I genuinely don’t know why people are confused about the Demons in frieren. They are fundamentally incompatible with humanity. There is no Grey zone. They are monsters, not your happy friendly fantasy where some monsters are good monster monsters. The only connections they are capable of understanding is strength. The only language they truly understand is power. They learned the human tongue not to communicate but to manipulate. The anime and the Manga make it exceptionally clear, the Demons in Frieren are just monsters. There is no redemption. Just like how you can’t genocide a lion, or a mosquito you cannot genocide the demons in frieren.
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HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 months agoAnd Frieren is basically carrying out a genocide. Both of them are bad.
Traister101@lemmy.today 3 months ago
HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 months ago
“…makes it exceptionally clear” yeah… No. The anime and manga time and time show demons valuing other things than “power” all the time.
The mere fact that they have free will makes it completely unacceptable to do a genocide. A genocide, as Frieren wants it, is indiscriminate, meaning that if there are good demons, they too will be executed.
EmptySlime@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 months ago
Out of curiosity, when did they show that? Every interaction with demons I remember from it they are shown to be manipulating people at best.
The “Diplomatic Envoys” were literally trying to figure out the town’s barrier so their master could come in and slaughter them.
The “little girl” in the flashback with Himmel outright says that she called out for her “Mommy” despite demons literally abandoning their young once they’re born because “that word stops humans” and nothing more.
Like yeah it’s inherently difficult writing something that looks human as actually an irredeemable monster that the only solution is destruction because dehumanizing vulnerable groups is pretty much always the first step in real life genocides. But I don’t recall any instances of demons in Frieren actually showing “humanity” for any other reason than to manipulate and kill humans.
Feyd@programming.dev 3 months ago
They didn’t. This person just wants to feel this way so they are, regardless of the contents of the media.
arrow74@lemm.ee 3 months ago
I hear you, but also if my species is your only food source and cannot be replaced by any of the available means of the time I’m not sure what other options remain
programmer_belch@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
In universe, she says demons behave like animals and are made out of magic. It could be she is forcing an extinction of a different species whose only purpose is preying on humans
It could also be that I am falling for elf propaganda but I can’t talk to the demons to know their opinion
EmptySlime@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 months ago
People: “We’re tired of all these ‘misunderstood villains’ we want unapologetically evil for the sake of evil.”
Frieren: “Okay here’s monsters that learned to imitate human language and emotion solely to manipulate and kill humans.”
The same people: “No! You’re wrong! They’re just misunderstood and you’re doing a genocide!”
Yeah, any media that depicts something human like being an irredeemable monster that the only solution is destruction is inherently tricky because dehumanizing is pretty much always the first step in mass atrocities irl. But my God I’ve seen so many people tie themselves in knots trying to give the benefit of the doubt to demons in Frieren.
Zanshi@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Demons in Frieren were shown to be irredeemable monsters so many times, people arguing they aren’t are idiots. There’s no benefit of the doubt to be given to them.
deur@feddit.nl 3 months ago
It’s hilarious too since one of the plotlines in the damn story is “Nobody listened to Frieren when she said monsters are only out to manipulate you with your words again” so it’s crazy to miss the fact that the story very strongly proves monsters are NOT intended to be at all likable or deserving of empathy.
RandomVideos@programming.dev 3 months ago
You cant directly talk to them, but if you can hide your mana well enough, you can hear their monolog about how evil their species is
Also, werent elfs killed on sight by them, following their kings orders?
HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 months ago
I think that either the writer is stupid, writing clear contradictions into the manga, or he’s smart and think that demons are more complex.
If their only purpose is to kill humans why do they have free will? Why do they have emotions and feel fear and sadness?
mrbubblesort@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I appreciate the point you are making, but I strongly disagree with it. Kanehito has been very clear, Demons may have free will and feel emotions, but so too does a leopard in the jungle. You might be able to tame them, you might even be able to coexist with them for a time, but don’t think for even a moment that either wouldn’t immediately eat your face if given the opportunity.
Cypher@lemmy.world 3 months ago
They display fear and sadness only as a means to manipulate and kill humans.
programmer_belch@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
The most I have seen in the anime of emotions is surprise and fear of death for Aura. I don’t think this makes them any more human, as other commenter said, they are lime leopards and unless you are willing to breed them for domestication, if that is even possible, there is no way to make them harmless