Sousou no Frieren – Episode 22

Episode Synopsis:

Fern gets mad at Frieren and demands snacks. This leads them to a famous restaurant in town that jogs Frieren’s memories of her time with her previous party. Denken gathers his teammates from the first test and together they gather in the same place, wherein everyone enjoys good food. Übel chats with Land, Kanne and Lawine bring cookies to Fern and Frieren, and Stark gets taken offscreen for some manly hunting time. Basically, everyone takes it easy in this episode.

Review:

Episode 22 is hard to write about because it’s a lull in the action beats the story has been presenting so far. It splits its time between all the characters we’ve come to know in the first test, and sprinkles in some character bits about each of them (Denken is a widower, Richter’s actually a nice guy who runs a repair shop(?), Übel’s magic is feel-based). Before I get into anything about this episode I LOVE the fact that Fern’s anger can be pacified by snacks. Home girl is after my heart right there because that’s exactly how I am.

Okay let’s just get this outta the way, for those of you who are here for the best friends date-a-palooza, here you go.

Aaaaaand then it’s over, just as quick as it began. Lovely…

As a whole, I don’t mind some down time. If we are going to be stuck with all these new characters for a bit, it’s nice to get to spend some time with them. When there are high stakes later on, this will give me incentive to care more than I did during the first test. Since there are so many characters in play, this episode is spread a little thin, so we don’t get a lot of time with any one group. I think these scenes are here mostly to just establishes what appear to be alliances for future episodes (Team Denken seems like they’ll stick together, and Übel seems weirdly into Land (likely so she can steal his powers)).

The one common thread I did find fascinating about all these groups though, is that everyone seems like a genuinely good (or in Übel’s case, we’ll just go with maybe…nuanced(?)) person. Given the first test, I expected some of these mages to be more…bloodthirsty, I guess? Since that “wish for any spell one desires” is on the line, I would have thought more of these people would be out to get a First Class Mage certification at the expense of all those around them.

I almost was ready to complain about this episode being unnecessary for me personally because I want to get back to my main trio, but the discussion in the restaurant, and the cute girl party at the end of this episode made it all worth it. Frieren reminiscing about her time with Himmel and Co. in the restaurant was such a heartwarming moment. Life always changes, and when it does perhaps it’s for the better (or so we always hope). In this way, even though we are concerned about change, it can be rewarding to embrace it, with the end result being a whole new amazing experience. Also damn, the food in the this show looks delicious. It’s a good thing I am always eating dinner with my hubby when I watch these, or I’d be getting a fierce stomach growl.

The second lovely part of the episode was this:

It’s always worth it to see Frieren smile like this. These moments remind us that the crux of the show is, and hopefully will always be, the experiences Frieren is having on this journey. Also, I’ll admit that despite my reservations about Kanne and Lawine, it was very cute to watch them hang out with Frieren and Fern. Good recovery you two.

As a last note, I adore the little montage of everyone getting their messenger birds for the second test. There’s a lot of personality infused into just these singular moments, continuously proving this show knows how to write great scenes. As alluded to previously when mentioning the character tidbits, I am always impressed with what this show manages to do with just a short scene or a line of dialogue. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually like some of these people by the end of this shounen arc?

Summary:

A very calming episode all around, and we get to spend some down time with all these new characters. Perhaps I’m starting to come around on some of them, or perhaps I just love seeing Frieren smile. Either way, I’m not sharing my donuts with you and I’m curious what the next test will entail.

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