Sousou no Frieren 2nd Season Episode 2 Discussion

Have you seen what the fanbase is like on Twitter? The whole "total demon death" thing?

@Danpmss Better the autor being well in her health, then anything. Just hope she finishes the story. Besides, i like stories sticking around for lots of time, but the hiatus sucks, but better then the people working on this masterpiece having health problems.

Like this episode more then the last one. The passage of time playing alot of great role on Frieren and how also Himmel party didnt do everything on their own, their win was a series of actions taken by others before them that helped pave the way, action in which are unfortunately somewhat forgotten by history (just like our world). But it was bittersweet to see the people of that village and Frieren remember the Hero of the South.

Frieren and the hero statues, the silliest spell I’ve heard of so far has gotta be the one just for scratching an itchy back, lol. Lowkey shocked that the statue in that village was actually the Humanity's Strongest Hero.

So, is this guy actually cracked enough to outscale Frieren or Himmel? Speaking of Himmel, this is his first appearance in season 2. Facts: the Demon King is cracked, but those 7 Sages of Destruction under him are straight-up terrifying—Aura being one of them. Between the vasectomies and the dispatched prostitution, the heroes in Frieren really be going through it.

Also, don't forget Frieren literally went to that village just to stack some coin. If they had just grabbed the mana crystals in the last episode, she wouldn't even have to stress about coin anymore. If those crystals seal her magic, why not just let Stark carry them? Then Frieren wouldn't have to scrap with some thief demons for literal pocket change

If this isn't a 10/10, what is?

@Viriathus Oh, I do agree in prioritizing a creator's health at all times. I'm a Berserk and HxH fan for starters, a lot of fans just pray for the authors not to leave us before finishing their craft, because in the end, Memento Mori is the real deal.

Nonetheless, it's hard to not get worried when Frieren is getting quite consistent with its long term hiatuses. The writer (Kanehito Yamada) isn't exactly young (around his 50s, his avatar is a mustache gentleman rectangle; from what we know, he is close to the age of Tamiki Wakaki, 53, and he was his assistant during KamiNomi's publication).

The illustrator for Frieren is 30, but our guy is the actual mastermind behind the writing, according to their editor... though Tsukasa Abe is getting just as busy as the writer if not more, especially considering this adaptation.

The both of them are very involved with the anime production, so one could expect these hiatuses to go on for as long as the anime keeps coming out (the longer ones always happen during the anime's airing, so I imagine it has to do with post-production quality checks).

Dissapointed with this season for the moment. Every episode of the first season bringed HUGE value. These two first episodes of season 2 brings nothing to the table, it only rest on the sympathy we have for the characters and the universe.

Episode 1 : they fall into a hole, they get out. They enter an inn, they sleep.
Episode 2 : clean a statue of another hero. Bring back a sword.

The writing of theses episodes is very mid too. You could buy a castle with a stone that negate magic? Yeah just let the stone here on the floor, don't just give it to Stark and make him walk life five meters away till next town (and after this they will obviously have the eternal problem of lacking money...).

The lady demon in episode 2, obviously a demon just by its eyes and the fact that she's hiding behind a cloak. So fuck*ng previsible, 2sec was enough to guess. And the "go bring back sword", "find demon with the sword", "kill demon, bring back the sword". It's literally THIS, no surprise, no nothing. Secondary quest of a mid videogame without the gameplay.

I love the characters, but that doesn't blind me on what they really offered us on theses episodes. Very concerned about what's coming next

@MatsuPawa When you look at the plot at this generalized surface level, sure, little actually happens during their travel, this is also true for a whole lot of Season 1 (Frieren only gets plot-heavy in the bigger arcs).

But it's definitely not where the substance in the show lies though, in any way whatsoever. That would be the nuanced character progression and the world-building every time of the day (especially the former), they are the real meat of the storytelling and why people like it so much.

In Episode 1, we have the introduction of anti-magic stones, why it's a bad idea to bring them along regardless of riches it may provide (a bit of a cautionary tale of incalculable risk vs murphy's law vs unworthy greed), given that quite immediately after, they get into a situation where Stark not being close to them could have led to serious injuries or potentially death.

