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?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And, I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

Preparing for the Final Test

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 27 started off as I expected. After the first test of the First-Class Mage Exam, we got a “cooldown” episode. So, it makes sense that we’d get the same thing after the second test of the exam.

But, we only got half of a cooldown episode. Only the first half of Episode 27 caught up with mages who took the second test. And, we only got to see a few of them: Kanne, Lawine, Denken, Richter, and Laufen. Where was Wirbel, Übel, Land, and Methode?

Something I liked about this part of the episode, though, was that we saw a combination of winners and losers. Kanne passed the second test, while Lawine didn’t. Likewise, Denken and Laufen passed the second test, while Richter didn’t. This is important because it reinforces that failing the exam isn’t the end.

As long as you’re alive, you can take the exam again in three years. And, this is something Denken makes sure to point out to Richter. He says that Richter is a strong mage who got unlucky. And, in three more years, Richter will be even stronger.

Speaking of Richter, we also saw him repair Fern’s staff in his shop at Frieren’s request. Initially, Frieren told Fern to get a new staff because repairing hers wasn’t worth it. And, Richter even says the same thing. But, both Frieren and Richter come to realize that they’re wrong.

Sure, a new staff would be better than Fern’s old staff. But, a new staff wouldn’t be Fern’s staff. This staff is important to her. She’s had it since she started training as a mage. And, she’s taken good care of it over the years. In the world of magic, that probably counts for something.

The First First-Class Mage

Who was the first First-Class Mage? Thanks to Episode 27, we know his name is Lernen and he still serves as a First-Class Mage today. Typically, he’s the one who proctors the third and final test of the exam. But, this year is going to be a bit different.

Do we know anything else about Lernen? Well, we know that, until this episode, he was the most skilled of the First-Class Mages. How do we know this? Serie herself holds him in high regard. And, he’s also the only one of the First-Class Mages who knew Frieren was suppressing her mana.

None of the others realized she was doing this. They simply thought that, despite being an elf, she had the same mana as a human mage. Lernen noticed her mana output waver for a moment and recognized this as evidence of mana suppression.

He hasn’t seen what Frieren’s true mana output is. But, he estimates that it’s on par with Serie’s. However, in doing so, he reveals his own limitations. Serie does indeed output a massive amount of mana that seems to be on par with Frieren’s unsupressed. But, that’s not Serie’s true mana output.

You see, despite saying that this kind of mana suppression is useless, Serie does it, as well. The vast amount of mana that Serie puts off is what remains after she suppresses her mana. So, I can’t even imagine how much mana she truly has. She might have the most of any living creature.

Also, since Lernen has never noticed this, we can assume Serie is even better at suppressing her mana than Frieren. Frieren’s mana wavered in such a way that Lernen noticed it. Serie’s never has. And, this is why Lernen is no longer the most skilled First-Class Mage.

An Anomaly Calls for an Anomaly

Frieren ruined this year’s First-Class Mage Exam. She’s too skilled of a mage. But, how does that work? How does one mage being too skilled ruin the exam? Shouldn’t it simply mean that she has an easier time passing? Yes, but there’s more to it than that.

The problem is that Frieren dragged other mages along with her who aren’t First-Class material. For example, Kanne and Lawine. Without Frieren on their team, they likely would have failed the first test. And in the second test, you could, as Serie does, argue that Frieren carried everyone who passed.

Yes, if Frieren wasn’t there, then the replica of Frieren also wouldn’t have been there. But, Frieren (and Fern) dealt with Frieren’s replica alone. And, they helped the others come up with a plan. So, at the end of the day, having Frieren there was a net positive.

This is why Serie chooses to proctor the final test herself. She needs the test to be so hard that almost none of the remaining mages pass. And, her test of choice is a one-on-one interview with her. If she decides the mage she’s talking to is too weak, they fail.

Kanne is the first mage we see get tossed out. She fails immediately because Serie senses that Kanne is too overwhelmed by her mana. This is the same for everyone else we see other than Frieren and Fern. Frieren still fails for personal reasons. But, Fern passes.

Fern is the first person (we don’t know about Frieren), who realized that Serie was suppressing her mana. That’s why I said Lernen is no longer the most skilled First-Class Mage. Fern usurped him. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Denken meet Serie. So, he may have passed the test, too.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 27? Were you expecting to get the final test in this episode? How do you think Lernen compares against Frieren and Fern? And, do you think Denken passed the test? I’m expecting to find out in the final episode.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And, I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 28 is available now.

