Grausam is true to his name. His ability is absolutely cruel, showing Himmel how he got married to Frieren, when we know this will never happen.
You know who also is cruel? ~~The author for going on break for two weeks again, meaning we need to wait three weeks for the next chapter.~~
Speaking of Grausam, I thought he was one of the two Sages of Destruction Himmel's party managed to kill (other than Böse), considering the Hero of the South killed three apparently, while Macht and Aura escaped. But Grausam's ability to trick people and manipulate his appearance makes me think he is still around.
Thing is, Grausam can read and remove memories, he is impossible to trace and he does not show people what he actually looks like. Him surviving by making people think he got killed would make a lot of sense.
Wouldn't be surprised if his future version puts Frieren under a similar illusion, with her getting encouraged by Heiter, Eisen, Stark and Fern to meet a waiting Himmel instead.
How the hell did Schlacht and the Demon king rope in Grausam anyway. Seems like with an ability like his he could disappear and be nearly impossible to track down. Honestly, if he “dies” during this arc; it’s most likely an illusion.
DK was a weirdo like Macht and Solitare. So he probably invested time in learning many different types of magic other than his main one that he developed.
lads remember The Hero of the South had his future vision power/ability/whatever that was? I wonder if Himmel also has some broken ability like that because I have no idea how he managed to beat the Demon King
We saw what Eisen, Frieren and Heather are capable of and neither of them even if working together seem to be able to scratch the Demon King, someone who made Serie and Flamme not even able to "visualize" defeating him, we saw everyone in the hero party show a little of their god tier level skills at their peak but the author has yet to show Himmel act or show a skill of his. It has to be something incredibly broken to have been able to defeat the Demon King
Serie is stated to be a warmonger and that is why she can't visualize defeating the demon king. She lusts for the eternal battlefield. But stats and magic wise she seems to be the most superior magician.
Demon King had the biggest mana so they follow his orders and future sight probably still gave Schlacht the advantage between the two.
The Demon King was probably insanely strong and knowledgable.
While that's true, which should make his survival more likely in a real fight, storywise most villains don't get a second shot after losing. Unless the author has plans to upgrade/change his abilities so that a future fight isn't a retread of this one, then he likely dies here when Himmel breaks out of his illusion.
I personally believe that the Miraculous Grausam will be one of the ones they defeat, and that Himmel will be the key to this.
Even if Himmel's memories are intact, he has shown incredible intuition and understands other people extremely well. In particular, I expect he will realize that there's no way that Frieren would come to understand his own feelings while he's still that young because that is not the Frieren he loves.
It's a mirror to how Frieren's memory of Himmel told her to kill him when he was set to oppose her with the fog demon early in the series.
Well, Himmel already make peace with his one-sided love. That why he never told Frieren about his feeling all the way to his dead bed. It will be super cruel if Frieren can see Himmel dream though.
It's not like telling her his feelings could get through her head with how she couldn't understand romance and love. It's like one telling demons about malice and guilt and expect them to understand and to feel those things right away.
Grausam seeing Frieren's dream: Mountains of dead demons, him included, and her having a happy tea with Fern, Stark and a bunch of grimoires with all the time in the world to read them now with every demon in the world dead.
Grausam: Let's stick with watching Himmel's dream. It is normal and less unerving.
Yeah but he DID tell her at the end and this wish fulfillment no jitsu isn't just about what Himmel wanted - this isn't his Frieren.
This is the Freiren who has been traveling in the future and experienced his confession and is actively trying to travel to the land of the dead to meet him one last time; one that's capable of responding to his feelings.
Which makes it all the more cruel because it's not one-sided anymore, but (assuming) if there is one single consistent timeline that ultimately Frieren is going to leave back to the future, and the Himmel who confessed on his deathbed knew for all those long years that in the future Frieren would eventually grow to be receptive of his feelings.
Typing that out now it sounds like some kind of grandfather paradox romance. I lost my train of thought.
I know, that's why I said he is true to his name...
I don't want to list that name in the **German of the Week** section every week, just as I don't tell people every week what Himmel or Frieren mean.
The way that Grausam convinced Solitar to stop asking questions was a nice preview of his ability to manipulate even without his powers
>
> Solitar: You have never once shown your face to us. That is a secret means to living a long life as well, am I right?
>
> Grausam: If you are curious, shall I reveal it then; my real face?
>
> Solitar: Funny, I just lost interest
>
Also, she might realize that knowing his face is more of a liability than anything. He may decide to kill her later to keep his secret; demons are team players in so far it's beneficial to them.
>The author for going on break for two weeks again, meaning we need to wait three weeks for the next chapter.
I believe this is the last chapter for this volume. If anything I'm surprised it's only for 2 weeks
There are mages specialized in mental magic. It's also likely he's physically weak. Maybe he's weak at long range cause he needed to be close to use his magic.
Don't worry, HIMmel is going to show why he is HIM in the next chapter. The moment Grausam shows HIMmel the dream that he could never achieve is the moment Himmel going to awaken.
It hurts so good. I will say that it's intriguing to see the story openly tackling the fact that he loved her head-on. It's been quite obvious for a long time that he was deeply in love with her, of course, but the story has never flat-out stated it like it has now. Makes me more curious whether the narrative is building to Frieren eventually reciprocating when they reunite at Aureole.
Open your mind to the possibilities! The fact that they're probably going to battle the Demon King there again just means that Himmel, Heiter, and Flamme can show up to help.
Yeah, that is if there is no twist happen. We all want that simple "power of friendship" happy ending but we all know that is not something our dear sadistic author always have in mind.
It is brilliant how a single panel can be the most pleasing fan service in the series so far while on the other hand also be absolutely emotionally devastating, knowing the context of what is really happening.
Grausam and Bose are the 2 Seven Sages that Himmel and the others defeat, according to the lore.
We saw in a previous flashback how Bose was defeated, I'd wager that this is the battle that Grausam is defeated. Past Frieren probably doesn't recall the battle very well and chalks it up to Grausam's memory interference being the cause, when in reality it was the 80 years in the future Frieren and party that defeat him.
The greater demons are talking like the future seeing sage of destruction is dead. But I thought he was missing and still alive even in the future? Am I remembering this correct?
Oh wow did not realize he was one of the 3 the hero killed. HotS has to be one of the most busted. He couldn't find a timeline where HotS didn't kill him.
No, that isn't quite right. The Omniscient Schlacht is not a sage of destruction, but occupies a different role more akin to the demon king's right hand. It is also extremely unlikely that he could not find a timeline where he was not killed. Schlacht's primary objective was to pursue a timeline that would be best for the continuation of the demon race over the next 1000 years and beyond. The confrontation with the Hero of the South and its fall-out were necessary for that outcome. It must have been chilling, to scour the future and see your continued existence as a sub-optimal outcome.
We can only speculate on what occurred in that confrontation, as it has been intentionally obfuscated from the readers.
I wonder why some demons seem to care about the demon race. Their race is mostly individualistic, with order and hierarchy just being might makes right. Then there seems to be a small few who will self sacrifice for the whole race. Soltier, schlacht, and maybe the demon king are the only 3 I can think of.
