Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 17 – Emotional Support

When the party must wait out a month-long cold wave in a village, Sein seems partly relieved, because it means he gets to spend that much more time with these lovable goofballs. The days and weeks pass with little incident, until Fern and Stark have a “fight”.

Frieren enlists Sein’s aid as priests specialize in mediation, and he learns that Stark was just getting back at Fern touching his cheek with her freezing hand. He learns that Fern was only being stubborn; she didn’t mind Stark touching her, but was momentarily scared by how strong his hands felt.

The two quickly apologize to one another and make up, leaving Sein to go to the tavern wondering why they don’t just date already? In this particular instance, Sein is very much an audience surrogate! Then he asks Frieren why she urged him to go on an adventure and shows so much concern for him.

Aside from not liking “her own kind”; i.e. someone who like her initially resisted striking out into the world, she simply wanted to do for Sein what Himmel would have done, and what he did do for her. Thanks to him, Heiter, and Eisen, Frieren learned how good it feels to spend time with friends.

Of course, it’s because Sein’s friend Gorilla is still out there, in the opposite direction, that he must bid farewell to Frieren, Fern, and Stark. The final goodbye is appropriately quick and understated. And while Frieren is right that as an adult Sein will be fine, he still notes how quiet it is traveling alone. Hopefully he’ll find his friend soon.

Frieren, Fern, and Stark continue towards Äußerst, but one day Fern won’t wake up. Frieren determines she has a fever, then uses her Holy Scripture (she apparently has one) to identify it as a simple cold. They manage to find warm shelter thanks to a kind woman who appears to be one of the only remaining residents of what was in Himmel’s day a bustling village.

Frieren prepares to head out with Stark to gather ingredients for medicine, but Stark observes that Frieren has scarcely let go of Fern’s hand this whole time. Frieren says that ever since Fern was a little kid, she’s always held her hand like this. An embarrassed Fern wrests free from her grip and turns over in bed, not wanting to be treated “like a child”.

It occurs to Frieren that Fern is right; in just two years, Fern will be a full-fledged adult. She was once so tiny, but in the blink of an eye—an elf’s eye, especially—she grew up. And yet because it felt like so short a time, Frieren suspects Fern will always be a child in her mind. She probably doesn’t know that virtually all mothers feel that way about their kids.

After some fun obstacles, Frieren and Stark make it to the majestic icicle cherry blossom tree she sought. While it bears her favorite winter-blooms, she actually came for the giant mushrooms growing at the foot of its trunk. Before she does, she tells Stark the real reason she held Fern’s hand.

She held it because looked like Fern was in pain, and she wanted to relieve that pain. She also remembers that she herself was once in bed with a fever, and it was Himmel who introduced her not just to the concept of holding the hand of someone in pain, but as means of offering emotional support, which even grown-ups need and appreciate.

After returning to the house, making the medicine, and administering it, Frieren takes Stark’s advice to “do what she wants” and takes her hand. Fern again protests, saying she’s not a child. Frieren keeps holding her hand and tells her she knows. Fern understands and smiles. Eventually, she’s fully recovered, thanks to Frieren, Stark, and the kind lady. Now it’s off to Äußerst.

Frieren’s winter cour starts off strong, underscoring the chemistry and warmth of its characters, while Frieren continues to honor absent family by savoring her new journey. Fern and Stark continue to be the cutest, there’s a new OP with lots of new characters, and a new ED with a fresh arrangement of the tender, tear-jerking song by milet.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 16 – Carrying Memories into the Future

Once in the Klar region, Frieren is excited to be reunited with one of the oldest people she knows: a dwarf named Old Man Voll, who is at least 400 years old. When he claims not to remember her, she accuses him of feigning senility, but then one fierce quick move and Stark is on the ground. He may be old, but he’s still tough as nails.

Frieren would clearly love to spend a decade spending time and talking with Voll near the end of his life, but Fern only allows her a week. In that week, Stark trains with Voll, Fern and Sein help out at the farm, and Frieren is clearly enjoying every day she’s with Voll. His resemblance to old Himmel can’t be coincidental.

Frieren credits Voll with helping her get to know Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen. When they first met before she defeated the Demon King, Voll said then that he was simply protecting the village his human wife loved. Even if he doesn’t remember her face, voice, or eyes, but still remembers the love.