Hunting the Replicas

As expected, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 26 was an amazing episode. It had a lot of great action, we got some of Übel’s backstory, and the music was epic. I can’t ask for more than what we got this week.

Okay, so we know that Frieren and Fern are fighting Frieren’s replica. But, what are the rest of the mages doing while that’s going on? Are they waiting for all of the replicas to come to them? No. That would be a bad idea.

Instead, they go out to preemptively hunt for the replicas. The mages split up and target the replicas that they have good matchups against. For example, Laufen goes after Methode’s replica because that should be an easy win for her. And, Richter and Lawine go after Lawine’s and Kanne’s replicas.

The mages are able to know where the replicas are thanks to Methode’s mana-sensing skill. But, her skill can only help so much. She’s unable to sense where Fern’s, Denken’s, and Sense’s replicas are. And, of course, those are the most dangerous replicas besides Frieren’s. It would be bad if anyone was ambushed by one of those.

Well, an ambush is exactly what happens. Unfortunately for Richter and Lawine, Sense’s replica finds and attacks them. And, as a result, they both have to break their golem bottles. So, they’re out of the exam. But, interestingly, we never saw Fern’s or Denken’s replicas during the test.

Something we did see, though, is that the replicas can reincarnate. Defeating a replica doesn’t mean it’s gone for good. As long as the Spiegel is alive, it can summon the replicas again. Unfortunately, nothing came of this. I thought it was going to lead to an all-out battle. But, no.

Übel’s Reelseiden

In this episode, we got to see two mages perform some pretty incredible feats. The first was Übel using her Reelseiden spell to kill not one, but two First-Class Mages. That’s seriously impressive considering Übel herself is only a Third-Class Mage.

According to Übel, Reelseiden allows her to cut anything she can imagine cutting. Now, that’s not too special when it comes to spells. All spells require that the user be able to imagine the spell working as intended. But, what makes this spell so special when Übel uses it is Übel’s unique imagination.

The first time we see her use this spell to defeat a mage is during the Second-Class Mage Exam. This is when she killed the First-Class Mage proctoring the test, Burg. Burg’s test was pretty simple. The mages had to make him take a step back with their magic.

What made this test so hard was Burg’s Immovable Cloak spell. This cloak is constructed of a lot of very powerful defensive spells. He’s never taken damage since becoming a First-Class Mage. That’s how strong his Immovable Cloak’s defenses are.

But, Übel sliced through both Burg and his Immovable Cloak with ease. How?

Despite seeing how many powerful spells the cloak was made of, that didn’t matter to her. At the end of the day, Übel viewed the cloak as nothing more than fabric. And, fabric is very easy to slice through. So, she had no trouble cutting right through it.

This is also why she had an amazing matchup against Sense’s replica. Sense’s hair is very similar to Burg’s Immovable Cloak. However, when Übel views Sense’s hair, all she sees is hair. And, like fabric, hair is something that’s easily cut. Sense didn’t stand a chance.

The Height of Magic

The second incredible feat of magic was performed by Frieren’s replica. And, this means it’s something Frieren can do, as well. Now, the fact that Frieren is capable of doing something amazing isn’t very shocking. This isn’t the first time she’s defied expectations.

But, what Frieren’s replica did in Episode 26 is something we haven’t seen before. It’s something that we don’t understand. Fern didn’t even understand what happened or how it happened. However, what she did understand was that she just witnessed “the height of magic.”

So, what did Frieren’s replica do? Fern managed to blast both of the replica’s arms off. But, before she could finish the replica off, she got thrown back by a powerful blast. This blast slammed her into the wall and shattered her staff. And, the craziest part was that Fern didn’t sense any mana or recognize it as a spell.

What happened here? What did Frieren’s replica hit Fern with? How was it able to use magic without Fern sensing any mana? As we learned during the first test, every mage releases mana when using a spell. According to Denken, that’s not something any mage can conceal.

Has Frieren mastered concealing her mana even when using spells? That could be it. But, again, Fern said she didn’t even recognize what Frieren’s replica did as a spell at all. And, if it wasn’t a spell, what was it? We really have no idea. It’s beyond our comprehension.

Anything I theorize right now would be a complete guess. So, I’m not even going to bother. But, what I will say is that Frieren said that was the first time “she” used that in about 80 years. This implies that the last time she did was against the Demon King.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 26? Did you think more was going to come of the replicas being reincarnated? Do you think Übel’s previous exam disqualification was warranted? And, what kind of magic do you think Frieren’s replica used to stop Fern?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And, I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 27 is available now.

