Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End vol. 8

Frieren, Fern, and Stark continue their journey through the Northern Territories in this volume.  The monsters may get tougher, but they’re still nothing that our protagonists can’t handle as they take one out that’s menacing a village, and find time to engage in some light comedy as they get involved in the search for a legendary drink, and Frieren’s debts come back to haunt her.  The standout story for this volume, however, is a mini-arc that sees the return of one of the proctors of the First-Class Mage Exam, Genau, and another such mage, Methode.  They’ve been asked to look into some particularly vicious demon attacks in the area, as have Frieren and her companions.

As is usually the case for this series, the longer storyline is the most memorable one here.  We get some insight into Genau and Methode’s personalities, with the former coming off as the more interesting of the two due to his resolutely standoffish yet remarkably competent personality.  There’s also another satisfying battle here, split between two parties with opponents on both sides displaying some real cleverness regarding how they deal with the situation before them.  Good stuff all around and further proof that writer Kanehito Yamada and artist Tsukasa Abe should prioritize telling these kinds of stories.

So it’s a good thing that it looks like that’s what they’re doing when we get to the final pages of this volume.  Not to give anything away, but we’re given hints of a new major villain for this series as another character from the “First Class Mage Exam” arc makes a return.  That last part is interesting as it looks to shift the title’s focus onto this character for the short term if not longer.  Or it could just be putting this character in the Yamcha role to have their ass kicked to show us how big this next threat is.  I’d rather that not be the case, but I’m still optimistic about seeing another extended storyline coming to “Frieren.”