Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the final review of the month and the final part of Frieren. The mage exam is upon us and excitement is in the air. Let’s finish strong.
Episodes 18-22
In episode 18 the group finally makes it to Äußerst (scene here: https://youtu.be/SfC7ZAga50Q?si=yaONxIxmymMqRmYZ) where at first it seems it’ll be up to Fern as she’s the only one certified in the association. Thankfully, Frieren gets to take the exam thanks to a technicality (hurray loopholes). The exam will take place in two months and if they fail they’ll have to wait three years to try again (or they could use their money to rent a ship but that would be inconvenient in the long run). After two months of training, they start the first part of the exam as teams of three. Frieren is teamed up with Lawine and Kanne, who are childhood friends and rivals while Fern ends up being teamed with some random guy named Land and Übel, a troublemaker who killed a proctor two years ago and even killed three bandits on the way to the city (Seras: I like her already). Their first exam is to capture a Stille, a bird that moves faster than sound (I feel like there sound be more destruction in their wake). Despite Lawine and Kanne constantly fighting and bickering with each other, the two have great teamwork and coordination with each other. So much so that they almost captured a Stille twice.
Episode 19 starts with us seeing that Fern’s party has successfully captured a Stille. Now all they have to do is defend themselves until time is up (in other words, the fun part begins. Magic fight!). Back with Frieren’s party, Frieren says she has a spell to catch the Stille, but it’s going to require a bit of prepping and making enemies of the other parties. Frieren has Lawine freeze the main lake in the area infusing it with mana which the Stilles are sensitive to detecting and thus will avoid the area. They infused some of the ponds in the area with mana, but leave one pool of water uncontaminated to lure a Stille to it. Frieren suppresses her mana by staying still allowing an unsuspecting Stille to get close to her and get captured. However, another group of mages led by a guy named Denken was waiting for them to act (scene here: https://youtu.be/7a2u40CHW1k?si=R2UfmyQb97d3Av9b). He caught on to their plan and decided to wait for the right to strike and steal their bird. Speaking of bird stealing, Fern’s party gets attacked by a mage group consisting of Ehre, Wirbel, and Schraf. Everyone chooses a dance partner and splits up to fight their respective opponents in a magic battle.
So a majority of episode 20 focuses on Fern’s party against Wirbel’s party. Fern manages to overwhelm Ehre with her constant magic attacks to knock her out (scene here: https://youtu.be/CmwUpTcuEQE?si=npk71sKs3D9122Q9). Land uses illusion magic to get the jump on Schraf and take him down with ease. As for Wirbel and Ubel, he manages to beat Ubel with a binding spell similar to the one Frieren used to capture to the Stille (the only difference is he seems to have more range). He gets ready to kill Ubel and take the bird, but his hesitation in killing her gives Fern plenty of time to show up and put him at a disadvantage. Since he’s only able to bind one person at a time and knows he stands no chance at beating these two ladies (one’s a killer, the other is a sleeping beast waiting to be unleashed) he gives up and leaves. After retrieving his fallen comrades, Wirbel and them are ready to give up when by sheer luck they spot a Stille and capture it using his bind spell (sometimes luck is a skill). Meanwhile, Frieren’s party loses the bird to Denken’s party who knows who she is. Denken chooses to face her while his teammate Richter takes on Lawine and Kanne where he intends to kill one of them because he really wants to become a first class mage. It turns out that Serie, the leader of the Continental Mages Association, has promised that anyone who achieves the first-class title will be granted any one spell they request from her if she is capable of providing it (just like Calypso from Twisted Metal. Hopefully, the spell doesn’t backfire on them).
