[QuickTidal]

Maark Abbott, on 16 January 2026 - 08:52 PM, said:

FRIEREN IS BACK WE ARE SO BACK PEAK HAS RETURNED

So on my re-watch of S1 in prep for S2 (I'm waiting for the dub to drop), I noticed some things I didn't notice the first time I watched cause I'm an idiot.

Spoiler

1. Frieren is wearing Flamme's earrings. That's such a nice nod to her former master.
2. I think there is some other reason why Freiren is collecting the "fake" Flamme grimoires...just one we don't know yet. If Frieren is anything, she's calculating and nothing she does is wasted.
3. I don't think we're done with Seine, I think he's going to find his buddy and then we will see him again.
4. I don't trust Serie as far as I can fucking throw her.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 27 January 2026 - 12:40 PM

[D'rek]

QuickTidal, on 27 January 2026 - 12:39 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 16 January 2026 - 08:52 PM, said:

FRIEREN IS BACK WE ARE SO BACK PEAK HAS RETURNED

So on my re-watch of S1 in prep for S2 (I'm waiting for the dub to drop), I noticed some things I didn't notice the first time I watched cause I'm an idiot.

Spoiler

1. Frieren is wearing Flamme's earrings. That's such a nice nod to her former master.
2. I think there is some other reason why Freiren is collecting the "fake" Flamme grimoires...just one we don't know yet. If Frieren is anything, she's calculating and nothing she does is wasted.
3. I don't think we're done with Seine, I think he's going to find his buddy and then we will see him again.
4. I don't trust Serie as far as I can fucking throw her.

Spoiler

1 - when Fern eventually dies Frieren will probably start wearing her butterfly hair clip or bracelet

3 - I could definitely see him coming back for a few episodes as a coincidental re-encounter, but I don't think he'd stick around. I also think it's completely valid we never see him again, too, though. There are lots of stories we've already come across about how other characters are out there completely living their own entire adventures that we do not necessarily ever get the whole story to. E.g. the Hero of the South got mentioned a couple times in season 1 and now we just got a bit more of his story, but I doubt we'll ever get more of it. And the elf-priest guy whose name I forget, we only see a little snapshot of who he is now but the statues of him indicate he was once a great hero with his own epic tale long ago that we'll simply never know.

[QuickTidal]

D, on 27 January 2026 - 04:34 PM, said:

]

Spoiler

1 - when Fern eventually dies Frieren will probably start wearing her butterfly hair clip or bracelet

Ugh, this would reduce me to a sobbing mess...therefore I expect it to happen

3 - I could definitely see him coming back for a few episodes as a coincidental re-encounter, but I don't think he'd stick around. I also think it's completely valid we never see him again, too, though. There are lots of stories we've already come across about how other characters are out there completely living their own entire adventures that we do not necessarily ever get the whole story to. E.g. the Hero of the South got mentioned a couple times in season 1 and now we just got a bit more of his story, but I doubt we'll ever get more of it. And the elf-priest guy whose name I forget, we only see a little snapshot of who he is now but the statues of him indicate he was once a great hero with his own epic tale long ago that we'll simply never know.

Totally fair. It may be that I just really liked him overall and wishful thinking for sure.

Replies in red.

[Maark Abbott]

Abyss, on 19 January 2026 - 04:19 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 16 January 2026 - 08:52 PM, said:

FRIEREN IS BACK WE ARE SO BACK PEAK HAS RETURNED

so let me ask you Maark... ive watched the first few eps of S1, it's all very chill, low action, low energy drama, F wanders around staring at her dying mortal friends and reminiscing at getting stuck in mimics... it's cute, it's well done, but doesn't grab me because bluntly no one is fighting anything. Does this pick up the pace or is the tone consistent throughout?

The whole theme is her life after the great adventure to defeat the demon king has ended. The pace is glacial. A lot of the story comes from her taking in one of her old party's proteges (and then a second later) and mentoring them. There are heavy parallels to the Andii in her being a very long lived person, and how that shapes her interactions with a world much faster than her people are. There are action sequences that go hard (she is approximately on par with a lot of Malazan mages on the power scale) but these are the seasoning on the main dish which is how does an elf who has an extremely long lifespan deal with the mortality of her companions.

