The more desperate the battle, the more catharsis you feel when you survive it.
What They Say:
“A Magnificent End”
The Divine Revolte appears at the village, while Frieren, Fern, and Methode battle Solide and Hemmung.
Review: (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Normally I’d focus on the narrative, character work, and themes of an episode before diving into the production, but this episode hits you with the production spectacle from its very first moments. These are the kinds of scenes an episode uses all of its resources on, except it’s the entire episode. This is the kind of episode a series uses all of its resources on, except the entire season has been gorgeous. The crew knew exactly how much time they needed to deliver another ten episodes that deserve to stand alongside the first season, and this episode is clearly the jewel in a spotless crown visually and kinetically. As with the dragon battle in the first season, several scenes of the episode, and certainly the episode as a whole, employs a laundry list of stellar animators bouncing their uniquely stylish cuts off of each other with sensational expressionism. The animation, the storyboarding, and the direction are so insanely creative and well-articulated. This is what animation can do. This is what an adaptation can do. It should make you think “you could never convey this on a still page.”
As with any such scene in the first season, the visuals and immersion can only soar as successfully because they’re backed by Evan Call’s high-energy battle themes that show incredible range given how softly he can serenade us through the calmer sequences of the series. To call it background music feels reductive at this point, because it makes such a strong statement on its own, taking center stage as much as anything on screen, speaking for the tension of the conflict when the characters are too busy to do so themselves. Although several of the highlights from the first season make appearances (including the most popular track “Zoltraak” timed perfectly to its namesake), much of this nonstop action is set to a brand-new selection that has me eagerly anticipating the season’s full soundtrack in a month. Call weaves motifs of existing tracks into new perspectives, and the sound direction of the episode transitions between pieces with common elements. It gives each scene its own flavor while creating a cohesive whole, much like the beautifully idiosyncratic nuances of each animator whose signature style is woven into the stunning package this episode delivers.
I would be remiss to act as if this episode is exceptional purely on its technical prowess, though. Plenty of series live and die entirely on those merits, and while I find them wildly entertaining, it’s not the reason Frieren is special. Frieren is special because it can blow our minds with cinematic wonder but also explore deftly nuanced character study, not only in the same episode but in the same moment. Ultimately, the heart of this arc has always been Genau, and what we learn about him during this battle is at least as valuable as the battle itself, which could already be the peak of any lavishly produced sakuga fest. The tiny bit of extra context added to the story of his partner being killed by Revolte while saving a child recontextualizes everything he’s done and where his motivations truly lie.
Genau’s partner stayed back to protect the village while Genau went off to fight more demons, and Revolte likely used the exact same strategy of anticipating this and attacking while the party was split and while one piece of prey was a sitting target thanks to having something to protect. It’s not that Revolte’s plan worked on the same person twice; it’s that Genau’s survivor’s guilt inspired him to seek out martyrdom as his penance, to try to emulate what he saw as profound selflessness in this “good person,” and to live up to that dying image of him as someone who would try to save even the dead. Genau seems cold, but he actually feels intense guilt, shame, and frustration over everyone he’s unable to save, and overcompensates by putting himself in harm’s way. It’s why he was so insistent that he would stay behind in the village alone. He was ready to be the one who couldn’t be saved for once, and he didn’t want to feel like someone else died because of him again. Serie claims to see him in the cruel light he sees himself, though she also appreciates it. But really, Genau is probably just terrified of getting too close to people and puts up this front as a defense mechanism to save them from what he views as his own cursed presence, and to save himself from the heartbreak of losing them and feeling responsible. He not only deliberately falls into Revolte’s trap by staying in the village (albeit ultimately with Stark) but allows himself to be deceived by more sinister manipulation because it helps further his mission of feeling like the “good person” his old partner was.
The juxtaposition between the two groups fighting is almost comical. Revolte is so imposing, effectively functioning as four master swordsman mage demons simultaneously, that it seems like Stark and Genau should die multiple times throughout the episode. To be fair, Fern and Methode are definitely facing a challenge with their own pair of demons, but Frieren the Slayer sees the danger as insignificant enough for her to sit back and watch the show. Revolte’s plan is working beautifully, because Frieren is exactly what Stark and Genau need to level the playing field against him, but instead she’s just hanging out on the sidelines while they get repeatedly sliced apart. It has been hinted throughout the arc that there’s something unusual about Methode and her magic, and we finally get to see her go all out in her prime. Her people have dedicated themselves to destroying demons, not unlike Frieren herself, and she thrives with the opportunity to unleash her specialty while reveling in the joy of magic that nobody back home fully understands. Her success in the first-class mage exam is finally validated by seeing how effortlessly she can hold her own against powerful demons, in addition to the rare priest magic that becomes absolutely essential.
