(CR) Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

[ChronoReverse]

It's interesting that it's not like Linie is weak. She's still wrecking the ground and able to knock Stark around. But it turns out the wounds are relatively superficial compared to what happens when Stark lands a hit.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by ChronoReverse

It's interesting that it's not like Linie is weak. She's still wrecking the ground and able to knock Stark around. But it turns out the wounds are relatively superficial compared to what happens when Stark lands a hit.

Most of collateral damage is just anime embellishment though. Like Linie said, Stark was playing defensive most of the time until the end.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Ragashingo

And Frieren… I think we know how she’s gonna win. Two clues: It’s said Aura hasn’t faced an opponent with greater mana in 500 years. And Frieren commenting to Fern that she’ll never catch up in terms of mana and technique. I think Frieren is much older than Aura… perhaps 500 years or more…and is baiting Aura to attempt to use those scales.

We don't know how old Aura is, but we know Frieren is over 1000 years old since her 10 year journey with Himmel wasn't even 1% of her lifespan at the time, and it's been like 80 years since that point.

[Kanon]

I really like what the author did there. On one hand, we had the demons severely underestimating Stark and Fern, and on the other we had Stark and Fern severely overestimating the demons. It created an interesting situation where Fern and Stark were overly cautious and first attempted to take them by surprise, only to then run away from them and try to reach Frieren for help thinking they were outmatched. The truth is, they could have easily killed them back at the castle. It shows the importance of being able to accurately gauge your opponent's strength, and it's obvious that's going to play a big role in Frieren vs Aura, as Frieren is totally suppressing her power level.

I love that Fern remained completely stone faced throughout the entire fight. She didn't lose her composure for a single second, not even after getting stabbed. Considering how young she is, that's really quite something. Her talent being rapid casting didn't come out of nowhere either, she already demonstrated it by defending against Quall. Lugner never stood a chance.

Stark had another issue which is lack of confidence. I guess it didn't help he idolizes his master, so seeing someone use his move made him panic. Once he cleared his head, he one shot her.

This episode cemented this series as AOTY for me. And we're not even half-way through it.

[ChronoReverse]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Most of collateral damage is just anime embellishment though. Like Linie said, Stark was playing defensive most of the time until the end.

Well I don't know how the manga does it but it's believable embellishment to me. She could do some destruction but it really is a different scale from Stark's mountain cleaving. A stark difference if you will.

[Decel]

Let us not forget that Stark only has his master and a dragon as -shown- experience, and as this episode showed Frieren has probably outsourced most if not all fights to Fern since they started travelling, and probably even before.

So Stark being wimpy is a pattern, so far, that is rather understandable given the context. I do hope however that he grows more of a backbone before long.

I also like how Gran Grafat showed humility once he found out who he jailed

Those were good fights notheless, especially Fern vs Lugner. Can't wait till next week, especially since Aura "Himmel is long gone"-ed Frieren.

[FlareKnight]

That was a great set of battles.

And I like how both Stark and Fern won their fights. Stark couldn't overcome the techniques of his Master here. And while trying to fight in a balanced manner (attack when possible but play it safe defensively) he couldn't get through and was being whittled down. So it was a sensible choice to go for the killing blow. Give her an opening that would leave her unable to move for a second after attacking. Then finish her off. Thankfully in terms of pure power and durability she was below him. So despite taking a good hit there, he gets the win.

No surprising either. Stark has the least combat experience outside of training of anyone in this episode. Spent a lot of time chilling in that village and practice swinging. Facing living opponents is different and he'll get stronger as he gains more experience against opponents like this.

And Fern's win was great too. She was below her opponent in mana capacity, experience, and overall technique. But she was ahead in speed. And that was enough. In this fight speed made all the difference because Fern was at a good distance and just kept hammering away. He couldn't get a second hit on Fern after the first surprise attack. All the technique in the world didn't make any difference. That was one strength that Fern can rely on. And loved seeing her just coolly take on this challenge. Didn't freak out and just kept on going. A beautiful fight to watch.

Biggest thing is that the demons really sabotaged themselves here. Too arrogant. If Lugner had simply kept attacking once he had Fern pinned that would have done it. But the pride to "even up the score" after getting hit by that surprise attack was his undoing. Once she got her staff back it was game. He wouldn't have the chance to get an attack anywhere near her again. Shows how much Fern has learned. Both to be merciless until you've won and that you can't lose if you don't get hit.

Kind of the same for Linie. Stark went down a few times and took a while to get up. If she wasn't thinking about Lugner's fight and instead...kept swinging that axe into Stark's skull she probably wins. Her attacks aren't insanely strong, but...keep swinging and that'll do it. But that's how fights can go.

And now we can settle in and enjoy seeing how Frieren will take down Aura. Fight have been over already if she wasn't respecting Himmel's wishes to not blast apart the corpses of innocent people that had been forced into doing Aura's bidding. Rationally it's a sensible choice since...I don't think they are exactly alive in that state. But it's that humanity that draws the lines between people and demons. It doesn't matter that Himmel isn't alive. And Frieren is going to show this demon what happens when you mess with the wrong Elf.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I really like what the author did there. On one hand, we had the demons severely underestimating Stark and Fern, and on the other we had Stark and Fern severely overestimating the demons. It created an interesting situation where Fern and Stark were overly cautious and first attempted to take them by surprise, only to then run away from them and try to reach Frieren for help thinking they were outmatched. The truth is, they could have easily killed them back at the castle. It shows the importance of being able to accurately gauge your opponent's strength, and it's obvious that's going to play a big role in Frieren vs Aura, as Frieren is totally suppressing her power level.