[QuickTidal]

Maark Abbott, on 28 January 2026 - 08:30 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 January 2026 - 04:19 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 16 January 2026 - 08:52 PM, said:

FRIEREN IS BACK WE ARE SO BACK PEAK HAS RETURNED

so let me ask you Maark... ive watched the first few eps of S1, it's all very chill, low action, low energy drama, F wanders around staring at her dying mortal friends and reminiscing at getting stuck in mimics... it's cute, it's well done, but doesn't grab me because bluntly no one is fighting anything. Does this pick up the pace or is the tone consistent throughout?

The whole theme is her life after the great adventure to defeat the demon king has ended. The pace is glacial. A lot of the story comes from her taking in one of her old party's proteges (and then a second later) and mentoring them. There are heavy parallels to the Andii in her being a very long lived person, and how that shapes her interactions with a world much faster than her people are. There are action sequences that go hard (she is approximately on par with a lot of Malazan mages on the power scale) but these are the seasoning on the main dish which is how does an elf who has an extremely long lifespan deal with the mortality of her companions.

Yep, even the Magic Exam arc has action (SOLID action too), but it's filtered through all the main and new characters and how they interact with Frieren.

Also Abyss, there its an action sequence about midway through S1 that was just amazing start to finish and lasted at least two episodes.

[Maark Abbott]

Aura... write a BL manhwa series.

[QuickTidal]

Started FATE STAY NIGHT: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS (advised to start here by multiple lists online)...and I like it...but I don't like it due to the MC (Shirou), I like it because Rin Tosaka is one of the best Tsundere's I've ever seen...she's a badass. I know this is her "route" so it's focusing on her a little more than Saber or anyone else...but I'm still into it. The fights are good, and the other characters are fun.

Anyways, solid daily watch now that I'm done the Railgun/Magic series.

I've heard it's based on a visual novel, but I have zero interest in that, so I'll stick with the anime.

[QuickTidal]

QuickTidal, on 02 February 2026 - 04:21 PM, said:

Started FATE STAY NIGHT: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS (advised to start here by multiple lists online)...and I like it...but I don't like it due to the MC (Shirou), I like it because Rin Tosaka is one of the best Tsundere's I've ever seen...she's a badass. I know this is her "route" so it's focusing on her a little more than Saber or anyone else...but I'm still into it. The fights are good, and the other characters are fun.

Anyways, solid daily watch now that I'm done the Railgun/Magic series.

I've heard it's based on a visual novel, but I have zero interest in that, so I'll stick with the anime.

Finished all 24 eps of this...Rin Touhsaka is still my fave character, and may be one of my fave anime characters ever.

Bur yeah, this was solid most of the way through. The tempo shifts in the back 12 eps to feature more action, but that's fine. I liked how it ended, and I'm glad we got a calm epilogue episode of "Where are they now".

Next up, the three FATE STAY NIGHT HEAVEN'S FALL movies, which I believe are Sakura's route and are much more psychological...so I'm looking fwd to them. Beyond that I don't have much interest in the original DEEN show from the mid-2000's (which is Saber's route), I'll just read up on it, and then I'll do FATE ZERO, and after that GRAND ORDER.

[Abyss]

Netflix' RECORD OF RAGNAROK. k wow this is bad. bad story, bad animation, bad voicework, bad character design. i'm assuming this was done on the super-cheap somewhere with unpaid third world child labour and Netflix paid near nothing for it because i can't see any other reason why it would exist let alone get three seasons.

I need a high action cartoon in my rotation, but the search continues.

[D'rek]

Abyss, on 10 February 2026 - 03:50 PM, said:

Netflix' RECORD OF RAGNAROK. k wow this is bad. bad story, bad animation, bad voicework, bad character design. i'm assuming this was done on the super-cheap somewhere with unpaid third world child labour and Netflix paid near nothing for it because i can't see any other reason why it would exist let alone get three seasons.

I need a high action cartoon in my rotation, but the search continues.

Yeah there's a lot of cheaply-made garbage slideshow shows out there. I don't think they're even outsourced to other countries/places, it's just the cheapest studio in Tokyo that makes the lowest bid to produce it and the publisher/execs who happily agree without caring that the last ten shows made by that studio/team was also an ugly slideshow.

