It feels kinda weird to be typing “Episode 5” a week into the season, but there you go.   As it turns out Sousou no Frieren is apparently going to be 28 episodes, so that four-part premiere was really gravy.  That’s a further sign of confidence in it as a commercial enterprise – just getting two normal cours is in this day and age – but it’s justified I think, based on the manga’s sales.  I’m still not sure whether I’m going to fall in the love or like camp with this series, but it does seem like one that can make use of any extra time it’s given.

A big reason for that is (obviously) pacing.  Frieren at the Funeral is clearly not a show in much of a hurry to get anywhere.  I think this is a conscious decision on the part of the mangaka to put us in Frieren’s mindset as much as possible – to help is perceive the world as she does, where time means something different than it does for us.  Yet, as Eisen notes, her experience as part of the heroes’ party – “not even a hundredth” of her life – changed her.  In point of fact all her experiences with mortals are changing her, whether she realizes (or approves) or not.

And so Frieren embarks on a new one-hundredth adventure to Aureole, with only Fern for company but a sense that will eventually change.  The first stop sees she and Fern stop off at a village troubled by ghost sightings and disappearances in the mountains.  Frieren immediately recognizes this as the work of an Einsam (this series is full of German names and words, this one meaning “lonely traveler”).  It’s a magical beast that lures humans (its only food) in with visions of their lost loved ones.  She’s willing to ignore it and move on, but Fern is inclined to help the village out by dealing with the creature.

This seems like it could be the meat of the narrative – Frieren and companion(s) helping out the locals on the way to where she’s going (which has a bit of a Mushishi quality to it).  I guess in medieval cultures if a wild beast is preying on humans those humans are justified in exterminating it, so in context all this killing Frieren does makes sense – though the Einsam is, like tigers or bears (or solar dragons) acting to ensure its own survival.  The insidious element of this creature’s ability is that it draws directly from the memories of its intended victims, so the phantoms it conjures know exactly what to say.

Naturally enough, good girl Fern (God help me, but this is such a plain yogurt character) sees Heiter.  It’s perhaps telling that Frieren sees not Flamme, who she says she expected to, but Himmel.  Fern hesitates – Frieren does not.  However much she’s changed it’s not so much that she lacks the detach to power through the emotion of the moment and do what must be done.  Fern does what must be done eventually, but we’ll never know if she would have had Frieren not acted first.  It’s also fascinating that Frieren tells Fern she’s “used to hearing Flamme beg for her life” – and that she declines to elaborate even when Fern presses her to do so.

Next up mage and apprentice come upon a solar dragon, whose nest contains a grimoire Frieren wants to add to her collection for its spell on seeing through clothes.  Somewhat cruelly she lets Fern have a taste of just how formidable dragons are, then the focus turns to the next stage of the narrative journey.  Frieren’s old companions are always trying to protect her from loneliness, it seems, and Eisen too is trying to get here to take on a companion, his former apprentice Stark (Kobayashi Chiaki).  It was he who stared down the dragon and stopped it from destroying this village, though just why it’s declined to attack since is not entirely clear.

Stark is strong, clearly, but also skittish.  He fled from his village when it was destroyed.  He fled from Eisen (who sees something of himself in the young man).  He’s willing to join Frieren’s party if the dragon is dealt with first, but he’s terrified at the prospect of actually facing it.  Frieren seems more understanding than you might expect, in part because no one in their right mind would be unconcerned at the prospect of fighting a beast like this.  He’s going to be important character clearly, maybe a regular, and this moment is a test of character for Stark.  One could almost call it an audition, in fact – with Frieren as the sole judge.