Sousou no Frieren

[droqen]

Regarding Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe's
"Sousou no Frieren"

[droqen]

[Humans] crafted boats before they deciphered the principles of buoyancy, controlled those boats using sails without knowing the principles behind wind, and even built up embankments without understanding the principles of waves. [They], since ancient times, have possessed the ability to tackle the unknown while they remained unknown.

From the perspective of a demon, speaking to another demon. The demons in Frieren are without malice or human emotion, really interesting characters and villains. They are logical and immensely powerful. This take on the human condition is interesting... it suggests the demons only solve things through knowing them, as opposed to the way that humans can accumulate incomplete information and arrive at a solution anyway. I have been experiencing this myself... it's tempting to try and understand something completely before making a run at it. The demons' perspective is such a subtle lens through which I can access this concept.

[droqen]

Earlier in the same chapter, the same demon says this while in a fight with two of the progagonists:

I've always loved conversing with people since long ago, and have heard many stories from all kinds of people. Like what they enjoy eating, what kind of an environment they were brought up in, or what their occupation is like. And, I would be deeply intrigued about their families as well. These are concepts that do not exist among us demons, after all. There's also their dreams of the future, and their final words upon their death bed. Exploring mankind's customs, civilization, and magical techniques through conversation is the nature of my research. What do you think? It's fascinating, isn't it?

The pair of demons we're dealing with in this chapter (and over the past 10-20, let's say) are so interested in humans, but so removed. They are mass murderers, and villains, but compelling -- and, to me, very relatable. Not in the mass murder sense, but think about how a person feels mowing the lawn.

[droqen]

I like alien experiences that I can relate to by scaling human experiences to them. Frieren is an elf who will live (forever? thousands of years?) and likes humans - I can imagine what that feels like by asking myself how I would react if I had friends whose entire lifespans fit within ten years... They wouldn't be alien or beneath me, but they would live life on a different scale.

I feel the same way about the demons. I can imagine their thinking, to some degree, by asking myself how I see little bugs. I love spiders and think they are fascinating, but also... I will kill them if they're causing me trouble or inconvenience or discomfort.

The purpose of these exaggerated lenses is to see myself and the people around me better.