INCREDIBLE!! | Height of Magic | Frieren Beyond Journey's End | 1x26 REACTION

[@FlexiejayAnime]

THIS ANIME really does EVERYTHING fantastic doesn't it? Because the action sequences here are GORGEOUS!!! I can't get enough of Frieren!!! I love this series - thank you so much for watching with me! Let me know what you thought of this battle below! And if you want to watch the end of Season 1 - it is already all up on my Patreon ✨

[@BoTonev-gp2yd]

Its the everything anime. It does it all on highest level possible.

[@Dagraanam]

basically with ubel's spell you were close with what you mentioned but the visualisation of what she thinks can be cut when land said she couldn't cut the defensive magic but she said she could cut senses hair, same with the cloak, she doesn't see the hair/cloak with the defensive spells on it, she sees the hair/cloak as normal hair/cloak to be cut and basically ignores the spells on said hair/cloak even though every other mage would see the magic on them

[@kemasrafie]

Imagine they fight all of the Heroes party copycat at that dungeon, wow i think they wouldn't have a chance at all 😅

[@button689]

Ubel can't split defensive magic, it's not the way it works.

[@captainnerd6452]

Übel knew she could cut the cloak, but she didn't know how strong the cloth of the cloak was, so she maxed out the strength she put into the cut.

[@Observer29830]

Ubel's superpower is "Nah I'd win."

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

her superpower is "delusion"😂

[@MirroredDreamscape]

"This sign can't stop me because I can't read!"

[@kagato23]

She’s a sorcerer in a world of wizards. There’s little she can’t do because she never read the rules.

[@Dreammirrorbrony]

Good point ​@@kagato23

[@sayantanbagh8237]

😂

[@thejester7834]

Ubel channeled her inner Escanor. "The cloak couldn't be cut? And who decided that?"

[@ReyReyzzz]

Methode is the hidden powerhouse of this exam arc. a lot of watchers don't realize how big of a deal it is that she was not only holding her ground again fern's replica on her own, but there seemed to be an actual struggle. methode was genuinely giving the replica a hard time, and replicas don't hold back. she was fighting equally with full-power fern....

[@RaiuWorren]

Methode is probably my favorite new mage out of this arc. She’s the epitome of an all-rounder. She can use human magic and holy magic, she has great mana sense, can use hypnosis & restraint magic, and also seems to specialize in spell reflection. A real bonus to any team

[@submarinewahoo238]

@@RaiuWorren The reflection spell Methode used against the gargoyle is an anime only invention, so it's unlikely to show up again. However, the reflection spell is very much in line with Methode's style of combat. Laufen is the most logical counter to her since overwhelming Methode before she creates a plan would be the most reliable means of beating her. Laufen started off with the upper hand in her fight against Clone Methode and only started to struggle when Clone Methode began counterattacking.

[@adamondracek8098]

Almost every reactor (maybe all of them) I've seen thinks, that Fern is unbeatable, but that's not true. For her age, yes, she is Very skillful and powerful mage, but Methode is really experienced mage and from this little what we saw, she can be a real beast.

[@nikolah.8472]

@@RaiuWorren She is the definition of the OP buff mage every game has to nerf, because they are too strong. She has powers for many scenarios, makes her very dangerous 1vs1.

[@bacsrm6897]

She lowkey OP. She peirced the stone wall erected by Richter easily on their fight with clone laufen. Fern is too young to face a versatile battle mage such as Methode.

[@neretilderem7029]

11:46 What Sense is explaining is that unless you are crazy it won't work, it's not about fear or being open minded. Here is an example: You can imagine that if you drop a bowling-ball it will float up instead of falling down, but deep down every sane people knows how gravity works and subconsciously expects it to fall to the ground, that's why the "magic" won't work. But Übel's brain works differently, she can ignore reality even subconsciously, because she is crazy

[@Rogue.Phoenix]

your comparisson is slightly flaud. Übels mind does not think the unpossible or unnatural, as in the bowling ball floating upwards, its the opposite. Übels mind knows that in natural law cloth or hair can be cut and that magic cannot stop her from doing so.

[@pretentiousjay2637]

I can fix her

[@dukenguyen3890]

@@Rogue.Phoenix true, plus they dropped more hints about her psychology than we thought. The cloth thing, she grew up cutting it, cutting things is her favorite and imagine how to cut things is her habbit. Maintaining layers and layers of magic on items is difficult, hair is another thing. Which means if she focuses on one simple thing, plus imagine cutting through them easily might be the case helping her distribute magic in a way that is more efficient. Same with Fern who grew up with Zoltraak who can shoot it much faster than a mage that has lived for more than a thousand years despite being in her teen age.

[@MajorLawliet]

@@Rogue.Phoenix Not quite. Cutting things like she does is, factually, impossible. At least, by the modern understanding of humanity's magic. Perhaps it is a fault of the lacking research, perhaps a hundred years from now the masses will understand that it was possible and even have names and terms for how it can be achieved; glasses tried as much later in the manga due to a situation that happened, meaning that it is not inherently impossible to study. But as far as anyone knew, even Ubel, it was impossible. Factually so. "Any mage would understand", that's what Sense tried to say. It doesn't matter that it is technically possible, because it doesn't mean you'd know that and, furthermore, that you'd be able to visualize that in your mind and truly believe it.Just as you couldn't visualize and truly believe in a floating bowling ball, even though it may not be impossible if we deepen our understanding of science.

