I finally started Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2, and I really wanted to love it.
I did not.
Well, not yet anyway. I am only three episodes in so I am giving it time. But something feels different this season and I cannot fully explain it.
Season 1 caught me off guard in the best way. Yes it was slow, but it was the kind of slow that actually meant something. Every quiet scene carried weight. You felt the grief underneath everything, the loneliness, the way Frieren exists in a world where everyone she meets will eventually be gone. It was melancholic and beautiful and it stuck with you.
Season 2? I am just sitting here waiting for something to happen.
Here is what I have watched so far. The gang leaves Äußerst and heads further into the northern lands. In the first episode they stumble into an underground cave full of crystals that cancel out magic, which briefly puts Frieren and Fern in real danger. Okay, that was tense. I liked that. Then episode 2 has them rolling into some random village to polish a statue. Episode 3? Stark accidentally walks in on the girls bathing and spends the rest of the episode feeling bad about it. They also go looking for hot springs that turn out to be dried up.
I am not joking. That is where we are.
I know what this show is supposed to be. The small moments, the detours, the character bonding in between the big stuff. Season 1 did all of that too. But in Season 1 those little moments still felt like they were adding up to something. Right now Season 2 just feels like the show is wandering around with no real urgency.
And that is what scares me. Is Frieren turning into another Spy x Family?
I actually like Spy x Family. But let us be honest, that show has not had a plot in a long time. It is comfort food now. Cute characters doing cute things with no real stakes. And if Frieren goes down that road, I am going to be genuinely disappointed, because this show was supposed to be different.
The one thing I cannot complain about is the animation. It is gorgeous. Every single episode looks like a painting come to life. The backgrounds, the lighting, the little details in how characters move. Madhouse is doing their job and then some. I just wish the actual story gave me a reason to care as much as the animation does.
Maybe I am being impatient. Maybe it picks up. But right now, three episodes in, something feels off.
Tell me I am wrong in the comments.
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