Frieren 2×10 Review – “A Beautiful Sight”

Frieren anime season 2 episode 10, titled ‘A Beautiful Sight’, served as an enjoyable finale while also setting up something major for the third chapter.

The finale of the second season of Frieren consisted of three short stories, with the third tale leading into the events that will unfold in the already greenlit Frieren anime season 3. From what I know, the third season will be adapting a whole lot of action. I’m already hyped.

Coming to the current episode, it opened with the trio happening upon a very deep Tor Canyon. Of course, flying across it wasn’t an option because of the extremely strong winds. You also couldn’t head all the down and then back up again to get to the other side. What was left was for the trio to walk toward a spot where a dwarf named Gehen might have completed building a bridge.

Staying true to Frieren‘s narrative style, our titular lead first met Gehen when traveling with Himmel and the rest of the party. Gehen had begun to construct the bridge due to guilt. According to him, if such a pathway had already existed, his village might have been saved from destruction by allowing the army to cross the canyon. So, he had taken upon himself to make such a bridge a reality to not only help adventurers cross the canyon but also provide a way for people to receive aid sooner. Apparantly, Himmel had given the party’s money to Gehen so he could buy the required resources. Himmel was aware the bridge wouldn’t be built before his death (the project was going to take 200 years), but knowing Himmel, he was looking at the bigger picture. The world would still be around after Himmel’s passing, and he wanted others to benefit from Gehen’s project.

Since Himmel’s death, not only had Gehen managed to build the bridge, but other people had also arrived during that time to lend a hand, leading Gehen to rebuild his village. It was such a nice ending for a hardworking character.

As for the action part of the storyline, while incredibly useful, the bridge hadn’t become popular because it had been rendered unusable due to giant bird-like monsters terrorizing anyone who dared to cross it. Gehen wanted Frieren’s party to eliminate the monsters. For such a doable task for the trio, the payment was a spell that allowed the caster to perfectly flip pancakes. Such a spell even excited Fern. I couldn’t help but smile.

Talking about the second storyline, it had our leads making their way to an adventurer’s camp somewhere in the Schmal Snowfield. Turns out, numerous people gathered there to mine Holy Snow Crystals. Such a rare mineral was used in potion making and could be sold for a handsome amount. I don’t know about you, but I think the storyline was commenting on the current state of capitalism. Due to most adventurers being rich (having sold Holy Snow Crystals), every item available for sale in the marketplace had jacked-up prices. Not only that, but you could also make a lot of money by completing monster-hunting jobs.

The trio battling a giant Arctic wolf made for an intense fight sequence. Due to the anime hyping up the Northern Plateau as an extremely dangerous place, I enjoyed seeing the trio deal with another dangerous monster instead of yet another demon. The monster in question was able to sense mana and easily dodge Frieren and Fern’s attacks. The way to defeat the creature was similar to what Fern had recently exhibited during her fight against the demon duo alongside Methode. I’m so here for Fern flying out of her opponent’s detection range and sniping them. Not only does it showcase Fern’s powers, but it also makes for a very nice visual. This time around, Fern’s long-range attack had to be large enough for the creature not to dodge by jumping away. Fortunately, she got it!

Unfortunately, killing the Lord of Arctic wolves had led to numerous others arriving in its territory to lay claim. I have to say, I was worried for the trio when Fern and Frieren told Stark they were going to continue fighting. Even though our leads were strong, victory in the world of Frieren was usually determined by who landed the first hit. It’s like fighting a dinosaur with a gun. Yeah, you can kill such a ferocious beast with a well-placed shot. But you’d better hope you don’t miss, because a single slash or bite meant lights out for you.

The Norm Company soldiers arriving on the scene led to the trio not having to fight the wolf pack at all. The appearance of the soldiers was linked to the narrative’s themes of how helping someone can result in the kindness being paid forward and benefiting numerous others.

As for another dose of social commentary, it’s revealed that the guy who gave the trio their current monster-hunting task to clear a Holy Snow Crystal site wasn’t doing so to exhaust the mine after all. Frieren had mentioned how humans had a habit of destroying natural beauty to collect industrial resources. So, she assumed their employer wanted the Holy Snow Crystal site for himself. But nopes. Having witnessed the beauty of the site himself earlier, he had wanted to conserve it. If only we had more such people in the real world.

Coming to what to expect from Frieren anime season 3, ‘A Beautiful Sight’ concluded with Denken making his way to the Golden City. Turns out, Denken’s emotionally connected to said city, and he wasn’t happy it had been turned to gold. As for who had done such a thing, it was none other than Macht, the last and strongest of the Seven Sages of Destruction.

According to the official website, Frieren anime season 3 is looking at an October 2027 debut. It’s a long wait. But I can be patient. Titled ‘The Golden Land Arc’, the upcoming storyline will focus on the demonic Macht being released (is Denken responsible?) and our trio needing to stop him. From what I know (without stumbling upon major spoilers online), he isn’t going down easy.

Did you watch Frieren anime season 2 episode 10? What did you think of the finale?

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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