I finally decided to watch this show and I'm so hooked! It only took me 2 days to watch season 1 lol. This show is beautiful in every way. I'm watching the dub and it's incredible.

Season 1 was before Lemmy was big, so there's no discussion threads here. Alright, let's do this here! I'll copy synopsis from IMDb to help job peoples' memories, and write some of my own thoughts. I should've written this while watching the first time, but oh well.

E1 The Journey's End

After defeating the Demon King, Frieren returns home with the hero's party under a rare meteor shower. As time races ahead for her human friends, the elf mage sets out to understand them.

They have a little reunion to watch the meteor shower again but from a better spot this time. Then we see Himmel's funeral. When Frieren breaks down crying in episode 1, my god, do not try to rewatch this episode after getting to know the characters more lol. At the end of this episode we meet little Fern. Heiter kinda tricks Frieren into training Fern lol.

E2 It Didn't Have to be Magic...

Frieren instructs Fern in the use of magic while deciphering a grimoire for Heiter.

Another emotional episode. Heiter passes away during this episode. Love Fern growing up in this episode training under Frieren. At the end they clean up a statue of Himmel, and they spend 6 months looking for blue moon weed flowers so Frieren can make the field of them around the statue. This shows a conflict in the pace of their lives as that's a long time for Fern. The montages in this show are always outstanding. Frieren explains her hobby of collecting spells. The title quote hits hard.

E3 Killing Magic

While retracing her old route, Frieren and Fern resupply in Warm, but a crumbling seal in a nearby village draws Frieren into a confrontation with an old enemy.

Fern's birthday was nice. Fern does some training for defensive magic. Qual was really cool and the episode really showed magic being treated as a science in this universe. Qual basically broke the meta of the magic world, and now we see the results of 80 years studying Zoltraak. Maybe Frieren was a part of this considering she would've been one of the only mages that saw it and survived? This is basically a training and history lesson for Fern.

E4 The Land Where Souls Rest

During a winter stay in a seaside town, Frieren and Fern take on a cleanup job and adjust to traveling together. A reunion with old comrade Eisen sends them searching for the legendary mage Flamme's writings.

I saw someone on Reddit saying this episode was boring but I loved it! This one hit me hard. She went back for the festival to see the sunrise to see what she missed. They spend a lot of time helping to clean up before the festival. Turns out the sunrise wasn't what she missed, it was the moment with friends. Frieren makes sour grapes for Eisen! We get the book from Flamme and that sets our course for Auoreole. "Less than one one-hundredth of my life" wow.

E5 Phantoms of the Dead

Frieren and Fern investigate ghost sightings at a village where people have started going missing.

Opens with Eisen saying "Funny. How much that one one-hundredth has changed you". We see the fake ghosts of Heiter and Himmel in the woods. Frieren notes that last time she met one of these it took the form of Flamme but now it's Himmel, suggesting she's changed. They try to fight the dragon but then enlist Stark, who ends up being a coward but actually strong.

E6 The Hero of the Village

Frieren and Fern enlist Stark's help to fight the solar dragon - but is he up to the task?

Stark overcomes his fear and defeats the dragon. Frieren has a flashback of using a spell to make shaved ice lol, I love when she shows off her silly collection of spells. Stark stays with the party as they move on.

E7 Like a Fairy Tale

After reflecting on the transient nature of the past as it exists in people's collective memories, Frieren unexpectedly runs into a sworn enemy.

We get introduced to demons, they're trying to trick the people into a peace treaty to lower their defenses. Frieren is in jail. There's a long flashback about a town that tries to give a demon girl another chance, but it doesn't work out, and Frieren has to kill her.

E8 Frieren the Slayer

As tensions in Graf Granat's domain reach a breaking point, Fern and Stark find their own resolve - and Frieren resumes an old duty.

Draht tries to kill Frieren in jail, and uh, it doesn't work. We get a rare glimpse of badass Frieren. Frieren goes to fight Aura, while Fern and Stark are left to fight Lügner and Linie. While scrubbing through this episode I noticed Lügner confirms my theory: he says Frieren made great contributions to humanity's analysis of Zultraak.

E9 Aura the Guillotine

While Fern and Stark make a temporary retreat with Graf Granat, Frieren's true foe awaits her outside the city.

This episode is a lot of fighting, all beautifully animated. Lügner and Linie are killed by Fern and Stark.

E10 A Powerful Mage

The great mage Flamme meets Frieren, the sole survivor of an elven village attacked by the demon king's army, and shares her knowledge. The battle between Frieren and Aura comes to an end.

We get flashbacks explaining Frieren's meeting with Flamme and her ability to conceal her mana. Frieren tricks Aura into using the scale, and the result is savage lol.

