I think this is very well said. Talking about Himmel as Sky and Heaven really covers a lot of the symbolism that these names bring. There is a German UA-camr, Storieswithstyle, who has a lovely video giving an analysis of the names(character, location, and spell) as they appear in the anime up to episode 16. It is very much worth watching if you haven't already, but it is 3hrs long. He has an interesting point of view that it really sets it up like a fairy tale. His analysis has kinda convinced me that these aren't the actual names of the characters, they are just what the person telling the story(probably Serie) remembers most about them.
I am really curious how you land on Serie as Narrator. I can only see it being a future Frieren reflecting on how she came to actually live life instead of being lived by it. Serie and Frieren do not get along and there is no reason why Serie would know even 10% the information imparted even thus far in the story (let alone anything about the part of Frierens life with Himmel's party). The second ED also highlights Ferns life altering presence in Frierens world (and maybe more so what her eventual loss is going to mean to Frieren). To Serie, Fern is simply a potentially powerful tool, not someone she would care to go into a detailed story about, she couldn't even really talk about Flamme after her death.
@@logikx1325 honestly it mostly has to do with her name. Serie - Series. It's important to note that Serie has to have been paying attention to Frieren on some level, as she claims to be aware of the DK having seen through Frieren's aura suppression. It also relies on the person being disinterested enough to not be able to remember or particularly care about the people's actual names. Conceptionally I could see her having learned a bit more of what Frieren is learning about emotional connections and using this story as a way to try to educate future students. As for learning it, Serie and Frieren have plenty of time to relate information at some point before this hypothetical future story telling session. They could even conduct interviews in Aureole.
Was pretty tired of video essays about anime before luckily getting your channel recommended on your first Frieren video, came for Frieren stayed for Pey
What I find most interesting is that the author seems to have a pretty good grasp of German an didn't just look up words in a dictonary. The best example for me is Übel. Because many people would translate her simply as "Evil". But then she is never shown to be really evil. She isn't an antagonist to Frieren and Fern and she is no BigBad. No she is rather helpfull. But Übel can also mean just "uncomfortable". If you have a stomach ache for example you would say "mir ist übel". This nuance is important because the first time we see Übel in the series is if she meets Kraft. Who saves some bandits from being killed in self defence by Übel. While Kraft wouldn't admonish a fellow adventurer killing in selfdefense it makes him unconfortable seeing people killed. Land feels unfortable being followed around by her Wirbel feels unconfortable being found out by her (Sorganeil). Übel makes people feel unconfortable, but she isn't evil. To get this nuance I find rather impressive as a native German speaker
I thought exactly the same. When watching the show I rejoiced at how well chosen these names have beyond the surface level. They indeed capture more than just the first meaning. You have these little birds, they are called "Stille" which means silence if you take it literally, but also means stillness and calmness. So far so fitting. The birds don't sing so silence works. But there is another word for the absence of noise namely "ruhe" which means rest or again silence. But it is a different silence. While Stille has the silence you have that is slightly eery or with anticipation, ruhe is the silence you have in a tranquil forest or near a bubbling stream. It is the nuance between deadly quiet (todesstille) or the final rest (todesruhe). To grasp this nuance, someone would have to understand the language as it is used by the common people.
I'm rather surprised how many people say she isn't framed as evil. She kills somebody for no reason, and she seeks out conflicts, so she can kill more people. Your moral compass is somehow very broken. She is what's her name indicates: A disgusting sicko.
I'd say Übel is pretty Evil. She's a sociopath looking for reasons to kill people (hence Kraft saving the bandits for her). But the word choice seems to be deliberate since the Daron Himmel's party fought is called Evil (Böse).
Another white knight Ubel apologist spotted, doubt you really are a native German speaker, because where I live "UBEL" is the direct phrase used for an evil or a disgusting, selfish person. Ubel is precisely what her namesake suggests lol...
Huh? I wouldn't translate übel as uncomfortable... it literally means feeling nauseous when you're sick. Übelkeit is a symptom of sickness. The second meaning is also not "evil", it's more like "bad" as in a bad person or a bad situation. Edit to stress again: At least in my region here I can't imagine anyone saying "mir ist übel" when they're just feeling uncomfortable, I can only associate this word with feeling nauseous. If I want to express that I'm feeling uncomfortable in German I would say: "Ich fühle mich nicht wohl" or "ich fühle mich unwohl."
Frieren hates being physically cold, and her story is about becoming less emotionally cold. And in the moments that she needs physical warmth in the story, she is also with others that help to "warm her spirit" as well as her body. It might not be a "deep name," but it sure fits her story well.
German here and first of all, Frieren is my favorite Anime. To me, it´s kind of funny having those german words and I absolutely disagree with the comments you showed, that it would put me out of the story, this is just dumb. So, do I think the creators have been sitting together for weeks to come up with names that have a very deep deep meaning for the characters and the story? Certainly not. But most of them definitely have at least a connection to them and that´s fine for me. I see it as a privilege that I can understand them immediately 🙂 As I said, I enjoy it, but it´s certainly not meant to be overanalyzed. More or less what you said at the end.
Same, Its not even really cringe, we are just not used to it. Not like we have plenty of schmids, schusters, eggers and Zimmermans for last names. And so many of our first names are literally just the same things abreviated from other languages, (mostly hebrew).😂
tbh as a german myself i really love the naming structure in frieren its just so different and I love it. And as you said I also see it as privilege to understand it immediately :D
When i realized that the name and the character traits were related i always got excited when a new name was dropped. I'd guess what the character would propably be like and then see how closely my assumption and the name matched them
I'm Austrian, and I LOVE it when anime uses German! It's a language that's usually mocked (which I kinda understand), but anime uses it very differently. I love it when they give super old fashioned names to characters like "Berthold" in AoT (basically like "Reginald" in English - no one's called like this anymore 😂), I love it when Fate characters try their damnest to recite German spells, or when basic nouns/verbs/adjectives are given as names to Frieren's characters. It's a form of appreciation for the language and feels kinda like a secret message I'm privileged enough to understand from the beginning. It can add depth or just be extremely amusing. I hope anime will always keep using German :)
The thing I appreciate about the German names is how well the show commits to every meaning of a word when it has multiple meanings or interpretations. Heiter means jolly or tipsy, but it's also used to describe pleasant sunny weather (similar to "nice" weather in English), and surprise, Heiter is almost always shown with sunbeams shining down on him, until he falls ill and the weather turns decidedly unpleasant. Aureole means halo, but that includes both angelic halos (associated with heaven) as well as the halo of light around a bright astronomical object like the moon. Aureole is strongly associated with Flamme, and Flamme's influence is often visually symbolized by framing characters against the moon. It also means that both of the two most influential figures in Frieren's life, Flamme and Himmel, are associated with both the sky and heaven. Even the example of Lügner meaning liar has more depth than it initially appears. All demons are liars by nature, so why does this particular demon deserve the name? Because unlike other demons who lie instinctively and mainly for survival or to lure in prey, Lügner has developed intentional, premeditated deception as a skill to be wielded, similar to how demons train their signature spells. So yeah, the German aptonym naming scheme isn't particularly deep on its own, but even just by committing fully to German words with multiple meanings or associations, it already gains some more depth.
Well he did put the qualifier that he was talking about people who have been vocal online about it. So now I'm imagining you passionately arguing your neutrality on the topic
I am more surprised that people took that much notice in it. Like, did you know that literally every name chosen in Attack on Titan is not by accident. And if you know where they come from, they "spoil" certain aspects even harder than Frieren does. Like Armin's name meaning big or giant is just really funny in retropsect. What I want to say, I am not sure why people are pointing to Frieren as if it was doing something new. It just didn't use actual names this time around.
I can see what they’re saying about the names spoiling something but specifically using Lügner being a liar as an example is just dumb because we’re never supposed to believe that he’s not a liar, at no point in the story does it try to frame him as doing anything but manipulating everyone
Isn't it? His first appearance is Frieren squaring up with LETHAL intent the exact instant she sees him... it isn't about being subtle with his intentions... it about the subtlety of how things develop even if we know he is a liar. People demand "complexity" but have no vision or patience to unravel it.
I immediately discovered your channel after binge-watching Frieren this past spring and your videos have been the perfect companion for me in understanding why I love this anime so much. Your effort and passion has been reflected by the viewership and subscriptions since then, at least 2 or 3 times the amount in that time. Hats off to you, sir!
As a German person, i think the Names were something special and thoughtprovoking in a way, i liked it alot and it drew away from the standard Middle Eurpoean Names in Anime like " Reinhard" or something alike. The Names in Frieren gave me an instant Picture of a particular Character when first introduced, which was then slowly subverted and twisted as i got to know said character more or i just then first started to understand why said character was named that way. Even if the author just did it out of laziness or whatever, it was a fantastic move.
You speaking of parallels made me realize something quite cool. When Frieren was with himmel and the original party she was there but not really present. Not quite attached and living in the moment and soaking up the time with them. Now Himmel is gone and he's not present while she retraces their adventure and she's so focused on trying to see what they experienced what they lived through. She's finally present and soaking in the moment and himmel isn't. How the tables turn.❤
German here, I don't mind the names in this show. I actually think that they are funny and Frieren is the only Anime where I can easily memorize every single name cuz all of them have already been saved in my brain files by just speaking my native language 😂 MHA has been around for 10 years and I still can't remember 60% of the names from there.
I haven't even watched Frieren yet, but the people who get anoyed that the names are german words, or that their meaning "doesn't become clear unless you know/look up german" clearly never payed attention to anime. Anime LOVES using names that are basically just words, eather fully, like "Yuki" which literally means "snow", or partly, like "Inuyasha", "inu" meaning "dog" so it's fitting for a dog half-yokai. Another popular naming convention is using names that just have general meanings, eather for gags or to conect characters, like how the entire main cast of "Free!" has girls names despite beeing boys, but when the first girl character shows up, she ironically has a boys name. You know, a bunch of things that one only notices if they know japanese, or if the show directly points them out. Hell! Naming people after things or places or feelings isn't even a purely fiction thing! Or do I have to remind people that names like "London" and "Crystal" and "Hope" exist?! So why get anoyed now, just becouse the names for once happen to be german words instead of japanese ones? That sort of naming convention never bothered anyone before! XD
The silence between the last sentence and the video end - its something that all previous videos needed so much, i was left a feeling of of incompleteness every time, now it feels perfect
Okay, two things. I am 62 Years old, born, raised and still living in Germany and I have no problem with the german names and can not unterstand why Germanx can not watch it due to this. On the contrary, I find it very appropriate to the characters. And what you said at the end hits it perfectly. The names aren't deep, but used deeply.