[@Rogue.Phoenix]

@@MajorLawliet Let me break it down. Yes you are correct in saying "Cutting things like she does is, factually, impossible. At least, by the modern understanding of humanity's magic." but that is the issue here. Übels mind does not think in the way of modern magic. That is why Sense says she is crazy because she thinks outside of the box or laid out simply in factual natural law. If you can't visualize it, it cannot happen or said otherwise IF YOU CAN imagine it you can do it. Like Richter said when fighting Lawine and Kanne "can you visualize moving all the water molucules in my body?" implying that it could work if she could. So the part where you say "But as far as anyone knew, even Ubel, it was impossible." No, Übel does not think that way, Übel can visualize cutting cloth and hair dispite being complexly imbued with magic because she knows that cloth and hair can be cut and thus can visulize cutting it because she does not care if there is magic involved. Hair is hair, cloth is cloth. Nothing will change that fact. Not even magic. And this is what makes her "crazy" in this time of magic.

[@stanleystan]

I think what Sense was saying with Übel is that she basically thinks differently (a psycho?) so there is a very well founded internal logic to her thinking that is basically unshakable. "I can't cut a magic barrier. But cloth? I can cut that. Same with hair." To her, those things just make sense. Cloth can be cut. Hair can be cut. She is not burdened by a magician's common sense and so it's easy for her to visualize those things thus making her matchups very lopsided.

[@yucinalo]

The way I interpreted this is that it's not just her internal logic that makes it possible. It's internal logic combined with folk magic - which I think Reelseiden is. From what we've seen so far, "normal" spells are basically designed like technology - carefully crafted based on logic. The logic of how the spell operates is already baked into the spell, so you cannot "override" it with your own logic. Meanwhile folk magic is designed to work based on perception/visualization, not restricted by any logical method of operation. This is why Frieren's folk magic bird-catching spell can catch anything she perceives as a bird, even if it is not biologically a bird. Meanwhile a "normal" spell crafted to catch a bird would not be able to catch a monster that looks like a bird, or a golem that looks like a bird. Übel might be a rare case not only because the way she thinks is very rare, but because few people of the current era learn folk magic spells.

[@GewalfofWivia]

I wouldn’t be surprised if her ability to copy spells from those she emphasises with is also just her headcanon that becomes true because magic.

[@Bangpath247]

part of it is also that Sense cant picture how to defend against it. and she'd tried to picture it before her replica was made.

[@pexeforad4gua]

She is a dellusional person who was born with imagination magic affinity. I guess the weakness of that kind of magic is how much you can believe that what you are imagine actually is real, you have to confront the reality to behold it, but she as someone that is dellusional anything she think she can do It she can believe it.

[@anagramhound]

The inner machinations of Ubel's mind are an enigma.

[@luigimanzelli3786]

when we really think about it, that should be the standard way of thinking, we acquired so many preconceptions based on past experiences, history, and society. Her mind simply works free from any restraint, which is the optimal way to operate, especially in a world where your achievments are directly correlated to what you can imagine doing.

[@tengkuamsyar2120]

*milk spills

[@erickellar5867]

@@luigimanzelli3786 It is the optimal way for sure but humans simply do not work like that. We need preconceptions to survive. Its what helps us not die when encountering something new.

[@avogrigoryan6551]

Legendary comment 😂

[@Arrtifice]

@@luigimanzelli3786 Ubel still has some of those preconceptions, though. That's the odd thing about her mind. She can cut wood, cloth, flesh and bone, but she still can't cut through standard defensive magic (like Wirbel's). Ubel's mind sustains both of those ideas at the same time. She doesn't just use the power of anime to believe her way past every obstacle. Her magic really reflects her inner nature, like she said about Wirbel.

[@SonesBen]

"It's been eighty years since I was last forced to use that." Meaning that she probably last used that spell when she fought the Demon King.

[@exterminateccp1642]

yeah. she is the main reason why they defeat the demon king.. it was like her ultimate spell or skill . her party of heroes doesnt have any answer , so she was kinda forced to use it. imo

[@Nisselak]

@@exterminateccp1642 but Himmel and the other companions are the reason why they managed to win; as shown, by using this technique she is left completely exposed to enemy attacks, and without a party to protect her she wouldn't have survived.

[@emmanuelbustamante6659]

As I understand it, it is not a spell.

[@PrinceAli628]

@@exterminateccp1642 she is not the reason lmfao, Freiren literally states that is not it. If any one of her party members was not there, then they would have completely failed against the demon king and died.

[@Greymist73]

I suspect the spells in Frierens world are magical in and of themselves, they are just the means that mages and priests use to easily and reliably channel the innate mana that most everyone and everything has to varying degrees. Clone Frierens attack on Fern did use mana, but because it was used in a manner outside the bounds of known human magic it cannot be detected. Just like the “curse” used by the plant monster on the villagers to put them to sleep and drain their mana. It’s also exactly what Flamme did when she killed the three demon mages on the hill. They never saw it coming when she turned toward them and exploded the hill.

[@nuxxism]

Seeing Frieren's battle makes you realize why she said "we could attack her as a group, but some of us would definitely die". Can you imagine the rest of the crew trying to face the magic that was being cast there? They don't even know Frieren permanently hides her mana yet. Also really like the wall behind Methode after Fern's clone disappears, showing how it was not an easy battle. One of the things that's easy to miss with Methode is that she can use 'holy' magic. The book she has with her the same as Sein, the Scriptures, so she has access to magic normal mages don't.

[@zam023]

14:20 Wow! That was the best breakdown of Ubel I have heard so far.

[@random3x70]

gotta find it amusing that there are several mimic corpses amongst the treasure near where Frieren was trapped in another. Meaning she got caught by a mimic multiple times in quick succession and Sense is watching this legendary mage do it.