Episode 21 begins by revealing that Serie is an elf and just happened to be Flamme’s master. Flamme introduces Frieren to her where she offers to give her any spell of her choosing. Frieren declines stating that the pursuit of magic is the best part of being a mage (she wants to earn that magic, not be given it). Serie criticizes her saying she lacks ambition but Flamme makes a bold prediction and says that Frieren will be the one to defeat the demon lord (man, she called it. What will be the next winning lottery numbers?). Returning to the present, Frieren’s group takes on Denken and Ritcher. Despite their best efforts, Lawine and Kanne are no match for Richter who manages to restrain them and says he’ll spare them as long as Denken wins (well, it was nice knowing you girls. You really think the mage who defeated the demon lord is going to lose? You are a fool). Frieren of course defeats Denken, but to his credit he did put up a good fight with his high level spells, but Frieren got in close and delivered a close-range spell to win (scene here: https://youtu.be/0zV27hfPiS4?si=34bJyJdJ1UFPip8g). After threatening to kill Denken, Laufen the third teammate, exposes herself and loses the bird to Frieren. In order to save Lawine and Kanne, Frieren does the impossible and destroys the barrier shocking everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/zlmsqVWPf98?si=M-Y6ClG7kJkPd2_9, make that girl first class). This allows the rain to reach the exam area and Kanne uses it to defeat Richter. Frieren’s group retreats while Denken’s team escapes their bindings and find another party where they attack them and steal their Stille (like I said, luck is a skill. Plus I’m happy this team is sticking around. They’re interesting). The exam finally comes to an end with 6 teams advancing (we know four of those teams). Everyone is given three days to rest and prepare for the second part of the exam.
Not a whole lot happens in episode 22. Fern and Frieren reunite with Stark who was living that bachelor life by staying up late and drinking (scene here: https://youtu.be/uMeWxuwYswY?si=UPfpwfOt-acE9CUI, add in video games and that’s a good Saturday night). Actually, he was anxious about them and couldn’t sleep, so he drowned his worries in booze. After this we just see the characters interact with each other throughout the three days they have off (scene here: https://youtu.be/xQO1KIYcxp8?si=j6PMe3lawB1eCCXQ). There are some unique interactions such as Wirbel recruiting Stark to slay some monsters with him. Ubel reveals to Land that she can copy the magic of others by empathizing with them. She tries to steal Land’s magic but convinces her it would be pointless (I beg to differ. When put in the right hands and used effectively any spell is dangerous). Lawine and Kanne hand baked goods over to Frieren as a way to thank her for helping them past the first part of the exam. The mages receive a notification for the second part of the exam where their proctor is Sense who is notorious for letting no one pass her tests despite being a pacifist.
Episodes 23-28
In episode 23 the second exam finally begins. The mages will need to reach the bottom of a dungeon by noon tomorrow or they’ll fail. Everyone is given a golem in a bottle (well there’s a market waiting to be explored) which they can break to forfeit if the test becomes too much for them. The bottle will also automatically break once the time limit for the test is reached and they haven’t reached the bottom yet. Since there’s no point in fighting each other, Denken suggests they all work together to reach the bottom (a party of 18 mages going into a dungeon with no healers or warriors. This is the worst party I have ever seen), but everyone remains distrustful of each other and split up to conquer the dungeon. Since Frieren and Fern choose the safest route, Sense follows them but says she won’t help them if they run into any danger. Such as foolishly getting swallowed by a mimic despite being warned (still gives us a cute and funny scene: https://youtu.be/4x2CEUeGty0?si=lK08WOLZw42qHxtC). Other than that, the dungeon seems fairly easy. Aside from a few traps and gargoyles (none voiced by Keith David. Boo~ *puffs cheeks*) this dungeon seems to have nothing the mages can’t handle. That is until they get close to the bottom and have to fight clones of themselves (sure is getting Persona 4 up in here). Denken and his team actually hit the biggest roadblock when they come across a clone of Frieren (scene here: https://youtu.be/0f6b-thXWWk?si=4TPz_vtRSRCIyfjw, oh you’re fucked).