When Voll offered to carry the memory of Himmel into the future, Himmel says he already has Eisen and Frieren for that. When Eisen says he won’t live as long as an elf, Himmel entrusts Frieren alone with the task. Freiren bothered to get to know people thanks to Himmel.

After telling Voll she’s going to Ende, he responds as if she were headed there to defeat the Demon King; as if he was unaware that she already did. Is Voll senile? Does he go in and out? Is he just messing with her? Regardless, Frieren will carry his memory into the future too.

The friend (really more of a brother by another mother) Sein is searching for sought to be an unforgettable hero. To do that, he knew he not only needed to leave their sleepy hometown, but give himself an impactful name: Gorilla Warrior. Sein, in turn, was known as Goatee Priest, well before he grew one.

While in the next village on the way to Ausserst, Sein is hot on the trail of Gorilla, as a random villager knows him by name, and a stubborn old lady spent a lot of time with him and may know where he went when he left the village.

In order to get anything out of the stubborn old lady, Sein and the others have to complete an extensive list of chores and errands for her, for which we have a cute montage. When even doing most of those chores gets nothing out of them, Fern blames their status as a party full of socially awkward people.

Then the old lady shows them to their last task: cleaning a statue of two forgotten heroes. Fern notes that they look like “Mr. Sein and Mr. Gorilla” (I love her liberal use of honorifics), and we learn she wasn’t the first to think that. But Frieren does remember the warrior: it’s Kraft, from their little mountain vacation.

Back when he and Gorilla were kids, they saw this statue with Heiter, and it inspired Gorilla further to become a hero that no one would ever forget. Heiter broke it to him that in time, all heroes end up forgotten, for no one remains who knew them, nor passed their memory of them to future generations.

He only turned out to be half-correct, for as long as Frieren lives, she’ll remember Kraft, Voll, and above all Himmel and his cool poses.

Sein ends up learning from the old lady that Gorilla headed in the direction opposite of Ausserst, so he has a decision to make: stick with Frieren & Co. at the risk of delaying or even preventing his reunion, or part ways and seek out Gorilla on his own.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 15 – Trust Her Words | The Substitute Son

This episode is cleanly split between two separate stories that focus on the members of Frieren’s party besides herself. We begin with an idyllic wagon ride as Fern nods off and falls into Frieren. We learn it’s been four years since they started their adventures, and one year since Stark joined them.

At the next village they visit, all of the inhabitants are asleep. It’s a curse, the kind of magic humans have yet to figure out, but those who practice the teachings of the Goddess—priests like Sein—know it all to well. By the time he’s determined that a monster has caused this curse and must be dealt with, Stark is already out.

The difficulty level is further heightened when on their way to the monster Fern succumbs to the curse as well. Frieren puts them in a protective barrier while she and Sein carry on. And yet before they encounter the monster, Frieren also passes out.

She does so knowing Sein can wake her up with his magic, but only for about five seconds. Before losing consciousness, she tells him to wake him up when he finds the monster; she promises she’ll defeat it. Now suddenly Sein is on his own against a subspecies of chaos flower.

Sein is not without battle magic, and attempt to use it against the plant, but it’s not quite quick enough to reach the core, as the plant’s leaves deflect it. While able to dodge the plant’s strikes, he presumably only has so many proverbial bullets in his clip.

While he initially went into battle thinking it would be impossible to get Frieren to understand what to do in the five seconds she’ll be awake, he thinks back to a lesson he got from Heiter. He told Sein that while Frieren lacked trust and mutual understanding, Sein learned to trust in her words.

Taking that lesson to heart, Sein recalls that Frieren said she’d deal with the monster if awakened. Sein chooses to believe her, and casts a reawakening spell on her. Before he can get two words out, she’s already launched a magic attack that counteracts the plant’s deflection ability.

After one-shotting the foe exactly five seconds after her eyes open and coolly declaring “I’ve got it,” the day is won. And while Sein may prefer the pretty older woman who led the village they saved, he also doesn’t mind the head pat Frieren gives him for trusting in her words.

In the second half of the episode, the party reaches the walled city of Vorig, halfway to Ausserst. Fern reports that they’re pretty much broke, and just then a noble-looking fellow inspects Stark, says “he’ll do”, and invites him to his mansion.

