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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 7) – Like a Fairy Tale

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Title

On their journey North, Frieren, Fern, and Stark stop in a town as they celebrate the hero party’s victory over the Demon King. A little further, however, they find a city in negotiations for peace with demons. This can’t end well!

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Episode 7) – Like a Fairy Tale

What did you watch?

I’ve had a very busy time of late, so just getting to sit down and catch up on some anime is quite a luxury. And what better way to get my week started than with the latest episode of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End? Unfortunately, I don’t have the same amount of time as Frieren so my schedule is packed tight and if something throws things off even a little, everything comes crashing down. I need to look at building in more time to allow for those times when I might get thrown in a dungeon for a couple of years for trying to kill a demon… Anyhow, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s dive in!

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 7 The time when Frieren was stopped from attacking the demon

What happened?

It wasn’t long before they saw the results of the ongoing war with the Demon King’s forces for themselves. A rockslide had blocked a path through the mountains which gave Frieren a chance to earn some more goodwill. Well, it was Fern’s idea. After clearing the debris, the merchant who was stuck offered to take them to the nearest city. There, they witnessed a festival to remember the hero’s party. The merchant commented that she looked just like Frieren, but never made the connection. Frieren kept her mouth shut, obviously not wanting to cause a scene.

The next morning, they headed on to the next city and noticed a lot of armoured guards walking around. Frieren froze and then pointed her staff in the direction ahead. She could sense demons. Suddenly, several of the armed guards jumped on Frieren, pushing her to the floor. It would appear that the demons were peace envoys suing for an end to the war. That’s how it appears at least. Frieren, however, knows better than that. She understands that they don’t actually understand human speech and concepts. They merely mimic the words that they believe will get them what they want. What they want is to destroy the city and every human within.

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 7 Frieren stopped from attacking the demon

What did you think?

Would you believe it? It’s another great episode. I loved how this one looked at how memories were lost over time because of the shorter lifespan of humans. It had been more than eighty years since the Demon King was defeated but to an average human living in this sort of society, most who were alive when it happened would have died. Those that are still alive would have been children and therefore don’t remember anything. I loved that Himmel was determined to get statues of them made so that they wouldn’t become fairy tales like Flamme. No doubt, he got that idea when Frieren was talking about how she was the only person alive who would remember Flamme’s face. It was also nice that Himmel said it was to keep Frieren company after they had all passed on.

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 7 Himmel tells Frieren why they have statues made

What was your favourite moment?

There was all the talk about statues and fairy tales, but it was the demons that most interested me. Frieren was not prepared to give them an inch and we soon saw why. It’s funny that Frieren is constantly getting tricked by Mimic treasure chests, but she will not fall for a demon’s mimicry. At first, when you see Frieren react to the demons and then the leader of the city explaining to the demons that he hadn’t planned it, you start to wonder if maybe they could actually be trying to find a peaceful resolution. Is Frieren a little out of date in her thinking?

No. She’s not and that’s a great thing. It almost seems to have become cool to have villains with a motive that explains that they are simply misunderstood or that there could be a way to all live together. That’s not happening here. The scene where the city leader pulled a sword on the demon and told him how his son died fighting the demons. He planned on killing the demon to get his revenge. The demon calmly told him that his father was killed by the humans. Surely, there needed to be an end to the violence. Then, as they walked to the room, one of the other demons asked him what a father was. He said that he had no idea. These are man-eating monsters that evolved to trick and lure their prey with human speech.

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 7 The demon uses words to confuse the humans

Who was the most impactful character?

The banter between Fern and Stark continues. I loved the moment that Stark was rubbing Frieren’s shoulders because she woke up early and we heard him wondering what he was doing. However, this episode was all Frieren. The flashback to the village where the demon tricked them into sparing her by calling for her mother was brutal. We all knew what was going to happen when the chief took her into his home, but seeing them appear to be growing as a family only for her to kill the chief and offer the child as a replacement for the one she ate. Frieren knew from the beginning that the demon couldn’t be trusted, but she had to sit back and wait to be proven right. The final moment was cool too when she told the demon who had a hard time believing that she might be stronger than him, but she simply said yes and I’m stronger than your boss, too! The next episode is going to be awesome!

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 7 Frieren warns the demon that she is strong

What have you learned?

This episode is actually quite sobering and a little depressing when you really think about it. The further we move forward in the time, the less we remember about the past. Thanks to things like history being rewritten by parts of society make it harder and harder to really know what happened. I can’t see AI helping with that as it now casts doubts on the validity of images and videos. Even books are being edited for the times so that they don’t offend. It makes you wonder what will be remembered of us in a hundred years. What about a thousand years? Guess I better commission that bronze statue now!

Frieren Beyond Journeys End Episode 7 The Hero's Party remembered eighty years later

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8 Comments

  2. Here’s a disadvantage of short human lifespans: we quickly forget the lessons our ancestors learned. Frieren remembers, and that is why she is not fooled by the demons’ little act. They look mostly human, dress like humans, and imitate the sounds of humans, but they are not human. This is fact, and she does not forget it.

    • I can’t speak for Frieren’s world but in ours we’ve had it drummed into us to give people the benefit of the doubt until they show us otherwise. It’s also nicer and less stressful to not assume that everyone is evil.

      I find it a little harder to believe that they would be willing to deal with the demons in this world given the history, especially since they’ve been fighting Aura the Guillotine for twenty-eight years.

      However, I liked that Himmel saw this coming and ensured that there were monuments and statues to remind people of the past.

    • Probably for that very reason, because they’ve been fighting for so long that they’re tired of losing loved ones to an unending conflict. For us, who are accustomed to going off to war, getting the job done within a few years or perhaps a few months, and then coming back, the idea of such a prolonged war seems like it would require intense conviction, the kind one doesn’t back down from. But it used to be that wars could go for decades simply because the soldiers would go off to fight, then come back home to farm, then go off to fight again. Quick wars were not so common back in the day, it’s just how things were Entire generations could easily be born, grow up, and die within the course of a single war.

      Even more to the point, the demons are very skilled with words. Lugner faced a bereaved father who wanted to kill him then and there, in his deceased son’s old room, and talked him down by appealing to the man’s emotions. Say the right combination of words and it’s as potent as any magic spell, capable of bending people’s wills, persuading them to do crazy things, even destroying their entire city. It would not surprise me if these war-weary people, or at least a pivotal few of them, were not influenced in similar fashion, in just such a way as to open the door for “peace talks.”

    • True, thinking of words like the ingredients in a spell is a fascinating way of looking at things. Use the right words in a specific order and your attacker might drop their guard. I liked that it pointed out that Lugner had no idea what a father was to emphasize the way they use words.

      I’d like to see a demon gets the order or the specific words wrong and then try to correct itself. Would be a nice way to cast some doubt in the person they are using them on.

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