Some quality action-heavy stuff you could try if the synopsis of any of these sound good to you:

Akudama Drive
Outlaw Star
Blood Blockade Battlefront aka Kekkai Sensen
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (has some crummy CGI but charming and mostly looks good)
Gunsmith Cats (short)
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (unfortunately has no proper ending but the 2 seasons are a lot of fun)

[Abyss]

D, on 10 February 2026 - 06:33 PM, said:

...
Some quality action-heavy stuff you could try if the synopsis of any of these sound good to you:

Akudama Drive
Outlaw Star
Blood Blockade Battlefront aka Kekkai Sensen
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (has some crummy CGI but charming and mostly looks good)
Gunsmith Cats (short)
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (unfortunately has no proper ending but the 2 seasons are a lot of fun)

Ty D! I'll check my streamers and have a look.

In a fit of nostalgia i initially went looking for Lodoss War and Escaflowne without success.

Was considering Full Metal Alchemist or a Gundam run, but those are more recent watches and not as tempting. Almost started Ghost In the Machine SAC, but it's just not high action enough for what i'm craving.

[Maark Abbott]

Abyss, on 10 February 2026 - 07:15 PM, said:

D, on 10 February 2026 - 06:33 PM, said:

...
Some quality action-heavy stuff you could try if the synopsis of any of these sound good to you:

Akudama Drive
Outlaw Star
Blood Blockade Battlefront aka Kekkai Sensen
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (has some crummy CGI but charming and mostly looks good)
Gunsmith Cats (short)
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (unfortunately has no proper ending but the 2 seasons are a lot of fun)

Ty D! I'll check my streamers and have a look.

In a fit of nostalgia i initially went looking for Lodoss War and Escaflowne without success.

Was considering Full Metal Alchemist or a Gundam run, but those are more recent watches and not as tempting. Almost started Ghost In the Machine SAC, but it's just not high action enough for what i'm craving.

hotel india anime dot november echo tango, eyes emoji.

[QuickTidal]

They had the CHAINSAW MAN movie on the flight, so I got to finally check it out...and it was AMAZING. One of the best anime films I've ever seen. A really solid choice or arc to make into a film.

[QuickTidal]

FATE STAY NIGHT HEAVENS FALL movie 1 - it's interesting knowing who everyone is, so stuff like the teacher being bad you know from a look...so the watch order is definitely important here as I would be nonethewiser if I was watching this without having seen UBW first. I find Sakura intensely less interesting than Rin or Saber...but this has a cerebral and darker tone as we dive into Shinji's (who was already a shitty human in the other series) abuse of his sister and how that affects her. And ma girl Rin Touhsaka is still here, so I'm happy. Shirou is still wildly out of his depth...Which can be a bit grating, but it's less prominent here I I know how clueless he was at the beginning of UBW. The animation is both better and worse for a project made 3 years after the end of UBW...like there is a quality to depth of shade and detail, but the action sequences are not QUITE as great or fluid as the UBW ones were...I'm liking it so far.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 19 February 2026 - 06:19 PM

[Abyss]

Flipped through a few different things before landing on THE COUNTRY BUMPKIN BECOMES A MASTER SWORDMAN AND HIS FORMER STUDENTS ARE GROWN UP AND OBSESSED WITH HIM (or something... look it is a terrible title but i ack it reflects a current trend).

It's surprisingly charming. The plot is blunt: Older rural humble unambitious swordmaster Beryl is recruited by a former student to teach at a big city school for knights, turns out he is waaaaaaaay better than anyone except his former students expected, and naturally most of his former students are sexy teenage girls who happen to be in the city and now all have lustful or daddy-figure obsessions with him.
The female characters are frequently drawn in lingerie armor that while not quite as ridiculous as some anime (ie not bikinis, yet somehow 'armor' doesn't cover chests or thighs), the a lot of the 'posing' is still pretty blatant. It could have been gross, but steps back by treating the students' obsessions as humour/satire, and Beryl is genuinely nice, cares about them all in a totally not icky way, is completely clueless that half of them want to bang him and the other half want him to adopt them, and he has a well written combination of humble-yet-wildly-skilled-and-effective attitude that i can't help but cheer for him. Every episode has at least one fun action sequence, and again, it's a predictable pattern, challenger/villain/beasty attacks, Beryl doesn't want to fight but must, defends, defends, spots a weakness and just annihilates the other guy... it's not surprising it's just that they do it a little different each time and it's fun to watch. The animation manages to show Beryl shifting from assess/defend to commit/attack and i can't help but have this 'yeah dude go kick their butt' reaction!

