Frieren was honestly super mid. Sure, animation was great, but the story itself was average at best. It doesn't make much sense. Frieren is like 1000 years old and she just started caring about humans? Like, not even the hero party that she apparently cherishes in flashbacks, but the new comrades instead? She had 1,000 years to realize how short humans' lives are and she just left her team behind until they died or reached super old age. She's like the female one punch man. Season 2 is going to have to pull a lot for this anime to be considered good.
The only decent explanation for Shanks' action is that he was on the fence... About everything. In limbo. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do yet. When luffy was in danger, a decision was made for Shanks via Luffy's burst of Conqueror's Haki. Shanks then did something, maybe not of his own volition, and that resulted in him losing his arm and the abyss mark, despite him likely possessing many means to dispatch the sea king. That's what led Shanks in his current path and to recognize the potential in luffy. This is just speculation but it kind of works. Otherwise, it's just bad writing and the author is looking for stretchy ways to connect dots. The scene simply does not make sense unless Shanks was being influenced.