I don't really understand people that are annoyed by names in Frieren. I'm russian and in school we have a literature class that teaches us about "talking last names" what is essentially are names that describe character traits. For example in A.S.Griboyedov "Woe from Wit" we have character with a name "knyaz tugouhovskiy" which could be translated as "prince hearinghard" and examples like this is very common in great russian literature, so for me this naming in frieren is a trait of a great story and work of art!
If you are of european background or a fan of ye old stories it is nothing out of the blue but english both continental and extra-continental are a bit divorced from the tradition making it strange by their eye.
The meta funny thing about the names being german is watching english speaking youtubers butchering them in any way possible despite these names being said in the japanese dub almost perfectly... I speak german and I had no problem with the names... like I had no problem with names in Goblin Slayer....
Biggest pain for me was always them trying to say the name of the city "Äußerst" (= extremely or farthest away). It´s pronounced like "Oy - sehrst", but most of them said it like "Awburst". Mainly because they didn´t know the "ß", which is something like a "double s" 🙂
@@metrophidon yes, they are usually some of my favorite reactors because of their analyses, but that drove me crazy 🙂 Unfortunately they never read ANY comment sections ever from fear of spoilers.
One of the things we - Western fans of Japanese media - often quietly overlook is this happens all the time in manga/anime, it's just that such wordplay and word associations in naming are typically done in Japanese. A character in your average Shounen who uses ice or has a frosty demeanor is very likely to have a name that relates to cold/winter/snow while the fire-user or hot-blooded character is given something with heat/summer/flame somewhere in there. it's typically not all that deep either. It just hits our ears different when it's, say, Hirohiko Araki using bands/musicians that were familiar with as allusions than some straightforward Japanese cultural reference we aren't.
Well, usually they would at least try to dress it up as if it were a name and not take a vocabulary word as a name. Frieren's naming convention is a bit more distinctive in that way.
Just my take but like I like that Himmel means Sky..Because personally...I always thought of sky as just "It's always there"..nothing too grand or anything but something I can always see..But then sometimes..when I am bored and I am outside..I look up at the sky and clouds...and during those moments, I think..."Wow the sky is beautiful"...And on moments I learn about new things considering space and sky..I am like "Wow..that's..just amazing" So I see it the same with Frieren, recontextualizing her moments with Himmel as she learns and sees and experiences new or similar things
I've done this with a TTRPG character of mine. Her name is Raseri which means fury in a few Scandinavian languages. She started off as a barbarian, but her most recent incarnation is a priestess of Thor. What's funny is that a Danish player of mine kinda liked it when I talked about her. He thought it was fitting.
Yay finally someone who put it on point! Bc that's exactly how those names, I think, are supposed to be experienced - if the names themselves were supposed to be the interesting thing after all, then a whole demographic who understands it wouldn't have any fun. One detail I'd like to add here is not just how these names are used in relation to symbolism and how they interact with other characters, but also *how they interact with the character they belong to in the first place.* One of my favourite examples is Heiter. Heiter's name doesn't just tell us about his personality and themes, it also makes the audience... squint at him. Throughout the series we learn what a truly melancholic and mellow man Heiter was. What, Heiter? the guy named "cheerful"? Of course. Because cheer and frivolity turns out to have been his way to cope, how he covers up his sadness, how he jokes and drinks to cheer away the immense weight of responsibility he couldn't deal with. And while most of those little insights aren't miles deep - they don't need to be - they contribute potently to the artistic and narrative detail that makes Frieren so stunning.
What I love about the simple German translated names is that it makes the whole series much more relatable as someone who has created a lot of fantasy characters and tried to write fantasy stories before. It’s something everyone who does that stuff has done before; and it gives the series an even more homey feel.
The video is great but in particular I loved your usage of background music. The pieces you choose reinforced the sensation of what you where saying and kept me engaged, really well done.
German is my first language and the German names never bothered me. Ascendance of a bookworm has something similar but with the names of the gods altough they are either old German or weirdly written (not sure which).
So glad that you pointed out that the German names aren't a new thing in Japanese media. Started learning German a few years ago and watching shows with my friend has made me notice that German, English, and Italian/occult Latin are some of Japan's favorite options for non-Japanese words or names. As for complaints that it makes things silly when people are just named a word... history lesson, people have named each other after basic words for thousands of years. Be it an Angelo/a or (Slow) Jumping Badger/Buffalo Bull Who Sits Down (Sitting Bull), the name is just a word that people either like the sound of, that they want their child to be similar to, or that people decide more accurately describes that person specifically, like how lots of western countries have people named after Christian saints or you get people saying "you don't look like a Steven." This also applies to anything else people name, from Red Stick Baton Rouge in Louisiana so named for a landmark designating the border between two native territories, to Madrid in Spain being so named because people noticed it was a place where there was drinkable water. "Skye" is an actual name people name their children today, people have been calling their pets things like "Rex," "Duke," and "Princess" for eons, and Portland is a land where there's a port. People aren't as original as you think they are, but you don't need to be original to be creative.
Im German and i LOVE the German names. It allowed me to notice many tiny details i might have not connected otherwise. it is no big deal to me that Lügners identity was given away, since i tend to go into a series spoiled rotten. If i go blind, i can smell plot twists from miles away, so it doesnt change things for me. and then they showed Übel. Her name means bad/evil in german and i instantly felt she was an antagonist of sorts, framed with the way kraft treated her, it made her introduction much more effective and made me wary of her. thus, i watched her more closely. and it made her much more interesting to me.
One day I'm gonna watch it and I hope the names will make it more fun instead of feeling like lazy names. As a german I think it is really weird with names being words
I don't know much German, but my family did learn a bit a while back. So on my second watch of Frieren, which happened to be with my family, my mom happened to recognize some of the meanings of the names and then we went "wait are they all German names?" and so we looked it up and it was a lot of fun discovering it. It is obvious that the names are given shallowly, but the other ways that they tie into the story are deep just like you say, especially if you don't notice at first.
The naming custom in Frieren was one of my favorite aspects of the show. It made the experience even more charming for me. Few shows have created such a thorough world, where the atmosphere is not some random smattering of origin-less D&D-like names and customs, but instead a world influenced and rooted in medieval European, specifically Germanic, cosmology and tradition. This made it feel so much deeper. I agree with much of what Pey states in this video (every vid is excellent my man), and I never once felt annoyed by the names. As a German speaker, I found it rather enjoyable. Yes, Lügner is on the nose. So is Stark, Eisen, Übel 'evil,' the cook named Lecker 'delicious'...but then there is Wirbel 'whirlwind' and of course, Himmel. There can be something profound there, if you follow it. Still, I found the playful and clever use of verbs and adjectives as names very entertaining, and it didn't always have to be some riddle to figure out. But it does stop and make you think.
Generally, I like the simplicity of the names in the frieren series, very simple names yet oftenly meaningful names,,, often related to characteristics or related to the lore of the characters... and imo this simplicity contributes to making the names in the frieren series easy to remember or even more impactful, generally.. some characters even have a (beautifuly/engagingly) deep harmony with their own names, such as Himmel the Hero, Heiter, Eisen, etc etc...
As someone from Austria who speaks German I really like the german names used in Frieren because its funny, very welcome and homely. You can compare it too being in a different country with different culture and language and meeting someone who speaks your language in that country. It’s really nice
I love that most names in Frieren describe a character on surface level, but also capture part of their journey. Frieren is somewhat cold on the surface, but the whole point of the story is that she is warming up to humans. Also, being cold means low energy in physical science - which she represents both by being lazy alot, and by radiating very little (magical) energy. Himmel is sky blue and IS in heaven. He had very lofty goals. But while he came across as a bit of an airhead while posing, he was actually a very grounded guy. He was realistic about what a hero actually was, helped the common folk every day. And wanted to be immortalized in stone. Heiter was drunk a lot. Funny, ha ha. But he made some major contributions while being sober. And after adopting Fern swore off booze altogether. Eisen as Iron fits physically, but mentally he might be the softest of all the heroes. He's afraid a lot, regrets a lot. Sein means being (verb), and that's how he is introduced. Stagnated. But he doesn't want to Be. He wants to Go, to Change. The names work. Wether they are just names, nifty fun labels, just words in a language you understand, or if you want to look deeper.
So, I don't think the author necessarily thought this far, but a little additional information I gleaned from watching blacksmithing videos: Iron/Steel is an enormously useful metal because of how well it takes to forging while also giving you a tool that is immensely durable. Forging is the process in which a blacksmith moves and shapes metal around using heat and impact. In fantasy and sci-fi, we always want to come up with exotic materials or create stuff out of real life "super metals" like tungsten or titanium. In reality, Iron/Steel IS the super metal. Modern "mundane" Steel is AMAZING. It's easy to forge. Depending on processes used, it can be flexible, durable, VERY hard, and retains an edge like no other. Tungsten and Titanium are nigh unforgable by hand. If you give a blacksmith an ingot of one of those, they can't do terribly much with them. Tungsten and Titanium are also bad at holding a sharp edge. They have immensely great uses (for example, tungsten carbide is great for machining other metals) but they do not make a good blade. Tungsten is also quite brittle. It snaps when it bends (though getting it to bend is another matter). Titanium is enormously flexible and durable but the flex, again, makes it bad at holding an edge. Iron/Steel is durable and hard, yet movable and flexible.
A little bit of a push back on one minor point. I don't think Frieren is lazy. We rarely if ever see her waste time. She's actually bored whenever she has nothing to do (eg, waiting for old Himmel in Ep1 or waiting in prison in Ep7). She's always reading more grimoires or doing something of value. The problem is that what she considers of value and how much time she's willing to spend on it, greatly differs from what Fern and maybe even the audience deem acceptable. However, this is due to the innate difference of our perceptions of time (ie, human vs elf).
As a lazy person I think I recognise like for like, but could be wrong 😉 It's true she's not inactive. She can do what absolutely needs doing, and what she wants to do. Very little beyond that. But she also sleeps in or oversleeps a lot. Hell, before Himmel found her she hadn't done much for a millennium.
@@robpaul7544 Re sleeping, I feel that it's again affected by the difference in lifespan and view on time. If you also had basically infinite time, would you limit yourself to only 8 hours of sleep per day for example? Re before meeting Himmel, I won't spoil you. I'll just say that imo you shouldn't judge someone/something until you have all of the context and related information (both irl and for characters/situations in stories). Specifically, more will be revealed about Frieren in later chapters/episodes.
