What I really want to say “is so far, so good”. But I fear that comes off as snarky, and I truthfully don’t intend to be. I’m just happy that the first two episodes of the season have been the Sousou no Frieren I enjoy so much. This series is so much better (at least to me) when it’s low-key. Even the theoretical peril in this episode was low key – there was never any sense of doubt about the outcome. If demon-slaying slice of life is a genre, this is it in a nutshell. And let me just add, Evan Call’s music wraps you up like a warm embrace after a cold night on the road.
We got a great cameo – at least I’m assuming it’s that – from a “new character”. And a great seiyuu too, in Inoue Kazuhiko. Of course in Frieren a new character is as likely as not to be from the distant past, where the narrative spends so much of its time. So it is with the Hero of the South, whose statue the power trio takes on the task to clean (in exchange for a back-scratching spell). Fern and Stark are surprised that the hero statue this time is not Himmel, but naturally Frieren knew this man too. And his role in defeating the Demon Lord’s forces was even more important.
The South, of course, is very far from this place. But that didn’t stop the Hero of the South, who we meet as he’s trying to recruit Frieren to join him. She refuses and eventually he confides in her his ability – he can see the future. If he knew she’d decline why ask, I wonder – but in terms of the conversation itself it’s clear the real purpose was to pass along a message for Himmel: “I’ll clear a path for you”. The Hero knows he’s going to die in a year (at the hands of Schlacht the Omniscient). Not only that, he knows another hero will eventually come into Frieren’s life, and this one she won’t be able to refuse.
The next stop is a sizable city complete with a castle, and Stark suggests they might want to stay a while and enjoy the comforts of civilization. But Frieren is insistent that they not dally – do their shopping and get out of Dodge. She’s too slow, though – as they’re about to head north the butler of the local lord (Shiraishi Kento) intercepts them. He says his master wishes to thank Frieren, but her reluctance to accept suggests that it’s much more than that. But she relents, and more quickly than one might reasonably have expected.
The lord is Graf Dach (Kobayashi Kousuke). And his ulterior motive is the retrieval of the family heirloom sword, which has been stolen by a demon. Frieren again relents, saying she’ll retrieve it for the price of a grimoire. They catch up to the Sword Demon (Yamaguchi Rikako) as she’s posing as a priest in a destroyed village. Stark and Fern seem to be fooled – they close their eyes on cue when she asks them to pray for the dead villagers. But the graves are empty and this is all part of her rather chilling scam to kill and eat travelers. As I said the outcome here was never in doubt. It seems almost cruel to eliminate an opponent so helplessly overmatched. But in Sousou no Frieren there’s really no subtle shading where the demons are concerned.
The reward this time? A grimoire to turn red apples into green ones. And a revelation that whatever the Hero of the South’s powers were, his grasp of the future was incomplete – he certainly wasn’t forgotten in this place. But he will be eventually – even Himmel will. And that just heaps more pressure on Frieren’t shoulders, as the one being who can carry the torch for all those who came before her. And while I don’t know if she cares whether anyone remembers her, Frieren surely understands that there’s no one out there who can return the favor.
Vance
January 25, 2026 at 5:42 amI have a theory based on this episode and am also bringing up a theory I had when I watched the first season.
For people familiar with Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dr. Strange in Avengers: Infinity War looked through roughly 14 million futures and only saw one future in which the heroes defeated Thanos, so he specifically drove them to that future knowing that was likely the heroes’ only chance to save the universe from losing 50% of its population.
Where I’m going with this is Sousou no Frieren Episode 30 or Season 2 Episode 2 introduced a character known as the Hero of the South who had been previously namedropped in Season 1 IIRC. This hero used his future sight to inflict considerable damage to the Demon King’s frontline forces and ultimately defeat Schlacht the Omniscient along with three of the Demon King’s Seven Sages of Destruction in a battle with just him against those elite forces of the Demon King. The reason I say he planned his last stand is that he said that even if Frieren had joined him in that upcoming battle that they still wouldn’t have been able to prevent his death. This shows that the Hero of the South could see the various paths and actions he could follow and take and the future that ensues from them. Therefore, if his power is of that nature, Schlacht’s power may have also been just as powerful or even more powerful, especially given Schlacht was thought to be omniscient.
Furthermore, perhaps futures the Hero of the South and Schlacht had previously seen could change due to the influence of the other party, which would’ve been very frustrating for the both of them, and if that had indeed been the case, both of them may have concluded that the best path forward for both humanity and for demonkind respectively would be to have the other killed. If that is the case, the Hero of the South going into battle on his own against Schlacht and the Demon King’s Seven Sages of Destruction may have been the best-case scenario for both humanity and demonkind with the Demon King eventually being defeated by Himmel’s party, a huge win for humanity, and demonkind surviving complete eradication, a win for the demons as well.
As I indicated earlier, I’m not concluding my comment with just that as I still have something to bring up based on a past theory I came up when I was watching the first season of Frieren. Heiter said early into Season 1 before Frieren started her current journey with Fern and Stark that if there was actually a spell to bring back the dead that everybody would know it. Frieren then stated later that humanity learning how to fly was a more recent development by adapting the demonic spell for flight for their own use. So it may be the case that the spell to bring back the dead may just not be known yet, but one day a demon will invent it. We already had one demon, Aura, control the dead with her power, so reviving the dead would be one step up from that with one perhaps needing the original soul to be present for a resurrection to take place which would make Aureole relevant. It’s suspicious that the Demon King’s Castle was also in close proximity to Aureole, the place where people can meet with the souls of the dead, possibly suggesting that the demons themselves may have done research on Aureole.
Perhaps the final arc in Sousou no Frieren will involve a demon inventing a spell to resurrect the dead, allowing for him/her to bring back all the powerful demons of antiquity, including the previous Demon King, necessitating for the true Hero to draw out the Hero’s Sword, which Himmel was unable to do even though it was one of his long-term goals. Even with that power, the true Hero would need a strong group himself, and perhaps Frieren engages the demon that invented the spell that resurrects the dead, and she resurrects Himmel after adapting the spell from that demon to help the true Hero who draws out the Hero’s Sword defeat the demons. Then Frieren and Himmel can live happily ever after if Himmel is still alive after the conflict.
On the other hand, I can see a major criticism of this theory being that true resurrections of the dead would undermine the themes of the story about treasuring the people you care about while they’re still alive, so maybe instead of a demon inventing a spell that truly resurrects the dead, what it’d invent is a spell to reanimate the dead under the user’s control, making those brought back the undead. I guess this would better jive with the themes of Sousou no Frieren’s story. I’m partial to powerful demons of the past being brought back in some way given the Demon King’s Castle and Aureole both being located in Ende, the northernmost part of the continent, and I doubt this proximity the two locations have to each other is a coincidence.
Kurik
January 26, 2026 at 8:25 amSo glad this show is back and with Journal of Witch I am in a comfy place. I am amazed at how they can almost fully form a character in such short time. I love the Hero of the South already. Want to see more of him and his side quests and stories. I also want to see more of the sword demon as that character felt like formed as well. Love this show and glad you are covering it.