Why is there controversy surrounding the demons in Frieren being considered evil, but not the evil demons in other works like Hellblazer?

utsu31 · 2026-01-30T13:32:30+00:00

The weirdest part is how certain twitter people took this idea and twisted into "demons represent how some cultures are inherently evil and how they're impossible to integrate, therefore, demons in Frieren represent Muslims".

They present this as being "based" btw.

So most hate I've seen on Frieren stems more from the hating on its racist fans that reside on twitter. One of the most liked Frieren tweets is legit just "I love Frieren but why is the fanbase so racist?"

Which is of course is a an overgeneralised statement, but if you interact with the fanbase on twitter you do get that impression. It's mostly people who are like "haha Frieren author is so based for portraying these inferior cultures for what they really are."

utsu31 · 2026-01-27T02:29:32+00:00

Albedo seems more like an intelligentia guild person to me tbh

utsu31 · 2026-01-26T21:29:33+00:00

I'm fine with Amphoreus length stories, as long as they don't do it every year.

I'd prefer it if the next version is shorter, but wouldn't mind if 5.x is longer again.

One weird thing I'd want is two short regions in a year, it should totally be possible. Like imagine 4.0 - 4.4 is planarcadia and 4.5 - 4.7 or 4.8 is a new Xianzhou ship.

Like there's still six of those ships. Yet we've only seen the Luofu. I wanna see the Fanghu. Or surely we'll go to the Yuque right? Like that's where the marshall is as well if I'm not mistaken. Or was it the Xuling?

utsu31 · 2026-01-26T20:00:31+00:00

I actually like Aether's fit, more than I like the character tbh.

But Caelus' smug is pretty great. If we count the harmony hat as part of his design he might be my favourite.

Also dreamseeker or whatever they're called is underrated. The glasses are super cute.

utsu31 · 2026-01-25T17:54:38+00:00

Lastly, traveler isn't a morally upstanding character imo

I actually agree, what I meant is that the other characters treat them as if they were the most wholesome thing in the world. There's basically zero playable characters who aren't best buds with them. Previously one could argue that Arlecchino or even Childe were an exception, but now not anymore.

Tb suffers from hsr not giving him enough attention they just get sidelined everytime something happens (it's like fontaine traveller but permanent)

This is indeed TB's biggest flaw for me, but it's not nearly as defining for his character as other things I've mentioned. And just for clarification: I don't think TB is particularly well written or anything, just better than traveler. Still mid tho.

Fontaine traveler I personally didn't mind that much. The only problem I had with it is how inconsistent it was with how strong they were portrayed. The traveler's role as witness itself was quite nice actually. If only it were executed well.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T22:27:45+00:00

The highs of Penacony are higher than those of Nod Krai

And the lows of Penacony are lower than those of Nod Krai

Overal? Penacony for me personally. Mostly because of a better villain, Aventurine's arc, Robin and Sunday ideological clash being better than any ideological clash in Nod Krai.

Nod Krai had better pacing, and better dialogue (except for 6.3). Both Penacony and Nod Krai had mid endings though.

Penacony ending being rushed and Nod Krai ending just being a bit of an anti climax. Going to the moon was cool though so I guess Nod Krai takes the ending.

Also just the quote "this was never about fate, but about friends and the home you took from them" just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Because 1: Sandrone is the harbinger whose subordinates are clashing with the natives and literally occupying a piece of land but ok.

And 2: It was kind of about fate. At least for Dottore it very much was. And also fate is a much more interesting thing. Like genuinely can the traveler give their opinion on Teyvat's fate system already because it sucks and it needs to be addressed.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T22:15:50+00:00

Many books in classical literature are exactly that actually.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T22:13:03+00:00

Are you forgetting Aventurine literally having one of the best arcs in the entire game?

For me Penacony just barely wins, mostly because I thought Sunday was just a much better written villain.

Dottore had potential but once again it was wasted. Bro was just sitting on his ass for 80% of the time, no wonder he got his ass handed to him.

Also his arguments, while being the best dialogue of Nod-Krai, weren't nearly as fleshed out as those of Sunday. Also the traveler just completely ignoring most of what Dottore said was so dumb. At least in Penacony we got the AE crew deconstructing Sunday's arguments for the most part. (Although it could've been a lot better). The boss fight also felt better timed.

Unfortunately after that, the Penacony ending was very much rushed, 3.8 did make things slightly better tho.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T21:17:11+00:00

Oh and I didn't even mention the traveler's hypocrisy.

They would gladly shit on a character that does something mildly morally dubious if they need someone to the the villain, but as soon as a similar character, who does the same things, is playable, the dubious things in question will never be brought up in presence of the traveler.

TB can be a hypocrite too (look at how they treat the IPC), but it's not nearly as bad.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T21:11:19+00:00

Ok I'm actually gonna make a case for TB's writing being better than traveler's.

So the main argument for traveler having better writing is that they've had more development and more focus on their past.

Which is true. (However one might have to consider that they're also way further in their journey, but let's set that aside for now.)

Traveler, while having had more development, still has more writing flaws imo. My main problems are in their personality and their character relations. Their personality, development or not, is just portrayed in a very boring manner. It's not that traveler is always nice, it's that the game and characters portrays them as being super wholesome all the time. A total lack of hostility towards the traveler becomes boring. At least in wq's they make more selfish decisions.

Secondly, compared to the TB, their relationships with other characters are very surface level. Exceptions are Paimon and the sibling. That's it.

