#frieren!

Since I’m a romance guy this was my fave episode in a while. As usual, Fern steals the show. Her pouty faces are the cutest thing ever and I found her getting upset about Stark “forgetting” her birthday to be an extremely realistic reaction from any girl. Especially not wanting to explain why she was mad 😂

In the end I’m glad everything worked out thanks to Sein’s advice like he said, people won’t know how you feel unless you tell them. Not just for the birthday present, but also for Fern’s budding feelings towards stark. One of my fave ships 🙏🏾

I like how Fern and Stark’s trip to pick out a present is contrasted with Himmel and Frieren’s. Even the scene where they make up is right in front of Himmel’s statue. You could tell that Frieren saw the similarities and really wanted to make sure they didn’t miss out on that opportunity

Speaking of Frieren, can’t get over how cute she looked searching for the ring Himmel gave her. That must mean so much to her especially with him being gone. She didn’t want to hold the party up from leaving, but Fern could read between the lines. The new lost and found spell really came in handy there.

Man the first half with Sein was good, but this episode’s second half was where it really shined. You can’t take back awful things that you say. We’ve all said things we didn’t truly mean to people we care about, and Lord Ogden and his son’s relationship is a perfect example of why you need to be careful with that.

A trivial argument, some hurtful words and he never got to see his son again to apologise, truly heartbreaking. A lesson we can all learn is to just think before you speak, never know when the last time is you’ll see someone.

I kinda had a feeling from the start, that it was a little more than just getting Stark ready for this soirée, he was looking for a longer term fill in, but in the end everything worked out. Plus we got to see Fern and Stark dancing, their ship stocks are through the roof at this point.

Fern was ok with making stark do this training but when she had to do it was an issue 😂.

Jokes aside, there’s several things I really liked about this episode. The amazing group action scene against the Lord who was attacking the hero’s sword, and the use of subversion in this episode.

What makes a true hero? I love that Himmel didn’t pull out the sword. It shakes up the traditional trope of a hero being this chosen prophesied individual. Instead, Himmel went out there and made his dream a reality. Becoming the hero he said he would be.

We contrast that with Stark, who has been labelled a failure by his family and still struggles with confidence. But, like Fern says, the past is irrelevant because he’s always been reliable for them. Very clearly setting him up to one day potentially be the one to pull that sword out.

It’s also really cool to see his brother, who was the strongest in the village and highly respected by all, continue to support and encourage Stark to improve as a warrior. The scene where Stark gets his brother’s robe dirty was brilliant. Seemed like he would get angry, but instead he congratulates his brother and forgets about the purity of the cape, getting it all dirty in the mud by bending down to mentor stark.

They play with perspective a bit during this half of the episode too. Stark tells Fern that he’s never received a birthday gift, when in reality he’s received hamburg steaks from his brother. His very life is also a gift if you think about it since his brother and the others held off the demon encouraging him to escape.

A lot of good directorial and thematic stuff in the episode, but there were also just a lot of downright fun moments. Fern pouring the potion on Frieren, Fern asking Stark what he wants for his bday only to reject the gold bracelet for being too expensive 😂 etc. As usual another masterfully done episode.

Not only has it maintained its number 1 of all time status, it’s even gone up higher. No fluke. The people have spoken. FMAB reign is over.

Onto the finale itself, after Fern and Frieren’s results last week it’s time for serie to evaluate the rest of the examinees. She lowkey cooked Denken by calling him washed, but praising him at the same time lol. Glad he passed, better late than never. Never too old to get your education as they say. Übel didn’t even have to speak to pass, four eyes not even showing up to the exam was a crazy twist, just off that alone he deserved to pass. Ol girl passing just because she said Serie was cute and small is like bribing the teacher lmao.

To think that Denken’s reason for becoming a mage was due in part to his admiration for Frieren’s deeds in the hero’s party is so cool. Glad he regained his love and joy for the fun aspect of magic after this exam. Even at his age, still learning new things.

Enjoyed the conversation with Frieren and Wirbel as well. I never would have taken him for being the kind person who values the “insignificant” moments in life, like helping a random person with things they’ve dropped. All thanks to the influence of Himmel and his party. It had to be surreal for these people to have taken the test with Frieren, someone who they idolised.

Serie so childish for not letting Frieren in the ceremony lol. It’s funny she does all this big talk about other people and still can’t express her emotions. A big tsundere at the end of the day, but Flamme and every single one of her students meant the world to her. Wish she’d tell Lermen one day before he dies how important he is to her. It’s sad that even at his old age he feels he still needs to prove himself to her by defeating Frieren. Like Frieren said, these mages can be so awkward.

Choosing a spell that cleans laundry as your reward is such a Fern thing to do lol.

LOVED the final “tearful goodbyes aren’t our style” flashback to Himmel. The ending of the episode itself felt like that as well. Not gonna cry cause I know we’ll get more of this beautiful series some day. 🙏🏾 thank you Madhouse for this masterclass. You won’t be forgotten, just like Himmel.

Review is up on myanimelist as usual: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=519116

Amazing character acting throughout the episode culminating in an amazing final fight. Both Fern and Stark living up to their masters’ reputations. Can’t wait to see Frieren take Aura out. All of these demons are such incomprehensible monsters.

The look on Frieren’s face when Aura said Himmel had been dead a long time, implying there was no need to keep living by his standards. You can say what you want about Frieren, but don’t bring up her boo lol.

Meeting another elf was really cool. I wonder if there’s any more out there that we’ll encounter.

The journey through the northern lands was brutal, but I couldn’t help wondering why no one invented a spell to keep you warm or shield you from the elements. I guess if that existed then we wouldn’t have got the meeting with the other elf and Frieren wouldn’t have grown a little more pious lol.

Speaking of which, I love how over the course of the 6 months, we see Frieren start to accept the Goddess, or at least become more open to the idea. Initially as the dinner scenes are shown she’s just eating while everyone else is praying and eventually she starts praying as well.

Another nice flashback scene after the elf priest talks about praising Frieren, reminding her of her previous journey with the hero’s party. The look on Frieren’s face when Heiter praised her ability to conceal her aura was so cute. I love how moments like that have stuck with her all these years later.

Been waiting all week to see Übel and Wirbel showdown and it was nice, albeit short. Despite coming off ruthless and cold, Wirbel’s a pretty decent fella who’s been battle hardened. Fern lying about Ehre being dead was a nice way to diffuse the battle without any “unnecessary killing”

But I mean damn, look at the size of the hole(pause) that Fern’s basic attack magic left in the ground. Damn near should’ve killed Ehre. It’s insane how OP she is and she hasn’t even reached her potential

On the other end of the arena, Frieren vs Denken is finally set up. Can’t wait to see that next week. It’s interesting to see someone who knows about Frieren and is still willing to challenge her. Surely Denken can’t hope to compete with the mage of the hero’s party, but maybe he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

We also learnt about why so many people want to be first class mages rn. The chance to learn any spell in existence would be a very enticing opportunity for any mage. I definitely want to learn more about serie. A living grimoire that knows all of humanity’s spells is wild.