Welcome to Anime Rants. Here is your reminder to take care of your mental health to the best of your ability. In terms of mental state, I am holding on and, in many ways, doing better than I was ten years ago. But the external world is worse than it is has been at any point in my life, thanks to the pedo US dictator and the other oligarchs currently burning the world. In short terms, shit fucking sucks, so please stay alive and well so you can be at your best to help others get through this constant nightmare of a life, too.
Watching and analyzing good anime series like Frieren is one way in which I take care of my own mental health. Today we’re talking about Season 2 episode 8, or Episode 36 in total. It was a great installment, but it did initially disappoint me slightly. I thought Revolte, Yun, and the others would be alive for another episode or two. I know this season is only slated to have ten episodes, and I thought the remainder of those would be the Divine Revolte Arc. So, I was rather surprised that it’s already over. Despite feeling a bit let-down, I’m still very happy with this episode overall. As usual, the character writing was immaculate. Genau and Methode both saw some awesome development.
Episode 8: A Magnificent End
Episode Rating: 9/10
The episode opens with an intense battle scene as Stark and Genau fought Revolte in the ruined village. I always enjoy the visuals in Frieren, but this episode in particular had stunning art and animation, especially for Stark and Genau’s battle. It was great to see such dynamic and smooth visuals. Madhouse went crazy with the budget for this episode. Anyway, Stark and Genau fought hard against Revolte, who was insanely strong and fast. Thanks to an opening created by Stark, Genau seriously wounded and cornered the demon. Revolte remembered that he had killed Genau’s partner and tried to talk the human into listening. Perhaps Revolte knew the dying words or last noble actions of Genau’s partner. Naturally, Genau sensed the trick and refused to engage in dialogue.
The battle would have been over at that moment if not for one final trick up the demon’s sleeve. He pointed to a little girl nearby and tried to throw a blade at her. Genau acted on instinct and saved the child, protecting her in his raven wings. But the little girl was actually Yun the demon child in disguise. She stabbed Genau savagely and then danced around happily for a few moments, delighted by the fact that she served “Revolte-sama” and secured a meal. She was way too overconfident and had no idea what hit her. Genau, though wounded, rose again and instantly sliced Yun with his sharp wings, killing her before she even fully realized what was happening.
In a previous episode review, I expressed my excitement to see some character development for Yun. That was partly because I expected this arc to last for the rest of the season. I didn’t think the demons would die so quickly. However, I’m not too disappointed. For one thing, it was actually kind of funny how Yun died so quickly in the middle of premature rejoicing. For another, Yun’s part to play in the story made a lot of sense. It showcased an important difference between demons and humans. While Genau dropped his assured victory to protect what he thought was a human child, Revolte used a demon child to his own advantage, not caring that she would die for him.
As Revolte himself pointed out, humans have a habit of protecting their young. Demons have no such compunctions. Genau is right that humans at large probably don’t protect their children enough, leading to much human suffering. Still, humans are social creatures, so we can be certain that it’s human nature to protect our young. I love how Frieren brings up topics like human nature in interesting ways. It’s something this anime does masterfully. In addition to providing thought-provoking subjects and suberting expectations, Frieren excels most at developing characters. In particular, this installment and the last two focused heavily on Genau. Methode is currently my personal favorite of the visiting characters, but Genau is also extremely interesting and relatable. So as you can imagine, I have a few thoughts to share on Genau and his character development.
Genau’s action of saving a child that wasn’t even his own proves that he is protective and heroic by nature. Given that this is the case, why does Genau not consider himself a good person? I think it’s because he lacks initial strong emotional responses to tragedy and/or violence. He makes tough decisions in a brutal profession and feels guilty for it. Though Genau is very rational in his choices, it’s like part of him permanently thinks he’s “bad” for being so logical. Let’s also not forget that Genau is socially inexpressive, inconsiderate, and borderline rude most of the time. I can’t deny that he’s probably not fun to work with. He must think good people are overflowing with kindness and happy energy all the time – and some people do seem to live like that – but it’s not required. Deadpan introverts can have the kindest hearts of all. And not having irrational or impulsive emotional responses does not make someone a villain, even if he’s brooding and has black wings.