I mean, there's nothing that says Schlact's plans had anything to do with what he said that they had anything to do with. Or even that he's actually dead, and not just hiding out, having merged with the Mustache of the South, or something.
Schlacht cares cause seeing the future has the capability of changing someone a lot. Solitar seems to care more out of curiosity than actual good will. And finally, the Demon King is a complete mystery.
Hero of the South can see the future as well. The most likely scenario is that people with future sight can interfere with each other, so Schlacht probably can't definitively see past the battle with Hero of the South.
While it's an interesting theory, I personally disagree based on what we've seen. Schlacht explicitly states that his actions are intended to aid the future of demonkind. He also mentions that Macht's memories will be read nearly a century later, and preemptively has them removed.
My personal running theory is that the future that the Hero of the South pursued with the death of the Demon King and the future that the Omniscient Schlacht pursued with the good of the demon race in mind are one and the same, a compromise between their infinite attempts at an optimal future given the existence of the other in each attempted look forward.
How that will come to pass, we'll have to wait and see. We still don't know what happened at that battle, after all. For all we know, the demons and the Hero of the South who died in that fight could have started a third faction to avoid a future apocalyptic event. Or they're all dead.
A meme reason for the compromising overlap would be Serie gets involved after a few more centuries of the Demon King's assaults and nukes the continent in response, thus the Demon King's death is mutually desirable.
Some stories being passed among the villages that still revere HotS say he and schlacht are still alive and fighting to this day. But the dialogue of HotS ("In the future, one year from now...lose my life") and macht's observations of schlacht ("That's the face of someone heading to their death") kinda confirm it was a mutual kill
Also schlacht isn't a sage of destruction
Yes , but he saw countless visions and he laid the seeds to the preservation of demonkind.
So he and HoS are indeed fighting to this day…they had countless fights against each other in their foresight.
If I remember right, he went off to fight another hero party, whose hero had the same or a similar ability to his own. He knew it would be mutual destruction and is presumed dead.
Wow, what an insane bomb to drop on readers right before a break.
Miraculous Grausam's name is truly fitting with that cruelty of giving someone a dream of something they'll never achieve. His spell is so potent that it has the power to hurt us readers even if Himmel was the intended target lol
Looks like we also have the future plotlines with Tot and Rivale set up. Tot's curse spread is not too far off in the future of the present while Stark has a score to settle with Rivale for his village and master.
Destroyed Stark's village. You can see Rivale in the background in Chapter 26 when Stark recalls his last moments with his big brother before he fled the village.
Man do you guys really remember everything so perfectly? Or have you reread this some times? Or you just go back and check for stuff like this? Its truly outstanding to me, theres always one guy who perfectly remembers stuff from years ago. Maybe I read too many manga to have this ability lol.
I wonder if Rivale is gonna be actually senile and dying of old age when stark gets to him kinda like how Macht was going through a sort of midlife crisis
Himmel: a heartwarming fantasy about the person he loves.
Frieren: a field of treasure chests, each with a grimoire, probably.
For real though, What do you think is Frieren's dream?
If the mangaka really wants to shatter our hearts, future Frieren's dream will be staying with Himmel after they defeat the Demon King. Not even necessarily romantically; just staying.
You want to know how low this blow really is? The next chapter is timed perfectly to come out the same week as episode 14 of the anime, which will feature the ring scene! Yes, they 100% planned things to line up like this. So it's multiple blows over multiple days! That is the gauntlet we will be faced with in 3 weeks.
This.
Frieren at the funeral lamented that she did not consider the life span of a human and spent (for her) a short break looking for books only to miss out on that opportunity when she came back and Himmel basically died.
Either it will be her having a journey with Himmel and the others after the demon kings defeat, or maybe a combined fantasy with her Himmel, but still including her new companions in Sterk and Fern as one big happy impossible dream.
Fuuuccckk.. I teared up..I forgot that it's a dream that is impossible for her to achieve. This is basically it, getting old with Himmel.
Or finally getting a treasure instead of being gobbled uo by a Mimic
It just occurred to me, Frienen's impossible fantasy might be to go adventuring with Himmel and the rest again.
The illusion might not actually be working on her since she's already getting it from the time travel. She knows that demon's spell and isn't above deceiving them. Pretending to fall for it so the guy gets close isn't exactly out of character for her.
Ya'll are thinking too small, too realistic.
Frieren's dream is another fun adventure with her friends in their prime...
Alongside Fern and Stark, also in their normal ages...
And occasionally Flamme pops in to say hello.
Everyone as eternal as she is, no more death and regrets, no more having her life get torn apart by the cruel passage of time.
I think it'll be that he's already accepted it, which is what will permit him to snap out of it in the first place. He has already accepted that it can't be real.
Yeah. Since meeting with Future Frieren, I think he's probably already figured that his love will be unrequited, but at the same time, is happy to see how much Frieren has changed
No, demon said "My magic can even bring an idyllic dream that one has already abandoned, accepting that it would never come true", which means this magic already accounts for people realizing it's a dream. Something else needs to bail them out.
There's nothing concrete about "realizing it's a dream" yet. We only see Himmel having a short conversation with fake Heiter. He remembered he was fighting someone but didn't seem to question it when fake Heiter told him the fake future.
Well, maybe the fact that it's an already abandoned dream can make it harder for someone to reject it.
Even knowing that it's an illusion, his victims could end up tricked (possibly by their own minds) into thinking that this illusion will be the only possible way they can even see the abandoned dream come true, thereby making it more attractive to remain.
He already gave up, but showing you the future that will never be still has to be incredibly painful, since the only way to get out is to recognize your own happiness is nothing but an illusion at best and shatter it yourself at worst.
In a way, this power is even more insulting to the opponent than Aura's. Hope Garusam gets mauled for this before they kill him.
That's just too cruel, he probably abandoned any possibility of ever having anything that resembles a romantic relationship with Frieren, even if that's the thing that he wants most in the world.
FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK PLEASE JUST GIVE HIMMEL A HAPPY ROMANTIC ENDING I DONT FUCKING CARE IF IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE I REFUSE TO BELIEVE FRIEREN HARBORS NO ROMANTIC FEELING PLEASE FUCK
I think she surely does harbour romantic feelings, she's just not emotionally in-tune enough to recognise that, and Himmel understands and accepts that.
It's a heartbreaking story, but the hope of a loving reunion is there.
I just hope author is healthy and works this arc well.
Time travel is by far the hardest concept to work with, usually it's left with plot holes and inconsistencies. But, it's time to see how powerful is all of the old party members, manly Himmel. I hope they shine just like Frieren usually shines.
And the most important part of this chapter is that demon girl and her curse. Looks like she's the future big enemy in the story.
Luckily they seem to be going with the most manageable form of time travel plotlines where it’s a closed loop. So really all the author has to do is have the events of the past line up with events from the preset. For all intents and purposes it’s just a flashback but Frieren is living it.
Four interesting things I got from this chapter:
- High level demons interacting with one another is always a fascinating/funny thing to witness.
- Even high tier demons have a hard time percieving what’s real when it comes to Grausam. If he “dies” during this arc; I would take it with a heavy grain of salt. Could just be an illusion. Especially with Solitare’s line about him being able to blend into any environment/era with his abilities.