I am a German/American and when I saw all the characters and towns with German names, it captivated me and made me want to watch it even more because finally a language other than English, that Ive spoken since my childhood is being used. I found it kind of funny when you said some of your German commenters found it makes the show "nearly unwatchable" .
There were one/two mistakes (Heiter and Himmel, two meanings or how the backround is playing into the story). I recommend the video of "storieswithstyle" where he analyzes the german names. It's long, but it's worth it for non german native speakers. But after all, u got an important point and ur video is very good because ur conclusion is completely correct. But why? Because Frieren is a typical german fairytale. I grew up with german fairytales as a child and the names of the caracters were always like symbolic. For example, Schneewitchen (snowhite), Aschenputtel (Cinderella), Rotkäppchen (don't know the english word for this fairytale). So I'm shocked that many germans would say that they don't like Frieren. I love Frieren because its reminds me of the products of my culture and still being a product of itself and being also very complex.
Little Red Riding Hood Anders als die Grimmmärchen ist Frieren's Namesbezeichnung einfach nur billig. Die Namen sind so langweilig und beschreibungslos, dass man sich im Leben nicht vorstellen könnte, ein Erzähler hätte sich diese ausgedacht um seine Charakter zu identifizieren. Im Gegensatz dazu haben die Märchen tatsächlich Geschmack, was ihre Namen angeht. Aschenputtel (musste erst noch herausfinden, was Puttel bedeutet, weil es so alt und selten benutzt ist) ist ein aschiges, unscheinbare Mädchen. Der Name beschreibt den Charakter auf's Genauste, gibt ihm aber auch eine eigene Identität, über die benutzen Begriffe hinweg. Dornröschen heißt Dornröschen, nicht "Rose", nicht "Dorn" oder wie auch immer Kanehito Yamada diesen Charakter genannt hätte, sondern Dornröschen, eine liebliche Beschreibung für ein Mädchen, dass von dornigen Gefahren umgeben ist in deren Mitte etwas Schönes liegt. Rotkäppchen hat den simplesten Namen, aber auch der ist sehr bildlich, da er in einem die Tracht des Charakters, als auch dessen Position in der Gegenüberstellung zum großen, bösen Wolf beschreibt. Der Mangaka hat sich halt nicht besonders viel Mühe geben wollen, herausstechende Namen zu erfinden. Stattdessen haben wir halt jetzt ein Vokabelheft als Besetzung. Der Rest der Geschichte ist auch nicht besonders gut umgesetzt, also ist das ganze nicht sehr verwunderlich.
As someone who is German the only problem I have with the names is when I say "Fireren is such a great character" People who have no idea what the show is about are confused questioning how being cold can be a character lol.
one thing I expected to hear in this video but didn't was that this naming structure is that of a fairy tale. in fairy tales the characters are named after concepts. for example "the big bad wolf" or "little red riding hood." fairy tales largely originate in germany hence the german names. one of the episodes i believe is titled "like a fairy tale"
German here. For some reason I never made some obvious connections, you pointed out here. I just assumed "Fern" refers to the english word "Fern" (I guess, that because I read the name for the first time, before I realized every name is german, and after that I never bothered to re-evaluate my interpretation.). Thus I just thought of the names as somewhat random, and never thought too much about the actual meaning behind them. And for "Himmel" I always thought of him as "Heaven", but for some reason I didn't make the connection to his sky-blue hair. The theme, of "sky in background", when she thinks of Himmel, is very nice. Thank you for pointing that out. In the Manga many spells have german names, too. But these always seemed even more random to me. (Maybe because the translator didn´t know german well enough, to find the right word?). ---------------------------- Some other thing: I really really hope you start reading the manga some time in the future. I think there are many details there, that you could talk about. The spell-names are one thing, but I really want to see your interpretation of the cover-images of almost all mange-issues, where frieren is the only character that always glances directly at the reader (I think Serie does that too). When she glances at the reader within a chapter, than it often is revealed later, that someone was watching her (I think this happens in the anime, too. So I guess this would be a potential video-topic, even if you want to stick strictly to the anime)
I'm yet another German speaker who loves the names. There are many Japanese shows with German names (from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" to "Spy Family"), but it's never done so well. Even special characters like ü or ß are correct which is a rare sight, plus the meaning always makes sense.
Thank you! Also a German here. For me personally this fact only very slightly "hurt" the series once. You talked about it, the Name “Lügner“ killed the slightest uncertainty about the demons and whether they have changed, after the death of the demon king. So there was no “second guessing” what they were up to. The Aura Arc lost some of it's suspense because of that. I just instantly knew for certain that Lügner Drath and Linie are just """pretending""" to be diplomats. 😅 Other than that one tiny complaint, it sometimes “felt” a bit weird. But I can happily look beyond that, because it was connected to the characters and because it wasn’t done “just to sounds cool”. For some Characters they just hit the nuanced meanings so well too. You talked very well about some great examples already: Frieren: simply meaning feeling cold, like: “it's cold here, I'm *freezing*.” but you can also make it a metaphor for her emotional cold character. Himmel: primary used for *the Sky* but is the same word we use for *Heaven* Übel is another great example and it is very hard for a nonnative speaker to truly appreciate the nuance. So, I try my best to explain. Übel, could just simply be a *Bad* Person (ger. Üble Person) but we wouldn’t normally use that we would use (ger. Schlechter Mensch = bad human). Good and Bad would be (ger. gut und schlecht) and Übel would be close to bad but not quite the same. It perfectly rides that edge of “bad” but not quite “antagonistic” or “hostile”, while at the same time meaning something like sic in “felling *sick*”. If something bad/sad like a catastrophe has happened and you express and acknowledge that with “That is really *bad*” (ger. Das ist richtig übel). That fits really well too. It is not that close to "evil" (ger. Böse) ether, because to be evil you generally want to be evil. Übel (for me at least) often “feels” more like having no control about something bad happening and only being able to acknowledge that something is “the opposite of good”. Übel killing Burg just fits that feeling perfectly. It was a mistake by her, she didn’t want to kill him and at the same time she just acknowledged it without regret. She was *something bad* (ger. etwas übles) that had happened to Burg.
As a German, I see another aspect of Fern's name. It stands for her being part of the next generation. There is a German sying "Das liegt noch in weiter Ferne" which means that it will take a long time until it's happening. This is said for example to children who ask about them being adults. So Fern is the represantitive in the story of that new generation of human mages, Frieren was talking about.
4:55 They are deep if you know German. Many Names have a very deep and hidden double meaning. For example one word for Heiter is ange-heiter-t which means you are a little bit drunk or for Himmel an-himmel-n which means to adore someone or be someone that is adored.
something I've noticed than not many people actually realize. Frieren, meaning to be cold, is assigned as a name to a character who sleeps a lot, an is not an early riser. Fun fact. Those who get cold easily tend to be deep sleepers, tend to hate mornings, and tend to enjoy sleeping. I would know. I am one. I am also engaged to one. They ten to be among my favorite kinds of character's in anime. And as an author, I also look up Old words and their meanings and use them for names. And my partner speaks some German.
What's wrong with all that people? Almost every name in almost every culture has a meaning. Like, Helen means 'beautiful', Peter means 'a stone', Daniel means 'God to be my judge' and so on. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the names of characters in 'Frieren'. It's just arrogance of some uneducated people, that's all.
to me, deep or not deep, they're also just kinda sweet (and sometimes foreboding)? Both in a sense of being a name to some up this character the author liked enough to name, and an insight into what the author may have thought of for the place (in some cases they make more sense in literal translations for example rather than the native implications). And it's a sweet added concept to see a mountain range as "heavy" in the sense that it clues in to how they're supposed to feel. And it's also a bit foreboding or a Chekhov's Gun at times for Lügner or Übel or Wirbel. Some of those translate to their actual role, some of them only to their worldview, some to just a vibe and nothing about their personality. (tldr those calling things cringe sound like pains to be around imho)
As a german (with a useless degree in english literature), theres a lot of stuff in the names, or around them, that many people seem to miss. heres my very biased take on just the OG party due to space limitations [PSA: potential anime s1 spoilers]: Flamme is more than flame, she is frierens source of warmth, also, source of hope for elves (and humans) against the demonking. Even after a long time of "absence". Check the flamme flashbacks and great journey flashbacks for earrings. Flamme stops wearing them, and Frieren doesnt use them until she meets Himmels party. Shes also the flame that ignites humans mastery of magic, as well as her theories affecting both frierens and Series perception of how mana could or should be used. Eisen is strong when its fresh, but it weakens with age, through rust for example. Also, it has to go through fire to become shaped in useful ways. It has both offensive and defensive strengths, but it needs to go through fire to be truly useful. Eisens traumatic past was the flame (sorry, yes that was on purpose), he feels fear, its very strong as well. His natural reaction used to be Flight but he realized that to truly become what he desired, he needed to face it, every time. Going through something so traumatic, blaming yourself for cowardice etc. Its sort of like an original sin (same for heiter, he has hangups about not having parental figures and the lack of purpose and confidence that often stems from lack of parental support) and I dont think the religious undertone here is an accident. Himmels name is also a destination, obviously, and through his statues etc., hes a constant, just like Flamme in a weird way, but just like religious skies might be perceived, they dont always speak to believers. You need to be in the right place and have the right mindset. "Heiter" is meant very differently from what most people think. Yes it can mean cheerful and that is part of it, but its not superwidely used that way in german language nowadays. Its most often to describe good weather, often as a relative term to bad weather getting better. It can also mean bright, sunny or serene. Theres a lot of meaning in that word, a lot more than is obvious for non-native speakers. Heiter is very likely deeply unhappy and lonely until he meets fern. We re talking about an addict (or maybe we arent?). Hangovers may suck, but Id be a lot more scared of actual withdrawal. I dont think we re likely to see that in the anime for reasons, but if hes actually addicted to it AND still drinks until he passes out, hes likely been traumatized very heavily and has a massive internal fear regulation problem (yes Im projecting here). Brainchemistry thing, GABA-A receptors and paradoxical effects. I could talk more about that and its relation to (c)ptsd if anyone is interested, but its not likely that the author was aware of this. Anyway, only fern shows heiter that maybe theres more to life than running from the pain of your past until you die. Fern becomes the light in first Heiters and then Frierens life. Heiter and frieren both have obvious attachment issues. Fern became the third "flame" to socially ignite things, in both of them. Whats interesting is that the OGparty names are all conditional, theyre not inherently positive, and that theyre all sort of related to fire. Id put forth that Himmel was the condition, Flamme and Himmel are very similar in that way. You can only see the sky because the sun makes life (and us) possible. Both of these things are illusive though, and cant be physically grasped. Everyone but Himmel and Flamme have obvious deficits. You could argue that Flamme is kind of the origin of the entire story, shes the sun. the base requirement for the party of heroes to succeed and also the base requriement for frierens journey with fern. Himmel is similar to Flamme in a way, eternally present in his deeds, his statues and his influence on the world. Theyre also both human, and pursue goals larger than life. Because of Himmels presence, the OG party of heroes names look like positive descriptions. But theyre not inherently cheerful (heiter) or strong/durable (eisen), they needed a leader, the right kind of person. Himmel was obviously special to frieren, but he was to everyone else in the party (and outside of it) as well. Their names are indicators of their weaknesses and faults, even their demons, more than "easy naming by attribute". I dont think any other anime Ive seen uses names in such an elegant yet deep way. It does annoy me that its not widely talked about though, that really blindsided me after I first finished it. Theres a very complex, massive rabbithole below the names for, Id argue, basically every meaningful character. People treating it like the naming is very obvious and lazy are missing out on an entire layer of meaning. (disclaimer: I havent read the manga and Idk what happens after S1, also I didnt realize Id type that much so its structure is a repetitive mess, sorry about that)
Storieswithstyle is a small YT channel, he’s German with a psychology degree and has gone into great depth into the names in Frieren, including a few differences between German dialects. Also many of the names, ie Himmel, Eisen,Hieter, Lugner etc ARE actual surnames. Lol it makes me wonder if Americans understand that most if not all traditional English names are taken from other languages, mostly proto-germanic, and actually means something descriptive.
