So damn good. Unlike the previous volumes, the art is constantly on point, too. It still changes sometimes, but all of it is stellar so I never minded. A definite high point.

Plot wise, really fun. Probably better than the tournament. Danny is hunted by an ancient evil (question mark) that appears to kill every iron fist when they turn 33. At the same time, the boys and girls of the eternal weapons are united in hunting for the eighth city, of which nobody knew existed until the previous arc. There’s also a little romance subplot with Misty, but it’s mostly a lot of action. Oh, and Danny wants to dismantle Rand Corp and make it a not-for-profit, in an effort to do some actual good.

People who think this isn’t the best iron fist run are just built different, basically.

A solid but not as phenomenal as the mid arc finish up. The eighth city suffers from being fun, but not as cool as the plot before it. However, it does end well on all fronts and sets up the next run rather well. It feels a bit like the run was cut short for some reason. Yet it also is decidedly still the best iron fist run I’ve come across. When it comes to delivering on flavour, art, progressing the character and the world building, nothing else comes close; certainly nothing in the last couple decades, anyway.

A return to the wholesome slice-of-life side for a while. As well as the introduction of a new character, some more Frieren past character building, and some very tender moments. After this, so begins the still cool but not really wholesome Naruto battle challenges. I’m still down but this is really the emotional centre and most enjoyable parts of the series, for me. It’s just so atypical and inventive with the world building and plot beats. Nice and cozy. It’s natural that it would have to change at some points. I do hope it returns to this at some point.

Still good, but a change in content, for sure. Less cozy past Frieren with slice of life pairing, and instead a Naruto style team battle for the glory of being a first class mage. At least one of them needs to be one to cross through an area they need to for The Quest.

A whole bunch of new characters and the test is pretty inventive. I prefer how it was before but it’s nice to get more action and a bit of a shake up every now and then.

If this wasn’t a book club pick I probably wouldn’t have picked it up at all. I don’t typically enjoy horror or general western type stories, unless they’re post westerns, which, this sort of was, but not in a way I found interesting.

Initially, it seemed interesting. There’s commentary on culture and times, and more overt things, such as racism. But also just finding out why Adelaide would burn down her house and what is in the trunk is compelling enough. By the time it actually gets there, though, we go through just the most boring build up, so that when it actually is time to learn these things, I did not care anymore.

I also had a notion of what was in the trunk and I think my idea of it was more interesting to me than what it actually was, so the reveal actually worked against the story, for me. Rather than ramp tension, all the narrative tension, for me, wasn’t present, making the end kind of a bombastic finish without any punch. I was already tuned out.

But. This is to be expected, given what I know about myself as a reader already, so I am not surprised that it worked for most people, who are probably picking this up because they like certain aspects of it, and not in spite of them.

The complete second and third test, almost. One more chapter for the real end to the third one, but it’s basically done and just wanted a bit of a cliffhanger for the chapter. This happens to be where the current anime has left off too, so each volume will be all-new to me.

The tie in to the field of flowers spell mentioned quite a few times now, is so well done. The shift from a test giver who was much more savage to sense’s pacifist one was also really well done. And even the ramifications of their allowing Frieren to take the test makes sense, too, in a way. Even if the results are pretty suspect and arbitrary. Choosing by intuition must be different when you’re that old, but it does feel like there isn’t any real clear parameters for what a first class mage even is, or what their function is, if any. They get the “privilege”, but otherwise it’s a badge of honour and this governing body, what, just… likes to measure the skills of people in the region? I think there is some mystery here that will get more fleshed out.

Either way, the reveal about the flowers and the staff mending, plus the cool cooperation and tactics made this much more interesting than the first test, for me.

On the road again! Back to slice-of-life and wholesomeness. We continue to see how Himmel and his values resonate well beyond his death, as we’ll get some development from Fern and Stark, romantically. Though, interestingly, no one knows if they’re actually compatible, so it’s like a mini adventure in that way.

Normally, there would be some fan service or googly eyes or some kind of heat between characters to get to this point, but because both haven’t really been socialized, it’s mostly just an experiment, which ends up being wholesome, because this is Frieren. I really like the slow burn development.

