Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 21 Review

Flamme’s Master

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 21 reveals some interesting things about Frieren’s past. It turns out, she’s met Serie before. Though, that’s not surprising. They’re both elf mages who are over 1,000 years old. It makes sense that they’d cross paths at some point.

Sure, Frieren and Kraft had no idea who each other was. But, they weren’t really active within the same circles. They’re both elves and they’re both heroes. However, from what we know, it’s not that common for elves to run into each other. And, it’s not like all the heroes get together to hang out.

So, what makes Frieren and Serie different from Frieren and Kraft is that they’re both mages. Mages do tend to interact with each other. And, the interaction Frieren had with Serie was due to her master, Flamme. It turns out, Flamme had a master of her own: Serie.

As I expected, Frieren has no interest in being taught any spell she desires by Serie. And, we know this because Frieren rejected Serie’s offer in the past. According to Frieren, “The greatest joy of magic lies in searching for it.” Frieren believes the journey is more important than the destination.

As we saw, this is contrary to what Serie believes. When she hears Frieren say this, she declares that Frieren is no good and lacks ambition. So, I think my prediction that Serie will be an antagonist of some kind is going to be correct.

Now, in Episode 21, we also got Denken’s thoughts on acquiring spells. Remember, he wasn’t interested in Serie’s offer either. Why is that? Well, he tells Frieren the exact same thing she told Serie. It’s clear that Frieren and Denken have the same beliefs when it comes to magic.

How Modern Mages Fight

Denken might have the same philosophy as Frieren when it comes to magic. But, that doesn’t mean he has the same philosophy as her when it comes to combat. Though, he doesn’t fight like the younger generations of modern mages do.

Instead, Denken’s fighting style is somewhere in between. But, before dissecting his style, I need to go over how the kids fight these days. And there’s no better way to do this than by stealing the explanation directly from Richter. During his fight against Lawine and Kanne, Richter broke it down for us.

We know that there’s basic offensive and defensive magic. These are the only spells Frieren and Fern use in combat. There are many other offensive spells that other mages use, though. We’ve seen those offensive spells throughout this arc. However, defensive spells are far less varied.

Sure, Richter sometimes uses earthen walls to protect himself. But, the majority of mages rely on basic defensive magic. And, basic defensive magic has one major flaw. It’s great at defending against magic attacks and even physical attacks from individuals. What it can’t withstand is the massive force of nature.

This is exactly why many modern mages rely on offensive spells that control forces of nature. Richter’s earth spells can smash right through basic defensive magic. And, even Kanne’s water spells can do the same — if she has enough water to work with.

We don’t see Denken using these kinds of spells, though. He uses flashier spells than Frieren’s basic offensive magic. But, he doesn’t use spells that can smash through basic defensive magic. To me, it looks like the reason for this is that he typically doesn’t need to. In most cases, he simply has more mana than his opponent.

The Last Great Mage

It’s always cool when Frieren shows off just how powerful of a mage she is. First, there was when she defeated Aura by releasing her mana suppression. And now, she shattered the “unbreakable” barrier Serie set up over the examination area.

A big part of why these scenes are cool is that they don’t happen very often. Overpowered protagonists often aren’t interesting because they’re always flaunting their power. Frieren doesn’t like to do that. She only uses her full power when absolutely necessary. To her, it’s more important to keep her cards close to her (flat) chest.

But, there were two things said in this episode in regards to Frieren’s strength that I was interested in. The first is Frieren’s claim that she wouldn’t want to fight a water mage in the rain. Do you believe her? I know she said she’s lost to human mages before. But, it’s hard to imagine.

The second thing is when Genau called Frieren the last great mage. This was a very interesting thing for him to say considering Serie exists. He didn’t think anyone could possibly break Serie’s barrier. And yet, he doesn’t seem to consider her one of the “great mages.”

We can also assume from context that Serie is far older than Frieren. So, it’s not even like Genau would be referring to Frieren’s age with that comment. Does Genau not consider Serie a mage? Does he consider her to be something higher than a “great mage?”

Or, does Genau recognize Frieren as the one person remaining who’s stronger than Serie? After all, he says this after learning that she’s the Frieren from the Hero’s party. And, remember what Flamme said to Serie 1,000 years ago. Frieren can defeat the Demon Lord while Serie cannot.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 21? Were you surprised to find out that Serie was Flamme’s master? Do you think Frieren will escort Denken to his homeland after the first-class mage exam? And, what do you think makes Frieren the last great mage? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 22 is available now.