Welcome back to Anime Rants with Mono (7Mononoke). Today we’re covering episode 21 of Frieren, which I consider the best anime of the season already. One thing that helps make this anime great is the character of Frieren herself.

Her name means “freezing” in German, and early on, it seemed like her heart was frozen. But Frieren has never been a bad person by any stretch of the imagination. She was just rather apathetic. Over the last 30 years, she’s become warmer than ever, learning to cherish the present and appreciate everything around her.

Another great thing about Frieren is her sheer power. I don’t always love OP protagonists, but in this case, it works well. In episode 21, Frieren continues trying to pass the exam to be qualified as a First Class Mage. You’re about to see her amazing power once again.

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Part 1: Episode Recap

This episode contained a flashback from a thousand years ago, wherein Flamme took Freiren to see Serie, who was her master. Even at that time, the mysterious Elf was basically the master of all magic. When Serie offered to grant any spell to Frieren, the younger Elf declined, beccause the best part of magic was discovering the spells independently. Serie was disappointed, saying Frieren lacked any ambition. However, Flamme assured her master that Frieren was “a mage of a peaceful era” who would one day defeat the Demon King.

In the present, Lawine and Kanne are hard-pressed to defend themselves against Richter and his powerful earth attacks. Meanwhile, Frieren enters a colorful battle with Denken. The old man is a flashy fighter, attempting to overwhelm his opponent quickly with a fiery tornado. However, Frieren is simply a far more experienced mage. She quickly defeats Denken. Then she baits Laofen out of hiding and takes back the Schtille bird.

The barrier around the examination area was crafted by Serie and was supposedly unbreakable by any modern mage. In a move that basically turned the world of magic upside down, Frieren broke the barrier. That finally let the rain pour down freely, enabling Kanne to use water magic. With this advantage, she managed to beat Richter. Frieren reunited with Lawine and Kanne and congratulated them for winning their battle.

Denken refused to give up, so he set out to find another team to fight. Laofen and Richter reluctantly went along with him. Eventually, they found two mages who had a Schtille but whose third party member had been killed. Denken was completely out of mana for using magic, so he fought with the younger mages in an old-fashioned fist-fight. Impressively, he won, securing the Schtille. Denken’s group, Frieren’s group, and four other groups passed the first stage of the examination.

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Notes and Thoughts

Freiren is stirring things up in a way I didn’t really expect. It seems she isn’t worried about butting heads with Serie. Speaking of the older Elf, this is a bit random, but I can’t tell their gender. They look very feminine, so I assumed they were a girl before. But now that I’ve heard their voice, I wonder. The seiyuu voicing Serie is Mariya Ise, who does a lot of young boy voices like Killua from Hunter x Hunter or Reg from Made in Abyss. Rather than being a girl, Serie could very well be an ageless young boy Elf with long hair and pale skin.

Serie’s sex and gender don’t really matter, as far as I can tell. I just wanted to make the observation. Moving on, Denken has become an extremely likeable character and I’m glad he passed the exam. I personally don’t relate very much to him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy watching him. It was amusing when he fought the other mage with his bare hands. The fact that he actually won despite being a short old man was frankly bad-ass. Denken is a good person, so I look forward to seeing him in the future.

There were a few funny moments in this episode to lighten things up. For example, Stark’s scene at the end of the episode made me smile. He’s so happy for a break from Fern and Frieren. Honestly, he deserves that break. As for Fern, she discussed her magic style with Ubel. This led to her mentioning the spell that lets her see through clothes. Ubel’s reaction was amusing. I’m glad we got to see Fern, even though it was very brief.

Speaking of brief, this was a fairly short episode review. But that’s all I have in me to write for today. I don’t think I missed anything big. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End continues to entertain and fascinate me as the episodes proceed.

Thanks for reading~

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PATREON