Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 27
葬送のフリーレン
Sōsō no Frieren 27

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

An upset Fern visits Stark outside the city. She tells him that her staff shattered during the second test. However, Frieren suggested tossing it into the trash and buying a new one. Since Heiter gave Fern the staff, she cannot fathom getting rid of it. As a result, she spends the day with Stark, eating off her mood.

Meanwhile, Denken and Laufen visit Richter in his shop. Denken has words for Richter, but they don’t buy anything. To Richter’s chagrin, Frieren shows up with a bag, containing the shattered remains of Fern’s staff. He suggests buying a new one, but gets baited by Frieren into repairing the staff. That night, Fern comes home and discovers her staff repaired.

The following day, the elf mage Serie arrives. She announces that she’s taking over the 3rd round of testing as she feels too many mages survived Sense’s test, thanks to Frieren. When Frieren learns of this, she tells Fern that Serie wants to fail them without cause. However, Frieren believes Serie won’t be able to fail Fern.

Kanne, Dünste, Laufen, Scharf, and Ehre are instantly failed due to their reaction to Serie’s mana output. When Frieren shows up, Serie gives her a chance, but fails her when she says her favorite spell is Flamme’s flower spell. Serie feels the spell is a waste and wonders how Frieren defeated the demon king. Frieren says that without it, she wouldn’t have met her companions, who together defeated the demon king.

Fern shows up. Serie is about to fail her, but then asks what Fern sees. Fern sees fluctuation in Serie’s mana, something no other mage has apparently ever done. As such, Serie offers to take Fern as her student. Fern declines, but Serie passes her anyway.

Thoughts/Review

Another amazing episode in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 27. It is a shame there’s only one more to go.

Fern’s Staff

The first half of the episode is character stuff, mostly centering around Richter and Fern. I remember when I first read the source manga chapter, I thought, “Why does Richter some character work?” However, this is part of his redemption arc, thus setting the stage for when Frieren shows up. Despite how ruthless he was in the testing, Yamada-sensei wanted to show that in his normal life he ran a successful magic shop. Plus, his conversation with Denken was nice.

After that, it is Frieren’s turn with Richter. In some ways, Frieren’s attitude about Fern’s shattered staff is perplexing. After all, Frieren clearly has an emotional reaction when she acquires some magic item or grimoire. And she did have an attachment to the ring Himmel gave her decades earlier. However, in this case, Frieren’s attitude about Fern’s staff is a practical one. She doesn’t quite understand Fern’s attachment to the staff. But she does understand Fern is attached, so she does what she can.

One negative element about this part of the story is a scene Madhouse added. I don’t know if Yamada-sensei approved it or not, and I don’t know if Crunchyroll accurately translated it or not. However, the scene has Fern and Stark returning to the hotel and going past Richter’s show as he’s closing up. He remarks that he would have made more money on selling a new staff. How? Based on the condition Fern’s staff was in, it seems like it would have been more expensive to repair than to replace. 🤷‍♂️

Third Test, Part 1

Serie returns for the second half of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 27. Most of the stuff with her have come from flashbacks. It is interesting how she’s the head of the Continental Magic Association when a thousand years earlier, she didn’t want to have anything to do with leading human mages.

That aside, there’s something so awesome about Serie. Thanks to prior flashbacks, we understand how impressive she is, even if we haven’t seen her do anything impressive. However, the character is designed so well, she gets away with having gravitas without showing her in combat.

Serie has a level of disdain for Frieren since Frieren followed Flamme’s philosophy rather than Serie’s. Yet at the same time, I think Serie respects Frieren, even if she doesn’t understand Frieren. After all, Serie acknowledged that Frieren’s inefficient mana suppression abilities work well when it comes to killing demons. In addition, Frieren’s love of Flamme’s flower spell makes no sense to Serie. Her mind seemed genuinely perplexed that this same spell, is why Himmel sought Serie out for his quest.

Then there’s Fern. Serie constantly complains about taking human students, including Flamme. Yet the moment Fern saw Serie’s mana fluctuation, Serie is once again ready to train another human. 😂 Funny thing is, Serie accepted Fern’s offer rejection quite well, considering Fern did what no one else had done. Either way, Serie is awesome.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 27 gives us really nice character stories, focusing on Richter, Fern, and even Serie. Plus, we get more lovely backstory for Frieren’s relationship with Himmel, which I didn’t cover in the review. Spoilers. 😜