A man with all of man’s vices, regrets not chasing his opportunity to adventure. How will Frieren and crew help this man solve his childhood regrets?

Recap & Reaction

In an anime that proves what valuable lessons it has to teach in each and every single episode through new and recurring characters, it doesn’t get any more blatant than the episode’s opener.

Opener

There are many creative ways to hook an audience in, so this very first scene dives directly into the heart of what makes Frieren, Frieren. A new character is introduced and talks about a “child’s dream” of going on an adventure, while Frieren is sitting on the ground listening. Like Kraft the Monk before with his journey’s lesson, this new character directly attacks the philosophical idea of “chasing your dreams” or “do something more realistic.”

The Backstory

This new character begins to explain his backstory of his childhood friend that eventually invited him to go on adventures. This event took place 10 years prior, when he denied his offer to join.

A regret that we all may come to grips with. To take risks and chances when you have the opportunity to while you are young. Or, face the misery of “what could have been.”

In a wild turn of events, the man explaining his backstory of never actually making the decision to chase the ‘adventure’ is just stuck sinking in a swamp. Due to his mud covered hand, Frieren’s purified clean white clothing gives her pause to unstuck him. This begins a running joke in the episode as the man refers to “adults being dirty.”

A “wild turn of events” is a bit hyperbolic, but the feel for these scenes relays that the episode’s focus might just be about the comedic timing of the scenes. Another lighthearted episode it is.

Fern stops by to see if Frieren has picked all the herbs she was looking for. It was in that moment, that man became unstuck. After Frieren, Stark and Fern walk the man back to his village, Fern apologizes for her rudeness.

Poison

Looking to find a bigger town to stock up on their supplies, Frieren denies the man’s offer of spending time in his town for their harvest festival. Before they part ways, he warns of poisonous creatures on their travels. And of course, as Stark acknowledges the dangers, he gets bit by a snake while picking fruit.

To Frieren’s disappointment, Stark starts to bleed through his nose. She reveals that curing poison is more of a Priest ability than what she can accomplish. Devising a plan to take Stark to a church goes moot as they won’t make it in time with the mana they have. Stark explains that Eisen told him that warriors like them can overcome poison on their own, which unlocks a flashback of when Eisen just stood unaffected with poisoned arrows in his body.

This scene sets up the return and need for a ‘priest,’ hinting at the possibility of adding a new crew member. It’s a minor little plot device that doesn’t really feel like anything major. It just captures the fun comedic qualities that this show has to offer.

Fern warns them how much of an exception Eisen was and drops the statistic that “20% of adventurers die of poison.” Then, they decide to rush back to the village where the stuck man from the swamp lives.

The Self-Defeated Priest w/ Talent

In an even wilder turn of events, the priest at the church details that it is too late for the redheaded lad. The blood dripping from his nose will become his melted brain. It’s a poison that can only be taken care of if treated early in its infection.

Instead of tension, the episode continues its great comedic timing.

The priest makes the suggestion that his younger brother may be of some help and what do you know? It’s the man that was stuck in the swamp. In a simple touch from his spell, Stark gets healed. The younger unstuck swamp brother calls it even and leaves.

Frieren notices that this man is indeed some kind of genius. The older brother priest acknowledges Frieren’s insight into his brother. She notices that the priest knows who she is and it is because of Heiter. The audience becomes aware of the younger brother as, “Sein.”

Both brothers’ parents passed away at a young age and the older one had to deal with the parental duties. Acknowledging far much his younger brother’s talents for exceed his own, he continues the story of his younger brother wanting to become an adventurer.

Understanding that his brother’s childhood dreams never left, he requests that Frieren give him that extra push to move on from his boring life and become an adventurer with them.

This scene was just important for us to realize how strong Sein is and continue on the idea of recruiting this character into their party. Clearly, his brother wants Sein to stop living in his regret. Also, conveying the importance of having people around to help “push you.”

Convincing a ‘Corrupted’ Priest

Frieren feels some kind of apprehension about having him join as she discusses the matter with Stark and Fern. Seeing how the priest healed him and how valuable he can be, Stark takes it upon himself to ask him to join.

Like the ‘corrupt’ priest Heiter, Stark quickly finds out the ‘corruption’ of Sein. He’s a drinker, smoker, and gambler. It’s literally all a man’s vices besides women. Stark is slightly appalled by Sein’s vices, but asks for him to join anyways. Sein initially scoffs at the idea of an adventure, but realizes that it could be fun. He makes a deal with Stark, “win this game of cards and he’ll join.”

