Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 28 (Fin) – Quick Goodbyes

After passing Fern, Serie passes Denken, because while he’s old, he still has a fire burning within. Übel passes too, as does Land, both of whom only need to show up and be precisely who they are (or in Land’s case, not show up, as he’s drinking tea at home). Wirbel passes, because Serie likes how he says magic is only good for killing. Methode passes because she’s extremely capable and talented … and she thinks Serie is small and cute, which she is!

Serie admits to Sense that she didn’t pass too many mages; it truly was a “bumper crop.” After the final exam, Denken makes sure to tell Frieren and Fern that he only made it as far as he did thanks to them, and now he can finally visit the grave of his wife in his hometown.

While in the bakery with Stark trying to decide what treats to buy, Fern encounters Denken and Laufen once more, and the four have tea and cookies together, on Denken’s dime. His wife passed just before Serie  offered the opportunity to bestow first class mages with the spell of their choosing. He also only became a mage because of Frieren’s deeds in the Hero’s Party, and that encountering her during these exams reminded him that magic could be fun.

Wirbel has a little chat with Frieren, telling her how he was initially drawn to becoming a mage because of the deeds of Himmel’s party. He doubts he or his hometown would exist without that party’s deeds.

But he also doesn’t deny that it wasn’t Himmel’s big bold battles that drew him into this life, but the little things: his quieter and less exciting but still fun and rewarding adventures. It’s why even though he’s a hardened military mage, he’ll still help an old lady pick up a basket of oranges.

That’s the story of Frieren as a whole: I greatly enjoyed the big climactic battles, but they also stressed me out. I enjoyed the quieter moments and the little acts of kindness and beauty that define what it means to be a mage of peace like Frieren.

Now her student is one of less than fifty first class mages in the world. Fern may one day be more famous than her, but she’ll still remember Frieren telling her to stop and smell the roses. Serie childishly barring Frieren from the privilege-bestowing ceremony won’t change that.

Memory and history is foremost on the aged Lernen’s mind when he confronts Frieren outside the Association headquarters, and even picks a fight with her that doesn’t last. His reasoning is that he is one of the few people who remember the great mage Flamme, Serie’s first student, and he doesn’t want her to be alone in the future.

If he can kill Frieren, he’ll go down in infamy, but he’ll be remembered alongside Flamme. Frieren won’t fight him, and tells him something he may not realize: for all her petulance, Serie remembers every one of her students, and she’ll surely remember Lernen as well, even if he never etched his name into history.

Serie is basically a genie for first class mages: any one spell they desire is theirs forever. It is quintessentially Fern, then, that she chooses a spell that keeps clothes sparkling clean and pleasant-smelling. It’s here where I’m reminded that Proud Fern is as endearing as Pouty Fern.

It’s a funny spell to ask for, but also hugely practical, considering how dirty all the traveling they do gets, and how much she dislikes doing laundry. Freiren gives Fern an extra emphatic head pat not just because she chose such a practical spell, but because she chose a weird one, just like Frieren would have.

With their business in Äußerst concluded, Frieren, Fern, and Stark depart from the city to continue their journey north to Ende. We learn that while the mages were busy with their exams, Stark was making friends with virtually every damn person in the city, and receives heartfelt goodbyes from all of them.

Kanne and Lawine wait for Frieren on the bridge out of the city to say their goodbyes, promising her they’ll retake the exam in three years. They exchange matane, or see you later, rather than sayonara, a more permanent goodbye.

Fern notes that this goodbye was rather quick, just as it was with Sein. Stark also notes their goodbye with Kraft was just as fast. This too is something Frieren learned from Himmel, and follows in his footsteps as a means of remembering him and how much he meant to her and changed her.

Himmel always said quick goodbyes too, because odds were he’d see the other person again, and he didn’t want it to be awkward or embarrassing when they did. I’ll also take Himmel’s lesson to heart and trust that I’ll see Stark the warrior, Fern the first-class mage, and Frieren the legendary mage, again at some point.

This isn’t a goodbye, but a see-you-later. If by some misfortune we don’t, I’ll still treasure the time I spent watching their travels and trials. It will be impossible to forget not just the big moments, but the small, quiet, cozy, and kind ones. That desire to treasure and inability to forget can be its own kind of magic.

