Tag Archives: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 17

Posted on by
Reply

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m feeling the call of the open road, and am eager to rejoin Frieren and her companions as they soldier on through the forbidding northern plains. Although frankly, their journey through the allegedly demon-haunted north has actually been quite pleasant so far; aside from Aura’s gang, they’ve mostly just encountered rolling hills, scattered villages, and melancholy reflections on the enduring value of any mortal life.

In our last excursion, the question of mortality was most directly considered through the character of Old Man Voll, a dwarven friend of Frieren who had committed himself to guarding a humble farming community. Voll’s spark had almost extinguished, and indeed, it was clear through conversation that senility was already robbing him of his memories. What kept Voll attached to this world was actually a pledge to the dead – a promise to his human wife, to protect the village she had loved. In spite of his longer lifespan, it was his ostensibly short-lived wife who maintained his spark of purpose, demonstrating how a life is defined far more by its vitality and impact than its length.

This subject was then teased at again through a Frieren staple, the interrogation of statues as symbols of enduring identity. Though we erect statues to honor specific heroes, that meaning is contained within the observer, not the stone itself, and fresh eyes will find their own meaning in mossy, untended marble. Eternity is a fool’s wish, yet our grasps towards it see us creating relics that nonetheless inspire those who follow – an odd form of immortality, but likely the most healthy we can hope for. Let’s see what fresh reflections await as we return to Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 16

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the northern road beckons, as we settle down with our trusted traveling companions for an episode of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. What dangers lie ahead are unknown to us, but that’s really the beauty of long journeys; the ever-shifting scenery reminds us of both the vastness and inconstancy of the world around us, its capacity for transition, transformation, and renewal. And perhaps, by letting the road carry us forward and embracing the surprises it brings, we might hope to be transformed as well.

Our last episode offered some fine opportunities for personal reassessment, as Sein took a rare leadership role within the party, and Stark learned the finer points of courtly etiquette. Stark’s assignment saw him pantomiming the past to protect the future, offering the people a false assurance of their prince’s vitality, and through doing so acquiring a key memory of his own: himself and Fern on the dance floor, turning their torturous practice into a celebration of their bond. We cannot know what treasures might lie in store, and that is precisely why we must be open to experience, with eyes scanning the horizon rather than lodged in a grimoire. You hear that, Frieren? That one was pretty pointed, I’m sure you know I’m talking about you.

Alright, let’s get to the show.

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 15

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the open road lies sprawling before us, promising adventures that will undoubtedly call into question our reason for adventuring – what we hope to receive for our struggles, and what we pray not to forget in the years ahead. That’s right, it’s time for Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, that rambling tale of reflection and renewal, which through its focus on impermanence finds both sorrow and hope – the lament that all we love will eventually pass away, and the accompanying prayer that we will take this passing with grace, and embrace the endless possibilities of each new day.

When last we left off, the party were concluding a pair of vignettes regarding the enduring talismans of close bonds, contrasting Stark’s search for a birthday present for Fern with Frieren’s attachment to a ring given by Himmel. The objects are just signifiers, but signifiers are important; just as a key unlocks a door, so does a treasured gift unlock a memory, carrying within it an echo of the emotions it first inspired. With Frieren’s precious token restored, the party continues their journey north, seeking to augment those fond memories with the closure of a last conversation with Himmel. Onward, to the land of souls’ rest!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 14

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the rambling journey of Frieren and her companions, who just recently recruited the wayward priest Sein into their adventuring party. In spite of his profound magical talents, Sein was initially unwilling to join the party, feeling both a sense of obligation to his brother and a lingering regret regarding his long-gone friend. Having declined ten years ago to leave his village and head off adventuring, he believed his chance at seeing the world had passed, and that to leave now would be to chase after embers that had long since gone cold.

Frieren didn’t much like hearing all of this, mainly because it so clearly paralleled her own situation preceding the arrival of Himmel and his companions. Frieren isn’t particularly emotionally intelligent, but she can at least tell when she’s being used as a thematic punching bag, and thus resolved to ensure Sein made the same brave choice she once did. Thus, through the contrast of Frieren and Sein’s relative periods of hibernation, a comforting message emerged: that it is never too late to live the life you want, and that your grand adventure is not a train you can miss or catch, but an active project you can choose to embark on at any time.