After seeing what kind of character Sein is, giving his ‘corruptiveness,’ this is quite the setup for a nice punchline later.

In the middle of the night, Fern hears Stark scream from below. Instead of checking in him herself, she wakes up Frieren to help. Like we all expected, Stark lost almost everything, besides his trousers from all the gambling. Who is in his trousers along with him? Sein. In a running joke, Sein mentions that “adults are dirty.” He goes on to deny the offer to join their adventure. Like most self-defeated people, he just sees himself as a loser. This will invoke another flashback from Frieren.

I love the comedic quality that Fern brings here that kind of contrasts her ‘coldness’ at times. It actually shows how diverse she is as a character. She can show that she is scared. At the same time, she can display pure joy, especially when it comes to Heiter.

This scene reveals the consequences of those vices of Sein. These vices are like a cope for his regrets, but are in some ways qualities that can be interpreted as “living life to the fullest.” Of course, the punchline of Stark losing his belongings, tagging Sein as another victim of the Village Chief beating them in gambling is pretty funny.

Frieren’s Refusal to Adventure

Like in episode 10, when Frieren killed Aura, this scene expands upon the moment Himmel, Heiter and Eisen try to convince Frieren to join them to fight against the Demon King. With Sein sulking in his past, Frieren tries to tell Himmel that she “forgot how to fight against demons” and that it has been “over 500 years.” In Himmel’s response to Frieren, as she mimics the same line to Sein, “I’m talking about the present.”

Like many lessons before, the hook of the episode presents the issue of regretting and never taking up the offer to go on ‘adventures.’ Himmel teaches Frieren and in turn, conveys to Sein that the past isn’t now. You can start now.

Sein continues his refusal to join and states that she “doesn’t know how he feels.” This confirms Frieren’s dislike of Sein, but makes her firm about her decision now to ‘forcibly’ make him join their party.

Fern, being the responsible mother of the group, apologizes once again to the men that won Stark’s clothing. This scene mimics the scene at the beginning of the episode with Fern apologizing to Stein. Luckily, these men were nice enough to just give back his clothing and axe for free, even suggesting that they enjoy the harvest festival. Angry, Fern tosses Sein’s clothes back to him as well.

The takeaway from this scene appears to be Frieren’s reluctance to see another person go through a situation similar to what she experienced in the past and make the same mistake. We can sometimes project what we didn’t like about ourselves onto other people.

Helping Others Find Their Way

Stark apologizes to Fern about gambling and mentions how Sein drinks. Frieren is very weary of priests that drink, in which Fern drops a Heiter gem, “alcohol is the best medicine.”

Frieren outright states that “she wanted to do for Sein, what Himmel did for her.” Thus, this leads to Frieren to really feel like it’s the right thing to press on with convincing Sein to at least go on his own adventure, if not with them.

This episode feels the most blatant and straightforward in its dialogue. The story is making everything that seemed more metaphorical, feel more literal. Frieren is now saying what Himmel helped her with. At the same time, the episode’s lesson of ‘adventure’ is still pretty metaphorical.

With all three in line with wanting to convince Sein to join them, they have an extended stay in the village. A montage of scenes portray Frieren, Fern and Stark trying to convince Sein with Sein narrating. Seeing the “hopes and dreams” on their faces like his childhood friend, he still doesn’t understand how they can continue being so energetic with a guy like himself that constantly refuses.

Frieren, Fern and Stark try a new method in their quest to convince Sein to join them by going to his older brother priest, asking what does he actually enjoy? He tells them what they already know about the smoking, drinking and gambling. In comparison, Fern makes the remark that Heiter was actually a ‘serious’ priest. However, adds in that he’s into “older women.” This causes everyone to have somewhat of an awkward pause, possibly hinting at Frieren being the “older woman.”

Sein is a man’s man, except the cougar thing. I can enjoy the soft humor this anime has to offer. The timing and execution of the punchline have been spot on.

If your intuition led you to the prior thoughts, then you are correct as Stark rushes to stop Sein. It is in this moment, that it is revealed that Sein’s whole reason in adventuring before was to be around aging women. There isn’t anyone more aging and older than Frieren, as she pops out of nowhere to reveal to him that she is the one that he wants.

