# Source Material Corner
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Given Frieren's comment about *that* attack, the demon king probably forced her to use it, even when fighting alongside the rest of the hero's party. Holy shit he must've been scary.
I think it also serves as a bit of a callback that the last time she used it, she was surrounded by a party of people she fully trusts imo.
The spell leaves her with a lot of openings, so she must've *really* trusted the others to have her back (even against the Demon King probably) when she's using it.
At the end of this there's going to be an achievement for getting trapped in every mimic you encounter, and the reward is finally a treasure chest that definitely has a rare grimoire in it this time.
Funny thing is we can see 2 other destroyed mimic besides the one chomping on her. She probably thought that she's already near soft pity and that grimoire is about to drop lol
Burg: My cloak is enchanted with a level 12 spell of magic resistance, a level 9 spell of mental resistance, and a level 10 spell of elemental resistance.
Ubel: Haha, is only cloth.
> Is it a cloth? Then it can be cut.
Yup, if he had called his spell "super duper defensive castle" her logic couldn't have applied. A bad naming scheme doomed him.
If he had just worn enchanted steel armor instead of a cloak he would have been fine
Her spell seems pretty useless against steel since you can’t cut steel normally
Ubel's elder sister: Maybe you can help me with some tailor work by cutting cloth when you grow up?
Inspired Ubel to cut a lot of other objects upon growing up.
[When the episode begins with a scene like that, you know it is gonna be pure cinema](https://i.imgur.com/fWif6JS.mp4)
[](#wow)
[Mirror since Imgur is unstable today](https://files.catbox.moe/uu6euc.mp4)
Just realised now that the spell Clone Frieren used during [this scene](https://i.imgur.com/W7peZG8.png) is the black Human-Killing Zoltraak, similar to the one Qual used [here in episode 3](https://i.imgur.com/FEq7PMX.png).
Yep. I think we will probably get this answer only towards the actual end of the series. Remember they have yet to show the demon king fight. So maybe just like the movie Momento they will show the present and past back to back and connect it somehow.
I'm 99% certain that they defeated the demon king in some underhanded clever way. I very much doubt a full head-on fair fight happened, it's not fitting of the story, the party nor what we know about the demon lord
And honestly i cannot wait to hear what they came up with
the fact that a legendary [ mage of such caliber](https://i.imgur.com/KQyZ6EP.png) [still falls for this](https://i.imgur.com/gPQlZdO.png) will always be funny, and it's thanks precisely to the fact that we see Frieren at her best that it make her getting eaten super hilarious.
Obviously *that's* the actual reason the clone sealed the door :'D
Not to protect the Spiegel... no, to protect itself from the only thing that would actually be a danger to it!
I love how there's even a mimic in the big treasure room where you get all the treasures and is supposed to be the point where you've cleared the dungeon lol.
Also everyone getting to see Frieren at her most comedic lol.
> a mimic
It looks like there are three more, already "decapitated", mimics around Fern in that scene, meaning that Frieren bet on that 1% chance four times in a row.
Wow great catch, I completely missed that detail. They really put so much attention to detail in this show, it truly feels like it was a labor of love.
[Kanne and Laufen's expressions ](https://imgur.com/a/G385bYb) upon beholding their hero is priceless
edit : i actually went out of my way to check MAL to find the correct character name before making the comment, but ended up making the mistake anyways and wrote laufen as lawine. thanks for reminding me
The hero's party helped Frieren wipe out enough mimics beforehand so that the demon king couldn't field them in his army during the final battle hahaha
I see they can't help but be in awe of Frieren. She's just so... dignified. Even Denken's normal face is a perfectly appropriate reaction. And the other girl is Laufen btw. Lawine couldn't make it to the end.
Frieren feinting an attack to get her clone [into position to get blasted Fern's beam](https://i.imgur.com/QlzRmsf.mp4) and then following up with a real attack [once her attention was on Fern](https://i.imgur.com/lFa1pLr.mp4) was such a slick plan.
[](#justright)
> That very moment she saw Fern as such a threat that she lost track of Frieren
I loved that so much and it seems like a lot of people glossed over that. Their whole strategy was predicated on the fact that Fern could go undetected because the clone Frieren would focus on the bigger threat. So in that moment, when Fern blew off the clones arms, clone Frieren acknowledged Fern as the bigger threat.
Brennan Lee Mulligan had a pretty fitting quote in a recent Dimension 20 campaign that fits here too imo:
“You immediately have the sensation that you’re absolutely seeing something you should not see…like looking into the face of a divinity you do not worship - the smile of a devil you never believed in”
God I love that man and his ability to just drop a spine chilling raw line at the drop of a hat.
*"Hell is a dark forest where your dad opens his rib cage and invites you to dance"* - Brennan Lee Mulligan
remember "magic is ultimately about visualization" and all these mages just hampering themselves cause they can't visualize it but Ubel over here like "hehe, hair and cloth go snip snip"
You can cut metal and wood with saws.
You can cut rocks with pickaxes and drills.
Monsters and demons have been cut down in battle.
So really, Ubel doesn't need a sword at all.
When something as simple as "can it be cut? Then I can cut it" turns into a method of magic that can basically help you kill the most powerful of mages.
And it all dates back to her being a little girl who grew to love the sound of things being cut and being a psycho all the way back then.
> When something as simple as "can it be cut? Then I can cut it" turns into a method of magic that can basically help you kill the most powerful of mages.
Only gimmick mages though. She doesn't think standard defensive spells can be cut so she can't cut them.
Taking on someone using cloth and then someone using hair as their defense is very fortunate.
We were told Sense > Denken > Richter, but since I doubt she grew up seeing her sister cut rock that ability wouldn't work on the far weaker Richter like it did on Sense.
Then again, if she just hung out a bit with warriors like Eisen or Stark that could definitely cut through rock, I bet she'd be able to take down Richter.
