An Era of Humans ｢
Synopsis[]
With the second test behind them, only one remains - but first, Frieren and Fern need to settle an important matter in town. What awaits them in the third test?[1]
Plot[]
Stark notices an upset Fern.
On a cliff overlooking Äußerst, the old man once again tells Stark that he no longer has anything to teach him. The old man departs as Fern approaches, pouting. Stark learns that Fern had another fight with Frieren and asks if they should be arguing given that the third stage of the First-Class Mage Exam is soon. Fern answers that Frieren had been especially unsympathetic this time, as she told Fern to simply buy a new staff rather than try and repair her original one—a gift from Heiter and something she would never consider replacing—after it broke in the Ruins of the King's Tomb. Stark tries to convince Fern that given Frieren's personality, she likely didn't mean what she said.
Lawine allows Kanne to comfort her.
In Äußerst by the Continental Magic Association, Lawine sulks to Kanne after failing the second stage. Kanne offers to pat her head for comfort, and she accepts. They notice Frieren passing by with a bag, and Frieren shows them its contents, consisting of the broken pieces of Fern's staff.
At his magic store, an irritated Richter voices his annoyance with Denken and Laufen's presence and tells them to leave. When Denken responds that he is a customer, Richter requests that he should then be hasty and buy something. Noticing his poor mood, Laufen offers Richter half of her donut, but he rejects it. Denken tells Richter that he was simply unlucky in the second exam, though Richter replies that he accepts his loss and would prefer if Denken does not mention his failure again, as it is still a sore spot for him.
Denken brings up that despite Richter's bad mood, he still opened up his shop, and Richter curtly reminds him that he does not have the luxury to skip out on work simply because of his mood, as he still needs to make a living. He adds on that him being the one failing was likely for the better, as Denken might not be alive by the time the next first-class mage exam occurs. Denken agrees, though Richter requests that he does not.
Denken tells Richter that he used to be like him.
As Denken continues browsing the store, he informs Richter that he exhibits lousy behavior, given that he does not respect authority and is willing to wrong the weak if it benefits him. However, Denken states that he does not hate him for it, as he himself was like that as a younger mage, and despite his behavior, he was able to achieve the status of an Imperial Mage. As such, he advises Richter not to be too pessimistic about his loss, as he will grow to become a far more powerful mage in the years leading up to the next exam. He and Laufen exit the shop, and Laufen apologizes to Richter for Denken's poor people skills, though Richter still questions Laufen and Denken's grandfather-granddaughter dynamic and notices Denken did not make a purchase after all.
Frieren arrives at Richter's shop next, aggravating him. She hands over Fern's staff and asks if Richter can repair it, mentioning that she was recommended his shop by the townsfolk. Richter examines the staff and expresses to Frieren that his shop is not for trash removal, and Frieren responds that the staff isn't trash. Richter declares to Frieren that she ruined his mood after it began improving and elects to exercise his right to reject the job, recommending her to give up on the staff. Frieren acknowledges his decision and tells him to forget it if he isn't capable, which agitates Richter enough that he changes his mind and accepts her request.
Richter repairs Fern's staff.
Richter begins repairing the staff, and Frieren asks if he is ideally able to finish by the third exam, annoying him. As he continues with the repair, he apologizes to Frieren for previously calling the staff trash, pointing out that it was clearly well-maintained and loved.
Stark takes Fern around food stalls, with Fern eating to quell her anger. On their way back to the inn, Fern laments about how Frieren doesn't understand her, and Stark responds that he doesn't either, prompting Fern to get mad at him. He refers to Frieren's effort towards understanding her, and she seems to be trying her best. As they continue back, they notice Richter closing up his shop, and he identifies Fern as Frieren's apprentice and tells her that Frieren gave him a hard time. He discloses that it would have been better profit for him had she simply bought a new staff, and he advises her to take good care of hers.
Fern finds her repaired staff.