Frieren doesn’t recognize this particular Lord Orden, but does recognize he’s from the Orden Family, with whose predecessors she also interacted. The Ordens also happen to trace their lineage to the same village Stark is from (which is now no more), hence both he and the lord having red hair.

Orden gets down to brass tacks: his eldest son and heir Wirt has recently died in battle, and he needs to keep morale high in order to protect the northern lands. Stark, the spitting image of his departed son, is to pose as Wirt for a crucial soiree to take place in three months.

Since the party’s broke, he can’t turn it down, so the etiquette lessons begin. Orden’s butler Gabel administers the lessons, everything from dressing, standing, studying, and dancing. It wears Stark out, but he’s a tough kid, and he absorbs it all like a sponge, as demonstrated when he meets Fern in the hall, goes down to a knee and tenderly yet gallantly takes her hand. Even though Fern thinks this kind of thing doesn’t suit him, you can tell she was charmed.

It’s while learning the Orden style of swordfighting that Stark encounters the lord’s younger son, Mut. Stark naturally feels a connection to him as a fellow younger son, but unlike his father, Lord Orden acknowledges that Mut will probably become a better knight than he, for while he lacks Wirt’s natural talent, he’s a hard worker.

It’s two months in before Fern suddenly learns she’ll be accompanying “Wirt” Stark at the soiree, so she gets a crash course in Bein’ a Proper Lady. That includes getting her hand slapped for trying to snatch donuts during tea, getting subjected to corsets, and tripping and falling in spectacular fashion during dance lessons. But as she undergoes these lessons, Stark is watching.

Like Stark, Fern is incredibly hard-working, so there was never any doubt that when the day of the soiree arrived, they would do the job they’re being handsomely paid to do flawlessly. It just so happens that doing that job also means being getting to dance together, and they are just about the cutest goddamn couple of the entire Fall 2023 season as they perform an achingly gorgeous waltz to perfection.

After the soiree when Stark’s hair is back to its normal unkempt self, Lord Orden admits that he and his son Wirt were at odds when they last spoke. Indeed, he told Wirt he never wanted to see him again; he didn’t mean it, and was devastated to get that wish. He tells Stark that he always has a home in Vorig shouldn he desire it when his adventures are over.

Stark thanks Lord Orden for his kindness, but his goal is to return to Eisen and tell him the tales of those adventures. Besides, Orden still has a son in Mut, who will surely grow up to become fine heir. As Frieren takes an inordinate amount of time looking through the Orden library for a grimoire to take as a sweetener, Stark and Sein notice Orden outside with Mut, personally giving him some swordsmanship pointers.

Frieren takes a beat away from the books and simply watches Fern, Stark, and Sein, and smiles a soft, easy smile. You can tell she’s learning to properly savor the people in the party she’s in, and the vanishingly brief (at least for her) time they have together.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 14 – Eternal Love

Fern remembered Stark’s birthday and gave him the gift of a silver bracelet. But when Fern’s birthday arrives, Stark does not give her a gift. She is rightfully pissed, but is perhaps a bit too harsh in her protestations, leading Stark to run off. Sein, an older male, tells Fern that perhaps she should go after the young, emotional Stark. Frieren agrees.

Fern finds Stark in the town plaza, but can’t quite work up the courage to talk to him. Sein, in turn, buys Fern a birthday gift; a cute pouch with a butterfly motif, like her hairpin. Sein, an older fellow, knows that Fern would rather she and Stark get along, so he gently urges her to go to him and work things out, in her own time.

By the time Fern finally confronts Stark, he’s the first to apologize; he had actually remembered her birthday, but wanted her to pick something out for her present, as he wasn’t sure what would please her. She in turn apologizes for being too harsh on him, and actually wears a smile as she accompanies him to the market so she can pick something out.

I’m not going to say Fern and Stark are the cutest goddamn couple in all animedom. But I’m also not going to not say that. These are two young people who were so carefully honed into the demon-obliterating mage and warrior that they are that they scarcely had time for things like romance, but here they are, still trying their best.

Both Sein and Frieren observe the two from a rooftop, glad that they were able to make up on their own. Sein notes that both youths could benefit from the guidance of their elders, but he considers himself lacking in the mature adult department.

