Future Enemies ｢
Synopsis[]
After the conclusion of the first test, the exam participants have some time to kill in town. What do mages get up to on their days off?[1]
Plot[]
The first stage of the First-Class Mage Exam concludes with six parties having successfully captured and defended a Stille, resulting in eighteen individuals continuing on to the next stage, including Frieren and Fern. Genau notifies them that the next exam will take place in three days and dismisses them.
Stark lazes into the evening at the inn.
The next evening, Stark lazes in bed at the inn. He receives a violent knock on the door and opens it to discover Frieren and Fern, having returned the previous night. Fern questions if Stark was asleep, to which he reluctantly admits, and additionally acknowledges that he drank juice at night. Fern beats him angrily as he profusely apologizes, and she points out that Frieren woke up late as well. Frieren and Stark think of methods to cheer Fern up, and Frieren proposes they eat, using her savings, at a restaurant that she and the Hero Party discovered during a prior visit.
The old lady gives Richter candy.
In another part of Äußerst, Richter manages a magic shop, where he fixes an old lady's lamp. She thanks him and hands him candy. As Richter watches her leave, he is approached by Denken and Laufen, prompting him to tell them that his shop is closed as he needs to rest after being dragged into a fistfight by an old man. Denken invites Richter out to eat, and Richter follows up by questioning what Laufen was doing with Denken and why she was holding a basket of sweets. She responds that Denken bought them for her and did not intend to share, to which Richter asks if she just suddenly became Denken's granddaughter. Richter tells the pair to leave as they no longer have any reason to associate with each other, and Denken reminds him that as a mage, being associated with him may be a good idea. Richter informs them that there are many restaurants in the area they can pick from, but Denken insists and reveals the restaurant he was looking for was one he dined at with his late wife. Hearing this, Richter decides to accept the invite and expects Denken to pay.
Übel casts Sorganeil on Land.
Land passes through an alley and spots a kitten and its mother, though they flee after seeing him. Übel calls out to him and comments on him not using a clone when in town. He asks if they can walk while chatting, which Übel accepts, but she reminds him that she might kill him if he chooses to run. During their conversation, Land asks why Übel chose not to kill Wirbel in the first stage given that she feels no guilt towards killing. She notes that he must have watched their duel and tells him that it was likely due to the fact that she could empathize with Wirbel, specifically regarding his desire to delay a kill. She then uses Sorganeil to hold Land in place and reveals that she can copy another individual's magic if she is capable of empathizing with them, as a person's magic specialization is intertwined with their life and character. She expresses her curiosity towards Land and wonders what kind of life he has lived, given his clones are perfect replicas of himself. Land realizes that Übel is the type of person to use magic purely based on feel and without understanding the actual workings behind it, expressing his distaste for such individuals. He refuses to answer Übel's questions and tells her that if she were to kill him, she would never be able to empathize with him. She decides to free him and states that she is beginning to understand him and wants to continue doing so, then proceeds to follow him.
Denken, Richter, and Laufen arrive at the restaurant.
Denken, Richter, and Laufen arrive at the restaurant, and Richter praises Denken for his taste as the restaurant is the best in town. Denken tells them that although the last time he visited was over fifty years ago with his wife, it still feels identical. Upon entering, they notice Frieren, Fern, and Stark ordering, and Denken tells Richter to leave them be as they should be free to enjoy the food there, and they are at the restaurant for the same reason.
The Hero Party dines at the restaurant.
Frieren and her party receive their food, which immediately cheers Fern up. Frieren receives a massive plate of meat, and she reflects back on her previous dining experience at the establishment with the Hero Party, where the head chef, Lecker, thanked them for retrieving his heirloom knife from demons and promised them the greatest hospitality and reward he could. Frieren ordered a giant plate of meat, which she reasoned was due to her need to savor the taste, as she had frequently been unable to experience the same tastes. Lecker reassured her that the taste at his restaurant will never change, even in the next century or two, but she claimed that chefs say that yet try to leave their mark on dishes and change the flavor. Himmel told her that she could just search for something that tasted even better, and he requested that Lecker guarantee that no flavors will ever surpass his own as their reward.
Frieren's party enjoys their meal.
Fern and Stark excitedly comment on the taste of their food, and when Frieren tries her own, she comments that the taste did, in fact, change. However, she happily notes that she no longer has to pursue better flavors, as her current meal tastes much better than during her previous visit. Now cheery, Fern happily leads the way back to the inn as Frieren laments the depletion of her savings.
During an afternoon, Stark meditates on a cliff outside of Äußerst. An old man stands beside him and tells him that he has nothing left to teach him, leaving Stark alone. Frieren comes up to him and asks who the man was, to which Starks responds that he does not know him. Frieren requests for his help with Fern, who is furious with Frieren for oversleeping and elects to ignore both Frieren and Fern's attempts at communication. She later mentions her desire to eat snacks, to which Frieren and Stark comply.