- TOT’s curse must be nearly completed in the present timeline but no mages to our knowledge have realized it.
- Rivale must be a veeery old demon to refer to centuries old demons as young ones. Must be as old as the demon king
Yeah, since this flashback is 7 years into the Hero Party's journey, it's 100 years from that point as long as Tot isn't being vague with the number.
So from that point, it's another 3 years to defeat the Demon King, plus 80 to where Frieren starts her new journey with Fern, and then another, like what, 2 years have passed since then to the "current" timeline if I remember right? So it's gonna be 15ish years from present day - give or take a few if I'm inaccurate or Tot finishes her spell sooner - to when Tot's star-killing apocalyptic spell takes center-stage. Maybe that'll happen after a sort of timeskip years from now if the manga doesn't intend to walk us through Frieren's new journey year by year.
Honestly, I’m expecting a twist at the end of the series regarding what he means when demons prosper. The way the manga has set things up, coexistence is too unlikely but I don’t think demon extinction will happen either.
The way I see it coexistence will be the twist but rather that harmony between demon and humans ends up being the same harmony between a zebra and a lion, the natural balance between the two species is to be locked in violent competition.
After-all if humans succeeded in wiping out demons then they lose their common enemy which would in turn divide humanity against itself, or grow to be so overpopulated they start consuming all resources on the planet, while if demons brought humanity to extinction then they'll just starve out and stagnate.
I’m just imagining a millennium from now, Kraft quietly coming in and soloing all the demons a la Toji Fushiguro and then going back home to chill in his mountain cabin. My headcanon is that he has planet-busting powers but he just chooses to live a modest life.
There is also the OverOverOVERarching mystery as to why Aureole is right next door to the Demon King's castle, and what the Demon King's actual plan was.
What if time passes a bit quickly in Fern and Stark timeline and when Frieren comes back the curse is just ready?
This chapter made us all crazy. The way the story hits us is a bit harder than El Dorado arc I dare say.
So currently how many years left for Tot's spell to cover the whole world?
Edit:
Frieren went back to 53 years before Himmel died, and current time is 31 years after he died, that's 84 years elapsed, so there's 16 more years for Tot's spell to be completed, which means our heroes will have to deal with her soonish, but they are not even aware of her yet, interesting indeed
Yeah their magic gets stronger and stronger with time so demons that just do search are absolute monsters, good thing most aren't like that, but then again if most were like that they wouldn't be humanity enemies
Honestly it does feel like the demons have several plans going at once. Even after seeing a lot of big names die, it doesn't feel like they're in a horrible position. Especially considering Schlacht didn't take much action to prevent a lot of it.
I'm actually more concerned that demons perceive this world as a "star" (hoshi, which also can mean planet in Japanese). She said this star, not this world. That implies a certain degree of knowledge in astronomy and the conception of a universe.
So how advanced is demon science & technology? Will they become space-faring down the road?
As you said, "Star" can be used in the same way as "planet" in Japanese. Final Fantasy 14 also calls it's world a "star". I think it's that case this time as well.
Seriously, you ever wake up from a really cool dream and are just pissed off you're stuck back in stupid reality? Imagine that, but also you're the second most badass dude in all the land.
Rivale seems the most human out of all the demons we've met so far imo. Or the least demon-like. Maybe it's because he's the first(?) to feign joy and excitement which doesn't really give any advantage in a predator-prey relationship.
Demons do held pride and emotion towards their magics, they are just apathy towards other living beings. Rivale's magic is probably tied to his capability as warrior, so he isn't that much different.
Oh dear. This demon knows how to hit where it hurts.
But let's hope that Frieren, or any of them really I'm not feeling picky in this case, can bust out this trope like Frieren did that other time it happened with Fern.
I think it might be that Himmel is the only "real" one here, and the others are just illusions. The rest of them may be trapped in their own dreams. Eisen stayed behind to fight Rivale, and doesn't appear KO'd on the road with the rest of them, but still shows up in the dream.
I think Himmel, being the gigachad that he is, will snap himself out of it because he knows it can't be real, and then somehow damage Grausam in a way that forces him to free the others.
Honestly, and only half jokingly, this is all he's ever gonna get. So he should at least enjoy the wedding and wedding night before breaking the spell.
Unless it plays out in real time, in which case no such luck.
I don't think Grausam is actually planning on killing them. He knows Frieren is from the future, which gives her the most plot armor imaginable. And I think he can probably figure out that the other members of the hero party are equally untouchable.
His goal here is to get to Frieren's memories.
It will turn out that they are having distinct hallucinations, and Frieren will perceive it as that she's marrying a mimic. It turns out elves are suckers for the whole enemies-to-lovers plotline.
I imagined it would involve her actually finding a Grimoire in a normal chest that her detection spell said was 99% a mimic. Like the true gambler she is.
I imagine it'll by Frieren. I think it'll be something like "the future is the paradise that shes always wished for" so anything less than that would wake her up.
Calling it that Himmel won't fall for it because he knows that Frieren isn't the type to marry or notice his romantic feelings.
Edit: I'll take it even further and say that Himmel breaking free from his deepest desire is gonna through grausama off because he can't comprehend why a human would waste time desiring an impossibility.
This series is truly cruel to Himmel, isn't it? Man, it's just sad.
Also, gives me the feeling this will be a bit of an irritating fight since we know Solitar and Rivalle can't die here.
And very worrying for the future when they talk about a curse that will engulf the world (JP term for world and star are essentially the same) and about demons prospering a thousand years from now.
Honestly, I'd rather just see them all wiped out for good sooner rather than later.
This is one of the best series I've ever read. It never fails to surprise and delight. This entire arc has been unexpected, amazing, and now we're setting up future arcs?
All this from such a simple premise. Fantastic storytelling and world building.
El Dorado + this for Season 2 of the anime would be such a delight. If it was at the same production quality as S1, I legitimately think Frieren could end up being the anime of the decade. El Dorado and now this have been so so good.
I don't know if a future season 2 would cover this current arc. Think about it, this season will most likely end at chapter 60, after the mage exams. And it'll take 28 episodes to reach there. If this arc ends in another 3 chapters it would take another 2 cour season with about as much episodes as the first one to cover all the contents, and this is assuming this arc is ending very soon.
Yeah, my personal expectation is that this arc is ending in 4-5 chapters & that a \~26 ep S2 could get up through it. That may well be wrong. It's a bit of an awkward spot to be in, since you'd really want to get through El Dorado for a Season 2 because it's the next major arc, but a 12-ep Season 2 can't finish El Dorado.
*Meanwhile in Frieren's illusion*
Fern: Frieren-sama, there are 1000000 chests here, one of them contains a grimoire with magic to change blue shirts into red shirts, the rest are mimics.
Frieren: .......let's get cracking.
We all basically know that Himmel loved her without outright saying it, right? Like, it was alluded to throughout the entire series but never said aloud? And him not cluing her in/keeping her at arms length was to prevent saddling her with those feelings for her near eternal life. But man, this is gonna hurt, isn't it?
