Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 26
葬送のフリーレン
Sōsō no Frieren 26

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

While Frieren and Fern battle the shadow Frieren clone, Lawine and Richter battle the Lawine and Kanne shadow clones. While they defeat them, unfortunately, Shadow Sense attacks, severely injuring them and forcing them to use their escape golems. Denken, Übel, and Land arrive to late to assist. However, Übel believes she can defeat the shadow Sense as hair is meant to be cut.

Meanwhile, the real Sense senses that Übel is battling her shadow clone and knows who will win. She recalls the last time Übel took the test, where she accidentally killed a proctor in spite of his wearing a clock that gave him invulnerability. Übel’s reasoning was that cloth is meant to be cut, thus her cutting magic overcame the defenses.

Elsewhere, Methode heals Scharf and briefs him, Wirbel, and Ehre on the situation. At the same time, Denken, Übel, and Land discover Übel’s shadow clone is back with a Shadow Land. Complicating matters are respawned shadow clones of Lawine, Kanne, and Laufen coming up behind them.

Inside the chamber, Frieren gives Fern her opening to blast Shadow Frieren. The clone takes heavy damage, losing both arms. It hurls Fern into a wall in an instant, shattering her staff and pinning her to said wall. However, this gives Frieren her opening to obliterate the clone. The two enter the next chamber, where Frieren kills the Spiegel, removing the shadows.

Frieren gets caught by a mimic while Sense announces all the survivors have passed the test.

Thoughts/Review

People often refer to the mage battle in the Harry Potter franchise as amazing. I always found them to just be okay for what they were. However, the mage battles in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 26 were off the scale. Obviously on the flashy front, there’s Frieren and Fern vs. Shadow Frieren. Props to Madhouse for making this fight look so good. And to be honest, I’m glad it wasn’t Fern who killed the Shadow Frieren.

On the lesser scale were Übel’s fights. We don’t get to witness her fight with Shadow Sense, who’s a powerful mage. Yet she easily defeats the clone that no one else could, all because Sense’s OP, magical hair is simply something that gets cut to Übel. Further, in the flashback, we see her cut down (without remorse) the proctor from a previous test, all because cloth can be cut. This also shows the flaws in specialized magic — strong in some areas, weak in others.

Naturally, things end on a comedic note with Frieren getting conned yet again by a mimic. In the anime, the implication is that there were several mimics in the treasure room, each one possibly triggered by Frieren.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 26 is an amazing episode. I can’t tell you how many times I rewatched it. There’s plenty of amazing, budget eating action. But there’s also character work for Übel. Sadly, only two episodes remain.