2024-03-18, 19:21 | Link #1281 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
When I said last week that there must be a third test because too many people would otherwise have passed, I didn't think that would literally be the premise for Serie doing the third test herself, and that she'd just triage them instantly. It does go to show, though, that these tests are designed to weed most people out, and if the tests themselves don't do that, Serie will just do it herself. (And yeah, as others said, now I'm curious as to what the third test would have been if most of them would have died from it. And if that's the test, and they realize that needless loss of life is not ideal, then why have that test in the first place...? )
Serie not passing Frieren, when she admitted that Frieren is the reason so many got this far, is the epitome of petty. Not that I think Frieren particularly cared that much anyway, given she knew Fern would pass. It's especially petty, as others pointed out, given that Serie herself is clearly using the magic suppression, and even the field of flowers, spells that she criticizes Frieren for. I kind of wonder now about those they didn't show failing. It seems weird, in terms of the sequence of things, to first cut some people off, then reveal the people we care most about, but leave these others unaddressed until next episode. I suppose one option is that the others will pass, and they'll just start the next episode with a "here are those who passed" scene, but even that seems a bit high to me. (I suppose they could do that and then have flashbacks for the others somehow.) I guess we'll see. Here's to hoping next week's episode ends with an announcement of a second season and that they'll be back on the road again. In the end, I did like this arc well enough, but it still feels so far like a really long detour, and I'm not yet sure if any of the characters we met are going to be relevant in any of the rest of the plot after this or just forgotten (I guess we'll see). It fleshed out Frieren and Fern a bit more, and that ongoing character development (including the various flashbacks) is really what made it work for me. It still, though, basically has the sense that the author had this whole journey roughly planned, and then some editor came to them and said "slow down, this manga is way too successful to end so quickly!" so then they created this contrivance to introduce a whole lot more characters all of a sudden. Otherwise, they presumably would have introduced the characters more organically along the way. Like I said, though, it was still interesting, and I guess we'll see what they do with it going forward.
__________________
|
2024-03-18, 19:28 | Link #1282 | |
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 37
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2024-03-18, 19:58 | Link #1283 | |
User of the "Fast Draw"
|
Quote:
I guess the direction they went was for the sake of good flow. Set up the test, then show how merciless Serie is going to be with characters that are "sure, that makes sense" and allow the episode to end strong with Frieren and Fern's results. Can pick it up next week with some more interesting candidates and then move towards the epilogue for this arc. The odds are probably good for characters like Ubel, Land, Denken, etc, to pass, but probably will require a bit of time to explain why. At least that's what I expect. But we'll have to see. As for the purpose of the arc, you never know. Could be right on that one. But I also wonder if there wasn't a desire to set some things up for the future. A lot of the characters we've met are probably heading North themselves. So having people that they can cross paths with in the future isn't a bad thing. Might also be the case that there is a larger narrative planned. Maybe not on the level with a new Demon King, but something big enough that a lot of capable characters will be needed to gather at the same time. So might as well insert prominent figures into the story now.
__________________
|
|
2024-03-19, 00:00 | Link #1285 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
|
The qualification of class A magic users mean they can survive in the zone dominated by demons.
One of the most popular discussion of this episode is foot fetish and playing toes. The "licensed wizards" get themselves killed in the danger zone would be an embarrassment for the association. Another popular topic is eating a lot. Last edited by scififan; 2024-04-04 at 15:53. |
2024-03-19, 01:11 | Link #1286 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
|
Quote:
|
|
2024-03-19, 02:35 | Link #1287 | ||||
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
I guess to begin with I thought the whole "no one can go further unless you can pass this test!" was kind of a non-serious premise to begin with. She is literally part of the party that took down the Demon King. Do you really think she can't get past some stupid wall? Are you really going to tell her with a straight face that she's unqualified? The whole thing felt like Frieren was humoring them all along. Of course, they setup a pattern of this with the previous town too, so it's not like it's out of character... but yeah, I guess it's fitting that it ends with Serie not passing Frieren anyway for petty/silly reasons. Quote:
Anyway, don't get me wrong - I did enjoy this arc, but I still can't help but feeling like it was a sharp turn in the road compared to the first half of the show. But yes, I can see how perhaps with this now done, it can open the door to a much broader story to be told going forward, and certainly it's got my interest to see where they go with it. Quote:
I guess, in RPG terms, it's like when the main story is progressing from town to town, with a few sidequests as you go, and then suddenly you arrive some a city and you're stuck there for 10 hours. If not for the little flashbacks, you might otherwise forget the reason why Frieren wants to go to the North in the first place. So now I'm curious about how they transition back to "Oh yeah, what were we doing again? It's been so long since we've been on the road..." (Of course, I fully expect that is literally how the next episode will end -- with them leaving the town to cross into the North, with some flashback to when the old party did the same. To be continued...) Quote:
One of the best moments in this whole arc to me (there were many) was when Sense asks Fern why she's doing all this and we see that it's all for Frieren's sake. We see the way she admires the almost childish sense of joy and wonder that Frieren has about adventuring and magic. (That comes home to roost in this episode where she confidently declares herself Frieren's disciple to Serie.) Really, when you create a character as interesting and nuanced as Frieren (along with a good cast of supporting characters), you can build a whole story around them and just slowly unraveling all the layers and it works. Even when the author may seem to make up the lore and plot developments as they go, keeping the story centered on its main characters is what makes it work, at least to me.