[@fwicket]

😂😂😂

[@LordZeebee]

Ubel's thinking is more like the magical equivalent of standing on a roof and looking down at the pavement thinking "that looks like a nice swimming pool, i should take a dive". It's not just that the cloak "looked" impenetrable, for all intents and purposes it was. We saw it withstand several direct blows that were stopped on impact. But because the core of magic in frieren's world IS visualization, not just "you need to visualize it to cast the spell" but instead "the visualization is the spell", Ubel's magic doesn't care about all that. To her, that pavement really is a swimming pool.

[@cenauge]

I think she is just super literal. She said she can't cut through a magic barrier because magic barriers are obviously meant to defend against attacks. But cloth isn't meant to defend against being cut. Neither is hair (or flesh). It's almost like a rock/paper/scissors view of magic, and her scissors cut through anything that scissors should be able to cut through as if it were paper.

[@erickellar5867]

@@cenauge Not really we see her slicing rocks aparts and clearly scissors cannot do that. But she can make it work

[@nickvanachthoven7252]

@@erickellar5867 she scratched the rock but didnt cut through it, scissors can do that.

[@rieverse1176]

Defensive magic that Sense use is similiar to Burg. Richter said about overspec /"perfect" defensive magic it will cost more time to activate it and what Ubel do just slice that "perfect" defensive magic with Reelseiden, its just simple magic that cut through phyisical object and what powerful about this spell its the trajectory is impossible to follow. Burg and Sense lost because it got delay on activation and they dont know where to pin point the defensive since Reelseiden is almost invicible in naked eye. The world of magic in Frieren is so facinating. Basic magic, advance magic, folk magic it can turn Heaven and Earth upside down depends on how u use it.

[@MajorLawliet]

@@rieverse1176 You got that completely wrong, like, utterly. Ritcher said that about the basic barrier spell everyone uses. Burg and Sense don't do that. Their defensive magic is constantly on, it is an enchantment that is essentially permanently baked into their things (Burg's cloak, Sense's hair). They don't need to activate it anymore than they need to think for their body to function.

[@Porkastinator]

Interesting how you interpreted Ubel's feat as "fear based" rather than the situation being Ubel's a psycho living in her own reality. I like that perspective tbh how our knowledge of how the world works hinges on what we are taught and experience and that someone in the world of magic would not be bound by such limitations if their knowledge isn't based on what is conventional

[@TheThreadWeaver]

It’s 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. You can’t use magic to do what you can’t visualize. So Ubel can cut anything she thinks she can cut, because she’s visualized it. On the flip side, if you think Ubel can cut you, then she can cut you, because you’ve visualized your own loss.

[@livewithinthedream]

@@TheThreadWeaver Almost, it isn't relevant on what you believe. Only what Ubel believes. The proof to this is even the examiner was cut in half. He did not believe anyone could get through his cloak, but Ubel applied her logic of "I can cut cloth", and thus was able to visualize it. The manga touches more on it as well, but the difference lies in what Ubel sees as reality and logic. Not so much what she has fear of.

[@TheThreadWeaver]

@ I’m going to have to disagree with that. The belief of both attacker and defender is important. A few episodes ago, the earth mage’s defensive spell failed because he didn’t believe he could defend against the water attack. So the implication is that both sides affect your ability to come out on top.

[@lucidiously]

@@TheThreadWeaver "the earth mage’s defensive spell failed because he didn’t believe he could defend against the water attack" No, it failed because the defensive spell is weak against physical attacks, which they established earlier.

[@Bangpath247]

@@livewithinthedream part of it is also how focused the mana is, a guy in a cloak is defending over a wide surface area, a blade of mana is concentrated.

[@lipediasarte1995]

Flexye, every day I love your analyses, your insight is impressive, many people only went through Ubel's fight and they just said it, cool

[@scottl369]

You were close about that star. That red orb with a disk around it was a black hole, complete with red-shift and accretion disk. The two orbs orbiting each other were a micro binary star as well. Frieren works on that level. She's scary powerful. And then, at the crux moment, in swoops Fern with her Gatling-Zoltraak. Just like they planned.

[@neretilderem7029]

If the poor dude proctoring Übel's test named his spell "Super-Duper-Defensive-Aura" he would be still alive. But he named it "Immovable Cloak" and Übel's brain went: "cLoAk?! i CaN cUt ThAt"

[@glennolson6505]

I find myself wondering, if he'd woven his spells into proper armour instead would her spell still have worked? Armour can be cut, but not very easily as it's whole purpose is to prevent the wearer from being cut...

[@jervisangelopitao7118]

​@@glennolson6505 for cuts and slices like Ubel's spell, he should've used chainmail as a layer, rip tho

[@_Pachirisu_]

Your whole talk on Ubel was really good. I'll have more to say on it once youve finished the show, but there is a lot the show is telling us in these parts that a lot of people don't really acknowledge in discussions later on. But you are totally on point. In a world of magic, why should you be bound by others preconceived notions on what is and isnt doable, or what is or isnt powerful. Ubel believed in her ability above all else, because she imagined it as such. The episode is called Height of Magic, mostly because of what Frieren does, but Ubel showcases another aspect of magic that cant be ignored either.

[@yuichi1024]

こんばんは。いつも拝見しています。貴方が日本のアニメを楽しんでいることが嬉しいです。これからもたくさんの作品を楽しんでください。日本から応援しています！

[@TheWorldsOkayestUSMarine]

🇯🇵🇺🇲

[@조민수-x5o]

I love the scene where Fern is attacked and admires Frieren as the height of magic. She really looks up to her master.

[@Alcatrazrezz]

The image of Frienren's replica right before it blasts Fern into the wall makes my spine shiver everytime it is quite intense.

