Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 27) – An Era of Humans
Twelve mages passed the second round of the First-class mage exams, which is unprecedented. To counter that, Serie has stepped in to conduct the third round herself. No one will be given a free pass.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 27) – An Era of Humans
What happened?
Fern found Stark meditating on the cliff top and she looked mad. What had he done? Actually, he had done nothing. It was Frieren. She had suggested that Fern buy a new staff since the one she had was destroyed in the battle with Frieren’s copy. However, Heiter had given her that staff and she had lovingly cared for it ever since. How could she just throw it away? Frieren just didn’t understand Fern. To be honest, neither did Stark, but the important thing was that they tried. Meanwhile, Frieren took the fragments of Fern’s staff to Richter’s shop and asked him to repair it. He refused but changed his mind when Frieren insinuated that he couldn’t do it.
Stark spent the evening feeding Fern and trying to help her calm down. When they got back to their rooms, Fern found her staff lying on her bed in perfect condition. She remembered how Heiter had told her that Frieren didn’t understand emotions, but she would care for her like no other. Heiter knew what he was talking about. With her staff repaired, they gathered for the third round of the First-class Mage exams and discovered that Serie would be conducting the test in the form of an interview. Frieren already knew how that would go.
Serie was disappointed in Sense that she had created a situation that allowed twelve mages to pass her exam. Of course, that only happened because of an anomaly – Frieren. Lernen would normally proctor the third test, but he was the one who realised that Frieren was the anomaly. He spotted her mana wavering and was probably the first person to do so since the Demon King. This impressed Serie, but also annoyed her. He’d never noticed that her mana was wavering too! Regardless, it was a pointless skill to learn since it would take centuries to master.
One by one the mages were brought before Serie and one by one, they were failed. Frieren went in knowing that Serie would fail her regardless of what she said or did. Serie gave her a chance by asking her what her favourite spell was and she told her the one that makes a field of flowers – Flamme’s favourite spell. Serie wondered how she beat the Demon King and assumed it was because her party was strong. Frieren agreed that they were strong, but they won because they were a party and not a group of individuals. Frieren failed. Then, Fern entered the room having been told by Frieren that Serie would pass her no matter what she did or said. Serie was surprised to see that Fern noticed her mana wavering and offered to take her on as her pupil. Fern refused. She was Frieren’s pupil. Serie passed Fern anyway.
What did you think?
We only saw a handful of mages go before Serie and only Fern passed. It’ll be interesting to see if Denken passes or even Methode, but I doubt any other will. I completely sympathise with Serie in that many of these mages only passed because Frieren was there. So, they needed to fail. That said, not passing Frieren is the biggest joke yet. I know it won’t bother Frieren in the slightest, but it bothers me. There’s something horribly wrong with Serie and I think it goes beyond just being an elf and living a long and lonely life. She has no filter and doesn’t see how rude it is to attempt to steal Fern from Frieren.
I’m still not convinced that anyone can trust Serie and her refusal to give Frieren any credit for defeating the Demon King is unforgivable. I just hope that at some point we learn that Serie is working for the Demon King and has done everything she can to undermine the magical order of humanity. I’d even like to see her step into the role of Demon King and give Frieren a reason to show her that she’s not as powerful as she believes she is. Someone needs to bring her down a bit, her pride is out of control.
And always, the flashbacks continue to be an incredible source of joy. Seeing a young Himmel fall in love with magic (and Frieren) was too much. I really hope that they do find a way to talk once more. I get the feeling he’s got something he really needs to say to her and that she needs to hear it.
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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I couldn’t agree more about Serie. Frieren mentions Serie’s intuition always being right, but for having good instincts, she certainly has her head up her butt. She’s like academia on legs in some ways, very self-important, arrogant, dismissive, etc. She openly voices her disappointment in her students as if she’s talking to herself, meaning they’re not even worth acknowledging their presence. She casually judges and dismisses Frieren and Flamme’s favorite spell as “useless,” when the use of it has already altered the course of history simply by lightening the heart of a distressed child. Frieren might not be what Serie wanted her to be, but what demands does she have any right to make? She knows darn well that Frieren is a great mage, but lets her personal feelings cloud her view. And when she realizes Fern can see the fluctuation in her mana, she reacts like a greedy little child that has found a shiny, new toy. I do believe her when she says she could take Fern – whom *Frieren’s* tutelage brought this far – and elevate her magic higher than any mage has ever gone, but that would be according to her view. No thanks.
I doubt Serie is connected to the Demon King at all, but, good grief, that woman needs to go down.
I have to wonder about that fluctuation in her mana. Does it mean she’s suppressing her mana, or is she projecting to seem like she has more than she really does? We know it’s possible to suppress mana, but we don’t know if it’s possible to project greater than one has. At first thought, it sounds like it ought to simply drain one’s mana dry in short order, but who knows? Still, it would make sense, in the way of foreshadowing, for Serie’s immense mana to actually be even greater than one thinks it is, to establish her as a truly great threat. But it doesn’t quite fit her character, does it? Why would she even bother with that? Hmmm.
Yeah, she embodies the elitist approach where there is only their way of doing things. At first, I thought that she was exhibiting traits similar to Asperger’s but that doesn’t feel fair to anyone with that.
I can’t imagine she’s faking her mana so maybe she suppressing it, although she’s not as good at it as Frieren.
I doubt she’s really the DemonKing either but I’d love to see some sort of repercussions. Maybe she gets fired!
I thought this was a fitting conclusion to the arc.
There is doing a lot of complex things well and there’s knowing the basics and being superb at them. That may be the difference between the two elves.
It’s true. Frieren wasn’t the least bit interesting becoming a First-class mage, however to suggest she didn’t deserve it is ridiculous.
I can’t stand characters like Serie, even well written.