It's not brilliant or wildly entertaining but it's filling my anime watch niche nicely for now.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 24 February 2026 - 04:48 PM, said:

Flipped through a few different things before landing on THE COUNTRY BUMPKIN BECOMES A MASTER SWORDMAN AND HIS FORMER STUDENTS ARE GROWN UP AND OBSESSED WITH HIM (or something... look it is a terrible title but i ack it reflects a current trend).

It's surprisingly charming. The plot is blunt: Older rural humble unambitious swordmaster Beryl is recruited by a former student to teach at a big city school for knights, turns out he is waaaaaaaay better than anyone except his former students expected, and naturally most of his former students are sexy teenage girls who happen to be in the city and now all have lustful or daddy-figure obsessions with him.
The female characters are frequently drawn in lingerie armor that while not quite as ridiculous as some anime (ie not bikinis, yet somehow 'armor' doesn't cover chests or thighs), the a lot of the 'posing' is still pretty blatant. It could have been gross, but steps back by treating the students' obsessions as humour/satire, and Beryl is genuinely nice, cares about them all in a totally not icky way, is completely clueless that half of them want to bang him and the other half want him to adopt them, and he has a well written combination of humble-yet-wildly-skilled-and-effective attitude that i can't help but cheer for him. Every episode has at least one fun action sequence, and again, it's a predictable pattern, challenger/villain/beasty attacks, Beryl doesn't want to fight but must, defends, defends, spots a weakness and just annihilates the other guy... it's not surprising it's just that they do it a little different each time and it's fun to watch. The animation manages to show Beryl shifting from assess/defend to commit/attack and i can't help but have this 'yeah dude go kick their butt' reaction!

It's not brilliant or wildly entertaining but it's filling my anime watch niche nicely for now.

It's a solid show and yeah the fanservice is over the top at times, but it's very fun and enjoyable.

[QuickTidal]

Watched all three FATE STAY NIGHT HEAVENS FEEL movies...which is Sakura's route...and I hated them. Sakura is a waste of a character, and making her dependant on Shirou was a mistake, making the ghoul/demon/ghost thing an aspect of her was dumb, and most of all Shinji ALREADY treated his sister badly in the other routes so having him do THAT to her in this was beyond the pale. I just ugh...if I had watched these before UBW I would have bailed on the series, but since I REALLY enjoyed UBW I'll leave this as an anomaly and go onto FATE ZERO before I catch up with FATE GRAND ORDER and FATE STRANGE FAKE. I like this series, but the horror and psychological aspects of those three movies were NOT for me.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 03 March 2026 - 02:24 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 24 February 2026 - 05:34 PM, said:

Abyss, on 24 February 2026 - 04:48 PM, said:

Flipped through a few different things before landing on THE COUNTRY BUMPKIN BECOMES A MASTER SWORDMAN ...
It's not brilliant or wildly entertaining but it's filling my anime watch niche nicely for now.

It's a solid show and yeah the fanservice is over the top at times, but it's very fun and enjoyable.

Finished, solid end. It's very much 'cozy anime' if that's a thing (k i have decided it's a thing) but i enjoyed it right through including the silly/low-key parts. The action is well done, they give characters 'signature moves' but don't hype it up the way say, Demon Slayer does, so it fits the more grounded style.

Jumped through a few more rando first eps that didn't stick, landed back on FRIEREN... chilling on the couch w a drink this works better for me and watched a few more eps. I need something w a faster pace and more frequent action for workout watching... characters in gently waving fields languidly watching clouds does not exactly propel me.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 03 March 2026 - 03:01 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 24 February 2026 - 05:34 PM, said:

Abyss, on 24 February 2026 - 04:48 PM, said:

Flipped through a few different things before landing on THE COUNTRY BUMPKIN BECOMES A MASTER SWORDMAN ...
It's not brilliant or wildly entertaining but it's filling my anime watch niche nicely for now.