We also had some deepening over character's insecurities and how the group dynamics mitigate them in a rather harmonious way, Fern's phobia of not being able to sense mana and therefore not be able to protect herself and others, when she spent her entire life dedicating herself to mage-craft (which is the main reason why the group immediately discarded the idea of carrying the stone in the first place), as well as Stark's own fearful nature, which is mitigated by Himmel's influence in Frieren, who saw no problem in running away when it was judged to be too much for any of their companions, included their very frontrunner, very akin to Stark's own situation, and serving as his parallel quite a few times in the story so far.

And of course, we had some progression in Stark feeling awkward to voice his own worries and feelings as the only male companion to two mages that are mostly doing their own thing, while he gets sidelined whenever it becomes something central to the plot (which in itself is a clever meta way of addressing the lack of importance poor Stark had in the previous arc, since of course, he is no mage). Which directly leads to Fern's own romantic progression in regards to his feelings towards them (albeit ending in a comedic note, this progression does have many follow-ups to come).

That's not even all of it, we also have poignant moments like Fern trying to explain to her more objectively the reason for her human sentiments of caring for each and every gift she receives from the people around her and the amount of care she has for each object, concluding the storyline in which she got upset with Frieren for not understanding just that in the previous arc, when she suggested her to just get rid of her staff. Frieren of course appreciates the insight, because this entire journey is about her coming to a better understanding about this in particular.

And most of these are addressed in a show-don't-tell way that packs quite a bit of complexity EVEN when they directly word those quite specifically so that even a child-like immortal Frieren (usually lost when it comes their sentimental perception of humanity) can understand. You can take several of these notes even in the body language the characters use to express themselves (take for example how Fern moves, looks and touches her precious gifts).

Fern being a very reserved character with some inherited emotional immaturity from being raised by Frieren also gets to progress in her own way while taking her time to help Frieren understand her feelings explicitly describing them, and it has been another character thread going on ever since they spent months in a single place doing mundane things very early in Season 1.

As for episode 2, the entire background of the Hero of the South and how it influenced both Himmel and Frieren in the past (as well as the commentary on how his expectations of how history would forget about him for failing to be the hero Himmel would become in his stead, contrary to how celebrated he otherwise became) is another cautionary tale of how chivalrous pride may destroy one's noble notion of what you think you deserved to be remembered as by your efforts, when humanity usually remembers you by your actions and intentions regardless of their successes.

The second half also addresses how important it is for Frieren to keep protecting and repairing what her companions achieved in the past and may have become lost as the decades passed, which is yet another reason why she keeps making sure to not only accept all requests, even ones related to people she dislikes, under the possibility of one of them being caused by one of their past deeds being invalidated.

There's actually more to talk about in Episode 2, but those are the major points that already have a whole lot of substance by themselves, they could have used an entire episode for any of these two chapters and they would still have quite a bit of flesh on their own.

I thought the animation was lower in quality compared to the expectations Frireren's set for its baseline. The CG puppets especially threw me off, and the explosions' lighting was off and looked incongruous with the style.

@Danpmss You just wroted a lot of nothing like a fan would in my opinion.

Obviously the author wrote the content of theses episodes with an intention behind, I'm not stupid I got "all" of that (we are talking anime not Dostoïevsk). But your very long response doesn't make theses episodes this profound. Factually, everything you said we already knew from season 1. Stark lack of confidence, while Frieren and Fern rely on him. Fern and Stark having difficulty to communicate with each other. Frieren honoring the memories of her old friends... All of this, season 1 already did it better while still making significant progress in the plot.

Hero of the South is cool, but in that context it's just a random lore dropped out of nowhere. You can't say it was impossible to find a better moment to talk about him, a more organic and impactful moment relevant to the story.

Again, the author did try something. The action of writing is not random. Just in my opinion, it didn't succeed as much as in season 1 or was simply irrelevant.

@Vindicater
Its not a filler. I dont know what that user is on about. Its literally a 1:1 adaption of chapter 63 and 64 of the manga.
Nearly panel for panel.

Insert look up Frieren here

What a shit episode. S2 is already so much worse in every way in comparison to S1.

