Fern, Stark, and Frieren return in the first episode of season two of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s end doing what they have been for the majority of the series—traveling. The party’s ultimate destination is Ende, but for now, they’re simply looking for the next village along the way in the northern lands to find work, so they can fill their meager coffers. And along the way, they’ll encounter a poisonous monster, old friends, awkward situations, and invaluable memories—for after all, this is Frieren.
Frieren Friday is back! And what better way to return to this wondrous series than by a calm, character-driven episode. Stark gets to take a bit of center stage here as the audience is reminded of the cowardice he’s constantly fighting, which opens up to some moments that Stark x Fern fans will cheer for (and maybe grimace about), a focus on the personal journeys for all three members of the Frieren trio, and, of course, moving scenes. It’s not Frieren if you aren’t feeling it, and there were two scenes in particularly that had me nearly reaching for tissues, centered around the phrase, “I trust you with my life.” What a wonderful theme for this opening episode, in which Frieren, taking lessons from Himmel (natch), explains to the party that “running away” should be done together as well, with the deeper lesson to them that they don’t always have to be strong and mighty. It’s a gentle lesson to the youngsters in the party, and to us as viewers as well. All the rest we expect from Frieren is here too—including a suitably moving OP (“lulu.” by Mrs. GREEN APPLE); an ED (“The Story of Us” by milet) that is beautiful, hopeful, and a little twangy—in other words, very “milet”; and breathtaking art featuring little flourishes, like the fresh apples laid at the small headstone in the closing scene. There’s even a quick but cool action scene involving a dragon. This episode is everything we love about this series, all in 22 minutes. The only drawback? Now we must wait another week for another episode.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
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