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 05 – Class Is in Session

In the week leading up to his first lecture as a part-time instructor, Makoto frequents the restaurant where Luria works, where Shiki becomes addicted to the “cream hot pot.” Ilumgand, the golden-haired student who was talking to Luria last week, is watching this, and doesn’t like it. Makoto also meets Luria’s older (but smaller-chested) sister Eva, an academy librarian.

Makoto’s fellow instructor Bright sends ten of his students to Makoto’s first lecture. Their attitude ranges from okay with this as long as it makes them stronger, to skeptical an instructor who communicates through writing and has an assistant will be of any use to them. Needless to say, none of these students have ever met anyone like Makoto or Shiki.

While Shiki is all too happy to play the bad cop, Makoto insists upon being as tough and unyielding teacher as Tomoe. As such, Shiki is the good cop, which combined with his good looks make him an immediate hit with the four female students. The students start out underwhelmed by this ugly young man who can’t speak, so Makoto decides to engage in a mock battle with Shiki to demonstrate his power.

Shiki serves as the aggressor while Makoto defends. The kids think every attack Shiki sends will be the end of Makoto, but in reality none of them get through his barrier. The two put on a clinic of silent spells of all elements, and once they actually start using incantations (in a language they don’t recognize) the battle really heats up.

By the time Makoto thoroughly beats Shiki (who has become stronger since training with Tomoe and Mio), the students are a combination of impressed, in awe, and scared shitless. One of the girls who talked down to Makoto has an arm wound from the debris of the battle, so Shiki heals it with ointment from their new shop and she’s immediately smitten with him.

With that, the first class is in the books. Shiki expects that half of the ten students will be no-shows for the next class, and that turns out to be so. However, the five remaining students are there because they know there’s something special about these classes and their instructor.

In the next lecture, Makoto has them come at him with everything they have, with the specific goal of getting them to experience how it feels to reach their limits of mana and stamina. For all five students, it’s the toughest battle they’ve ever been in, and they all fail, but they also learn a lot.

As for the students, they’re an eclectic group … for Hyumans. There’s Daena, a kid with hair like a black-and-white cookie who is married with a kid on the way. Misra is the son of temple officials who sacrifices his mana to keep the mock battle against Makoto going.

Abelia, the only girl who stuck around, is balanced in physical and magic attacks (and shares a last name with Ilumgand). Izumo is a mage-in-training. Finally there’s Jin, a skilled swordsman and natural leader. Makoto observes and analyzes his students and believes them to have potential, especially after surviving two of his classes.

Unfortunately, teaching this class isn’t the only thing Makoto will have to deal with at Rotsgard. There’s also the matter of Bright-sensei wanting him dead. He sent the assassin Makoto had absolutely no trouble with, and in a darkly-lit meeting that accentuates his hidden evil, he orders that assassin and his guild to redouble their efforts to eliminate Makoto. It should be fun watching them try and utterly fail.

P.S., Tomoe and Mio only get one scene each this week, and their relegation to the margins is my one complaint with an otherwise strong season. I get it: you can’t have characters as loud and OP as they are involved in either the Rotsgard storyline or those of the other two heroes. I just hope we get a little more time with them at some point!

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 21 – Making it Rain

Serie sits on her throne in a library once in good repair, now crumbling around her (a beautiful crossfade), bestowing wishes on mages while remaining stuck in amber. Centuries ago, she remembers her student Flamme visiting her with her new student: a elf girl with silver hair. Serie could tell this girl was strong, but when Frieren refuses to have her wish fulfilled, Series believes she lacks the ambition to become a truly great mage.

But for all her centuries of life and amassed knowledge and experience, her student Flamme considered something she could not: neither of them have the capacity to imagine a peaceful world. Frieren can, and so she’ll be the one to defeat the Demon King. In the present, it heartens Frieren to hear Denken say the very same words she told Serie: the joy of magic lies in searching for it. One only has time to search if there’s peace in the world.

High above the canopy atop the plateau he created, Richter “babysits” Lawine and Kanne by giving them a little lecture about the fallacy of defensive battles of attrition. The basic defense spell in use all over magedom hasn’t changed because the simplest defense is the best defense.

However, one’s defense relies on one’s stores of mana, so Richter’s philosophy is to overwhelm his opponents with high-volume physical attacks, in this case earth. But while he overwhelms the girls, he obeys Denken and doesn’t kill them.

Denken fights well, but he’s up against Frieren. He never had a chance, but he had to try, and not for the privilege of being granted a wish. As he later tells Laufen, his only wish is to travel to his homeland to visit someone’s grave.