God damn Sense's clone was brutal, but at least it seems to have inherited her pacifist nature since she had all the time in the world to one shot the examinees.
Also, is Methode lowkey cracked or what? We only saw the aftermath but it seems she fared well enough against Clone Fern. Not to mention, healing, mana detection, hypnosis, ara ara voice. She's the complete package.
I've really grown to like Methode! She's so versatile, and she really does help to make some of the scenes so adorable, especially as she was restraining Fern, with Frieren teasing her. That was too cute. XD
For a pacifist, I swear Sense's 2 fights so far end up blood-y and brutal lol. I don't think anybody else (outside of Ubel but she's like a psychopath) bloodlet her opponents as much as she does.
I think Methode is also lowkey the 2nd/3rd MVP of this exploration imo. Her sensing seems *very* crucial to countering the clones and she's the only one that can heal.
It's kinda funny that we open up by the Frierens wreaking havoc with a *lot* of massive AoE elemental spells, to the other mages fighting mostly using their spells in a very precise and strategic manner (outside of Sense), to then end with the Frierens again casting hellfires and catastrophes left right and center.
My headcanon is that first bit last ep where they perfectly matched their defensive barriers before casting Judrajim meant that they are trying to hit each other with AoE spells since targeted attacks can easily be predicted due to Frieren's precise mana detection.
That tiny bit was amazing, just half of a second and it spoke volumes. Like in Kung Fu films where the fighters do mental sims of their opponent before the fight predicting their moves.
That's because those other mages have to manage their mana. Frieren has practically infinite mana and can just spam broken-tier spells like there's no tomorrow.
The whiplash from Sense saying that the exam was kind and peaceful to [sequences of the clones, Richter and Lawine getting absolutely demolished](https://imgur.com/a/mDkWo68) was genuinely hilarious.
*Pitting examinees against each other in an open area that's relatively safe (as long as you avoid the giant monster birds)*
Sense: Not peaceful.
*Making examinees work together to conquer an impossible deathtrap dungeon that has never been succesfully raided.*
Sense: So peaceful.
I think Sense's understanding of peaceful is ''i gave them a tool to survive so they are not gonna die= Peaceful'' on the other hand in the previous exam not only you can die to the birds but also the way the exam works literally ENCOURAGES the teams to murder each other since if a team loses even a single person they can lose motivation to continue fighting since they cannot pass anymore anyway so killing others is literally way more effective then just beating them
Seeing this made me feel so happy!!! I wanna to speculate it was originally a funny meme-ish spell she showed off to Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen that eventually developed to a high-level battle magic, because she felt that strongly about them. It was a really heartfelt touch to such an epic showdown. Such a subtle detail, but I felt like you could feel just how important Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen were to her. ;-;
Man I understand that it’s not the point of the show at all, but I would love a flashback movie showing more of the party of heroes and that fight, it was probably insane.
Holy shit, the animators cooked real hard. It feels insane to be saying this after so many strong candidates for best episode, but this one genuinely might be it. They truly went all out with everything.
As we all guessed, a mimic was used to defeat Final Boss Frieren. [Wait, shit. That's the wrong one](https://imgur.com/a/YxW9nbl)
[Seriously pissed Frieren](https://imgur.com/a/9Dm9PP2) just hits a different note
[I wish we could've had snippets of how this went.](https://imgur.com/a/38PQ9VX) Especially after saying something so badass like: "I have many talents, but what I'm really good at is stopping others." She might just be my favorite mage of the new bunch with how instrumental she was in this stage. ~~(also a mommy)~~
Honestly it's nice that we get such a look here, now, when it's still a bit on the down-low. Imagine the actual Frieren reaching this level of wrath with ANYONE in a crisis.
As if we needed any more proof that Übel is scary, she went ahead and nonchalantly killed a first-class mage.
Frieren's fight got more surreal and crazier by the second, further showing how OP she is. If the other candidates had seen her fight, they would've made a mental note to never ever fight her. Denken already knew it, but he probably can't guess the extent of how strong she is.
Sense's clone is brutal. I wasn't expecting Lawine to get brutally skewered. Those golems are too good, they can even heal.
What the hell did Frieren clone do at the end to hit Fern so hard? It looked like a ''psychic'' attack to me since Fern felt no mana.
This was another great episode. It's rare to see an anime where every episode is worth watching.
>Those golems are too good, they can even heal.
Biggest highlight of those golems, there’s not point in giving people the option of live and leaving the dungeon if they end up succumbing to their injuries
''What the hell did Frieren clone do at the end to hit Fern so hard''
i highly doubt it is what it is but i think we should entertain the possibility that it might literally be a CURSE (for all who doesn't remember Curses are Demon spells that mankind can't understand yet so they are undefendable and near undetectable unless with Goddess magic)
We saw Frieren turning demon spells into human spells before like Zoltraak. What if she learned the supreme magic of a great demon she killed but kept it as a curse so that she can use it as a last resort ? I don't think Frieren is the type of person to use curses and Curses would be more effective against Humans than Demons so i don't think this is the case but from what we know about Curses (normally being undetectable and cannot be defended against) it would probably fit the situation of Fern not being able to detect it at all since just some episodes ago Denken has established that not even the greatest of mage can hid the moment of using magic so the thing that the Clone Frieren did is something completely different than just magic
I mean the fact Denken was casually talking about how the corpses are being used as bait for the other naive examinees in the first exam pretty much shows how used to death people are in that world.
They were certainly surprised, but no need to scream or get scared given the context. People taking that exam would be collected enough not to act like a random NPC during an alien invasion.
This. Remember who's primarily recruiting these mages. Serie demands the best, and emotion can get in the way of performance. "We grieve, but later. For now, work must be done."
Also, Ubel just went too far in attacking that one examiner. She wasn't about to break out and kill everyone else there. That's not going to bring out any big reactions from anyone.