At the start of episode 24 we find out that the dungeon has a special monster called Spiegel, the water-mirror demon. It can create a perfect clone of anyone who enters the dungeon. While the clones are easy to identify, they possess the original’s strength, mana, and techniques, making them just as strong (and it just hit the jackpot copying a powerful elf mage). Denken and the others wisely retreat in quick fashion. They’re joined by Frieren, Fern, and Sense who catch them up on the situation and try to form a plan to defeat the clone. After this, we focus on some of the other mages fighting their clones. Ubel and Land defeat a clone of Ubel. Wirbel and his party defeat clones of themselves. We see one mage forced to quit after facing a clone of Sense (glad to see the clone isn’t into that pacifist BS) and another one is lost (that’s what he gets for going in alone. Dumbass).
Episodes 25-26 gives us a fight between the mages and the clones. Before defeating the Spiegal, everyone agrees that Frieren’s clone has to be destroyed first. Fern and Frieren get picked to fight the Frieren clone because Fern knows her weakness, she can’t detect mana when she casts spells. Something that you typically find in beginner mages (well Frieren is not your typical high-class mage). While those two have fun with the Frieren clone, everyone else stays on the lookout for more clones to appear. Frieren takes on her clone directly while Fern waits for her chance to cast Zoltraak’s instant death spell to defeat it. When the opportunity arrives, Fern hits the clone with the spell but it doesn’t go down. While that’s going on, Denken and the others face off against the other clones and manage to defeat them but not without a few losses. Richter and Lawine get impaled by Sense’s clone and are forced to use their golems to quit. Back with Frieren and Fern, Fern’s staff got destroyed and she almost gets killed after the clone hit her with a telekinetic attack which Fern called the height of magic. Frieren manages to defeat her clone and then proceeds to destroy the Spiegel to allow the remaining mages to reach the bottom and pass the second part of the exam (I’m helping myself to the treasure. Side note, these episodes give us the best animation in the whole series. Really good stuff here. For a series that doesn’t have that many fight scenes Madhouse went all out on the fights in these episodes. Scene here: https://youtu.be/6UhtWNPmImw?si=J-NXulstkdKkKac3).
In the first half of episode 27, Frieren goes to Richter’s shop to get Fern’s staff repaired (scene here: https://youtu.be/rO6p2xLAWjU?si=pgYP2YC6E7EocST3). In the second half, the final part of the exam begins where the proctor will be Serie herself. She’s a little mad that so many mages passed the second part of the exam than what was intended and blames Frieren for it (oh sure, blame the OP elf who should have been a first-class mage to begin with. She saved all your damn lives). Serie decides she will conduct one on one interviews to determine who deserves the license using her own intuition which Frieren says is always correct (I don’t know. She said you wouldn’t amount to anything and we all know how that turned out). Serie quickly fails Kanne for being weak-willed and not having the mindset of what it takes to be a first-class mage along with a few others for similar reasons. She also fails Frieren who saw it coming and takes her leave (https://youtu.be/HhnUK1YmMEU?si=sq_5K7tPD2YYooWC) but not before showing Serie her favorite spell which is making a field of flowers. Why is this spell her favorite? It serves no practical use in combat. Well, it’s because this was a spell she used to cheer up a kid version of Himmel who got lost in the forest. That spell stuck with Himmel so much that I’m pretty sure he fell in love with her right there and years later he would seek her out specifically to join his party (that spell set in motion the events that would save the world). When it’s Fern’s turn Serie can see the potential she has. For the first time she’s found a human who not only meets her expectations but can actually exceed them. Serie asks Fern to be her apprentice, but she says no because she’s Frieren’s student. Despite being upset by this, Serie isn’t stupid or petty enough to turn down a promising mage (Frieren aside) and allows Fern to pass.