As a viewer who’s lived well beyond conventional anime character senility, it’s nice to be assured there might still be life in these old bones. Let’s see what these old fogeys get up to as we return to Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 13

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we’re returning to the rambling adventures of Frieren and her companions, as they continue north towards the land of the dead. I admit, I may have kinda-sorta written ahead of my commissioned episodes previously, meaning it’s been a couple months in real time since I last checked in with Frieren. But that actually seems perfectly aligned with the show’s own timetable – for just as I was bunkering in for winter during the last couple episodes, so too am I now anticipating the first days of spring, staring out at the melting snow just as Frieren and company tramp through the same.

Frieren’s mastery of atmosphere and sense of tangible place have always been its strongest features, but our last episode complimented them with some poignant Stark-centric reflections, using the legends of both Himmel and Stark’s brother Stoltz to interrogate the measure of great deeds and worth of a life. The actual reality of Himmel facing the sword in the stone was immaterial; he chose not to define himself as the hero who failed, and his successful commitment to his own values led history to remember him as such. Similarly, while Stoltz was renowned as a warrior so gallant he slew foes without tarnishing his white cloak, what Stark remembers are the moments he willingly knelt in the mud, ensuring his brother felt safe and loved in his presence. Conducting yourself so as to theoretically impress future generations is a fool’s game; history will reveal or conceal as it will, and what truly matters is how you are remembered by those you cared about, by the people who walked beside you and knew the truth of your heart.

With Stark newly assured that those he journeys with care about him just as his brother did, we continue onward into the vast unknown. To the north!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 12

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the snow is falling beyond my window, marking our passage into the lean days of winter, when the gray clouds and frost without only makes us tuck all the more closely within, variably ensconced in our blankets and families and firelights. In this way does one year pass gently into the next, ushering us forward in stillness, reminding us that, for good or ill, time’s passage is unabating. Bundling inside cannot protect us against the procession of age; but take heart, for each winter presages light over the hills, and a dawning spring.

That’s more or less how I’m feeling as we return to Frieren, which has similarly just endured a long winter hibernation. The party’s impromptu cohabitation with Kraft demonstrated the show at its best, exploring through montage and attentiveness to incidental moments the crafting of unexpected personal bonds, how even allegedly idle time spent waiting for the weather to change can still shape our identities. The transformative power of such time spent was neatly contrasted against Kraft’s personal faith, his desire to have someone acknowledge the worth of these days, just as he has come to acknowledge the days of shorter-lived companions. But spring and partings are both inevitable, and our party now sets forth with renewed vigor, journeying ever onward into the wild north. Let’s depart!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 11

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to the wandering journeys of Frieren and her companions, in the wake of their victory over Aura the Guillotine and her executioners. Though this arc was ostensibly an articulation of demonkind’s incompatibility with human society, our last episode demonstrated that it was more specifically about Frieren’s soft-spoken hatred for demons, the experiences that led her to see them as incapable of compassion or emotion. In her attempts to define monsters, Frieren only demonstrated how her own life has led her to be so quick to assign that label.

It is now much easier to see how Frieren has drifted through life while acquiring so few emotional attachments. A conventional social structure was stolen from her as a child, while her replacement “family” Flamme taught her only to pursue power and cultivate ruthlessness. Even Flamme ended up regretting her pragmatic bond with Frieren, relenting just in time to pass on the field of flowers spell that connected her with her own parents. Given her own insistence on adorning Himmel’s monument with flowers, it’s clear that lesson stuck – but otherwise, Frieren’s lessons and temperament reveal she is precisely the weapon Flamme made of her, no more or less.

