[Editor’s note: The recap of this season’s finale publishes March 31.]
Beyond its thoughtful ruminations on the passage of time and showstopping fight scenes, one of Frieren’s calling cards is a willingness to take a breather. This isn’t a race to throw a ring into a volcano before an evil lord conquers the world but a much more personal quest about getting closure, regardless of how long it takes. This week’s episode, “Himmel’s Memoirs,” is a tribute to that spirit of mundanity. While it sprinkles in thrilling fights and hints of loss, this is largely a celebration of small moments that don’t make it into the history books.
The episode begins with a familiar sight: a destroyed village. But instead of this destruction coming from yet another demon attack, Frieren & co. learn that dragons are the culprits. Apparently dragons travel in flocks around these parts, so if you needed another reason to avoid vacationing in the Northern Plateau, you can add that to the list. After our heroine initially turns down helping these surviving villagers in a scene that admittedly plays a little too similarly to one from episode four, Frieren eventually agrees to hunt down the dragons. Thankfully, any worries about repetition go away as Madhouse does its thing. The party wanders through verdant backdrops in one of the show’s signature montages. There’s a creative sequence of first-person match cuts as Frieren stares at her magic compass. (The brief shot of Fern carrying a drooping Stark, and the bit where the spell goes haywire and they throw a stick to decide where to go are also quite good.)
Considering the amount of hours that must have gone into animating the last two episodes, it would have made sense if this one shied away from showy sequences. But when the adventurers finally track down the dragon flock, these action animators once again go a bit crazy, albeit only for about a minute. Evan Call’s soundtrack shifts into a frenzy of chants and woodwinds, as there’s a continuous sequence of Stark sliding and slicing with a berserker’s glee. It is very cool. The down-and-dirty nature of the fight, as he rolls through mud, reminds us that, like any good frontliner, this brawler has a few screws loose when it comes to swinging his ax around. A dragon glomps onto his head with its fangs and lifts him into the sky, but he keeps cool because it’s all (sort of) part of the plan. As usual, there’s more going on than mindless hacking and slashing, and Stark successfully groups up the monsters so they can be blasted in one fell swoop. Fern and Frieren unleash a volley of blasts, and Stark is an absolute madman, as he free-falls before unleashing a herculean slash. The sense of timing and motion is so punchy: The camera pulls in to capture Stark accelerating toward earth, then violently shifts back with his windup. As he brings down his blade, the follow through comes in like a meteor.
The battle is just a side adventure, but one that ties neatly into the second half of the episode, where, after Frieren gets another seemingly useless grimoire as a reward, we finally learn why she’s always so adamant about getting payment for her aid, even when the rewards are, well, not very good. As usual, it ties to Himmel. His rationale was that by taking a small bit of compensation—which was almost always useless to the person who gave it—the giver would no longer feel indebted to their savior. It’s classic Himmel behavior to worry about the people he helped even after doing them a service, once again capturing why he had such a profound influence on Frieren. This bit also ties into the rest of the episode because Himmel got an empty journal as a gift for one such side mission. He used this notebook to write memoirs that parallel the flow of the series, mostly documenting quotidian details instead of epic battles.
Cut to Frieren’s group in the present, and they’re snowed in at a village where they’ll be stuck until the end of winter. Hey, it’s the perfect opportunity for quotidian details. This place has a very particular winter fishing village kind of flavor, and another montage stews in cozy particulars as the group enjoys the local cuisine (a fish head pie, which turns out surprisingly tasty), befriends an old man by the sea (technically it’s a lake, but a lake that’s as big as a sea), and gets snug in an adorable inn where Frieren reads and Stark does handstands like his mentor. While there are plenty of reasons this series is popular, its ability to capture this kind of low-key warmth is crucial to its relaxing and contemplative vibe. The manga’s author, Kanehito Yamada, certainly knows that because it’s the whole thrust of this little arc.
After winter finally ends and they can return to their adventure, the group has to make a quick stop. Frieren spent all their money on dumb spells, so to repay a ferryman for bringing them across this lake, they’ll need to run an errand. It turns out Himmel’s previously mentioned memoirs are stored on a nearby island that was magically sealed. The group explores this place frozen in time before stumbling on a dusty library. Frieren spots Himmel’s tome right away.
As she reads her comrade’s diary, we’re treated to evocative flashes of the past from Himmel’s point of view: A walk on the beach at sunset, Heiter slamming beers, Frieren running to get munched on by a mimic, a difficult uphill climb, and other fragments are stitched together in a slightly mournful but ultimately joyous ode to the ordinary. Much like this story itself, Himmel’s memoirs toast small moments, those fleeting instances of connection that really matter.
When Fern asks Frieren what’s in the book, she gives an answer that might as well be on the manga’s inside cover: “It’s the everyday minutiae of a ridiculous journey.” While blatantly calling attention to the entire premise of the series could have come across as a bit on the nose, any sense of heavy-handedness is waved away by the execution: Swaying perspective shots and the sun filtering through trees reflect the vividness of Himmel’s words, making it clear that his best memories weren’t related to famous deeds but the acts only his friends knew about.
Stray observations
- • The punch-happy elder mage Denken makes an appearance in the intro, and it seems like the season finale is going to pay off his motivation for becoming a first-class mage. Sentimental musings on the passing of time are imminent.
- • I loved the bit where Fern fixes up Frieren like she’s the child of a single mom who just got back from a late shift.
Elijah Gonzalez is The A.V. Club‘s associate editor.