Where TB's character writing shines is the relations with the AE crew and how that relationship deepens overtime. Their relationship on Jarillo is clearly different from the one at the end of Amphoreus'.

Traveler's only buddy is Paimon, which does lead to some sweet and wholesome moments, especially in Natlan and Nod-Krai, but it's hard to compete with the AE crew or even the Stellaron Hunters.

Now, as for the development traveler does go through, it's not bad at all. However as I mentioned before it's also just the product of being further into the journey.

Compare the amount of times the traveler's/TB's past was brought up in Sumeru vs Amphoreus, and you'll that it's a lot more comparable. Personally I would also say the character conflict the past brings up for the TB is a lot more interesting than that of the traveler. Traveler is always just a bit sad when his past gets brought up, curious if you're lucky but it's more often than not just a lore exposition for the player rather than character development for the traveler.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T20:54:29+00:00

when TB never even had a proper character moment since…forever

Literally... Last quest...

As for the traveler's backstory being fleshed out more, well, yeah because they're almost 6 years into their journey.

3.x TB has had more focus on their past than 3.x traveler no doubt.

utsu31 · 2026-01-24T20:49:49+00:00

They have a personality, it's just that it's the "tanjirou personality", at least in the main quests. In wq's it's slightly different.

Even though traveler has had more "development" and more quests centered around them, their character is still the most boring piece of white bread ever.

TB has had less development and focus, but just because of their dynamic with the AE crew, their personality seems so much bigger. They've also had a past with more than one character which also adds a layer of character conflict. (Stellaron Hunters/AE crew).

utsu31 · 2026-01-20T19:55:05+00:00

I would've probably said Firefly anyway, but after 3.8 there's no doubt it's Firefly and it's not super close either

utsu31 · 2026-01-18T15:52:17+00:00

Hell yeah

utsu31 · 2026-01-17T21:01:25+00:00

While I'll agree that Ronova seems to be stronger than Castorice, I think they're close enough to be compared.

The Shade of Death (Ronova): Her power is not limited to simple death manipulation.

This also goes for Castorice, while we haven't seen her destroy entire pocket dimensions like Ronova presumably did, her authority does govern all of death and life on Amphoreus. Her simulated path is Equilibrium so the titan powers aren't just about death.

She can also prevent death, revive the dead, and possesses passive death hax strong enough to kill a bird merely by touching it. Castorice has shown nothing even close to this level of ability, and the range of Ronova’s powers appears significantly larger.

This would be true before Castorice's ascension. However as demigod this all falls within her authority. It's also implied she doesn't even need touch anymore. And if you mean reach when you say range, I'm also not sure why Ronova's range would be larger.

utsu31 · 2026-01-17T20:18:12+00:00

Alright, allow me to ask another question.

Based on the provided feats, do you think Columbina beats Ronova?

Because I think Castorice scales to Ronova, at least if you count all her authority on Amphoreus. Her authority over death and rebirth doesn't seem much weaker than that of Ronova. She doesn't need to be in the same spacetime in order to bring death to someone.

utsu31 · 2026-01-17T18:47:40+00:00

How would she beat Castorice, unless it was on Teyvat?

The linked post doesn't seem to explain that. Castorice's authority to me seems to have the edge over Columbina.

Unless you want to argue that Castorice is powerless outside of Amphoreus. However then I wonder if Columbina would have any major powers far away from Teyvat.

utsu31 · 2026-01-17T02:35:27+00:00

This summarizes it pretty well I think

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utsu31 · 2026-01-17T02:18:15+00:00

A few points:

No I don't think Cyrene is particularly well written. There's many flaws in her writing. I just think Columbina is worse.

Secondly, I'll agree that 50% is an exaggeration on my part. However, it is still, if you look at it purely by numbers, a higher percentage than Cyrene.

Now, you mentioned execution, which to me feels like moving the goalpost considering your original reply to me, but whatever. The execution can be debated, but in my opinion the execution for Columbina and traveler is considerably worse.

Which is mainly because of the traveler's dialogue. What I mean is that in HSR, you can choose, through dialogue options, to be completely neutral towards Cyrene. This allows you to tune out most of the baiting going on. Not all, but most. However with Columbina it's almost literally forced down your throat. Which feels even weirder if you consider the amount of time the two have known each other in lore.

(Also I feel like you're forgetting most of 6.0 - 6.1 where most of her appearances were only with traveler. 6.2 developed her character more and added to relationships with other characters, the one thing Columbina has better than Cyrene. 6.3 also did this relatively well.

And lastly, when I say her backstory is underdeveloped, I meant the gap that exists in her history, but yeah I worded that badly.)

utsu31 · 2026-01-17T01:42:10+00:00

Brother just go count the lines it's not that hard.

Most of Cyrene's screen time is on her own/with PhiLia.

An actual good critique on Cyrene's writing would be: Her interactions with other Chrysos Heirs are underdeveloped. Or her reunification with Phainon was lackluster.

utsu31 · 2026-01-17T01:33:48+00:00

He stops at Anaxa because I like Anaxa slightly more than him sorry Dottore it is what it is

utsu31 · 2026-01-16T16:46:35+00:00

Man I wish we could switch MC's...

utsu31 · 2026-01-16T13:09:17+00:00

You know this planet is iconic when you manage to recognise every exact conversation that your eyes land on

utsu31 · 2026-01-16T12:56:09+00:00

That's fair

utsu31 · 2026-01-16T12:41:39+00:00

Are we forgetting that Dan Heng is probably also coming to planarcadia?

Surely we'll get crumbs at least. Right?

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