Shokugeki no Frieren
©Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe/Shogakukan/’Frieren’Project
This volume 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 story that shows what a wonderful person Himmel was. There is no denying Himmel’s importance to this story. There’s a reason that time in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is marked not by actual dates but by how many years have passed since Himmel’s death: because it was the moment that changed Frieren forever. . However, saying this is one thing and showing it is another. We’ve had a few glimpses in previous episodes of why he had such a profound impact on Frieren’s life, but this half-episode gets right to the heart of the matter.
Using the classic “sword in the stone” quote ” As a framework, we hear how Himmel drew the sword and used it to defeat the demon king—but of course, that was a lie. Himmel is not the hero of legend. He is not destined to save the world. He’s just a normal kid who dreams of making the world a better place. He is joined on his quest, not by the best that humanity has to offer but by the scum: a drunken priest, a cowardly dwarf, and an elf who has wasted his life. live your eternal life doing nothing in solitude.
The very king who gave him the impossible task treated Himmel and his group like trash—distrusting the ragtag group. But Himmel was always optimistic—always looking on the bright side of things whenever possible and willing to help anyone in need. Honestly, that’s enough to endear Himmel to us—to show us how noble he really is. But this series goes one step further.
Himmel dreams of becoming a real hero—and is devastated when he discovers he is not the chosen one. But even in the face of that, he still refuses to wait for some destined hero to come and save everyone. And so, with his friends by his side, he took it upon himself to save humanity.
Then, the same people who despised him tried to canonize him—going so far as to conceal that he was not a mythical figure and to conceal that the Heroic Sword still lay in stone , waiting forever. And who can blame them? After all, if an ordinary orphan can rise from nothing and save the world, then why do commoners need a king?
The second half of the episode uses Stark’s birthday as an excuse to delve into his past and who he really is as a person. In his eyes, Stark considered himself a useless coward who abandoned his family to die at the hands of demons. This haunts him—and makes him feel weak and unwanted even when we know he is nothing. Not only is he physically extremely strong, but he also has a big heart that makes him welcome wherever he goes.
Although the majority of his problems are related to a single event—a demonic attack on his town—we see that the way he was raised also played an important role. In his village, everyone praises those with natural talent (i.e. Stark’s brother) more than those who are hardworking (i.e. Stark himself). What they all fail to realize (except for Stark’s brother) is that the ability to dedicate yourself to something is a talent in itself — a talent that can take you further than ability alone. innate ability. And while Stark may not believe in himself, others do—even if a simple hamburger steak on his birthday is the only way they can show it.
If these two heartfelt stories aren’t enough for a single episode, they’re both tied together through Fern’s solid character development. Simply put, with Stark joining, Fern spends time with someone her own age for the first time — and it’s a guy. Everything she knows about the male gender comes from her experiences with Heiter and the stories she has heard so she doesn’t know how to treat him. Is he trying to carry the sleeping Frieren to be helpful or is he trying to create a feeling? Is he always thinking about sex or is he just immature? The truth of the matter is that she doesn’t know much about Stark – but at least now she’s starting to try. And if nothing else, she knew his actions in battle spoke quite clearly about who he really was.
So overall, this was another great episode of Frieren.
Rating:
Random thoughts:
I like the village chief standing on tiptoe to (vainly) try to compare Frieren’s height while also trying to stare at her in frustration.
It’s nice to see that Frieren has gotten better at gift-giving over her years with Fern—she’s prepared two great gifts that Stark is sure to love.
→ Well, the ring in Frieren’s suitcase was not easy to see…
© Stark’s brother is so powerful that no monster can stain his pure white cloak. But a boy practicing swordplay was able to completely surprise him so much that he did it.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is now streaming on Crunchyroll.