What I thought didn’t quite work for me was the hero of the south, who was the flashback portion of the book, but kind of felt like it took agency away from Frieren deciding to go on the trip. It felt just right, her being persuaded. The fact that it was portended was disappointing to me. Why not leave it at the summoning of flowers for a young Himmel and her being reminded of her master to undertake the journey, using her instincts? It bugged me, a little.

This continues to be an enjoyable slow burn, where generally one major lore question is answered. Typically, it’s one you didn’t particularly think you even had. In this case, why does Frieren ask for a reward from people when helping them out? A question we learn about is why are Frieren and Serie have such different outlooks on so many things, including what “strength” is, when so many of their commonalities would suggest them having the same attitudes and thinking?

When the group needs to deal with a demon attack, Frieren believes in Fern and likes her qualities, whereas Serie believes anyone that isn’t a killer, basically, will be prey by something else, and will die. She doesn’t want people to die, but she isn’t good at communication, so we don’t really know what the root of that even comes from yet. Why didn’t Serie take on the demon king? Why did she end up ruling over the first class mages, when she tore up the Will asking her to pretty much do exactly what? Is there a large threat like the demon king looming, or are demons just that much of a problem, and the only way for Serie to express concern is to be detached and insist people be ruthless killers to deal with demons, and life, in general?

A lot of this volume is a fight with demons that showcases Fern and introduce a new first class mage guy. I’m curious where it’s going, as usual.

I made it through 20% of this and picked it up to see if it would be more interesting and better than the new TV show. It isn’t. It’s a product of its time, at least a little problematic already in multiple areas—but most of all, I simply don’t like the writing. There is so much exposition positioned in such a contrived manner all of the time. Characters will verbalize what should be internal, and vice versa, so often it becomes increasingly annoying. Because it is historical, you can hand wave some of the many, many info dump segments, but this too becomes very tiresome, as they are not organic in the least, and become more contrived as it goes on.

Even to a complete laymen of Japanese culture, there’s noticeable, glaring inaccuracies, most notably this notion that samurai would commit ritual suicide almost eagerly and for the slightest infraction. Laughable. Allowances should be made for the perspective coming from a westerner navigating the culture anew, but the parts that are info dumps and detached from it have these kinds of inaccuracies, and make it hard to trust in the fiction as a whole. Would the women really have sexualized and fetishized the MC as wildly as here? I’m not sure, but skewing toward problematic aspects so early coupled with other issues makes it so another straw in the camels back, so to speak.

Plot wise, the changes in the mini series are really superior as well. This drags immensely because of the overwriting.

I will just watch the show.

This is… almost suspiciously good. It bears little resemblance to the last book. Co author, that you? Or did they just take criticisms of the first book to heart. Either way, this is vastly superior on every level. On a technical one the writing has much more connective tissue, feeling competently dressed toward young adult, to the point where it’s more PG than the show. There is far more connective tissue for plot beats. The themes hit harder, the characters feel both true to themselves and well realized, while also feeling like they’ve finally aged forward, too. Particularly with Logan, who now finally makes more sense as a character and was by far the weakest aspects to the second and third seasons, where the show becomes gonzo and contrived, rarely returning to the heart of what made the show work.

With Veronica finally having more complex relationships, so too is the morality being more nuanced. It is, perhaps quietly, actually feminist with this story; showcasing a rich compliment of women dealing with a problem unique to them, and then solving their own problems, rather than having men come in and save them, like in the show. A constant irritation for me was Logan coming to rescue. Veronica is, I’m sorry, the dumbest smartest person in the show, constantly in need of a white knight. Last book she actually carries a gun, this time the world presents additional options that aren’t so black and white—it’s much more interesting.

It also manages to tie-in to an episode that has bugged me for ages. What happened to a certain character and how lame it felt as a follow through on Veronica’s part. It manages to address it and make it a pivotal aspect of the primary theme of the book. And the popping up of bit parts even manages to feel organic, due to how things progress from there. It’s really, really good.

A wonderfully pleasant surprise. Unironically probably better than any single episode of the tv show. What an improvement over the somewhat mediocre (but serviceable) previous instalment.

4.5 rounded up