I went into this a bit elsewhere in the thread, but I think the point is that this is a setting where the innate human desire to empathize, to form bonds with others, can be a weakness.
Ok, but what does this have to do with the core theme of the fleeting beauty of impermanent life? If the author is trying to emphasize the beauty of empathy and bonds, why introduce a Talking Points USA counterpoint that empathy is a weakness, that we have to be selective in our empathy and only empathize with the right people? Why is it ok to empathize with Elves or Dwarves or Humans, but not Demons? Why is it only this specific race of people who will take advantage of your empathy, and not, y'know some human bandits or something? How does this serve the narrative, or what narrative could it be pushing intentionally or otherwise?
I think it's there just to enhance the immersion in the challenge the characters are facing.
Ok, but why does it have to be a little girl demon specifically tho. Why can't the challenge be a dragon or a magic plant. Why does the moral of the story have to be "You can't empathize with everything"? Why is Frieren killing a little girl demon framed as heroic? Isn't that kinda fucked up? What purpose does that serve in the larger narrative?
They literally do not know the meanings of the words they say, or have any concept of the empathy which those words exploit. They are no more civilized or more sentient than the mimics or the ghost-mimics or the wolves or the giant plant. They just evolved into the niche of looking like they are, because that makes people easier to hunt.
Ok, but... if they're just supposed to be monsters, why go out of the way to present them as people. Like, if you need a thinking opponent why invent an entire race biologically so neurodivergent they're predisposed towards evil and not just like, make Frieren fight other mages taking an exam or something idk.
Where is the connection?
So, sometimes, what fascists do is they write stories where the lies they tell in real life are completely justified in the fictional world they create. They do this in order to spread their lies, because people who just take things at face value uncritically will knowingly or not internalize their ideas.
Yes, you laid out the diegetic argument for why the demons aren't people, which is true according to the story's logic. That's a Thermian Argument.
I'm asking why the story is written that way in the first place. I'm criticizing it because it didn't need to have been written this way at all.
Of course I know that Demons and Palestinians are two different things. Why can I make the comparison between what you wrote and IDF propaganda in the first place though? Other shows don't leave the wiggle room for that kind of comparison.
Why does the story about celebrating the fleeting impermanence of life need an antagonistic race of people that are somehow biologically in-universe what right wingers accuse people from the global south of being, and must be exterminated on sight? Who is this story for?