It comes as a surprise to Sein for Frieren to report that Heiter was not always the wise and dependable priest he knew. On her adventures, Heiter was drunk and/or hungover more times than not. As the years progressed, he matured, as all people tend to do.

In his older years, Heiter still looked forward to the time when his Goddess would praise him in Heaven. But until then, Frieren decided she’d be the one to praise him, with a simple head pat that meant all the world to him. In the present, she applies the same head pat to Sein, who was instrumental in getting Fern and Stark to make up.

The party ends up availing themselves of a ride aboard the wagon of a merchant to the next town. Frieren notices that the design of Fern’s bracelet, given to her by Stark, resembles a ring that Himmel once gave her. Frieren rifles through her disorganized luggage and eventually finds that ring. That very moment, the wagon is snatched up by a giant demon bird monster. That poor horse!

Frieren and Fern can both fly, but as she explains to Stark, they can’t make objects larger than themselves, i.e. the wagon, fly for long. Since there aren’t enough mages capable of flight to carry Stark, Sein, and the merchant to safety, Frieren goes with Plan B. Plan B is for Frieren to fly out on her own, behead the monster, and slow the fall of the wagon enough so that everyone else isn’t pulverized. And it works!

Everyone is fine, but the fall damages the wagon, so everyone gets to work repairing it. As they do, Fern is made aware of the fact that the particular design of the bracelet Stark gave her has a special meaning: it represents eternal love.

Neither she nor Stark knew that, so she deems Stark an idiot, but she also has no intention of allowing Stark to replace it with anything else, and is offended by the very suggestion. Needless to say, Fern and Stark are now one of my favorite couples of the season, surpassed only by Chise and Philomena in The Ancient Magus’ Bride.

As the wagon repairs progress, each night Frieren strikes out on her own, in search of the ring Himmel gave her many decades ago. While Stark didn’t know the bracelet he gave to Fern was a pronouncement of his eternal love for her, Himmel knew exactly what he was doing. We know this, because when he presented Frieren with the ring, he got on one knee as if he was proposing to her.

Frieren was moved back then, and remains moved now, by Himmel’s gesture, and so even though Himmel gave her other things, the ring she lost still carries a great deal of meaning for her. It’s fortunate then that the merchant that was giving them a ride in his wagon happens to possess a spell that allows one to locate a lost accessory.

Once she has that spell, Frieren flies up into the air, and a flash of light indicates the location of where the ring was dropped. Just as Fern’s bracelet means a lot to her, and she doesn’t mind that it had the unintended meaning of eternal love, so too is Frieren exceedingly happy to have found the ring Himmel gave her as a token of his eternal love for her.

And let me underscore that it is eternal, as Frieren herself (virtually) is. Even though Himmel has passed away, his love endures, and very time Frieren looks upon that ring, she will be reminded of that enduring love.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 13 – The Push They Need

This week’s Frieren starts out in media res as a well-dressed gentleman tells the titular elf how his lively best friend once invited him to go adventuring with him, but he turned him down and remained in his village, and you can tell there’s some regret there.

When Frieren asks what we also want to know—why he’s telling her this—we cut to a wider shot with perfect comic timing, to see that he’s slowly sinking into a bog, and needs some assistance. Frieren hesitates … because the man’s hand is dirty.

When Fern sees the man, named Sein, Frieren finally pulls him out of the bog. They see him to his village where he invites them to come enjoy their upcoming harvest festival, but the party is trying to reach a larger town for resupply.

He wishes them well and bids they take extra care, for the woods are full of venomous animals. No sooner do they part ways thank Stark is bitten by a snake and starts bleeding profusely from the nose. Frieren is no priest, but the bigger town is too far, so they fly back to the village, where the priest tells them Stark’s affliction is incurable.

That is, at least to this priest. His brother, who happens to be Sein, and comes in to ask why their tub is so small (such a surreal, random joke), is another story. In less than three seconds, he heals Stark of the seemingly incurable poison completely.

Sein’s older brother tells Frieren & Co. what’s already evident: Sein is a genius when it comes to healing magic. Stark believes he’d make a fine addition to their party and Fern tends to agree, but Frieren is hesitant, saying she has an “aversion” to “her own kind.”

Now, as Sein is neither a woman, nor an elf, nor a mage like Frieren, I wondered what she mean by “same kind.” Then Stark heads down to the bar, gambles with Sein and the village chief, the chief takes the shirts off both their backs (appalling Fern), and I got the full picture.

