Anime and Manga - How do you Live? Edition

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

41 minutes ago, Gorth said:

As is almost always the case, those AMV videos have godawful music and the second clip is best watched muted

Virtually every AMV is beaten by any JoJo ending credits scene.

 

[Gorth]

Just now, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Virtually every AMV is beaten by any JoJo ending credits scene.

I edited my post and replaced it with a less interesting video, but at least it had original audio

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I edited my post and replaced it with a less interesting video, but at least it had original audio

How naughty

But at least you spared us from amv music so I'll approve of it.

Also using Walk Like An Egyptian as the ending credits in part 1 of Stardust Crusaders is an incredible power move.

[Sarex]

After watching the last episode of Delicious in Dungeon, I reread the whole manga series. There is something so good about manga that tell their story and leave it at that and not extend it as long as possible until they eventually let a whimper called an ending. The anime is just about to get in to the main story and I think will hook a lot of people who stuck with it so far, which I hope is enough to get it the full run.

[Gorth]

Frieren epsisode 25... time to take on the dungeon "boss"

More mages end up in the second to last chamber before the goal. Frierens replica still blocking the way. Kanne and Lawine shows up too with additional info about the nature of the monster creating the replicas and Fern shows Frierens weakness. Frieren admits she's somewhat embarrassed, hence never bringing it up, as it's something novice mages are prone to

Also some flashbacks, showing Frieren, Himmel and Eisen discussing tactics before a fight as well as a flashback to about a thousand years earlier where young Frieren discusses the future of magic with the ancient elf Serie

Someone made a nice clip summarizing highlights from the episode (saving me a bunch of screenshots)

Edit: The episode ends with Fern making herself hard to spot and lining up a shot at replica Frieren, about to pull the "trigger" on her staff..

Edit2: I noticed the clip doesn't explain Frierens weakness. When she casts a spell, there is a fraction of a second where she stops detecting mana (i.e. imagine a gunfighter that blinks when firing a gun). Fern is very good at "camouflage", so can get lost from replica Frieren's sight when she "blinks"

 

 

 

[InsaneCommander]

Frieren 25

Most of the survivors finally realise that they should work together. They discuss some tactics and we learn how Kanne and Lawine contribute to that:
 

Spoiler

 

Heiter was also very helpful in the past :
 

Spoiler

Frieren and Fern enter alone to fight Frieren's copy, never revealing that they suppress most of their mana. I wonder if the others are aware of that.

So, @Gorth who would rather have in your party, a drunk priest always in alcoholic coma or two mages who can't stop fighting?

[Sarex]

Delicious in dungeon has started touching upon the main story in the latest episode. Do wonder if the plan is to cover the whole manga, otherwise I can't think of a good spot to stop with the number of episodes they have.

[Gorth]

11 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

So, @Gorth who would rather have in your party, a drunk priest always in alcoholic coma or two mages who can't stop fighting?

A tough question

 

The girls definitely makes for more pleasant company than the drunk priest and their infighting stops the very moment the party faces an external threat (and they seem very good at teamwork). On the other hand, for those occasions where you get bitten by a snake and want to prevent your brain from melting and flowing out through your nose (as almost happened to Stark in a previous episode), a priest can be quite handy

 

No idea if a season 2 will be made, but the manga seems to have enough material for at least a second 28 episode season

[InsaneCommander]

Frieren 26

The second test is over. Frieren and Fern defeat Frieren's copy, Ubel cut Sense's clone to shreds and the others are saved at the last moment (after finding resurrected copies) when the demon is destroyed. Lawine had to give up, which gives me the impression Kanne won't make it. But if she succeeds, then they will never stop fighting.

Despite the result, some things will never change:

The episode ended with a strange scene. A guy that I don't remember seeing before appeared being cared by a golem and Richter asks something like "Wait, who are you?"

[Gorth]

Wasnt that the guy who decided to go alone and was later seen sitting and crying in a corner? I’ll need to rewatch the ending of episode 26 again

 

edit: making screenshots for a collage and summary, that mean old girl Frieren had been keeping secrets the last 80 years. Basic offensive spells… uh huh

[Gorth]

5 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

The episode ended with a strange scene. A guy that I don't remember seeing before appeared being cared by a golem and Richter asks something like "Wait, who are you?"

You mean this guy?... the one being carried by the golem behind Edel? Someone makes a comment in passing to the effect of "who was that?"