I am also german but I found it fun, sometimes a littel bit on the nose. But it also gave me perspective that many words some have itzer definitions or of one wird has two meanings that one thing of one first before the other. Himmel for example would I mever say its only mean Sky, but also that it can mean Heaven. Which bith kinda fit him.
I think a decent point to think about is whether Frieren as a name is really representing coldness because I find it hard to translate into that. IT's rather the concept of freezing as in "I'm freezing" and can also represent loneliness moreso than emotional distance. I do get the feeling the authors sat down, figured out the concept they want the character to somewhat represent and then found fitting German words to slap onto that but due to how Japanese is vastly different from both english and german those concepts don't neatly transfer 1 to 1.
small correction regarding the translation of the most important name here: FRIEREN. In the context of the show it's closer to the nuance and meaning of the english word: FROZEN (than "to be cold").
I think another good angle for Himmel, is that he IS the sky. As in basically everyone looks up to and idolizes him in some way. He is also in the same sense the one connecting everyone, they all look up at the same sky.
BLEACH. At some point the mangaka Kubo was like "you know what, we got a hundred characters already, for then new ones lets just smash the keyboard and see what comes up."
Honestly, elves in Europe have heavy influence and origination from Norse/ Nordic and Germanic cultures so I wasn’t surprised that the names in Freiren were German or German inspired. I kind of realized it when I remembered a Rammstein lyrics Video in English and listening to German Christmas songs that mentioned freezing. There’s even a German poem called ‘Elfenlied’ (elf song) about an elf who at the end, looks into a window of a human settlement and gets hurt. I’m not really sure why people are so upset over the naming convention, it’s not like its German for no reason. And by the way, the Rammstein song I was listening to when I realized Flamme’s name was literally flame in German was ‘Hilf mir’. Unfortunately UA-cam took down the lyric video translating the song into English so now only reaction videos are available with the English lyrics. Plus the Christmas song I was listening when I realized Freiren’s name meaning was ‘Kling Clocklen’, there’s a verse where the singer is asking the children to let him in so he doesn’t freeze in the cold. (And for those wondering who remember the series or hearing of it, yes The anime/manga series Elfen Lied is named after this poem. It’s basically taking themes of being non-human being hurt by humans or rather trying to look into their lives and being hurt.)
Joy, Precious, King, Hunter, Tuesday, Ruby, Clay, Rose. The list goes on for Miles. The idea that anyone would be put off the show wholesale just because they know the German is wild to me when people use words as names literally all the time - in all languages. The author's choice do this in a language other than their primary was almost certainly a deliberate decision for the sake of making an otherwise obvious gimmick that much more noteworthy. Because I don't think people would be talking about this nearly as much if Frieren was "Samui", Fern was "Toi", and Himmel was "Sora", even though it would serve the same narrative purpose.
Hmmm, Frieren hates being cold..... Taking the naming of her character into account this adds a whole new meaning to a small throwaway dislike she has.
It's worth considering that in the world of the show, there is no country of Germany and therefore no German language. The names are only for us, the audience.
The guy who learns german here: I'm adored by their names and find them funny sometimes. Like "Laufen (run), RUN" lol. I'm also annoyed that people can't enjoy good anime and are bothered by small details, like characters' names.
0:05 I dont know if it is just an accident that they wrote "Stoltz" incorrectly.. as it should be "Stolz".. or if it is on purpose written "Stoltz" in order to sound more like the german pronounciation in which the "Stolz" very much sounds like a "tz".
To add to the discussion: Japanese manga and anime usually includes wordplay and puns with the names of the characters even in Japanese; sometimes they obscure it by writing the names in katakana or hiragana, but sometimes they are very overt.
You should not ignore what else that naming convention does. It separates the audience from considering the birth legacy of these characters. These names make them autonomous people in this world's politics.
"Himmel" can also refer to Heaven, which is interesting to me given Frieren's goal to reach Aureole. (Also the thought that he's German Sora is very funny to me.) I have heard that German folklore--or at least the language aesthetic--is popular in Japan. I have no idea if this is true, but I can see traces of German words in a lot of Anime/Manga/Light Novels now that I'm learning German. In Ascendance of a Bookworm, as one example, the alarm spell that shoots red light into the sky like a flare gun is literally named rot, "red".
As a german, my best friend and I were alternating between laughing our asses off and cringing incredibly hard every time a new character or place was introduced. It's not only the random german words but also that they're in completely arbitrary tenses and conjugations. THis sadly means that for germans, this symbolism falls completely flat and instead takes a lot of the intended atmosphere out of the show. I wish the author had simply asked any random german person on the planet before locking in these names. Still, by now I just roll with it and consider it super funny. This is how talking about Frieren sounds to germans: The story is about the main characters 'Being very cold' (not "freezing" mind you), 'Distant' and 'Strong' on their journey to the place called 'End' and meeting various characters such as 'Nauseous' (Übel is a somewhat old word for evil/bad but in current day mainly used to describe the feeling of when you are about to throw up), 'Thinking' (Denken), 'Kettle' (Kanne), 'Scythe' (Sense), 'Series' (Serie), 'Avalanche' (Lawine), 'Being' (Sein) and many more while visiting places such as 'Count Grenade's domain' (I love this one - Graf Granats Domain) and the continental magic association in 'Extremely' (Äußerst), 'lake corridor' (korridor) and of course the 'Beer reagion' (Bier region) while 'Being very cold' reminisces about her memories with past friends such as 'Sky' (Himmel) 'Cheerful' (Heiter), 'Iron' (Eisen), her mentor 'Flame' (Flamme) and foes like 'Torment' (Qual), 'Liar' (lügner), 'Wire' (Draht) and ... Aura. To make it better/worse, we germans have a very sophisticated dubbing culture going on. Let me tell you, the german dub is something else, especially since the VAs are professionals. My friends and I have decided to watch it again around new years but this time the german dub as opposed to the english one. We will take a shot whenever we hear a name.
I have to watch it in German as well, but these seem to be just like using family names as nicknames or reference, which was a common thing in my peer group.
I loved that the names of the characters(and places) are german words. It felt like something unserious, but by using it everywhere in Frieren it added depth. Similar to how comedy is used in the show.
It really depends whether I'm in category 1 or 2, on the one hand having a character named "Übel" can feel pretty silly and on the nose even for English viewers, but I didn't necessarily feel that way about Himmel or Frieren for reasons laid out here. Being Norwegian there's a few aspects to this that affects how I feel about the names, 1. Does this word directly translate, thus cluing me in a bit? and 2. Does it actually work as a name or does it feel incredibly silly? If anything it has made certain characters names easier to remember, and it's not like european names aren't just *like that* sometimes, not to mention the numerous pun-names in a lot of Japanese casts.
I find it interesting that heiter is merry yet later on we see him struggle with being that to a point he pushes away fern thinking it would be for the best
I think this is very well said.
Talking about Himmel as Sky and Heaven really covers a lot of the symbolism that these names bring.
There is a German UA-camr, Storieswithstyle, who has a lovely video giving an analysis of the names(character, location, and spell) as they appear in the anime up to episode 16. It is very much worth watching if you haven't already, but it is 3hrs long.
He has an interesting point of view that it really sets it up like a fairy tale. His analysis has kinda convinced me that these aren't the actual names of the characters, they are just what the person telling the story(probably Serie) remembers most about them.
I am really curious how you land on Serie as Narrator.
I can only see it being a future Frieren reflecting on how she came to actually live life instead of being lived by it. Serie and Frieren do not get along and there is no reason why Serie would know even 10% the information imparted even thus far in the story (let alone anything about the part of Frierens life with Himmel's party). The second ED also highlights Ferns life altering presence in Frierens world (and maybe more so what her eventual loss is going to mean to Frieren). To Serie, Fern is simply a potentially powerful tool, not someone she would care to go into a detailed story about, she couldn't even really talk about Flamme after her death.
Three hours of pure Frieren!
NOW I wish I spoke - or at least understood - German! 🇩🇪
@@logikx1325 honestly it mostly has to do with her name. Serie - Series.
It's important to note that Serie has to have been paying attention to Frieren on some level, as she claims to be aware of the DK having seen through Frieren's aura suppression.
It also relies on the person being disinterested enough to not be able to remember or particularly care about the people's actual names.
Conceptionally I could see her having learned a bit more of what Frieren is learning about emotional connections and using this story as a way to try to educate future students.
As for learning it, Serie and Frieren have plenty of time to relate information at some point before this hypothetical future story telling session. They could even conduct interviews in Aureole.
@@LD-Orbs the video is in English, the creator is a native German speaker who does mostly English content.
ngl this is a cool theory
Was pretty tired of video essays about anime before luckily getting your channel recommended on your first Frieren video, came for Frieren stayed for Pey
What I find most interesting is that the author seems to have a pretty good grasp of German an didn't just look up words in a dictonary.
The best example for me is Übel. Because many people would translate her simply as "Evil". But then she is never shown to be really evil. She isn't an antagonist to Frieren and Fern and she is no BigBad. No she is rather helpfull.
