Ubel faces Wirbel in a battle to the death, while Fern takes Ehre to task with the basics. Frieren ends up losing the Stille, so what will she do next to retrieve it?

Recap & Reaction

Frieren, Kanna and Lawine comes up with a plan to freeze the lake and dwindling down the options for the bird, ‘Stille’ to find their way to one of the smaller ponds. By doing this, this forces the other teams to resort to stealing the other team’s caged Stille.

Frieren uses a long-lost technique to capture the Stille. By doing so, Denken picks up her mana usage and sends Laufen to confront Frieren, Kanna and Lawine. Next, Fern ends up facing Ehre, while Ubel is tasked with protecting the Stille from Wirbel.

Opener

Leading off the episode is Ubel and Wirbel fighting each other. Ubel is pushing back Wirbel with what looks like invisible attacks. Wirbel concludes that he won’t be able to fend off each one as he steps back, while trees and branches falls from Ubel’s attack. By his deduction, he notices that Ubel’s attack only reaches about 5 meters. The fighting comes to a stand still as Wirbel reveals that “it won’t be necessary” to just use basic attacks.

Right off the bat, the theme of ‘necessary’ and using something beyond “basic attacks” like first becomes the hook for the episode.

Transitioning back from the cliffhanger of the previous episode between Ehre and Fern, she continues explaining that Wirbel uses “underhanded attacks.”

This is a theme that goes back to Flamme teaching Frieren about being underhanded to defeat the demons.

As Ehre finishes her words, Fern continues her onslaught of attacks by spamming almost a dozen different basic attacks onto Ehre. Ehre is still questioning how Fern can have control over so many spells and it eventually collapses her defenses with a giant explosion ending the opening scene.

At face value, the lesson of basic attacks defeating anyone in this era is just everyone lacking in their fundamentals. Everyone wants to skip steps to do the spectacular, when in reality the foundational advantage starts with fundamentals.

Wirbel vs Ubel

“Sorganeil.” Wirbel uses a binding spell on Ubel, which prevents her from moving and controlling her mana. With such a powerful skill, Ubel questions why he didn’t just catch a Stille himself? She answers her own question with the assumption that it’s likely because his team couldn’t find the bird.

It was interesting to see what ‘underhanded’ really meant for the story. So, it’s a binding spell.

Wirbel explains that “as long as he can see you, you are bound to his spell. He commands Ubel to admit defeat and to leave the Stille behind. Ubel feels a sense of letdown since she was hoping for a fight to the death. Furthermore, he tells her that he could have killed her at any moment beforehand as well.

Beyond Ubel’s skillset as a strong mage, the one thing we all know about her character is that she is devious in the sense that she seeks out to kill. This will further play out into an important lesson.

Ubel still felt skeptical and throws the Stille into the air. When Wirbel looked up, Ubel lashed out an attack with Wirbel gaining another slight cut to his face, revealing the weakness in his spell. He has to see the full body of the person for the spell to maintain its grip.

Wirbel still has Ubel within his spell. He tells her that she had the chance to kill him if she wanted to by “aiming for the neck.” Because of Ubel’s unwillingness to give up, he has no choice but to kill her. Buying time, Ubel asks Wirbel if he has “ever killed women and children.” This sparks a flashback with Wirbel’s time with the Northern Magic Corps, who are “mercenaries that specialize in killing demons.” On the battlefield, it wasn’t uncommon for underhanded tactics that involved sending children out to be slaughtered.

A flashback that doesn’t involve Frieren, Stark or Fern? We have a new layer to the story with this one. There’s a clear divide between how Ubel and Wirbel thinks about killing. Wirbel seeks to maintain his humanity, but will still do what is ‘necessary,’ while Ubel is like those soldiers that Wirbel mentions that just enjoy killing.

I couldn’t help but feel Wirbel as Griffith from Berserk with that mask on.

Ubel believes that techniques are reflective of the castor. Wirbel is a person that hesitates before he kills, so binding someone is just him preparing himself for a vicious act. He acknowledges that Ubel is correct, but always finished the deed in the end. Before he starts to kill Ubel, Fern catches Wirbel off guard in a classic “last minute rescue” or “dramatic intervention” scene.

