>>257558
It does actually make sense why she chose the laundry spell, and it's not autism
Setup:
>Fern, read the history book.
>Fern, JFC, read a goddam book.
>DO I HAVE TO READ IT TO YOU?
>O.K., FUCK YOU, IMMA FACE YOU AGAINST A GOD DEMON TO MAKE YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
"Ohhh, Frieren works on Karate Kid principles..."
Payoff:
>Hey, you know that tiny spot of blood on your clothing?
>DEMONS CAN CONTROL THAT TO INSTAKILL YOU.
"...Hey, we're going north to demon country--I should pick up that laundry spell so that doesn't happen agai--ohhhh, that's why Frieren is a folk magician that picks up every odd spell she can."
But anyways, getting to what you said, yeah, this is going to turn into one of those One Piece/Berserk shounen junks that takes 30 million years for Guts to get off the boat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VnLY_iQxGU , only in this case it's going to take a bajillion years for Frieren's party to go like a mile north. You're right. What made it unique was the pre-combat arc. Like it was this great introspective drama about the meaning of time; to see it immediately devolve into shounen bullshit is disheartening. Like what made Evangelion initially interesting was the realization of, "Oh yeah, if you stick a 14 year old in a war, it's going to fuck him up, right, that makes sense, duh." What made Frieren interesting was, "Oh yeah, if you have elves that live millenia, they're going to have a fucked perspective on life, that makes sense, duh." combined with a show that took all the principles of pacing and music and atmosphere that every stupid show has now and said, "No, unique direction makes great shows, go fuck yourself."