Realizing Richter's implication, Fern heads back to the inn and finds her staff on her bed, fully repaired. She sees Frieren asleep on the other bed and recalls a conversation she had with Heiter, where he told her that although Frieren struggles to understand others' emotions, she will still put in the effort to care for Fern, and there are few masters better than her.
On the day of the third exam, the remaining examinees arrive at the Continental Magic Association, where Falsch addresses them. Fern attempts to talk to Frieren about the previous night, but she ultimately decides not to address it. Prior to the gathering of the candidates, Serie arrives at a great hall within the association where the first-class mages Lernen, Genau, Sense, and Falsch are present. Serie questions why she bothered to personally show up for the third exam to Sense, and Sense chooses not to respond, which Serie interprets as her typical silence in messy situations. Serie answers that twelve examinees made it to the third stage, which is far too many, and while she approved a test format that required cooperation, the presence of Frieren led to unqualified candidates passing. As such, these candidates would be killed in the third exam that is typically conducted, which Serie states is something both she and Sense would prefer to avoid.
Lernen compares Frieren's true mana to Serie's.
As Sense tries to apologize, Serie tells her she has no need to, as Frieren is the one at fault. She reveals that she herself will judge the third exam peacefully instead and asks if Lernen, the usual examiner for the third exam, is alright with such a change. He accepts her request and states that he is not qualified enough to test Frieren: he noticed she suppressed her mana during his initial encounter with her, and her true mana is comparable to Serie's. Serie asks Falsch if he had seen it as well, but he declines and cites the lack of mana fluctuation that would typically be seen in suppressed mana. Additionally, he claims that even if Frieren was capable of suppressing her mana to such an extent, training it would take an unnecessarily long time and was not practical.
Serie responds that Frieren has trained her suppression throughout her life as a method to deceive demons like Aura and voices her agreement that practicing suppression to an extent where it would be effective is not worth the time, whereas training other skills would be more practical. She admits, however, that mana suppression could lead to miscalculations that are able to change the outcome of a battle, which is how Frieren has managed to defeat demons. Serie adds that Frieren's mana suppression is precise enough that only the Demon King was able to see through it thus far, though now, Lernen has also achieved such a feat.
Serie tells Lernen he is as timid as his younger self.
Lernen emphasizes that him seeing through the suppression was simply a coincidence, and Serie mentions that he still has the same timid and modest nature as his younger self fifty years ago, when he became the very first first-class mage. She expresses her disappointment, as even though Lernen has managed to grow to such an extent, he has reached old age and likely will not live much longer. Serie begins leaving to conduct the third exam, and she tells Lernen that he might never get the opportunity to fight against Frieren, even if he could win the battle, and she should not take on human apprentices in the future. As Serie heads to the location of the third exam, she finds it disappointing that Lernen never managed to see through her fluctuating mana.
Serie explains why she failed Kanne.
Later on, Falsch reveals to the examinees that their final exam consists of an interview with Serie. Frieren mentions to Fern that Serie will likely try to fail them both, as Frieren is not yet the mage she wants her to be, and she probably intends to pass candidates based on her intuition, given that Serie's intuition is always correct. Kanne is the first to enter for her interview, and Serie immediately fails her. When Kanne requests for a reason why, Serie responds that she shows fright at Serie's mana and cannot envision herself becoming a first-class mage. Dünste, Laufen, Scharf, and Ehre all subsequently fail for similar reasons.
During Frieren's turn, Serie points out that she, too, cannot visualize herself becoming a first-class mage, however, her reasoning is different in that she does not expect Serie to pass her. Serie offers her a chance and asks her to name her favorite spell, which Frieren responds with the spell to produce a field of flowers. Serie recognizes the spell as the one taught to Frieren by Flamme and labels it useless, failing Frieren. Undeterred, Frieren goes to leave, and Serie expresses her disbelief surrounding how someone like her was able to defeat the Demon King.
Frieren shows younger Himmel her flower field spell.