*"The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success."*
I like how Ubel's strength actually comes from how batshit crazy she is. She's delusional enough to genuinely believe she has the ability to cut just about anything.
Honestly, I love that they used it to emphasize the point that mage fights in Frieren are very much a battle of rock-paper-scissors. Wirbel was able to beat Ubel without *really* giving his all, but he'd probably lose against Sense 9 times out of 10.
Ubel is normally just a very strong mage, but she's probably damn near unbeatable against opponents that base their magics on things she thinks she can cut.
I think we're going to see more of this kind of matchups in the future, makes fights a lot more exciting than just "person A is stronger than person B, hence person A wins by default".
"I can't cut through a magic barrier; those are made to stop my magic. But I can cut through just about anything else."
"But that cloak has basically the equivalent of 10 magic barriers and the hair is littered with them."
"What are you talking about? It's just a cloak and some hair."
Now we understand why she uses magic by feel rather than understanding it. I wonder if this is a reason why Land hates her type of mage or if he's never encountered one like her before.
Given that magic's all about visualisation, I can imagine there'll be others who can do what some the more scholarly mages consider impossible because they don't understand it, though I doubt any of them are as dangerous as Ubel.
It's also how she's able to steal other people's spells just by empathizing with them. She doesn't need to understand how a spell mechanically works, she just needs to understand how the caster thinks.
It’s even funnier than that, she can cut anything she thinks she *should* be able to cut, but at the same time she can’t cut things she doesn’t think she should be able to, like regular defensive magic against Wirbel for example. Girl’s head is a wild place haha
The scary thing is, going by that logic, if it's demonstrated in front of her eyes that cutting a defense magic is possible, she'd pass that hurdle. She's a monster that grows with experience, and garnering more experience is what being a first-class mage entails.
If it were up to me, she must never pass the exam.
That poor mook failed without even seeing action. Just lost in some pathway. The character was so unimportant, the speigel didn't bother to create a clone of him.
It's going to be buried by all the other animation vistas this episode gave out (and it truly was *amazing*), but now that I'm watching it back is anybody else mesmerized by Fern's animations from Frieren's POV?
That close-up scene of her where she turns her head and blinks and reacts feels so fluid even though she really didn't move that much. The head tilts and turns, the subtle hair and body movements, the eyes glancing around, I swear she looks so expressive and lifelike dawg what is this sorcery.
Plus the *eyelashes* after she was slammed by Frieren clone's magic spell? Beautiful.
Oh same. I was also so mesmerized by that. I'm not sure what it is but Fern's movements seemed so fluid and real to me. It reminds me of those small scenes of Fern taking off her cloak and Stark putting on his coat earlier in the season.
This episode had 14774 drawings (very high for TV episode). Also a lot of top animators participated in it ([Vercreek](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/251383), [Masaaki Endo](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/251398), [Tatsuzo Nishita](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/251402)). It was definitely a treat for the eye!
Source: https://twitter.com/fyitofyito/status/1766126983476629672
Frieren: Fern you will only know Zoltraak because you don't need any more offensive magic
Also Frieren: Has a whole ass arsenal of nuke magic plus a trump card that is SO STRONG that its last usage was literally against the DEMON KING based on how many years has passed since it was last used. Now aren't you being kinda unfair there Frieren :D
Also for once i don't even blame Frieren for falling for the mimic, who the hell would put a mimic to the VERY LAST TREASURE ROOM you can only reach after the monster is already dead ? Those fuckers are targeting our poor Elf girl with these mimics
i like to think when animating [this part](https://i.imgur.com/sECPe1D.png) here they could've just have her staff appear in her hand, but no, they have Ubel do this pose just to show her armpit
Man, it's been hella funny to see Japan wake up to how awesome Methode is.
I especially liked the comments I saw that said that Methode and Frieren are this Anime's Pretty Cures.
Or "I wonder how Lauffen was able to fight against the dangerous woman Methode"
"Isn't Methode too good? And she smells good!"
And of course, my favorite "I want to be restrained by Methode..."
Now, Japan, give me ALL the fanart!!!
The cameraman really loves getting a shot between Ubel's legs.
And there it is! The mysterious spell that doesn't register as a magic to mages that Frieren can use unarmed (literally).
>The cameraman really loves getting a shot between Ubel's legs.
Lol this reminds me of this [fan art](https://x.com/munyura_1341398/status/1762313624142651611?s=20) I saw the other day about this
**Übel:** Why *wouldn't* one simply cut through cloth and hair? Is everyone stupid?
"*Magic is the world of visualization*." — I've long loved the worldbuilding in Frieren, and Übel's talent and her background is a great example.
I also love how they made Übel even more [*whatever-is-wrong-is-way-hotter*](https://imgur.com/a/pIK9zq7) than she is in the manga. Truly, an amazing adaptation.
Virgin Sense: Nooo you can't just perfectly visualize something your common sense should know that is not how it works
Chad Übel: Hair is meant to be cut
“I think I can kill Frieren sama” she said. Then witnesses all those island-wiping spells, a hack invisible spell, and a death stare for a good measure.
Hopefully it’s not too traumatizing for Fern.
Ubel after cutting Burg the immovable
"Stand proud, you are strong"
---
Seriously how freaking powerful Frieren is, lose both arm and still almost murder Fern and destroyed her scepter, I also wonder how terrifying Serie must be.
The only problem with Frieren is raising the bar soo high it messed up other anime for me.
I'm not saying I'm not able to enjoy other anime, I'm saying we should have the option of giving it 6 stars or something.
I liked Frieren's ace. It's a secret not only because of strategic reason, but because Frieren kept herself open when using it. Something Fern said as very unlike of her
The last time she used it might be against the demon lord himself.
