Frieren finds a magic-nullifying stone that is supposedly worth a fortune. As you can imagine, something like that would render her and Fern rather helpless. As a result, Fern wants them to get rid of stone as soon as possible. My first thought is, Isn’t that a bit drastic? I mean, they do have a warrior capable of slaying a dragon. Why not rely on Stark to protect them until they can properly sell it? But Frieren turns the crystal into a light show before quickly following Fern’s advice. Unfortunately, they can’t avoid the crystals that easily, because the party soon stumbles upon an entire cave network full of said magic-nullifying crystals. It’s practically a gold mine. And also, the women have no choice but to rely on Stark now.
Fern reveals that she’s deathly scared, and it’s not hard to imagine why. She’s without her magic for the first time since Heiter found and trained her. She has relied on magic for so long, it must feel like losing one of her motive functions. Or in her own words, she has been blinded. Well, this is just another reason for her to lean on Stark. I kind of like this pairing, but so does everyone else. Not only do they seem cute together, they also serve as a do-over. Frieren went on a long journey with Himmel and never understood his feelings until just recently — until it was too late. So it would be nice if Fern didn’t repeat her master’s mistakes. Though this time around, Stark is the dense one.
Before Stark can give Fern any reassurance, however, a “venomous apex dragon” rears its ugly head. The creature’s design is oddly clashing, no? I mean, compared to our party and the environment around them, a dark, saturated purple and toxic green, five-eyed dragon just looks odd. Oh well. In one breath, Frieren warns Stark that he’ll die “again” from poison, whatever that means. In another breath, she tells him that she has utter trust in him. Stark has been through a lot since he joined Frieren and Fern on this journey, but he’s still a bit craven. But it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Scared people tend to survive a little longer. So the trio books it, which finally triggers in Frieren a memory of Himmel and their former party. Finally. I’ve been wondering when we would get our first flashback. And in it, we see that even the great Himmel of yore found himself in situations where the only solution was to run.
Eventually, the three of them emerge from the cave system unscathed. After a quick stop to rest and sup, they’re back on their journey. An unfortunate but ultimately harmless incident, however, has the the elf musing aloud, “Are things a bit awkward right now?” Frieren once again jumps from thought to thought. One moment, she’s wondering whether or not Fern and Stark are a good match, maybe reflecting a but on herself and Himmel. In another moment, she tells Stark to voice his displeasure if he has any since she feels as though she strong-armed him into the party. At first glance, it’s a bit strange to be saying this now. They’ve been journeying together for how long now? Over a year? Why didn’t she ask him this earlier? But the show also just reminded us that Frieren can have a tough time reading the room, so her trying to understand his feelings is a sign that she’s made considerable progress.
Nevertheless, this talk somehow segues into an offer Wirbel had made to Stark. Before Stark can reassure his party — unlike Frieren, he gets interrupted a lot in this episode for some odd reason — the trio comes across an inn on the road, and who should find there but yet another trio of familiar faces. What a coincidence, right? And lo and behold, Wirbel had asked Stark to accompany him to the frontlines where they need tough warriors in their countless skirmishes against demonkind. In other words, meat shields. Stark already turned Wirbel down before, so he doesn’t hesitate to turn him down again. After all, he’s a coward, isn’t he? I don’t think he would want to be fighting demons on the the regular. But hey, I’m not shaming him, because I wouldn’t want to be fighting anyone period. Not only that, c’mon, there’s no way Stark would ditch Fern and Frieren. I put Fern first deliberately. He might be dense, but he obviously likes her. He might not be able to put his feelings into words, but he’s not abandoning her.
Still, it’s fun to see how the two ladies approach the situation. Again, when they were in the caves, Frieren told Stark that she had total trust in him. So when she tells Wirbel that he can try and persuade Stark all he wants, it’s not that Frieren doesn’t care that the party might lose Stark. Rather, this is yet another example of her having total trust in him. She might make her observations, and maybe she wouldn’t mind it if Stark does temporarily leave the party, but I don’t think she actually expects him to. Plus, she’s like the mother of the group, and as a mother, she has to give her kids the independence that they need in order to thrive. Whether or not Stark comes or goes is something he has to decide on his own.
Meanwhile, Fern is young enough for me to almost consider her a kid. Is she still a teenager? Or is she finally in her 20s now? Time kinda loses its meaning in this show. My point is, she sounds a little more anxious then her expressionless face might let on. But later that night, Stark can finally reassure Fern, and he tells her that he’s going nowhere. He more or less tells her that he’s only here because she encouraged him to be brave when they first met. What a moment, right? Too bad he has to go and ruin it just seconds later by being undeniably Stark. Still, Fern later gazes at the bracelet he got her for her birthday — the same bracelet she clutched in fear as they were running away from the dragon — and probably realizes that her master isn’t the only person who has total trust in Stark.
I do miss Frieren‘s deliberate and steady pacing. So many shows are in such a hurry nowadays. We’ll often jump from one plot point to the next, always in a hurry to reach our destination. As a result, we rarely ever stop to reflect on the journey. But this show has to be different, because it’s a re-journey. We’re retracing the same steps, because we want to reflect. Our age-old elf is in no hurry, because she has so many memories to sift through. I generally loved the first season. I often rewatch it up until about episode 20 or so. Then I skip the next few. Once Serie starts evaluating the prospective first-class mages one-by-one, then I’m back in. I just don’t care about action all that much. I don’t care about power levels, I don’t care about lethal fighting abilities. But I love the character study.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- The economy is so bad, even anime elves are running low on money.
- Sure, Frieren might be over a thousand years old, but does she have enough experience for an entry level position? Nah, make her an intern. She’s not even a first class mage.
- Bro, with a catch that small, you might as well have come back empty-handed.
- I can imagine some people voicing their extreme jealousy at Stark’s circumstances right now.
- Fern and Stark have come a long way. I can’t imagine her rubbing his hair like this when they first met.
- So how did one of the crystals end up on the surface?
- This pile of bone is certainly conspicuous. Not to be crude, but if there’s a larger predator down here, you gotta wonder where its, well, droppings are. Those don’t just magically disappear into the ether.
- This question has an easy answer: you really think Himmel’s going to let you carry his elf princess?
- As an aside, I watch people play JRPGs from time to time, and a few of them would insist on never running from any encounter. They would then huff and puff when they get the game over screen. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Modern games have sanded down all of the rough edges, though. We’ve gone from Final Fantasy III not having a single save point in the final dungeon to auto-saves and retries galore. Wipe your party often enough and some games might even ask you if you want to turn the difficulty down. I probably sound like a gaming boomer right about now, but if you take out all of the friction in games, you also take out what makes them so interesting in the first place. For instance, I think Death Stranding 2 is a vast step down from its predecessor. You could literally make 99% of the deliveries in a pickup truck. I know, because I did it. But the sequel was critically acclaimed, so what do I know?
- Watching Frieren and Fern have a one-on-one while bathing, I thought to myself, Please don’t have Stark accidentally walk in on them. It’s just such a low-hanging fruit. Sure enough, Stark accidentally walks in on them. Well, at least the girls aren’t naked, I suppose. Still, this is probably the only thing I dislike about this episode.
- With all this talk about trust, I do wonder how long it took Frieren to trust her old party members.
