Friern: Beyond Journey’s End is a bona fide contender for Anime of the year and with good reason. The light novel turned anime actuallt does something rarely seen in the Fantasy genre: It shows the life of an Elf measured by decades and centuries. The season began, Frieren was a member of the Himmel’s Party. When the story begins, the party has just defeated the Demon King and are getting a hero’s welcome. The group then goes their separate ways and then the story really begins. About 50 years later, the hero Himmel dies of old age. Heiter, the other human party member dies of old age several years after that.
Frieren reluctantly agrees to take on and train Fern, an orphaned girl Heiter had been taking care of as her apprentice. They are soon joined by Stark, a young Warrior who’d been training under the aging Dwarf Warrior Eisen. Having already lived for over 1,000 years, Frieren has long come to terms with how short a human’s lifespan is compared to hers. Her own master, a human Mage named Flamme died centuries earlier. Nearly 30 years after the death of Himmel the Hero, Fern and Stark join her on her travels.
This anime is largely slice of life with a bit of drama, comedy and action. It’s not a bad choice for introducing someone to anime overall. I’m watching the English Dub on Crunchyroll though the Subbed version is further along in terms of episode count.
Another fan favorite series has just completed its Third Season. As much as most fans seemed to HATE the second season–I loved it personally–things come to a head in the third season. Having recently returned from the other dimension, Naofumi remembers the ominous warning of the Filolial Queen he and his party met in Season 1 regarding himself and the other three heroes: “If you are not able to find a way to work together, I will kill you all myself”. The Filolial Queen stressed the importance of The Four Cardinal Heroes working together to deal with The Waves and the other Mythical Beasts yet to come. So far, Naofumi has been the only one of the four who’s really been taking his role as a Cardinal Hero seriously.
Unfortunately for Naofumi, generations earlier The Shield Hero was characterized as evil in the Queendom of Meldromarc while the other three Cardinal Heroes were elevated as the only “real” heroes. This created an unexpected opportunity for Naofumi who persevered despite the king and one of the princesses repeatedly getting in his way. Eventually, the Queen stepped in and put a stop to her oldest daughter Myne and husband’s schemes. It also helped Melty, the second princess traveled as a member of Naofumi’s party for a while and could vouch for him. Unlike most monarchies you’re familiar with in Fantasy, with Meldromarc the Queen has all the power. The King has some power but nowhere near as much as the Queen. Due to Myne’s schemes she was stripped of her title and status among other things. All this happened in Season 1 on that note.
Getting to Season 2. While Naofumi’s group was in another dimension, the other three Heroes were publicly exposed as weak against the overwhelming might of the Tortise. The Sword Hero’s party was wiped out while the Spear Hero’s Party abandoned him. The Bow Hero gave into despair. Naofumi finds Motoyasu purely by chance while following a lead on Ren. He secures Motoyasu’s alliegiance and Ren joins his party. While chasing a lead on Itsuki, Naofumi and Ren learn Myne is manipulating the Bow Hero just as she did with the Sword Hero.
As of Episode 10 we finally learn what exactly happened between Refia and Itsuki. For those who might not know or remember, Refia was originally a part of Itsuki’s party. Starting in Season 2, she’s a part of Naofumi’s party. All we know is Itsuki kicked her out of his party but we don’t know why until now. In Episode 10 of Season 3 it’s revealed his other party members accused her of breaking an heirloom. Itsuki tells her he doesn’t care if she really did it or not but is using the conflict from that as a excuse to kick her out of his party. Not long after that, Refia ends up joining Naofumi’s party to become stronger. Refia confronts Itsuki in the underground arena with Ren and Naofumi on standby. She easily defeats Isuki despite the weapon disadvantage.
In the season finale, it’s revealed Raphtalia is descended from royalty in an isolated kingdom where there is a power struggle over succession. After their village is attacked by assassins seeking her life, Naofumi decides to personally pay the kingdom a visit. Although Ralphtalia has no interest in the throne of a kingdom she knows nothing about, as Naofumi points out they can’t afford to be dealing with assassins on top of everything else. What really got his attention was the fact when the assassins attacked, the Heroes’ attacks were largely ineffective against them. That’s likely a second reason Naofumi wants to deal with this problem now. If the closing moments of the season finale is to be believed, they’ll be dealing with Myne again soon too.
Before I move on, I’ll let folks in on a bit of a spoiler from the light novel I assume will be covered in Season 4. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu all died in the real world. Naofumi was transported while still alive. Because of this, Naofumi is the only one of the four who is able to return to the real world. We know from Ren’s backstory he was a hardcore gamer and likely died via an Isekai trope. When he became the Sword Hero, he legit thought nothing was real and didn’t take anything seriously. It was a similar circumstance for Itsuki. He was told from a young age that he was special. Until he wasn’t. More so afrer he became the Bow Hero.
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Everyone’s favorite dysfunctional (fake) family is back!
Spy x Family took the world by storm when it premeired a few years ago. Loid Forger, a spy and a master of disguise adopts Anya and marries Yor as part of his cover to infiltrate an elite school. What Yor and Loid don’t know is due to some failed experiments done on her, Anya has telepathic abilities and can read minds. It’s thanks to this that Anya quickly learns that Yor is actually an elite assassin. What makes the dysfunctional family dynamic real interesting is Yor’s younger brother Yuri works for the government and his primary mission is finding spies. In addition to this, the Forger family later ends up adopting a dog Anya names Bond that can see the future.
Now it its second season, the current story arc focuses on Yor in particular. Yor is taken a bit out of her element when her latest mission has her playing bodyguard for a woman and her baby on a cruise ship. The dangerous high-stakes mission is made complicated by the fact Loid and Anya are also on the ship by coincidence. Anya finds herself trying to help Yor out with her job without Loid finding out the real reason Yor is on the ship. It goes without saying hilarity ensues.
I’m pretty sure we’ll get a live action adaptation of Spy x Family sooner than later. Not even Hollywood can screw it up. It’s just a question of weather it will be a movie or a tv series.
Part 2 of Season 3 seems to be wrapping up at this point. Senku outlasted Ibara in a battle of wits. After reviving everyone petrified by Ibara, Senku also revives some of the islanders who’d been petrified including those they’d been fighting against not that long ago. In Episode 20, one person who was petrified centuries earlier helps Senku figure out where exactly the petrification device they took from Ibara came from: The Moon.
The group journeyed to what Senku dubbed Treasure Island to find Platinum. With it, Senku is now able to make an infinite amount of Revival Fluid and can bring back everyone around the world who was petrified. We do get confirmation after Ginro is fatally gored anyone who’s injured that gets petrified is completely healed when they’re revived. The islanders smashed up the Perseus and though most of the major repairs have been completed, there’s still some loose ends that will need to be taken care of before they return to Japan. The fate of Moz and Hyuga being a big one. During the islandwide melee, Senku was forced to revive Hyuga to fight Moz head on. They fought to a draw on the island before both were petrified. Moments before they were petrified, Hyuga expressed a willingness to train him properly. We will have to wait and see if they’re revived sooner or later.
It’s now been confirmed there will be one more season. It was announced at the end of the season finale and will be called Science Future. It will likely come in 2025 or 2026 on that note. It’s interesting to note a Dr. Stone stage play is currently in production in Japan.
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Lots of popular Anime are getting a new season for Spring 2024 from My Hero Acadamia to Demon Slayer to Konosuba among others. Looks like we’re getting spoiled again in 2024!
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Aurabolt's Anime and Manga 