[@3runprodigy]

I never leave comments on youtube but I had to leave on on your reaction of this episode. Your breakdown of Ubels mind was poetic, accurate and great. I honestly recommend everyone watch this episode AT LEAST twice just for the visualizations during the fight between Frieren vs Frieren. She is literally creating other dimensions and breaking reality with her abilities, its insane in the best way. The difference in abilities between Frieren and every other mage in the exam is crazy. Frierien really is the last great mage.

[@falcor2325]

Ubel just doesnt overthink it. She says it herself, she bases her magic of intuition. If it looks like a cloak, its a cloak. If its hair, its just hair. These things can be cut, so it is. If anything shes closer to a sorcerer than a mage.

[@fjoergyn]

The pinnacle of all fantasy anime is showing his gem. And Serie the goddess of all Tsundere. The color of this black hole is science-based. Actual now you can se how our universe was formed. With Frierens planetary devastation and big bang xD. Frieren now take Fern serious. 5 Mimics died in her natural habitat!

[@JackDespero]

19:35 One of my favourite quotes of a book (I actually love it in Spanish more than in the original English but oh well): "There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man." In this case, when gentle Frieren looks at you with the eyes devoid of mercy, you know that you are facing a true force of nature, you are but a leaf in a hurricane.

[@iwill1397]

El temor de un hombre sabio

[@ricka3856]

Made a Wash of that one buddy 👏👏

[@Dunny111]

i love the reactions of this channel , real and very alike during watchalongs , much better than many others out there

[@antonkarenin7332]

The writer loves drawing parallels. Frieren said "this is not like you" to Flamme when she showed her the flower spell. Now Fern said the same to Frieren when she left herself open. Student to teacher saying the same thing albeit for different reasons.

[@feral_fenrir]

About leaving herself open, I think it's one of the prerequisites/side effect for her "height of magic" mana-less magic spell. And you can imagine 80 years ago, the absolute trust she had on her 3 teammates to leave herself completely open and use it to maybe kill the DK, trusting them to keep her safe.

[@FortyFive13]

Ubel’s magic is like that Arthur meme “That sign can’t stop me because I can’t read”

[@nicoalbert1450]

I love that Episode so much. It is so incredible, how this Episode explains to us the conzept of visualisation in this magic system at the example of Übel. It let us think about it and changes the idea of how important mana and spells actually are. And the Episode does all this, just for that mind blowing final with frieren, building on that idea, showing us the "height of magic". No Mana, no Spell.

[@Calithilhel]

12:50 fear is absolutely part of it but I think it's even simpler than that actually. I think it's the fact that being "intelligent creatures" like Sense said means we have a shared reality, whether or not you're afraid of being unable to cut the cloak, simply being told "you can't cut it because X" gives you knowledge that includes you in the shared reality that his cloak can't be cut. I think what Ubel does is beyond "no u" and akin to almost selectively forgetting things for a time in favor of raw instinct, it's a kind of confidence and assuredness she can only have because she's outright narcissistic and sociopathic. That combined with the fact that she can learn magic by putting in effort to empathize with their users makes her SO fucking cool and interesting.

[@PrinceAli628]

I agree as well with the way Freiren does flashbacks, it's actually perfect to me. The creator, and the director as well, perfectly puts flashbacks going in and out with the present day perfectly, with them being exaactly relevent to what Frieren is going through and everybody else, while those very flashbacks are the perfect amount of time that never "overstay" their welcome and are too long. There has not been a single series that makes me feel this way with this many flashbacks.

[@PrinceAli628]

What's funny also is that Sense clearly could win in that fight with Ubel, if she literally just had defensive magic AROUND her instead of in her hair lmfao. Also what pisses me off so much and triggers me, is that they state "do not kill the proctor" which is the guy in the cloak and Ubel is too stupid to just be like "I'll cut the front of the cloak" or "I'll cut the armsleeve". Like it was literally not that hard to think like that, but then all she gets is a disqualification from the exam while having not a single amount of remorse of killing a seemingly innocent person/proctor, and that's it. Like that just seems insanely dumb and ridiculous that she didn't get more than just a "disqualification" like that lmfao.

[@jasonwinterboer5232]

This episode simply has the most amazingly animated magic battle I've ever seen. I think I watched it at least 5 times the day it released!! 😍😍

[@luigimanzelli3786]

Frieren: you should fight using only regular attacking magic (Zoltraak) also Frieren: creates a miniature Big Bang casually shattering the fabric of reality 🤣 This was an episode for the ages, i wasn't this hyped for a fighting scene since HxH, should be called "the height of anime" really, also the OST "Frieren the Slayer" is so insanely good.

[@AlphaSeagull]

I actually like how much this makes sense when you look at everything talked about up to this point (even later but I won't get into spoilers). Her advice to fern for the exam wasn't "you should only use zoltraak" but rather "zoltraak is all you need for the mages of this era" implying that more experienced mages from previous eras who've learned Zoltraak by now would have more options to deal with it (aside from Qual who was sealed away so he didn't really have time to adapt). In a 1v1, it wouldn't be enough by itself to beat a mage much more experienced than you, but against a mage with equal experience, it's just the meta spell right now so you don't need anything else, and in a 2v1 where reaction time is a bigger factor, zoltraak has a distinct advantage of older mages having a slower reaction to it, but frieren herself couldn't use that advantage because she's also slower to cast it. So all the advice and actions make perfect sense when you think about the context of the situation which is really cool

[@boboyo3140]

Frieren wasn't breaking no damn reality, she doesn't have that level of power. Just take the extravaganza spectacle for what it is and don't overthink it. Otherwise you won't understand anything when you see her getting no diffed against some retired old man

[@luigimanzelli3786]

@@boboyo3140 it was a joke man, i know it's not DBS don't worry :D

[@Greymist73]

It may have been mentioned here, but I wanted to point out a parallel event to Frierens clone attacking Fern and blasting her against the wall with the same side eye glare that Flamme gave the three demons that tried to ambush her shortly after she rescued Frieren and murked all three and the hill they stood on with a glare and hand gesture.

