heretofangirl

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I think this has been posted on here before but this one always makes me laugh

[heretofangirl]

I'm sure this has been talked about plenty but I'm still awestruck at how well Frieren handles Himmel and Frieren's relationship. I have never seen the 'character haunts the narrative' story beat done to such effectiveness.

Frieren's regret is that she didn't know Himmel before he was gone- but he exists in everything Frieren does without her fully realizing it. Frieren is a fundamentally different person and we *know* it is mostly thanks to Himmel's influence. The constant flashbacks, the way in which Frieren's logic and everyday routines have been altered by his memory. She collect spells because he and the others complimented the mundane, random spells she had found. The way that instead of her master, Himmel is the person who the monsters choose to immitate.

The flashbacks too, are so so potent in characterizing who Himmel was- not only in regards to Frieren, but in regards to Himmel as the hero. The person who lead his group to kill the demon king. The person who did everything in his power to help those around him. The person who was so clearly in love with Frieren but understood intimately that Frieren would not love him in the same regard and even worse, would be walking a very long and lonely path.

Hell, it's at the start of every chapter, in which time is only kept by the years before and after Himmel's death.

It all comes back to him, in the end

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Sneaking glances

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Snow ending his book with the line “snow lands on top” really set the tone for the rest of his life. As a loser. Especially in contrast to the heartfelt last lines of Katniss and Haymitch’s books. Wtf is “snow lands on top”. Do you think this is Twitter.

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I'm nobody's idea of a hero, Haymitch.

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I dont understand how people think “but they killed people!” Is everrrr going to convince me to hate a fictional character. I actually like them more because they killed people. In fact, its the main thing I like about them. I would cheer with pom-poms at the mere implication of them killing again.

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I love Wikipedia subsections that are just absolutely unhinged out of context

Peak comedy right here

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life lately

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I’ve been playing so much sudoku. You have no idea how much sudoku I’m playing. Every time I close my eyes I see the grid. I’m making moves in my sleep. 179432568. 653897124. 824516937. 915683742. 246175893. 387249615. 561724389. 498351276. 732968451. This morning before I was fully awake I was playing sudoku in my head. I rise with the dawn. I’m a warrior of numbers. You’re nothing to me.

[heretofangirl]

it’s him. jimmy tomight dough

The celebrity Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors being some of the best ones is like the retail equivalent of having to go to a restaurant and order a rootin tootin yeehaw cowboy burger or something

[heretofangirl]

love when theres a character whose entire existence is spoiler tagged by default. go behind the curtain boy

[heretofangirl]

🦖🦖🧥

The weirdest boy has arrived. I finished him yesterday night. Ebo's coming next 🥰

[heretofangirl]

There is a fairly significant bit of wordplay in Frieren that will escape the notice of most English-speaking viewers, but I quite like it so I’ll explain it here. The title of the series in Japanese is 葬送のフリーレン (Sousou no Furiiren). “Furiiren” is of course Frieren; “sousou” means “funeral rites” or “attending a funeral”, but can literally be translated as “sending to the grave”. Since the story opens with Frieren watching her old adventuring pals growing old and passing away, we’re naturally led to the simple interpretation of the title: she’s attending her friends’ funerals.

(The full official English title is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, because literal translations rarely make catchy titles.)

Later, as Frieren is fighting Aura, Lügner explains that Frieren is the most prolific demon-killer in history. In the English translations I’ve seen, this earns her the nickname “Frieren the Slayer”. But in the original Japanese, this nickname is 葬送のフリーレン: “Sousou no Furiiren”, the title of the series.

In this context, this line (and the title, too) could be more literally interpreted as “Frieren, who sends you to your grave”. It also means the line is a little more impactful in Japanese — you’re supposed to point at the screen and yell “hey that’s the name of the show!!”

There’s really just no way to preserve wordplay like this through translation so I can’t fault the translators at all for not trying, but it’s a fun thing that’s worth pointing out nonetheless. I just love that this was clearly something the author was setting up from the very beginning.

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