Frieren season 2 episode 9 – AKA Frieren episode 37 – is the penultimate episode of the season. I wondered if it would introduce anything gripping, but instead, it seems to be keeping a calm, steady approach. I wouldn’t watch this anime if I didn’t like slower-paced adventures, so it’s fine. But if the last episode does introduce anything thrilling or new, I will of course be excited for that, too. Anyway, my notes on this episode are below.
Episode 9: Himmel’s Memoirs
Episode Rating: 8/10
The episode opened with a scene of Denken. He was on a journey and went part of the way with a company of knights and a wagon. Eventually, Denken set off on his own, saying that his destination could only be reached on foot. I’m not sure where he’s going or what he’s doing, but it was nice to see this memorable character again even briefly. After this, the episode went back to Frieren, Fern, and Stark. They wandered into a village that had been destroyed by a group (called a “flight”) of dragons. The surviving villagers asked Frieren and company to slay the dragons, but they were too poor to offer a normal reward. The only payment they could offer was a grimoire with a useless spell that allowed the user to say tongue-twisters without messing up. Frieren agreed to the deal.
Fern observed that Frieren always demanded payment for help. Frieren said that the habit came from Himmel. According to Himmel, the best way to help others involved an exchange so that the people being helped would not feel indebted to the helpers. Even if the payment was worthless, some form of payment should still be accepted. The payment itself didn’t matter as much as the act of paying. In one specific memory, a poor village offered food as a reward to Himmel and his party. Unable to accept the food of starving villagers, Himmel instead asked for a book that he thought was a grimoire. It was actually a notebook, so he used it for journaling.
Anyway, Frieren used magic to track down the dragons that attacked the village. Before long, the party found the nest. The dragons were smaller than the Solar Dragon that Stark fought in the first season. But to make up for their size, there were a lot of them, and they were smart. Stark courageously fought the dragons with help from Frieren and Fern, who fired spells from above. It was an entertaining action sequence as I’m come to expect from this anime. Stark was injured during the battle and passed out, but the village had a church, so the priest healed him.
The group spent the winter in a town by a lake. This lake was the largest in the land, being bigger than some inland seas. But with the fierce winter weather, the ferryman in the town couldn’t give safe passage until spring. Thanks to Frieren’s spending during the break, the group didn’t have enough money to pay the ferryman. So, he proposed a deal. If Frieren and company could help him recover the lost memoirs of Himmel the Hero, they would not have to pay for the ferry-ride. The memoirs of Himmel were actually the notes taken by Himmel on that old notebook. Sadly, he had lost it somewhere. Some monks at a monastery found and saved the memoirs. The monastery was now wrecked and abandoned, but a magic barrier remained to protect it. Thus, the ferryman took Frieren and company across the lake to the old monastery and quickly removed the barrier.
(Side Note: While they were boating across the lake, the ferryman mentioned a strange rumor. It was said that a land of gold was discovered far to the North – a place where everything was made of gold. The ferryman said it was probably a tall tale, but it was still inspiring many people to cross the lake and seek the golden land. When the ferryman was talking about this, Frieren was thinking about a memory of a demon. This was not explained, but it seemed like the demon and the golden land were connected in Frieren’s mind. I hope we learn more about this at some point.)
Frieren found the notebook in the well-preserved library of the monastery. As she looked through the pages, memories of her time with Himmel and the others played in her mind. It was a deeply emotional scene that brought tears to my eyes (granted, it’s not that difficult to make me cry). The music was part of what made the scene so beautiful and touching. Though Frieren offered the notebook to the ferryman, the older man refused to take it, saying that it was clearly something special to Frieren. He had figured out that she was the same elf who traveled with Himmel. Frieren gladly accepted the memoirs of Himmel, while the ferryman took other valuable books in the library for his reward.
At the end of the episode, the group was attacked by a kraken out on the giant lake. It was rather funny because it appeared right after Stark proclaimed a challenge with a “cool catch-phrase” from Himmel’s notes. Frieren stayed calm, even when grabbed by a tentacle, but Stark was freaked out. The episode ended on that note. Frieren’s attempts to be comedic do not always land with me, as in this case. The “humor” just felt a bit forced. Anyway, that’s all for today. Sayonara till next time!
~Thanks for Reading~
~Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants~
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