 

It's this guy (the one who went in first, not wanting anyone elses company, I can't remember his name from the introduction of those who passed the first test unfortunately):

 

 

[Gorth]

So, finished watching Frieren episode 26 - The Height of Magic

 

A bit tricky to sum up chronologically, as the overarching event is Frieren and Fern fighting Frierens replica with a lot of other simultaneous events happening. The group decides on strategy... Fern and Frieren are the only ones with a chance of surviving against Frierens replica. The rest spread out and engage the other replicas which are slowly but steadily congregating on the room outside the "boss room".

We get a bit of background on Ubel, which comes across as a psychopath. Failed her previous exam because she killed the proctor. Her magic is slightly different because in this world, it's' all about logic and visualization. If you can visualize it and it makes sense, a magic user can make it happen. Ubel doesn't need for it to make sense. She just has to believe it will succeed (and being slightly unhinged, her ideas of what is possible and not is slightly off kilter). Her specialty is attacks that cuts through anything.

Methode has located most of the current replicas and Denken and Methode find some of the stragglers, explaining what is going on.

 

Mage battles are a bit like rock, paper, scissor, so they attempt to find their replicas weakest match up. Sometimes you succeed...

 

and sometimes you don't. They also discover that the replicas come back. Their demises being temporary...

 

Frieren starts fighting Frieren to give Fern an opening for a bit of sneaky backstabbing...

 

But, the replica, weakness or not, is simply too strong for Ferns friendly tap on the shoulder...

 

Plan B... if plan A doesn't work is for Fern to face Frieren head on (and not mentioned explicitly, but assumed) and stay alive for more than 5 seconds...

 

Fern uses the A10 tankbuster gun version of magic, firing 6000 magic missiles per minute at replica Frieren

Fern: Look you stupid bastard, You've got no arms left.

Replica Frieren: Yes I have.

Fern: Look!

Replica Frieren: Just a flesh wound... ZZZAP!!!

Fern succeeds in her primary objective though, she got replica Frierens undivided attention

 

But, Fern having all of replica Frierens attention gives Frieren the opening she needs, allowing her to cast a spell which annihilates the replica in a display of blue pyrotechnics (a mage version of a tactical nuke?)

 

Time to kill the monster behind the replicas (which also makes all the other replicas turn to dust)

 

Aftermath:

 

...and now off to the third test

 

Edit: I'm guessing Frierens reference to 80 years ago is when her party fought the demon king, being the last time she fought completely without restraint and using martial spells unknown to human mages

Edit2: Somebody made a 3 minute video, covering 3 of my pictures, having edited together just the scenes with Frieren fighting her replica. I'll leave the pictures in case the video gets taken down by Youtube

 

[InsaneCommander]

On 3/9/2024 at 4:30 AM, Gorth said:

 

Oh yes, that is him. So much for entering the dungeon bravely alone.

On 3/9/2024 at 8:11 AM, Gorth said:

(a mage version of a tactical nuke?)

Most of the other mages have no idea of Frieren's and Fern's true power. But it's interesting that someone like Ubel can use imagination to easily defeat even the strongest mages.

On 3/9/2024 at 8:11 AM, Gorth said:

Edit: I'm guessing Frierens reference to 80 years ago is when her party fought the demon king, being the last time she fought completely without restraint and using martial spells unknown to human mages

If it was 80 years ago, then that is definitely true. It makes you wonder how boring these past decades have been for Frieren.

[Sarex]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

If it was 80 years ago, then that is definitely true. It makes you wonder how boring these past decades have been for Frieren.

Considering that magic discovery is what primarily interests her, I would say not very. More apt description would be lonely, I think.

[InsaneCommander]

 

[Sarex]

Episode 11 of Delicious in Dungeon. This episode marks the real start of the main story and it goes off with a bang. From here on out it's a wild ride.

[Gorth]

23 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

<How to defeat Frieren video>

Frieren has created some weird and sometimes outright scary subcultures on the internet. The Ubel Armpit fanboys are legion and disturbing at times 

Sadly, embedding not allowed for this video

https://youtu.be/8KkyNQpgbhA?si=EojIN7_VsVv5ffeS

 

[Bartimaeus]

Sazae-san, episode 1.

I did it! I watched an episode of the longest running show in history...well, the longest running scripted (or animated) show in history anyway. There have been at least 8,540 episodes of Sazae-san since it started in 1969...but uh, there is only about one episode that is English-subtitled, so I guess that ends my viewing of Sazae-san. It's basically an every-day family/slice-of-life show focused around the different members of a family, with the titular character, Sazae, being the mom. Shockingly...or probably not, I thought it was pretty good and would happily watch more if I had anymore to watch, but I don't. It was quite charming and surprisingly tight/well edited - the latter of which in my experience is a rarity for 1960s anime shows, even right at the end of the decade.