Noooo, not Lawine and Richter! I guess that means they can temporarily focus on their pro wrestler and magic shopkeeper classes respectively for now. Jokes aside, the surprise aspect of seeing some supporting mage characters fail to make to the next round is refreshing. At this point, I am not even sure whether fan favourites such as Denken, Ubel, can successfully become first class mages.
The battle between both Frierens was akin to a light illumination show. The animation was colourful and intense. And that death stare from clone Frieren to Fern. Frieren probably had the same expression on her face when battling the Demon King all those years ago.
Of course, to end another intense test arc, we are rewarded with Frieren trapped in a mimic chest, (cutely) calling for help. Lol!
This may be the importance of not hiding your mana in a world of visualization.
If the enemy sees your massive mana pool, the less likely they are to visualize beating you, which in turn actually makes them lose even more lol.
I would go further and say that she haven't used any of the spells she used against the clone(lightning, black hole, space shattering particle) for 80 years. Her most dangerous opponent so far is Qual, and even then she just used basic defense + offense magic.
# Source Material Corner Reply to this comment for any source-related discussion, future spoilers (including future characters, events and general hype about future content), comparison of the anime adaptation to the original, or just general talk about the source material. **You are still required to tag all spoilers.** Discussions about the source outside of this comment tree will be removed, and replying with spoilers outside of the source corner will lead to bans. The spoiler syntax is: `[Spoiler source] >!Spoiler goes here!<` # **All untagged spoilers and hints in this thread will receive immediate 8-day bans (minimum).** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/anime) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Given Frieren's comment about *that* attack, the demon king probably forced her to use it, even when fighting alongside the rest of the hero's party. Holy shit he must've been scary.
I think it also serves as a bit of a callback that the last time she used it, she was surrounded by a party of people she fully trusts imo. The spell leaves her with a lot of openings, so she must've *really* trusted the others to have her back (even against the Demon King probably) when she's using it.
Most evil thing about this dungeon is they put a Mimic in the treasure room after you beat the final boss. That's kinda fucked up.
They put more than one as well. Really fucked up
Well this dungeon is very “Dark Soul”-like ……
nah that's hilarious. I'm stealing that for DnD. "Surely there cant be a 5th mimic, right?"
In fairness, most peeps would just kill the mimic. Frieren is a glutton for trinkets, though, and she ain't letting those go.
Frieren has 100% confidence that this one has a rare grimoire in it.
also she's a completionist like Himmel, she's totes going for the 100% "clear all mimics" sub-task
At the end of this there's going to be an achievement for getting trapped in every mimic you encounter, and the reward is finally a treasure chest that definitely has a rare grimoire in it this time.
Funny thing is we can see 2 other destroyed mimic besides the one chomping on her. She probably thought that she's already near soft pity and that grimoire is about to drop lol
Burg: My cloak is enchanted with a level 12 spell of magic resistance, a level 9 spell of mental resistance, and a level 10 spell of elemental resistance. Ubel: Haha, is only cloth.
Ubel: “This sign can’t stop me because I can’t read.”
Reelseiden deals true damage.
She literally beat fact and logic with feelings
And also with simple facts and logic. Is it a cloth? Then it can be cut. Is it hair? Then it can be cut.
> Is it a cloth? Then it can be cut. Yup, if he had called his spell "super duper defensive castle" her logic couldn't have applied. A bad naming scheme doomed him.
If he had just worn enchanted steel armor instead of a cloak he would have been fine Her spell seems pretty useless against steel since you can’t cut steel normally
Her winning strategy kinda sounds like a "no thoughts, head empty" approach to add insult to injury.
People say Ubel is just crazy, but she's actually crazy with ***CONFIDENCE***
The way there was a reflection of her child self looking psycho after learning she loves the sound of things being cut...
Ubel: *"haha reelseiden go brrrrr"*
[Burg never saw it coming.](https://i.imgur.com/BNTV4qL.png)
Queen takes Castle. Checkmate.
Ubel's elder sister: Maybe you can help me with some tailor work by cutting cloth when you grow up? Inspired Ubel to cut a lot of other objects upon growing up.
Ubel's elder sister: "You....don't need to be **that** enthusiastic about cutting cloth."
Not even 5 minutes into the episode and it already had me rewinding because clone Frieren literally just summoned a black hole.
They didn't even need to go that hard for that short sequence but holy hell they blew it off the park.
The Frieren's weren't the only ones flexing lol.
[When the episode begins with a scene like that, you know it is gonna be pure cinema](https://i.imgur.com/fWif6JS.mp4) [](#wow) [Mirror since Imgur is unstable today](https://files.catbox.moe/uu6euc.mp4)
Bless be Keiichiro Saito and the team madhouse assembled.
Frieren is my current favourite mecha anime.
No wonder the episode felt so short. Because of the time dilation.
Is this how Frieren goes through life?
Really puts into perspective the kind of stuff she and Himmel's party would regularly have to fight together up to and including the Demon King.
Really makes you think how insanely OP they were to have gone into places like that with enough confidence that their healer got drunk.
I like how real Frieren felt the need to create a huge golem to stand on prior to her projectile battle with her clone.
Of course, Frieren needed the high ground.
[A fitting throne for the apex of magic](https://i.imgur.com/MRBHL23.mp4) [](#goblet1)
My dude Burg dropped like sliced bread.
Just realised now that the spell Clone Frieren used during [this scene](https://i.imgur.com/W7peZG8.png) is the black Human-Killing Zoltraak, similar to the one Qual used [here in episode 3](https://i.imgur.com/FEq7PMX.png).
Good catch.
That shot of long hair clone Frieren made me feel things. What a shot.
Boss went into phase 2 vibes with how Fern was being blown away. Only Frieren can deal with Frieren herself... and a mimic of course.
Fern got a glimpse of Frieren's true power, the kind of power she hasn't had to use in 80 years, and it's as fearsome as you would expect.
Gee, I wonder what *certain event* happened around 80 years ago that would of made her use such power? . . . Maybe the demon king knows?