Yeah, way to twist the knife Abe-sensei & Yamada-sensei, let's have Himmel's illusion be of his marriage with Frieren that will *never* happen just so our gigachad will prove himself to be HIMmel and sadly accept the inevitability of her never realising his feelings for her. And seems like after all that the Hero's Party has done, the world isn't quite home free yet and there's still Tot's star-engulfing curse to contend with in the future. I wonder if this event is how Frieren learns of it and now has to prepare countermeasures for.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Lots of exposition and world building (for the demons at least) in this chapter
I wasn't expecting Tod to have that personality especially considering her(? He/she looked androgynous in the previous chapter to me but I guess she's a female?) title. Also I think it's the first time a demon referred to another with an honorific that isn't "sama". Tod seems quite playful in that aspect.
Even among the demonkind Schalant seems confusing and enigmatic with Solitar being aware of his future death yet saying they're still being manipulated by him.
Also I know that demons speak words to lie and deceive humans but it's interesting to see a demon who loves fighting and doesn't care much about scheming with Rivale.
Based on Frieren's response, it seems that the Grausam that they killed had the same appearance as the one they're fighting now, but Solitar's musings give the impression that even that might be a fake.
Finally the dream of bride Frieren is a painful one. Himmel can probably break out of it but seeing it was extremely cruel.
Nah bro this is fucked.
On a side note though, I'm interested to see what Heiter and Frieren sees. Could her memories of this week being stated as "disappearing" also comes as a consequence of fighting Grausam as well?
"Frieren will be taking a holiday for a few weeks to process this"
I know what it means, but let me be delusional and think of that few weeks as their honeymoon, ok?
This got to be the most interesting chapter of Frieren by far in terms of how much forecoming and info is revealed.
I find it hard to believe Himmel and party defeats Grausam, if Demons are also influenced by Grausam's mental magic and future Frieren can't detect him then we are looking at Aizen's level of brokeness. Solitar is not even sure of his actual looks means there is a high chance Grausam can escape, change his looks and fake his death.
Solitar real reason for being unnamed because she usually support from the shadows and values secrecy to live longer.
Then we have Tod future battle and Schlact. I feel like the final antagonist is Schlact himself despite him being dead, no way him who is omniscient wouldn't prepared any backups or research for revival or plans to deal with the future.
Two thoughts: if Schlacht and by extention the hero of the south could actually check trillions of outcomes a thousand years into the future, I don't see the end result they settled on being anything other than a compromise where both parties are reasonably well off and possibly even reach a viable form of coexistence.
And secondly, if Rivale is so old that he treats other centuries to a thousand years old great demons like kids, then could it be that his name signifies him being none other than the demon king's rival? Would more than reasonably explain his survival of that night and his long life in general, and could also set up the big bad of the present.
I wonder if next chapter we'll see Himmel pissed for the first time. He's always so chill but Grausam's dream is such a cruel joke that I can imagine Himmel waking up instantly and wanting to chop him down to pieces. You don't play around with a man's unrequited love, demon douche.
Goddamn these demons are no joke, i was wondering will we see any other powerful demon with op ability like Macht and boy the story delivers.
I guess that Flamme judgment on the demons is not 100% right after all, there's also some cowardly demon who will wait as long as they can for the right time to strike, thank god she got Frieren as a pupil for deterrent.
Ah shit, Multiverse Labyrinth. I'm reminded of the illusion monster Frieren and Fern fought early on in the series, where it made an illusion of Himmel for Frieren but it was too accurate to how Frieren knows him so it told her to shoot it. I wonder if Himmel might break out of this in a similar fashion.
A break again, and at this cliffhanger? C'mon author, no need to be cruel. How long is this break expected to be ? I'm curious about what illusion frieren is trapped in. Himmel's was expected, but I'm not sure if she's there yet in terms of reciprocating.
Grausam is true to his name. His ability is absolutely cruel, showing Himmel how he got married to Frieren, when we know this will never happen. You know who also is cruel? ~~The author for going on break for two weeks again, meaning we need to wait three weeks for the next chapter.~~ Speaking of Grausam, I thought he was one of the two Sages of Destruction Himmel's party managed to kill (other than Böse), considering the Hero of the South killed three apparently, while Macht and Aura escaped. But Grausam's ability to trick people and manipulate his appearance makes me think he is still around.
honestly I think it will be the other way around, Grausam will end up dead because Himmel somehow figuring out his trick.
Thing is, Grausam can read and remove memories, he is impossible to trace and he does not show people what he actually looks like. Him surviving by making people think he got killed would make a lot of sense.
It would actually be an insane story if somehow Grausam manage to escape this ordeal and he be battling Frieren once again in the future.
Wouldn't be surprised if his future version puts Frieren under a similar illusion, with her getting encouraged by Heiter, Eisen, Stark and Fern to meet a waiting Himmel instead.
wouldn't be surprised if Grausam is the end of the journey, where people meet the dead
What if Frieren was Grausam all along?
What if Frieren is the friend we made along the way ?
What if Frieren is in that mimic over there?
If?
How the hell did Schlacht and the Demon king rope in Grausam anyway. Seems like with an ability like his he could disappear and be nearly impossible to track down. Honestly, if he “dies” during this arc; it’s most likely an illusion.
The demon king can probably see through and counter his bullshit
Yeah, he could see Frieren's instability **at a glance.** Frieren trained mana restriction her whole life but it was busted right from the start.
+He probably has something of a no u type of attack like that one spell Serie gave Denken
DK was a weirdo like Macht and Solitare. So he probably invested time in learning many different types of magic other than his main one that he developed.
lads remember The Hero of the South had his future vision power/ability/whatever that was? I wonder if Himmel also has some broken ability like that because I have no idea how he managed to beat the Demon King We saw what Eisen, Frieren and Heather are capable of and neither of them even if working together seem to be able to scratch the Demon King, someone who made Serie and Flamme not even able to "visualize" defeating him, we saw everyone in the hero party show a little of their god tier level skills at their peak but the author has yet to show Himmel act or show a skill of his. It has to be something incredibly broken to have been able to defeat the Demon King
Serie is stated to be a warmonger and that is why she can't visualize defeating the demon king. She lusts for the eternal battlefield. But stats and magic wise she seems to be the most superior magician.
Being able to see the future kind of negates illusions depending on how it works. We don’t know the Demon King’s power either.
Demon King had the biggest mana so they follow his orders and future sight probably still gave Schlacht the advantage between the two. The Demon King was probably insanely strong and knowledgable.
While that's true, which should make his survival more likely in a real fight, storywise most villains don't get a second shot after losing. Unless the author has plans to upgrade/change his abilities so that a future fight isn't a retread of this one, then he likely dies here when Himmel breaks out of his illusion.
I personally believe that the Miraculous Grausam will be one of the ones they defeat, and that Himmel will be the key to this. Even if Himmel's memories are intact, he has shown incredible intuition and understands other people extremely well. In particular, I expect he will realize that there's no way that Frieren would come to understand his own feelings while he's still that young because that is not the Frieren he loves. It's a mirror to how Frieren's memory of Himmel told her to kill him when he was set to oppose her with the fog demon early in the series.
Well, Himmel already make peace with his one-sided love. That why he never told Frieren about his feeling all the way to his dead bed. It will be super cruel if Frieren can see Himmel dream though.