Interestingly, Genau has motive to act cold, aloof, and even unkind. His master, Serie, told him that good mages never live long, so he should always stay the way he is now. Genau isn’t particularly afraid of death – he welcomes risk for a good cause – but he recognizes that this was Serie’s way of saying she cared about him. To show that he respects her, he keeps up the front of being an icy, terse mage just as she wishes. But in reality, Genau is as heroic as his partner was. In the flashback with Genau and Serie, we also see the reason for the title of this episode. The elf and the mage were looking at the body of Genau’s partner in a coffin. Serie viewed the loss of Genau’s partner as tragic and unnecessary. But not Genau. He said that his partner had “a magnificent ending.” To die protecting someone would be an honorable way to go.
The battle ended with Genau and Stark victorious but both severely wounded. They would have died that night if not for Methode healing them later. Note that Genau tried to crawl toward Stark to try to stabilize him even as he faded into unconsciousness. This is further proof of Genau’s goodness. Even while basically dying, he was worried about his younger companion. In the same way, he tried to save his partner. But I think that’s enough about Genau for this post. I also want to note that Stark was super cool and amazing in this battle. It’s inspiring to see him conquering his fears and fighting so skillfully and courageously till the very end. He is such an impressive young man.
Leaving that aside for now, let’s talk about Methode’s battle. She was fighting a demon who was listed on MAL as “Zolida,” so I assumed that was correct and wrote it into my previous episode review. It was the phonetic Romaji way of expressing her actual name, which is Solide. This German words means “solid” as in “solid foundation.” It’s fitting because Solide has a reliable repertoire of battle skills, excelling in tried-and-true practices and strong fundamentals of attack and defense. Methode realized that defeating Solide would be nearly impossible in the cover of the thick magical fog, which had been created by the other demon (Hermon). While fighting Solide with aggressive spells and impressive acrobatics, Methode was actually focused on analyzing and taking apart the demonic miasma. This worked like a charm. Once the fog was clear, Methode cornered Solide into an open area, where she was destroyed by a long-distance shot of Zoltraak from Fern.
It was thanks to Methode’s analyzing abilties that Fern defeated her demon, too. Once the fog was clear, Fern could use her stealth, sneak up on Hermon, and eliminate him with Zoltraak. Then she struck down Solide from so far away that her mana was undetectable. Just like with Stark, I thought Fern was really cool in this episode. But my primary focus during these scenes was on Methode. I love that magical analyzation and being innovative are her specialties. She is a woman who uses her brain and magic creatively and enjoys it. Methode told Solide that mages who think magic is only for fighting probably wouldn’t last as long as the mages who actually love magic and have fun with it. This perspective was refreshing and cute. Methode is so precious. From her battle with Solide, we also learned that she is part of a Northern clan that dedicates itself to fighting demons. Very neat.
As for Frieren, she was watching everything from far above, taking it easy. When the group returned to the village, Methode healed Stark and Genau. (It looked like the wounded Genau was pointing at Stark, asking Methode to prioritize his healing. Methode did so.) The next day, a group of Norm knights showed up to burn and honor the bodies in the church. Genau and Methode witnessed the ceremony – but first, Methode asked Frieren if she wanted another companion. Without a healer like Methode, it would be difficult to survive on the Northern Plateau. Frieren declined for several reasons, including the obvious problem that Fern was unhappy in Methode’s company. She was intensely jealous over Frieren and probably offended by Methode infantilizing both she and her master.
Despite my love for Methode, I might be quite annoyed by her in reality. Infantilizing others because you find them cute is not polite, but it’s amusing enough in this anime. I just think it’s super adorable when Methode gets happy and excited. Also, if I were there, I would love to be patted on the head by someone as hot as Methode. There is probably more to say about this high-quality episode, but that’s all the energy I have in me. Until next time, sayonara – and always accept head-pats from attractive onee-sans.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 