Frieren 2×05 Review – “Logistics in the Northern Plateau”

Frieren anime season 2 episode 5, titled ‘Logistics in the Northern Plateau’, had the trio help a dwarf find a legendary beer, followed by Frieren’s past catching up to her again.

With Frieren, Fern, and Stark continuing their journey to Ende, they found themselves in the Bier region, which was famous for making beer. Apparantly, a beer called Boshaft had achieved legendary status because it was served to the royal family that once ruled the region. There were still certain beer enthusiasts hoping to taste Boshaft. Heiter was one such person. However, he had been unable to taste Boshaft because of Frieren during their adventure together.

Due to Frieren retracing her Hero Party journey with Fern and Stark in the present, it’s always enjoyable to see people from her past, or living relatives of people who used to know her, pop up. This time around, we got introduced to a dwarf named Fass. He had asked the Hero Party for assistance with finding Boshaft about 80 years ago, but they refused because of Frieren. Due to still wanting to complete his life’s goal of tasting Boshaft, it made sense for Fass to track Frieren down in the Bier region and ask her again for help.

I couldn’t help but laugh when Frieren refused to help Fass yet again. There was clearly a reason for her rejection, especially when Frieren is the type of character who will agree to help others because that’s what her deceased legendary party member Himmel would do. I could tell that Frieren was hesitating to lend Fass a hand because in her mind, not helping him achieve his goal was, in a way, helping him. Apparantly, it was for his own good.

However, upon insistence from Stark and Fern, due to Fass offering a lot of money for the task, Frieren succumbed to the pressure and agreed to help the dwarf unlock a magically sealed door blocking access to, presumably, an entire stash of Boshaft. Negating the magical barrier was going to take three months, but the monetary reward was worth the wait.

With the time to dispel the barrier finally approaching, we got to learn why Frieren had refused Fass twice. Turns out, Boshaft, while legendary, was one of the worst beers to ever exist. The reason for the hype was that another elf, named Milliarde, wrote an inscription about the wonderful taste after sealing the liquor behind the magical door. And yeah, Milliarde, straight-up lied in her note because… why the heck not? Ha!

Even though it was a cruel prank to play on beer enthusiasts, I can see where Milliarde was coming from. As Frieren put it, humans wouldn’t believe what kind of things elves would do to spend their time because they lived incredibly long lives. While Frieren focused on collecting every type of spell out there, and other elves had numerous varying hobbies, Milliarde was the kind of elf who spent time spacing out. She just wasn’t into anything, except for writing an ancient elvish inscription that had made certain beings, like Fass, make it their life’s work to find Boshaft and drink it.

Frankly, if I knew I was going to live for a century (and maybe even longer), the world wouldn’t be ready for the lies and tall tales I would be spewing every chance I get to have fun with a new generation of humans. You have to keep things interesting somehow, you know?

Frieren was well aware of Boshaft tasting bad, and that’s why, all those decades ago, she had stopped the Hero Party from helping Fass, much to Heiter’s disappointment.

With Fass finally getting to taste the legendary beer, I liked how Frieren played a role in softening the disappointing blow by transforming the entire event into a group experience. Essentially, the narrative, from my understanding, was about how bad experiences in life might not feel as bad as expected if you have friends around, because your friends can help you see the lighter moments. Also, there’s no guarantee in life that finally getting to accomplish a major goal will be accompanied by any sense of achievement. Sometimes, finally obtaining something you have always wanted can lead to a moment of “Meh!” instead of the anticipated euphoria.

As for the second storyline, it dealt with Frieren being asked to repay her longstanding debt after arriving at the Norm Company’s fortress. The company was responsible for logistics in the Northern territories. Apparantly, the company was so influential that even the country’s government didn’t mess with how the Norm family ran things in the North.

The company’s founder, who was about building and supporting the community, believed in the Hero Party on their way to defeat the Demon Lord, even providing them with funds with no repayment deadline. Of course, Frieren was going to repay it… sometime. However, the current owner of the company wasn’t as lenient as his grandfather and demanded our lead repay the debt, including decades of interest, or be sent to the mines for 300 years to work it off.

Seeing Frieren immediately accept her fate was hilarious. Being an elf, 300 years, while long, wasn’t as long as it would be for a human. She was disappointed about her journey with Fern and Stark coming to such an abrupt end, but Frieren also wasn’t the type of person to put up a fight against a city’s government.

Of course, viewers knew Frieren wouldn’t spend the rest of the season in the mines. So, I was excited to see how she would go about seeking debt forgiveness. Turns out, she didn’t need to do much. The Norm Company was facing financial trouble, and all Frieren had to do was find a deposit of silver to get the business back on track.

I liked how the narrative handled the Norm Company and Frieren’s willingness to help. It was hard to distribute food and other goods in the North. That’s why the Norm Company was essential to ensure villages and other settlements had access to sustenance. The company even had its own small army for security reasons. Aiding such a business would not only rid our white-haired elf of her debt but also benefit countless people in the process. And we all know Frieren’s all about helping.

Also, kudos to the animators for the sequence depicting Frieren casting a beautiful-looking spell to map out the correct route to dig in the mines.

While enjoyable, my only gripe with episode 5 would be the lack of immediate danger. The previous episode had the trio face beast after beast, along with dialogue about how dangerous the North was. However, our protagonists didn’t face a single creature during their journey in the fifth episode. Not only that, but the cities they visited didn’t seem too concerned about beast attacks either. Yes, the Norm Company’s guards had experienced a lot of trouble, but it was all offscreen.

So, yeah, the sudden drop in danger took me by surprise, especially after the action-heavy previous chapter. Hopefully, things will change soon.

Did you watch Frieren anime season 2 episode 5? What did you think about 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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