Sousou no Frieren - Ch. 128 - The Special Forces of Magic

[amc9988]

Its so funny reading the old fans, which are theorizing and connecting dialogue dots; in contrast with I suppose are newer fans, focusing on powerscaling and fights.

Frieren is a slice of life, drama, adventure fantasy.

For me, It will be an amazing manga as long as is interesting, which it is to me.

I would love to see kaft return, since they are showcasing how effective the empire is againts mages, and he is an monk.

In that reunion with Frieren, he could teach something to Stark to make his body strong, since the assasin showed how open Is Stark to surprise attacks.

Been reading this manga since first chapter was fan translated years ago. I don't think it's wrong to talk about powerscaling especially that is basically what the current arc is focusing on. Not to mention this chapter basically have the characters themselves talking about power scaling between themselves and their opponents

 

[shwiftyshfifty]

Ubel knows doppelganger already. I knows it. I feel it in my bonner.

 

[havelmom]

total Ubel love

 

[LadyTyche]

Really glad these killer mages and powerful empires are around to keep the roads safe and to protect villages from being terrorized by wild monsters.

 

[K_Takuya]

Currently, yes, but if everyone seen or referenced is included in the rankings, the Hero of the South with his combat oriented precognition magic. Serie didn't want to risk a solo with the Demon King; the Demon King considered the Hero of the South an existential threat to all demons.

It really depends on what your metrics for strength is. From how I see it, Serie simply has a colossal amount of mana comparable to a hypothetical magical calamity. Simple, raw, unadulterated and unquestionable power. She's practically a walking hydrogen bomb. Serie is the undisputed strongest being within the world of Frieren.
But when you start putting wits, techs, uniqueness into the equation, it's no longer a power scale. It becomes a Rock-paper-scissors type of situation where various factors determines the outcomes of certain match ups. For example: this whole chapter.

 

[rluka]

The typical organized force of elites in fiction like, their power this usually lies in

• They have large variation of attacks, and it can be combined. So very versatile.
• They can spread out their force, and it's impossible to handle all of them at once.
• They can do attrition tactic, not letting their target rest, wearing them down with number.
• They can analyse, and then exploit their target's weakness. Even if they have to sacrifice several members, remote observer can still carry the information to be analysed and came up with countermeasures.

Meanwhile, even sages seems like a one-trick pony who has one kind of very powerful move, but they lack the variations.

I hope the author can still find good convincing way to make it that even for this kind of organisation, the demons (or at least the sages) are still beyond their reach and any attempts are suicide.
Else it will be like if author made enemy who are so without any opening there's almost no logical way to balance it out.

 

[Ignore]

It really depends on what your metrics for strength is. From how I see it, Serie simply has a colossal amount of mana comparable to a hypothetical magical calamity. Simple, raw, unadulterated and unquestionable power. She's practically a walking hydrogen bomb. Serie is the undisputed strongest being within the world of Frieren.
But when you start putting wits, techs, uniqueness into the equation, it's no longer a power scale. It becomes a Rock-paper-scissors type of situation where various factors determines the outcomes of certain match ups. For example: this whole chapter.

LOVE the description of Serie. The metric I was using was 'who would be called the strongest in another series'. For example, in JJK, Gojo Satoru is called 'the strongest modern sorcerer' even though Yuta has more cursed energy, and Takaba's cursed technique is unbeatable in a straight fight.

 

[Ignore]

Pretty sure Serie not fighting the demon king is not a power level thing, she just didn't want the age of conflict to end.

Serie left Macht alone the entire time the Demon King was alive. Once the Demon King was dead and the humans protecting Macht were gone, she rushed over to kill him. Serie also spends her life engaging in mana restriction, an exhausting art that she herself calls impractical for anyone who isn't desperate for an edge against demons, specifically. When Flamme outright says that Serie can't visualize herself beating the Demon King, Serie uncharacteristically doesn't respond with an arrogant put-down. And Serie's objection to Flamme's methodology isn't that it will end the age of conflict, it's that magic will become commonplace.

While Serie is definitely a jerk, there are a number of hints that for many centuries the Demon King really was the most terrifying guy around.

 

[Valle_reading_manga]

Pog, the ship continues its cruise. They're both looking out for each other in a way. Can we have Übel fight in a ball dress more often

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While I'm a little disappointed they were defeated that easily, I'm also curious what this guy's trick / the bottle thingy is, that allowed him this victory. Wonder if this is the classic nature/elemental spirit appearance we didn't(?) get so far.

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feel[...] so that was possible

From the little we saw, it looks like Land's past got dark due these Special forces of magic / his grandma didn't die of old age. But from what Übel said, her past too might be just slightly more messed up than I initially thought
Interesting to see what the goal behind these anti-mage institutions/organizations is, although it's questionable whether having select very powerful mages instead of many less powerful mages really reduces the risk of rebellions that much. In general, with all these empire secret forces they've shown so far, a few of their agents going crazy would probably deal way more damage than a bunch of soldiers / military mages could...

