Frieren Took Me By Surprise 4: The Un-Isekai

Comparing Frieren to Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. And then we finish out our recap of episode 1.

Sirens. The scene of a terrible accident. The main character recalls that he'd just gotten hit by a truck. They rush him to the hospital, but he dies.

That's right, you just entered an isekai. And in this case, it's the immensely popular Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. (Never seen it? No worries.)

We neared the end of the first episode in our recap of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End in the last post. Using Jobless Reincarnation as a counterpoint, let's examine why I believe Frieren is the "un-isekai".

Frieren: The Un-Isekai

[slight spoilers for the first 10 episodes of Jobless Reincarnation season 1]

The main character of Jobless Reincarnation is a 34-year old who was a "recluse for 20 years". A freeloader. All he had to do was "bang on the floor for food". He died a virgin.

We get a good look at this loser's bedroom in the second episode.

Clearly a degenerate coomer who wasted his life. The funny thing about the safety net of a parent's home is that it can start feeling an awful lot like a hammock. So, sometimes, it's up to the parents to do the right thing.

And the parents do just that, kicking him out.

It's a rainy night, so I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for him? Well, he feels plenty sorry for himself as he meanders along.

He cusses to himself under his breath and says,

"What the hell did I do to deserve this?"

Gee Scoob, I don't know. It's a mystery.

So this dingleberry Darwins himself out into the street from the perfectly safe sidewalk ... right in front of a speeding truck. We're supposed to believe he was worried about the strangers across the street, but the truck was nowhere near them.

Based Truck-kun to the rescue, ready to mete out karma and unalive this loser.

As he dies in the emergency room, he laments that he's never had sex. That's his one regret. But of course, his poor life decisions are exactly why he wound up in that situation in the first place. If you sit there repeatedly draining yourself of life, you will end up lifeless.

There was nothing spiritual about this man's life. And because he's not religious, he's replaced God with sex, choosing to idolize it.

But the story wants you to believe he deserves a second chance. Because the kids at school laughed at him and bullied him. (Pro Tip: Everyone gets laughed at or bullied at school. It's built into societies for a reason - so we can learn how to handle it. Part of our rite of passage. It's a natural societal mechanism.)

One should not remove himself from society at the age of 14, do absolutely nothing with his life from that point on, and expect society to leave him alone. That's just naïve. What's worse, this kind of behavior festers into evil. And in many cases, that evil takes the forms of sloth, lust, and pride.

This should be a cautionary tale, men choosing to play MMORPGs and worship waifus instead of talk to real women. It's terrible what's happened to the youth of Japan - The decreasing birthrates, the incel epidemic.

Numbers as of the end of 2024. Sadly, Japan's birthrate has only gotten worse as isekai has risen in popularity. Jobless Reincarnation got its start as a web serialization in 2012.

In a time of declining birthrates, putting the idea in people's heads that making poor life decisions and meeting a tragic end will get you reincarnated into a better world ... is the last message you should be sending. Because it discourages folks from making the right choices now and subconsciously sends the message that there are no real consequences for your actions, and that your sins are not your fault.

But despite doing nothing to have earned it, the main character gets rewarded for his bad behavior. He's reborn as a healthy baby in this fantasy world, all his pervert memories intact.

One of the first things he does is ogle over his new mom's breasts.

"Her tits are huge," he thinks, reaching out his tiny hands. "If you leave yourself that open, I might cop a feel."

It seems our main character is now "Rudeus Greyrat", a pervert who has been reborn into a fantasy world.

This type of story is a one-way trip: There's no portal to return home from Narnia. He can't take what he's learned and apply it to the real world. So, for better or worse, this is his world now.

Despite having a clean slate, he continues to be a total pervert as he grows up, and soon learns not only that this world has magic, but he's (of course) particularly gifted at it. (It seems he's the only mage who doesn't have to say his incantations aloud ... so he can basically cast at the speed of thought.)

His power isn't all unearned; He does have to learn the language of this new world, teach himself how to read, and takes it upon himself to research magic. But he still has too many unfair advantages over all the others, those who were naturally born of this world.

What exactly does he use his magic on? Aside from learning attack and healing spells, he uses it mainly for voyeurism and creating PVC-style dolls of his favorite waifus without their knowledge.

He's still a gamer, still a consoomer, still materialistic.

You'd think being reborn through a miracle, being given a second chance, and discovering that magic exists would rock you to your core. You'd think it would awaken some spiritual component in your life.

But in Rudeus' case, it does not. He thinks of magic purely from a gaming standpoint, talks to girls as if he's making selections in a dating simulator, and uses his wind magic to see upskirt.

And a creep like this has been given the sandbox of his dreams. This is his afterlife. His 100 virgins.

Rudeus hasn't changed at all, yet keeps convincing himself he's entitled to this second chance while feeling sorry for himself and sobbing as he flashes back to his pathetic old life. This is pride in its purest form.

What's worse, Rudeus disrespects his father, smugly talks down to him, and takes the life given him for granted.

"You'd better call it quits, Paul," thinks Rudeus toward his father, who was trying to discipline him. "I didn't spend twenty years weaseling my way out of unwinnable arguments for nothing."

Rudeus sneaks around the house doing clandestine (often dirty) things and ultimately blows a massive hole in the side of their house due to carelessness with his magic, making his father's life much harder than it needs to be.

