I thought we were nearing the end, as we're on episode 10, but there's 28 episodes on Crunchyroll (!) so we have a long way to go. So I might as well go ahead and start my write up!
Frieren, an elven mage over a 1000 years old, was part of the hero's party that defeated the demon king. We don't see that part; we see the after. Being so long-lived, human lives feel like a blink to her and though she spent ten years traveling with her companions: Himmel (a human knight), Eisen (a dwarf warrior), and Heiter (a human priest/cleric), she was always rather distant. After the journey was over, she went traveling--collecting spells is her hobby. She returns many, many years later still the same but Himmel is nearing death and Heiter is quite old too. Eisen is still going, but has aged as well (middle aged dwarf?). They take kind of a last trip together to see some shooting stars and then she disappears again. Himmel dies not long after and Frieren experiences regret that she didn't connect with him more.
So, things happen (I don't want to rehash each bit) and Heiter sort of tricks her into taking on a young girl as an apprentice (Fern) on his death bed. She was an orphan he adopted. They travel together after Heiter's death, with Fern almost being more mature than Frieren as far as waking up on time and trying to keep things on track.
While they travel, they go on kind of mini adventures. Now, mostly, this is not a fighting show. An adventure might be trying to find a particular flower that Himmel really liked so she can cast a spell to create a field of them around a statue of him. They do also some big things too -- like returning to a demon previously sealed by the party years before and Frieren takes him out...the world of magic moved on after he was sealed and he is taken by surprise.
Interspersed in the episodes are flashbacks to the original party, and, after a while, Frieren's master, the legendary mage Flamme. Flamme lived so long ago that she's like a part of the myth of the land. Only Frieren remembers the woman behind the legend.
Part way through, Frieren decides to go to "Heaven" (which is, apparently, a real place far to the North, past the Demon King's fortress) to talk to Himmel. She finds information in an old book of Flamme's that the mage left behind for her to find. Along the way, she and Fern pick up Stark, who was the apprentice of Eisen, who is now a fairly old dwarf.
We're up to the part where Frieren kills Aura, one of the seven sages (demons) of destruction that they had previously driven off or sealed up. Aura thinks that Frieren will be easy pickings as her mana aura is weak...but that's only because Flamme taught Frieren all those years ago to hide her true power to trick demons. When Frieren lets loose, it's practically like the northern lights.
Now they're about to move on farther north, with, I suspect, a detour where Frieren has to get a current mage "certification" as she hasn't bothered to keep them up to date because "they change the requirements so often".
It's an interesting thing, with Frieren being so long lived -- She's like a legend herself, but in a tiny, unassuming package. Both she and Fern are rather deadpan. Stark is more like a puppy. I'm enjoying it. I can see why it's so popular (been seeing it everywhere) as it's a side of the story we seldom get to see. It's the classic hero's journey but not at the same time. It's also about loss and found family and grief.
Will update later after more episodes or finishing it, but it's definitely a good one.
No comments:
Post a Comment