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Thanks for the upload!

 

[Ignore]

I never thought of Frieren as a SoL. The idea of an exciting adventure where characters encounter unusual things and people is in itself contrary to the concept of SoL.

It's an adventure series with SoL as its heart, much like Chainsaw Man is an action series wrapped around comedy according to Fujimoto's movie buddy and former assistant Yuji Kaku (Jigokuraku's mangaka).

 

[SuperOniichan]

It's an adventure series with SoL as its heart, much like Chainsaw Man is an action series wrapped around comedy according to Fujimoto's movie buddy and former assistant Yuji Kaku (Jigokuraku's mangaka).

It is a misconception that any depiction of characters' lives is SoL. Action can easily be comedy, but the adventure and SoL genres contradict each other. The term Slice of life refers to measured works that are dedicated to the casual life of the characters. Without any unusual or unique experience. With such a broad interpretation of "every daily life = SoL", literally any show would be like this because it showcases the daily lives of the characters.

For example, is Fire Force a slice of life because dealing with spontaneous combustion is a daily part of the characters' lives? As you can see, it doesn't work that way.

 

[nhansieu1]

I think people forgot the one who introduced magic to the Empire was Flamme, and she taught magic in the Empire during most of her life. So the Empire has a magical culture of at least 1000 years. The Continental Magic Association that Serie leads is only 50 years old. It goes without saying the Empire has the superior mages around. There's nothing strange or contradictory about this. It makes perfect sense.

People who bitch about questionable writing don't pay any attention. The Empire was always supposed to have the strongest mages. If they were a bunch of pushovers, THAT would be questionable.

Those clowns are minority.

 

[nhansieu1]

These clowns lmao. If the power system is more complex than "strong one auto wins", they call "bad writing"

 

[nhansieu1]

I never thought of Frieren as a SoL. The idea of an exciting adventure where characters encounter unusual things and people is in itself contrary to the concept of SoL.

I think of it as adventurous and SoL

 

[SuperOniichan]

I think of it as adventurous and SoL

These genres that are opposite in concept. But again, if it’s more convenient for you, that’s your business.

 

[nhansieu1]

These are genres that are opposite in concept. But again, if it’s more convenient for you, that’s your business.

How is contradicted? Frieren's life is always adventurous. We get to see her having funs, talking to people, doing her stuffs

 

[SuperOniichan]

How is contradicted? Frieren's life is always adventurous. We get to see her having funs, talking to people, doing her stuffs

Because going on an adventure is the opposite of everyday life. And what you described is typical content for fantasy adventures Have you ever watched The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit and heard how the characters contrast ordinary life and adventure? Also, if we consider SoL as “any everyday life”, then literally any anime will be like that. For example, Shinji's daily life is fighting with angels. Eva is SoL? Baki's daily life is training and fighting with martial artists. Baki is SoL? And so on. Without saying that adventure is not her daily life, we follow her quest to understand the human experience. Last time, she was going to defeat the Demon King. The real "SoL" was when she lived with her teacher.

 

[Ignore]

It’s probably to show how great they are.
It’s like that strong guy in star trek that always gets whooped to show how strong the enemy is.

Ubel has, ironically, been established from early on to be one of the least skilled combatants in the series. On paper she's overwhelming, with battle oriented magic, astounding talent, analytical brilliance, and fighting experience. In spite of that, she's needed to be rescued every time she got into a serious scrap, with the sole exception of one against an opponent (Sense) who actively visualized losing the fight. Even if the killing rule were waived, she would've flunked the Second Class exam that she made a splash at; sure, cutting Burg was impressive but, the goal of the was to force him to take at least one step BACK, and the dude toppled FORWARD when dying. Like the demons, Ubel is sadistic and overconfident in her magic, flaws characters in this series are experts in exploiting. And while she appears to have remarkable sensory intuition, the absolute best warriors in both the manga and IRL (there have been studies done on members of IRL elite special forces units) tend to be individuals with above average levels of reactions to fear who, through personal discipline, turn that heightened awareness of their surroundings into an advantage. Ubel treats the battlefield as a mix of entertainment and magic classroom, squandering her offensive potential by wasting ambush opportunities, allowing herself to be outmaneuvered, and being forced to fight defensively as a result. The human mages with an in-universe reputation for battle prowess are Wirbel who any means to win and Denken who lacks any truly special abilities but excels in fundamentals, strategy, and willpower. Ubel is their opposite.

 

[aister]

How is contradicted? Frieren's life is always adventurous. We get to see her having funs, talking to people, doing her stuffs

SoL is not generic "oh they are doing things about their daily liives". Usually, we only count series that are mostly event-less, with no overarching storyline, SoL. Series like Yuru Yuri, Yuru Camp, K-ON, are SoL. You can literally skip 10 chapters and high chance that you will still understand what's going on.

Skipping 5 chapters with Frieren and you'll have a lot of questions.

 

[danvolodar]

Ah yes, a highly cultured gremlin enjoyer.