I’ve posted a few weeks ago about Frieren being the first anime I properly watched start to finish as I would watch another seriously TV show. I actually found it from a video comparing the character development of “Frieren” to that of “Rings of Power”. Which goes as expected.
Anyway, after rewatching it 4 times now (eng dub, eng dub + eng sub, jap + eng subs and again just the eng dub (I’ts good)) and reading the manga up the the anime timeline and watching like 30 youtube videos analysing the show just to make sure I didn’t miss anything … I think there is one point that no one has brought up yet (I expect to be corrected).
It’s an MMORPG. And you (Frieren) is the hardcore gamer that played since beta and never quit. You had your old parties (guilds or clans) which whom you played when you were young but lost all connection but your own memory to.
I’m not a writer so these a basically just random thoughts delivered very poorly structured. But the show makes so many video game refenrences. The general need for having a “warrior” as a tank, a priest as a healer … and well mostly mages as damage dealers. But I guess Himmel was kind of an Quest oriented offsensive warrior, while Eisen was their tank.
But in the later seasons they references to literal “dungeon raids” and finding loot, exploring every level (and side quest) along the way …
It’s a fundamentally a MMORPG video game story. Obviously it goes much deeper than that and has all the great aspects off a great show beyond this point.
But am I crazy for thinking that? Or is it maybe one of the reason this show resonates so well with people?
A great example is Friens obession with very rare but useless loot.
A lot of the framing of modern Japanese fantasy derives from Dragon Quest. There is some MMO-specific stuff mixed in at times, like the raiding terms, but the tropes mostly shake out from a time well before the Internet was a thing.
The bit about old clans and such is especially not an MMO-specific thing, it’s just life. It’s something everyone experiences, and the exploration of those themes in varied ways account for a large part of why the show is so universally praised.
That said, if the MMO framing helps you to get a deeper understanding of the show you go for it. Part of appreciating art is finding your own ways to engage and relate with it.
I can totally see how all the points I made pre-date video games. Guess I got overexicted about something that is general knowledge.
Like I was so happy when I reliseed all the names/places in Frieren were German words. But everyone knows that already :(
Hey, nothing wrong with being excited about discovering new things about a show you love! Even the German word bit, it’s super prevalent in fantasy (especially Japanese fantasy), so most people have had that exact realization at some point with some show, so now it just feels obvious haha.