This is a classic dramatic moment that always work. Before something major takes place, someone stops them from doing the act.

Wirbel is surprised he couldn’t sense her and acknowledges that she can hide her mana. He questions Fern about her beating Ehre. In Fern’s response, “I killed her.” Since the entire 3 person team requires everyone to survive, Wirbel admits defeats and bails on the test. Ubel couldn’t accept not being killed and is about to make her attack against Wirbel’s back. He warns her of an “unnecessary killing turning into a necessary one.”

From a face value standpoint, this is a lesson I think many people think about when a threat comes your way in real life. Are you willing to kill someone in self-defense to protect yourself and others? It’s a horrible situation to ever find yourself in, that hopefully doesn’t end up with anyone getting hurt or dying. BUT! To cross that line to do whatever it takes for whatever reason is a huge mental hurdle.

From a more metaphorical standpoint, Wirbel represents humanity’s fine line between doing what’s necessary to achieve the outcome you want, even when it is uncomfortable in war by killing women and children. Naturally, it is already a huge mental hurdle to kill other men in battle, but to kill women and children takes on a whole new meaning to ‘necessary.’ Back when Frieren recalled a time to Fern and Stark about Himmel saving the demon child. That demon child betrayed his kindness and killed the village chief. Himmel & Frieren had to kill that demon child because it was necessary to do so to prevent a worse outcome. This mirrors Wirbel’s experience in killing women and children sent out to do battle.

Fern stops Ubel from attacking Wirbel and stands down. With a smirk on her face, she says how good Fern is at lying. Fern wishes to go help Land, but Ubel isn’t as worried as “four-eyes” is a lot stronger than he looks.

From this entire sequence of Wirbel fighting Ubel, we’ve got the full experience of what Wirbel is as a character. At first, the story works off our assumption that Ubel & Wirbel are very much “bad guy-like.” However, Wirbel is truly more heroic than he seems. Ubel on the other hand, still has villainous tendencies.

Land vs Scharf

Scharf has Land seemingly defeated as he asks for him to stand down. However, Land gets back up with a huge gash in his body. He reveals how Scharf’s technique works with him “turning petals into metal” to get through his defenses.

Land continues on that although Scharf came up with that attack himself, it “lacks fundamentals.” When he fights someone without prior knowledge of their abilities, he tends to wait it out to see.

While continuing to explain he’s just been observing Scharf, Scharf calls his bluff, getting ready to launch another attack. Before he knew, Land had already found his weakness and appeared behind him with an illusion-type of magic standing before him. Land explains that the ‘Land’ in front of him is not completely an ‘illusion’ and still maintains his ‘substance. Scharf asks, “how long he’s been ‘observing’ him” and Land answers coldly with “since the beginning.” Then, he knocks him out with a shocking attack.

My biggest takeaway from this match up is to follow up on Fern using basic attacks to defeat Ehre. Scharf’s lack of sensing mana is fundamentally poor, so it’s easy for Land to take advantage of that. Denken referenced Laufen’s lack of sensing mana in the little water holes as being inexperienced as well.

Wirbel, Ehre & Scharf

Wirbel goes to find Ehre’s body and is extremely frustrated that Fern lied about killing her. He wakes her up and berates her that she “graduated at the top of her class. She explains how Fern overwhelmed her with just a flurry of basic magic attacks. Worried that he wouldn’t believe her, Wirbel comforts her that he does since his interaction with her and the fact that she cratered a large area around Ehre.

Like with what Flamme did to those demons when she saved Frieren in the past, this scene mimics just how powerful Fern really is with that humongous crater.

Wirbel tells Ehre that they are going to retrieve Scharf. Then, he decides to float her like Fern does to a passed out Stark. Embarrassed, Ehre gets him to carry her on his back. Sensing Scharf nearby, they walk across some bushes and Wirbel screams out to Scharf to help him carry Ehre. In another comedic reaction, Scharf is laying on the ground with a numbed body, asking Wirbel to carry him as well. Now, Scharf gets the floating treatment.

