Frieren 2×02 Review – “The Hero of the South”

Frieren season 2 episode 2, titled ‘The Hero of the South’, added a huge development to the lore as well as Frieren’s backstory. I was quite surprised.

I don’t know if other fans felt it, but to me, ‘The Hero of the South’ came across as an episode that was split into two parts or vignettes. It opened with the trio reaching the small town of Fabel and taking on the task of polishing a bronze statue of a hero. Of course, I (similar to Stark and Fern) assumed that the statue in question was going to be of Himmel the Hero. However, it’s revealed that it was actually a statue of another brave man known as the Hero of the South.

What followed was Frieren telling the story of the Hero of the South to her companions. Even though it was Himmel’s party that managed to defeat the Demon Lord in the end, numerous other courageous adventurers had tried before them. The Hero of the South was one such famous heroic figure. And apparently, he was the strongest of them all, even though he never got to defeat the Demon Lord.

According to legend, the Hero of the South had killed three of the Seven Sages of Destruction, including Schlacht the Omniscient, who was a demon known for having the ability to see into the future. While Frieren said that the Hero of the South likely died and was consumed by the demons, the people keeping his story alive believed that because the body wasn’t found, their hero was still fighting Schlacht the Omniscient somewhere and keeping the world safe.

I liked how the narrative visualized the hero’s story through a local puppet show being enjoyed by a bunch of children. I also liked how Frieren explained how defeating the Demon Lord was a team effort. Himmel’s party wouldn’t have managed a win if it hadn’t been for all of the hard work other deceased heroes had put in to continue facing the forces of darkness.

Even in the present, while Frieren’s party was traveling toward Ende, adventurers such as Wirbel were busy facing enemies in the North. Frieren’s party is sure to meetup with Wirbel soon and will likely play a huge role in securing victory, but the work done by other adventurers until that moment occurs shouldn’t be ignored.

A major surprise that added yet another layer to Frieren’s backstory was the reveal that our titular heroine had met the Hero of the South before Himmel asked her to join his iconic party. Turns out that the Hero of the South could also see the future. He was aware of his inevitable death at the hands of Schlacht the Omniscient. Not only that, but he was also aware of how Frieren would accompany Himmel’s party and defeat the Demon Lord. As far as the Hero of the South was concerned, his mission was to clear a path for Himmel’s companions. He also gave Frieren a message to deliver to Himmel. And while we didn’t get to hear said message in this episode, I’m very excited about hearing it down the line.

I’m a fan of how the narrative handled the ability to see the future. While I understand the type of precognition that allowed you to potentially change possible futures and alter timelines (see Boruto), I prefer the type of futuresight where the future is more or less set in stone and you trying to shuffle things around to avoid or hasten an outcome turns out to be the exact sequence of events that needed to occur for such a future to take place (see That’s So Raven). And Frieren’s world gave me the type of futuresight I preferred.

The story concluded with Frieren’s party successfully polishing the statue and receiving a spell that scratched hard-to-reach back itches.

The second storyline had the trio reach a large town being governed by Graf Dach. It was obvious something was up with Frieren trying to shop for supplies and leave ASAP. She’s used to taking her time. That’s why her burst of speed had Stark and Fern raise an eyebrow. However, Frieren’s unable to leave quickly enough, and the trio got invited to dinner by Graf Dach.

Frieren asking Graf Dach to get to the point made me laugh. There was a reason they were being treated to a nice dinner in the castle.

Turns out, Graf Dach wanted the trio to retrieve a family heirloom. It was a beautiful sword coveted by demons. It had been stolen before, with Himmel’s party being forced to track down the elusive demonic thief.

Trying to handle things the way Himmel would, Frieren accepted the request. Himmel didn’t refuse any chance to help someone in need, no matter how tough the task. And Frieren was going to do the same. However, due to how Frieren was as a character, I liked how, in her mind, there was a difference between accepting a request made in-person and not caring about an expected request if you were fast enough to leave an area before said request was made. No wonder she wanted to get out of the town ASAP.

As for the sword, it was originally stolen from a demon decades ago. Numerous other dark beings had tried to steal it back because of some unknown attraction to the blade. Frieren mentioned how the demon that Himmel’s party defeated had gone on a rampage with the sword. Apparently, demons couldn’t stop themselves from showing their newly acquired weapon. The current demon who stole the sword acted in a similar manner. I could be wrong, but I think the sword might be giving them a stat boost.

I say this because the creature the trio faced had enough power (while wielding the blade) to break through one of Fern’s magical shields.

The narrative continued to showcase demonic beings in Frieren as untrustworthy beings who had grown smart enough to manipulate humans. We have seen demons act like children, even yelling “Mama!” or begging for their lives to tap into human sympathy. This time around, the female demon the trio faced had been walking around disguised as a priest. She would encourage humans to pray, leading them to close their eyes and be killed by her.

Even Stark and Fern fell for the woman’s tone because she pulled on their heartstrings to pray for the dead villagers. It’s a good thing Frieren didn’t follow a human religion.

There was no reasoning with demons present in this anime. Even if they could consume other types of meat, they didn’t see any sense in not hunting humans. And I highly doubt Frieren is going to introduce a demonic creature that would genuinely want to change. The narrative is keeping things streamlined by cementing that demons are bad and that they will continue to manipulate humans for whatever reason by aiming for human sympathy, fear, or greed.

The spell awarded to Frieren upon completing the mission was for turning red apples into green apples.

I love her!

Did you watch Frieren anime season 2 episode 2, ‘The Hero of the South’? 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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