[@AlphaSeagull]

So something really cool about the Frieren clone's final attack: Earlier when Sein was in the party, we learned that some monsters use special spells called Curses, which go beyond current mage understanding to a point where they aren' t even detected as magic. The spell fern got hit with? She didn't detect any mana coming off it. This gives a very clear implication that Frieren's clone was using a curse here. This would mean Frieren knows curses, and for all we know, that might not even be the only one

[@fwicket]

Finally. Someone else said it. Thank you.

[@Addam_]

With the reveal that binding magic works on Fern it confirms what Ehre said to Fern in the exam, "If you fought Wirbel with your technique you would have lost already."

[@Olagoob]

Fun to imagine what the other mages thought when seeing how annihilated the boss room was. Only Frieren and Fern will ever know what happened in there..

[@david000rafael]

Ubel is so simple "If it's cloth, I can cut it; If it's hair, I can cut it"

[@adamondracek8098]

Exactly, she didn't saw powerfull defensive mana barier, what she saw was just piece of cloth which can be easily cut trough. But cast a simple defensive spell and her Reelsaiden will be useless.

[@Dajose1986]

one of my favourite Reactors to this show. Love ya.

[@afscrew123]

I dont know why, even the intense action scenes make me cry LMAO I just love this anime too much I cant.....

[@Dreammirrorbrony]

Ubël is a mage who operates entirely on intuition rather than logic, unlike almost all other mages. If she can empathize with you, she can copy your spells used in front of her by seeing it only once. She recognized Land's true potential after seeing him in action; I strongly suspect she could have picked up his spells already but doesn't want to too quickly. She is interested in him and wants an excuse to hang around him further. I ship them lol

[@themastamanhd4861]

they showed that stone golem in a 1 fram flashback moment where she clearly has just learned the spell and its a tiny cute dancing golem. now look at it.

[@AllramYT]

I have always felt that when flashbacks are mentioned in a bad way, it is when they flashback to stuff we have already seen in the show, and not flashbacks that are entirely new scenes and information. The style they use in Frieren are the nice kind where they tell a second story at the same time. Great reaction channel :) have been grinding this, opm and spyxfamily.

[@TheMenticore]

I'd probably add to that the duration of a flashback. The flashbacks in frieren are often rather short and directly corrolate to something that just happened. On the other hand I vaguely remember the flashbacks in Naruto Shippuuden sometimes being multiple episodes, completely removing you from the action/main story that is happening in the "present". I don't dislike flashbacks and the backstory they reveal, but just like anything else they can be used in a good way and a bad way. But that's just my opinion on them...

[@hunrahel]

Most persuasive argument I've seen was about whether the pre-Aura "flamme taught Frieren that hiding powerlevel kills demons" flashbacks spoil the climax.

[@rumfordc]

@@hunrahel nah that builds apprehension for the climax because you already knew Frieren is going to win. if there were no buildup and then just a sudden "haha, but actually my power level is secretly stronger" it would have been a very boring generic shounen episode.

[@iagolopes4009]

This is one of the reasons why I love Frieren All the 3 major races in the show have something unique about magic: The Demons practice one type of magic through hundred of years, so they know instinctively what they can do Elves can live for thousands of years, have a high mana pool, but are hold back by their own vision of magic (the only two examples we have so far are Frieren and Serie) Meanwhile Humans, having such a short lifetime, need to search for dreams and because of that they're able to visualize much more far then the other races, being able to achieve things the others can't

[@yonkonomi5706]

Fern is so cool. Watching her float there, firing off all those beams like a machine gun, coupled with the sound design, is bliss ❤

[@gigipopescu]

Not as cool as Frieren force pushing her into a wall

[@jeancouto2809]

In fact, it would be Ubel's imagination against the magician's imagination defending himself. He blocked out everything he saw, imagining it was possible. Then Ubel threw something he couldn't see.

[@Kentakaku]

congrats for 100k subs Flex!🔥

[@CueQ-u6c]

IKR i love Ubel & this show it's so many different perspectives into one.

[@MichaelRBrown-lh6kn]

The theme of visualization being important to how magic works was something we learned in a prior episode, expanded here, and will be revisited in an upcoming episode....

[@iagolopes4009]

15:27-> When I heard this, I just remembered when Frieren said in the first test: "I can't imagine beating a water mage in the rain"

[@plantman333]

From what i understand, the move that was performed to push fern to the wall, is called "Height of Magic". Normally mana is converted to the spell the castee chooses. Without the use of arms and unable to speak, the clone could not use traditional spell by converting the mana. So essentially Height of Magic is taking raw, unflitered mana and using it as a weapon. Thats why fern mentioned she didnt recognize the attack as a spell.

[@JackDespero]

This show has the most amazing depiction of magic. They told the artists: Just draw magic, no budget limit. And we were blessed.

[@diggingexpedition]

The animation in this episode was truly incredible. And yet, the fact that it still manages to make you laugh at the end is what makes this series so wonderful.

[@justjohnny420]

I'd recommend going back to episode 18 and re watching Sense's reaction when Ubel looks at her at the introductions. Now that you have the context 😛

[@NoVideolnput]

Methode IS an incredibly powerful and intelligent mage, I'm sure she was the one to organize the groups and pinpoint the locations of all the replicas. Not to mention she had to personally hunt down Fern due to how strong Fern is as well.