The first-class mage exam introduced so many characters that it was impossible to explore them all equally, even in eleven episodes. This is unfortunate because of how complex and interesting each character who got any focus ended up becoming, but more than anything, it just planted these seeds to capitalize upon whenever the moment is right. Genau and Methode were two of the least prominent characters introduced in that arc who would be first-class by the end of it (Genau already was, of course), but that’s exactly why there’s so much room to let them shine in this arc. It’s incredible that it has only been three episodes, because it feels like we’ve gotten a season’s worth of character development from them, especially Genau. The series is happy to let the same paths cross multiple times by happenstance, but the link of first-class mages gives a convenient excuse for our party to come across their fellow examinees, particularly in situations with harrowing stakes like this.
It was already refreshing to see Frieren follow up an eleven-episode arc with five episodes going back to its basics of brief, relatively inconsequential vignettes and meditative montages. The fact that this arc ended up being only three episodes was actually equally welcome, because it proves that the series hasn’t fallen into the trap of needing to tell bigger stories each time. It’s interested in telling stories and exploring characters, and it will use as much or as little time as it needs for each individual scenario. It doesn’t matter that this massive climax was in this episode, and it doesn’t matter if the final two episodes have much lower stakes. Frieren isn’t great because of its iyashikei, because of its fun little adventures, or because it can ramp up the most thrilling showdown, though it happens to be excellent at all of those. But it’s great because it flows between these seemingly incongruous states so organically, making each of them feel equally important, and executing each masterfully.
At the end of the day, Frieren never did meet Revolte, nor did she contribute to any of the fighting whatsoever. Frieren is our protagonist, but she doesn’t always need to be the hero or even the focus. This was Genau’s story more than anyone, it was an opportunity to learn more about Methode, it was a chance for Fern to prove to Frieren that she deserves her status as first-class mage, and it was a stage for Stark to shine both as a main character who was mostly peripheral to the last extended arc and a reflection of the good Genau is seeking. As the fifth wheel in a perfectly matched two-on-two battle, Frieren naturally assumed her role as the proud master watching her student come into her own in a very real challenge. Sure, if Fern got anywhere close to the same danger as Stark in this episode, Frieren would probably jump in and take care of business, but the only thing that proves Fern’s worth more than her victory is how confident Frieren was that she wouldn’t need to lift a finger.
Not everything went quite as Genau had planned, but he was able to achieve his goal of being a good person on a level that even he may be unable to deny, though he naturally will. After facing so much death, the death of his partner, and the death of his entire homeland, prioritizing saving a life and succeeding at it is the ultimate victory for him in this character arc of self-antagonism. His expression may seem as flat as ever, but now we know the depth that lies behind it. The mass burial is given sincere honor and dignity with a melancholy montage sequence set to a very different highlight of Call’s soundtrack to the first season, and the arc comes to its poetic closure, finally achieving the peace so antithetical to the chaos that opened it.
In Summary:
A magnificent end indeed – a magnificent end to this arc that ended up being shorter than expected but without lacking in any element that makes Frieren so amazing. Only three episodes, in which we didn’t meet the antagonists until the second and didn’t begin the battles in earnest until the third. It used that time to explore its characters with deliberate pacing, establish the philosophical differences between the humanity of one side and the cruelty of the other, and deliver an action spectacle for the ages that brought closure to those earlier story beats without overstaying its welcome in the slightest. This was everything you’d want from a climax, the kind of episode that could make you forgive an otherwise rough season if not for the fact that every episode of this series has remained impeccable. It’s a masterclass in direction, storyboarding, animation, scoring, and nuanced character study. It would be great for any of the things it accomplishes; it’s exceptional because it accomplishes all of them so flawlessly. And we still get two more episodes, even in this short season.
Grade: A+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
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