I’d be lying if I said I was really invested in this phase of Sousou no Frieren. Still, there are elements of this part of the exam that are interesting on an intellectual level at least. It all comes down to Sense, really, and her motivations for staging this the way she did. Is it really her intention that no one at all pass, like that one mage guy (sorry, but this show is the Germanic name equivalent of Kingdom) suggested? And if so, why? Maybe she assigns impossible tests because in her mind they’re not impossible, presumably because they wouldn’t be for her. And if she can do it, why, anyone strong enough to be a first class mage should be able to as well.
Through a completely extraneous conversation seemingly thrown in strictly for exposition, we learn that the master of this dungeon is a being (demon?) named Spiegel. And perhaps more relevantly, that no one has ever beaten it. What I can’t help but notice is that by choosing to accompany the examinees into the dungeon, Sense ensures that her own replica will be among the foes the others have to fight. That strikes me as frankly unfair, because not only is her clone presumably stupidly strong, but she (presumably) has no intention of fighting it herself.
Seems like the whole point of this should be the candidates having to overcome evenly-matched opponents with their own faces and powers – by adding herself to the obstacles Sense really does seem to be trying to stack the deck against the examinees. It’s also interesting that so far, the pair she’s chosen to accompany has basically been unopposed (even Fern is suspicious of how easy it’s been). Dark Frieren has already confronted the Denken squad of course, and he’s smart enough not to try and take it head-on.
There are dribs and drabs check-ins with the various groupings here (and lost of suspicious candle shots). Ubel and Land’s skirmish reveals that the replicas can fully take on the appearance of their originals and talk. Three non-combat mages, Edel and two other guys (Hans and Franz, maybe?) are facing Sense’s duplicate and it’s looking like they have no chance against it. And that’s a problem since Edel is apparently the strongest in the class at hypnosis magic, which Denken theorizes might be a way to take on pseudo-Frieren. But her encounter reveals that the clones seemingly don’t have a mind as such, thus making them invulnerable to hypnosis. And Wirbel and his companions seem to be on the way to besting their shadow selves.
Frieren’s team takes a little detour to check out a secret room (no part left unexplored for her), and eventually meets up with Denkentachi. Methode is good at hypnosis and restraint magic but her exam of the real Frieren reveals that she’s basically invulnerable to those things. That leaves the group at a seeming impasse until Fern pipes up to offer that she might be able to kill Frieren (her duplicate anyway). In terms of weaknesses what we’ve seen so far has basically been mimics and oversleeping, so it’ll be interesting to see what Fern has come up with. And whether she’ll be willing to share it in open company, given that Frieren having her vulnerability revealed to a bunch of potential rivals could be considered a risky move.
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