But Übel can also mean just "uncomfortable". If you have a stomach ache for example you would say "mir ist übel".
This nuance is important because the first time we see Übel in the series is if she meets Kraft. Who saves some bandits from being killed in self defence by Übel.
While Kraft wouldn't admonish a fellow adventurer killing in selfdefense it makes him unconfortable seeing people killed.
Land feels unfortable being followed around by her
Wirbel feels unconfortable being found out by her (Sorganeil).
Übel makes people feel unconfortable, but she isn't evil.
To get this nuance I find rather impressive as a native German speaker
I thought exactly the same. When watching the show I rejoiced at how well chosen these names have beyond the surface level. They indeed capture more than just the first meaning.
You have these little birds, they are called "Stille" which means silence if you take it literally, but also means stillness and calmness. So far so fitting. The birds don't sing so silence works. But there is another word for the absence of noise namely "ruhe" which means rest or again silence. But it is a different silence. While Stille has the silence you have that is slightly eery or with anticipation, ruhe is the silence you have in a tranquil forest or near a bubbling stream. It is the nuance between deadly quiet (todesstille) or the final rest (todesruhe). To grasp this nuance, someone would have to understand the language as it is used by the common people.
I'm rather surprised how many people say she isn't framed as evil. She kills somebody for no reason, and she seeks out conflicts, so she can kill more people. Your moral compass is somehow very broken. She is what's her name indicates: A disgusting sicko.
I'd say Übel is pretty Evil. She's a sociopath looking for reasons to kill people (hence Kraft saving the bandits for her). But the word choice seems to be deliberate since the Daron Himmel's party fought is called Evil (Böse).
Another white knight Ubel apologist spotted, doubt you really are a native German speaker, because where I live "UBEL" is the direct phrase used for an evil or a disgusting, selfish person. Ubel is precisely what her namesake suggests lol...
Huh? I wouldn't translate übel as uncomfortable... it literally means feeling nauseous when you're sick. Übelkeit is a symptom of sickness. The second meaning is also not "evil", it's more like "bad" as in a bad person or a bad situation.
Edit to stress again: At least in my region here I can't imagine anyone saying "mir ist übel" when they're just feeling uncomfortable, I can only associate this word with feeling nauseous. If I want to express that I'm feeling uncomfortable in German I would say: "Ich fühle mich nicht wohl" or "ich fühle mich unwohl."
Frieren hates being physically cold, and her story is about becoming less emotionally cold. And in the moments that she needs physical warmth in the story, she is also with others that help to "warm her spirit" as well as her body. It might not be a "deep name," but it sure fits her story well.
German here and first of all, Frieren is my favorite Anime. To me, it´s kind of funny having those german words and I absolutely disagree with the comments you showed, that it would put me out of the story, this is just dumb.
So, do I think the creators have been sitting together for weeks to come up with names that have a very deep deep meaning for the characters and the story? Certainly not. But most of them definitely have at least a connection to them and that´s fine for me. I see it as a privilege that I can understand them immediately 🙂
As I said, I enjoy it, but it´s certainly not meant to be overanalyzed. More or less what you said at the end.
Same,
Its not even really cringe, we are just not used to it. Not like we have plenty of schmids, schusters, eggers and Zimmermans for last names.
And so many of our first names are literally just the same things abreviated from other languages, (mostly hebrew).😂
@@hulmhochberg8129 imagine the characters would have been named Müller, Meier or Huber... now that would have been really weird 😂
fr, when the chefs name was revealed to be lecker, i died laughing. My friends didnt get it, they had to wait for me to explain it lol
tbh as a german myself i really love the naming structure in frieren its just so different and I love it. And as you said I also see it as privilege to understand it immediately :D
When i realized that the name and the character traits were related i always got excited when a new name was dropped. I'd guess what the character would propably be like and then see how closely my assumption and the name matched them
I'm Austrian, and I LOVE it when anime uses German! It's a language that's usually mocked (which I kinda understand), but anime uses it very differently. I love it when they give super old fashioned names to characters like "Berthold" in AoT (basically like "Reginald" in English - no one's called like this anymore 😂), I love it when Fate characters try their damnest to recite German spells, or when basic nouns/verbs/adjectives are given as names to Frieren's characters. It's a form of appreciation for the language and feels kinda like a secret message I'm privileged enough to understand from the beginning. It can add depth or just be extremely amusing. I hope anime will always keep using German :)
I think anime will continue to use German, for at least several more decades.
It's nice to have a friend, no matter how far!
The thing I appreciate about the German names is how well the show commits to every meaning of a word when it has multiple meanings or interpretations. Heiter means jolly or tipsy, but it's also used to describe pleasant sunny weather (similar to "nice" weather in English), and surprise, Heiter is almost always shown with sunbeams shining down on him, until he falls ill and the weather turns decidedly unpleasant. Aureole means halo, but that includes both angelic halos (associated with heaven) as well as the halo of light around a bright astronomical object like the moon. Aureole is strongly associated with Flamme, and Flamme's influence is often visually symbolized by framing characters against the moon. It also means that both of the two most influential figures in Frieren's life, Flamme and Himmel, are associated with both the sky and heaven.
Even the example of Lügner meaning liar has more depth than it initially appears. All demons are liars by nature, so why does this particular demon deserve the name? Because unlike other demons who lie instinctively and mainly for survival or to lure in prey, Lügner has developed intentional, premeditated deception as a skill to be wielded, similar to how demons train their signature spells.
So yeah, the German aptonym naming scheme isn't particularly deep on its own, but even just by committing fully to German words with multiple meanings or associations, it already gains some more depth.
I fall in the 3rd category: i am neither annoyed nor fascinated that the names have German meanings.
Well he did put the qualifier that he was talking about people who have been vocal online about it. So now I'm imagining you passionately arguing your neutrality on the topic
As a german I must say that I cannot wait to see Frieren fight her ultimate nemesis
*'The Demon **_"Schwitzen"_** 😈 '*
@@LawfulBased That will be an interesting summer day!
(Flashbacks to Oalf singing "In Summer"...)
I am more surprised that people took that much notice in it. Like, did you know that literally every name chosen in Attack on Titan is not by accident. And if you know where they come from, they "spoil" certain aspects even harder than Frieren does. Like Armin's name meaning big or giant is just really funny in retropsect. What I want to say, I am not sure why people are pointing to Frieren as if it was doing something new. It just didn't use actual names this time around.
i am in the 4th category:
kinda apathetic about naming but passionately annoyed at the 2nd category of ppl
I can see what they’re saying about the names spoiling something but specifically using Lügner being a liar as an example is just dumb because we’re never supposed to believe that he’s not a liar, at no point in the story does it try to frame him as doing anything but manipulating everyone
Isn't it? His first appearance is Frieren squaring up with LETHAL intent the exact instant she sees him... it isn't about being subtle with his intentions... it about the subtlety of how things develop even if we know he is a liar.
People demand "complexity" but have no vision or patience to unravel it.
I mean right at the start there was still like a 1% chance that demons were redeemable.
I immediately discovered your channel after binge-watching Frieren this past spring and your videos have been the perfect companion for me in understanding why I love this anime so much.
Your effort and passion has been reflected by the viewership and subscriptions since then, at least 2 or 3 times the amount in that time.
Hats off to you, sir!
As a German person, i think the Names were something special and thoughtprovoking in a way, i liked it alot and it drew away from the standard Middle Eurpoean Names in Anime like " Reinhard" or something alike. The Names in Frieren gave me an instant Picture of a particular Character when first introduced, which was then slowly subverted and twisted as i got to know said character more or i just then first started to understand why said character was named that way. Even if the author just did it out of laziness or whatever, it was a fantastic move.
You speaking of parallels made me realize something quite cool. When Frieren was with himmel and the original party she was there but not really present. Not quite attached and living in the moment and soaking up the time with them. Now Himmel is gone and he's not present while she retraces their adventure and she's so focused on trying to see what they experienced what they lived through. She's finally present and soaking in the moment and himmel isn't. How the tables turn.❤
German here, I don't mind the names in this show. I actually think that they are funny and Frieren is the only Anime where I can easily memorize every single name cuz all of them have already been saved in my brain files by just speaking my native language 😂 MHA has been around for 10 years and I still can't remember 60% of the names from there.
pey you make my day every time i watch your videos
I haven't even watched Frieren yet, but the people who get anoyed that the names are german words, or that their meaning "doesn't become clear unless you know/look up german" clearly never payed attention to anime. Anime LOVES using names that are basically just words, eather fully, like "Yuki" which literally means "snow", or partly, like "Inuyasha", "inu" meaning "dog" so it's fitting for a dog half-yokai. Another popular naming convention is using names that just have general meanings, eather for gags or to conect characters, like how the entire main cast of "Free!" has girls names despite beeing boys, but when the first girl character shows up, she ironically has a boys name.
You know, a bunch of things that one only notices if they know japanese, or if the show directly points them out.
Hell! Naming people after things or places or feelings isn't even a purely fiction thing! Or do I have to remind people that names like "London" and "Crystal" and "Hope" exist?!
So why get anoyed now, just becouse the names for once happen to be german words instead of japanese ones? That sort of naming convention never bothered anyone before! XD
It’s a common thing in writing to have names that means things, the thumbnail gives the statement it holds up a negative connotation.
The way Frieren's author comes up with names is literally how I come up with names for my DnD campaign
The silence between the last sentence and the video end - its something that all previous videos needed so much, i was left a feeling of of incompleteness every time, now it feels perfect
Within 10 minutes of uploading because can't have enough of your Frieren analysis videos.
For being literally named evil, Übel sure hasn't done a lot of bad stuff
I just binged this whole playlist, loved your perspective and agree that this show has so much depth to it.
Okay, two things. I am 62 Years old, born, raised and still living in Germany and I have no problem with the german names and can not unterstand why Germanx can not watch it due to this. On the contrary, I find it very appropriate to the characters. And what you said at the end hits it perfectly. The names aren't deep, but used deeply.
I don't really understand people that are annoyed by names in Frieren. I'm russian and in school we have a literature class that teaches us about "talking last names" what is essentially are names that describe character traits. For example in A.S.Griboyedov "Woe from Wit" we have character with a name "knyaz tugouhovskiy" which could be translated as "prince hearinghard" and examples like this is very common in great russian literature, so for me this naming in frieren is a trait of a great story and work of art!
If you are of european background or a fan of ye old stories it is nothing out of the blue but english both continental and extra-continental are a bit divorced from the tradition making it strange by their eye.
