The focus of the 1st episode of Fern’s staff was well done. Of course that staff was precious to Fern because it is the one that Heiter gave her. What Heiter said about Frieren and gauging feelings is true. She has trouble connecting with other people’s emotions, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. Of course, as Richter hinted, it would have made more sense to get a new staff, but obviously we know the amount of love Frieren put into that staff. This is where we really see Frieren trying to understand the human side of emotions.
The two that met an unfortunate end in this exam are Lawine & Richter. Denken knows more than anyone that what happened to those two could have happened to anyone outside Frieren. Denken trying to show that he cares, and much like Frieren he is awkward about it.
The 3rd exam is being proctored by Serie and much of her logic makes sense. The 2nd exam was greatly influenced by Frieren being here. She knew how to tackle our replica, meaning the path to success in this exam would be a lot easier than if she didn’t participate. Kanne is one example where we have noticed that Lawine has shown to be a more promising mage than her, but Lawine had bad luck.
Serie as mentioned by Frieren has some outstanding magic intuition. So of course she’s calling Flamme’s flower spell worthless. It was that flower spell that got Himmel into the beauty of magic. You could even say that spell is what made him into the hero he is. At the very least we know that spell brought him to reconnect with Frieren and thus with Eisen & Heiter they defeated the Demon King. The big point is that always looking at things logically isn’t always the most appropriate.
It should be no surprise Serie would fail Frieren based on both her skewing the results in the exam and, even more so, how their opinions on magic look so different. Still, Frieren mentions that Series will pass Frieren no matter what. It is really to the point that Sense said before how much potential Fern has for a mage. Her outlook on magic itself isn’t too certain that it would turn off Serie like it did in her conversation with Frieren. Of course, good on Frieren to coach Fern before because they need Fern to pass to continue their journey and didn’t want Fern to feel pressured to comply when she didn’t want to. Though it is quite interesting, it is through Frieren’s teaching that Fern would notice that Serie’s mana fluctuates.
This episode adapted chapters 56 & 57, finishing up volume 6 as well as the part of chapter 58 after Series passes Fern. I really liked how they expanded the scene where Fern sees her staff fixed on her bed. Also, the flashback with Himmel was beautifully adapted.