__________________
|
||||
2024-03-19, 04:50 | Link #1288 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
|
Quote:
I don't necessarily see the episodic content as "progress" either, because they're so self-contained that they could literally happen anywhere and with any number of times and it wouldn't have any bearing on the main story. In RPG terms I think the episodic content are the sidequests, and the editor urged them to make longer running arcs with an overarching subplot. For example, would there be any difference whether Fern got a cold before or after Äußerst at all? There's virtually no frame of reference aside from the larger towns where the bigger arcs take place. |
|
2024-03-19, 06:58 | Link #1290 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
|
I think this arc can be interpreted in many different ways. For me, it was more about humanity itself than about any specific character (including Frieren and Fern). By exploring different characters with different would-views, goals and aspirations, I think this arc was constantly building up to that line at the end: "the era of humans has arrived."
__________________
|
2024-03-19, 07:15 | Link #1291 |
Corrupted fool
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: I'm everywhere
Age: 33
|
I don't mind this arc but it sure took a while: 12 episodes for the entire exam? I think defeating the Frieren clone took 3 episodes. It felt like the series was trying to be like a more typical shonen manga arc like the intro of Hunter x Hunter. The whole Mazoku arc was far more active and it actually involved every character in the process.
__________________
|
2024-03-19, 19:47 | Link #1293 | ||
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
I guess really it'll come down to what happens from now on. If this whole arc was a necessary foundation for a much broader story that will be revealed across multiple fronts from now on, then it'll probably make sense. But my concern all along was basically that this arc will end, they'll get back on the road again, and it'll all just be like one giant side-story that took 12 episodes to resolve. Quote:
And well, I guess I can buy that this was a character development arc for Fern, although I personally wouldn't say more than Frieren. (Maybe it's more consequential for Fern though because she sees the biggest change, whereas Frieren just continues adding more detail.) We saw Fern be able to articulate the reason for her journey, to be recognized for her skill and potential, to face the challenge of fighting her master('s clone), to better understand her Master's heart/personality, and be promoted to first-class mage in a first-ever feat. So certainly this arc is carrying a lot of weight to establish that actually Fern has become something of a big deal in her own right, and this isn't just going to be "Frieren's party" anymore (especially given that now Fern is the one with the pass, not Frieren). If that's the net effect of this arc in the long term -- the thematic transition to the Era of Humans, as Kazu-kun suggested -- then it might all make sense in retrospect, and the A Part here might just have been a sort of long prologue to the larger main point. (As I said, I do think Fern's continue growth and progress is being tied back strongly to the way they're developing Frieren's character. I wonder if the story is going to take us all the way to the end of Fern's life and how Frieren deals with the legacy she leaves behind, so "beyond journey's end" (or the alluded-to "Funeral") is a double-retrospective.) I guess really a big part of this is not knowing where the story is going after this arc is done, so I'll certainly reserve my judgement until the next season comes around. (Or, if I am impatient, I'll start reading the manga, but we'll see...)
__________________
|
||
2024-03-19, 22:30 | Link #1294 |
a random Indonesian otaku
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Xanadu
Age: 32
|
Now if we dragged it back to several previous episode when they decided to take exam, Frieren is never excited about it. Maybe because Frieren know that Serie will disqualify her no matter what because Frieren never intend to meet Serie's expectation or maybe because Serie is seeing Flamme in Frieren.
I think from the beginning, Frieren already know Fern will pass no matter what. That is why with just simple coaching, Fern can pass everything. The question now is whether Ubel or Denken also pass or not. |
Tags |
adventure, fantasy |
|
|