I can see how what I said has come across that way, I wasn't talking about my argument there, but you're right, it is a poor showing of me to not commit to a position, so here mine:
Frieren isn't a show that exists in a vacuum, we can't just say "It explains it in the text that it is ok, so that makes it ok." to reference something similar to the dragonball idea you mentioned earlier, if we had a story where the all the females characters were hyper-sexualised and always wore extremely skimpy outfits, obviously for male gazey reasons, would that then become ok because it is explained in-universe that they do that because of cultural reasons or something? I imagine you wouldn't say so. Now I know you're already going "But Frieren isn't like that!" And you're right, it isn't. But my point isn't to say "Frieren bad" it is to say that the thermian argument, the idea that an in-universe explanation for something is the only explanation, isn't a good way to examine art.
Frieren is a great anime, the first three or so episodes were probably the best anime I think I've ever seen, so understand I'm not coming at this from a perspective of "I hate this and want you to hate it" but "I love this, but there's one part of it that I don't think adds anything to the overall story."
And that part is the demons. They are inherently evil monsters who prey on humans. There's nothing wrong with that. Like actually, that's completely fine, monsters pretending to be human so they let their guard down? That's a classic part of storytelling for a reason, it is compelling and interesting. That is not the problem with Frieren's demons.
The problem is how Frieren, a fantasy show, with a bunch of magical stuff, goes out of its way to produce a pseudo-scientific reason for the demons. They aren't just demons that crawled out of hell, they literally evolved to be monsters that look like humans to better destroy them. They could just be magically created or come from the pits or hell or literally have no explanation for why they exist at all, they could just be a part of the world.
But the show doesn't do that, it tries to give a psuedo-scientific explanation, which comes with some real world baggage. The show chooses to depict a "nits make lice" scene with a young demon, saying that even the young need to be killed because they are all inherently evil and seek only the destruction of humanity. Again, in the text, this is correct, in the world of Frieren it is morally correct to slaughter young demons because they are inhuman monsters disguised as humans. And again, this wouldn't be a problem if they didn't try to make it about how they evolved to trick humanity. I find this really fucking gross and unnecessary.
I'm sure you know what I'm getting at by now. The way the demons in Frieren are talked about is the same way the nazis talked about the Jews. Inhuman monsters that pretend to have emotions so they can manipulate and destroy people. Now obviously the demons in the show are not a stand in for Jews, they have no Jewish traits or stereotypes associated with them, and as others have put, they have a lot more in common with real world fascists than they do with any groups fascists target. But the fact that the show chooses to depict them using nazi style racial pseudoscience is baffling, it's a very strange and pointless writing decision that sticks out like a sore thumb. I don't know what the author's intentions behind it are, and I don't think the author is intending to actively spread that sort of toxic idea, but when it is a magical fantasy world and they could've picked literally any reason for the demon's existence and they picked one that fascists absolutely love is quite troubling.
It sticks out, it's uncomfortable, it doesn't really fit well with the rest of the show's focus, about trying to form connections with the people around us. If I had to guess, it was a botched attempt at creating villains who are a "foil" to that sort of idea, villains incapable of forming true connections with others, and for the most part, the demons work on that level. But again, the show goes out of its way to, in a magical fantasy world, provide a pseudo-scientific, not fantasy, explanation for their existence that mirrors the real world hateful beliefs of white supremacists and nazis. Again, this almost certainly isn't intentional, and it doesn't make the show a bad show, or you a bad person for liking it, like I said earlier, I like the show. It's really good. But this one specific part is really bad and I don't like it.
Also, aside from that the demon fights are by far the most boring part of the show, it just turns into generic shonen battles and I lose interest really quick, give me a million Fern taking care of sleepy Frieren scenes before another demon fight please.
This isn't some kind of "gotcha" or even a "you must change your mind and agree with me!" kind of thing, the point is to actually explain what the problem I have with the show is. It's like, a really minor gripe all things considered, but for some reason, some people are just flatly refusing to even consider what problems people have with the show and it is infuriating. You can like a show and also admit it has flaws, and be ok with someone else being turned away from a show because they find the flaws more off-putting than you do. Please actually listen to what I've said, again, not trying to "prove you wrong" or whatever, I just want you to actually understand what my problem with the show is, even if you aren't bothered by the problem in the same way, that's fine, I just want you to understand my position, even if it isn't a position you would hold.