In the final episode, Serie passes Denken, Methode, Wirbel, Land, and Übel because they either demonstrated the sufficient resolve to qualify as a first-class mage or by embodying the traits aligning with Serie’s personal philosophy on magic. Everyone takes their leave with some elated and others are disappointed that they failed (get good). The rest of the episode is slow but still enjoyable. We find out that Wirbel was inspired by Himmel’s acts of kindness to others (have to admit this guy surprised me. I thought he was going to be your typical bad mage looking down on others but he’s surprisingly pretty chill). Later on, Fern and the others go to Serie to receive their first-class privilege, learning a spell of their choosing. While Frieren and Stark (forgot he was here. He really had no role in this arc did he?) wait, Lernen one of the first-class mages challenges Frieren to a duel in the hopes of being remembered by Serie. Frieren refuses to duel and says that Serie won’t forget him. Despite her tough manners and harsh attitude, she carries a soft spot for all of her students. Even going as far as remembering their names, personalities and their favorite spells. When Fern emerges we see that the spell she asked for was one to clean clothes (smart). As the party takes their leave, they have one final goodbye with Lawine and Kanne and then continue on their journey.
Final Thoughts
And that was Frieren. Just. . .amazing. This anime is a masterclass in emotional story telling and character development. While I admit this anime isn’t the most action-packed or intense, it manages to draw you in with its characters and how their interactions with each other helps them grow and develop. We see Frieren go from this emotionless elf not understanding bonds to someone who cares about others and values the bonds she shares with everyone she meets. Even things that she once overlooked or didn’t care for in the past she finally understands why they’re so valuable and treasures them more now. While Frieren is a great character the best character in this anime is without a doubt Himmel. He’s in one episode and yet his influence is felt throughout the whole anime. His ideals, his courage, his personality, his victories and many more make up his legacy and it’s a legacy that has inspired every character we come across in the show. He’s that one friend who plays a game not for the sake of beating it but the sake of experiencing it. He’ll explore every nook and cranny of that game to get the full experience all while enjoying every minute of it. The one thing I really like about him is how he wasn’t the chosen hero. He was never meant to defeat the demon lord. Yet, despite this he still managed to do it because he believed in himself and was backed up by three amazing comrades who inspired him just like he inspired them. Even though Himmel is dead his presence is still felt in this anime and continues to live on in Frieren. Now aside from these two characters how do Fern and Stark stack up? Well they’re both great characters as well. While we probably won’t see Frieren grow from a power standpoint, we see it in Fern and Stark who are still young but will only grow stronger as time goes on. We see their doubts, worries, and struggles but also their triumphs. Probably the best thing about these two is the underlining romance that’s developing between and how it flows naturally. Their relationship isn’t full of tropes, rushed, or spontaneous. It’s slow and steady. They take their time as we the characters interact off each other, pick up their habits, and be there for the other in their time of need. Their relationship feels natural and isn’t one of those characters getting together for the sake of the story or because the plot demands it.
Outside of the characters, the animation and music are phenomenal. The animation looks like a storybook coming to life. The mixture of the colors, the angles, and the way it looks is just great. Like I said the anime may not be that big on action, but when it has an action scene it knows when to go all out and make it look and feel like an epic fantasy battle. They also don’t shy away from showing how brutal and destructive magic can be as well as how scary some monsters and demons can be as well. Finally, the music really sets the mood for this anime. Each track matching up perfectly with the scene and the characters. Nothing ever feels out of place. One other thing I like about this anime is how it incorporates flashbacks. I touched on few of them in the review but there are a lot more throughout the anime and each one is great. It gives us great insight into the characters. The best ones are of course the ones that focus on Himmel and show us just how great of a character he was. If the series ever did have prequel I would love it to focus on Himmel and the quest to defeat the demon lord. It sounds like an awesome story waiting to be told and I’m sure we’ll see more snippets of the adventure in the next season.
Final Score
So the final score for Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is an easy 10/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. This anime is tied for my all-time favorite along with FMA: Brotherhood. I’m excited to see season 2 and see where the story goes next. What new adventures awaits Frieren in the others? We’ll have to wait to find out. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.