The meta funny thing about the names being german is watching english speaking youtubers butchering them in any way possible despite these names being said in the japanese dub almost perfectly...
I speak german and I had no problem with the names... like I had no problem with names in Goblin Slayer....
Biggest pain for me was always them trying to say the name of the city "Äußerst" (= extremely or farthest away).
It´s pronounced like "Oy - sehrst", but most of them said it like "Awburst". Mainly because they didn´t know the "ß", which is something like a "double s" 🙂
@@UltraHD.7 Autosave watcher? Yeah, I feel your pain. Like, is it that hard to listen to the characters pronounce the name?
@@metrophidon yes, they are usually some of my favorite reactors because of their analyses, but that drove me crazy 🙂
Unfortunately they never read ANY comment sections ever from fear of spoilers.
@@UltraHD.7 lol, i saw that come up on the screen and just went "yeah... _that_ place"
Them not being able to pronounce some of the words does get a little annoying sometimes
Bruh, I needed to go to sleep but now I’m here learning more about Frieren. I mean, worth it, but ima be tired tomorrow
One of the things we - Western fans of Japanese media - often quietly overlook is this happens all the time in manga/anime, it's just that such wordplay and word associations in naming are typically done in Japanese. A character in your average Shounen who uses ice or has a frosty demeanor is very likely to have a name that relates to cold/winter/snow while the fire-user or hot-blooded character is given something with heat/summer/flame somewhere in there.
it's typically not all that deep either. It just hits our ears different when it's, say, Hirohiko Araki using bands/musicians that were familiar with as allusions than some straightforward Japanese cultural reference we aren't.
Well, usually they would at least try to dress it up as if it were a name and not take a vocabulary word as a name. Frieren's naming convention is a bit more distinctive in that way.
Just my take but like I like that Himmel means Sky..Because personally...I always thought of sky as just "It's always there"..nothing too grand or anything but something I can always see..But then sometimes..when I am bored and I am outside..I look up at the sky and clouds...and during those moments, I think..."Wow the sky is beautiful"...And on moments I learn about new things considering space and sky..I am like "Wow..that's..just amazing"
So I see it the same with Frieren, recontextualizing her moments with Himmel as she learns and sees and experiences new or similar things
I've done this with a TTRPG character of mine. Her name is Raseri which means fury in a few Scandinavian languages. She started off as a barbarian, but her most recent incarnation is a priestess of Thor. What's funny is that a Danish player of mine kinda liked it when I talked about her. He thought it was fitting.
I really kinda loved the naming convention. It was a twist, us germans are not exatlyy used to.
My favorite was Lügner (Lier).
Yay finally someone who put it on point! Bc that's exactly how those names, I think, are supposed to be experienced - if the names themselves were supposed to be the interesting thing after all, then a whole demographic who understands it wouldn't have any fun.
One detail I'd like to add here is not just how these names are used in relation to symbolism and how they interact with other characters, but also *how they interact with the character they belong to in the first place.* One of my favourite examples is Heiter. Heiter's name doesn't just tell us about his personality and themes, it also makes the audience... squint at him. Throughout the series we learn what a truly melancholic and mellow man Heiter was. What, Heiter? the guy named "cheerful"? Of course. Because cheer and frivolity turns out to have been his way to cope, how he covers up his sadness, how he jokes and drinks to cheer away the immense weight of responsibility he couldn't deal with.
And while most of those little insights aren't miles deep - they don't need to be - they contribute potently to the artistic and narrative detail that makes Frieren so stunning.
What I love about the simple German translated names is that it makes the whole series much more relatable as someone who has created a lot of fantasy characters and tried to write fantasy stories before. It’s something everyone who does that stuff has done before; and it gives the series an even more homey feel.
The video is great but in particular I loved your usage of background music.
The pieces you choose reinforced the sensation of what you where saying and kept me engaged, really well done.
German is my first language and the German names never bothered me. Ascendance of a bookworm has something similar but with the names of the gods altough they are either old German or weirdly written (not sure which).
I don’t know how many ideas for videos you have, but please keep making these incredible videos!
So glad that you pointed out that the German names aren't a new thing in Japanese media. Started learning German a few years ago and watching shows with my friend has made me notice that German, English, and Italian/occult Latin are some of Japan's favorite options for non-Japanese words or names.
As for complaints that it makes things silly when people are just named a word... history lesson, people have named each other after basic words for thousands of years. Be it an Angelo/a or (Slow) Jumping Badger/Buffalo Bull Who Sits Down (Sitting Bull), the name is just a word that people either like the sound of, that they want their child to be similar to, or that people decide more accurately describes that person specifically, like how lots of western countries have people named after Christian saints or you get people saying "you don't look like a Steven." This also applies to anything else people name, from Red Stick Baton Rouge in Louisiana so named for a landmark designating the border between two native territories, to Madrid in Spain being so named because people noticed it was a place where there was drinkable water. "Skye" is an actual name people name their children today, people have been calling their pets things like "Rex," "Duke," and "Princess" for eons, and Portland is a land where there's a port. People aren't as original as you think they are, but you don't need to be original to be creative.
This reminds me of the naming convention in pilgrims progress.
I personally love having these details pointed out and extrapolated on. More please!
Im German and i LOVE the German names. It allowed me to notice many tiny details i might have not connected otherwise. it is no big deal to me that Lügners identity was given away, since i tend to go into a series spoiled rotten. If i go blind, i can smell plot twists from miles away, so it doesnt change things for me. and then they showed Übel. Her name means bad/evil in german and i instantly felt she was an antagonist of sorts, framed with the way kraft treated her, it made her introduction much more effective and made me wary of her. thus, i watched her more closely. and it made her much more interesting to me.
One day I'm gonna watch it and I hope the names will make it more fun instead of feeling like lazy names. As a german I think it is really weird with names being words
I don't know much German, but my family did learn a bit a while back. So on my second watch of Frieren, which happened to be with my family, my mom happened to recognize some of the meanings of the names and then we went "wait are they all German names?" and so we looked it up and it was a lot of fun discovering it. It is obvious that the names are given shallowly, but the other ways that they tie into the story are deep just like you say, especially if you don't notice at first.
The naming custom in Frieren was one of my favorite aspects of the show. It made the experience even more charming for me. Few shows have created such a thorough world, where the atmosphere is not some random smattering of origin-less D&D-like names and customs, but instead a world influenced and rooted in medieval European, specifically Germanic, cosmology and tradition. This made it feel so much deeper.
I agree with much of what Pey states in this video (every vid is excellent my man), and I never once felt annoyed by the names. As a German speaker, I found it rather enjoyable. Yes, Lügner is on the nose. So is Stark, Eisen, Übel 'evil,' the cook named Lecker 'delicious'...but then there is Wirbel 'whirlwind' and of course, Himmel. There can be something profound there, if you follow it. Still, I found the playful and clever use of verbs and adjectives as names very entertaining, and it didn't always have to be some riddle to figure out. But it does stop and make you think.
Generally, I like the simplicity of the names in the frieren series, very simple names yet oftenly meaningful names,,, often related to characteristics or related to the lore of the characters... and imo this simplicity contributes to making the names in the frieren series easy to remember or even more impactful, generally..
some characters even have a (beautifuly/engagingly) deep harmony with their own names, such as Himmel the Hero, Heiter, Eisen, etc etc...
"You're telling me that a character named liar is a villain?"
shit got me on the floor 💀
As someone from Austria who speaks German I really like the german names used in Frieren because its funny, very welcome and homely. You can compare it too being in a different country with different culture and language and meeting someone who speaks your language in that country. It’s really nice
I love that most names in Frieren describe a character on surface level, but also capture part of their journey.
Frieren is somewhat cold on the surface, but the whole point of the story is that she is warming up to humans. Also, being cold means low energy in physical science - which she represents both by being lazy alot, and by radiating very little (magical) energy.
Himmel is sky blue and IS in heaven. He had very lofty goals. But while he came across as a bit of an airhead while posing, he was actually a very grounded guy. He was realistic about what a hero actually was, helped the common folk every day. And wanted to be immortalized in stone.
Heiter was drunk a lot. Funny, ha ha. But he made some major contributions while being sober. And after adopting Fern swore off booze altogether.
Eisen as Iron fits physically, but mentally he might be the softest of all the heroes. He's afraid a lot, regrets a lot.
Sein means being (verb), and that's how he is introduced. Stagnated. But he doesn't want to Be. He wants to Go, to Change.
The names work. Wether they are just names, nifty fun labels, just words in a language you understand, or if you want to look deeper.
So, I don't think the author necessarily thought this far, but a little additional information I gleaned from watching blacksmithing videos:
Iron/Steel is an enormously useful metal because of how well it takes to forging while also giving you a tool that is immensely durable. Forging is the process in which a blacksmith moves and shapes metal around using heat and impact.
In fantasy and sci-fi, we always want to come up with exotic materials or create stuff out of real life "super metals" like tungsten or titanium. In reality, Iron/Steel IS the super metal. Modern "mundane" Steel is AMAZING. It's easy to forge. Depending on processes used, it can be flexible, durable, VERY hard, and retains an edge like no other.
Tungsten and Titanium are nigh unforgable by hand. If you give a blacksmith an ingot of one of those, they can't do terribly much with them. Tungsten and Titanium are also bad at holding a sharp edge. They have immensely great uses (for example, tungsten carbide is great for machining other metals) but they do not make a good blade. Tungsten is also quite brittle. It snaps when it bends (though getting it to bend is another matter). Titanium is enormously flexible and durable but the flex, again, makes it bad at holding an edge.
Iron/Steel is durable and hard, yet movable and flexible.
A little bit of a push back on one minor point. I don't think Frieren is lazy. We rarely if ever see her waste time. She's actually bored whenever she has nothing to do (eg, waiting for old Himmel in Ep1 or waiting in prison in Ep7). She's always reading more grimoires or doing something of value.
The problem is that what she considers of value and how much time she's willing to spend on it, greatly differs from what Fern and maybe even the audience deem acceptable. However, this is due to the innate difference of our perceptions of time (ie, human vs elf).
As a lazy person I think I recognise like for like, but could be wrong 😉
It's true she's not inactive. She can do what absolutely needs doing, and what she wants to do. Very little beyond that.
But she also sleeps in or oversleeps a lot.
Hell, before Himmel found her she hadn't done much for a millennium.
@@robpaul7544 Re sleeping, I feel that it's again affected by the difference in lifespan and view on time. If you also had basically infinite time, would you limit yourself to only 8 hours of sleep per day for example?
