Sousou no Frieren – Episode 20

Episode Synopsis:

The initial test of the first class mage exam escalates as Fern and her team defend their Stille from Wirbel’s trio. Every mage in the battle is skilled enough to be considered for promotion to first class, so what makes them different? Each of them possesses a unique array of spells and an equally personal philosophy towards magic, both of which are explored as the two teams fight for dominance.

Elsewhere, another skilled band of mages gets the drop on Frieren, Lawine and Kanne. With their chances of moving forward in jeopardy and facing methodical adversaries, our heroines consider how to overcome a difficult situation. Frieren also learns what the true prize waiting at the end of the exam is, and who is responsible for granting that reward.

Review:

I was originally lukewarm on episode 20, but I’ve since come around to liking it quite a bit. It suffers from the doldrums that accompany every anime tournament arc where characters spend a lot of time flatly stating their morals and explaining each others’ abilities for the sake of the audience, but it still offers fun insights into the expanding cast and highlights their competing priorities as magic users.

The first half follow Fern’s and Wirbel’s teams as they clash over the valuable Stille. We open with a scene I greatly enjoyed – the battle between Fern and Ehre, who uses powerful magic to fire stones with deadly force. Following her mentor’s guidance, Fern relies solely on the most basic styles of defensive and offensive magic, blocking and then overwhelming her opponent by pummeling her with what amounts to Magic Missile, but up-cast to the hells and back.

There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing something powerful and complex overcome by brute force or simplicity, and it applies here. Fern’s magic isn’t especially flashy, but it gets the job done, and that’s what counts in a battle of mages. Not only that, but she’s able to pull one over on Wirbel to avoid further bloodshed, defeating magic and experience with guile and words. Her fellow party member, Land, cunningly defeats another mage whose elaborate magic transforms flower petals into metal shards. This drives home the point that just because magic can be flashy and full of personality, it’s better to fight smarter, rather than harder.

We learn more about Wirbel’s past as both a mage and a soldier, and how he squares himself with the monstrous things he’s done in war. Compared to the coldly murderous Übel, he almost seems friendly, especially when he shows care for the others on his team after their defeat nearly spells failure of the test. There’s good character bits sprinkled in there, but I don’t find the back-and-forth between him and Übel especially compelling, and I don’t know if we’ll be spending enough time with any of these folks to make investing in them worthwhile.

The last third of the episode cuts to Frieren and company as they stare down a team that boasts speed, talent, and in one case, a willingness to kill for the prize. The elder mage Denken leverages his teammates’ skills to isolate Frieren and potentially secure a win, once again relying on wit rather than raw power alone. We’ll soon see if this battle feels more impactful than the earlier ones, and how Frieren handles an genuinely clever opponent.

In these last moments, we also get a glimpse at the elf we saw in the first OP – a smug-looking scholar surrounded by tomes and grimoires. Frieren obviously recognizes this person, and at first I thought, “Hey, why doesn’t she know about this person she’s clearly familiar with?” But then, I recalled Frieren saying herself that she can’t be bothered to remember anything about the countless magic associations and authorities that have come and gone in the past thousand years. Our girl has absolutely forgotten important figures throughout her life, so it makes complete sense that this would be a surprise to her.

It appears that this other elf, Serie, will grant any one spell a new first class mage desires. The relentless pursuit of these rare magics has left them aloof and monstrous, at least in Denken’s eyes. Frieren and Fern both come across as distant and even ruthless, but these folks seem to be on an entirely different plane. It’s already clear that they have no qualms about a percentage of the test-takers dying, so I’m inclined to agree with Denken’s viewpoint. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if and when Frieren needs to face one of them directly.

Summary:

While I’m not as annoyed at this tournament arc inserting itself into our elven travelogue about mortality and memory as some, I’m hoping it will be wrapped up soon. Frieren has done a really good job weaving the rules and customs of its world into the narrative or idle chatter, so it’s a little disappointing to see it resort to more blunt storytelling. That’s not to say the writing in these episodes has been weak; just that it lacks the subtlety and character it had early on.

Episode 19 carries us through the core of the first magical exam, and though it does drag a little in parts, the overall experience is still solid. I’ll be looking forward to the conclusion of the test, and what new puzzles await our friends down the line.

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