E11 Winter in the Northern Lands

Frieren, Fern and Stark continue their journey, but the winter road in the northern countries is much harder than they had imagined.

The city celebrates the heroes and pays respects to the dead soldiers. Our party attempts to go north, but the cold forces them to stop at a small cabin where they meet Kraft, an elven monk. The 4 of them work to survive in the remote cabin. There's some talk about religion and having someone to praise you.

E12 A Real Hero

Frieren's Party reaches the Village of Swords where Himmel wielded the Hero's Sword 80 years ago - a weapon reserved for those capable of defeating world-threatening evil. Memories from that time flood Frieren's mind.

Turns out Himmel wasn't able to pull out the Hero's Sword. Disregard Hero's Sword, become biggest hero ever. It's Stark's birthday, Frieren was going to give him the potion that disolves clothing lol, Fern did not approve. Also in Frieren's suitcase there's a ring, and the recipe for a special birthday dinner from Eisen (hamburg steaks). Fern finds Stark "admiring" the clouds lol. We see flashbacks to Stark's childhood and how he lost his brother.

E13 Aversion to One's Own Kind

While passing by a village in the woods of the northern lands, Frieren and party meet Sein, a gifted priest who is nonetheless corrupt enough to give even Heiter a run for his money. But what happened in his past?

We meet Sein (Goatee Priest), who regrets not going an adventure with his friend Gorilla. Frieren attempts her anchient seduction technique to convince him to join them, he is somehow impervious.

E14 Privilege of the Young

Stark and Fern quarrel. Sein, who has recently joined Frieren's group, gives them advice on how to work things out, which sparks Frieren's memories of her deceased friends.

It's Fern's birthday again, Stark forgot to get her a present. We learn about the ring that Frieren has, she got it from Himmel. The merchant's wagon they're in gets picked up by a big bird monster, Frieren kills it and tries to soften the landing of the wagon. Frieren's ring is lost in the fall. Sein tells us the bracelet (and thus Frieren's ring too) is a romantic design. Frieren uses a spell to find the ring while we have flashbacks. Himmel asked Frieren to choose a gift for herself, and this is the ring she chose. Himmel first says she should put more thought into it but then he sees the mirrored lotus design and decides it was the right choice afterall. He gets down on one knee and puts the ring on her. Maximum feels.

E15 Smells Like Trouble

When the party happens upon a town whose inhabitants are all mysteriously asleep, it's time for their newest traveling companion to prove his mettle.

The party has to stop the monster that's cursing everyone to fall asleep. The whole party falls asleep except Sein. Sein finds the monster flower and is unable to defeat it alone. He learns to trust Frieren and he decides to wake her even knowing he can only keep her awake for 5 seconds. Frieren does not disappoint and kills the monster no problem. Animators did a good job making her look groggy during her attack. Stark gets a job to impersonate a noble's dead son for a party, but he has to undergo etiquette training. Fern does the training too in order to accompany him. Fern gets denied donuts and forced to wear a corset instead. Stark and Fern have a beautifully animated dance scene. Frieren chooses a grimoire as a reward but we don't know what spell it is.

E16 Long-Lived Friends

Frieren pays a visit to Old Man Voll, a long-lived friend of hers, with traveling companions in tow.

Voll is an old friend of Frieren's. He's a dwarf who married a human woman, and she's now long passed. He's kind of a mirror of Frieren if she had married Himmel. When did Himmel meet Voll and did that influence his actions? Sein tells us about his friend Gorilla, and asks the townspeople which way he went. We see a statue and learn that Kraft was a forgotten hero from before even Frieren's time, he had a companion we don't know the name of. Voll trains Stark. "I'm just forming a memory, something of you to carry with me into the future." My god, Frieren being reminded of Voll's old age. We get another amazing montage of sidequests.

E17 Take Care

The time has come for Sein to decide whether he will continue traveling with his companions or begin his personal journey to find his friend.

Sein decides to split from the group to search for Gorilla, but they get stalled by a blizzard. Sein resolves a relationship issue between Stark and Fern, again. "Just start dating already!" Lol. Sein leaves, and then Fern catches a cold. Bad timing.

E18 First-Class Mage Exam

Frieren and party finally arrive in Äußerst, ready to undergo the first-class mage exam, and meet a number of colorful characters who are there to do the same.

This episode starts to introduce us to many more mages. Kraft makes an appearance too. There's a training montage before the exam, and Frieren has a birthday cake! The mages get split into teams to try to catch a bird. Frieren gets grouped with Lawine and Kanne, two friends who fight all the time.

E19 Well-Laid Plans

Frieren and her new teammates hatch a plan to capture a Stille, but are the other teams just going to stand by and let it happen?