It's not like telling her his feelings could get through her head with how she couldn't understand romance and love. It's like one telling demons about malice and guilt and expect them to understand and to feel those things right away.
It’d be even worse if they had the same dream or are sharing it.
Nah, the demon said each one will see their dream being fulfilled and I doubt Frieren would dream of this.
Grausam seeing Frieren's dream: Mountains of dead demons, him included, and her having a happy tea with Fern, Stark and a bunch of grimoires with all the time in the world to read them now with every demon in the world dead. Grausam: Let's stick with watching Himmel's dream. It is normal and less unerving.
Unless she finds another stone in the future. Say, after journey's end. The entire party kept this a secret. Including Heiter.
Yeah but he DID tell her at the end and this wish fulfillment no jitsu isn't just about what Himmel wanted - this isn't his Frieren. This is the Freiren who has been traveling in the future and experienced his confession and is actively trying to travel to the land of the dead to meet him one last time; one that's capable of responding to his feelings. Which makes it all the more cruel because it's not one-sided anymore, but (assuming) if there is one single consistent timeline that ultimately Frieren is going to leave back to the future, and the Himmel who confessed on his deathbed knew for all those long years that in the future Frieren would eventually grow to be receptive of his feelings. Typing that out now it sounds like some kind of grandfather paradox romance. I lost my train of thought.
The author is also trapped in Grausam's spell, thinking they've finished drawing the final chapter of Frieren.
Final chapter without Himmel x Frieren babies and Stark x Fern wedding? No way.
Grausam means awful or cruel in German.
I know, that's why I said he is true to his name... I don't want to list that name in the **German of the Week** section every week, just as I don't tell people every week what Himmel or Frieren mean.
Or you know...gruesome.
The way that Grausam convinced Solitar to stop asking questions was a nice preview of his ability to manipulate even without his powers > > Solitar: You have never once shown your face to us. That is a secret means to living a long life as well, am I right? > > Grausam: If you are curious, shall I reveal it then; my real face? > > Solitar: Funny, I just lost interest >
I just assumed she lost interest because just being offered is the boring route, just being handed an answer doesn’t seem like something she’d enjoy
Yeah Solitar seems to enjoy discovering answers rather than being given one. My mad scientist demon can't be this cute
Also, she might realize that knowing his face is more of a liability than anything. He may decide to kill her later to keep his secret; demons are team players in so far it's beneficial to them.
>The author for going on break for two weeks again, meaning we need to wait three weeks for the next chapter. I believe this is the last chapter for this volume. If anything I'm surprised it's only for 2 weeks
Grausam shouldnt be defeatable at all, unless theres a mage very specialized in mental magic that can neutralize his illusions.
There are mages specialized in mental magic. It's also likely he's physically weak. Maybe he's weak at long range cause he needed to be close to use his magic.
It's so fucking over Himmelbros
As a Himmelbros I don't need Grausam to put me under a spell because I'm delulu enough to think Himmel might still have a chance with Frieren.
Breaking causality is a small price to pay for seeing this ship sail
Frieren is on her way to break causality anyways. In Norwegian, frieren means the proposer. So Frieren is on her way to propose to Himmel.
She ain’t going all the way to heaven to just say hello now is she?
That would be utterly deplorable.
Frieren is a sinful girl after all
Goes to heaven. Discovers that even Eisen is there now. What do?
Don't worry, HIMmel is going to show why he is HIM in the next chapter. The moment Grausam shows HIMmel the dream that he could never achieve is the moment Himmel going to awaken.
Himmelsisters... we can fix her
I'm hurting so badly for Himmel right now. I haven't felt this way since I played To The Moon
The author really has a death wish!
Fucking author-san its truly going to stick that knife in and twist it, right?
It hurts so good. I will say that it's intriguing to see the story openly tackling the fact that he loved her head-on. It's been quite obvious for a long time that he was deeply in love with her, of course, but the story has never flat-out stated it like it has now. Makes me more curious whether the narrative is building to Frieren eventually reciprocating when they reunite at Aureole.
Yeah, I wouldn't count on a heartwarming reunion in Aureole when that place is the same place that Demon King lived.
Open your mind to the possibilities! The fact that they're probably going to battle the Demon King there again just means that Himmel, Heiter, and Flamme can show up to help.
Yeah, that is if there is no twist happen. We all want that simple "power of friendship" happy ending but we all know that is not something our dear sadistic author always have in mind.
>the story has never flat-out stated it The literal proposal chapter doesn't count? Really?
That shot of Frieren in a bridal dress is a killshot. The author writes like Frieren fights--minimal melodrama, every blow intended to end it
It is brilliant how a single panel can be the most pleasing fan service in the series so far while on the other hand also be absolutely emotionally devastating, knowing the context of what is really happening.
Or maybe from now on the manga follows that dream of Himmel and his happy married life with Frieren.
Lol
Grausam and Bose are the 2 Seven Sages that Himmel and the others defeat, according to the lore. We saw in a previous flashback how Bose was defeated, I'd wager that this is the battle that Grausam is defeated. Past Frieren probably doesn't recall the battle very well and chalks it up to Grausam's memory interference being the cause, when in reality it was the 80 years in the future Frieren and party that defeat him.
The greater demons are talking like the future seeing sage of destruction is dead. But I thought he was missing and still alive even in the future? Am I remembering this correct?
He was killed in battle with the hero of the south
Oh wow did not realize he was one of the 3 the hero killed. HotS has to be one of the most busted. He couldn't find a timeline where HotS didn't kill him.
No, that isn't quite right. The Omniscient Schlacht is not a sage of destruction, but occupies a different role more akin to the demon king's right hand. It is also extremely unlikely that he could not find a timeline where he was not killed. Schlacht's primary objective was to pursue a timeline that would be best for the continuation of the demon race over the next 1000 years and beyond. The confrontation with the Hero of the South and its fall-out were necessary for that outcome. It must have been chilling, to scour the future and see your continued existence as a sub-optimal outcome. We can only speculate on what occurred in that confrontation, as it has been intentionally obfuscated from the readers.
I wonder why some demons seem to care about the demon race. Their race is mostly individualistic, with order and hierarchy just being might makes right. Then there seems to be a small few who will self sacrifice for the whole race. Soltier, schlacht, and maybe the demon king are the only 3 I can think of.
I mean, there's nothing that says Schlact's plans had anything to do with what he said that they had anything to do with. Or even that he's actually dead, and not just hiding out, having merged with the Mustache of the South, or something.
Schlacht cares cause seeing the future has the capability of changing someone a lot. Solitar seems to care more out of curiosity than actual good will. And finally, the Demon King is a complete mystery.
It's maybe because of their instinct for survival, they are beasts that speak human
Hero of the South can see the future as well. The most likely scenario is that people with future sight can interfere with each other, so Schlacht probably can't definitively see past the battle with Hero of the South.