Frieren sees Sein as she once was: someone who was frozen in place and felt it too late to start adventuring. She even felt she had forgotten how to fight demons. But Himmel gave her the push she needed with five simple words: “I’m talking about the present.”

Sein may be a drinking, smoking, gambling priest, but Frieren still wants to give him the push Himmel gave her. Fern’s pleasant and assured tone when she tells Frieren that alcohol is the best medicine (echoing her guardian Heiter’s twisted philosophy) is a delight to behold.

Persuading Sein to give up his easy, comfy life to realize a long-abandoned dream proves difficult, even with Frieren, Fern, and Stark putting on a full-court press of a charm campaign. Eventually they ask his brother what he likes besides booze, cigarettes, and cards.

The fourth thing he likes is older women. When Frieren proudly presents herself to him as a much, much, much older woman, Sein is not moved, not doubt due to her, er, modest proportions. Then she whips out her surefire seduction technique: a blown kiss.

While this scandalizes the reliably chaste Fern and Stark, Sein is again entirely unmoved, and Frieren calling him “sonny” doesn’t move the needle either. She is puzzled by this, because it worked perfectly on Himmel back in the day (as he was clearly far more susceptible to her elven wiles).

When they mention his friend he regretted not adventuring with, Sein tells them he must be dead, having been gone ten years when he said he’d be back in three. He also remembers Heiter telling his brother he could serve in the holy capital and take Sein with him, but his brother didn’t want to uproot him.

After slapping Sein for the first time ever, his brother makes clear he made no sacrifice to stay in the village. That’s where he wanted to be, and he doesn’t regret it. It’s Sein who still regrets the choice to stay put, and his brother can’t bear to watch him regret it any longer. Again Frieren tells him, this is the present.

That evening, Sein visits Frieren, Fern, and Stark, by the river, and tells them he intends to accompany them on their adventures, if only until he finds his friend, who he no longer assumes to be dead. And just like that, the party grows to four, just like the one that defeated the Demon King.

I’ll go out on a limb and say this was probably the goofiest and most lightweight episodes of Frieren, but that doesn’t mean it was bad. I’ve always liked the gentle but often clever comedy that’s been dusted throughout the show, and this episode provided the most laughs to date, making for a nice change of pace: less of a sober funeral, more of a cheerful wake.

Vinland Saga – 18 – Their Own Paradise

While the long-awaited rematch between Thorfinn and Thorkell is everything it should be, and doesn’t disappoint, it doesn’t take up the whole episode by any stretch, and it doesn’t impress because of the blows exchanged, but because of the words. It doesn’t take up the whole episode because more than half of the episode takes place at the site of the crashed sled Finn abandoned to rescue the man he means to kill himself. And that’s not a bad thing at all.

When we return to Prince Canute, he can hear Bjorn’s mushroom-enhanced savagery, doesn’t want to open his eyes, and strays into a dream. There, Ragnar says goodbye, but also asks forgiveness for his crime of raising him like a son, and not a jarl. Thors tried to raise Thorfinn as a son and not a warrior, and we see how that turned out. When he awakes, Canute laments to the priest that with Ragnar dead no one in the world loves him.

Then the priest procedes to explode Canute’s brain by telling him what Ragnar showed him wasn’t really love. True love, by the priest’s admittedly extreme standards, is the corpse of a dead raider, whose remains will never steal or kill, but will nourish the animals and the Earth. Ragnar’s love, and the love of any father for his son, is simply discrimination—assigning an artificial hierarchy to what should or shouldn’t be protected.

When Eve bit the apple, man attained knowledge in exchange for expulsion from paradise, but what they lost when they were expelled is something they’ll never know and never attain again. With that loss comes questions—what is love, what is death, what is the purpose of life—that will never be answered.

Mirroring this philosophical exchange between Canute and the priest—and in some ways reinforcing its points—is the duel between Thorfinn and Thorkell, in which the hulking giant is able to best throw his opponent off balance not with the swing of an axe, but with a question that came to him while thinking about Thors, the one man stronger than him: what does it mean to be a true warrior?