As such, it is up to this current journey to teach her new lessons, to invite her to find love and sanctuary in others, even if such unions will inevitably pass. Every day with Fern and Stark demonstrates that time spent with valued companions is never time wasted – in fact, it is often the seemingly idle, shapeless days that stand most clearly in memory, typifying the spirit of mutual fondness that made your time together so special. Let’s see what fresh memories await as we return to Frieren!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 10

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we reach the grand finale of Frieren’s confrontation with Aura the Guillotine, as the woman whose bloody history earned her the title “Slayer” confronts one of the proud remnants of the Demon King’s army. This has been a fraught and ambiguous arc for Frieren both in a dramatic and conceptual sense; the distrust these characters have felt towards Frieren judgment has been matched by my own distrust of the author’s judgment, in theoretically making the theme of this arc “some people are born evil and the only thing for it is to butcher them.” That’s a bad theme and a boring narrative, but the evidence we’ve seen points towards a slippier, more interesting truth: demons are just as emotional and full of diverse passions as humans, but their conception of value and society may be inherently incompatible with our own.

Demons are “animalistic” in the fact that they value strength above all else, and are ruthless in their pursuit of such strength – but then again, does that make them any different from a great number of humans? And aside from that, they exhibit pride, scorn, loyalty, playfulness, and a gamut of other emotions, often seeming more animated by their passions than the blank-faced Frieren and Fern. It was in fact Aura’s offhand mockery of Himmel, the man who first introduced Frieren to love and loss, that convinced her Aura is beyond understanding – an entirely personal judgment, and one emphasizing how little distance exists between Frieren and Aura’s perspectives. If war is inevitable, so be it, but I am happy to leave this arc more uncertain of Frieren’s judgment, and more attuned to the ruthless moral ambiguity of this world.

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 9

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to return to the ramblings of Frieren and her companions, as we arrive at the presumed conclusion of our party’s battle with Aura the Guillotine and her duplicitous envoys. This arc has frankly not been Frieren at its best; dubious thematic implications aside, enemies that are simply “born evil” do not result in interesting drama. There is no motivation to tease into there, no grappling with the infinitely complex range of conflicts that can pit multifaceted characters into mortal combat without a clear sense of right and wrong. And what’s more, such enemies do a discredit to the heroes they face, forcing them into the frustrating moral binary of “either I execute these creatures mercilessly or I am simply a naive fool, hoping for a redemption that is beyond their fundamental nature.”

It’s a rough storytelling choice, one entirely lacking in the nuance that has characterized Frieren’s exploration of nostalgia and finding purpose in life. My only consolation is that, in spite of the author directing her demons to explicitly state “we are evil and there’s nothing else to it,” their general actions have clearly demonstrated they actually do have personalities, individual values and passions that define them. Truly “driven by pure malice and nothing else” characters are actually kind of hard to write, being so far from the genuine experience of any human being who has ever lived. Thus Frieren’s insistence that they be exterminated feels frequently undercut by the text, either intentionally or accidentally implying it is not that her world runs according to ‘70s DnD logic, but that she herself has embraced a conveniently simplistic perspective that doesn’t actually account for the world’s complexities. That’s of a piece with Frieren’s overarching personality, and it is the main hope I cling to as we return to the field. Let’s get to it!

Continue reading →

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 8

Posted on by

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d stop in with Frieren and the gang, and see how their journey towards the land of departed souls is progressing. When last we left off, the team had run into a snag in the northern territories, with Frieren ending up imprisoned due to her unwillingness to make nice with demons. Unfortunately for everyone, it has since been made clear that Frieren was actually right to distrust, as apparently the illusion of civility is simply a garb demons adopt in order to lower the guards of their enemies.

In the abstract, this style of “humanity’s enemies are inherently evil” worldbuilding has fallen out of fashion in recent decades, for understandable reasons. Intelligent races that are “born evil” simply don’t tend to facilitate interesting stories, and instead naturally evoke a sort of “we are right to conquer the savage natives” colonial queasiness. Robbing cultural clashes of their moral complexity is a dicey proposition, so I’m hoping this particular choice dovetails in some meaningful way with Frieren’s thoughts on aging and legacy, the realms in which it truly shines. Let’s see how our sleepy elf is getting on!

Continue reading →