppy writing, major world building plot holes like this happen in almost every single episode of season 2 and they are very distracting because the show has nothing to say on the thematic side either. The best proof of a severe lack in theme can be seen with the climactic demon fighting arc over episodes 34,35,36.
This arc clearly sets up Genau as the main focus as he deals with the loss of his previous partner in a battle against demon Revolt, where the partner died because he prioritized saving a civilian. They not only loose that fight, Revolt got away and now is terrorizing a new village. What an interesting setup, how would Genau react to this mistake, how does he plan to make things different in this upcoming rematch? How will the show explore the morality of this classic trolley problem? Genau keeps saying that guy was an idiot and he won't make the same mistake so let's see...
Well in the rematch, Genau does the exact same thing, he saves the civilian right there, except he doesn't die because his HP bar is longer than his previous partner. He keeps on fighting despite the fatal wound and kills Revolt, that's the arc, that's the moral lesson. Turns out Genau's partner was a noob, his HP bar wasn't long enough, that's his character flaw. The show has collapsed a moral conundrum into a stat problem, the demon got away not because of their moral choice, but because they didn't have the stats to power through it. If only, everyone were as strong as Genau then there would be no moral problems, you simply save the civilian, let the demon stab your heart, don't die, and then you kill the demon, it's easy, only noobs die to demons you see.
If you're still unconvinced I'll give another example. In Episode 30 we get introduced to Hero of the South, he was previously mentioned but we actually see him now. This guy was a hero before Himmel and he had the power to see the future, he went to Frieren and told her that Himmel will kill the demon king. Who thought this would be a great idea? One of the most important episodes in season 1, was that Himmel was never the chosen one, his hero's sword was fake, he never got the sword in the stone, nobody believed he would kill the demon king. But now we basically retcon that and say nope he was gonna do it all along. Even if we overlook the issue of Himmel's free will, the next big issue is if Frieren already knows that Himmel will win, then it looks like she's simply joining the winning team. When before season 2 we had a MUCH better reason for Frieren to join, Frieren saw kindness and care for beauty in Himmel, she never needed to know Himmel was going to win.
Season 1 was a genuinely philosophical show, there were clearly elements of Platonic ideas, Flamme straight up wears classic Greek clothing. Himmel is clearly an example of the Platonic idea of the virtuous examined life worth living, the contrast between Himmel's short life against Frieren seem to echo Plato's idea that virtue is a balance in the soul which is perfectly achievable in one lifetime, where as magic, power, experience etc are endless. The show also manages to land great echoes to its core symbolisms, the field of flowers, suppressed mana, and lifetime dedication. It was basically perfect up until the first rank mage test, which was still good but the world building got slightly messy.
Contrast that to now season 2, where Himmel still gets dragged into flashbacks constantly, and we learn garbage like he borrowed money from the Norm Company and died without paying them back, really? Is this what Himmel would do? Even the last episode felt desperate, where Fern tells Stark that she believed in him because this is what Frieren would do. Excuse me? Ms. Fern, Frieren was right there with you! You did not need to do what Frieren would do! Frieren says that because Himmel is no longer here to do what Himmel would do! Besides, they're talking about all the way back to episode 5 now, so even if it's all straight and makes sense, it wouldn't represent character growth, growth would require something to be different now compared to episode 5.
I would say you can watch Episode 36 for some god sakuga, but otherwise this show has nothing to offer, only character assassination via retcon.
Animation quality is actually quite average outside of 36. Behold, dwarf Frieren.
-1 for character assassination for Himmel and Frieren on multiple occasions.More world building nonsense:
Episode 33
Apparently Frieren can just detect precious metals like silver, what would the economic consequences be? How does the Norm Company guy know Frieren can do this anyway? If it's a magic many mages can do then why didn't he hire someone else to do it? if only Frieren can do this then how did he know this? Also if people know Frieren can literally find gold/silver for them she can kiss goodbye to her hard earned low profile anonymity.
Frieren knew this Boshaft is garbage yet she doesn't tell the poor dwarf who ends up wasting 80 years and countless gold to find it, Himmel doesn't tell him either, they just leave. Again is this what Himmel would do?
Episode 32
Frieren gives Stark advice on how to entertain Fern on a date, which she heard from Heiter, which is nonsense, Fern was like 6yo and they lived in the woods. How the fuck would Heiter know what teenage Fern would prefer to do on a date with a man in a town?
Episode 31
The party take a week long detour to visit a hot spring which is super shallow, Stark says this is good because they can all have a foot bath together. This implies that they can't go in a normal bath together, which is really kind of weird because these are life and death party members, Frieren trusts her life 100% on Stark, why can't she go in a hot spring with Stark? Just use a weird magic like magic to make the water opaque or magic to summon steam or something. This implication distances the party members when it would've been better if it was just regular hot spring and they go in together. Or if you're really uncomfortable with that, at least don't mention this question.
334.5 out of 531 users liked this review