If nothing else, Denken has the pleasure of learning that there’s still a mage out there stronger than him, and then some. In battle, Frieren sticks to the tried-and-true basic spells, making him feel like a trainee in a combat lesson.

When Frieren calls out to Laufen to give her back her Stille or she’ll kill Denken he insists she stay put and conceal her mana. But she can’t, so when Frieren’s staff starts to glow, Laufen uses her flash-step and is instantly nabbed by Frieren, having fallen into her trap. Still, Laufen doesn’t regret using her ability; she knew Frieren probably wouldn’t kill Denken, but she didn’t want Denken hurt at all.

They get to sit back and watch firsthand as Frieren, who has finished analyzing the barrier, conjures a destruction spell that shatters it. The male proctor was 100% certain it would never be broken, because Serie’s the one who put it up, and “the world would have to be turned upside down” for someone to destroy it.

Well, Frieren does just that, and as soon as she does, Serie knows it happened and who did it. Now we see while she dwells somewhat stagnantly in that library, Serie still relishes times like this when the world is upended by a mage—in this case, the last great mage: Frieren of the Hero’s Party.

When asked why she did it, Frieren says she felt bad for Kanne, and that “magic should be free”. Now the only one anyone has to feel bad for is Richter, for his greatest fear is now a reality: he finds himself in a fight with a mage who controls water … in the rain. He gets a tast of his own high-volume medicine, as Lawine holds him in place with her ice while Kanne throws a cubic acre of water at him.

Later, when Frieren finds the girls sitting, drained of mana, she gives them pats on the heads, congratulating them for winning. Frieren never doubted they would, because she never doubted she’d shatter the barrieer.

With only a couple of hours until the first test ends, Fern, Land, and Ubel find shelter from the rain in a cave. Ubel asks Fern about the other spells she knows, and when Fern mentions the one that can see through clothes, there’s a perfect jump cut to Ubel suddenly far away, covering herself, and Fern assuring her she won’t use it.

Land warns Fern not to say anything more about what she can do, because the six groups of three who passed the first test will be dissolved and all eighteen individual mages pitted against one another in the second. Denken, Richter, and Laufen are among those who passed, thanks to Denken’s fists. They all have three days to rest before that second test. Freiren and Fern exchange satisfied looks. I hope that rather than fighting each other—they’re both mages of peace—they’ll use teamwork to win together if they can.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 20 – All’s Fair in Love and War

As I expected, Ehre was wrong to scoff at Fern’s “basic” spell. When that spell is launched at her hundreds of times in the space of a few seconds, so rapidly that Ehre can’t keep up and eventually runs out of mana for her defensive power, well then there’s nothing really wrong with basic, is there?

Decidedly more evenly matched, at least at first, is the battle between Übel and Wirbel. Übel spams an attack that cuts anything from any angle, but only within a five-meter radius. Wirbel uses a binding spell, but he must continue to look at his target. He’d rather Übel gave him the bird and left, but she came for a fight to the death, and isn’t running.

Übel asks Wirbel if he’s ever killed women and children, and we see that he’s at least been in battles between nations where women and children are pressed into battle, a dark part of this world we, like Fern, have been sheltered from. But asking about his past buys Übel just enough time for Fern to come to her rescue.

When Wirbel asks about Ehre, Fern says she killed her without the slightest hesitation or tell. Wirbel has no reason to disbelieve someone strong enough to walk away from a fight with Ehre, so he declares defeat (since one of his group members was killed) and walks off.

He then finds Ehre unconscious but very much alive, and gathers her up, as well as their third member, who was defeated by Übel and Fern’s third member (making use of a clone to deceive him). Ehre admits Wirbel is a pretty nice guy, and even remembers him saving her village, which is why she’s even there on his back.

He assures her he doesn’t fight the demons out of kindness, but simply because he promised a girl he loved back when he was five years old; a girl whose face and name he can no longer recall.

That brings us to the confrontation between Frieren and Denken’s groups. Laufen uses her high-speed spell (which Frieren identifies as a specific folk spell) to steal their Stille, while Richter and Denken confront them. Richter is fine with killing Lawine and Kanne, but Denken, who actually knows who Frieren is, would rather he didn’t.

Frieren doesn’t believe it’s worth killing to receive the “mere title” of first-class mage. But Richter insists that it isn’t just a title. We finally catch a glimpse of the yellow-haired elf in the first cour’s OP: her name is Serie, and she’s a “living grimoire” who knows every spell in human history.