Thorfinn can’t help but remember his father’s words: the ultimate warrior need not even hold a sword. It was an ideal he tried and failed to attain, and rather than paving a path for his son to follow, only inspired rage and a thirst for revenge. Thorfinn ultimately dodges the question like he dodges Thorkell’s strikes. Failing to dodge even one of those strikes could prove fatally punishing to his body but contemplating his question means having to reckon with the fact that all these years have been pointless.

Ultimately, what makes the moving back-and-forth between the fight and the talk work so well is that it puts the needlessness and pointlessness of Thorfinn’s actions into perspective. He needs to hear some of the things being said between Canute and the Priest. However the fight turns out—and getting thrown a hundred feet in the air and coming down hard isn’t going to help his cause—Thorfinn will still be hopelessly lost.

With Bjorn growing more and more mindlessly violent and running out of enemies to slay, Canute comes to a revelation: stop fighting needless battles when the Paradise of old will never be attained. Instead, he aims to create a new paradise on Earth, something that he as a member of a royal family can actually do. When Bjorn sidles up to him, Canute manages to disarm him with a look he’s never sported before…the look of someone from whom the fog has finally lifted.

Canute tells Bjorn and the last man standing to stop fighting. He’s going to chase down the horses, and orders the priest—named Williband—to tend to Bjorn’s wounds, and for the other man to help him. This is no time to fight or die. He asks the two to become his vassals, and he will do what, on Earth, he believes only a king can: give meaning to their battles, their lives, and their deaths.

Assuming Thorfinn survives his fight with Thorkell, will Canute be able to give him those things—and will Thorfinn be able to accept them? He has only six more episodes to work with.

Vinland Saga – 16 – End of His Rope

Askeladd’s luck ran out the moment Anne was found by Thorkell’s men. The weight of his army steadily bearing down on Askeladd’s comparatively paltry band fills this episode with increasing tension. While there are warriors like Bjorn and Thorfinn who will never betray him, those two aren’t nearly enough to counter the precipitous drop in morale, and thus loyalty, among the majority of his men.

When I think of how much fun Askeladd and his men once had earlier in the series when his luck was riding high, it only puts his current predicament into greater focus. By episode’s end he can count on one hand the number of men he can truly count on, with fingers to spare. When an English captain simply won’t talk no matter how many fingers Askeladd snips off, it’s almost the final nail in the coffin for him; a sign that he’s lost his power.

When your men are all either worshipers of older gods or of no god at all, they put their trust in a leader with luck and strength, and Askeladd’s is almost totally out. His side plan to force Prince Canute to toughen up pretty much takes a back seat to the far more pressing matters of how long it will be before Askeladd’s men turn against him, and when Thorkell will finally catch up to them.

Thorkell’s name invokes far more fear than Askeladd’s at this point, which means Askeladd’s time is almost out. However, it’s not yet certain whether his longer-term plan to “reform” Canute will fail. All we see is that after he leaves Ragnar behind without any kind of funeral and slaps Canute across the face, Canute starts adopting a far more Thorfinnian visage.

Askeladd is nothing if not perceptive, and has no illusions about how things will go down once the men who are done with him gather enough allies within their ranks to pull something off. That’s why when Thorkell finally appears on that horizon—the glinting from the tips of his mens’ spears portending dread, while his own thrown spear impales three men and beheads a fourth—Askeladd has the best possible defensive position he can have.

Bjorn is at the reins of the lead sled with Thorfinn, Canute, the priest, and two horses when the rest of the men surround Askeladd, calling for an end to his leadership. It is without doubt the most precarious position he’s ever been in, but one should never underestimate Thorfinn’s desire to have at least one more duel with Askeladd—which means keeping him alive…maybe.

Vinland Saga – 15 – Every Father Loves His Child

In the aftermath of Askeladd’s cruel slaughter of the villagers, Prince Canute, Ragnar, and the priest pray to God the Father before the mass grave. When the drunken priest voices his doubt of that father’s love, Canute erupts in outrage, saying all fathers love their children.

But if the priest’s faith was shaken by the massacre, it should be buoyed somewhat by the fact a survivor—Anne, from last week’s masterpiece—managed to get away without anyone noticing. She makes it to Gloucester, where as luck would have it, Thorkell’s army is encamped. Eager both to see Canute and fight Thorfinn again, he immediately prepares to head Askeladd’s way.

