I just finished watching the first season. I really loved the vibe of the show up until the exam, but then I felt it really shifted in tone.
Suddenly it felt like a shonen anime. A lot of time was spent introducing a vastly larger set of characters who ultimately didn’t seem like they mattered all that much.
There was a much greater emphasis on action and combat rather than a focus on characters and their relationship and Frieren’s/Fern’s connection to it all. Previous episodes frequently skipped combat entirely, only showing its conclusion (which was very refreshing).
There was also hardly any comedy, which was very common for the rest of the show. Instead, it got very serious, especially with people getting killed in the exam.
The pacing also just felt off - many previous episodes jumped entire months or even years, while the exam episodes might not even last a whole day.
I much preferred the start of the show and was a bit disappointed by this direction at the end. Am I alone in this thinking?
Bit late to this one, but I just finished watching and came to see if there was a community here so hi.
The exam arc is definitely a noticeable shift in tone, and if you like the series for its calm and slow pacing that might feel a bit jarring. But I think that shift is there for a reason, and the more I reflect on it, I think it’s perfectly executed.
To me, one of the biggest strengths of the series is the way it conveys how much bigger the world is than just our protagonist. Every glimpse into its worldbuilding feels so lived-in.
One of the central themes of the story is how Frieren is fairly out of touch with humanity, and her new travels are a way of learning about the people she never got close to in her original journey.
Up until now we’ve only really seen what magic means to Frieren, but now we’re seeing what it means to the human mages willing to risk life and limb just for a title. Each character introduced in the exam arc clearly has their own story to tell, even if we as the audience might never see most of them again.
Humans can’t afford to live their lives as slowly as Frieren does, so it makes sense that we see more high-stakes action and danger from them. The show suddenly slams the gas pedal for the first two-thirds of this arc in order to really convey this.
And after building those stakes up for the first two tests, in a series that mostly kept its stakes low up until now, the final trial is a curveball that feels so quintessentially Sousou no Frieren. It’s a payoff that beautifully recontextualizes the rest of the arc.
The ultimate battle between our protagonist and the final boss of season 1… is a vibe check. We’ve built up all this action for nothing?
It’s nothing and everything. One question that cuts to the heart of the whole arc.
“What does magic mean to you?”
The fast paced action in the first two trials was meant to show us what magic means to the humans taking the exam. But to see what it means to both Frieren and Serie, we circle back around to the quieter storytelling that characterized the rest of season 1.
No fight this time. No danger. Just a debate between two elves and their vastly different philosophies.
Serie accuses Frieren of not taking magic seriously enough. Her favorite spell is frivolous and useless.
But the flashback shows us how much that spell sincerely meant to Frieren. It’s important to Frieren because it was important to Himmel.
And Serie appears to have some understanding of this, as Frieren calls her out for remembering it was also Flamme’s favorite, as well as remembering the favorite spells of every apprentice she ever had. She even used this frivolous spell herself to decorate Flamme’s grave.
So of course Serie, deep in denial, gets offended enough to flunk Frieren on the spot. Our protagonist has lost the final duel.
But even this defeat may actually be a victory for Frieren. What does magic mean to her? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean passing an exam. A title from the Continental Mages Association never meant anything to her. Even getting banned for 1000 years is something she laughs at, to her that’s a moral victory for getting Serie to throw that kind of temper tantrum.
But of course there is one more thread left to resolve. Fern.
What does magic mean to Fern?
In the flashback, Frieren tells Serie how the short lives of humans force them to push themselves far harder than elves do. One day, they may even surpass elves.
And this certainly tracks with the terrifying exams they’re willing to put themselves through! Again, this is the lens that recontextualizes the rest of the arc.
Fern’s own outlook towards magic doesn’t seem too far removed from Frieren’s. Serie could easily accuse her of also not taking magic seriously enough. It’s heavily implied that Fern might not be all that passionate about magic for its own sake, but that she mostly does it to honor Heiter, feeling the need to prove that he did the right thing by saving her.
But Frieren tells Serie right to her face that she knows Fern will pass. A statement that should’ve led Serie to flunk both of them out of spite.
And yet Serie does pass Fern.
Why? Because Fern is human.
Serie sees the immense potential in Fern, and she sees the intensity with which Fern pushes herself towards that potential. She pushes herself the way that only humans do.
So no matter how much she hates Frieren, even she can’t deny Frieren was right about one thing.
Fern is the future.
Humanity is the future.