Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Episode 16) - Long-Lived Friends

Frieren takes the party to a village that is guarded by a friend. Old Man Voll has known her for a long time and is pleased to see her despite his gruff appearance. Later, Sein gets a lead about his friend, but it comes with a tough decision.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 16) – Long-Lived Friends

What happened?

When they arrive at the village, they find Old Man Voll sitting on a stone at the entrance. He appears to be old and close to death, but then he sweeps Stark’s leg out from under him with his sheathed sword. Had he drawn his sword, Stark would be a leg short. The biggest weakness that demons and humans possess is carelessness. Failing to defend yourself, even when your opponent appears weak or decrepit can cost the most experienced warrior their life. Frieren leaves Stark to train with Old Man Voll while they are staying in the village.

During their time there, Frieren and Voll spend many an hour talking about the past. Frieren asks him why he protects the village. He reveals that he made a promise to his wife. She was a human who passed away a long time ago, but this is her favourite village, so he protects it. He can’t remember the details of her face or even her voice, but still, he keeps his promise. Himmel had asked him the same question eighty years ago and surprised Voll with his response. It’s as good a reason as any. When it’s time to leave, Voll reveals that he dreamed about his wife last night for the first time in ages. He thanked Frieren for seeing him when he was near the end. She laughed and told him he said that last time.

At the next village, Sein finds out that someone saw his friend, Gorilla Warrior. Surprised that his friend has such an interesting name, Sein reveals that his name is actually Beardy Priest. His friend came up with the idea while looking at an ancient statue depicting two heroes who once saved the world. No one knew their names, so Gorilla Warrior and Beardy Priest were born to ensure that no one would forget them. In this village, they met a stubborn old lady who knew where Gorilla Warrior had gone. She would tell him if he helped her out. After many jobs, their last one was to clean a statue of two ancient warriors… With the information about Gorilla Warrior’s possible location, Sein has to decide whether to continue with Frieren or go on his own.

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 16 Frieren and Old Man Voll

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 16 Frieren and Old Man Voll picking mushrooms

What did you think?

Thanks for the memories! Once again, this was a nice easy-going episode, but it came with some wonderful messages. As we grow older, we cling to memories of the past. Some we lose and others fade until they are barely recognisable. I have a couple of memories from when I was two, but I’m sure a lot more happened in that year than just those two things. I loved how Frieren and Old Man Voll would talk about the past, stirring up long-lost memories. The fact that Voll recalled his wife’s appearance and voice in a dream shows that we may think they’re gone, but they are just waiting to resurface with the right prompts.

Then, we had the part of the episode where we learned about Gorilla Warrior and Beardy Priest. I can’t say that I’m likely to ever forget those names, so it’s working as ridiculous as it might sound. Once again, I loved how we got to see how Heiter was involved in the decision-making process and had been guiding them. Of course, we learned that one of the adventurers from the past was Kraft. The question is what did he do and who was the adventurer with him? Well, the big question is what will Sein do? My gut tells me he’s going to go after Gorilla Warrior. However, whether he finds him or not will probably have to wait.

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 16 They have to clean the ancient statue of Kraft

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 16 Heiter with Gorilla Warrior and Beardy Priest

What have you learned?

Rather serendipitously, the evening before I watched this episode I watched Inside Out with my kids and that is about emotions and memories. It’s also something I’ve been thinking about since the summer when I realised I needed to write a semi-autobiographical story based on my teenage years. Whether I publish it or not, I haven’t decided, but I still need to write it. Just the process of working out what I would put in it sparked all sorts of memories that I had no need to recall before that. It was enlightening and that made me think about this blog.

At the moment, it’s a four-year record of my life interspersed with the anime I’ve been watching and the manga I’ve been reading. When I get to a similar age as Old Man Voll, I think I’m going to enjoy reading my site and remembering all the good times that I’ve had. Hopefully, all of the negative aspects will become humourous footnotes. Ultimately, this site is for me. I’m grateful to everyone who takes the time to read it. I hope it’s entertaining. It’s funny. I’ve always maintained that I write it so that I can process the stories and how they work, but not I’m aware of another reason. I’m keeping these memories alive.