The foundation for Canute’s outburst at the priest was no doubt laid by his first outburst, which was in response to Thorfinn’s disrespect. In other words, the kid is finally growing a bit of a spine, at least insomuch he’s less weary of speaking his mind. In the same way, Finn’s “domestication” continues thanks to being around Canute, who secretly cooks as a hobby despite his father’s deep disapproval with his son “acting like a slave.”

Ultimately, Canute will probably have to rely on his frenemy Thorfinn after the events of the episode’s final act, in which Ragnar is killed and Askeladd assumes Canute’s guardianship.

Askeladd believes it’s for his own good, and considering how much Ragnar had coddled Canute to that point, it’s hard to argue that point. Still, Askeladd makes this move unaware of a truth Ragnar ironically would only tell him with his dying breath: King Sweyn always intended for Canute to die in battle so his other son Harald would assume the throne.

Despite how badly his father has treated him, Canute still believes his earthly father loves him, but that’s not the case; he was fine with discarding him. Thankfully, the father upstairs may still love Canute, because Canute still has Thorfinn by his side.

Vinland Saga – 14 – The Luck of the Wicked

I’ve seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light. —Maximus, Gladiator

Forget about Thorfinn for a moment. He’s not the protagonist this week, Anne is. Anne is a young Englishwoman whose family is large, poor, and devoutly Christian. But even if Rome was once “the light”, it has long since fallen, while the world remains as brutal and cruel and dark as ever, if not more so.

Anne has a secret: she’s come into possession of a beautiful ring. We later learn she’s not sure how much it cost, because she didn’t buy it; she stole it from the market. By doing so, she broke one of the Ten Commandments, which her pious father has no doubt drilled into her means a one-way ticket to hell.

Anne understands she’s sinned on one level, because she keeps the ring hidden from her family in the hollow of a tree. But on another level entirely, she’s just so goddamn delighted to have this gorgeous ring! It seems to give her no end of pleasure. At present, her love for the ring overrides her fear of God’s judgment.

Two of Askeladd’s men, whose banter we’ve seen during various marches and battles, are trying to understand the drunk priest’s concept of “love.” Does the longstanding brotherly bond between the two constitute that kind of love? The priest doesn’t know.

Does whatever amount of silver would break that bond constitute that love? Is the priest’s own veneration of booze love? He wouldn’t call it that; needing booze due to addiction and loving it are far from the same thing.

Ultimately, the warriors can’t understand the priest’s words, but they can remember another “weirdo” who used to talk in strange, seemingly contradictory riddles. Thors said “a true warrior didn’t need a sword”. Thors may not have been Christian, but to the drunken priest who never met him, Thors may as well have been describing Jesus.

Still, most warriors in this cruel dark world still carry swords, like Askeladd. He’s a man like Askeladd, who would probably be the first to say he owes a lot amount of his success as a warrior and a commander to luck. Even all the skill and experience he has, he could not have gathered without luck.

But his luck seems to have hit a snag: the countryside has been beset by harsh wintry weather that threatens to kill his men long before he reaches his destination. Ragnar believes Askeladd’s luck has run out altogether, and that nothing he does will be able to change that.

But Askeladd isn’t out of luck; not really. If he were, they wouldn’t have encountered a village to plunder for food…Anne’s village.

When Anne’s large, devout Christian family sits around the table for a meager (but very much appreciated) repast, her father says the Lord’s Prayer as Grace, and explains to the younger children why it is important to say it, and to obey the Commandments. When the day of judgment comes—and father believes it will comes soon—the faithful and righteous will ascend to heaven, while the sinners will descend into hell.

This is enough to frighten the little ones, but when Anne quietly excuses herself from the table to “go pee,” it seems more out of discomfort than fear. Outside, as the cold winds and snow lash, she recovers her precious ring, puts it on her raw, rough hand, and revels in its beauty. And while she’s out by the tree, Bjorn bursts into her family’s house.

Askeladd still has luck, but it isn’t perfect, and isn’t without cost. When he learns there’s only enough food in the village for fifty villagers to last the winter, the choice is plain: either he and his men starve, or they kill the villagers and take their food. He decides on the latter, making use of what luck he was given.

