thoughts on sein and gorilla warrior
SPOILERS FOR CH. 139 OF THE FRIEREN MANGA. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
something I really appreciate is how characters express different themes through their life stories, and how different characters are linked, creating new themes.
sein and gorilla warrior were childhood friends. inspired by the Himmel the Hero and other heroes of old, gorilla warrior dreamed of going on an adventure with sein.
this is them as kids
in the present, however, when we first see sein, he is mired in regret after he thinks he's lost the only chance he had of adventuring with his best friend, gorilla warrior, and fulfilling their childhood dream.
the moment when gorilla warrior asked sein to join him on a adventure, but sein refused.
sein's arc is realizing that it's never to late to start, and to stop living life with regrets. with frieren's invitation to join their party, sein has a second chance at living the life he wants. after letting go of his inhibition, he decides to take this opportunity, in pursuit of his friend and their dream.
but in the meantime, somewhere along the way of gorilla warrior's journey, he changes his mind. as of now in the manga (ch. 147, it's been on a hiatus for almost 6 mo. now), we've yet to know why. what we do know is that there is a gap between the cheerful, idealistic teenager who left in search of glory, but wanted to share it with sein, and the older, darker, somber kreis, who is a shadow warrior out to assassinate serie. somewhere along the way, this idea that gorilla warrior was supposed to represent, of being bold enough to follow your dreams, became twisted.
kreis n his shadow warrior gear
and this is the gorilla warrior that sein is finally close to reuniting with. a old friend who is aware of the possibility of sein's presence but chooses to ignore it. and when sein sees that kreis is one of the shadow warriors too, he doesn't make a move to seek him out either.
so what does sein's theme become? it used to be realizing it's never to late to follow your dreams and live the life you want. but now, with their positions in the present, that theme is shifting into:
the dream you spent chasing turns out to be vastly different than you thought. in fact, that dream might no longer exist?
and, with kreis's theme, upon realizing that sein, is nearby and looking for him, becomes
what do you do when the dream you left behind reemerges, with an opportunity for you to go back seeking it..
i may have not explained this that well but hopefully my analysis makes sense. i'm really interested in how the manga handles sein and kreis's reunion