With Wirbel carrying both Scharf and Ehre, he tells Ehre that the sound she is hearing is the rain and that it will be sunset in “two to three hours.” Ehre questions his kindness for saving them as he is being a “nice guy.” Even though they have practically failed the exam, considering the state of their team, Wirbel is still showing a softer side to him. With more comedic relief, Scharf cries that Wirbel shouldn’t leave them behind.

Ehre is further solidifying what the previous fight with Ubel was harping on about Wirbel. He truly is a good guy.

The running floating joke is still a pretty funny one. Scharf plays the ‘Stark’ role in this one.

Ehre starts a flashback, explaining how Wirbel helped saved her village. However, Wirbel details that “people do things for themselves,” so he had an “ulterior motive.” It was for a girl. When he was around 4 or 5, he made a promise to a girl from his village that he would defeat the demons. It happened so long ago that like Voll, who forgot what his wife looked like, he too forgot what that childhood crush looked like. Both Wirbel and Ehre agree that he’s ‘stupid.’

After starting to plan how they will maneuver around not being first class mages, Ehre notices a Stille in the tree. Just like that, Wirbel’s team found themselves into some luck as he easily used his binding spell to capture the Stille.

The idea of ‘luck’ becomes a theme later addressed by Genau and Sense.

Frieren’s Team vs Denken’s Team

Laufen stands frozen in front of Frieren, Lawine and Kanne. Denken stays behind in the tree to observe Frieren as an elf. He concludes that Laufen won’t be able to use her spell again as Frieren will likely figure out how she operates. Laufen disappears and Frieren loses the Stille that she had in her hand. Frieren mentions that that spell was ‘interesting’ before the scene shifts to the first test proctor, Genau, speaking with Sense, the second test proctor.

Genau vs Sense

Like in the previous episode with Denken speaking with Richter about the quality of the First-Class Mage test, Sense questions Genau’ methods that ended with “a few promising mages dying.” Clearly, Genau is pro-maintaining high quality of “First-Class Mages.” While Denken and Sense lean towards the ‘First-Class’ being more of a symbol. Sense thinks that Genau making the test about capturing a Stille, that can’t be mana detected “not nice.”

Here, we have another clash of ideals between two characters.

Like the previous couple scenes ago where Wirbel luckily came across a Stille, Sense tells Genau that it really just comes down to ‘luck.’ Genau responds with “luck is a skill.” He further references that some other test takers like Frieren, used more than luck to capture the bird.

The conversation shifts to Denken likely being one of teams of which about a third of the groups will end up passing, as his mage abilities are already First-Class equivalent. Sense questions what a rich, old and powerful person like Denken is doing, taking the test now. That is yet to be revealed, but we can already make some assumptions.

This continues to setup Denken’s character development. We already knew how wise and knowledgeable he is. Sense and Genau adds another layer to Denken’s background as a character as his motives for passing the exam is a lot different compared to the others.

Frieren vs Denken’s Team Continued..

Denken and Richter appear before Frieren, Lawine and Kanne. Frieren asks if Laufen’s spell is called, “Jilwer?” It is a spell that originates form the Southern Regions that “allows you to travel at high-speeds. Frieren questions why Denken and Richter revealed themselves, but Denken knows better. He explains that Laufen is still not very experienced and has left a trail of mana behind from her spell that Frieren will easily pick up on.

Once again, Denken harps on bad ‘fundamentals’ being a downfall.

Denken reveals that he knows exactly who Frieren is with Lawine and Kanne still kind of questioning it.

Remember the theme of the legendary heroes like Kraft the Monk being forgotten. It hasn’t even been a full century and the younger generation barely know about Frieren. You know, the person that was apart of the party that literally saved the world.

The plan Denken and his team conjured up is to keep Frieren at bay, while Richter keeps Lawine & Kanne company. However, Richter pushed for the idea to kill Lawine or Kanne to stop their team from competing, but Denken tells him that they can win without going that far. Richter is shocked at Denken’s words as Denken is an “imperial mage” used to killing political adversaries.

