Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2

Episode 9

Every once in a while, we need an episode like this one—one that reminds us what exactly Frieren's journey is for. The name of this series in Japanese isn't Frieren: Beyond Journey's End but rather “Sōsō no Frieren.” This title can be translated in several ways. One is, of course, the title she holds amongst demonkind: “Frieren the Slayer.” However, the other, and far more important, translation is: “Frieren at the Funeral.”

The most pivotal moment of Frieren's life is not the massacre of her village, her time with Flamme, the centuries spent in isolation, her travels with Himmel, or even the killing of the Demon King. No, the moment that changed her forever was at Himmel's funeral, where she realized the fleeting nature of human existence on an emotional level and felt regret for the time she had wasted—the time she could have had with Himmel and never did. Everything in this series stems from this moment: be it her new adventures with Fern and Stark or her memories of the past, which she is now able to glean new meaning from with her growing understanding and insight.

This episode is all about reestablishing that connection—both in our minds and Frieren's as well. While split into two different stories, this episode shares the common thread of Himmel's journal.

In the first half of the episode, it is a symbol for the type of hero Himmel was. While completely altruistic, he nonetheless demanded some form of payment—no matter how small—for each task his party completed. This, in a real way, made the accomplishment a collective effort. It wasn't that the hero “came and rescued the village,” it was that “the townspeople hired the hero to save the village.” This also meant that the villages didn't owe Himmel's party anything—they could move on with their lives without feeling any guilt or shame. After all, when you receive something, it always feels better when you feel like you deserve it.

The second half of the episode uses the journal to show Frieren's growth. Upon reading Himmel's words, she is overwhelmed by bittersweet nostalgia—an emotion which shows on her face enough that even a stranger realizes it. But more than that, in seeing how Himmel viewed the journey in his own words, we—and perhaps even she—can see the focus: Frieren herself. By the camera lingering on her in the scenes we see, we can assume that the words on the page did the same. Yes, he cared about Eisen and Heiter and their silly adventures, but at the center of it all was Frieren and the love he held for her—a love she was incapable of understanding.

And all this brings us back to the narrative core of this story—the point of Frieren's journey as a whole. She wants to see Himmel one more time—to let him know all she has learned and tell him how he changed her millennium of life by spending a mere 10 years with him. This is her way of paying him back for all he did—for making her the better person she has become.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• While the multi-stage fight in the last episode was far more flashy and over-the-top, I much preferred this one with the dragons.

• Here's my crazy theory for Stark's insane durability. Stark is the destined hero—the one who was supposed to pull the sword from the stone and kill the demon king. It just happened that the combined work of Flamme, the Hero of the South, and Himmel's party beat destiny to the punch.

• I love the little background moment where Himmel polishes his sword and then starts inspecting his own face in the reflection.

• There's no way Himmel dropped that notebook on his own statue, and it was left undisturbed by the monks there. Rather, it's almost certain the monks decided not only not to take it with them when they left, but also put it there in the open, easy to find. They even made sure that rumors of the book's existence would spread on the outside. Why? Because they knew that there was one person out there who might come back for it—even centuries down the line.

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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.