Guys, I think we found one of the worst takes I've ever seen about Anime.
Just click on the Twitter thread. Everywhere you look this guy is just putting out more and more bad takes and he's just getting clowned on.I am so tired of people saying that Frieren is a good show. It sucks. Are people so lost these days that they think a 5 out of 10 show has Breaking Bad levels of writing? Maybe not normies but in the anime world so many meh/10 shows get tons of attention and praise.
How many episodes of that show are just nonsense filler? It had to be like 10-12. I get that not every episode has to drive the plot forward. Shows can be more episodic in nature like Avatar the Last Airbender where some of the most memorable episodes of that show are technically filler. Or an example of anime that does that well is Cowboy Bebop. But in Frieren's case, instead of getting a 3-5 act story with twists and turns, you get "Hey, let's buy red-haired Zenitsu an oversized anime steak for his birthday." Oh and that's another annoying thing about modern anime. Every character is a fucking archetype and not an actual character. It's so lazy. If I see another guy tilt his chin down and push up his glasses in a fight, I am going to lose it.
So we have 10 or so filler episodes in the show. Then you have a completely wasted story arc where they edge you into thinking they are going to add a priest to the party, follow by him just randomly leaving. PUT HIS MAIN QUEST ON THE SAME ROUTE AS THE MAIN CHARACTERS YOU IDIOTS. THIS A MADE UP STORY. YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. And last, you have a Chuunin exam arc that was so boring that I genuinely fell asleep during it. I think even the writers got bored of it because I believe it was cut short followed by the writers spending a bunch of time trying to teach all of the Japanese learners the word goukaku.
The most frustrating part of this is that there a number of genuinely good possible story arcs to explore and the show just doesn't do it. You have 1,000 year old autism elf who has watched many of her friends die. Is she ever going to show any emotion over any of it? Have these writers met an old person before and seen how distraught they are when they outlive their friends and family? Are we going to see any reaction to her being so emotionally shut off that she completely ignored a guy who was so in love with her that he stayed single for his entire life just for the chance to see her like once in 50 years. Frieren's not going to say, "Hey, I was a real bitch to that guy and I fucked that one up." Are we going to explore that? No? Is this character going to learn things during this show and maybe experience regret over past actions or personal failures?
Are we going to maybe explore how Frieren feels about raising a child who she is going to outlive? Maybe she has some reservations about that... or feelings? Nope. Compare this to a story that did a good job with that exact plot point like Lost Odyssey. You have a character who looks 25 with a son who is like 60.
Is the story actually going to introduce a main antagonist? Nope. You're just going to see a couple of demons, get a really good 15th or 16th episode and then the next 10 or so episodes are going to be an overused story arc in anime that is basically a public service announcement telling Japanese kids to try hard on their exams.
I'll wait for some mouth breather to tell me the show hasn't gotten to it yet and to that I say, bro... this show had 28 episodes. They had plenty of time to do this. This is a TV show, not a Twitch livestream. The content is supposed to be condensed. Do we have to wait for her to get to the demon lords castle before she has any strong feelings about Himmel? That's not how people realistically behave. This shit is so emotionless and forgettable that I actually had to look up the specific reason why they were traveling because I couldn't remember it. This is despite the fact that I had only watched the show a few months ago and despite the fact that this FOMO relationship between Frieren and Himmel is such a common and relatable experience. Like I said, the show has good potential but has terrible execution.
What pisses me off even more is that there are shows like To Your Eternity that do a MUCH better job with the immortality theme that get outshined by praise for shows like Frieren. *Spoilers up to the end of season 2* To Your Eternity has a plot point where a kid saves his crush but in the process of saving her, he gets beaten with an ugly stick. He wins over over anyway but ultimately ends up dying before the relationship gets serious. But that's not the end. Later the main character realizes the whole time that he had the ability to revive his friends which means after the ugly kid dies, he could have been brought back to life the whole time yet the main character only finds that out after it was too late. That's story telling. That makes the audience feel things and have complicated thoughts. Frieren does none of that.
To Your Eternity has tons of mystery instead of telling you most of the important plot points in the first few episodes like Frieren does. Anime needs to stop starting every show out with "In the world of Gaia there was a magical war between the elves and the humans 1000 years ago." Followed by divulging every interesting plot point in the first few minutes. Be like Attack on Titan. Be like Death Note. Those shows tell you nothing and let you learn things as the story progresses. I have no idea why Frieren didn't start at the moment she met Fern. The first 4-5 episodes were a completely boring filler arc that would have been told much better if we learned about the heroes who killed the demon lord through Fern and Frieren's relationship as well as through other characters in the story. Doing it that way keeps me asking questions whereas if if I am told everything at the beginning, I have no questions to ask which makes me bored. I genuinely feel like these writers are just throwing out whatever comes out of their head onto a piece of paper instead of actually outlining and planning their story. Which is crazy because these shows cost millions of dollars to produce.
Tl;dr - Frieren is garbage. Stop giving shows like this so much praise. I'll wait for angry fans to not read my reasoning for why I hate the show, as they expect me to break down exactly why I don't like an entire show in 240 characters, followed by calling me an anime tourist because they are retarded and have horrible taste in shows.