Posted in: Anime, TV | Tagged: anime, Crunchyroll, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Review
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End S01E09 "Aura the Guillotine" Review
Crunchyroll's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End S01E09: "Aura the Guillotine" demonstrated what the combination of teamwork & courage can produce.
This week's episode of Crunchyroll's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, "Aura the Guillotine," shows the product of courage and teamwork. The last few episodes have shown us how messed up the demons are and how they manage to get by without getting killed by brandishing words around like swords. Another fun episode in which we get to see our heroes in training overwhelm their enemies and stand up to their fears. This anime has become a must-watch – such a deadly chill vibe.
We see that after escaping Lügner and Linie, Fern and Stark manage to bring the Granat to safety in a church, where he confesses he owes Frieren an apology when realizing who she really is. He also explains how Aura's magical tool, the Scales of Obedience, works: it measures out the mana, and the one with greater mana gets to dominate the other. I really like Stark, while I am not usually the biggest fan of "scardey cat" silly characters (ahem, Zenitsu…) I love that Stark balances out the constant serious Fern. I also love how honest he is regarding being scared, yet manages to overcome his fear each time. Reminds me of Usopp, making me fall for his courageous words each time.
That said, Fern and Stark are no joke and take matters into their own hands. Of course, the D-bag demon Lügner and Linie will not make it easy, and it becomes a mini battle. I love the snippets of flashbacks we see between Stark and his master as he realizes Linie is copying his moves; and the one between Fern and Frieren where Frieren explains to her that while Fern might not be able to surpass her in technique due to age, she still fires spells faster than Frieren and boy do we see that in battle. Stark manages to strike Linie with Lightning and ends her, while Fern overwhelms Lügner effortlessly. While fast-paced, this battle scene was pretty cool to watch— I always enjoy seeing heroes slowly learn and surpass their masters. They took some blows in the process, but they were pretty badass in the process. I am glad this new party of heroes has as much potential as the previous one.
On Frieren's side, we see she has approached Aura already, and we see the tool Granat had mentioned earlier. We also see Aura's army is comprised of dead bodies she gained control over, and Frieren starts noticing the crests on the armor. After hearing Aura's lousy explanation and lack of understanding about humanity, Frieren declares she will kill her. It seems Frieren does not want to play this time or take it easy, as Aura notices the spells she is using are above average. I also like the way the Mage handles the demons so bluntly and straight to the point, I hope we get to see her more in action and get rid of Aura in the process.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End has definitely climbed to my top 3 anime of 2023, along with Hell's Paradise and Trigun Stampede. I am so invested in this anime and curious to see where things will lead: Will Frieren get to where those alive can meet those who have passed? Will we get to know more about her master? Will there be other demons that were part of Frieren's past about to get in their way? I have so many questions, and the show has so much potential to go in different ways.