Score: A

This was another beautiful episode. Frieren is a series that almost always nails these kinds of episodes. The journey is the point. You get to see them interacting with people, dealing with the elements, and at times being stopped completely by nature’s might. So often fiction these days just makes travel feel like teleportation. People are just…wherever they are trying to get to. But with Frieren the story lets the passage of time and the journey feel weighty. In a sense all that happened here was a few little adventures on a long journey to the North. But I loved every bit of it.

The beauty of a journey

You can feel them setting up the story arc of a future season at points in this episode. The talk about a city of gold definitely showed a less than pleased expression from Frieren. There’s definitely some kind of demonic history that she’s thinking about on that front. But it’s not something she felt the need to talk about. A demon that she potentially couldn’t handle? That might be the case. Either way I’m sure that mysterious and shadowy figure will show up and probably in the next season.

But sometimes the show just wants to really get across that this is a journey. There was something great about seeing the various characters just hanging out in that city while the winter storms continued. They slept, read, worked out, and just killed time. Sometimes there’s simply no way to proceed and waiting is the answer. Might be weird to say, but the characters aren’t just traveling. They are living their lives at the same time. Whether or not they go anywhere, their lives are still unfolding.

Truly the greatest

Himmel will just never not be the greatest ever! The man has been dead for almost the entire show and he’s still dropping pearls of pure wisdom along the way. It’s a great way to look at things. It’s easier for people to accept and move forward when they feel there’s been a transaction of sorts. If Himmel just saved everyone and accepted nothing then that kind of hangs over them. By taking any sort of reward that wraps up the situation. They’ll always feel gratitude towards Himmel and his party (as we’ve seen), but nothing feels unresolved. Himmel of course just wants to help people. It’s not about gaining stuff or receiving appreciation. Himmel just doesn’t want to exchange their past problem for a feeling of debt.

That look…

His memoirs are truly a treasure. Himmel didn’t write the secrets of the world or anything. The treasure is capturing his day to day life. The journey of his lifetime is in those pages. And that’s special for anyone that wants to understand him or…simply someone that misses him. It’s a shame he lost that book and didn’t have the chance to write all the way to their destination. But it’s with the one person who will appreciate it the most. It was a beautiful scene seeing Frieren just silently pour through each and every page. Reaching the last written pages…and continuing to flip pages as if hoping there’d be one more page with Himmel in them.

Full praise to the ferry man that changed the deal and left the memoirs with Frieren. Not heartless enough to take those memoirs from the person who would appreciate them the most. Himmel and his party saved that town and there’s a love for the man in many people in that world. But who could look at that face Frieren had and really take that book? Let the person that knew him and cared about him hold onto what’s left of Himmel in this world. Beautiful moments like that are what make this show truly great. Just a beauty in silently looking at the past events from Himmel’s point of view. And of course…how often Frieren was at the center of his gaze. Just makes you really want to see this journey reach the goal and allow them to speak again.

A fun fight!

This show can give us so much fun on the action side and such beautifully emotional scenes. The dragon fight was just pure entertainment. This season has been such a complete win for Stark! You get to see the dragon slayer just jumping into the fray and taking on all these creatures. The man is a badass warrior and did quite a bit of damage (while taking quite a bit). There’s almost nothing to say but “I loved this.” There’s controlled chaos when Stark fights. He’s tumbling, running, and leaping into his next target. Some wonderful magical support of course by Frieren and Fern. But it just shows how you don’t always need this intense emotional showdown. Sometimes you can just throw your characters into a fight with dragons. So long as there’s a reason for the fight and it’s a fun time…that can be more than enough.

Almost there

It makes me a bit sad to think that this season is almost over. 10 episodes really is just too few. But I just hope that means we’ll get a sequel announced early and that we might see it sooner than later. I just want to continue enjoying seeing these characters slowly move forward. But the next episode will be the end for now and I’ll look forward to seeing where we are left by the end of it.