©Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe/Shogakukan/’Frieren’ Project
This episode is two stories in one, each focusing on one of the two main male characters in our story: Himmel and Stark.
This is a beautiful yet bittersweet tale that showcases just how great of a person Himmel was. It’s impossible to understate how important Himmel is to this story. There is a reason that time in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is marked not by the actual date but rather by how many years it’s been since Himmel’s death: because that’s the moment that changed Frieren as a person forever. However, it’s one thing to be told this and quite another to be shown it. We’ve had a few glimpses in past episodes about why he had such a profound impact on Frieren’s life but this half-episode drives straight to the core of the matter.
Using the classic “sword in the stone” as a framework, we hear how Himmel pulled the sword and used it to defeat the demon king—but, of course, that’s a lie. Himmel was not the hero of legend. He was not destined to save the world. He was just a normal kid who dreamed of making the world a better place. He was joined on his quest, not by the best humanity had to offer but rather by the dregs: a drunken priest, a cowardly dwarf, and an elf who had wasted her eternal life doing nothing in solitude.
The very king who tasked him with his impossible quest treated Himmel and his party like trash—not believing in the rag-tag group. But Himmel was always upbeat—always looking on the bright side of things whenever possible and going out of his way to help anyone in need. Honestly, that would be enough to endear Himmel to us—to show us how noble of a person he truly was. But this series goes one step further.
Himmel dreamed of being the true hero—and was devastated by finding out he wasn’t the chosen one. But even in the face of that, he refused to simply wait for some destined hero to arrive and save everyone. And so, with his friends by his side, he saved humanity himself.
Afterward, the same people who looked down on him went out of their way to canonize him—going so far as to cover up that he wasn’t a mythic figure and to hide that the Hero’s Sword was still sitting in its stone, forever waiting. And who can blame them? After all, if a normal orphan can rise from nothing and save the world, why would commoners need kings?
The back half of the episode uses Stark’s birthday as an excuse to dive into his past and who he is as a person. In his own eyes, Stark sees himself as a useless coward—someone who left his family to die at the hands of the demons. This haunts him—and makes him feel weak and unwanted even as we know he is anything but. Not only is he incredibly strong physically, but he also has a large heart that makes him welcome anywhere he goes.
While much of his issues are related to one single event—the demon attack on his town—we see that the way he was raised also plays a large part. In his village, everyone praised the naturally talented (i.e., Stark’s brother) over the hard-working (i.e., Stark himself). What they all failed to realize (except for Stark’s brother) is that the ability to give your all at something is a talent in and of itself—one that can take you further than raw natural ability alone. And while Stark may not believe in himself, others do—even if a simple hamburg steak on his birthday is the only way they can show it.
If these two heartfelt stories weren’t enough for a single episode, both are tied together through a solid bit of character development for Fern. Simply put, with Stark in the party, Fern is spending time with someone her age for the first time—and a boy at that. All she knows about the male gender comes from her experiences with Heiter and the stories she’s heard so she’s not sure how to treat him. Is he trying to carry a sleeping Frieren to be helpful or is he trying to cop a feel? Is he always thinking of sex or is he just immature? The fact of the matter is she doesn’t know much about Stark—but at least now she is starting to try. And if nothing else, she knows his actions in battle speak quite clearly about what kind of man he truly is.
So, all in all, this is another great episode of Frieren.
Rating:
Random Thoughts:
• I love the village chief standing on her tiptoes to (futilely) try and match Frieren’s height while also attempting to stare her down.
• It’s great to see that Frieren has gotten better at gift-giving after her years of being with Fern—she had two great presents ready that Stark would be sure to like.
• Well, that ring in Frieren’s suitcase isn’t conspicuous at all…
• Stark’s brother was so strong, that no monster could dirty his pure white cloak. But a young boy training with the sword was able to so completely surprise him that he did just that.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.
