Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Season 1 Episode 19 Recap & Review

Well-Laid Plans

Episode 19 of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End begins with Frieren staring at a campfire and reminiscing about the time Eisen was frightened to fight a dragon. Himmel shares Eisen’s sentiment for inspirational purposes and Eisen says it helped him feel less tense about their upcoming encounter with the dragon. Elsewhere, Fern’s thankful she and her party caught the Stille. Ubel and her male comrade (Land) tell Fern the hard part is yet to come and Ubel can’t wait to fight other mages.

In the morning, Frieren and her party go over what they learned from their encounter with the Stille. Although the two are uncertain how they’ll manage to catch one, Frieren reminds Kanne that she developed a spell that’ll assist them in doing so. Frieren says it’s a binding spell and a form of folk magic. Kanne recalls her using this spell on the bird-like monster that attacked her in episode 18. Frieren notes it may not work because the Stille can sense their presence within a short distance and the spell has a short range. 

The three develop a plan. Lawine thinks it’s a risky one since it’ll involve them getting into conflict with other teams. In a cave, Land tells Ubel hiding here until the test is over is their best option. Ubel thinks otherwise and realizes they’re out of water. Land suggests they head to a lake to fill up on water and return to their cave hideout afterwards. During their trip, the group discusses the potential issues they may come across if they head for the lake. 

Ultimately, Land suggests they drop their water-gathering plans at the lake, to Ubel’s dismay. Lands tells Ubel they may stumble upon a pond nearby and can gather water there instead. Suddenly, Wirbel’s party attacks Fern and her allies. He demands them to leave their Stille behind. Then a beam of light catches everyone’s attention and Fern realizes it came from the lake. We learn this was Lawine’s doing as she proceeds to use her powers to freeze the lake, to everyone’s dissatisfaction. 

While Frieren and her party continue with their plan, Wirbel chooses to continue his assault on Fern’s party. Elsewhere, Denken and his party observe the other party’s reactions to the frozen lake fiasco. He feels some are making wise decisions but pinpoints how they all lack proper experience. Additionally, Denken finds Frieren’s party plan a great one and one he says his party must unravel if they want to walk away from this test victorious.

Denken and his team stumble upon the remains of another party. His female party member (Laufen) asks Denken if they can remove their bodies from the tree. Denken says it’ll be a terrible idea because the Geisel (the bird-like creatures Frieren defeated) have layered that team’s bodies with detection magic. To avoid conflict, he suggests they leave those bodies be. Laufen thinks it’s dumb for the association to host a test in an area filled with beasts like Geisel. 

However, his male teammate tells her it’s to weed out the weak and unqualified. Denken finds the association’s beliefs outdated and rambles on about why he feels that way. Denken and his team stumble upon a watering hole and Denken senses mana in the water. Ultimately, Denken deduces a Stille won’t be coming near this spot. Lauren says there might be a watering hole nearby that doesn’t contain mana and Denken believes that’s where Frieren’s party will be at. 

He suggests his team rest at their current location for the time being. We cut to Frieren, Lawine, and Kanne at a watering hole that’s not infused with mana. Kanne tells Frieren she infused every watering hole with bits of mana that she could find. Frieren plans to catch a Stille at this location. Frieren waits for the entire day and manages to capture a Stille with her folk magic. Lawine and Kanne rush to her side and praise her. However, Frieren discovers someone’s detected them and suggests they flee. 

Before they flee, Lauren arrives and plans to fight them. Elsewhere, we continue observing the fight between Fern’s and Wirbel’s team. Wirbel’s female teammate analyzes Fern’s fighting style and relays interesting information to her about Wirbel’s history with the remnants of the Demon King’s forces. She tells Fern that Ubel stands no chance of winning. The episode closes with Fern thinking otherwise. 

The Episode Review

This episode shows how Frieren is capable of working with anyone, regardless if she’s spent a long duration of time with them or not. While Lawine and Kanne clash heads a few times in this chapter, it is great seeing them work as a unit and assist Frieren in her Stille-catching affairs. Although it’s funny Fern’s party caught a Stille before Frieren’s did, it would’ve been great seeing how they did so. 

On that note, this episode sheds more light on its other participants, notably the ones the proctor highlighted before this test began. From Denken’s dissatisfaction with the Magic Association’s beliefs to Wirbel’s history concerning the remnants of the Demon King’s army, this episode gave these participants great development. 

Additionally, many fans may wonder if they’ll serve greater roles beyond this magic exam story arc. Only time will tell on that front. Overall, this was another enjoyable episode of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. It didn’t offer anything too grandiose, but it provided viewers with enough significant content to keep them entertained. It appears we’ll be witnessing two heated battles next week, so it’s best to buckle up and prepare ourselves.