Review: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, "A Fatal Vulnerability" (Season 1, Episode 25)

I’m in the middle of the very popular anime series, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, and I thought episode 25 had a great mix of action and life lessons.

Up until now, Frieren has defeated all of her opponents with ease. However, when she is forced to face a clone of herself in the dungeon, she’s unsure if she can win.

A pivotal flashback takes us to the moment where Frieren brings Flamme’s will to Serie. After Flamme’s death, Serie and Frieren talk about how human lives are short in comparison to theirs, leading them to have to make decisions quickly. Flamme wished to have anyone be allowed to use magic as she believed it’s something everyone should have the opportunity to experience. When finding this out, Serie was heavily opposed to the idea. Their conversation ends with Serie telling Frieren to continue training or she’ll be defeated by the demon king or a human mage one day. Since Frieren already killed the demon king, this statement could be foreshadowing to Fern surpassing her mentor in the future, becoming even more powerful than her.

The story transitions back to the present where Frieren and Fern are fighting Frieren’s clone. With one shot, Fern sends a powerful blast at the clone, destroying it. Before the battle, Frieren stated that if anyone could defeat the clone it would be Fern. As it stands now, Fern has the potential to become an extremely powerful mage—the question is how powerful? Will she be able to surpass her mentor?