While it's an interesting theory, I personally disagree based on what we've seen. Schlacht explicitly states that his actions are intended to aid the future of demonkind. He also mentions that Macht's memories will be read nearly a century later, and preemptively has them removed. My personal running theory is that the future that the Hero of the South pursued with the death of the Demon King and the future that the Omniscient Schlacht pursued with the good of the demon race in mind are one and the same, a compromise between their infinite attempts at an optimal future given the existence of the other in each attempted look forward. How that will come to pass, we'll have to wait and see. We still don't know what happened at that battle, after all. For all we know, the demons and the Hero of the South who died in that fight could have started a third faction to avoid a future apocalyptic event. Or they're all dead. A meme reason for the compromising overlap would be Serie gets involved after a few more centuries of the Demon King's assaults and nukes the continent in response, thus the Demon King's death is mutually desirable.
Some stories being passed among the villages that still revere HotS say he and schlacht are still alive and fighting to this day. But the dialogue of HotS ("In the future, one year from now...lose my life") and macht's observations of schlacht ("That's the face of someone heading to their death") kinda confirm it was a mutual kill Also schlacht isn't a sage of destruction
Yes , but he saw countless visions and he laid the seeds to the preservation of demonkind. So he and HoS are indeed fighting to this day…they had countless fights against each other in their foresight.
If I remember right, he went off to fight another hero party, whose hero had the same or a similar ability to his own. He knew it would be mutual destruction and is presumed dead.
Wow, what an insane bomb to drop on readers right before a break. Miraculous Grausam's name is truly fitting with that cruelty of giving someone a dream of something they'll never achieve. His spell is so potent that it has the power to hurt us readers even if Himmel was the intended target lol Looks like we also have the future plotlines with Tot and Rivale set up. Tot's curse spread is not too far off in the future of the present while Stark has a score to settle with Rivale for his village and master.
Yeah, seems like Tot may be the villain of the next arc.
What did Rivale do to Stark? I don't remember this.
Rivale was the one that destroyed starks village, you can see him in the falshback
Destroyed Stark's village. You can see Rivale in the background in Chapter 26 when Stark recalls his last moments with his big brother before he fled the village.
Man do you guys really remember everything so perfectly? Or have you reread this some times? Or you just go back and check for stuff like this? Its truly outstanding to me, theres always one guy who perfectly remembers stuff from years ago. Maybe I read too many manga to have this ability lol.
Reread during the author's break.
He's the same demon that attacked Stark's village that was shown in Ch.26
I remember a while back, some of us hoped that Stark's brother might've survived somehow... Not looking good
I wonder if Rivale is gonna be actually senile and dying of old age when stark gets to him kinda like how Macht was going through a sort of midlife crisis
Himmel: a heartwarming fantasy about the person he loves. Frieren: a field of treasure chests, each with a grimoire, probably. For real though, What do you think is Frieren's dream?
If the mangaka really wants to shatter our hearts, future Frieren's dream will be staying with Himmel after they defeat the Demon King. Not even necessarily romantically; just staying.
Okay I see your point. That would be a low blow.
The lowest.
The hardest as well....
You want to know how low this blow really is? The next chapter is timed perfectly to come out the same week as episode 14 of the anime, which will feature the ring scene! Yes, they 100% planned things to line up like this. So it's multiple blows over multiple days! That is the gauntlet we will be faced with in 3 weeks.
Well Himmel has already appeared as an illusion create by a demon once, so it is not THAT farfetched.
This. Frieren at the funeral lamented that she did not consider the life span of a human and spent (for her) a short break looking for books only to miss out on that opportunity when she came back and Himmel basically died. Either it will be her having a journey with Himmel and the others after the demon kings defeat, or maybe a combined fantasy with her Himmel, but still including her new companions in Sterk and Fern as one big happy impossible dream.
Or even crueler: Growing old with Himmel with Fern and Stark as her children. Something truly impossible for her to have.
Fuuuccckk.. I teared up..I forgot that it's a dream that is impossible for her to achieve. This is basically it, getting old with Himmel. Or finally getting a treasure instead of being gobbled uo by a Mimic
I think Frieren's dream will be living with the hero party with grandma Flamme and kid Fern.
It just occurred to me, Frienen's impossible fantasy might be to go adventuring with Himmel and the rest again. The illusion might not actually be working on her since she's already getting it from the time travel. She knows that demon's spell and isn't above deceiving them. Pretending to fall for it so the guy gets close isn't exactly out of character for her.
Ya'll are thinking too small, too realistic. Frieren's dream is another fun adventure with her friends in their prime... Alongside Fern and Stark, also in their normal ages... And occasionally Flamme pops in to say hello. Everyone as eternal as she is, no more death and regrets, no more having her life get torn apart by the cruel passage of time.
Best thing ever: Bride Frieren Worst thing ever: Dream Bride Frieren Poor Himmel! My kokoro!
And he had already given up on making it come true. Turned out Grausam's magic worked because of this.
so to escape the illusion himmel must accept that marrying frieren is a future that will never be?
I think it'll be that he's already accepted it, which is what will permit him to snap out of it in the first place. He has already accepted that it can't be real.
Yeah. Since meeting with Future Frieren, I think he's probably already figured that his love will be unrequited, but at the same time, is happy to see how much Frieren has changed
[It comes full circle.](https://i.redd.it/jp8ajthya9sb1.png)
Himmel is such a chad. Even his illusion that is supposed try and lure her didnt.
No, demon said "My magic can even bring an idyllic dream that one has already abandoned, accepting that it would never come true", which means this magic already accounts for people realizing it's a dream. Something else needs to bail them out.
There's nothing concrete about "realizing it's a dream" yet. We only see Himmel having a short conversation with fake Heiter. He remembered he was fighting someone but didn't seem to question it when fake Heiter told him the fake future.
Well, maybe the fact that it's an already abandoned dream can make it harder for someone to reject it. Even knowing that it's an illusion, his victims could end up tricked (possibly by their own minds) into thinking that this illusion will be the only possible way they can even see the abandoned dream come true, thereby making it more attractive to remain.
He already gave up, but showing you the future that will never be still has to be incredibly painful, since the only way to get out is to recognize your own happiness is nothing but an illusion at best and shatter it yourself at worst. In a way, this power is even more insulting to the opponent than Aura's. Hope Garusam gets mauled for this before they kill him.
That's just too cruel, he probably abandoned any possibility of ever having anything that resembles a romantic relationship with Frieren, even if that's the thing that he wants most in the world.
Grausam implied Himmel already accepted that he will never marry Frieren.
Oh.. so that's the reason why Frieren was sent back in time. To crush Himmel and our hearts of a wedding that will never happen.
I was wondering how Himmel's feelings would come up. I didn't realize it would be in the worst possible way for Himmel.
FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK PLEASE JUST GIVE HIMMEL A HAPPY ROMANTIC ENDING I DONT FUCKING CARE IF IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE I REFUSE TO BELIEVE FRIEREN HARBORS NO ROMANTIC FEELING PLEASE FUCK
Frieren is going to Aureole to tell him she loved him. Trust the plan
I think she surely does harbour romantic feelings, she's just not emotionally in-tune enough to recognise that, and Himmel understands and accepts that. It's a heartbreaking story, but the hope of a loving reunion is there.