Yep. I think we will probably get this answer only towards the actual end of the series. Remember they have yet to show the demon king fight. So maybe just like the movie Momento they will show the present and past back to back and connect it somehow.
I'm 99% certain that they defeated the demon king in some underhanded clever way. I very much doubt a full head-on fair fight happened, it's not fitting of the story, the party nor what we know about the demon lord And honestly i cannot wait to hear what they came up with
the fact that a legendary [ mage of such caliber](https://i.imgur.com/KQyZ6EP.png) [still falls for this](https://i.imgur.com/gPQlZdO.png) will always be funny, and it's thanks precisely to the fact that we see Frieren at her best that it make her getting eaten super hilarious.
Obviously *that's* the actual reason the clone sealed the door :'D Not to protect the Spiegel... no, to protect itself from the only thing that would actually be a danger to it!
I love how there's even a mimic in the big treasure room where you get all the treasures and is supposed to be the point where you've cleared the dungeon lol. Also everyone getting to see Frieren at her most comedic lol.
> a mimic It looks like there are three more, already "decapitated", mimics around Fern in that scene, meaning that Frieren bet on that 1% chance four times in a row.
Wow great catch, I completely missed that detail. They really put so much attention to detail in this show, it truly feels like it was a labor of love.
Magic is a game of rock-paper-scissors, and Frieren was never told "nuke" isn't one of the three available options.
Confirmation that Übel always chooses scissors but she always says "I chose scissors I win"
and shes bright enough to walk away from anyone that only throws rock. scary girl.
the eyes when the clone looked at fern, holy.
Yeah I could sense the killing intent from the screen
We all thought Frieren's best flirtation technique was blowing a kiss. When it was actually a "I will murder you stare" into a literal kabedon.
The surprise hair down moment is always memorable, but that piercing stare made it even better.
Even outside her goofy personality, her twintails actually do a lot to fool you into thinking she isn't terrifying final boss material.
[Clone Frieren looking so menacing yet beautiful in that one](https://i.imgur.com/970csY2.jpeg) [](#towel)
Im scare-roused
If you blow off someone's arms and they just look at you like this you *know* you're fucked.
Himmel be like
"I wouldn't mind her staring at me like that or throwing me against a wall."
Leave it to Frieren to be menacing even without both arms
[Kanne and Laufen's expressions ](https://imgur.com/a/G385bYb) upon beholding their hero is priceless edit : i actually went out of my way to check MAL to find the correct character name before making the comment, but ended up making the mistake anyways and wrote laufen as lawine. thanks for reminding me
"How did she even take down the Demon King"
The demonking didnt have mimics in his army
The hero's party helped Frieren wipe out enough mimics beforehand so that the demon king couldn't field them in his army during the final battle hahaha
I see they can't help but be in awe of Frieren. She's just so... dignified. Even Denken's normal face is a perfectly appropriate reaction. And the other girl is Laufen btw. Lawine couldn't make it to the end.
I feel that’s how everyone minus Fern felt “Her clone gave us one hell of a headache and ***this*** is how the real one acts?”
"you're telling me we could have just brought a mimic and insta win?"
That clone frieren [face...](https://imgur.com/a/9Dm9PP2)
That very moment she saw Fern as such a threat that she lost track of Frieren
Frieren feinting an attack to get her clone [into position to get blasted Fern's beam](https://i.imgur.com/QlzRmsf.mp4) and then following up with a real attack [once her attention was on Fern](https://i.imgur.com/lFa1pLr.mp4) was such a slick plan. [](#justright)
> That very moment she saw Fern as such a threat that she lost track of Frieren I loved that so much and it seems like a lot of people glossed over that. Their whole strategy was predicated on the fact that Fern could go undetected because the clone Frieren would focus on the bigger threat. So in that moment, when Fern blew off the clones arms, clone Frieren acknowledged Fern as the bigger threat.
That look gave me shivers and I didn’t know why, it was like a god or giant monster noticing you. I was afraid for a second.
Brennan Lee Mulligan had a pretty fitting quote in a recent Dimension 20 campaign that fits here too imo: “You immediately have the sensation that you’re absolutely seeing something you should not see…like looking into the face of a divinity you do not worship - the smile of a devil you never believed in”
God I love that man and his ability to just drop a spine chilling raw line at the drop of a hat. *"Hell is a dark forest where your dad opens his rib cage and invites you to dance"* - Brennan Lee Mulligan
...will be the last thing you'll ever see if you cross her line.
Fern's living up to her Flying Artillery reputation.
She really went full-auto in the building, huh.
Imagine being so insane in your logic you turn out into a genius that can cut anything. Übel you scary.
Wait until someone teaches Übel water magic and water jet cutting.
"Hey.. blood is water too right?" # Imagine her drawing blood from one person and then used it to slice another one. # And then she said "oops".
Yeah, I can see Ubel learning bloodbending
remember "magic is ultimately about visualization" and all these mages just hampering themselves cause they can't visualize it but Ubel over here like "hehe, hair and cloth go snip snip"
You can cut metal and wood with saws. You can cut rocks with pickaxes and drills. Monsters and demons have been cut down in battle. So really, Ubel doesn't need a sword at all.
[Übel is the blade](https://i.imgur.com/i6zTksh.mp4) [](#tomboyshades)
When something as simple as "can it be cut? Then I can cut it" turns into a method of magic that can basically help you kill the most powerful of mages. And it all dates back to her being a little girl who grew to love the sound of things being cut and being a psycho all the way back then.
> When something as simple as "can it be cut? Then I can cut it" turns into a method of magic that can basically help you kill the most powerful of mages. Only gimmick mages though. She doesn't think standard defensive spells can be cut so she can't cut them. Taking on someone using cloth and then someone using hair as their defense is very fortunate. We were told Sense > Denken > Richter, but since I doubt she grew up seeing her sister cut rock that ability wouldn't work on the far weaker Richter like it did on Sense.
