Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Episode 25

How would you go about beating yourself in a fight? This is a question that gets more difficult to answer the stronger you are. So, in the case of Frieren, who outclasses the vast majority of mages in the world, it is one heck of a quandary. This is made even more difficult in our heroes' current situation as they are unsure about how perfect the clone they are fighting is. Luckily, with all the dangers of the dungeon made clear, the mages who have made it to the boss room are all ready to work together and figure things out.

Taken alongside the past few episodes, we get an interesting little look at human nature. From the start, joining up with Denken was the logical choice. However, people are far from logical and the majority of the mages had their reasons—i.e., distrust, pride, etc.—that kept them from working together. Simply put, self-interest often isn't enough to tie people together. However, overcoming a common adversary is.

The mages were confident in their abilities at first. However, once it became obvious that said abilities wouldn't be enough, their priorities changed and compromises could be made. Only by working together would they have any chance at victory.

And soon we see that everyone has their little bits of information that help the group form a plan. Dunste brings the revelation that the clone has no mind to effect. Lawine explains the true nature of the monster they are facing—and that the Frieren clone is only one of the major threats they have to contend with. And, of course, Frieren and Fern use their knowledge of the immortal elf to come up with a strategy to defeat the Frieren clone.

What's great is how simple their plan is. With Frieren going all out against her clone, the clone won't be able to spare any brainpower to focus on Fern. Then at the exact moment the clone casts a big spell, Fern will get in the cheap shot for the victory.

But interestingly, it's not the planning or magic slinging that is the highlight of the episode. Rather, it's the flashback to the last meeting of Frieren and Serie. Posthumously, Flamme asked Serie to guide mankind into a new age of magic—one where everyone could use it. Although such an age would spell the end for the Demon King, Serie's pride wouldn't allow her to usher it in. In Serie's eyes, magic makes her special. If everyone had it, what would that make her?

Yet, while Serie chose not to aid in the coming of the new age, she also knew she couldn't stop it from coming. In her comparatively short life, Flamme had already changed the world—shown what humans could accomplish magically and overturned the idea that magic was evil. She made herself into a paragon that would be remembered in awe for a millennium.

Flamme laid the seeds—and she didn't need a gardener to get them to grow (even if having one would have helped). And in this new world to come, elves and their magic wouldn't be able to stay on top—their immortal nature and skewed sense of time would make it impossible for them to keep up with the evolution of mankind's magic.

And now, a millennium later, a human girl with only 18 years on the planet proves able to take out an elf with a thousand years of experience. And with this, Flamme's new age for humans has truly arrived.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Flamme was a true master of the Xanatos Gambit. No matter what happened with Serie (or likely even Frieren), the demon king would eventually die and humanity would rise to prominence.

• “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.”

• While I previously said Denken is the mage most like Frieren, it's looking like Methode may give him a run for his money. After all, she knows a far greater variety of spells than the others and, like Frieren, also carries around a holy scripture to do some light healing.

• Sense going into the dungeon seems unfair considering she knew about the boss monster from the beginning. I'm sure if Frieren wouldn't have entered, her clone would have been the one in the boss room.

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