The father was a virtuous alpha male who was gaining reader sympathy, so the writer threw in a curveball by having Rudeus' father cheat on his wife. All to justify Rudeus' (the self-insert's) behavior.

Another example of pride is when he defends his mage tutor against "racist" strawmen:

"Roxy's amazing. She must have faced prejudice due to her hair," thought Rudeus.

Mind, this is the same girl he internally criticizes for having small breasts. Plus he lusted after her, stole her panties, created a PVC model of her, and stole various upskirt views. Yet he doesn't miss a chance to virtue signal about defending her due to his pride, despite not understanding the first thing about the culture or history of her people, or why people might be prejudice against someone like her in the first place.

He even meets God at one point and mouths off at Him about how unfair his life has been, even after having been handed this miracle:

Even God is shocked at how entitled this guy is.

In case you couldn't tell, what frustrates me most about isekai is the main characters get handed a miracle from God on a silver platter - only to double down on the lifestyle choices that put them into this situation in the first place.

What it takes to be "reborn" is to learn from your past and change. It's not easy. You don't just get handed rebirth for free. You have to earn it.

Thanks to the profoundness of her 10-year journey, Frieren's ready to change. She's been metaphorically reborn, ready to take on the world through a fresh pair of eyes.

This may not be easy to hear, but you don't need another world to "isekai", and you aren't entitled to a second chance. You have to work hard to deserve it. And if God hands you a second chance on a silver platter for free, don't squander it and double down on your poor life choices. Instead, let it change you. Let it transform you.

Otherwise it sends a clear message that you weren't the problem; The world was the problem all along. It's not the isekai protagonist's fault - He was simply born into the wrong world, or inside the wrong body.

People who disconnect from reality for far too long can feel a bit like an elf who has trouble connecting with humans. But now Frieren wants to socialize, wants to meet people, wants to learn what she's been missing in life. This is the right message for parasocial societies.

So maybe you've had it rough and Life's Not Fair. (Believe me, I know how that feels.) If you deserve a second chance, prove it before it's too late. Take what you've learned and strive to be a better person. And even if you believe in reincarnation, don't count on yourself landing in a better life, let alone one in a different wish fulfillment world with all your memories intact.

It's almost always framed that the main characters are innocent victims in an unfair world, reborn somewhere that favors them over everyone else. It's "victim mentality" distilled. It sells the idea that if you get pushed in front of a bus or stabbed to death in an alley, you'll be reborn into a world that will bend over backwards to accommodate you.

Frieren stands against all of this, including by not being an isekai. This show stands tall as a criticism against the moral bankruptcy that has been served to us through isekai, enabling--and even romanticizing--"NEET" lifestyles over and over again.

The Rest of Frieren Episode 1

[spoilers for the end of Frieren episode 1]

20 more years have passed since that day Frieren attended Himmel's funeral, the day she had vowed to change. Frieren now finds herself just outside of the holy city Strahl in her travels.

As I said, Frieren is a journey. Below is a map that shows where she travels during each of the 28 episodes.

As Frieren searches the forest for Heiter the Priest's cottage, she meets a kind human girl.

This is a fateful meeting as this girl, Fern, will become crucial to Frieren's journey learning about humans.

To Frieren's surprise, Heiter has given up drinking. And he's been raising Fern out of the kindness of his heart, a war orphan from the Southern Lands.

Of course, Heiter was never the "corrupt priest" that Frieren accused him of being. And he's only gotten kinder and more virtuous with age.

Frieren's also changed, having gotten to know the humans she'd met during her travels as much as possible. She's returned to Heiter because she feels indebted to him, and wants to spend more time with him before he dies.

Heiter asks Frieren to take on Fern as an apprentice mage. She refuses, worried that Fern may die in battle.

Heiter then goes with "Plan B", which is to have Frieren translate an ancient grimoire written by an ancient sage, claiming it holds the secrets to immortality and resurrection inside.

Such a grimoire is exactly the kind of bait that Frieren can't refuse. Even mundane grimoires with useless spells excite Frieren, but a resurrection spell could potentially bring back Himmel.

Frieren's skeptical that such a spell could even exist, but she takes the bait, warning that it will take her five or six years to decipher it.

Heiter explains he's always had a fear of death, which is why he wishes for immortality, and says he doesn't mind waiting.

"Besides, the holy texts tell us to live healthy lives. A long life is the ultimate expression of that, Frieren."

The elf sees this as evidence he's still a corrupt priest, to which he simply laughs. But she agrees to do the task. Heiter also asks Frieren to teach Fern magic in her spare time, and she agrees.

Fern is a self-taught mage who practices each day on a cliffside just beyond the forest's reach. Her goal is to blast a hole in the boulder on the opposite end of the chasm.

Frieren is immediately impressed with Fern, not only for her mana level at such a young age, but by the fact that the power has not corrupted her. A simple litmus test confirms that Fern has a good heart.

And that's it. That's the end of the first episode. Eighty years' worth of storytelling in 25 minutes.

If you continue to the second episode, you'll soon learn that Heiter isn't telling Frieren everything about his motives. You'll learn why Heiter's fear of death is arguably his greatest strength. And you may have already gotten the feeling that he wants immortality not for himself - but for Fern, to continue being there for her.

We know that Heiter is disciplined and kind because we can see it through Fern's goodness and dedication.

And we're learning what's truly great in life. It's not selfish wish fulfilment. It's not being given freebies because you're entitled to them. It's understanding that second chances are a blessing. It's being there for others.