Kanne teases Lawine.
Kanne observes the hustle of the city from the forecourt of the Continental Magic Association and notices Wirbel scouting out a warrior with Scharf. Lawine shows up in a fancy dress, which she complains is due to her brothers and mother dressing her up upon her brothers returning from the imperial capital with gifts. Kanne teases Lawine, which results in Lawine sitting on her back and pulling on her pigtails. They head to a bakery, where they find Frieren and Stark struggling to pick something of Fern's liking.
Wirbel enlists Stark's help to take down the Fresser.
Kanne and Lawine join up with Frieren's party and head towards the latter's inn, and Frieren introduces them to Stark as her teammates during the first stage of the exam. On their way, Wirbel and Scharf encounter them and receive Fern's permission to take Stark away to deal with a Fresser per a request by the Continental Magic Association, though Stark himself is unenthusiastic.
Frieren, Fern, Kanne, and Lawine hang out at the inn.
At the inn, Kanne offers Frieren a basket of treats to thank her for her help on the first exam. Her words of thanks remind Frieren of how Himmel would frequently aid others and change their lives for the better, even on a small scale, as a way for him to be remembered. Frieren smiles as she watches Kanne, Lawine, and Fern chat and is relieved when Fern's mood improves upon trying the sweets Kanne gifted. Lawine comments on Frieren's inability to wake up during the exam, and Frieren requests that she does not talk about it, lest Fern gets angry again.
Fern, Kanne, and Lawine read the details of the second exam.
Lawine informs Frieren that the exam typically consists of three stages and tells her that they will likely be enemies in the next exam, right as they receive a letter detailing the second exam from a messenger bird. The letter provides the location, date, and proctor for the exam, Sense. Lawine and Kanne comment on their bad luck, as the four exams Sense proctored in the past had no successful examinees. The other candidates receive the letters, and Stark and Wirbel bond while feasting on Fresser meat. Genau and Sense discuss the exam and Genau comments that the exam is rather cruel, however, Sense reminds him that she is a pacifist unlike him.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Locations in Order of Appearance[]
Episode Notes[]
The Swallow Inn in Äußerst.
- The anime includes several original names for various locations around Äußerst:
- "Swallow Inn" for the inn Frieren's Party stays in.
- "Bell" for the restaurant that various parties visit during the intermission between the first and second exam stages.
- "Sun Bakery" for the pastry shop where Frieren, Fern, Stark, Kanne, and Lawine visit.
- When Fern scolds Stark for having juice at night, the drink is depicted twice in the manga: the cover of Chapter 40, where Stark sees it being sold at a market, and the cover of Chapter 46, where Stark consumes the beverage at the inn.
- In the anime, Richter receives sugar cubes from the old lady. This is different from the manga, where he instead receives a wrapped round candy.
- The anime includes a short original scene: when Land walks through an alley, he discovers a kitten and its mother. The cats flee from him, potentially implying that his current body is not real but rather a clone.
- While at the Bell restaurant, Frieren recommends a dish to Stark. This dish—which resembles omurice—is implied to be the same dish that Himmel ordered during the Hero Party's visit to the same restaurant (however, he is pictured with a different dish in the manga). Laufen also orders this same dish.
- In the anime, Wirbel states that the request to subjugate the Fresser came from the Continental Magic Association, while in the manga, it is not explicitly stated.
- In the flashback where a young girl is saved by Himmel, she runs to her parents in the anime, but in the manga, the girl is depicted to be alone.
- The anime includes the full text of what is written on the letter detailing the second exam to the examinees. In the manga, Fern and Lawine simply summarize the contents.
Stark and Wirbel eat Fresser meat while Scharf reads the exam letter.
- In the manga, Stark is shown fighting the Fresser solo as Wirbel and Scharf receive the letters detailing the second exam. In the anime, this scene is removed and instead, Scharf is shown reading the letter as Wirbel and Stark eat the Fresser meat.
- In the manga, Methode is implied to have either knocked out or killed the messenger bird that delivers the letter. In the anime, she is shown to be holding it by its tail feathers as it struggles to escape.
- The ending card of the episode depict an old lady telling a story about the Hero Party defeating a monster through finger puppets. The old lady might be the young girl that Himmel saved, as the finger puppet associated with the monster has a similar appearance to the actual monster that was defeated to save her.
References[]
- ↑ Crunchyroll: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 22.
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| Season 1 | ||
| Episodes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 | |
| Blu-ray&DVD | Volume 1 • Volume 2 • Volume 3 • Volume 4 • Volume 5 • Volume 6 • Volume 7 | |
| Music | The Brave • Sunny • Anytime Anywhere • bliss • Original Soundtrack | |
| Spin-offs | Mini Anime | |