To become a first-class mage is to gain the privilege to ask for any one spell of their choosing, and that spell will be bestowed upon them by Serie. Because mages are by and large human, and thus easily corrupted by power, most modern first-class mages are “monsters who barely seem human.”

In that regard, Richter certainly has the makings of a modern major mage general, as he’s A-OK with killing two girls even though he only needs to put them to sleep. Denken once again tells Richter that there’ll be no killing. He believes he only needs three hours to “crush” Frieren, so asks Richter to look after the children until then.

Richter raises himself, Lawine, and Kanne high above the forest on a pillar of earth, separating them from Denken and Frieren. Throughout this entire encounter, at no point has Frieren expressed surprise or concern, nor has she budged an inch.

hen they’re alone and Denken points his staff at her, she calmly points her staff at him. He says “the young are too hot-blooded,” referring to Richter, but to an immortal elf like Frieren, Denken might as well be talking about himself. The only reason I can see him being a match for Frieren is if she goes easy on him.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 19 – Mana in the Water

As Frieren sits by the fire, her party-mates fast asleep, she recalls another fire long ago when Heiter told Himmel to be himself, rather than pretend he’s not afraid. Eisen’s hands would shake and he never denied his fear, something his student Stark inherited.

Fern, who was partnered with fellow third-class Ubel and second-class Land, have already successfully captured a Stille. Fern is relieved they’ll pass the test, but the other two mages warn that the true fight has just begun: now that they have a bird, others will try to steal it.

Those others don’t include Frieren’s party. She intends to nab one fair and square, but all previous attempts failed miserably. With a thousand years of strategies to draw from, Frieren comes up with a clever plan that utilizes Lawine and Kanne’s specific magical talents.

The episode presents their plan in action, in parts from the POV of other parties, before explaining it verbally, a move I really liked because it puts us in the same shoes as the other parties. The plan starts out big and loud, with Lawine freezing the entire central lake, ensuring no Stille will ever come near it.

That means the Stilles will seek out other, smaller bodies of water to drink from. Kanne has most of them covered by placing a small amount of her mana (typically only enough for a Still to detect). This narrows the sources of the birds’ water, but also the opportunities for other parties to catch birds.

Fern, Ubel, and Land are ambushed by a party composed of Wirbel (the war veteran), Ehre, a fellow second-class, and Scharf, a third-class. Magical attacks crackle and pop as they fly furiously through the air, and at no point does Fern panic, despite her opponent Ehre being a class above her. Nor does Ubel, who relishes fighting, care that she got Wirbel. If we’re honest both of them should be ranked higher than third.

Speaking of under-ranked mages, Denken seems a lot more powerful than second-class would suggest, and his younger party-mates Laufen (third) and Richter (second), no slouches themselves, defer to his considerable judgment. Like Frieren, he’s patient. Unlike Frieren, he’s cold. No actions will be taken—even taking down a party of dead mages from the trees—that aren’t necessary to the success of their mission.

Denken and Frieren represent mages who’ve reached an age and level of experience where they understand that it’s just as important to know how to go small than to go big. Frieren sits beside a pond with no mana in it, suppressing her mana to the point it’s visualized as an aura shrinking into her body.

The young ladies think her mana is gone, but just as Denken sensed the miniscule amount of mana in the ponds, Frieren can sense even more miniscule amounts. To her, it’s a lot of mana! At the same time, she suppresses it enough that a Stille perches on her shoulder, allowing her to cast a miniature version of the binding spell she used to save Kanne.

Frieren was sure to use as little mana as possible, but it was still enough for Denken to detect. That’s when he goes into field general mode. Laufen vanishes like ninja, and reappears right behind Frieren, Lawine, and Kanne. The latter two might have trouble with Laufen, but I have full confidence in Frieren’s ability to protect them.

As Ehre continues her fight with Fern, she’s tickled by Fern’s use of basic-as-hell attack and defense spells. It feels to Ehre like she’s fighting her grandfather. It’s the first time I really considered that Fern’s style is not only old-fashioned, but downright ancient. It’s also cool that the newer mages have branched out with their own individual styles.

It also reminds me that Fern is a fuckin’ badass. I remember earlier in her training when her hands trembled and she hesitated. This Fern, trained by the mage that helped bring down the Demon King, is someone special, but also bit of a relic to some, nay most other mages in the larger world.