Being that Sein is into ‘normal’ older women, Frieren just isn’t the same. Stacking upon Flamme’s sexy lessons from the prior episode, Frieren blows an awkward kiss at Sein. Sein did not see this as seductive at all, while Fern & Stark are blushing in disbelief. Frieren states how this seduction technique worked perfectly on Himmel, so she is totally baffled at his reaction.

When there is a joke that you know is coming, this is where the ‘extra effects’ would have made this moment more funny. I’m sure people loved this scene, but it falls a bit flat like her heart. Lewd jokes just don’t really hit for a show that’s very tame with its fanservice.

In Sein’s last stand, Sein refuses and reveals why he doesn’t want to go on an adventure. In a previous scene, his childhood friend mentioned that he “would be back in three years for the harvest festival.” It has been 10 years since he left. Frieren answers with a question that “he would just give up trying to find his friend?” This pushes Sein to give his ultimate reasoning for staying behind in the village.

Frieren gives the typical answer we all have of, “So, what?” This builds upon the the prior Himmel lesson of “focusing on the present.” Who really cares what your childhood friend said? Why would that stop you from adventuring?

In another major reveal, Sein’s ultimate reason for not leaving the village is for his older brother’s sake. A flashback ensues, detailing the conversation between his older brother and Heiter. His older brother denied the offer to bring Sein and himself to the holy capital to become a priest, mentioning that he “didn’t want to takeaway Sein’s hometown from him too.” Basically, Sein didn’t want to make his brother’s decision to stay be in vain. Realizing Sein’s mistake, his older brother gives him a peace of his mind, slapping him in the left cheek. He tells Sein that “he never regretted his decision,” unlike him.

Sein’s big reveal of why he truly won’t adventure is something that we all experienced at some point. No one wants to let a loved one’s decision to be in vain, when your own decision contradicts it in some way. Even though our decisions might not be the best for everyone, you still have to do what’s best for you. Who says that that person will regret their decision based on yours?

Finally Decides to ‘Un-Regret’

The scene fast-forwards to Sein, Frieren, Fern and Stark hanging around a river. He explains how that isn’t really like his brother, but it was his fault that he acted that way. So, he ended up apologizing for essentially putting the blame onto his older brother. Realizing all of his regret and still wanting to find his adventuring childhood friend, he has finally decided to join the party. While he commits to joining them, ultimately he only wants to join up until he finds his friend.

All four head out as the townspeople send them off. Sein asks where they will be headed to with Frieren answering, ‘heaven.’ Confused that they will all end up there after death anyways, Fern quips with “you too?” Stark finally has another person to confide in, dealing with these two ladies.

It’s not the most entertainingly emphatic way for a character to join a party, but having all of your feelings and reasons on the table is important. The person that made a decision that held Sein back, got to help resolve it by slapping the regret out of him. If he doesn’t regret his decision, why are blaming him for yours?

Last Thoughts

Another Episode, Another Lesson

Frieren’s proclivity for character-centric lessons is what makes this anime shine. These are the kinds of episodes that really make you relate to all the regrets that Sein faces. No matter how old you are, the point of the show is to have you project onto these characters and their situations. Wherever you are in life, it’s hard not to come across a person like Sein. It’s very likely that you are Sein with some life regrets. The episode hits the nail on the head with the answer of “the past not being the present.”

The Importance of this character

It’s always nice to tell a meaningful lesson through an anime, but it feels even more valuable when you can agree with the answers the characters give you. One of the most important characters in this episode is Sein’s older brother. Whether it worked out for the best or not for Sein’s older brother, by staying in the village and not relocating to the holy capital. It’s a hard decision the he never felt the regret for because that is what he truly wanted at the time. You can’t regret decisions that you thought was the best at the time, no matter the outcome.

Rewarding or Boring?

This episode looks to add the “adult-male” perspective onto an already interesting trio of Frieren, Fern and Stark. Given that the previous episode fleshed out Stark’s backstory, it makes tons of sense to add someone new to the mix.

All in all, this anime is very “you either love it” or “you’ll be bored of it.” If you like storytelling that attacks philosophical ideals in a slice-of-life manner, then this is literally the perfect anime for that. This is an anime and episode I can absolutely appreciate, but sometimes a lack of a strong plot three episodes in a row can be boring. Still, it’s a great episode with an entirely relatable character that will likely have his regrets lifted from him on this journey with Frieren, Fern and Stark. That is something to look forward to in future episodes, if they face legitimate threats.