After everything they’ve been through, we can only hope that Frieren and friends get some soft bread. Instead, in Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 6, Frieren (Atsumi Tanezaki), Fern (Kana Ichinose), and Stark (Chiaki Kobayashi) reunite with two mages who haven’t been around in a hot minute. It’s an accidental meeting between the two groups, both sent on orders from Serie. But it’s the meeting that beautifully sets everything up for the next arc.
Genau (Tarusuke Shingaki) is the tragic star of “A Demon-Slaying Request.” The episode takes place in his home village following a devastating attack by demons. Serie sends Genau and Methode (Reina Ueda) there to take care of the villagers and exterminate any of the remaining demons. But it’s when Genau comes across a childhood friend in the rubble that his tough exterior starts to crack. His tone, as usual, is cold, but Tarusuke Shingaki’s amazing voice acting gets the pain across. Hearing the different tones in his voice as he tries to keep his friend awake lets viewers in on a side the audience hasn’t seen before. Genau is taking on the villagers’ pain and fear as his own and using them to process his own grief.
Grief isn’t anything new in Frieren; at its core, this is a story about coming to terms with it, and showing the different ways characters process it is integral. Compare Frieren to Genau, for example. It’s taking Frieren going on 30 years to process her emotions and grief for Himmel, someone who was a constant in her life even when they were apart. But she faces that grief head-on.
Genau and the many, varying ways we process grief.
Now looking at Genau, it’s clear that he’s burying his grief further down, and ignoring it for the sake of continuing his mission is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Putting these two versions of grief in one episode makes for an interesting discussion of what is the right way to grieve — and by extension, if there is a correct way at all?
Frieren notes that Genau’s bloodlust is verging on that of a demon. Genau has made his dislike of demons clear during the first class mage exam arc, but hearing this from Frieren makes it known that his hatred has only grown since we last saw him. It’s a nice expansion of the worldbuilding and proves that even these heroic characters can lean morally grey. It makes the world feel rooted in reality, even though it’s a fantasy anime.
There is some humor in an otherwise serious episode. The stale bread returns in Episode 5, despite the promise of fresh bread. It’s a cute thread throughout “A Demon-Slaying Request” that lightens the tone enough as to not bog the episode down with the heavier storylines. In fact, this makes Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 6 better.
Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 6 perfectly sets the tone for the next arc.
Get these characters some chewable bread for Episode 8, please!
Simply calling it emotional would be to undersell it. Frieren thrives off the pull it gets out of the audience, and “A Demon-Slaying Request” perfectly exemplifies this. Getting a peek at how Genau deals with the trauma of his village being razed to the ground pulls at our heartstrings. Even with the brave face he puts on, it’s clear that seeing the destruction and violence hurts him. It’s also clear that his hate toward demons is only fueled by what he sees, and makes the situation that much more tragic to watch.
The pacing of time between each event is something that the series continues to handwave. Each episode shows how many years have passed since Himmel’s death, yet it feels as if months pass by in the blink of an eye. This makes sense for the anime, since it spans a long period of time, but it can feel a bit too vague. For example, how long has it been since the main party has seen Genau and Methode? It’s never mentioned beyond the fact that it’s been a while. In the grand scheme of the series, this is an easy thing to overlook. But it’s something I’ve noticed specifically this season.
Frieren Season 2 Episode 6 is a beautiful start to an arc that I’m sure will be devastating to watch. With two new people added to the party for now, things are bound to get wilder as they go on. “A Demon-Slaying Request” shows the sad reality of this world, and that even with the Demon King long dead, innocent people still suffer through these atrocities.
Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 6 is available now on Crunchyroll.
Images courtesy of Madhouse and Crunchyroll.
REVIEW RATING
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Frieren Beyond Journey's End Season 2 Episode 6 - 8/10
8/10
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