[@cathou7888]

People probably have already recommended Dungeon Meshi to you or maybe you have already watched it, but I would really recommend it to you !! It's one of my favorite anime, it really surprised me. It is similar to Frieren in some ways, it is so good once you get in the thick of the plot !!! Anyway love your reactions

[@hillrp1]

We got a hint to the role of visualization in magic with the spell from the dragon's nest. Frieren described it as a spell that let's you see through clothes, but then went onto explain that "Depending on what you consider clothes..." although the spell itself is quite narrow, the way you think about it affects the way the magic works

[@Tuftorenix]

Their 'win by attrition' strategy was also working, but it was dangerous. We can tell this by seeing how the Frieren replica defended against Real Freiren's attacks vs Ferns. When Real Frieren used something like a Zoltraak to attack, the replica would just create a defensive barrier only in the precise location needed to deflect it (most obviously shown in the start of the fight), whereas Ferns attacks always necessitated a full sphere barrier since she didn't notice them until they were right on top of her. Full sphere defense is wasteful, so they probably could have worn her out eventually.

[@rumfordc]

wow! didn't notice how it was always sphere shield when vs fern until now, so many details!

[@falx1975]

I am massively excited for season 2. Over and over again this series has excelled in visual storytelling. Very often, if we are shown something, it is important. I think not only the different philosophies of magic as exemplified through Frieren vs. Serie, but even the very nature of magic and what it actually is and how it really works are a lot deeper than we have seen so far.

[@RepliAmras]

Übel is strong because she is a "bad mage". As stated by Land, she is using magic by feel, not by understanding. And since the magic is about vizualization, the cloak that was imbued by deffensive spells makes sense...if you can understand those spells. She doesn't, on fundamental level, she have no idea how it works. And since she don't understand, then it is simply a fabric to her and that can be cut. Simply put, mages that are understanding magic are "weakened" by that same understanding. It would be like saying "I need transform lead into gold, what is lead, what is gold, how do I change the state from one to another". For Übel, it's simple: lead is metal, gold is metal. Lead can be gold. And because of that, she would be able to pull that out, if tasked.

[@glennolson6505]

I think her ability to mimic other people's spells is similar as well. She believes (not wrongly IMO) that the magic one specializes in reflects their personality. If she can empathize with that personality - feel how they feel, see how they see - she finds the starting point of where that magic came from. Seeing the spell itself shows her the end point, and then she just has to visualize a path from the start to the end and that's how the spell is done.

[@DarwinAwardWinner]

The visualization thing is really interesting, because it's not like defensive magic is just a "trick" that makes you think it's impenetrable. It really does block attacks, like when Fern protected herself and Frieren from the Lord of the Mountain's attack in Episode 12. It was a physical attack, so "visualization" has nothing to do with it in that case. It underscores Übel's incredible skill at visualizing the effects of her spell (and also, by the way, implies that she's really good at visualizing a person being sliced in half). And by the way, the "visualization" theme has been signaled for a long time. Even as early as Episode 4, Eisen mentioned that "all magic started as fairy tales", and that ties into visualization as well. Another thing this show does incredibly well is use contrasts to subtly indicate people's strength and skill. In this episode, everyone was surprised to hear that Übel defeated Sense, except Wirbel who said it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Übel would win that matchup. Of course, Wirbel has more personal experience with Übel than the others present, but he also seems to have more insight into how to predict the outcome of a given matchup. Similarly, last episode, when Fern demonstrated Frieren's "fatal vulnerability", Denken realized it immediately, while Kanne and Lawine couldn't see it. There's tons of examples of this all throughout the mage exam arc and beyond. The show does it constantly. Like you, I also really liked that one shot of Frieren's POV looking at Fern. The only time we've seen POV shots previously is in battles, most notably Übel's battle against her copy. Showing a dialogue scene from Frieren's POV leaves such a strong impression, and so does the shot afterward of Frieren and Fern against a black background. As a side note, I appreciate how the anime adaptation diversifies people's spell usage throughout the season, compared to the manga. In this episode, Frieren uses some shattering spell to destroy the Spiegel. In the manga, she just blasts it with a Zoltraak. In the previous episode, Serie shreds Flamme's will with a spell, while in the manga she just tears it up without magic. Going further back, in the fight of Fern vs. Lügner, the manga has her blocking his attacks with defensive magic, but that doesn't really make sense: couldn't his blood tendrils just flow around the shield and keep going? So instead, in the anime she doesn't block his attacks with shield spells, she just fires out more Zoltraak shots to intercept the blood tendrils and destroy them. Doing it this way both keeps the focus on Fern's skill with Zoltraak in general and also shows that she is able to improvise a novel defensive usage of the spell on the spot, even further demonstrating her skill.

[@santifabra7830]

I think Ubel´s ability to visualize cutting things more related to delusion than anything else, cuz it´s something that she´s able to do by pure instinct, it´s just the way that she is, she´s not bound by what a normal human being would be conscious about cuz she has her own logic, and that´s why she´s so strong. Just like sense said, it´s like a superpower

[@pega7550]

(no spoilers, since I haven't read ahead, just some theories I thought of based on what we already know) the magic system in this world is so extremely interesting, it's incredible. You basically have 3 components to each spell, the catalyst (a staff, wand, or whatever you use to channel your magic), the mana (fuel to give your spell power) and the combination of the spell itself (as in the words) and image (to decide the effect of the spell). It makes sense to pair the spell and image, because words help us visualise things. Also makes sense why demons are usually really good at one specific thing - they don't use words to practice magic, so they only use their image, which might limit them to their specific field of knowledge. I think Sense has difficulty connecting words with reality, you can tell her that "this robe has this many layers of defensive magic" on it, but she doesn't recognize it. But the defensive spells used by wirbel actually look like shields, so she can see the defensive tool there. If burgs defensive cloak looked like it was made out of iron I don't think sense would've been able ot cut it. Sense perceives the world in visuals, that's why it's important to use visual cues to counter her. Frieren has a huge mana pool but is slow on "updating" her visualization. She's still stuck with older versions of the currently used spells and has problems relearning stuff she already knows, simply because it'd be unnecessary. She also seems to be able to bypass the requirement of an external catalyst, instead using herself as one to change reality. I believe the reason fern wasn't able to recognize the force push as magic is because frieren overwrote reality in the specific space fern was in. It wasn't really an attack, she might've just changed the direction and intensity of gravity. So the height of magic would be changing reality itself.

