Episode 9 – Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

This episode of Frieren can be cut cleanly into two parts. The first is to set up the next episode—to explain who Aura the Guillotine is and what makes her so dangerous. Aura is exploiting the fact that demons live such long lives. She holds a set of magical scales that take the amount of mana a person is holding and compare it with her own. The person with more mana gains full bodily control over the person with less. On a level playing field, using these scales would be a risky gamble. However, as mana capacity is something that grows with age and magic practice, no human can hope to reach the level of a demon like Aura. Any warrior who comes to kill her simply finds themselves the newest puppet of her army.

Then we learn why she is called “The Guillotine.” Those with great willpower were able to resist the scales—if only for a moment. Thus Aura removed that willpower by cutting off the heads of all those under her control. Beyond showing how brutally pragmatic Aura is, this setup also has an interesting bit of visual storytelling hidden within. Many of the headless troops still wear the necklaces of their families—showing that one of these is Graf Granat’s dead son. Frieren notices this—and that is why she chooses to waste mana purifying the bodies instead of blowing them to smithereens. These are the families of Graf Granat’s city and she is going to lay them to rest properly after dealing with Aura—just as Himmel would have wanted.

The rest of the episode, on the other hand, is all about the two apprentices handling things without Frieren for the first time. While Fern and Stark are forced into one-on-one battles between themselves and the two powerful demons, the actual fight is far more internal than external. Simply put, if you don’t believe you can win, you’ll lack the drive to make victory a reality.

Fern’s issue comes from the fact that she measures herself against the only other mage she’s ever known: Frieren, one of the strongest magic users alive. Obviously, she finds herself lacking. How could she possibly compete with a person whose age allows her greater amounts of magic—not to mention a much more refined technique. But here’s the thing, raw talent still exists and so does the relentless drive to improve.

Fern learned magic while facing a ticking clock. She had to cast as many spells as possible if she were to pass Frieren’s mage test before Heiter passed away. Likely because of this, she casts at a faster speed than Frieren—and her demonic opponent for that matter. It’s only when she goes on the attack that she realizes just how powerful this makes her. Sure, the demon has lived for hundreds of years perfecting his blood magic spells, but that doesn’t matter if he can’t cast them—if he’s slowly but surely overwhelmed by an endless barrage of quickly-casted magic.

Meanwhile, Stark has a similar problem as he also compares himself to the only warrior he’s ever known: Eisen. This has likewise warped his sense of his own strength. Simply put, he believes he is weak so he doesn’t even try to fight back for most of his fight. However, even this proves to be enough. Despite his cowardness and self-doubt, Eisen has managed to drill one key lesson into Stark’s mind: the fight is only over when one person quits (or dies). No matter how many times you’re knocked down, as long as you get back up and continue, you haven’t lost and the other person hasn’t won. This is how you topple strong opponents—not through a single strike but through a battle of attrition.

All this is a key part of the warrior’s mindset. And when it comes down to it, Stark’s role in the party isn’t to do damage. Rather, it’s to take it—and in doing so give your party or yourself the opening to deal a devastating counterattack. This, along with his relentless spirit, is why he manages to win the fight.

So in the end, both Fern and Stark are victorious over both their demonic opponents and inner doubts. Now we’re all set up for the big climax of this arc: the battle between Frieren and Aura.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• For a series not really about the action, I am continuously impressed by the animation used in the fight scenes. (That animation of Stark putting on his jacket was likewise insane.)

• Fern and her demon opponent both fight with similar, blank expressions. However, it’s important to note that one of these is due to focus and the other due to apathy.

• I wonder if there isn’t a secondary magic system in this world that warriors tap into—that makes their bodies harder and more resilient than normal people’s.

• Both the Demons and elves live exceedingly long lives—but to the demons, out of sight is out of mind. They are unaffected by the dreams and wishes of their dead companions. However, for Frieren, both her master and party have stayed with her long after death—setting her apart from monsters like Aura.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.