Mythical Era Monster: Spiegel

We learn a bit more about the dungeon in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 25. For example, it now appears to be confirmed that a mythical-era monster lies at the bottom. This monster is the Spiegel.

I believe we first heard about the Spiegel in Episode 24. It might have been slightly before then. But, regardless of when it was, it was said to be sort of like the Einsam Frieren and Fern fought in Episode 5. If you don’t remember, Einsam are monsters that create illusions of the dead.

But, how is the Spiegel, which creates replicas of those who enter the dungeon, similar to an Einsam? The similarity isn’t in what they create. It’s in how they extract information from the minds of their targets. This is how the Spiegel is able to create perfect replicas.

In this episode, we also learn that the Spiegel itself is pretty weak. If the mages can defeat the replicas and make their way into the treasure chamber, they should win. The replicas are the only way the Spiegel can attack them. And, they technically don’t even need to defeat the replicas.

But, in order to get into the treasure chamber, they’re going to need to at least defeat Frieren’s replica. Her replica cast a spell on the door barring entry unless she’s defeated. Unfortunately, the other replicas are going to show up soon, too. They’ll be converging on the mages in the lowest part of the dungeon.

How do we know this? Lawine has insider information. Her brother was a member of an advanced party sent to explore the dungeon. From that expedition, we know the Spiegel’s strategy is to surround the intruders in the dungeon’s depths.

Conquering Dungeons with the Hero’s Party

As we already know, Frieren enjoys exploring dungeons. She likes finding magic items, and it reminds her of the time she spent with the Hero’s Party. But, exploring dungeons isn’t the only thing Frieren likes about them.

According to Frieren, the Hero’s Party is the party with the record for the most dungeon clears. It’s too bad she didn’t say how many dungeons they cleared or how many the party in second place has cleared. But, at the very least, we know that Frieren has a lot of experience in this.

From all that experience in conquering dungeons comes her love of planning for raids. Frieren enjoys planning out how to take down a dungeon boss just as much as she loves finding magic items.

That’s something I can relate to. I like planning out how to beat hard content in games more than the act of actually beating the hard content.

In the end, the mages come up with a pretty simple plan for conquering the Tomb of the Ruined King. Frieren and Fern are going to fight Frieren’s replica on their own. And, while they’re doing that, the rest of the mages in their group are going to hold off the other replicas.

Remember, according to Lawine’s intel, the other replicas are on their way. They’re heading into the depths of the dungeon to trap the mages there and finish them off.

How are Frieren and Fern going to defeat Frieren’s replica, though? Frieren’s going to fight it head-on and keep it distracted. Then, when Fern sees an opening, she’s going to hit it with a blast of Zoltraak. Frieren (and her replica) has a very specific vulnerability that this plan should be able to exploit.

The Mage to Kill Frieren

After the death of Flamme, Frieren returned to give a message to Serie. Flamme wanted to tell her that the kingdom was going to legalize the study of magic. And, she wanted Serie to be the one to teach the imperial court mages.

Serie, however, doesn’t have the same view of magic as Flamme did. Flamme wanted magic to be something that everyone could enjoy. But, Serie believes that magic should be special. She doesn’t want to teach magic to anyone she deems unworthy. So, she declines this request.

On the flip side, I guess Serie has no problem teaching magic to those she does deem worthy. If that wasn’t the case, why would she offer to teach a spell to anyone who becomes a first-class mage? And, this also explains why the first-class mages gatekeep this position — Serie wants it that way.

Anyway, at this last meeting between Frieren and Serie, Serie makes a prediction. Since they’re now entering the age of human mages, there are only two ways for Frieren to die. Well, I guess other than living out her natural life.

Serie predicts that either the demon king or a human mage will kill Frieren. And, since the Hero’s Party defeated the demon king, that only leaves one option. But, is Serie’s prediction going to turn out to be right? Technically, yes — even though Frieren is going to survive.

I seriously doubt Frieren’s going to be killed at any point. However, Fern is going to kill Frieren’s replica, which has all the same spells and skill as the real Frieren. So, in that regard, Serie’s prediction turned out to be right. But, we should also keep in mind that Fern isn’t acting on her own here.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 25? Do you think the Spiegel is literally the purple crystal we saw in this episode? How many dungeons do you think the Hero’s party conquered? And, will Frieren tell Serie that her prediction about a human killing her turned out to be correct?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And, I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 26 is available now.