[@livewithinthedream]

I would go as far as to say it isn't fear, it is the logic she surpasses. As she states, she can't imagine cutting an actual barrier, but she can imagine cutting the cloth or someone's hair. She is able to block out the true nature of the situation and instead approach it from something that is almost like a "back door". Other's know cloth can be cut, but they also know that it is magically enforced cloth and thus magic is useless. Ubel still sees this as just cloth despite the clear (logical) difference between the two, and lives in a reality where she truly believes and visualizes that it is "just" cloth or hair. An equivalent for us would be those who swim in artic waters in just their underwear, while 99.9% of humanity would go into shock due to temperature drops before every touching the water. Even scientist can't "explain" why the limbs don't die. The mind is a powerful thing

[@druidicdwarf]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really liked your thoughts on Ubel it has made me rethink about my own thoughts about her. I can't wait to hear more about your thoughts and the appreciate of how Frieren the show does everything well.

[@defiante1]

Sense just saw Ubel cut a guy in half, listened to her explain how she has a cutting fixation. Then Ubel was staring at her hair, going "That's some pretty hair..." and had previously slid some scissors right next to Sense's stomach. Yeah... it was a threat. It also got in Sense's head. You can't do what you can't imagine, Sense can't imagine beating Ubel so now she can't, ever.

[@PeterButchens]

17:40 Still very curious about Methode's skill. She had show that before with the gargoyles where she took the blast on her shield and then somehow attached to it and then took it over. Same here with laufen's whip. That's some amazing skill, especially considering how most mages can't attack and defend with the shield at the same time. Also the aftermath of her battle with full power Fern (clone) - I wonder what transpired there.

[@Saxit]

Seen lots of Frieren reactions since it finished and you're the only one that that seems to have understood immediately that the point of the dialogue with Frieren saying she underestimates Fern, is to tell us that then the copy also underestimates Fern. Or at least you're the only one I saw that commented on it.

[@DapimpBDSD]

Ubel's signiture power is she can cut ANYTHING that she can visualize cutting. Its powerful for Ubel because she has a weird (autistic) way of thinking. She CAN'T imagine NOT cutting cloth and hair, because she has done it before and magic enhanced hair doesnt matter because its still hair. So its kinda a power that bypasses magic but only to a certain extent

[@StephenRansom47]

Ubel, the poster child for: Take Your Kids to Work Day! - oh, that gratifying sound of scissors- thunk & zip. 😌

[@themastamanhd4861]

and 80 years ago, who was the strong enemy she had to fight that would have forced her to use that?! the fact fern posed a threat comparable to the demon king is no small feat.

[@jbales8990]

What this whole fight really emphasizes is how much Frieren holds herself back every day. All you've really seen her use are basic attack and defense spells and then you see her clone throwing out the wildest shit and realize Frieren just doesn't have a reason to use spells that powerful generally.

[@KEG57]

Übel 🤝 Kenpachi “Nah, I’d Cut”

[@draaa_k]

frieren stare gives me goosebumps 😬

[@yaelz6043]

So much to say about this episode. The biggest is probably that "i haven't needed to use that in 80 years" refers to the demon king. And that was after they threw suns and alternate dimensions at one another.

[@Astravall]

YES! Apothecary Diaries .... i'm looking forward to your reaction to that :).

[@sptoo123]

When you talking about "You can literaly create your own reality" makes me think of another anime named A Certain Scientific Railgun (Toaru Kagaku no Rērugan) which also discuss about "Personal Reality". It's a really good anime and hope you can take a look about it.

[@iagolopes4009]

8:15-> It's so cool that beacause she's a psycho, she can imagine doing things other people can't

[@MrGiamMY999]

I love how we see all the mages fighting and they are throwing rock at each other, cut to frieren vs frieren and they are basically creating black holes lol

[@fahimqamarad-din7147]

If you noticed in episode 10 (KYS Aura), Frieren defeated the demon Basalt seemingly by using the same ultimate desperation attack as the one her clone was using on Fern in this battle.

[@artboymoy]

It's not fear or being scared about not being able to cut the cloak. I think you mean doubt. And that doubt is all that you need to defeat yourself. Ubel is able to just picture herself cutting cloth or hair, no matter how much she knows she can't cut the cloak. She just knows she can do it.

[@glennolson6505]

i would nitpick: it's not 'how much she knows she can't cut the cloak' - it's 'how much she knows she can't cut the magic enchanting the cloak.' To any other mage, they think they have to cut through the magic first in order to cut the cloak; but to her, she's not trying to cut the magic enchanting the cloak at all, she's just cutting the cloak and... well, cloth is something to be cut, and it makes such a nice sound when you cut it.

