I’ve got some friends, some that I hardly know. But we’ve had some times, I wouldn’t trade for the world.
What They Say:
“Somewhere She’d Like”
Frieren’s party dream of hot springs as they reach Etwas, but the village is abandoned.
Review: (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Since the beginning of the season, Frieren’s party has had one goal: soak in a hot spring. They’ve been thwarted by disasters like falling into caves that sap them of their ability to use magic. Now it appears the time has finally arrived, but just when it seems that they’ve reached the promised hot springs, the village is no more than an old man and some kids. Of course, that’s still enough for Stark to be immediately beloved by all, just like he is in the first second we see the party in any new village of strangers. This village is long abandoned, its hot springs have dried up, and it’s a week’s journey to get to the next one. Apparently there’s another small hot spring hidden deep within the mountains, but it’s almost certainly not worth the trouble. But for some reason, once he hears the name, Stark insists that they pursue it after all.
Indeed, the effort required to reach this hot spring is rather extreme: it even involves defeating a dragon for the first time since Stark’s first appearance. Frieren claims it’s more of a lizard, but it’s really more of a hydra. It’s a dragon with three heads that will regrow them if not cut off at the same time. I’ve noted how, despite this season starting out with very low-key episodes just like the early parts of the first season, Madhouse has managed to sneak incredible animation into each one. The dragon battle in the first season was not only probably the best animation of Frieren to date but perhaps the best animation we’ve seen in anything since then, so this is positioned to be the sakuga spectacle of this episode. Just when you think you know what to expect, Frieren pulls one over on you and makes it a deliberately anticlimactic gag at Stark’s expense. Unfortunate if you were hoping for some great action, but probably still worth it for the laugh.
Having an epic fight would’ve made the hot spring even more underwhelming, but it’s still little more than a foot bath. This does mean that the full party gets to experience it together, and we finally learn why it was so important to Stark. Since Frieren is following the same path as she did with Himmel’s party, a major recurring theme has been her reflections on that fateful journey and how it parallels her current one. This time, though, her memories only served to remind her of how disappointing this hot spring ended up being. But the special thing about Frieren’s new party is that they all have their own unique connections to their old party. Despite being the only one (other than Frieren) still alive, Eisen has probably been explored the least, and his status as the stoic old dwarf is a major reason for that. But just as Frieren’s new worldview was opened up by realizing that she cared more about her relationships than her own stoic facade would suggest, Eisen admitted to a young Stark that even this pathetic excuse for a hot spring was an irreplaceable memory that he shared with his friends. Stark just wanted to see the view that touched the heart of his master who rarely showed emotions or sentimentality. This really encapsulates one of the most prominent themes of the series, and expressing it through Stark and Eisen is a fresh change of pace.
It would be a bit sad if, after all of that buildup, their hot spring experience ended up truly limited to just a minor foot soak. Fortunately, that next village did not continue the trend of hot spring disappointments, and Frieren euphorically melts into the long-awaited bath, amusingly called out for being too “young” to appreciate hot springs that much. Frieren was uncharacteristically hurrying the party out of a village last episode to avoid specific people, but it’s even more uncharacteristic that she apparently only planned to stay at this village for two days despite the fact that she seems like she’d be happy boiling in that water for at least the next week. That leaves Fern with a day of ennui, and through an exchange of escalating teasing, she and Stark accidentally end up committed to a date.
If only Sein were here to see this, as he literally told them they should just date already. Alas, he is not, which leaves the only adult in the party… Frieren. We’re not getting the date in this episode, but seeing the kids try to get romantic advice from Frieren is some of the funniest material we’ve gotten, especially this season. Her conversation with Stark is especially hilarious, starting it off by questioning his sanity for coming to her about romance, continuing with confidence before treating him like a cute grandson, and then getting distracted from the matter at hand by terrifyingly keeping count of his comments on her age, leading to a flashback depicting the scale of her apocalyptic temper tantrums. I’ve always appreciated when the series lets itself be comedic, especially with Frieren’s aforementioned stoicism juxtaposed against her occasional petty childishness. In fact, this episode features several examples of her ending up in absurd positions while sleeping, a running gag I always love. But this may be the most extreme display of Frieren being completely silly yet, and it’s quite extended to really drive home the point. Ultimately these quirky contradictions in her nature make her more three-dimensional and endearing. The fact that she considers this a point of pride is even funnier, especially as Stark points out that she’s a grown woman… a millennia-old woman, in fact.
But Frieren always has some sincerity beneath its jokes. Frieren may not know much about dating, but she knows Fern. Just as she’s shown great insight into Fern’s tastes for her birthday in the past, she casually gives Stark an expert strategy guide to Fern’s perfect day around town. There’s no question that she’s Fern’s maternal figure, a position she likely never thought she’d occupy. She’s stepped into this role not just by leading the party or knowing Fern’s tastes but also taking care of her when she was sick, which showcased a distinctly motherly relationship. However, like many great mothers, she doesn’t see herself as a successful mother, and credits Heiter with telling her everything she still knows about Fern after all these years together. But just as Heiter picked up on everything that made Fern who she was through his years of raising her in his capacity as her father figure, Frieren’s bond with Fern has ensured that she never forgets something that would make her daughter smile.
Speaking of which, Fern is as unsure of how to approach the upcoming date as Stark, and again… she only has Frieren to ask for advice. Frieren’s confidence continues to soar as she reveals just how adorably naive she is about dating, thanks to Flamme, who is probably still laughing a millennium after her death at how she pranked her student. Frieren inherited Flamme’s smug grin, but she probably didn’t realize when that grin represented sarcastic “wisdom.” Himmel seemed to have understood his feelings for Frieren far better than Frieren has ever understood those kinds of feelings, but as she considers some of her solo outings with Himmel to have been “dates” and observes her young party getting closer in this new way, she may begin to realize that Himmel has moved her so much for a reason. That won’t necessarily help anyone since Himmel has been dead for 29 years, but it’s an important progression of Frieren’s developing emotional maturity. It only took a thousand years.
In Summary:
This may be the first episode that feels more like comedy than anything else, albeit with its signature emotional weight woven into every subplot. From using Stark as bait to Frieren being hilariously ignorant about romance and of course Frieren’s instantly iconic tantrums, there’s a lot of fun to be had as long as you don’t need the series to take itself too seriously. While we’re used to seeing Frieren remember her bonds with her old party, especially Himmel, the highlights of sincerity in this episode deal with her new party members’ connections with her other old party members. Stark was Eisen’s student and Fern was initially raised by Heiter, and they have unique bonds with those parental figures that are just as important to them, and intersect with Frieren’s relationships with both parties. While it’s always a theme of the series, these relationships are being explored in new ways throughout this episode, and it teases the possibility of next episode being a romance as much as this one was a comedy. As Stark and Fern accidentally progress their relationship with each other, perhaps Frieren will be forced to face the possibility that she felt something about Himmel that was different from how she feels about everyone else.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Advent Seven 
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