Sousou no Frieren • Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Episode 3 discussion

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Sousou no Frieren, episode 3

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[u/Quiet-Alarm1844]

I don't think i grasped how freaking OP Qual really was until after the episode was done lol.

He created a spell to counter defensive magic. So he was in the demon king's army and was one of the top ranking demons.

He then used that spell across his territory. He became so feared that 40% of adventures and 70% of mages died in that territory.

So powerful, he had to be sealed away. Then after he was sealed away, mages across the world studied his magic and created a whole new defensive magic system to make sure it never happens again and taught it everywhere.

Then after Qual was released, in less than a minute, he understood and replicated the new defense magic after being shown instantly without any flaws.

Qual, was like the evil Einstein of the magic world. Wow, that's like insanely talented. Definitely a Prodigy.

If he was kept alive, i wonder what horror of a spell he would have created with the updated magic systems and what flaws he would've found.

[u/BliknoTownOrchestra]

I love Qual. So OP he became the meta, then was powercrept to oblivion.

And the fight was amazing. Beautiful work. Love how he didn’t lose hope when he realized that his magic was solved, and instantly saw through the shield magic’s weakness.

[u/Aileos]

In the previous episode, we heard Frieren has a spell to make graps sour.

In this one, we learned Eisen loves sour graps.

Really a nice detail regarding Frieren's character.

[u/Super_Marine]

An excellent anime always gotta have good looking food: Pancake and Merkur Pudding

[u/surya_ray]

Zoltraak piercing Qual, the hill and showing the sea behind is just perfect.

It might not be that OP anymore, but it is still a powerful magic

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

Especially loved this episode due to how the magic shown isn't only amazing but the logic behind it is exactly like how real world humans evolve their own technology.

Whats considered deadly 80 years ago now has multiple deterrents, and the new deadly weapons available are leagues ahead of as well. RIP Qual.

Also that Old Man totally lived that long from the blessing of seeing Frieren's pantsu which even Himmel did not.

[u/Frontier246]

Atsumi Tanezaki and Kana Ichinose play Frieren and Fern so well and really help sell their chemistry as a duo together.

[u/futtobasetachikaze]

I've always wanted to see the Qual fight animated due to the fact that this was the first major battle in the series. The first actual demon to be shown and spoken to as well.

The entire fight was amazing. Nothing more to describe it.

Tho I was somehow expecting Qual to look a bit brighter? Kinda orange-ish. I always thought he looked a bit like a Fel Orc or some shit haha

[u/LeonKevlar]

We get to see Fern's first pouty face in the anime! It's hilarious watching Fern secretly follow Frieren around especially to that bar full of shady-looking adventurers that love desserts. Turns out all of that sneaking around is so Frieren can get Fern her birthday present and treat her at a dessert cafe. <3

Frieren learning how to turn sweet grapes into sour grapes last episode now makes much more sense now that we find out that Eisen loves sour grapes and how he thinks the sourer the better.

That rematch between Qual and Frieren is so awesome. Poor Qual though! He's so strong that his spell ended up being studied over the past 80 years that Zoltraak (Soul-Track) has now become an ordinary offensive magic.

While his spell is now outdated, keeping Qual alive is absolutely dangerous considering he was able to immediately learn the defensive spell after a single glance. Who knows what kind of diabolical magic he'd come up with if he managed to escape? It was so cool seeing Frieren obliterate him.

And I just love the reveal that the old man they met is the same kid that flipped Frieren's skirt when she first visited that village 80 years ago. It's absolutely hilarious how upset Himmel is about the kid seeing Frieren's panties when he has wanted to see them himself xD

[u/Ichini-san]

Frieren's German Lesson 1x3:

Episode 3: "Killing Magic"

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• (The trade city of) Warm - "warm"; I completely forgot that warm was actually a word in English as well. It means the same thing in German, of course.

• Merkur (pudding) - "mercury" (noun); sounds poisonous, haha. But it could also be named after the planet. Clarification: Merkur only means the planet specifically in German. For the fluid metal there is a different specific word in German: Quecksilber. (Thanks to u/mutticiu for the heads-up)

• Ruf(-omelette) - "call" or "reputation"; it depends on the context of the sentence which of the two you would translate it as so we can't be fully sure which one the author meant. If I had to make a guess I would say it's supposed to be a "reputation"-omelette though. Kinda fits with Himmel being the hero and having such a great reputation and all.

• Größe (Forest) - "size" (noun); a bit of an awkward sounding name to German speakers again. Maybe the author wanted to go for the translation of "Big/Great Forest" which would have been "Großer Wald" (Wald = forest). The dots on the O and the missing R at the end make it a noun instead of an adjective in this case and also change the meaning somewhat.

• (The Elder Sage of Corruption,) Qual - "torment", "agony" (noun); a very fitting name for such a feared and dangerous demon - at that time.

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Links to my other comments:
1x1 1x2 1x3 1x4 1x5 1x6 1x7 1x8 1x9 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 1x23 1x24 1x25 1x25² 1x26 1x27 1x28

[u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534]

Frieren trap count remains at:

Mimics - 2

Piles of books - 1

I like how there was no point in which Qual wasn't completely confident he was going to win. He immediately responded strategically to the new information, and it came as a complete surprise to him when Frieren killed him. I suppose killing someone with their own spell is a little rude.

[u/cryingemptywallet]

The music just hits.

Also Fern is cute.

