Not to be a broken record, but Denken is absolutely the MVM of this arc. He’s really keeping it afloat, frankly, amidst a sea of predictability. He seems to be drawing the short straw over and over in the luck department, which leads me to believe he’s being flagged to eventually fail at least, if not die outright. But if he were to buck the odds and eventually emerge triumphant at the end, that’s probably the one thing that could make this diversion feel like it had been worthwhile.
Phase two of the exam is a dungeon raid, providing a nice companion piece with Dungeon Meshi airing a day earlier. Tomb Raiders to be precise. Proctor Sense – who’s kind of a dreary sort – tells the assembled mages that all the hype they’ve heard about her tests is bogus, that she’s just a pacifist who wants to give everyone a chance to win and avoid conflict. She even gives everyone a bottle with an instant golem inside, which they can break at any time and be rescued (at the cost of forfeiting). Everyone’s bottle will automatically break at dawn the next day, so those who haven’t reached the final level will be failed out of the exam.
The politics aspect of this is certainly interesting. Denken quite rightly argues that if the entire group of 18 works together they’ll have a better chance of success. But one senses that mages are not as a rule the sort to embrace the team concept, and the first phase obviously spawned a lot of bad blood. To an extent the pairings of that exam re-assert themselves as the group splinters, with only four (including Richter and Laufen) electing to follow Denken (despite his clearly superior knowledge of dungeons). Second only to Frieren in fact, who goes off with Fern. Sense tags along with her because she’s the main character.
It’s a given that this place is going to be nasty, and that Sense is actually a bastard even if she doesn’t think so herself. Frieren’s dungeon approach has basically been shaped by Himmel – yet more evidence that she’s in-love with him. To wit, have fun at all costs. Himmel believed that you had to map an entire floor before moving on, because the experience was not to be missed. And it says a lot about how profoundly he influenced Frieren that despite the illogic of this she was totally won over by it. And let’s be honest – when you’re as OP as Frieren is, it’s not that hard to have fun in a place that for most would be a death trap. We even get an appearance by a Mimic (sorry, Chilchuck), which Frieren in effect knowingly feeds herself to on the 1% chance it’s actually a treasure chest.
Most of the non-Frieren attention falls on Denken’s group, who encounter some gargoyles and Prince of Persia style traps along the way. One of them (I don’t know if we even got her name – let’s call her Mob-chan) ends up having to golem herself out. Eventually, both Team Denken and the Wirbelgumi encounter what appears to be the real big bad of the tomb, or at least their handiwork – perfect replicas (apart from appearance) of themselves. These replicas appear to have all the magical abilities of their sources, leading Denken to speculate that they might even share their memories. And naturally, Denken draws the worst opponent of all – pseudo-Frieren. Maybe its replica state will lower the plot armor enough for Denken to actually defeat it – but if he does, what’s left to throw in Frieren’s way when she and Fern reach the goal?
Ronbb
February 17, 2024 at 12:42 pmFrieren may be in love with Himmel, but I don’t think she realizes it yet. Himmel, on the other hand, was deeply in love with her, evident in his gestures and thoughts of her. His affection, coupled with the bond and closeness she shared with Eisen and Heiter, is what motivating her every day.
I have noticed that Frieren is slowly warming up, showing signs of gradual change.
Edge
February 17, 2024 at 10:50 pmMinor nit: adding the English translated title of the show to the article title would improve usability. I normally track all of the shows that I watch in apps that on other apps and I have to manually translate all of your reviews.
Guardian Enzo
February 17, 2024 at 11:17 pmThank you for that – I will explore some ways to address it.
Nicc
February 18, 2024 at 3:09 pmIt’s now the day of the 2nd test, which leaves Stark free once again to enjoy his midnight juice. The proctor, Sense, lays out what it’s going to be about. The dungeon is an ancient ruin, and the goal is to make it to the bottom floor. The time limit to get there is in the morning. It seems that she’s a pacifist in the sense that she’s not going to pit the examinees to fight against each other unlike the first test. Still, the first test already created some bad blood, as you said. They’re all given an instant rescue golem that will take them out of danger, but also take them out of the dungeon. Right, that’s a disqualification.
Denken is correct that the best way to go is for everybody to go together to solve it (It robbed us of a potential 18 vs 18 battle too, darn), but most of them break up into their own parties, and one even goes in solo. Sense decides to tag along with Frieren and Fern. She too is headed down into the dungeon as she’s to do a head count on who made it to the bottom floor. Frankly, I also agree with 100% exploration with dungeons. I’m proud to say that I’ve played some games where I got a “Opened All Chests” or similar achievement. Himmel is right, there’s some good swag that we may miss. This rubbed off on Frieren, which we also see later in this episode about how she’s happily examining all of the stuff that she’s picked up so far. Frieren vs Mimics continues to be a one-sided affair as she applies the “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance?” philosophy regarding them. Also, ojou drills look pretty good on her.
Elsewhere, Denken’s group and Wirbel’s group are also making their way down. Two more examinees follow along with Denken’s group, which become four after one of them is forced to use the rescue golem. She and the other woman in the group were very briefly named two episodes ago, whom I have forgotten by now. We didn’t get to see Laufen battle during the first test and she shows off her moves here. Her fighting style uses magic with martial arts skills. Besides gargoyles, there don’t seem to be any other enemies down in the dungeon until Wirbel’s team encounters a peculiar enemy… themselves. It seems that something in the dungeon is able to create perfect doppelgangers of the examinees. Denken’s group themselves defeated a clone of Laufen, but a much more difficult opponent looms as they encounter a clone of Frieren, oh boy. Even Denken admits that if it weren’t an exam, he would have broken his golem bottle already.
Indeed, what happens if they do defeat the clone of Frieren. I’m guessing that Frieren and Fern may be dealing with the clone of Sense, then? I don’t believe that whatever is making the doppelgangers cares to distinguish between the test-takers and those who are not. Oh yeah, and we don’t know what Land and Übel are up to. Land is in a strange position here. He specializes in clone magic. Somewhere in the dungeon is a clone of him, who can use his clone magic. It’s clones all the way down! So, who’s the lucky one or group that gets to face the clone of Fern?