Personally speaking, I appreciate the automated posts as a standardized format for the posts to be made. Having consistent post titles makes searching for previous discussions easier and the posts (after some tweaking for lemmy vs. reddit) include a table to make looking at previous episode discussion threads very easy.
That being said, I sympathize with people that don't want the community or their feed filled up with episode threads that don't have any comments/activity in them. While the community remains small, it might be better to limit the number of shows that the bot is used for rather than let it rip on everything it finds. The anime subreddit can do that because of the larger userbase more actively voting popular things to the front page, but in this community, all posts spend some time in the front page.
The bot also definitely has some issues. There are some shows that it seems to not be able to pick up new episodes for. As an example this season, the bot missed making a thread for Tearmoon Empire (thanks @lvxferre@lemmy.ml for stepping in). Last season, I remember several shows that also never really got threads either. I am not a dev, so I can't really dive too deeply to figure out why, but the problems are there.
I think you are right. I had thought at first that Frieren was referencing Fern hesitating against Illusion-Heiter with this comment. However, it stands to reason that Fern had fought monsters on her journey with Frieren before fighting Qual. I think it would be especially cruel to have Qual be the first non-training fight you make your student experience.
That is the thing I have been most pleasantly surprised by the production of this show. They have really devoted a lot of time and budget to a show that is not in a typically super well performing genre. In an alternate universe, it is easy to see how this show is produced in a way that flies at a breakneck pace through the story and doesn't have even close to the same emotional impact as things are stripped for time.
So far, this has been the best adaptation I could have dreamed for. It helps that the source material is excellent to start with. Enjoy the manga! It's a really special one.
I sympathize with this view as well. Romances in anime/manga are especially frustrating to me because all the characters tend to act in very childish ways and not act their age. If you are in high school, it shouldn't be heart-attack inducing to have a member of the opposite sex talk to you or share a textbook or whatever. The extra frustrating part is that these childish behaviors are not just limited to teens, but fully grown adults tend to act the exact same way in a lot of anime/manga; just swap high school for an office or izakaya. I can deal with it easier if the show leans more on the comedy side of a romcom, but the more straight romances tend to be tough to bear (with a couple exceptions).
I really liked the manga as well and I would say it is pretty faithful to the manga in spirit. To be honest, I don't remember all the details of the early parts of the manga to tell you what exactly they may have changed here or omitted there. However, the main thing I like in this series are the characters, and they definitely embody them well. Mirika is still Mirika just like Naoya is still Naoya and everybody tends to shout everything they say just like in the manga.
I think that the show gets a lot of flak from people based on the premise/genre. But, if you liked the manga, then you would probably enjoy the show too. Just set your expectations. This isn't cinema by any means, it is a turn your brain off (just like the characters) and enjoy kind of show.
You bring up an interesting point that I hadn't really thought of before. The fact that Fern is being raised through her adolescence by Frieren must have an impact on her. Frieren does not really seem like the type to be emotionally supportive as Fern is dealing with a tumultuous world around her on this journey. It would probably make Fern a bit weird to other humans as she has certainly picked up aspects of Frieren's personality that have rubbed off onto her (just like Fern has influenced Frieren).
I understand that this show is not the most beloved or best story by any stretch, but I really love the characters in this show. It is like having a cast full of Aquas from Konosuba. They are all so stupid, but likable in their own ways. This episode probably features the most controversial part of the whole story when Mirika kidnaps Naoya. I do really like the OP for this season, but the visuals in the OP give away a lot of the story that is yet to happen. The manga might be over, but at least we still get to spend a bit more time with these goofballs that can only seem to speak with capslock stuck on.
It's great to see Frieren recognizing that she has changed since the last time she fought one of those monsters and illusory Himmel was such a bro to make it easy for her to blast him. I think it is a bit unfair to criticize Fern for freezing up fighting a monster when she did just fine against Qual when he was unsealed. Looking forward to seeing the party fully assembled and some action next episode.
Also, the OP has grown on me a bit since last week. It's not my favorite ever, but it is pretty good, especially paired with great visuals. The ED is amazing though.
With this chapter we have met most of the important characters for this arc. Skel and Po continue to be the most worthless characters you can imagine, but that is exactly what makes them so useful for Cid. They can be relied on for some quick funds from a poker game or a distraction so that you can cheat on your test. Like always, the gag where Cid thinks his sister is just a chuuni will never not be funny to me, especially coming from him.
This chapter sees our MC reach new heights of denseness as he denies the reality of all his senses telling him that these girls like him. I honestly really enjoy reading this series just to see to what extreme the MC can go to deny reality. It is entertaining in a so-bad-it's-funny kind of way.
So good to see my favorite LN series back with Season 2 so quickly. So many things I can say, but I will keep it to the highlights.
I think it was a good choice to do a tiny bit of recap to make it clear that Claire won the Bushin Festival. I remember a lot of people not really picking up on that at the end of last season. Though, I am sad to see they pretty much cut the scene of Cid treating Claire to dinner, it was a pretty funny one. It was nice of Cid to yadda-yadda his way through most of the recap so as to keep things moving.
The "I smell it" gag and that whole Shadow Garden meeting was an anime original scene and worked pretty well. The anime keeps finding ways to incorporate members of the Seven Shadows that haven't even really had an impact in the LNs yet.
They handled the early ghoul stuff a bit differently, but I actually like they way they did it a lot. In the LN, Cid didn't really meet Mary in that way, so he was spouting off lines that he made up to sound cool. In the anime, I really like that he copied Mary's lines with everybody that he met as Shadow. I am pretty sure they literally just reused the animation of him saying them multiple times, adding to the gag.
Skel and Po showing up was nice to see. They don't appear in this arc at all, but this totally fits their characters.
Claire is just casually decapitating ghouls with a kick. If you remember, we saw Rose do this to a cult member in Season 1 when she gets her magic back during the school attack arc.
Mary using a blood sword is a nice touch that I don't remember being in the LNs. However, it totally fits with the lore and I really like it.
The last five minutes of the episode felt like a whirlwind as they rapidly introduced all the new characters for this arc.
I like the new OP. I was never a huge fan of Season 1's OP, so I am happy with the change. I guess we will see what they have done with the ED next episode.
Personally speaking, I appreciate the automated posts as a standardized format for the posts to be made. Having consistent post titles makes searching for previous discussions easier and the posts (after some tweaking for lemmy vs. reddit) include a table to make looking at previous episode discussion threads very easy.
That being said, I sympathize with people that don't want the community or their feed filled up with episode threads that don't have any comments/activity in them. While the community remains small, it might be better to limit the number of shows that the bot is used for rather than let it rip on everything it finds. The anime subreddit can do that because of the larger userbase more actively voting popular things to the front page, but in this community, all posts spend some time in the front page.
The bot also definitely has some issues. There are some shows that it seems to not be able to pick up new episodes for. As an example this season, the bot missed making a thread for Tearmoon Empire (thanks @lvxferre@lemmy.ml for stepping in). Last season, I remember several shows that also never really got threads either. I am not a dev, so I can't really dive too deeply to figure out why, but the problems are there.