I think the funniest part was during the final segment when the grandfather was on his "deathbed" (not really, he just wasn't feeling well after a pretty rough day) with all the womenfolk doddering over him at home, and Sazae started to look up his symptoms in a medical book...and promptly reached the conclusion that he must have cancer, sending everyone into a panic. I wasn't expecting the old "look your symptoms up online and WebMD will for sure tell you that you have cancer" to be a meme all the way back in 1969, but it seems the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Fun fact: the original voice actress for the main character has stayed the same since 1969, which means she's been voicing the character for 55 years now, and she is now...84 years old. Talk about a job to last you a lifetime. "Although the series is now long-running, Katō would later recall in 2009 that she initially thought it would last only three months." Whoops.

Edited March 15 by Bartimaeus
shan -> san

[InsaneCommander]

Frieren 27

 

The second test is over, but Serie is displeased with so many people succeeding, thanks to Frieren’s power. She will personally proctor the third test.

Quentin Tarantino is a special guest and plays one of the first class mages.

 

Meanwhile, Stark is still “learning” from the mysterious old man he never saw before. And Fern has had a disagreement with Frieren.

The participants that were eliminated are in a bad mood. Richter tries to work in his shop, but keeps being reminded of the test by visitors like Denken, who tries to cheer him up, Laufen, still eating cookies and following Denken, and Frieren, who wants Fern’s staff fixed. Lawine, for once, was feeling so bad she didn’t fight with Kanne.

We also learn that one of the first class mages actually noticed Frieren was suppressing her mana and that the “long time” it would take to master that is actually “just” a century or two. Humans and their limited views, right? And, apparently, Serie is also suppressing her already insane level mana.

The third test is an interview with Serie. Many fail right away, like Kanne, who is scared of Serie’s mana and can’t imagine herself as a first class mage. In fact, this last part seems to be the common reason for the failure.

Frieren, too, fails because of this, but in her case she can’t see herself as a first class mage because she was sure Serie would fail her. She informs Serie that Fern won’t fail, that the age of humans has come and Fern will surprise her. That does happen, when Fern notices a minor fluctuation in Serie’s mana, evidence of it being supressed. Not even the oldest first class mage was able to sense it. She also declines becoming Serie’s apprentice.

 

 

Edited March 15 by InsaneCommander

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

31 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Quentin Tarantino is a special guest and plays one of the first class mages.

 

As an aside....., since @Bartimaeus was talking about chins in the movie thread I can't help but think of Tarantino's massive chin. It could be used as a diving board, which he would probably enjoy.

 

[Sarex]

Uf...The animation budget must have ran out for this episode... That was a sharp drop in quality. Also what a strange place to cut the episode. I guess they still have one more and they wanted to fill it out a bit more.

[Gorth]

4 hours ago, Sarex said:

Uf...The animation budget must have ran out for this episode... That was a sharp drop in quality. Also what a strange place to cut the episode. I guess they still have one more and they wanted to fill it out a bit more.

I didn’t find it bad quality wise, more the coming down from the rush feeling after episode 26. Let’s be honest, the animators went bonkers there, like some season final episode

Not the first episode where they cut it in the middle. Having cheated and watched the manga pages, I know who passed

[Gorth]

On 3/16/2024 at 6:28 AM, InsaneCommander said:

That does happen, when Fern notices a minor fluctuation in Serie’s mana, evidence of it being supressed. Not even the oldest first class mage was able to sense it. She also declines becoming Serie’s apprentice.

I wonder if I was the only one thinking, whoa... Lernen sees through Frieren right away and estimates her true power to rival Series... except he completely misses that Serie's power is the fraction she can't hide completely. Makes you wonder how long Serie has been around if her suppressed power is comparable to Frieren at full strength so to speak. That is why Serie immediately wants Fern as her own apprentice, because she is good enough to see through Serie's "disguise" (never mind she keeps telling herself not to take human apprentices, standing there amidst all the flowerfields she has created herself)

[Gorgon]

I watched season 1 of Frieren over the last two days. not bad.

Very anime ending

We have to go into the demon kings territory, and to prepare.....  we go to mage school and take an exam. because of course we do.

 

[HoonDing]

I'd watch a crossover of Frieren/Dungeon Meshi with Overlord.