Re before meeting Himmel, I won't spoil you. I'll just say that imo you shouldn't judge someone/something until you have all of the context and related information (both irl and for characters/situations in stories). Specifically, more will be revealed about Frieren in later chapters/episodes.
a little short video, but i still enjoyed watching it. keep it up!
"They aren't deep, but are used deeply" best way of using this method imo
I am a German/American and when I saw all the characters and towns with German names, it captivated me and made me want to watch it even more because finally a language other than English, that Ive spoken since my childhood is being used. I found it kind of funny when you said some of your German commenters found it makes the show "nearly unwatchable" .
There were one/two mistakes (Heiter and Himmel, two meanings or how the backround is playing into the story). I recommend the video of "storieswithstyle" where he analyzes the german names. It's long, but it's worth it for non german native speakers. But after all, u got an important point and ur video is very good because ur conclusion is completely correct. But why? Because Frieren is a typical german fairytale. I grew up with german fairytales as a child and the names of the caracters were always like symbolic. For example, Schneewitchen (snowhite), Aschenputtel (Cinderella), Rotkäppchen (don't know the english word for this fairytale). So I'm shocked that many germans would say that they don't like Frieren. I love Frieren because its reminds me of the products of my culture and still being a product of itself and being also very complex.
Little Red Riding Hood
Anders als die Grimmmärchen ist Frieren's Namesbezeichnung einfach nur billig.
Die Namen sind so langweilig und beschreibungslos, dass man sich im Leben nicht vorstellen könnte, ein Erzähler hätte sich diese ausgedacht um seine Charakter zu identifizieren.
Im Gegensatz dazu haben die Märchen tatsächlich Geschmack, was ihre Namen angeht.
Aschenputtel (musste erst noch herausfinden, was Puttel bedeutet, weil es so alt und selten benutzt ist) ist ein aschiges, unscheinbare Mädchen. Der Name beschreibt den Charakter auf's Genauste, gibt ihm aber auch eine eigene Identität, über die benutzen Begriffe hinweg.
Dornröschen heißt Dornröschen, nicht "Rose", nicht "Dorn" oder wie auch immer Kanehito Yamada diesen Charakter genannt hätte, sondern Dornröschen, eine liebliche Beschreibung für ein Mädchen, dass von dornigen Gefahren umgeben ist in deren Mitte etwas Schönes liegt.
Rotkäppchen hat den simplesten Namen, aber auch der ist sehr bildlich, da er in einem die Tracht des Charakters, als auch dessen Position in der Gegenüberstellung zum großen, bösen Wolf beschreibt.
Der Mangaka hat sich halt nicht besonders viel Mühe geben wollen, herausstechende Namen zu erfinden. Stattdessen haben wir halt jetzt ein Vokabelheft als Besetzung.
Der Rest der Geschichte ist auch nicht besonders gut umgesetzt, also ist das ganze nicht sehr verwunderlich.
I'm German, this is so funny to watch. The names never bothered me though. Love Frieren 🤍
As someone who is German the only problem I have with the names is when I say "Fireren is such a great character" People who have no idea what the show is about are confused questioning how being cold can be a character lol.
That jewelry video sounds interesting can’t wait!
Im not german, but in my language using a word for a name is a pretty common practice
one thing I expected to hear in this video but didn't was that this naming structure is that of a fairy tale. in fairy tales the characters are named after concepts. for example "the big bad wolf" or "little red riding hood." fairy tales largely originate in germany hence the german names. one of the episodes i believe is titled "like a fairy tale"
German here. For some reason I never made some obvious connections, you pointed out here.
I just assumed "Fern" refers to the english word "Fern" (I guess, that because I read the name for the first time, before I realized every name is german, and after that I never bothered to re-evaluate my interpretation.). Thus I just thought of the names as somewhat random, and never thought too much about the actual meaning behind them.
And for "Himmel" I always thought of him as "Heaven", but for some reason I didn't make the connection to his sky-blue hair. The theme, of "sky in background", when she thinks of Himmel, is very nice. Thank you for pointing that out.
In the Manga many spells have german names, too. But these always seemed even more random to me. (Maybe because the translator didn´t know german well enough, to find the right word?).
----------------------------
Some other thing: I really really hope you start reading the manga some time in the future. I think there are many details there, that you could talk about. The spell-names are one thing, but I really want to see your interpretation of the cover-images of almost all mange-issues, where frieren is the only character that always glances directly at the reader (I think Serie does that too). When she glances at the reader within a chapter, than it often is revealed later, that someone was watching her (I think this happens in the anime, too. So I guess this would be a potential video-topic, even if you want to stick strictly to the anime)
the primary benefit, as the audience, of knowing that the names are all german is that you get to learn some german words as you watch a great show
Well done, I think you explained this topic perfectly. Also, it should be noted that Fern and Stark are also English names.
nice music choice
I'm yet another German speaker who loves the names. There are many Japanese shows with German names (from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" to "Spy Family"), but it's never done so well. Even special characters like ü or ß are correct which is a rare sight, plus the meaning always makes sense.
Thank you! Also a German here. For me personally this fact only very slightly "hurt" the series once. You talked about it, the Name “Lügner“ killed the slightest uncertainty about the demons and whether they have changed, after the death of the demon king. So there was no “second guessing” what they were up to. The Aura Arc lost some of it's suspense because of that. I just instantly knew for certain that Lügner Drath and Linie are just """pretending""" to be diplomats. 😅
Other than that one tiny complaint, it sometimes “felt” a bit weird. But I can happily look beyond that, because it was connected to the characters and because it wasn’t done “just to sounds cool”.
For some Characters they just hit the nuanced meanings so well too. You talked very well about some great examples already:
Frieren: simply meaning feeling cold, like: “it's cold here, I'm *freezing*.”
but you can also make it a metaphor for her emotional cold character.
Himmel: primary used for *the Sky* but is the same word we use for *Heaven*
Übel is another great example and it is very hard for a nonnative speaker to truly appreciate the nuance. So, I try my best to explain.
Übel, could just simply be a *Bad* Person (ger. Üble Person) but we wouldn’t normally use that we would use (ger. Schlechter Mensch = bad human).
Good and Bad would be (ger. gut und schlecht) and Übel would be close to bad but not quite the same. It perfectly rides that edge of “bad” but not quite “antagonistic” or “hostile”, while at the same time meaning something like sic in “felling *sick*”. If something bad/sad like a catastrophe has happened and you express and acknowledge that with “That is really *bad*” (ger. Das ist richtig übel). That fits really well too. It is not that close to "evil" (ger. Böse) ether, because to be evil you generally want to be evil. Übel (for me at least) often “feels” more like having no control about something bad happening and only being able to acknowledge that something is “the opposite of good”. Übel killing Burg just fits that feeling perfectly. It was a mistake by her, she didn’t want to kill him and at the same time she just acknowledged it without regret.
She was *something bad* (ger. etwas übles) that had happened to Burg.
As a German, I see another aspect of Fern's name. It stands for her being part of the next generation. There is a German sying "Das liegt noch in weiter Ferne" which means that it will take a long time until it's happening. This is said for example to children who ask about them being adults. So Fern is the represantitive in the story of that new generation of human mages, Frieren was talking about.
4:55 They are deep if you know German. Many Names have a very deep and hidden double meaning. For example one word for Heiter is ange-heiter-t which means you are a little bit drunk or for Himmel an-himmel-n which means to adore someone or be someone that is adored.
Sky also has a connection with hope and adventure.
Both big parts of Himmels character
Also his name can also mean heaven
"Whenever people see birds flying through the sky, it's said that they get the urge to go on a journey"
- Kino
@@Laezar1 One of my favourites
something I've noticed than not many people actually realize. Frieren, meaning to be cold, is assigned as a name to a character who sleeps a lot, an is not an early riser. Fun fact. Those who get cold easily tend to be deep sleepers, tend to hate mornings, and tend to enjoy sleeping. I would know. I am one. I am also engaged to one. They ten to be among my favorite kinds of character's in anime. And as an author, I also look up Old words and their meanings and use them for names. And my partner speaks some German.
What's wrong with all that people? Almost every name in almost every culture has a meaning. Like, Helen means 'beautiful', Peter means 'a stone', Daniel means 'God to be my judge' and so on. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the names of characters in 'Frieren'. It's just arrogance of some uneducated people, that's all.
Frieren Season Two has been officially announced and there's a tiny teaser trailer. No official date as of yet, afaik.
its always a good day when pey uploads
new frieren video lets go
you need more subs.
to me, deep or not deep, they're also just kinda sweet (and sometimes foreboding)? Both in a sense of being a name to some up this character the author liked enough to name, and an insight into what the author may have thought of for the place (in some cases they make more sense in literal translations for example rather than the native implications). And it's a sweet added concept to see a mountain range as "heavy" in the sense that it clues in to how they're supposed to feel. And it's also a bit foreboding or a Chekhov's Gun at times for Lügner or Übel or Wirbel. Some of those translate to their actual role, some of them only to their worldview, some to just a vibe and nothing about their personality. (tldr those calling things cringe sound like pains to be around imho)
As a german (with a useless degree in english literature), theres a lot of stuff in the names, or around them, that many people seem to miss.
heres my very biased take on just the OG party due to space limitations
[PSA: potential anime s1 spoilers]:
Flamme is more than flame, she is frierens source of warmth, also, source of hope for elves (and humans) against the demonking. Even after a long time of "absence". Check the flamme flashbacks and great journey flashbacks for earrings. Flamme stops wearing them, and Frieren doesnt use them until she meets Himmels party.
Shes also the flame that ignites humans mastery of magic, as well as her theories affecting both frierens and Series perception of how mana could or should be used.
Eisen is strong when its fresh, but it weakens with age, through rust for example. Also, it has to go through fire to become shaped in useful ways. It has both offensive and defensive strengths, but it needs to go through fire to be truly useful. Eisens traumatic past was the flame (sorry, yes that was on purpose), he feels fear, its very strong as well. His natural reaction used to be Flight but he realized that to truly become what he desired, he needed to face it, every time. Going through something so traumatic, blaming yourself for cowardice etc. Its sort of like an original sin (same for heiter, he has hangups about not having parental figures and the lack of purpose and confidence that often stems from lack of parental support) and I dont think the religious undertone here is an accident.
Himmels name is also a destination, obviously, and through his statues etc., hes a constant, just like Flamme in a weird way, but just like religious skies might be perceived, they dont always speak to believers. You need to be in the right place and have the right mindset.