It's a solid show and yeah the fanservice is over the top at times, but it's very fun and enjoyable.

Finished, solid end. It's very much 'cozy anime' if that's a thing (k i have decided it's a thing) but i enjoyed it right through including the silly/low-key parts. The action is well done, they give characters 'signature moves' but don't hype it up the way say, Demon Slayer does, so it fits the more grounded style.

Jumped through a few more rando first eps that didn't stick, landed back on FRIEREN... chilling on the couch w a drink this works better for me and watched a few more eps. I need something w a faster pace and more frequent action for workout watching... characters in gently waving fields languidly watching clouds does not exactly propel me.

FRIEREN is SO enjoyable, and I agree it's a "have a glass of wine and enjoy though. There are big fights later, but it's never going to be a shounen anime.

Abyss, on 03 March 2026 - 03:01 PM, said:

I need something w a faster pace and more frequent action for workout watching

I have some recommendations. Do you need Netflix, or can you do CrunchyRoll?

If you haven't tried out SOLO LEVELING yet, you should. It's solidly great and FILLED with action. It builds a bit slowly initialy, but once it gets going, hoobaby I love it. Probably as close as you're getting to DEMON SLAYER levels. Trailer

GACHIAKUTA (translates to: Legit Trash...LOL) on Crunchyroll is excellent. Tonnes of some of the most unique fights I've seen in an anime recently, and a really compelling setting and story, and amazingly unique art style. Here's a fight from the first episode where the main character meets another main character.

CHAINSAW MAN...this is just some peak anime excellence. It's got horror elements, but it's action packed and laser focused on character. Trailer

I think FIREFORCE is on Netflix, but it's has a metric shittonne of fan service, so if that irks you, you won't be in, but solid action. I stopped due to the fan service. Trailer.

There's a new one on Netflix called WINDBREAKER too and it's martial arts heavy, but I've only seen two eps so far. Trailer.

[QuickTidal]

FATE ZERO was...eh...I got about just over halfway into S1 and I juts realized that I care SO little about the characters that precede the next Holy Grail war that I watched two whole repeats of in UBW and HF movies...like just no, I need to get out of this era. It's super repetitive. Like the Heavens Feel movies only happen because Shirou walks Sakura home, and in UBW he doesn't.

So I've moved on to FATE GRAND ORDER instead, which is about a future corporation that has been set up to prevent the fall of humanity by time travelling to various historical timelines and events called singularities that need to be closed/stopped to prevent humanity's fall...the Holy Grail wars that occur in the Fate Stay Night series are one of those singularities.

So I watched FATE GRAND ORDER: FIRST ORDER ova, which introduces the two main characters, Fujimaru and Mash (his servant) and they end up accidentally thrown into an alternate version of that 2004 Holy Grail war, but one in which Saber (one of the heroes of FATE STAY NIGHT) has lost her master, as have the other servants and she's gone bad and rogue and co-opted Archer too, and they rule over the ashes of Fuyuki city...and they must be stopped. It was really good. REALLY really good. and it was neat to see Fujimaru and Mash standing in the now blasted out stairway of the high school where I watched Rin and Shirou have so many conversations. neat crossover. And of course Cu Chulainn shows up (goddamn I love him, he's a badass in all these shows and movies), but in this reality he's a Caster, and he's...surprise surprise a badass. Anyways, awesome film.

Up next (and bucking for longest ass titles in the series) FATE GRAND ORDER: DIVINE REALM OF THE ROUND TABLE CAMELOT: WANDERING AGATERAM and the PALADIN AGATERAM...both of which I had to rent, but only $5. I think they concern Bedivere (and Fujimaru, Mash, and DaVinci) and that tracks cause Saber is who she is.

After that there's a whole tv series called FATE GRAND ORDER ABSOLUTE DEMONIC FRONT BABYLONIA...

This series sounds like a headache to watch, but it's not, I promise.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 04 March 2026 - 01:30 PM