Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Episode 19

The trial that Frieren and Fern are facing is a deceptively simple one: catch a bird. Of course, the bird is invulnerable, can detect mana, and flies at supersonic speeds. That in-and-of-itself would be a challenge to overcome—but that's not really what the test is about. The key part of the test isn't catching a bird but rather having the bird when the test comes to an end. That and with all three of your team members still alive.

When it comes down to it, what we're seeing here is a death game more than a test of magical knowledge or skill. It's a test to weed out the weak and the foolish. In the eyes of the test creators, the most important thing about being a first-class mage is about claiming victory by any means necessary. If you can catch the bird and go into hiding till time runs out, great. However, if you just want to wait till the final day and pick off the weakest team with a bird, then that works as well.

That said, the test has been engineered to foster conflict between the teams. The true purpose of the barrier is to alter the arena in such a way that fighting the other teams is inevitable—to force them all to the lake in the middle. After all, this is the most likely place for the birds to come to drink and is also the most obvious supply of water for the mages themselves.

It is this particularly heartless aspect of the test that Frieren chooses to exploit: she decides to poison the well. By using magic on not only the large lake but as many smaller ponds as they can find, Frieren can dramatically increase the odds of a bird coming to an untainted pond of her choosing—one only she and her team know about.

While this strategy is successful, it also causes things to explode prematurely, resulting in chaos among the other teams. Some try to thaw the main lake (unaware that the ice isn't the problem) while others take to the sky in search of the birds (not understanding the dangers that lie there). But the smartest teams know that now, attacking the other teams is the only true option—which brings us to the cliffhanger of the episode.

Both Frieren and Fern's parties are under attack—and all it takes is one death to fail the exam. This is a great way of building tension as it allows our heroes a way to lose indirectly. Their fate isn't just in their hands but in those of their team members as well. And while in Fern's case that doesn't seem to be an issue, in Frieren's—well, let's just say Lawine and Kanne don't exactly inspire confidence in a fight to the death.

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Random Thoughts:

• This episode shows one of the more positive results of the way Frieren views time. Sitting perfectly still for a couple of hours is no big deal to her.

• Way back in the premiere episode, Frieren said that she wouldn't take Fern along because she'd get in the way. She changed her mind once she trained Fern to the level of a “proper mage.” The battle between Fern and Ehre shows Friren's definition of a “proper mage” is far more strict than the standards of this age.

• There's a ton of great foreshadowing this episode for setting up the final climax of this first test. I'm honestly impressed.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.