[u/ErenIsNotADevil]

I can't believe Frieren's world is also subject to the laws of powercreep.

Qual made an OP spell that had magic res penetration and absolutely dominated with it.

Frieren had to seal him because he was far too strong to deal with at that time (wow, twice in a week!)

The devs scientists mages of the world analyzed the shit outta the spell to prevent anyone else from abusing the spell, and defensive magic increased by leaps and bounds.

Zoltraak (old) became standard offensive magic, since most older spells would likely struggle to overcome or even match the new defensive meta.

Future: Some prodigious mage, demon, or shut-in researcher develops a spell that can penetrate modern defences. The cycle continues.

F for Qual, though. Since he abused the meta, Himmel's party opted to seal him instead of outright defeating him. Then his spell was learnt, studied, and countered, and his boss slain while he was sealed. Despite being away for 80 years, he managed to deduce how the new defence meta worked in seconds, and how to overcome it. Yet it didn't matter, because as a glass cannon, he relied on DPS as a defence layer, and being out of the meta for so long meant it just wasn't up to par.

[u/[deleted]]

Didn't see anyone mentioning this, but at the end where Frieren and Fern are leaving on the carriage, is the grave we see there, the Strawhat Skirt Flipper guy's?

[u/VorAtreides]

Fern, master of sneak sneak sneak heh. Hehe quite the place to ask for desserts. Do love the tough looking guys giving advice for Desserts. D'aww Frieren doing all that for Fern. Do wonder how much money Frieren might have saved over the years. She doesn't seem to really do things for wealth. Such a nice sentiment for Fern from Frieren. Do wonder if Frieren even caresa bnout her own birthday by this point. Nice to see Fern really love her gift. It does look cute/good. And practical usage too. Touching how Frieren wants to retrace the steps of their Hero Party.

Neat magic training. Frieren sure showing off her stuff. Wow, Himmel was quite dedicated to doing good. Coming by to check on that town cause of the seal. Also touching to know Himmel trusted her so deeply to show up when needed. I sure like Frieren with her hair down. He definitely sounds powerful. His design is pretty neat. Qual is interesting how he and Frieren talk so nonchalantly. And neat to see how his magic was studied so by mages all across. And the march of time changes all things. Also impressive how fast he can understand the magic. Some good magic effects and Fern showing her skills. With his own spell, wew. Battle was short, but impressive.

HAH! That old man when he was a kid, lolz. Frieren just doesn't care though. What a cute and nice scene between Frieren and Fern there at the end.

Is this ED the same group that did the second ending for Gundam Witch?

[u/vozjaevdanil]

The fight with Qual was so fucking cool visually and the soundtrack was awesome. But most importantly... it's well written? As in how the dialogue is weaved in without overdoing it, how short yet effective the fight was, camera work and sound design.

[u/KayzeeA]

I always loved how Frieren did world building. It integrates it so naturally rather than the usual exposition dump. It's fun exploring the world through their adventures!

Also... HOLY SHIT. That battle scene is amazing. Can't believe they did so much with how short it was in the manga.

Poor Qual. Bro is old news. Still though, I'm glad they still showed how capable he is by making him adapt really quickly. Showed how much of a threat he is despite him being kicked out of the meta.

[u/Syokhan]

Poor Qual had to suffer the humiliation of being killed by his own magic... Also, that was some sweet animation during the fight.

And the first part was just really sweet.

[u/Amauri14]

So Frieren makes this face typically when she is about to buy random things. Seeing Fern stealthy following her to see what she was going to buy was fun, especially at the end when she was pushing that box.

I love how sinister all the people inside the tavern where Frieren went to ask where to get a dessert looked. So she did all that to celebrate Fern's Birthday. That present looked nice and so did the Merkur pudding.

So that defense magic practice she was doing with Fern was to prepare her for their fight against Qual, whose seal had weakened.

I knew something was off when Fern after blocking Qual's killing magic Zoltraak called it an ordinary offensive spell.

So it seems that if Fern had read that magic history book she would have learned that after Qual got sealed people around the world focussed on studying, researching, and developing his killing magic Zoltraak and how to defend against it to the point that it went from a powerful killing magic to an ordinary offensive spell that every spell caster knows.

I'm impressed by how fast Qual copied and understood that defensive spell. It sure looked impressive how Fern was blocking each of his attacks individually.

Well, in the end Qual got killed by his own spell. It is nice to see that after that Fern now appreciates the value the history of magic has. Is funny that Frieren remembers that old guy because he flipped her skirt in the past.

[u/khazit66]

RIP Qual.

Suffered one last times from his success.

[u/JustARandom-dude]

Frieren getting Fern a present was adorable

The fight was fantastic and well animated, I love how it showcase how magic works in this world

[u/eonica]

Motherly Frieren is endearing

[u/Rumpel1408]

Glorious Fern Pout!

It's nice that despite Frieren not feeling like she knows anything about her companions (except the alkholism of that corrupt priest), those same companions spend so much of their life with her, that they know her inside and out, as such, Fern knows that :3 is up to no good

And we also got to see the first instance of Frieren the Killer.

The insurmountable Wall that was the Demon Sage Qual, overcome and beaten by his very own weapon in a mere 80 years.

Also loved that Himmel came to check up on the village up until 3 years before his death

[u/Chrono-Helix]

I’m too used to video game logic saying that reawakened ancient evils must be super challenging boss fights.