Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 06
葬送のフリーレン
Sōsō no Frieren 06

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

Fern speaks with Stark, where he reveals his injury came from his master hitting him. And though he is afraid of the dragon, he is willing to die to protect the town. Fern recounts her own first experience with a monster and the fear she felt. After looking at Stark’s hands, she believes he will not run. The following day, Stark, Fern, and Frieren go to deal with the dragon. Stark displays his massive warrior skills and pins the dragon, not realizing he slew it on his own.

After receiving thanks from the town, Stark agrees to go with Frieren and Fern for the adventure. They reach the walled city of Waal, where the Captain of the Guard informs them that the checkpoint out of the city to the northern lands is closed due to massive monster activities. Frieren sees this as an opportunity to read and find magic items.

This delay displeases Fern. Eventually, she joins Stark at a pub, where she discovers he agrees with her dislike of the delay. As such, the two try to find a legal way to get through the checkpoint, but can’t. Fern says a barrier prevents them from flying out. Even the underground organizations cannot help them. However, the Castellan recognizes Frieren and apologizes for delaying them. As such, to much pomp and circumstance, the trio are allowed to head north.

Thoughts/Review

I kept the summary short since I’m busy, but Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 06 was another good episode.

The Dragon Slayer

I’ll be honest — I’d forgotten how the dragon problem in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 06 was resolved until the story reached that point. Yes, what Stark did to slay the dragon was pretty fantastical. And yet the moment was earned by showing that Stark did the equally fantastical cutting of a fissure with a poleaxe into a multi-story high canyon wall. As such, it was funny seeing Stark getting angry with the “crappy old woman”, not realizing he’d slain the beast.

We got to see some nice backstory for Stark and Fern at the same time. For Stark, we saw that Eisen took him around as a child, including to Waal. And yet at some point, Eisen his Stark with such force, it gave him a massive scar. This is the part that didn’t make much sense. What was it about Stark that made Eisen so afraid, he’d lash out. Makes zero sense to me, but I’ll let it slide.

For Fern, I like how she went from disdain to respect for Stark. She could relate to him on the fear aspect, considering how she ran from her first encounter with a monster. It wasn’t that she wasn’t trained, she just wasn’t ready emotionally. In the end, she turned and killed the creature. Indeed, she still has problems with fear, as seen in the previous episode and this one.

Finally, I initially didn’t get the see through clothing spell joke. I guess it was because I’m so tired. When I checked the manga, the joke was way more obvious there. Still, naughty Fern, checking out Stark’s package. 😅

No Slacking Off!

The second story in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 06 provided a simple story for Fern and Stark to bond. Frieren made me laugh with her desire to just kick back for a couple of years and do magic research. For Fern and Stark, that’s a long time. We’ve long known of Fern’s dislike of Frieren’s desire to waste time. And that makes sense. After all, two years is a long time in human terms to slack off.

The neat thing about Fern finding an ally in Stark was learning his motivation. He heard the stories of Einsen’s adventures with Frieren, Himmel, and Heiter. As such, Stark wants to have his own adventures to tell Einsen. Thus Fern comes to respect Stark more. Further, the fact that he was willing to turn over every stone to get them out of the town impressed her. As a result, we see them bond over their common objective.

I did feel a little bad for Frieren. Wanting to slack off and do magic research for two years is a bit much. However, I could sympathize with the desire to take it easy for a while. After all, as I write this, I work 70 to 76 hours a week for the last few weeks. 😅 I’m really looking forward to taking a week off.

Finally, there was the moment at the pub when Stark ate his jumbo-berry special. It is funny how large things are when you are a kid, then when you grow up, you discover they weren’t so large after all.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 06 showed that Madhouse could do a better job animating a dragon than they did decades before. Plus, we get a lovely tale of bonding between Fern and Stark.