Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 24
葬送のフリーレン
Sōsō no Frieren 24

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

Genau and Faisch discuss the ancient monster that lives at the bottom of Ruins of the King’s Tomb, called a Spiegel. It reads the memories of folks in the dungeon, then creates “shadow clones”, complete with the original’s powers and skills. They also have physical substance. In the dungeon, Shadow Frieren forces Denken’s party to retreat.

Elsewhere, Land is out of action with a deep cut across his chest from Shadow Übel. The clone has Land’s bottled golem, meaning he cannot escape. Übel gives her golem to Land and attacks. However, she loses due to luck of the draw. Land shows up, distracting Shadow Übel long enough for Übel to defeat the clone. Übel reveals she put land into a situation to force his hand, revealing his injured body was a clone.

Meanwhile, Frieren shows her superior dungeon crawling experience by uncovering a hidden stairway, leading to a unique, historical find. She, Fern, and Sense descend, where they find Denken’s party outside a large door. They brief her on the situation. Frieren sizes up her shadow clone through a hole in the door. Methode confirms that Frieren is resistant to hypnosis or restraint magic.

At another part of the dungeon, hypnosis expert Edel and her companions Biei and Dünste hide from Shadow Sense. They discuss the situation until Shadow Sense finds them and attacks. This gives Edel a chance to use hypnosis on Shadow Sense. However, she discovers the clone has no mind. It stabs her in the chest, forcing her to use her golem to flee.

Wirbel’s party is pinned down, but he thinks of a way to win. Meanwhile, Fern thinks she can defeat Shadow Frieren.

Thoughts/Review

There’s just so much awesomeness in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 24. This sub-arc about the second test really gives the feel of what it might actually be like to dungeon craw in an RPG. And you know, I may end up writing a tad more today as a result.

Übel and Land

I mentioned this previously, but I really like the dynamic between Übel and Land. That continues in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 24. She’s given him the name “Megane-kun” since megane is the Japanese word for glasses. And he’s pretty much accepted it. I suspect that’s because she’s just teasing him with the name since he wears glasses. Were there malicious intent, which the official “four eyes” adaptation gives me, then he might not be so receptive.

Regardless, I do think that Übel’s interest in Land goes beyond her simply wanting to learn his cloning magic. (I am current with the manga.) Because he uses cloning magic, he’s able to keep his distance from folks. Further, he acts uninterested in Übel from a romantic aspect. In my experience, the more hard to get the guy is, the more a girl becomes interested in him.

Nevertheless, I love how Übel wasn’t even sure if his wounded self was a clone or not. Despite this, she played a hunch and proved herself right. This lead to a rather fun battle between Übel and her shadow clone. Really have to give Madhouse mad props (har!) for how well they are doing the battles that happen. That said, they are almost like an old, married couple.

Frieren and Fern

Frieren’s party in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 24 continues to be the best representation of clearing a dungeon to 100%. I love that smug look Frieren had when her hunch about a hidden door proved correct. She didn’t get the treasure she was hoping for, but the mural on the wall. So adorable as Frieren watches her all but adopted daughter Fern’s response ended up being treasure enough.

Speaking of adorable, pouting Fern returns to save her all but adopted mom from the hands of the hypnotist, Methode. 😂 Even though Methode simply tested a theory with Frieren’s permission, Fern just wasn’t happy with it, more so when Frieren hugged Methode and said she smelled nice. 😂 No one’s stealing Fern’s master!

And speaking of the master, I got a kick out of Frieren smiling with pride when Fern said she might be able to kill Frieren, meaning the shadow clone. Like all good parents and masters, they want their child/apprentice to surpass them. And if Fern can do what she claims, then she will have surpassed Frieren in some regards.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 24 with some final thoughts.

• Edel’s party got some time on screen, even if Edel’s now out of the test. However, it did provide some additional exposition as to the nature of the shadow clones.
• Wirbel’s shadow clone party pinned down the real party. However, it was to keep us abreast of what they were up to.
• Lawine and Kanne merely got a cameo to show them progressing in the dungeon. Ditto the arrogant Ton, who’s alone and apparently lost.
• The fact that Genau and Faisch knew what creature lived in the dungeon surprised me. It makes me wonder why the Mage Association hasn’t dealt with the problem. On the other hand, it suggests Sense knew what was in the dungeon and wanted to see how the test takers dealt with the situation.

In the end, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 24 continues the amazing storytelling we’ve come to expect from this series.