Rating: B+
NOTE: For anime-only readers, I strongly recommend either reading the novel Familia Chronicle: Episode Freya or watching the compilation of the Memoria Freese version of it before getting too deep into this season. Certain parts of this season (especially its middle arc) will make more sense if you have the background for Freya’s motives.
One of my favorite franchises of the last decade is back, looking to follow up on a fantastic run through part 4. And it definitely comes out of the gate swinging.
As I somewhat expected, the content of the first episode is a blending of scenes from novel volume 15 (a collection of vignettes following up on the Dungeon excursions from volumes 12-14) and volume 16, which formally begins the Syr/Freya arc which covers volumes 16-18 and will compose the entirety of this two-cour run. (Various scenes in the OP confirm that they are going to do the entire arc and, frankly, are somewhat spoilerish.) Numerous characters have leveled up in the wake of that excursion, including both Lily and Haruhime. (The novel clarifies that both are cases of them reaching the minimum for advancement and going for it, rather than leveling up after topping out, as Bell has been doing.) Ryu is also, as expected, acting funny around Bell as she tries to get her budding feelings for him under control, and someone as perceptive as Syr isn’t going to fail to notice that. Perhaps that’s part of why Syr initiates the arc’s initial plot driver: a formal invitation for Bell to go on a date with her to the upcoming Harvest Festival.
The anime version has always had very vague intimations of some kind of connection between Syr and Freya Familia (and Freya in particular), connections which have been more obvious to novel/manga readers/game players based on various short stories and side stories which haven’t been animated. But this is the first time the anime has been blunt about it, and even then, the exact nature of the connection is still left vague. (The exact nature is also still vague at this point in the novels, too.) Some of Syr’s thoughts seem to suggest that she is Freya, and yet she appears before Freya in the episode’s epilogue to essentially challenge her concerning Bell. Whatever her connection, she’s important enough to Freya/the familia in general that Freya’s personal attendant, the newly-introduced Horn, delivers Syr’s date request. Also, Allen, the most irascible of Freya Familia’s upper echelon, is insistent on being Syr’s unseen bodyguard (that he’s done this before is known to novel readers from a previous short story), and the elf Hedin (who’s been briefly seen before in the anime but never had any any dialogue), who’s the familia’s strategist, decides to confront Bell over the upcoming date. Unraveling what all is really going on here will be one of the main underlying plot thread for the next several episodes, but answers will come before this arc is done. It’s all very promising as a mystery to base the series on, though, and a dramatic shift from the Dungeon-focused aspect of the previous season.
J.C. Staff is back animation this season and Hideki Tachibana (who has directed all franchise installments since part 2) is back in the directo’s chair. Significantly, original writer Fujino Omori is listed with a Series Composition credit, which isn’t normal; that suggests he had a direct hand in what to trim to put this part of the story in anime form. The production merits may even be getting a slight upgrade here, as this episode is about as sharp-looking as any I can recall. It also noticeably shoehorns in some fan service by having Syr’s coworkers confront her over the planned date while changing. The ED, which mostly is just a detailed ogling of Freya, may seem like just fan service, too, but it carries more significance than that. What, exactly, Freya is as a goddess is very integral to this arc, so pointedly emphasizing her physical beauty also emphasizes the role she has – or, to be more precise, the role she’s stuck in. The deeper meaning of this should become apparent as the season progresses.
I am a bit concerned about some of the content that’s been skipped over here, but the production staff proved with part IV that they can be trusted to do a stellar job with this series, and it looks like we’re off to a good start here.
USA Anime 