Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 28 Review

The New First-Class Mages

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 28 is the final episode of the season. In this episode, we got to see the fates of the remaining mages taking the exam. And, surprisingly, they all passed.

In Episode 27, we saw Kanne, Dünste, Laufen, Scharf, Ehre, and Frieren fail. That episode also ended with Fern being the first mage to pass the final phase of the exam. But, we had to wait until this week’s episode to see the results for Denken, Übel, Land, Wirbel, and Methode.

So, how did each of the new First-Class mages pass Serie’s final test? Fern passed because she was the first human mage to ever notice that Serie was suppressing her mana. In fact, Serie was so impressed by this that she offered to make Fern her apprentice.

The other mages didn’t impress Serie as much as Fern did. But, they still had qualities that Serie approved of. For example, Denken passed because he immediately began thinking of how he would fight her. Wirbel had a similar thought. But, Serie passed him after he said that magic is a tool for killing, so he doesn’t have a favorite spell.

Land passed simply because he had the sheer audacity to never even show up for the exam. All those times when we thought we were seeing the real Land? Those were clones, too. He never left his home village.

Methode passed because, instead of being afraid of Serie, she called Serie tiny and cute. And, Übel passed without Serie even explaining why. Though, I think we can all figure it out. Thanks to Übel’s broken brain, she can visualize killing Serie. It seems like Serie knows that Übel could actually kill her if she tried.

Himmel’s Boring Stories

Wirbel and Himmel don’t seem like they have very much in common. But, it turns out that Wirbel is the man he is today thanks to Himmel. He fashioned himself after Himmel — specifically, the boring stories of Himmel.

As a child, Wirbel loved the exciting stories of Himmel and his party defeating monsters. However, the stories the older villagers always told him were of Himmel helping out in mundane ways. Seeing how happy these stories made the villagers made Wirbel want to emulate that.

Yes, Wirbel is someone who views magic as a tool for killing. Himmel definitely wouldn’t have thought like that. But, what Wirbel learned from Himmel’s actions is that helping people is important. Even when Frieren didn’t, Wirbel helped a woman who dropped a basket of fruit. And, this is also why he views magic the way he does.

You might have forgotten before this episode, but Wirbel doesn’t usually fight humans. Demons are the reason Wirbel views magic as a tool for killing. He kills demons in order to protect the weak. Will he kill a human if he needs to? Sure, but that’s not what he wants to do.

It’s also important to notice that Wirbel isn’t trying to make a name for himself. That’s not why he fights demons. If he wanted to make a name for himself, he’d go off to fight legendary monsters. But, he has no interest in that.

And, I want to point out that Stark is kind of in a similar situation. As we saw at the end of the episode, everyone in Äußerst loves him. Stark, like Himmel and Wirbel, is a man of the people. Hopefully, we get to see Stark and Wirbel together again.

A Legendary-Level Spell from the Era of Mythology

It’s too bad that we only know the spell that one of the six new First-Class Mages asked Serie for. I would have liked to know what spell each of them requested. That could have been a huge characterization point.

The spell that someone chooses tells you a lot about who they are. For example, let’s look at the spell Fern received from Serie. Fern got a legendary-level spell from the era of mythology: The laundry spell. This spell exemplifies Fern’s utilitarian view of magic.

That’s not to say that Fern simply views magic as a tool, though. She understands the appeal of Frieren’s wide pool of spells. But, dealing with Frieren’s seemingly useless spells all the time, gave Fern an appreciation for useful spells. And, a laundry spell is the most useful spell she could think of.

Wirbel is the only other of the new First-Class Mages who’s requested spell we know anything about. We don’t know what the spell is or what exactly it does. But, we know he requested a spell that will help him kill even more demons. It would be funny if it was Zoltraak.

What about Denken, Übel, Land, and Methode, though? I really wish we got to find out what spells they received from Serie. At this point, what spell would Denken want? I doubt he was after a spell to revive his wife. So, what else would he want?

And, the same could be said for the other three. I have no idea what spells they would want. If we knew, that would tell us a lot about who they are. Did Übel ask for another combat spell? Or, did she ask for Land’s clone spell?

The Journey to Ende Continues

Will we get a second season of Frieren? As of the time that I’m writing this, nothing has been confirmed. But, this episode did end with “The journey to Ende continues.” That sounds like the anime is going to continue. However, it could also simply mean that the journey continues in the manga.

What do you think of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 28? Were you expecting the rest of the mages to pass Serie’s test? Do you think Wirbel or Stark is more like Himmel? And, what spells do you think the other new First-Class Mages received from Serie?

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