Frieren comes up with a plan to put magic in all the bodies of water to scare the birds away from them, except one little pond where Frieren waits for the bird to come to her. We see some mage battles here as some teams try to steal the captured birds from others.

E20 Necessary Killing

The first-class mage exam intensifies as fighting breaks out between the participants, and what's at stake might even be worth killing for.

Fern overwhelms Ehre with Zoltraak spam. Frieren loses the bird, they'll have to fight to get it back. We learn about Serie, the elf who runs the magic association. Frieren is separated from her party in order to duel Denken.

E21 The World of Magic

Frieren, Kanne, and Lawine struggle with the 13th party over possession of the Stille, but there'll be more surprises in store before their battle, and the first test, reach their conclusion.

We start with a flashback of Flamme introducing Frieren to Serie. Richter fights Kanne and Lawine, while Frieren fights Denken. Always fun to see Frieren show her strength a bit. Denken saying "I'm out of mana" could've been a soundbite from Diablo lol. Frieren brings down Serie's barrier around the forest, letting the rain in to help Kanne and Lawine. "Then never is here." Denken and his team are out of mana, so he uses his fists to secure a bird from another team, lol.

E22 Future Enemies

After the conclusion of the first test, the exam participants have some time to kill in town. What do mages get up to on their days off?

They go to a fancy restaurant. The original hero party had visited this restaurant and helped them, and Himmel asked the chef to retain the quality of the food forever across generations for Frieren to enjoy. Now Frieren says it's even better than before. They get the notice for the 2nd stage of the testing.

E23 Conquering the Labyrinth

Aspiring mages undertake their next trial: overcoming the untouched Ruins of the King's Tomb, purportedly easy by the examiner but with unknown risks.

The 2nd stage of the test is a dungeon crawl. Sense is going in with them as the examiner. Notably Frieren had to tell Sense that a stone was a trap. Uh oh, Frieren finds a chest lol, of course it's a mimic. I laughed at Frieren's muffled voice trying to explain how to get her out properly. And it turns out she can get out by herself but it messes up her hair. The dungeon can make clones of the mages. A clone of Frieren appears at the end of the episode, about to face Denken and his crew.

E24 Perfect Replicas

Due to the Spiegel, a legendary monster that can create perfect replicas of others, the test-takers who would conquer the Ruins of the King's Tomb must first face the ultimate enemy: themselves.

Denken and his crew don't try to fight the Frieren clone at all. Real Frieren and Fern meet up with them and strategize a way to beat the clone Frieren. The clone Sense seems pretty terrifying too. Fern thinks she could kill Frieren.

E25 A Fatal Vulnerability

A perfect imitation of Frieren stands between the test-takers and victory, but Fern believes she knows how to win. Is it time for the student to surpass the master?

They need to defeat clone Frieren quickly, because the other clones are on the way down. Fern shows Frieren's weakness of her mana detection being interrupted when she casts a spell. Now time for the battle, Frieren and Fern vs clone Frieren. Woa, we haven't seen Frieren going full tilt before! She's definitely way stronger than all the rest, including Fern. A flashback to Frieren bringing Flamme's will to Serie.

E26 The Height of Magic

While the other Mages defend themselves against the remaining clones, Fern experiences the heights of Frieren's power as they battle the copycat Frieren.

The fight continues, and wow. The other mages are dealing with the other clones, trying to pick the right person to fight each. The story of Ubel's test for rank 2 was cool, she can basically just cut anything. Sense already knows Ubel would beat her. Fern hits clone Frieren but the counterattack hits Fern and breaks her staff. "So this is the height of magic." Frieren finishes the job. And there's a mimic lmao.

E27 An Era of Humans

With the second test behind them, only one remains - but first, Frieren and Fern need to settle an important matter in town. What awaits them in the third test?

Time to fix Fern's staff, :< "it isn't trash." The last stage of the test is conducted by Serie herself, basically just interviews. Also this is probably why Frieren was never interested in these certifications, because she knows Serie runs the Magic Association. Frieren fails because she likes flowers lol. The dialog in this episode is all golden. Fern declines Serie, but passes the test anyways.

E28 It Would Be Embarrassing When We Met Again

Serie concludes the third and final stage of the First-Class Mage Exam. Many examinees remain in Äußerst to prepare for their next plans. Frieren, Fern and Stark depart from the city to head further north.

More interviews with Serie, interesting discussions with each of the candidates. Land, the gigachad, working from home. Methode calls Serie cute and then passes lol. Lernen asks for a duel but Frieren refuses. Fern asked for a spell that cleans clothes, Serie was not amused lol. No doubt she is Frieren's apprentice.

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Now I gotta start watching season 2, and it will surely be embarrassing when we meet again. I'll see you all here soon https://ani.social/post/26107633