‘Frieren’ Season 2, Praise Aureole, We Back Like We Never Left

Two Mages and a Coward Walk into a second season of the best anime smoking right now No, recap of events, no previously on. None of that. Just that familiar folksy music, a shot of the grassy knoll, a briefcase and the wind blowing through our favorite trio’s hair. We are so fucking back, mages. The anime doesn’t need to do this, but I will because I’m a gracious host: When we last left our hero’s way back in early 2024 aka before we slid further into the worst timeline ever IRL, Stark had finished cosplaying as a noble son, Fern became a First Class Mage while turning down Serie’s request to train with her. This was right after she told Frieren, probably the current strongest alive, to kick rocks and denied her First Class Mage status, mostly out of spite. And the thing that’s awesome about Frieren…its not even that big of a deal. Logistically, the First Class Mage status allows the party to travel north towards Aureole legally because the lands can be so dangerous. But it changes nothing. Fern is badass with limitless potential, Frieren is still Frieren the Slayer, whose last feat of strength was killing her own doppelganger and bringing down a seemingly impenetrable barrier to help out a couple of little acolytes. And Stark is, well, Stark. That sounds like a throwaway line, but we’ll actually get back to that later. One of the reasons that Frieren went on to become one of the best debut seasons of an anime ever is because it knows what is important to the story its te…