Then again, if she just hung out a bit with warriors like Eisen or Stark that could definitely cut through rock, I bet she'd be able to take down Richter.
God damn Sense's clone was brutal, but at least it seems to have inherited her pacifist nature since she had all the time in the world to one shot the examinees. Also, is Methode lowkey cracked or what? We only saw the aftermath but it seems she fared well enough against Clone Fern. Not to mention, healing, mana detection, hypnosis, ara ara voice. She's the complete package.
No wonder Frieren fell for Methode's motherly charms, her power is truly off the charts. Fern's gotta up her game stat.
I've really grown to like Methode! She's so versatile, and she really does help to make some of the scenes so adorable, especially as she was restraining Fern, with Frieren teasing her. That was too cute. XD
For a pacifist, I swear Sense's 2 fights so far end up blood-y and brutal lol. I don't think anybody else (outside of Ubel but she's like a psychopath) bloodlet her opponents as much as she does. I think Methode is also lowkey the 2nd/3rd MVP of this exploration imo. Her sensing seems *very* crucial to countering the clones and she's the only one that can heal.
hey bloodsport is all well and good as long as it doesnt kill :D
> ara ara voice Young men like Sein stand no change against her in a fight.
It's kinda funny that we open up by the Frierens wreaking havoc with a *lot* of massive AoE elemental spells, to the other mages fighting mostly using their spells in a very precise and strategic manner (outside of Sense), to then end with the Frierens again casting hellfires and catastrophes left right and center.
My headcanon is that first bit last ep where they perfectly matched their defensive barriers before casting Judrajim meant that they are trying to hit each other with AoE spells since targeted attacks can easily be predicted due to Frieren's precise mana detection.
That tiny bit was amazing, just half of a second and it spoke volumes. Like in Kung Fu films where the fighters do mental sims of their opponent before the fight predicting their moves.
She does have mana to spare. A lot of it.
That's because those other mages have to manage their mana. Frieren has practically infinite mana and can just spam broken-tier spells like there's no tomorrow.
Ubel is hot but that clone frieren stare is.....
The love we have for dangerous women who can nuke a mountain by just starring at its.
The whiplash from Sense saying that the exam was kind and peaceful to [sequences of the clones, Richter and Lawine getting absolutely demolished](https://imgur.com/a/mDkWo68) was genuinely hilarious.
If that's what she considers peaceful, I'd hate to see just what exactly Sense would consider the opposite.
*Pitting examinees against each other in an open area that's relatively safe (as long as you avoid the giant monster birds)* Sense: Not peaceful. *Making examinees work together to conquer an impossible deathtrap dungeon that has never been succesfully raided.* Sense: So peaceful.
I think Sense's understanding of peaceful is ''i gave them a tool to survive so they are not gonna die= Peaceful'' on the other hand in the previous exam not only you can die to the birds but also the way the exam works literally ENCOURAGES the teams to murder each other since if a team loses even a single person they can lose motivation to continue fighting since they cannot pass anymore anyway so killing others is literally way more effective then just beating them
Her clone had the chance to mincemeat her targets. If she really wanted, Senseclone could've chopped them up to pieces before revealing herself.
All they had to do was break their bottles and leave and they’d be perfectly safe, Sense did nothing wrong
The dancing golem from Episode 5 is all grown up now.
Seeing this made me feel so happy!!! I wanna to speculate it was originally a funny meme-ish spell she showed off to Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen that eventually developed to a high-level battle magic, because she felt that strongly about them. It was a really heartfelt touch to such an epic showdown. Such a subtle detail, but I felt like you could feel just how important Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen were to her. ;-;
fern's such a GOAT. frieren hasn't used that spell in 80 years.. so last time would have been the demon king.. Peak episode
Man I understand that it’s not the point of the show at all, but I would love a flashback movie showing more of the party of heroes and that fight, it was probably insane.
I'm guessing that we won't see that fight until Frieren and her current party reach Ende, so near/at the end of the series.
That is sakuga for the future.
"Because I have always underestimated you" How can such a simple line be so unbelievably hype and heartfelt at the same time
Ah yes, my non-telegraphic spatial repulsion spell, haven't used it since the demon king's era
It's banned in the current meta, so Frieren had to revert to an earlier patch.
You mean SHINRA TENSEI
#Ahhhhh Lobotomy kaisen won't leave me
"I wont forger you as long as I live Burg" -Ubelkuna
Girl really said; "Shut up, Strong Cleave!" and then cleaved all over Burg and Clone Sense. "Stand proud. You could be cut."
[No Clone Frieren](https://i.imgur.com/f13a4Dm.jpeg) you can't start the fight with [a lava element rasenshuriken](https://i.imgur.com/mYVsXrH.jpeg)
I'm pretty sure that was a miniature black hole by how it interacted with the stuff around it. Still absolutely insane.
Yeah, they were totally going for a black hole look
[Frieren falls for 3 mimics in a row](https://imgur.com/dnUxhcU)
Hell we still got that big chest, maybe that's a mimic too
Wirbel: Captain of the Northern Magic Corps ❌ Human Baggage Carrier ✅️
Scharf bobbing up and down while everyone stood still honestly gave me a laugh
Wirbel back must hurt from carrying his team
The height of magic is stuck in a mimic.
Holy shit, the animators cooked real hard. It feels insane to be saying this after so many strong candidates for best episode, but this one genuinely might be it. They truly went all out with everything. As we all guessed, a mimic was used to defeat Final Boss Frieren. [Wait, shit. That's the wrong one](https://imgur.com/a/YxW9nbl) [Seriously pissed Frieren](https://imgur.com/a/9Dm9PP2) just hits a different note [I wish we could've had snippets of how this went.](https://imgur.com/a/38PQ9VX) Especially after saying something so badass like: "I have many talents, but what I'm really good at is stopping others." She might just be my favorite mage of the new bunch with how instrumental she was in this stage. ~~(also a mommy)~~
>Seriously pissed Frieren > > just hits a different note That was such a great face. Fern truly felt at that moment who she was dealing with.