The villagers—men, women and children—are rounded up and slaughtered. Anne survives that slaughter, because she’s hiding behind a tree. You could say she was lucky, at least in terms of being able to stay alive, in spite of the fact she broke one of God’s commandments. If she hadn’t stolen the ring, or gone out to admire it, she’d have met her family’s fate.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God—Matthew 5:8

Was Anne’s father’s heart pure? Her mother’s? The hearts of her younger siblings and other relations? Did they ascend to heaven upon being murdered, leaving her alone in the cruel dark world below? Was her luck merely a curse, keeping her bound to cruelty and darkness her family will no longer have to endure?

Anne wanders off, neither spotted nor followed by Askeladd’s men, and the winter storm passes. She reaches a spot where the crescent moon looms large. She asks God if her family made it to heaven, but declares that she’s “elated” not to be sent there herself.

Shocked to have witnessed what Askeladd and his men did without fearing God’s punishment in the slightest (since, of course, they believe in entirely different gods), she’s as elated in that moment staring at the moon as she was when she stole the ring.

Maybe she sees in those wicked men, and in her own wickedness, a different kind of purity—of a kind she can’t quite describe, but which bestowed upon those wicked men the luck to find food, and upon her the luck to survive at least one more harsh winter night.

Binbougami ga! – 02

Momiji enrolls in Sakura’s school and harasses her all day. On the way home, Sakura is grabbed by a starving travelling monk, but ignores his pleas. Back at her home, Momiji is squatting in her closet, and the monk followed her home; her positive energy and Momiji’s negative energy drew him there. He equips her with “robes” and a weapon called the Souin Shourai, and she picks a fight with Momiji, who is surprised to learn Sakura can manifest her fortune into summoned animal allies. Sakura wins the fight and kicks Momiji out, but is left with the priest, her animals, and Momiji’s lazy samurai allies occupying her place.

We’re still impressed with the sheer volume of comedic material this series has dished out in its first two weeks, and were even able to discern some of the anime it spoofs in mere blinks of the eye. This week lost none of the manic energy and verve of the first episode, and it’s a pleasure to listen to Hanazawa Kawa firing with both barrels. Momiji’s Uchiyam Yumi is no slouch; with not one but dozens of different voices. The new kid on the block, Bobby the priest, is a welcome and hilarious addition to the cast, coming on too strong for Sakura’s taste, but actually aiding her in her battle against misfortune incarnate, Momiji. We especially like how he kind of fades into the background during the climactic battle…as if the series sensed that he’s better in moderation.

This episode eschews drama with more action and parody, and it isn’t boring even for a moment. The series points out in the omake that they’re only arround for one cour, so they’re clearly making the most of what they’ve got. Sakura and Momiji truly are two sides of the same coin. You’d think the god has an advantage here, but Sakura proves she won’t let her take her misfortune without a fight. Momiji’s direct approach has only made Sakura bolder and more cognizant of her powers. Momiji faces an uphill battle.

Rating: 6 (Good)

Deadman Wonderland 9

Before delving into this week’s bloodbath, I just want to note that I really like the ending sequence of Deadman Wonderland. That cropped shot of a Ferris Wheel at sunset combined with a soothing, upbeat dance track makes for a nice respite from the darkness of the previous twenty-two minutes. But the slideshow of photos – which didn’t mean much the first time we saw them, are given more gravity as the series has progresses. These are snapshots of the pasts of the characters, many of whom we just met last week.

Anywho, back to this week, one of the goriest yet, which is saying something. Star Chain suffers almost total losses, including Koshio and Nagi. The former dies in a blaze of glory, wasting a Necro Macro, while Nagi’s demise is far slower and more torturous (if he indeed dies, he’s pretty worse-for-wear). Specifically, a totally twisted second-grader with a massive blunt blade treats his body like a ham at the delicatessen, then relieves him of an arm. Even so, Nagi is one tough mutha, managing to knock out the Judas Rokuro and activating the elevator for Ganta and the others.

It’s all for naught though, as the data chip Ganta has been entrusted with isn’t the truth that will set them free at all; its’ a bomb, and Shiro arrives in the nick of time to snatch it away and toss it a safe distance away. The mission is basically a total failure, which explains why the undertaker corps withdrew before finishing Ganta off: their role was to put down Scar Chain, and they would seem to have succeeded. I was hoping Ganta would have gotten further. Now, who was that weird Ganta-looking guy with white hair Shiro bumped into in their HQ? Rating: 3.5