@Prominis
No worries, I quite liked this part of the manga.
Frieren's internal conflict was put nicely in chapter 14, when she talks to the demon child:
"'Mother' again, huh?"
"like monsters, demons have no custom of raising children, so after they are born, they spend most of their time all alone. You demons are creatures that find solitude to be natural, and the concept of 'family' doesn''t even exist"
"nonetheless, why are you using the word 'mother'"
That was during their journey to defeat the demon king. According to the flashbacks, she seems to grow attached to the hero party, but always keeping her distance (what you called "lack of emotional depth"), unsure about what she feels towards them, or if it is actually genuine.
Back in chapter 1, the first spark of her realization happens when Himmel shows how he treasured that Darkness Dragon's horn, and wished to return it someday. At the time, she just tried to gloss it over saying it "it's not that big of a deal" (to herself, alone). Once the party reunites to watch the 'Era Meteors', everything Himmel says could simply be an externalization of what Frieren felt, wished/longed for, being really emotional how both sides felt actually the same... although, the next scene just shows the whole party happily watching the meteors. At the time, she probably just kept being stoic, albeit happy... we actually see her side, and response, at Himmel's funeral - meaning, she realized that those feelings were genuine, but now it was too late, as the person who made her realize it was dead.
Her flashbacks after their journey ended were mostly her in solitude, or having people act as outsiders. After that realization, she's actively trying to confirm the truthness of those feelings. But, after reading your comment, I'm starting to think that this opposition Frieren x demons is more important than what I had in mind... initially, I thought it would be more related to 'evil' (not demons), but considering how things are still quite open, I'm unsure how the author will play this out... so far, the demons they met were all beligerant (evil), so the outcome of the battle with Aura will be important to show what we should expect for now on - especially, if it will change her attitude toward demons or not. There's also a chance that other magical elements or beings will appear, and they might also be important to this development. I really hope the author works out this evil/demons part well, and whatever they find at the demon king castle, hopefully won't disappoint.
