As the start of Frieren’s new journey begins, we hear mention of ghosts where people are seeing relatives that have died. As Frieren points out, controlling a zombie or skeleton with magic is a real thing, but they can’t look like they did in the past. Interestingly enough, the monster is called the Einasm. It only consumes humans and uses phantoms of the dead to lure them.
The episode does an outstanding job at showcasing how much of a monster they are when it uses Heiter to lure out Fern. Using the words in Heiter’s voice that Fern is a good girl. Of course she would hesitate in aiming at her adoptive father figure. Still, Frieren knows it’s all an illusion. This is shown when Himmel shown to her, says to shoot her because “that is what Himmel the hero would do.”
Frieren & Fern see a solar dragon, and in its nest is a grimoire. As usual, Frieren wants it, no matter how much trouble it is to get one. Here we are introduced to Stark, who is an apprentice of Eisen. He is considered the town’s savior, but in reality he did nothing. You can understand why the townspeople love him because, from their point of view, his presence stopped the dragon from coming back.
Of course, based on first impressions, you would think Stark is a coward. Though we can tell Frieren doesn’t give up on him, and it seems to highlight her conversation with Eisen. He mentions he is like me, and he taught him everything he knows. As Frieren states in that conversation, he is a warrior, and at the same time we see Stark training. More likely, illustrating this is what Frieren believes because of the words from her friend.
This episode adapted chapters 8-10. Though the chapter was repeated stuff, it was executed so well that I don’t mind. The visuals are a big improvement from the manga. How the dragon is drawn is massively impressive.