Im Not Defending Nazis At All - Blog Posts

ok so Nazis are fucking awful and have zero media literacy, no argument there. What's more, Nazis are famous for appropriating and misinterpreting aesthetics and narratives that have nothing to do with their bullshit ideology.

However, in these tags you specifically mention Frieren. Now, the thing is, I don't know if Nazis who like Frieren are actually misinterpreting it, cause that anime actually does have some concerningly fascist/racist messaging; the biggest example of this easily being the demons and the demon arc. For those who don't know, in this arc, Frieren and company enter a town in a war against demons which, for the most part, are completely identical to people. Frieren repeatedly says that demons are not people and, by their very nature, only seek to deceive, manipulate, and kill humans. She also goes on to attack them on sight and largely imply that their race cannot be allowed to survive. Other characters initially protest this ideology until the story proves Frieren right; the demons that she had racially profiled earlier were literally just there to destabilize the town and kill people while spouting evil one-liners and twirling their moustaches.

In summary, unless I'm completely misinterpreting something (which is always possible), the show has:

A race of people that are depicted as inherently evil animals/monsters that (despite being able to talk) cannot be negotiated or reasoned with

A main character who profiles, despises, hunts, and kills this race of people on sight

Characters who initially oppose this behavior/ideology until the narrative reinforces it by showing the deadly consequences of trusting this race

All of which has obvious parallels to Nazi messaging about minorities and so-called "undesirables" being evil and unreasonable. When I first watched this arc I thought that maybe there was going to be a twist where Frieren learned the error of her ways but nope; the exact opposite happens and she gets proven right repeatedly. I was genuinely disgusted and astounded at this weirdly violent and fascist ideology from what was, previously, a relatively wholesome show. That being said, it wouldn't be the first time that fantasy adventures were used to propagate dangerous fascist ideas, as the typical good vs. evil trope so often found in fiction can easily be used to dehumanize and reduce people to obstacles.

Always weird to me when a piece of media about redemption, forgiveness and understanding cultivates the meanest fandom imaginable