How Frieren's magic system learns from science

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Frieren's magic system is a really interesting one. Join me in todays video in exploring magic in stories by analyzing a couple key examples of Frieren's magic system!

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Music in order of appearance:
On Mine (instrumental Version) - Nick Caution
Suspension - Anna Dager
The Adjunct - Anders Schill Paulsen
Nafas - HATAMITSUNAMI

#frieren #anime #pey

[TheBookNerd]

Any magic system with consistent rules, given enough time, will be explored and treated like science by those operating it.

[utkarshlunagariya]

What I love about frieren's magic system is the emphasis they put on imagination. Essentially, if a caster can imagine their spell working, the spell will work regardless of the opponent. We see this with Ubel, who solely goes off of the 'scissor analogy' to essentially demolish any of her opponents. It does mean that crazy people are crazy powerful but if the system rewards those who can imagine well then it's fair in a sense.

[manApocalypse_CP]

I love the idea of a magic system evolving over time, with the Zoltrac being once so powerful, then becoming commonplace and basic once it was countered by defensive magic. There's also the later explaination of why most modern mages use a particular physical element.

[chrisvyBacon]

doing a bachelors and masters in physics and astrophysics makes me appreciate the magic system in frieren even more. One of the first things that stood out to me was the explanation for how zoltraak became a basic offensive move in about 80 years because it is so similar to how much science advances in such a short amount of time through study and collaboration.

For example, einsten predicted the existence of gravitational waves (things that cause the fabric of spacetime to ripple because its so highly energetic) but never thought it would ever be possible to be detected from earth. In 2015( less than 100 years since einstein predicted it) we detected the first gravitational wave with these huge ass machines. and now currently theres about 90 confirmed detections. its actually crazy how far weve come.

but yeah i love magic with a touch of realism and logic. its so so good. its also why i love the magic rune system in witch hat atelier. they really treat their system as a study that even to the readers make so much sense. like fans are able to draw their own runes that other fans can understand what it does. i reccommend WHA so much haha hopefully it gets an anime soon

[KK-efow]

I literally cant get enough of this series.

[blackrat]

Such a small but fantastic inversion to have Himmell tell Frieren to shoot him. The expected playout of the scene is such a standard cliche across many forms of entertainment but it was turned into a much deeper scene both showing how good Himmell was and also making it much more effective emotionally because it doesnt fall into the expected trope. The show has a real knack for telling a lot with very little.

[DarwinAwardWinner]

One interesting tidbit is that the "3 elements of magic" scene from Episode 2 is actually anime original. In the manga, the line about 3 elements comes at the end of the previous scene (where Fern fails to hit the rock), and then it moves on to the training montage without telling the reader what those elements are or which ones Fern needs to train. I think it's a really good addition. I'm guessing this was one of the things they were able to add to the anime with the benefit of being able to read 2 seasons ahead in the manga. Obviously they added this callout of Fern's control over her mana here to foreshadow the multiple big reveals on that topic that they knew were coming later in the season.

[xitheris]

They say magic doesn't exist, but I regularly speak with foreigners thru a piece of glass that works by channeling lightning thru crystals. So....

[davidnagy]

honestly, i found the origin and nature of demons in the show amazingly written too; evolving from monsters that mimic human speech to lure and manipulate their prey, and little moments where they acknowledge this themselves

[__dane__]

I love the through line of Fern interacting with animals and hiding her presence which isn’t fully explained until the first test in the first class mage exam. Additionally I never realized the Stille bird was in the first opening until I rewatched the show.

[patrickli]

I love the role that science-based magic plays in worldbuilding for animes like these. Another great example of a hard magic system based on science is in A Certain Scientific Railgun where every supernatural instance can be explained with science

[slugfiller]

The evolution of magic, and Zoltraak becoming obsolete, actually feed into the series' main motif of the passage of time. The whole story starts with an elf incorrectly estimating the lifespan of humans, or the value of 10 years. Zoltrac demonstrates that life is not the only thing that comes and goes. Just like technology in our world, magic skills also have a "lifespan". We later revisit this with magic licenses (and the offices that issue them) also have a lifespan. Even the end of the animated series, as briefly mentioned at 5:11, is driven by the "time moves on, you can't stop progress" motif.

[OnDeuTri]

outside of the hard magic part Frieren's system, we also have a level of soft magic system, with our main candidate being Ubel, as a caster's visualization of a spell is able to overwrite or ignore other spells adds in another layer of complexity and depth for characters.

[AStixMatism]

there was a scene when flamme meets frieren where she asks her name
and knowing anime in and out i was expecting her to say her name
but the subtle things in frieren's writing subverted my expectations as they skipped over her telling flamme her name since we already know it.

I absolutely love this damn show and it's not just recency bias

[alexanrsousa]

One thing I love about Frieren's magic system is that it feels like a hard magic system built on top of the foundations of a soft magic system. The very basis of it is visualization and the possibilities are endless, but to able to use it humanity built heaps and heaps of theory on top of it.... But then comes someone like Übel and shows the viewer that the rules of magic aren't set in stone and excessive rationalization might actually hinder a mage.

[name_adi]

6:14 The subtle music in the background with a instrument bumping in my right ear and way your voice just flows...wow that's some nice... editing? Storytelling? Idk it was just amazing

[danielarisa]

I found you through the Frieren retrospective analysis, immediately subbed and have been following these series of videos, and before i knew It had become my most anticipated event of the week, your analysis are in depth, accurate and relevant on the subjects portrayed in the show, as someone who has watched the entire show over 12 times by myself and with people, it’s a valuable thing to see a artist such as yourself value and analyze this show.

[mr_nn]

The shield magic training also subtely conveys just how much mana Fern has since besides her and Frieren, no one uses as many shields in as many layers and as many times

[owencmyk]

I think another show that properly conveys magic as an established part of its world is Fullmetal Alchemist. Alchemy isn't magic, never do any of the characters call it that, and I think that's part of what sold me on it. It's a very clearly defined science with rigid rules, and throughout the story they reference actual studies and research that was done on alchemy.

[Heightren]

I love how the magic also serves in such a mundane manner too