Both Frieren and Denken agree that the title of “First-Class Mage” isn’t anything anyone should be fighter over. In Richter’s defense, that title gives you ‘privileges.’ Half a century ago, a mage named ‘Serie’ appeared to create the Continental Magic Association. Anyone that can claim the title of First-Class Mage will be given a new spell by this Serie. It is shown that this Serie person is in fact, another elf like Frieren. She is like a “living grimoire” who knows almost all the spells known to humanity. He explains more emphatically that she is as close to the Goddess as possible. Also, she has the ability to gain massive wealth, power and cure any disease possible. Everyone that tries to gain this ‘First-Class’ status end up acting like monster themselves

Of course, Richter’s speech leaves Denken calling the entire thing ‘nonsense.’ Richter wants to go through with killing one of the kids, but Denken just wants to put them to sleep until the sun sets. Richter uses the spell “Bargland,” which ends up causing a gigantic land upheaval that separates Lawine & Kanne from Frieren and Denken. Denken feels confident in his ability to stop Frieren and as Frieren prepares for battle, the cliffhanger gets you.

A lot of Last Thoughts

How New Characters Interact with the Purpose of Frieren’s Journey

I think the purpose of Frieren’s journey is to live her life in Himmel’s vision with Himmel being the symbol of how people should live their lives and make a lasting impact. Kraft the Monk becomes the end result of letting generations forget about your past wither away. Operating on those two character’s experiences and lessons, every character Frieren has come across has connected her to her time with the Hero’s Party.

How Every Character Ties into Frieren’s Biggest Lessons

What this arc has given us beyond a plot is a plethora of newly introduced characters that will play the same kind of roles like Voll and Sein. Voll brings the reality of old age and lost memories. Sein brings the “live a fulfilling adventurous life” and “don’t end up like Kraft the Monk & the priest he was with’s statues.” With Kanne, Lawine, Denken, Wirbel & Ubel at the forefront of this arc, they provide an outside perspective to how their lives connect to Frieren’s insight during her time with Himmel, Eisen & Heiter.

Wirbel & Ubel

Wirbel takes a massive leap forward in his character development, which ends up being a significant part of this episode’s theme of being able to do something ‘necessary.’ Where is that fine line between your humanity and crossing the line of losing it? This is evident in his past with the Northern Magic Corps when he was forced to make the decision to kill children.

Ubel is clearly the character that the audience will question the most. It is unclear as of right now how she sees her own purpose in life. Ubel and Wirbel’s fight is worth more than just a simple battle. It is a clash of differing ideologies where one has no qualms killing, likely enjoys it, and has the audience questioning her humanity. Then, there is Wirbel who possesses good-guy qualities, grants mercy, helps others, and doesn’t do anything unnecessarily while still accomplishing a dark task when it is necessary to do so.

Denken

Between two episodes, we’ve found out a lot of about Denken’s character. He’s a imperial mage, which means he is the strongest position there can be in the Northern Lands. Why does he need to pass the exam? Beyond that question is how his ideology has shifted. From a person that in his earlier years that would kill political opponents—how has his ideology shifted from greed & power to wanting the “First-Class Mages” to represent something more positive beyond just power & fear?

Serie

If we’ve learned anything from this story of Frieren, it is that it isn’t just about some big bad guy that the heroes must face. There is a particular way of thinking that is being challenged, so another elf being introduced into the story, introduces a character that will clash in ideology. What we know so far is Denken’s way of thinking of how a “First-Class Mage” should be with Frieren agreeing with Denken against Richter’s point-of-view. So, the person that started this whole Continental Magic Association, Serie, will be in direct conflict with Frieren & Denken’s way of thinking.

All in all, with the combination of well developed characters and a style of flashback storytelling established, a plot (mage exam) brings the ultimate excitement to round out the depth that the story already brings. Along with the plot, the element of mystery (Serie) is always an intriguing game changer. Like with the Aura the Guillotine arc, the First-Class Mage Exam is another brilliant narrative to add to a slice-of-life type of anime that can offer excitement in the form of action. Overall, Frieren might not be an anime that is for everyone, but there are BIG payoffs for those that can stay patient.