Translated by Misa ‘Japanese Ammo’
188 pages
Published 2021 (English translation published 2022)
Read November 2
Rating: 3 out of 5
From the start, the most intriguing element in Frieren was the light touch of melancholy and loss that pervaded its story. Frieren, a seemingly immortal elf, didn’t realize how much her adventuring friends had meant to her until almost all of them had passed away. The idea of drifting through time, watching the world change and those you love wither away, is an obvious outcome of the standard post-Tolkien fantasy setting, yet not one I’ve seen explored that often. Even if I had middling opinions regarding individual volumes, Frieren as an overall story arc had promise.
Jump ahead to Volume 5, and Frieren’s side quests have brought her to a magical qualification exam, randomly assigned to a team with two young mages — one tightly buttoned up, one in hot pants — who can’t stop bickering long enough to perform their sorcerous tasks. It inevitably leads to a bunch of mages with main character syndrome settling into a battle royale. It feels so forgettably generic, so bog-standard for fantasy manga, so… Harry Potter. (Shudder.)
It’s especially frustrating when you recall I only began reading this series to fill the Delicious in Dungeon-shaped absence in my heart. Now that is a worthwhile manga series. Frieren? I get less and less convinced that I’ll make it to the end with each new book.
The magic exam storyline takes up this entire tankōbon, and continues into the next. While I felt it didn’t fit the series’ vibe (or at least wasn’t the vibe I wanted from it), I did get into it, sorta, eventually. Populating a battle royale with brand new characters is a difficult task. Abe’s art contributes many dynamic character designs for the rival mages; easily half a dozen of them look cool enough to star in manga of their own. I’d certainly read an entire series of Übel flirtatiously fighting with everyone.
There are even some scraps of character development and backstory for our dear Frieren, squeezed in between all the mayhem. That appeals to me more than the magical violence.
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