Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 24) – Perfect Replicas
Frieren and Fern have caught up with Denken’s group who are struggling to come up with a plan to defeat the clone of Frieren. Meanwhile, Wirbel’s group continue to fight their copies and one group has come up against Sense’s copy!
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 24) – Perfect Replicas
What happened?
The monster residing in the dungeon is called Spiegel and has existed since the mythical era. It can read the memories of those who enter and create mirror images of them. That’s why it’s one of the few dungeons that still hasn’t been defeated. Denken’s group were facing a copy of Frieren that was likely guarding the final room before the bottom of the dungeon. They tried to attack but were very quickly outmatched and forced to flee from the room. From there, they can try to come up with a plan to defeat it or wait for someone else who does have one.
Meanwhile, Ubel and Land have found themselves cornered by Ubel’s copy and it took Land’s golem in a jar when it attacked. The wound looked to be fatal which left Ubel with a choice. She offered Land her Golem and when he refused she rushed to attack the copy. Knowing her own powers and limitations, Ubel expected her copy to close the distance. She needed to see all of her opponent’s body to freeze them in place. And as such close quarters, their slicing attacks were countering one another. It would come down to luck. Then, the copy managed to trap Ubel, but she knew how that would go too. The real Land appeared at the doorway, distracting the copy long enough for Ubel to strike.
Frieren and Fern continued to wander their way around the dungeon without much issue, the mimic aside. Then, Frieren stopped and examined a wall. She was quite certain that there was a hidden room there, but Fern couldn’t see anything on the map. Frieren felt around and then activated a hidden switch. Inside they found a perfectly preserved mural, possibly the oldest of its kind. After that discovery, they continued on their way and soon found Denken and the others sitting outside the room with Frieren’s copy in it. Maybe, they could use hypnosis or binging spells. Frieren claimed to be resistant to them which Methode confirmed, much to Fern’s disappointment.
Another group had come up against another terrifying copy – this one was of Sense. One mage was injured so she activated her golem in a jar and left the test. The others ran off, hoping to find the rest of the mages, but that was looking unlikely. Back with Denken’s team, Frieren recommended that they would need to use brute force, which seemed to make her smile. That smile only increased when Fern said that she thought she could defeat the copy of Frieren.
What did you think?
I love the idea that Frieren, Fern, and Sense have just wandered their way down the penultimate room in the dungeon without really breaking a sweat. Of course, it helps that Frieren has been able to spot every trap and nullify it before it had a chance to activate, but to the untrained eye, they’ve had it easy. I’m wondering why Spiegel is picking certain copies to appear in certain places. I’m assuming it didn’t copy Land because it was already a copy. I think the mind is a very important part of the process, but now that Land is with Ubel things could get messy. Also, Spiegel is the German for mirror. I just thought you might like to know.
Some of the best moments in this series were when the group were trying to come up with a plan for the copy of Frieren. I loved it how Methode embraced Frieren to see if binding spells would work on her. When they didn’t Frieren just seemed to nuzzle her face into Methode’s chest and return the hug. That was subtle and frankly hilarious. Fern’s reaction was even better as she’s never one to miss stuff like that. She pulled Frieren away and protected her like a jealous girlfriend. The sly smile when Frieren said they would have to try a brute force attack made me laugh too, but her smile when Fern said she could kill Frieren was just too perfect. Such a proud moment for Frieren.
Talking of bad luck (Ubel is German for bad… read into that what you will), you’ve got to be having a bad day when the copy you come up against is the First-Class Mage who entered the dungeon to oversee the test. It’s also interesting that Sense’s copy was not the final boss. Anyhow, bring on the next episode already!
Episode highlights
Other posts in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Journey’s End
- Episode 2 – It Didn’t Have to Be Magic…
- Episode 3 – Killing Magic
- Episode 4 – The Land Where Souls Rest
- Episode 5 – Phantoms of the Dead
- Episode 6 – The Hero of the Village
- Episode 7 – Like a Fairy Tale
- Episode 8 – Frieren the Slayer
- Episode 9 – Aura the Guillotine
- Episode 10 – A Powerful Mage
- Episode 11 – Winter in the Northern Lands
- Episode 12 – A Real Hero
- Episode 13 – Aversion to One’s Own Kind
- Episode 14 – Privilege of the Young
- Episode 15 – Smells Like Trouble
- Episode 16 – Long-Lived Friends
- Episode 17 – Take Care
- Episode 18 – First-Class Mage Exam
- Episode 19 – Well-Laid Plans
- Episode 20 – Necessary Killing
- Episode 21 – The World of Magic
- Episode 22 – Future Enemies
- Episode 23 – Conquering the Labyrinth
- Episode 24 – Perfect Replicas
- Episode 25 – A Fatal Vulnerability
- Episode 26 – The Height of Magic
- Episode 27 – An Era of Humans
- Episode 28 – It Would Be Embarrassing When We Met Again
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Frieren’s happy-go-lucky attitude show her joy in exploring the dungeon. She can be so happy and carefree because she is phenomenally powerful. Anyone else would be dead by now, doing the stuff she does.
Absolutely. Swallowed by a mimic or worse! It’s easy to be chill when you know could obliterate everything in the room and the room!
If a mimic were any kind of threat she wouldn’t be so gleeful when she opens one. Usually I don’t like examination arcs like this but this is fun precisely because there’s no real contest.
It is actually completely unnecessary. If Frieren wanted to go to the northern areas without it, nobody could stop her. Nobody would even try.
Exactly. No one is getting in Frieren’s way. I think it’s more for Fern that it is for Frieren. She wasn’t even going to take the test until someone recognised her necklace.
Interesting that Ubel told her replica that it must really want to die. I wonder if that means Ubel really wants to die, too.
Fern volunteers to kill Frieren’s copy. I was not expecting that. Going by Fern’s strengths, speed and stealth will probably be involved. (I’m still sort of half-hoping for the use of a mimic)
It *is* interesting that Sense’s replica was not the final boss, but I suppose I just assume that Frieren is the more powerful of the two. She did break Serie’s barrier, after all, which was supposed to be impossible, so we can infer that Sense couldn’t do that herself.
Heh, I think we all got a little chuckle at seeing Mr. “I’ll Go Alone” who broke up the possibility of them all working together from the start… sitting alone in the dark.
Now… I wonder what the significance of that ancient mural is to the story…
It would make sense given that she’s quick to throw herself into situations where she has a chance to die. My guess is that someone will save her from herself and give her a new direction in life. That or she will actually die doing something heroic for a change.
I was expecting Fern to step up and I think she has a plan that doesn’t necessarily involve brute force, even though her speed is the ideal thing for that. It should be an interesting fight, nonetheless.
I wonder if Sense has realised that too.
And, yeah. I saw him and had a chuckle too. It could have been an easy win for everyone, but for Mr. “I’m Going it Alone”!
Probably nothing. Just a nice moment of historical significance in that world that has no bearing on the story whatsoever. That would be funny!