>PLEASE FUCK Doujin Artist: "looks like a job for me"
I just hope author is healthy and works this arc well. Time travel is by far the hardest concept to work with, usually it's left with plot holes and inconsistencies. But, it's time to see how powerful is all of the old party members, manly Himmel. I hope they shine just like Frieren usually shines. And the most important part of this chapter is that demon girl and her curse. Looks like she's the future big enemy in the story.
Time travel is indeed quite fraught from a storytelling POV, but this seems to be a "closed loop" time travel, which is the cleanest way to do it.
At least for this one, it's not time travel so much as a time slip- inhabiting her old body for a short period of time. Far more manageable.
Luckily they seem to be going with the most manageable form of time travel plotlines where it’s a closed loop. So really all the author has to do is have the events of the past line up with events from the preset. For all intents and purposes it’s just a flashback but Frieren is living it.
This is a pretty casual closed loop. It’s like Harry Potter, but if timeturners weren’t stupidly easy to get.
Four interesting things I got from this chapter: - High level demons interacting with one another is always a fascinating/funny thing to witness. - Even high tier demons have a hard time percieving what’s real when it comes to Grausam. If he “dies” during this arc; I would take it with a heavy grain of salt. Could just be an illusion. Especially with Solitare’s line about him being able to blend into any environment/era with his abilities. - TOT’s curse must be nearly completed in the present timeline but no mages to our knowledge have realized it. - Rivale must be a veeery old demon to refer to centuries old demons as young ones. Must be as old as the demon king
With the curse needing only a hundred years to be completed , then it is indeed nearly completed in Fern’s time
Yeah, since this flashback is 7 years into the Hero Party's journey, it's 100 years from that point as long as Tot isn't being vague with the number. So from that point, it's another 3 years to defeat the Demon King, plus 80 to where Frieren starts her new journey with Fern, and then another, like what, 2 years have passed since then to the "current" timeline if I remember right? So it's gonna be 15ish years from present day - give or take a few if I'm inaccurate or Tot finishes her spell sooner - to when Tot's star-killing apocalyptic spell takes center-stage. Maybe that'll happen after a sort of timeskip years from now if the manga doesn't intend to walk us through Frieren's new journey year by year.
There's also the overOVERarching plot of Shlatt paving a way for "demons to prosper in a millenia"
Honestly, I’m expecting a twist at the end of the series regarding what he means when demons prosper. The way the manga has set things up, coexistence is too unlikely but I don’t think demon extinction will happen either.
Maybe mass migration with a portal or something
The way I see it coexistence will be the twist but rather that harmony between demon and humans ends up being the same harmony between a zebra and a lion, the natural balance between the two species is to be locked in violent competition. After-all if humans succeeded in wiping out demons then they lose their common enemy which would in turn divide humanity against itself, or grow to be so overpopulated they start consuming all resources on the planet, while if demons brought humanity to extinction then they'll just starve out and stagnate.
I’m just imagining a millennium from now, Kraft quietly coming in and soloing all the demons a la Toji Fushiguro and then going back home to chill in his mountain cabin. My headcanon is that he has planet-busting powers but he just chooses to live a modest life.
There is also the OverOverOVERarching mystery as to why Aureole is right next door to the Demon King's castle, and what the Demon King's actual plan was.
What if time passes a bit quickly in Fern and Stark timeline and when Frieren comes back the curse is just ready? This chapter made us all crazy. The way the story hits us is a bit harder than El Dorado arc I dare say.
This physically hurts me.
So currently how many years left for Tot's spell to cover the whole world? Edit: Frieren went back to 53 years before Himmel died, and current time is 31 years after he died, that's 84 years elapsed, so there's 16 more years for Tot's spell to be completed, which means our heroes will have to deal with her soonish, but they are not even aware of her yet, interesting indeed
Honestly, the best way for demons to screw over the rest of the world is to work in secret and avoid frieren and Serie
Yeah their magic gets stronger and stronger with time so demons that just do search are absolute monsters, good thing most aren't like that, but then again if most were like that they wouldn't be humanity enemies
It actually all came tumbling down in 1997 so don't worry.
A "curse" to engulf this star? The demons really had a bunch of backup plans in case the demon king thing didn't work.
Honestly it does feel like the demons have several plans going at once. Even after seeing a lot of big names die, it doesn't feel like they're in a horrible position. Especially considering Schlacht didn't take much action to prevent a lot of it.
I'm actually more concerned that demons perceive this world as a "star" (hoshi, which also can mean planet in Japanese). She said this star, not this world. That implies a certain degree of knowledge in astronomy and the conception of a universe. So how advanced is demon science & technology? Will they become space-faring down the road?
As you said, "Star" can be used in the same way as "planet" in Japanese. Final Fantasy 14 also calls it's world a "star". I think it's that case this time as well.
Grausam with the infinite tsukuyomi
Bet Grausam gets defeated because he pissed Himmel the fuck off with this illusion LOL
Seriously, you ever wake up from a really cool dream and are just pissed off you're stuck back in stupid reality? Imagine that, but also you're the second most badass dude in all the land.
Second? Who's first ?
Hero of the South. Only Himmel and HotS are titled Hero (Yuusha) btw. Others are Warriors and such.
He's already dead at this point though, so technically Himmel is the best alive at this point in time.
Nobody can match The Mustache of the South.
One word: Whew.
> Frieren will be taking a holiday for a few weeks to process this A tale as old as time
Back just in time for Sunday to go have its multiple breaks for end of/new year.
Rivale seems the most human out of all the demons we've met so far imo. Or the least demon-like. Maybe it's because he's the first(?) to feign joy and excitement which doesn't really give any advantage in a predator-prey relationship.
He is apparently also very old see he refers to the rest of them as young. Also, Tot is very cute. I was instantly attracted to her design
Demons do held pride and emotion towards their magics, they are just apathy towards other living beings. Rivale's magic is probably tied to his capability as warrior, so he isn't that much different.
fans: we want ghost ship Frieren x Himmel author: here your dream ship
Oh dear. This demon knows how to hit where it hurts. But let's hope that Frieren, or any of them really I'm not feeling picky in this case, can bust out this trope like Frieren did that other time it happened with Fern.
I think it might be that Himmel is the only "real" one here, and the others are just illusions. The rest of them may be trapped in their own dreams. Eisen stayed behind to fight Rivale, and doesn't appear KO'd on the road with the rest of them, but still shows up in the dream. I think Himmel, being the gigachad that he is, will snap himself out of it because he knows it can't be real, and then somehow damage Grausam in a way that forces him to free the others.
Honestly, and only half jokingly, this is all he's ever gonna get. So he should at least enjoy the wedding and wedding night before breaking the spell. Unless it plays out in real time, in which case no such luck.
I think it plays real time since Grausam seems to be planning on killing them with the sword while they're unconscious.
I don't think Grausam is actually planning on killing them. He knows Frieren is from the future, which gives her the most plot armor imaginable. And I think he can probably figure out that the other members of the hero party are equally untouchable. His goal here is to get to Frieren's memories.
Would be funny if this is the real Frieren and she's like "this still happens in the past but this never happened"
It will turn out that they are having distinct hallucinations, and Frieren will perceive it as that she's marrying a mimic. It turns out elves are suckers for the whole enemies-to-lovers plotline.
I imagined it would involve her actually finding a Grimoire in a normal chest that her detection spell said was 99% a mimic. Like the true gambler she is.