I love that Fern remained completely stone faced throughout the entire fight. She didn't lose her composure for a single second, not even after getting stabbed. Considering how young she is, that's really quite something. Her talent being rapid casting didn't come out of nowhere either, she already demonstrated it by defending against Quall. Lugner never stood a chance.

Stark had another issue which is lack of confidence. I guess it didn't help he idolizes his master, so seeing someone use his move made him panic. Once he cleared his head, he one shot her.

This episode cemented this series as AOTY for me. And we're not even half-way through it.

For me Apothecary Diaries is still better but I am biased as a big fan of the novels.


This was a great episode. The animation was cool and it get some goot characterisation. Can't wait for actual Frieren vs Aura fight as we were only teased this time.

[Wandering Soul]

Pride and arrogance really did both demons. They thought the lack of experience on their opponent's side was enough to win, but Fern and Stark had the skill to make up for that lack. In Stark's case, a lack of experience and confidence nearly did him in.

[Ragashingo]

Originally Posted by GDB

We don't know how old Aura is, but we know Frieren is over 1000 years old since her 10 year journey with Himmel wasn't even 1% of her lifespan at the time, and it's been like 80 years since that point.

Exactly. For simplicity’s sake I round Frieren’s current age to 1,000. I think she’s somewhat older than that, but I’m pretty sure at least 1,000 can be fully supported.

How old is Aura? We don’t know… but she might be in serious trouble if her last risky battle was only just 500 years ago.

I’m really loving the way Frieren’s immortal lifespan lets her outclass everyone we’ve seen so far!

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

Pride and arrogance really did both demons. They thought the lack of experience on their opponent's side was enough to win, but Fern and Stark had the skill to make up for that lack. In Stark's case, a lack of experience and confidence nearly did him in.

Yeah, both those things nearly did Stark in. Stark in a similar fight down the road could probably win extremely quickly. He'd know his own ability to tank a hit like that and end the fight fast. Was thrown off by seeing his master's fighting style and wasn't able to immediately judge the difference in their actual threat levels.

I guess that one also almost cost Fern. Will definitely be more careful to check herself and her allies for any signs of being tracked in the future. Surprise attacks will probably always be fairly effective.

Definitely a solid way to let the main cast win. They were taken lightly compared to Frieren and that cost their opponent's their lives.

[Decel]

I think the difference between Frieren and Aura won't be dissimilar to what happened to Qual. Aura layed low to rebuild her army, being relatively static, while Frieren kept on her adventures out into the world, gathering books and new magic.

[~Yami~]

Simply amazing episode
If the students can do this, imagine how strong the hero party actually is.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

And Fern's win was great too. She was below her opponent in mana capacity, experience, and overall technique.

Considering that Lugner clearly underestimated Fern, I wouldn't believe his assessment of her abilities to be accurate at all. He clearly got it wrong somewhere.

[TheForsaken]

Originally Posted by Decel

I think the difference between Frieren and Aura won't be dissimilar to what happened to Qual. Aura layed low to rebuild her army, being relatively static, while Frieren kept on her adventures out into the world, gathering books and new magic.

Most of which are probably useless though

[Lukes YGO & WS on YT]

Fern is an absolute beast, Frieren has trained a near unstoppable monster.

Stark showed a lot of guts and determination to win that fight, he took quite the beating but never gave up.

Can't wait to see Frieren fight Aura next time.

[Alchemist007]

Massive oversight to not be using muscle behind the axe, dumb demon. The other guy got distracted in a fight against a speedster, turned out to be a pushover.

[Guido]

The skirmish was quite well animated.

Lügner did not see Fern Zoltraak -ed him by surprise once Stark made advantage of Lügner dismissing as small fry to create the opening for Fern to do so.

Lügner long explanation entails to me that demons specialized upon a one type of specific magic, which I do not know if it's based on their desires, the magic they sets their sights to individually study is a reflection of their nature or according to their aesthetics.

I do grant their solo-specialty to dig deeper into individual magic makes them a force to be reckoned with as Stark's trembling is a good measure indicator on how insanely strong Lügner was capable to decimate with ease Graf Granats' guards.
However, regarding Frieren's decisive victory over Quaal in the third episode and having his killing spell, Zoltraak, to one-shot him with, one-magic specialty could turn to a fatal weakness for demons.

Human magic has expanded and advanced in centuries. Ineffective spells can be properly combined into a single incantation in order to deal serious or even devastating effects depending on the caster, the effects of the spells, and the time it takes to conjure the incantation.

Lügner's partially right to hate geniuses from which that statement of his refers to monsters by his standards.

What I mean the hard work approach yields rewards but to a certain extent. Once the limit is passed like it eventually yields diminishing returns. On the other hand, smart work approach allows for creativity and ingenuity coming at play which in turns gives birth to new kinds of interesting results never seen before.
Hence, humans reverse-engineering Zoltraak to turn into a demon-slaying spell is something new and alien from Lügner's perspective that cannot be compared side by side to the owner's original spell.

Lastly, Frieren has her solid reputation as a slayer to the demons, and next episode will showcase such fearsome reputation.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

Pride and arrogance really did both demons. They thought the lack of experience on their opponent's side was enough to win, but Fern and Stark had the skill to make up for that lack. In Stark's case, a lack of experience and confidence nearly did him in.

It's implied that Fern has actually had a lot of combat experience off-screen, just not against another demon or human.

She talked about her first encounter alone against a monster with Stark, and in this episode we see that Frieren usually leaves her to do most of the fighting.
That's why Fern didn't put up much resistance as Stark did when Frieren said she wouldn't fight Lugner - it's because this isn't the first time Fern has been left to do the work.

[blakstealth]

Bless this show for not leaving us hanging with the auxiliary fights at the town and having Stark/Fern kill off those demons in this episode.