And God bless Fern flexing in the most deadpan matter-of-fact way imaginable: by saying her master taught her that basic spells were “enough to defeat mages of this era.” If anyone knows about mages of many eras, it’s Frieren, who is walking talking history.

Fern can sense that Ehre is actually stronger than Wirbel, but Ehre warns her mana isn’t the only measure of a mage. Just as Denken mentioned how no amount of mana will serve a mage who cannot win hearts. Wirbel’s no doubt won a few in his many battles.

That experience and charisma makes him that much more dangerous, but I’m putting my rhetorical coin on the retro-af Frieren and Fern both holding their own in the trials to come, proving that old spells are the best spells.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 18 – Push You Pull Me

With Äußerst finally in sight, Frieren, Fern and Stark hitch a ride in a wagon to complete their journey. Fern thinks Frieren has the First-Class Mage Exam in the bag, but Freiren tells her only a handful of mages have ever made it to that level (cut to dark room full of some those mages). Frieren also notes that she’s lost eleven times to mages with less mana than she—six in duels with humans, four with demons, and one with an elf.

She’s not the only one on her way to Äußerst for the exam. We also encounter Übel, a mage who has no qualms about using her considerable magic to tear bandits to pieces. She encounters Kraft, who uses some martial arts to convince her would-be next victims to flee. He’s not there to lecture or judge her for killing in self-defense, but in this instance he simply saved some lives that where there to save.

The first-class exam is only held once every three years, so our party is lucky with their timing. The problem is, one needs proof that they are at least a fifth-class certification in order to take the exam. That’s not a problem for Fern, who has her proper paperwork. But Fern doesn’t have any confidence she’d be able to pass the first-class exam in her place.

When Frieren whips out her ancient rusted necklace, an older mage in line happens to notice and asks to take a look. He happens to be one of the few people in the world who recognize what it is and what it represented, because Frieren is allowed to take the exam. She remembers Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter didn’t recognize it, but they still knew she was an amazing mage. Fern and Stark tell her the same thing in the present.

On the day of the exams where all the applicants are gathered, we learn more about some of those applicants. Übel failed her last second-class test because she killed the proctor (dayum), while Fern turns out to be the youngest mage ever to reach third-class with top marks. She may doubt her abilities and her potential, but Frieren doesn’t, and neither do these proctors. She’s a star. Not that I ever doubted it!

After a month of training together (another cute montage elevated by Evan Call), Frieren and Fern are split up, as all applicants are divided into groups of three. Frieren notes is a clever means of evaluating a mage’s adaptability and teamwork. A first-class mage isn’t a specialist; they’re good at everything. So Frieren is a little concerned when the other two members of her party, Lawine (blue dress) and Kanne (red hair) are constantly at each others’ throats.

The objective of the exam is to catch a rare bird called a Stille within a cordoned-off space in the forest. Lawine and Kanne may bicker and grapple a lot, but when Lawine spots a Stille, she and Kanne are in perfect synch, with Kanne manipulating water around the bird and Lawine freezing that water. Unfortunately, they ignored Frieren’s request that they simply observe; Stilles are extremely strong and can fly faster than sound, and they end up soaked by half the lake.

The three spend the rest of the day observing the Stille (in between bickering and grappling). But that night, Kanne hears what sounds like rain, finds that Frieren is missing from her bed, and wanders off. She ends up on a cliff to get a better listen, but her shoulder is suddenly slashed by the tail of a birdlike monster (not a Stille). With her staff too far away, Kanne is about to be killed, when the monster is restrained with ease by Frieren, who scolds her for not keeping a sharp eye on the skies.

After Kanne has calmed down, Frieren asks her why she called out Lawine’s name before she was rescued, when by all accounts she hates her. Kanne says she does hate Lawine, but she also admits she’s “craven by nature.” Recalling the day she first used flying magic, Lawine complimented her until finally kicking her off a cliff. She was nice when it mattered.

Kanne, then, is only a third-class mage and working towards a first-class cert because of Lawine always pulling her along with her. At the same time, since Lawine has never been without Kanne, she is just as instrumental to where she is now. The two may butt heads, but they still care for one another, and each wants the other to realize their potential as mages.

No doubt Frieren recognizes her own old, long bonds with Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter, whom she always called “Corrupt Priest.” Sometimes the best of friends don’t always get along, but still bring out the best in each other. Now that we’ve met Frieren’s party, I’m curious to see how Fern is faring in hers, which also includes Übel.