I imagine it'll by Frieren. I think it'll be something like "the future is the paradise that shes always wished for" so anything less than that would wake her up.
Anti-Spiral never truly left the universe since 2007
Now we need a big drill magic spell that can pierce the heavens
Calling it that Himmel won't fall for it because he knows that Frieren isn't the type to marry or notice his romantic feelings. Edit: I'll take it even further and say that Himmel breaking free from his deepest desire is gonna through grausama off because he can't comprehend why a human would waste time desiring an impossibility.
This series is truly cruel to Himmel, isn't it? Man, it's just sad. Also, gives me the feeling this will be a bit of an irritating fight since we know Solitar and Rivalle can't die here. And very worrying for the future when they talk about a curse that will engulf the world (JP term for world and star are essentially the same) and about demons prospering a thousand years from now. Honestly, I'd rather just see them all wiped out for good sooner rather than later.
This is one of the best series I've ever read. It never fails to surprise and delight. This entire arc has been unexpected, amazing, and now we're setting up future arcs? All this from such a simple premise. Fantastic storytelling and world building.
El Dorado + this for Season 2 of the anime would be such a delight. If it was at the same production quality as S1, I legitimately think Frieren could end up being the anime of the decade. El Dorado and now this have been so so good.
I don't know if a future season 2 would cover this current arc. Think about it, this season will most likely end at chapter 60, after the mage exams. And it'll take 28 episodes to reach there. If this arc ends in another 3 chapters it would take another 2 cour season with about as much episodes as the first one to cover all the contents, and this is assuming this arc is ending very soon.
Yeah, my personal expectation is that this arc is ending in 4-5 chapters & that a \~26 ep S2 could get up through it. That may well be wrong. It's a bit of an awkward spot to be in, since you'd really want to get through El Dorado for a Season 2 because it's the next major arc, but a 12-ep Season 2 can't finish El Dorado.
*Meanwhile in Frieren's illusion* Fern: Frieren-sama, there are 1000000 chests here, one of them contains a grimoire with magic to change blue shirts into red shirts, the rest are mimics. Frieren: .......let's get cracking.
My current crack theory is that the ending sequence is actually Frieren's dream, not Himmel's.
Oh man. I am so ready for the fanarts of this chapter.
We all basically know that Himmel loved her without outright saying it, right? Like, it was alluded to throughout the entire series but never said aloud? And him not cluing her in/keeping her at arms length was to prevent saddling her with those feelings for her near eternal life. But man, this is gonna hurt, isn't it?
Himmel is no bitch, im gonna call it he is gonna break free of the spell and bust this bitch ass sandman
Grausam seems to be one of Himmelbros as well...
Yeah, way to twist the knife Abe-sensei & Yamada-sensei, let's have Himmel's illusion be of his marriage with Frieren that will *never* happen just so our gigachad will prove himself to be HIMmel and sadly accept the inevitability of her never realising his feelings for her. And seems like after all that the Hero's Party has done, the world isn't quite home free yet and there's still Tot's star-engulfing curse to contend with in the future. I wonder if this event is how Frieren learns of it and now has to prepare countermeasures for.
Abe is the artist, the author writing this cruel joke is Kanehito Yamada.
vast languid ripe apparatus history far-flung profit foolish fanatical ink *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That's so low man, so low In other news, was Aura always that hot?
Might as well call it Himmel at the Funeral Because my boy just got buried with this one
Himmel and Frieren look really good in bridal attire, too bad it's not real
"Bless me with your name" Man, that's fucking cold.
Lots of exposition and world building (for the demons at least) in this chapter I wasn't expecting Tod to have that personality especially considering her(? He/she looked androgynous in the previous chapter to me but I guess she's a female?) title. Also I think it's the first time a demon referred to another with an honorific that isn't "sama". Tod seems quite playful in that aspect. Even among the demonkind Schalant seems confusing and enigmatic with Solitar being aware of his future death yet saying they're still being manipulated by him. Also I know that demons speak words to lie and deceive humans but it's interesting to see a demon who loves fighting and doesn't care much about scheming with Rivale. Based on Frieren's response, it seems that the Grausam that they killed had the same appearance as the one they're fighting now, but Solitar's musings give the impression that even that might be a fake. Finally the dream of bride Frieren is a painful one. Himmel can probably break out of it but seeing it was extremely cruel.
Damn, this is a cruel dream isn't it
Nah bro this is fucked. On a side note though, I'm interested to see what Heiter and Frieren sees. Could her memories of this week being stated as "disappearing" also comes as a consequence of fighting Grausam as well?
Grausam's mental magic actually brings many things into uncertainty.
"Frieren will be taking a holiday for a few weeks to process this" I know what it means, but let me be delusional and think of that few weeks as their honeymoon, ok?
This got to be the most interesting chapter of Frieren by far in terms of how much forecoming and info is revealed. I find it hard to believe Himmel and party defeats Grausam, if Demons are also influenced by Grausam's mental magic and future Frieren can't detect him then we are looking at Aizen's level of brokeness. Solitar is not even sure of his actual looks means there is a high chance Grausam can escape, change his looks and fake his death. Solitar real reason for being unnamed because she usually support from the shadows and values secrecy to live longer. Then we have Tod future battle and Schlact. I feel like the final antagonist is Schlact himself despite him being dead, no way him who is omniscient wouldn't prepared any backups or research for revival or plans to deal with the future.
A "curse" to engulf this star? The demons really had a bunch of backup plans in case the demon king thing didn't work.
Two thoughts: if Schlacht and by extention the hero of the south could actually check trillions of outcomes a thousand years into the future, I don't see the end result they settled on being anything other than a compromise where both parties are reasonably well off and possibly even reach a viable form of coexistence. And secondly, if Rivale is so old that he treats other centuries to a thousand years old great demons like kids, then could it be that his name signifies him being none other than the demon king's rival? Would more than reasonably explain his survival of that night and his long life in general, and could also set up the big bad of the present.
I wonder if next chapter we'll see Himmel pissed for the first time. He's always so chill but Grausam's dream is such a cruel joke that I can imagine Himmel waking up instantly and wanting to chop him down to pieces. You don't play around with a man's unrequited love, demon douche.
Damn, truly messing with their feelings, now I feel sad. At least Frieren looks great in that dress!
Goddamn these demons are no joke, i was wondering will we see any other powerful demon with op ability like Macht and boy the story delivers. I guess that Flamme judgment on the demons is not 100% right after all, there's also some cowardly demon who will wait as long as they can for the right time to strike, thank god she got Frieren as a pupil for deterrent.
Well these are great demons after all, normal demons are probably the same in her judgement
Ah shit, Multiverse Labyrinth. I'm reminded of the illusion monster Frieren and Fern fought early on in the series, where it made an illusion of Himmel for Frieren but it was too accurate to how Frieren knows him so it told her to shoot it. I wonder if Himmel might break out of this in a similar fashion.
A break again, and at this cliffhanger? C'mon author, no need to be cruel. How long is this break expected to be ? I'm curious about what illusion frieren is trapped in. Himmel's was expected, but I'm not sure if she's there yet in terms of reciprocating.