Highlights
- The latest episode of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a must-watch, with a perfect balance of a good story and captivating visuals.
- The use of time as a theme in the show enhances character relationships and power scaling, making it engaging and thought-provoking.
- The animation team excels at portraying emotional moments through simple visuals, making the characters relatable and tugging at the heartstrings.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Episode 9, “Aura the Guillotine,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Now and again, an episode of an anime will come out that just seems to hit every note; the sublime mix of a good story and visuals that make one feel the simple joy so intrinsic to the medium. The latest episode of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End accomplishes this exactly and is yet another shining example of why this series is a must-watch for this year.
With Lügner’s party intent on lowering the barrier around the city and Aura the Guillotine waiting beyond the walls to invade, Frieren, Fern, and Stark are working against the clock. Last week, Frieren emboldened her companions to fight the demons, certain that – despite their opponents’ seemingly overwhelming strength – they were more than capable of defeating them.
RELATED: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Succeeds Where Other High Fantasy Series Failed
The Kids Are Alright
Not much needs to be said about the story itself that wasn’t expressed in last week’s review. This show’s use of time as a theme has bolstered not only the character relationships in thoughtful ways, but the power scaling as well. Fern and Stark might not have as long a lifespan as Frieren or the demons, but their strength is nothing to scoff at.
Fern truly is the spitting image of Frieren, with many of her proudest moments mirroring her mentor’s iconography. She walks with so much confidence that it shatters the harrowing facade that a demon like Lügner has built up over the past two episodes, and puts him at a disadvantage. What his opponent lacks in sheer power, she makes up for in precision and speed.
The biggest recurring theme in this episode is that of reflection; the past reflected in the present, the old reflected in the new, and the dead reflected in the living. Just as Fern is a reflection of Frieren, the tables are reversed for Stark in his fight against Linie, whose magic allows her to copy Eisen’s fighting style, which she observed many years prior. It puts Stark in the unenviable position of essentially fighting his own master.
In one of the most gorgeous moments in the episode, even Graf Granat tragically stands as a reflection of his long-deceased son, who died fighting Aura many years prior. The scene fades from a shot of him to an armored soldier bearing a sword and necklace that have become all too familiar over the past few episodes.
Through nothing more than visual storytelling, the audience is made aware that they are witnessing the final moments of a young man with incredible willpower. It’s simple moments like this that strengthen the storytelling and make the characters so easy to connect with. And because the animation team is so strong, it doesn’t need much more than these simple moments to tug at the heartstrings.
Episode of the Year?
Sometimes the best animation comes from moments that – practically speaking – aren’t all that “necessary.” Take for instance those scenes of cooking in Ghibli or ComixWave films that are constantly reposted for how satisfying they look, or scenes of simple actions animated in great detail. In this same vein, some of this week’s strongest moments came from the little things.
Moments like Stark and Fern donning/doffing their coats stand out so much because they come at moments of calm, letting the audience savor every second. These cuts are slow, detailed, and beautifully lifelike. And when the action starts, there’s almost too much to point out specific examples of what makes this episode so stunning, but it’s worth a shot to try
For starters, piggybacking off a point made in last week’s review, the way the animation conveys speed and impact through visuals alone is one of its greatest achievements. The animators find simple ways to telegraph how strong, fast, or heavy a weapon is, like Hanwen Ye’s immaculate cut, showing Linie’s fist attack against Stark. (See it here.)
The sparks on the ground, the smudges used to illustrate the inertia of the axe and the wind lines all converge into this heavy, satisfying attack that’s just a taste of what’s to come. Stark is mostly on the defensive during the fight. Linie is constantly switching gears, echoing the fighting styles of warriors she has witnessed and summoning just as many weapon types.
As for Fern, the effects contrast the dark red of Lügner’s blood attacks with Fern’s blasts of energy that shine as brightly as the moon, but that might not be where the eye is always drawn. It’s mostly locked on Fern herself, whose character acting is so remarkably subtle yet so dramatically confident that it’s almost easy to forget that Lügner is even there. That is until he’s the focal point of a beatdown. (See this cut by Kouki Fujimoto.)
An entire video could be made about this episode, but it could easily devolve into just gushing about how pretty it all is. What’s important is that the team behind this episode truly went above and beyond, and it’s simply a joy to see. Madhouse has done well by Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and the anticipation for the next episode has never been higher.
Leave a Reply