Frieren 2×06 Review – “A Demon-Slaying Request”

Frieren season 2 episode 6, titled ‘A Demon-Slaying Request’, was about giving the main trio a dangerous mission to avenge a local village that had recently been murdered by demons.

Even though I enjoy Frieren when it focuses on the lead characters traveling across various locations and the stakes being kept low so the narrative could spotlight relationships and character development, I also have to remember that it’s all still set in a fantasy world where heroic parties exist to defeat hordes of demons and other magical creatures. So, yeah, with most of the second season being about maintaining a chill vibe, it was time for the storyline to pivot to something more action-oriented. The episode also stuck to one storythread instead of dividing the narrative into two storylines, unlike the previous chapters this season.

‘A Demon-Slaying Request’ opened with a village in the Northern Plateau being massacred by a bunch of demons. A handful of soldiers from the Norm Company were present to defend the place. However, the dark forces proved to be too strong, not showing an ounce of mercy to any human being. Fortunately, a soldier was able to send an SOS, requesting help.

We then jumped to the aftermath, with Genau and Methode being sent to the village by Serie to investigate. Making Genau part of the current mission allowed the writers to help the characters (and the viewers) form a bond with the deceased villagers. It’s revealed that Genau grew up in the area. We even got a moment where he tried to save a barely-alive baker who ended up being a guy that Genau used to play with when they were kids. Even though Genau hadn’t thought much about his home village after he set out to become a Mage, his presence still worked to give the narrative some emotional weight.

I also liked how Genau was the one who explained to Stark about the lack of cemeteries in the villages spread across the Northern Plateau. Due to the territory housing numerous dangerous creatures hungry for human flesh, the stench of the dead attracted them to villages and small towns, even if the deceased were buried underground. That’s why whenever someone died, the Norm Company soldiers would help transport the dead bodies to a safe location for proper burial. The safe locations were usually a town that had fortified walls around it.

Apparently, certain government officials had been urging villagers to start cremating their dead to save on resources associated with such travels and to free the Norm Company soldiers to focus on other tasks. However, being told to cremate the dead didn’t gel well with the religious beliefs of many inhabitants who wanted to bury their lost loved ones. Even Genau made sure to cast a defensive spell around the religious building that he and Methode had placed all of the recovered dead bodies in. Genau wasn’t going to burn them, and burying them inside the village grounds (even after Stark offered to help him do so) was out of the question because of hungry monsters showing up. While Genau didn’t feel a strong bond with his village anymore, he was still quite respectful of the villagers who had been killed.

I also liked Genau’s conversation with Methode about how he didn’t like innocent people dying because of demons. In Genau’s opinion, people like him and other adventurers should be the ones targeted by demons and other creatures because they signed up for such a life. I could understand where Genau was coming from. However, that’s not how the world worked. The vulnerable will always be targeted or serve as collateral damage.

Frieren’s party meeting Genau and Methode had to do with all of them being asked to fulfill the same request. From what I could gather, the only difference was that while the main trio was freelancing for a reward, Genau and Mehode were there on official business as Serie’s students. First-Class Mages were supposed to study under Serie, and that included being sent out on missions, including hunting demons or completing fetch quests. Fern would have done the same if she hadn’t rejected Serie’s offer to become her student during the first season, something that Frieren was quite appreciative of.

Stark and Genau bonded over how both men have had their villages destroyed by demons. Methode and Stark bonded over trying to deduce what kind of demon would have been capable of inflicting the type of injuries visible on the dead bodies. Such injuries were impossible to make even while wielding two-handed weapons. Another thing of note was how Genau and Methode had fought a bunch of demons lurking in the village that shouldn’t have had the strength to take on the Norm Company soldiers, especially the older guy who was supposed to be stronger than Stark.

That meant that whoever struck the village first and took down the soldiers was still out there. Not only that, but according to what Methode and Stark had deduced from analyzing the wounds and their own knowledge about sword fighting, the demon they needed to track down had four arms.

I don’t know if Genau was already familiar with such a four-armed demon. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. Attacking the village at random and not eating the dead humans was unlike usual demon behavior. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if Genau’s village got attacked by the four-armed demon as some kind of revenge for something that might have happened between those two in the past.

Frieren would likely be aware of the existence of the four-armed demon in question. That’s just how she is as a character.

Talking about some of the other moments I enjoyed, the comedy in such a tense episode came from Methode continuing to be enamored by Frieren’s cuteness. If it were up to Methode, she would be hugging Frieren tight. She felt the same way about Serie, too. Methode really has a thing for magical elf women who’ve been around for hundreds of years.

The demons in Frieren continued to be a menace, only using human speech and maintaining a human-like appearance to make actual humans lower their guard before striking. I know that some in the fandom aren’t fans of demons being so cookie-cutter. But not me. That last thing I want in Frieren is for a misunderstood “not like the others” demon popping up who would like to befriend humans. Some entities are just darkness personified and need to be taken off the board.

Did you watch Frieren anime season 2 episode 6, ‘A Demon-Slaying Request’? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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