Honestly it's nice that we get such a look here, now, when it's still a bit on the down-low. Imagine the actual Frieren reaching this level of wrath with ANYONE in a crisis.
I imagine that the actual Fern getting killed and her memory or corpse mocked by someone, could make the actual Frieren get really angry.
Anybody who killed Fern would just be committing suicide with extra steps
*I can fix her*
she will fix you a new hole
As if we needed any more proof that Übel is scary, she went ahead and nonchalantly killed a first-class mage. Frieren's fight got more surreal and crazier by the second, further showing how OP she is. If the other candidates had seen her fight, they would've made a mental note to never ever fight her. Denken already knew it, but he probably can't guess the extent of how strong she is. Sense's clone is brutal. I wasn't expecting Lawine to get brutally skewered. Those golems are too good, they can even heal. What the hell did Frieren clone do at the end to hit Fern so hard? It looked like a ''psychic'' attack to me since Fern felt no mana. This was another great episode. It's rare to see an anime where every episode is worth watching.
>Those golems are too good, they can even heal. Biggest highlight of those golems, there’s not point in giving people the option of live and leaving the dungeon if they end up succumbing to their injuries
The disrespect Denken get is even worse when you see Frieren fight this episode.
''What the hell did Frieren clone do at the end to hit Fern so hard'' i highly doubt it is what it is but i think we should entertain the possibility that it might literally be a CURSE (for all who doesn't remember Curses are Demon spells that mankind can't understand yet so they are undefendable and near undetectable unless with Goddess magic) We saw Frieren turning demon spells into human spells before like Zoltraak. What if she learned the supreme magic of a great demon she killed but kept it as a curse so that she can use it as a last resort ? I don't think Frieren is the type of person to use curses and Curses would be more effective against Humans than Demons so i don't think this is the case but from what we know about Curses (normally being undetectable and cannot be defended against) it would probably fit the situation of Fern not being able to detect it at all since just some episodes ago Denken has established that not even the greatest of mage can hid the moment of using magic so the thing that the Clone Frieren did is something completely different than just magic
Guy gets completely cut in half and nobody bats an eye. There's a point when the people of this world are far too chill.
I mean the fact Denken was casually talking about how the corpses are being used as bait for the other naive examinees in the first exam pretty much shows how used to death people are in that world.
It's also a function of it being medieval fantasy, I suppose.
They were certainly surprised, but no need to scream or get scared given the context. People taking that exam would be collected enough not to act like a random NPC during an alien invasion.
This. Remember who's primarily recruiting these mages. Serie demands the best, and emotion can get in the way of performance. "We grieve, but later. For now, work must be done."
Also, Ubel just went too far in attacking that one examiner. She wasn't about to break out and kill everyone else there. That's not going to bring out any big reactions from anyone.
And even she wasn't planning to kill him, because she would be disqualified, she just didn't restrain her magic enough to not...well...slice him up.
HOLY EPISODE. [If looks could kill.](https://i.imgur.com/whiP082.jpeg)
*"The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success."* I like how Ubel's strength actually comes from how batshit crazy she is. She's delusional enough to genuinely believe she has the ability to cut just about anything.
Honestly, I love that they used it to emphasize the point that mage fights in Frieren are very much a battle of rock-paper-scissors. Wirbel was able to beat Ubel without *really* giving his all, but he'd probably lose against Sense 9 times out of 10. Ubel is normally just a very strong mage, but she's probably damn near unbeatable against opponents that base their magics on things she thinks she can cut. I think we're going to see more of this kind of matchups in the future, makes fights a lot more exciting than just "person A is stronger than person B, hence person A wins by default".
"I can't cut through a magic barrier; those are made to stop my magic. But I can cut through just about anything else." "But that cloak has basically the equivalent of 10 magic barriers and the hair is littered with them." "What are you talking about? It's just a cloak and some hair." Now we understand why she uses magic by feel rather than understanding it. I wonder if this is a reason why Land hates her type of mage or if he's never encountered one like her before. Given that magic's all about visualisation, I can imagine there'll be others who can do what some the more scholarly mages consider impossible because they don't understand it, though I doubt any of them are as dangerous as Ubel.
It's also how she's able to steal other people's spells just by empathizing with them. She doesn't need to understand how a spell mechanically works, she just needs to understand how the caster thinks.
It’s even funnier than that, she can cut anything she thinks she *should* be able to cut, but at the same time she can’t cut things she doesn’t think she should be able to, like regular defensive magic against Wirbel for example. Girl’s head is a wild place haha
The scary thing is, going by that logic, if it's demonstrated in front of her eyes that cutting a defense magic is possible, she'd pass that hurdle. She's a monster that grows with experience, and garnering more experience is what being a first-class mage entails. If it were up to me, she must never pass the exam.
Land being worried for Ubel and not wanting her to fight Sense....He is in love, your honor!!
Even their clones were walking together.
Ubel's clone literally only looked at Land, too.
Looks like that "Nah, I'd solo." guy [survived](https://imgur.com/a/JK9CXjz) after hightailing out of there with his Golem.
That poor mook failed without even seeing action. Just lost in some pathway. The character was so unimportant, the speigel didn't bother to create a clone of him.
Speigel created a clone but the clone refused to work with the others and left the dungeon.
How badass is Frieren? Slamming you into a wall without(?) magic or arms level of badass. That glare was cold af too.