"Heiter" is meant very differently from what most people think. Yes it can mean cheerful and that is part of it, but its not superwidely used that way in german language nowadays. Its most often to describe good weather, often as a relative term to bad weather getting better. It can also mean bright, sunny or serene. Theres a lot of meaning in that word, a lot more than is obvious for non-native speakers. Heiter is very likely deeply unhappy and lonely until he meets fern.
We re talking about an addict (or maybe we arent?). Hangovers may suck, but Id be a lot more scared of actual withdrawal. I dont think we re likely to see that in the anime for reasons, but if hes actually addicted to it AND still drinks until he passes out, hes likely been traumatized very heavily and has a massive internal fear regulation problem (yes Im projecting here). Brainchemistry thing, GABA-A receptors and paradoxical effects. I could talk more about that and its relation to (c)ptsd if anyone is interested, but its not likely that the author was aware of this. Anyway, only fern shows heiter that maybe theres more to life than running from the pain of your past until you die. Fern becomes the light in first Heiters and then Frierens life. Heiter and frieren both have obvious attachment issues. Fern became the third "flame" to socially ignite things, in both of them.
Whats interesting is that the OGparty names are all conditional, theyre not inherently positive, and that theyre all sort of related to fire. Id put forth that Himmel was the condition, Flamme and Himmel are very similar in that way. You can only see the sky because the sun makes life (and us) possible. Both of these things are illusive though, and cant be physically grasped.
Everyone but Himmel and Flamme have obvious deficits.
You could argue that Flamme is kind of the origin of the entire story, shes the sun. the base requirement for the party of heroes to succeed and also the base requriement for frierens journey with fern. Himmel is similar to Flamme in a way, eternally present in his deeds, his statues and his influence on the world. Theyre also both human, and pursue goals larger than life. Because of Himmels presence, the OG party of heroes names look like positive descriptions. But theyre not inherently cheerful (heiter) or strong/durable (eisen), they needed a leader, the right kind of person. Himmel was obviously special to frieren, but he was to everyone else in the party (and outside of it) as well. Their names are indicators of their weaknesses and faults, even their demons, more than "easy naming by attribute". I dont think any other anime Ive seen uses names in such an elegant yet deep way. It does annoy me that its not widely talked about though, that really blindsided me after I first finished it. Theres a very complex, massive rabbithole below the names for, Id argue, basically every meaningful character. People treating it like the naming is very obvious and lazy are missing out on an entire layer of meaning.
(disclaimer: I havent read the manga and Idk what happens after S1, also I didnt realize Id type that much so its structure is a repetitive mess, sorry about that)
Storieswithstyle is a small YT channel, he’s German with a psychology degree and has gone into great depth into the names in Frieren, including a few differences between German dialects. Also many of the names, ie Himmel, Eisen,Hieter, Lugner etc ARE actual surnames.
Lol it makes me wonder if Americans understand that most if not all traditional English names are taken from other languages, mostly proto-germanic, and actually means something descriptive.
I am also german but I found it fun, sometimes a littel bit on the nose. But it also gave me perspective that many words some have itzer definitions or of one wird has two meanings that one thing of one first before the other.
Himmel for example would I mever say its only mean Sky, but also that it can mean Heaven. Which bith kinda fit him.
I think a decent point to think about is whether Frieren as a name is really representing coldness because I find it hard to translate into that. IT's rather the concept of freezing as in "I'm freezing" and can also represent loneliness moreso than emotional distance.
I do get the feeling the authors sat down, figured out the concept they want the character to somewhat represent and then found fitting German words to slap onto that but due to how Japanese is vastly different from both english and german those concepts don't neatly transfer 1 to 1.
small correction regarding the translation of the most important name here: FRIEREN.
In the context of the show it's closer to the nuance and meaning of the english word: FROZEN (than "to be cold").
I think another good angle for Himmel, is that he IS the sky. As in basically everyone looks up to and idolizes him in some way. He is also in the same sense the one connecting everyone, they all look up at the same sky.
BLEACH. At some point the mangaka Kubo was like "you know what, we got a hundred characters already, for then new ones lets just smash the keyboard and see what comes up."
Honestly, elves in Europe have heavy influence and origination from Norse/ Nordic and Germanic cultures so I wasn’t surprised that the names in Freiren were German or German inspired. I kind of realized it when I remembered a Rammstein lyrics
Video in English and listening to German Christmas songs that mentioned freezing.
There’s even a German poem called ‘Elfenlied’ (elf song) about an elf who at the end, looks into a window of a human settlement and gets hurt. I’m not really sure why people are so upset over the naming convention, it’s not like its German for no reason.
And by the way, the Rammstein song I was listening to when I realized Flamme’s name was literally flame in German was ‘Hilf mir’. Unfortunately UA-cam took down the lyric video translating the song into English so now only reaction videos are available with the English lyrics. Plus the Christmas song I was listening when I realized Freiren’s name meaning was ‘Kling Clocklen’, there’s a verse where the singer is asking the children to let him in so he doesn’t freeze in the cold.
(And for those wondering who remember the series or hearing of it, yes The anime/manga series Elfen Lied is named after this poem. It’s basically taking themes of being non-human being hurt by humans or rather trying to look into their lives and being hurt.)
I love the German words, I get a kick out of learning they named a chef, yummy
Joy, Precious, King, Hunter, Tuesday, Ruby, Clay, Rose. The list goes on for Miles. The idea that anyone would be put off the show wholesale just because they know the German is wild to me when people use words as names literally all the time - in all languages. The author's choice do this in a language other than their primary was almost certainly a deliberate decision for the sake of making an otherwise obvious gimmick that much more noteworthy.
Because I don't think people would be talking about this nearly as much if Frieren was "Samui", Fern was "Toi", and Himmel was "Sora", even though it would serve the same narrative purpose.
Well, it is distinctive that they are just straight up vocabulary. It's neither wordplay nor a name with associated meaning.
Hmmm, Frieren hates being cold..... Taking the naming of her character into account this adds a whole new meaning to a small throwaway dislike she has.
It's more like she gets cold very easily compared to Fern and Stark
It's deep until you stumble upon the forest called Grösse(Big)
oh boy do I have a kingdom hearts fact for you
It's not as bad as Goblin Slayer where everyone 's named after what they are
Übel is quite literally in every sense of the word "bad"
Yeah, I'd translate it to Sicko.
@@NoidoDev It is a bit more Evil.....
Can't go without these anymore i look forward to each episode every week!
As a German National seeing a anime with German names is always so funny. Violet Evergarden is just like this.
It's worth considering that in the world of the show, there is no country of Germany and therefore no German language. The names are only for us, the audience.
The guy who learns german here: I'm adored by their names and find them funny sometimes. Like "Laufen (run), RUN" lol.
I'm also annoyed that people can't enjoy good anime and are bothered by small details, like characters' names.
0:05 I dont know if it is just an accident that they wrote "Stoltz" incorrectly.. as it should be "Stolz".. or if it is on purpose written "Stoltz" in order to sound more like the german pronounciation in which the "Stolz" very much sounds like a "tz".
To add to the discussion: Japanese manga and anime usually includes wordplay and puns with the names of the characters even in Japanese; sometimes they obscure it by writing the names in katakana or hiragana, but sometimes they are very overt.
You know the show is great when people knitpick the naming system of the characters
Yep, really liked this one. Keep it up Pey.
You should not ignore what else that naming convention does. It separates the audience from considering the birth legacy of these characters. These names make them autonomous people in this world's politics.
"Himmel" can also refer to Heaven, which is interesting to me given Frieren's goal to reach Aureole. (Also the thought that he's German Sora is very funny to me.)
I have heard that German folklore--or at least the language aesthetic--is popular in Japan. I have no idea if this is true, but I can see traces of German words in a lot of Anime/Manga/Light Novels now that I'm learning German. In Ascendance of a Bookworm, as one example, the alarm spell that shoots red light into the sky like a flare gun is literally named rot, "red".
As a german, my best friend and I were alternating between laughing our asses off and cringing incredibly hard every time a new character or place was introduced. It's not only the random german words but also that they're in completely arbitrary tenses and conjugations. THis sadly means that for germans, this symbolism falls completely flat and instead takes a lot of the intended atmosphere out of the show. I wish the author had simply asked any random german person on the planet before locking in these names. Still, by now I just roll with it and consider it super funny.
This is how talking about Frieren sounds to germans: The story is about the main characters 'Being very cold' (not "freezing" mind you), 'Distant' and 'Strong' on their journey to the place called 'End' and meeting various characters such as 'Nauseous' (Übel is a somewhat old word for evil/bad but in current day mainly used to describe the feeling of when you are about to throw up), 'Thinking' (Denken), 'Kettle' (Kanne), 'Scythe' (Sense), 'Series' (Serie), 'Avalanche' (Lawine), 'Being' (Sein) and many more while visiting places such as 'Count Grenade's domain' (I love this one - Graf Granats Domain) and the continental magic association in 'Extremely' (Äußerst), 'lake corridor' (korridor) and of course the 'Beer reagion' (Bier region) while 'Being very cold' reminisces about her memories with past friends such as 'Sky' (Himmel) 'Cheerful' (Heiter), 'Iron' (Eisen), her mentor 'Flame' (Flamme) and foes like 'Torment' (Qual), 'Liar' (lügner), 'Wire' (Draht) and ... Aura.
To make it better/worse, we germans have a very sophisticated dubbing culture going on. Let me tell you, the german dub is something else, especially since the VAs are professionals.
My friends and I have decided to watch it again around new years but this time the german dub as opposed to the english one. We will take a shot whenever we hear a name.
I have to watch it in German as well, but these seem to be just like using family names as nicknames or reference, which was a common thing in my peer group.
I loved that the names of the characters(and places) are german words. It felt like something unserious, but by using it everywhere in Frieren it added depth. Similar to how comedy is used in the show.
It really depends whether I'm in category 1 or 2, on the one hand having a character named "Übel" can feel pretty silly and on the nose even for English viewers, but I didn't necessarily feel that way about Himmel or Frieren for reasons laid out here.
Being Norwegian there's a few aspects to this that affects how I feel about the names, 1. Does this word directly translate, thus cluing me in a bit? and 2. Does it actually work as a name or does it feel incredibly silly?
If anything it has made certain characters names easier to remember, and it's not like european names aren't just *like that* sometimes, not to mention the numerous pun-names in a lot of Japanese casts.
I find it interesting that heiter is merry yet later on we see him struggle with being that to a point he pushes away fern thinking it would be for the best
names and symbolism aren't meant to create meanings, they're meant to further expose, reinforce, and play into meaning that's already there