With regards to @Danpmss and @MatsuPawa's discussion, I found these two episodes a decided breath of fresh air. I loved them. Most importantly, I'd had enough of the show belittling Stark. These outings very much rehabilitated him. I don't think that this pair of episodes said "less" than most "low action" episodes of season one, and not airing them would maybe have, you know, been ignoring the manga...

Fern: "Wow there are a lot of statues of Himmel aren't there?"
Me: "Well, it worked for Kim Jong-Un..."

But it's actually a different hero statue this time, of some generic looking medieval guy with a twirl-able mustache, so the episode immediately launches into a flashback and I swear- the entire first 15 minutes of the whole episode was just a massive exposition dump about this unnamed Hero of the South who we'll never see again and my God was it boring. I had high hopes for this season I really did.
So then they go to generic looking village and get invited to generic looking castle where another bland guy says he has a job for the adventurers to go get his family's magic sword from the Sword Demon. Was this written by a 5 year old?

They go searching and come to a ruined village and there's a woman there hiding by a tree.
Me: "It's the demon"
Demon: "Oh I'm a priest visiting the ruins to pray.."
Fern: "Oh look she's a priest" ... Fucking really? First Class mage and gullible as a dog. How did Fern not sense her mana? Demons don't hide it remember! Because they like to flaunt their power- I remember this from S1 because I actually watched it... oh but that's okay nobody noticed
Woman says she's praying, Frieren points her staff at her "Nuh uh you're demon chick"
Me: "Yep told ya so"
They fight in what was the only entertaining 3 minutes of the episode, then take the sword back to generic castle to present to generic gentleman dude.
Yawn.
2/5 way too much walking and talking, unnecessary exposition on an irrelevant character, action over before it starts, pretentious closer again.

@SuperAdventure you really dont understand the message of hero of the south, if it is not your cup of tea dont even try it. also you want non elite demon to have long fights, how funny you are

It is still worse than season 1, but at least it got interesting now. Still making it 9.30 after 2 episodes is fanboys crap. I rewatched few minutes of episode one and still say episode 1 is garbage, same as OP and ED animation - cheap for the money they earned already.

1. Nice add of Hero of the South, but wait does it mean Himmel party was not so great as it was shown in season 1?
2. Either the translation is wrong or they really named Demons as Seven Sages.. You CANNOT name bad people as sages!
3.The part with Hero of the South past was nice, but still kinda cheap plot because "destined two future seeing enemies clashed and killed each other"? Well at least it is kinda original for anime.
4. I like how Frieren explained why she accepted the sword quest.
5. the joke with Stark not catching any big fish is sad and not funny, will they keep repeating it whole season?..
6. the fight was really good in terms of speed and how it went, but the animation was poor, like this dust, Frieren spells or details like eyes not being drawn, and I hoped it would last longer as it was the best part of this episode.. really not fit a somehow ranked 9.30 anime..

really animation like this in 2026.. it looks like some Naruto, for the money they got the studio should do better, but I guess they peak was No Game No Life or High School of the Dead, but on the other side they made this garbage anime Sonny Boy or crap animation one punch man.. It could be enjoyed max before 2020

@Love_And_Forward Not airing them would be detrimental to the story, period. Frieren is a slow burner, and there's a healthy amount of character building happening even while there's not much going on.

Quite a few people are critizing this very same approach from Season 1 (and saying Season 2 sucks in comparison) out of spite for the high score it currently has, honestly. It's literally more of that same storytelling in every way.

Not exactly the most intelligent way to try to deflate the hype of a rather famously consistent manga/anime overall (while there are peaks in the writing, even during downtimes the story is quite solid, in terms of general content), that's a big reason why it is getting a score just as high as the previous season out of the gate (...another being people thinking we are getting to Golden Land lol).

And yeah, likewise, I do love that immediately following an arc in which Stark had barely any spotlight, the author compensated that by giving him a whole lot more focus and reinforced his importance within the main cast. I wouldn't have it any other way, it was very satisfying to read and watch.

@World_Sense the phrase is "Threw me off" not "through". Kinda makes pulling out the thesaurus to look intelligent fall flat on its face

I thought the animation was lower in quality compared to the expectations Frireren's set for its baseline. The CG puppets especially threw me off, and the explosions' lighting was off and looked incongruous with the style.