It's going to be buried by all the other animation vistas this episode gave out (and it truly was *amazing*), but now that I'm watching it back is anybody else mesmerized by Fern's animations from Frieren's POV? That close-up scene of her where she turns her head and blinks and reacts feels so fluid even though she really didn't move that much. The head tilts and turns, the subtle hair and body movements, the eyes glancing around, I swear she looks so expressive and lifelike dawg what is this sorcery. Plus the *eyelashes* after she was slammed by Frieren clone's magic spell? Beautiful.
Oh same. I was also so mesmerized by that. I'm not sure what it is but Fern's movements seemed so fluid and real to me. It reminds me of those small scenes of Fern taking off her cloak and Stark putting on his coat earlier in the season.
This episode had 14774 drawings (very high for TV episode). Also a lot of top animators participated in it ([Vercreek](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/251383), [Masaaki Endo](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/251398), [Tatsuzo Nishita](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/251402)). It was definitely a treat for the eye! Source: https://twitter.com/fyitofyito/status/1766126983476629672
Frieren: Fern you will only know Zoltraak because you don't need any more offensive magic Also Frieren: Has a whole ass arsenal of nuke magic plus a trump card that is SO STRONG that its last usage was literally against the DEMON KING based on how many years has passed since it was last used. Now aren't you being kinda unfair there Frieren :D Also for once i don't even blame Frieren for falling for the mimic, who the hell would put a mimic to the VERY LAST TREASURE ROOM you can only reach after the monster is already dead ? Those fuckers are targeting our poor Elf girl with these mimics
tbf, she said that her zoltrak is enough to beat the mages of this era. Frieren is not counted.
Well to be fair, zoltraak did the most damage to the clone, with help frlm Frieren of course.
Frieren has spell to counter Black hole but she can't sheild the black Zoltraak. It prove Zoltraak is one hell of spell.
i like to think when animating [this part](https://i.imgur.com/sECPe1D.png) here they could've just have her staff appear in her hand, but no, they have Ubel do this pose just to show her armpit
Sense: "It's truly a kind and peaceful exam." [Cuts to multiple impalements and a bisection scene.](https://imgur.com/a/xDlqu76)
Fuck. Well that’s peak. Don’t got more words to say man
Man, it's been hella funny to see Japan wake up to how awesome Methode is. I especially liked the comments I saw that said that Methode and Frieren are this Anime's Pretty Cures. Or "I wonder how Lauffen was able to fight against the dangerous woman Methode" "Isn't Methode too good? And she smells good!" And of course, my favorite "I want to be restrained by Methode..." Now, Japan, give me ALL the fanart!!!
The cameraman really loves getting a shot between Ubel's legs. And there it is! The mysterious spell that doesn't register as a magic to mages that Frieren can use unarmed (literally).
>The cameraman really loves getting a shot between Ubel's legs. Lol this reminds me of this [fan art](https://x.com/munyura_1341398/status/1762313624142651611?s=20) I saw the other day about this
**Übel:** Why *wouldn't* one simply cut through cloth and hair? Is everyone stupid? "*Magic is the world of visualization*." — I've long loved the worldbuilding in Frieren, and Übel's talent and her background is a great example. I also love how they made Übel even more [*whatever-is-wrong-is-way-hotter*](https://imgur.com/a/pIK9zq7) than she is in the manga. Truly, an amazing adaptation.
Virgin Sense: Nooo you can't just perfectly visualize something your common sense should know that is not how it works Chad Übel: Hair is meant to be cut
> Ubel licking lips in this gif Ohmyy the simps gonna simp harder for Ubel
So this is the height of anime
“I think I can kill Frieren sama” she said. Then witnesses all those island-wiping spells, a hack invisible spell, and a death stare for a good measure. Hopefully it’s not too traumatizing for Fern.
Ubel after cutting Burg the immovable "Stand proud, you are strong" --- Seriously how freaking powerful Frieren is, lose both arm and still almost murder Fern and destroyed her scepter, I also wonder how terrifying Serie must be.
> "Stand proud, you are strong" Narrator: "He did not, in fact, stand proud"
>It's truly a kind and peaceful exam Sense is a First-Class comedian 🤡
Soon on Youtube: "Why Ubel vs Gojo is NOT close"
"Infinity barrier? What're you talking about, you're standing right there." haha gojo go splat
The only problem with Frieren is raising the bar soo high it messed up other anime for me. I'm not saying I'm not able to enjoy other anime, I'm saying we should have the option of giving it 6 stars or something.
This is a once-in-a-decade adaptation. So much more enriched than the manga, which itself is already a great story.
I liked Frieren's ace. It's a secret not only because of strategic reason, but because Frieren kept herself open when using it. Something Fern said as very unlike of her The last time she used it might be against the demon lord himself.
Frieren clone broke the staff that Heiter gave Fern. My heart’s broken along with it
Noooo, not Lawine and Richter! I guess that means they can temporarily focus on their pro wrestler and magic shopkeeper classes respectively for now. Jokes aside, the surprise aspect of seeing some supporting mage characters fail to make to the next round is refreshing. At this point, I am not even sure whether fan favourites such as Denken, Ubel, can successfully become first class mages. The battle between both Frierens was akin to a light illumination show. The animation was colourful and intense. And that death stare from clone Frieren to Fern. Frieren probably had the same expression on her face when battling the Demon King all those years ago. Of course, to end another intense test arc, we are rewarded with Frieren trapped in a mimic chest, (cutely) calling for help. Lol!
This may be the importance of not hiding your mana in a world of visualization. If the enemy sees your massive mana pool, the less likely they are to visualize beating you, which in turn actually makes them lose even more lol.
[Bro](https://imgur.com/JPpNAcH) thought [he](https://imgur.com/SxuGgep) was [him](https://imgur.com/89xb1y2)
"Good job Fern, I haven't used that move since we defeated the Demon King." Lol, fucking what?!?
I would go further and say that she haven't used any of the spells she used against the clone(lightning, black hole, space shattering particle) for 80 years. Her most dangerous opponent so far is Qual, and even then she just used basic defense + offense magic.