[@Vlad_the_Implier]

Fern:"I've taken off her arms, fight's over, we can easily clean up an armless mag-" Stone-Frieren:"FUS RO DAH"

[@Silverhorse777]

Ubel's mind is basically "I reject your reality and substitute it with my own". (c) I like how other reaction makers interpreted the magic in Frieren's world like "the battle of imagination", basically the one whose imagination is more vivid, can force its vision of reality onto others, and Ubel is a perfect example of that. Though, if you've ever touched the Raildex universe, then there is a better example for you - mages in Frieren are like espers there, each with their own "personal reality". And while Fern and Methode are Level 5's of this world, Ubel is a Gemstone one. And Frieren took it WAY further - mages need to use spells, catalysts like staves, other things to actually use magic... Frieren? "Now you've pissed me off, let's alter the gravity field in this part of the reality a little". No spells, no mana manipulation, no staves, no HANDS, just straight up reality warping with just her mind alone. The true height of magic. There is a debate, though, that her "spell" was more like a "mana strike", where you use mana itself as a pure, raw energy source, but that doesn't correlate with the note from Fern like how she "couldn't detect any mana" and avoid the strike. More explanations about this part of using magic will await us in season 2, so stay tuned!

[@delirious4565]

I've been waiting for this episode to make this observation as it's a great example, but if you watch it all again you'll see it in previous episodes: the makers of this show really love hair and hair animations. And the more intense a battle, the more wind-whipped it becomes. Sense's character design feels almost like the artist letting their guilty pleasure run wild lol

[@delirious4565]

....or maybe I'M the one with a weird animated hair fixation...

[@alfalco28]

i think Ubel just dumbs it down in her head. "His cloth has been imbued with all kinds of defence magic, its near impenetrable" "Yeah buts its cloth and cloth can be cut, Ive watched my sister cut cloth". "Sense's hair has multiple layers of magic, its strong" "But hair is meant to be cut and maintained". She removes all complexity of the equation and just simplifies it to what is was originally. That's why she struggles to cut defensive magic spells as seen vs Wirbel. "Defensive magic is for blocking other spells" "So it will defend against reelsieden" Wirbel could block her attack because the origin of defensive magic is to block, so in her mind it blocks. Its not a physical object with any other use or purpose so she can't visualise cutting it. Such a cool character and magic design

[@pwarner]

It was a long time in the making but this was the episode that officially made me a Ubel fan

[@bobislav85]

The writing in this show is unmatched! Everything is preemptively built, not post shown/build - like a puzzle. We were shown how Ubel works based on her intuition and not based on her intelligence in episode 22. As Land said - she dismisses the logic behind magic. Doing the set-up like this is a huge signal of great writing - laying the ground of your pay-offs. I am saying this as an ex-writer.

[@tednicholson9949]

I think the fear take is super interesting but that it goes even deeper. IMO what Ubel is doing here is contradicting her own senses to construct that vision. She knows that cloak shouldn't be able to be cut but she decides that based on her logic different rules should apply. The other test takers can't take manual control of their perception like that. In the same way that if I walk out onto a lake I cannot convince myself that I won't sink, no one but Ubel can convince themselves that the feedback from their senses doesn't have to apply. Super cool idea from the author.

[@glennolson6505]

I'd say it's more that she knows the *magic* enchanting the cloak can't be cut. Any other mage would see the aura of the magic enchanting the cloak and think they have to break through that first; they can't even imagine cutting the cloak without getting through the magic layered on it first. But to Ubel... trying to cut through the magic is overthinking things; the cloak is made of cloth and cloth is something that cuts really easily (makes a really lovely sound when you cut it) so just cut the cloth.

[@Raidanzoup]

Fear is the mind killer type beat.

[@usamenser]

The first series of this anime has finished airing in Japan. But after reading your report, I want to watch this anime again. From Japan.

[@shodan1451]

I think part of Ubels success is simple... shes so stubborn about the facts she thinks she knows are immutable truth that you can't convince her otherwise. at a base its 'cloth can be cut' 'hair can be cut' tell her that the cloth or the hair is layered with magic and she still knows 'cloth can be cut'.

[@zenmastermtl]

For the clone's final attack. As I understand it, it was a pure psychic attack. Normally one's thoughts are translated through mana, which is why being able to mentally visualize is so important. But this attack was pure thought, not going through mana, but attacking directly. So it's instant, undetectable, and unstoppable. She also said it's been about 80 years since she last used it. 80 years ago is when she fought the Demon King. I think that was the technique she used to beat the Demon King. Fern was lucky to survive.

[@eizy1010]

This episode just show us a fragment of what happen if Frieren lose emotions.

[@zimbo65a]

"That´s soo funny.. I`ve almost smiled!"

[@cdelio8716]

The underrated individual on that second test is Methode she detect nearly everyone and has a reservoir of assets from healing (which is mostly for priest) to nullifying or restraining an individual which she said she particularly strong with.

[@babluprasad813]

yup she even knew about Fern's clone. She is like a secret weapon

[@lorenzovismara9385]

Yup, the only one in the exam group (other than Frieren of course) who can compete with her is probably Denken

[@Al-eo2li]

In the same way, Sense is also a genius like Ubel. If Ubel is to cutting, then sense is to managing her hair. She can visualize managing her hair and imbuing all those spells, but she doesn't think it. She just does it.

[@juanrubio6132]

I read the manga. And to avoid spoilers this series just gets better and better cant wait for season 2.

[@fxlm5906]

The last attack of Frieren was probably a direct application of visualisation, One's will made reality, thus not a "spell", it would make sense with how the EP was hinting at Ubel using something close. At least that's my take on it.

[@BeastRobinn]

Been waiting for this episode!

[@AiraKoriTenchi]

I absolutely love that Übel's power is basically being a psychopath. The magic system in this show is pretty loose, but also the entire "you have to be able to imagine it" part is such a great concept

[@rumfordc]

i think its more like being an autistic savant, except it happens to be with a very deadly power

[@erickellar5867]

I rarely notice the eyes of another person but yours are truly beautiful