Frieren reminds Serie that defeating the Demon King was an effort made between her and her party members, and they would not have achieved such a feat if they weren't together. Serie responds that she must have been lucky to find a strong party, and Frieren agrees, thinking back to a conversation she had with Himmel where she wondered why she was the mage recruited by him. Himmel confessed to her that they had met in the past when he was lost as a child: Frieren appeared beside him and pointed him in the direction of his village without a word. He considered her cold and detached due to the lack of any other consolation, however, whether through her sensing his thoughts or simply on a whim, she casted the spell to produce a field of flowers, a spell which made him recognize magic as beautiful for the first time.
Given how Himmel was inspired to recruit her, Frieren communicates to Serie that the spell Flamme taught her, which Serie deemed as useless, may have been the reason behind why she found her companions in the first place. Additionally, Frieren suggests that while Serie may try to fail Fern, she will be unable to do so, as Fern will surpass her expectations and the era of humans has begun.
Fern sees the instability in Serie's mana.
Fern enters for her interview, and Serie initially disagrees with Frieren and views Fern to be the same as the other examinees that were petrified by her mana. However, Fern notices the fluctuations in her mana, which delights her. She tells her to become her apprentice, and Fern immediately rejects the offer. Serie asserts that she can bring Fern to heights no mage has ever achieved before, and when Fern asks if her response affects her outcome, Serie implies that it might. Fern thinks of the conversation she had with Frieren before the exam, where Frieren had instructed Fern that she has no need to accept what Serie proposes, as Serie will definitively fail Frieren and pass Fern given that her intuition is always correct. Fern rejects Serie's offer once again, stating that she is Frieren's apprentice. Accepting of her answer, Serie passes her.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Locations in Order of Appearance[]
- Kühl Region
- Ruins of the King's Tomb (flashback)
- Heiter's house in the outskirts of the Holy city of Strahl (flashback)
- Äußerst
- Graf Granat's Domain (flashback)
Episode Notes[]
- When Stark refers to his and Frieren's conversation about the extent to which Fern's staff got destroyed, the manga depicts Stark's recollection of their conversation. The anime does not include this visual.
- In the anime, Kanne and Lawine talk at the forecourt of the Continental Magic Association Northern Branch building complex, while in the manga, they are depicted to be standing on a bridge in the middle of Äußerst.
- While Denken and Laufen browse Richter's shop, Laufen senses Richter's annoyance and offers him a donut in the manga. In the anime, she offers him the remainder of her half-eaten donut.
- The anime includes an original scene where Fern and Stark talk to Richter as the latter closes up shop. In this scene, Richter subtly reveals to Fern that Frieren came by for help repairing her staff, while in the manga, Fern directly returns to the inn after browsing the food stalls with Stark and finds her staff on her bed.
- During the gathering of examinees for the third stage of the exam, Fern attempts to talk to Frieren about what occurred the previous night, but decides against it. This scene is original to the anime.
- The anime shows Serie sitting on a chair inside the great hall when she questions Sense, but in the manga, Serie poses the question when arrives at the hall, with Sense using her hair magic to remove Serie's cloak before Serie sits down.
- When Lernen mentions that he noticed Frieren mana restraint, he recalls the scene of him inspecting Frieren's Holy Emblem in the manga, however, this flashback is not included in the anime.
- When Falsch answers Serie if he noticed Frieren's mana restraint he has a recollection of the time he gauged together with Sense the examinees in the assembly hall and only noticed her having the mana of an experienced mage in the manga, but it is not shown in the anime.
- When Serie talks to her first-class mage apprentices before the third stage of the exam, she describes how Frieren's mana limitation gives her an edge in battle. A sequence depicting Aura's usage of the Scales of Obedience in her confrontation against Frieren is shown to describe this. However, in the manga, Lügner's flashback of his first encounter with Frieren is used instead.
- The anime slightly rearranges the conversation between Fern and Serie, as in the manga, the flashback where Frieren tells Fern that Serie will pass her no matter what she says occurs after Fern declares that she is Frieren's apprentice to Serie. In the anime, the flashback occurs before Fern's declaration.
References[]
- ↑ Crunchyroll: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 27.
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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 | |