Rating: A-
Hermes has not always been completely on top of situations, but he rolls with the punches better than anyone, so seeing Hermes look this alarmed is the first indication that the situation this episode is even more dire than it appeared to be at first – and that’s saying something, because a dedicated move by Freya Familia elites to take out all of Hestia Familia is a pretty dire starter move. But as the episode soon shows, that was just the prologue to the real story here.
Anyone who’s watched the anime adaptation from the beginning has probably been anticipating that Freya was going to make a direct play for Bell at some point, and the episodes this season have only heightened the tension that this could be coming. Hence, especially after Freya’s declaration at the end of last episode, them making an aggressive move here was expected, and Freya directly confronting Hestia and making threats about killing off Hestia Familia (and even Hestia herself, if necessary) to get Bell converted to Freya Familia isn’t a surprise, either. But what may be a surprise to anime-only viewers is exactly how far Freya can and will go with this.
One thing the DanMachi setting has always been consistent about is that gods who have descended to the Lower Realm may give up their divine powers, but they don’t give up the traits of their specialties. Hephaistos and Goibnu are still peerless makers of weapons and armor, Takemizuchi (as a war god) is still as skilled a warrior as any adventurer despite not having Falna engraved on him, Miach is still a master of medicine, and Freya and Ishtar (as goddesses of beauty) both have/had innate charm powers. Those who read the Familia Chronicles: Episode Freya novel got a glimpse there of what that charm can do when Freya sets aside her “self-imposed rule” (because forcing everyone to submit to her would be boring), and it’s no coincidence that novel came out about a year and a half before novel 17, the basis for this part of the arc, did: the incident in that novel was meant to be a foreshadowing of this. Does the ability to charm an entire city – even including gods! – make her one of the most powerful and scariest of all the gods, despite not being physically robust? Definitely.
But isn’t it curious what exactly Freya said to Hestia before this all goes down? “The eternal flame of the hearth that you preside over is more value than any sort of gold. You could even go as far as to say that I fear it.” She seems to know what Hermes also recognizes: that Hestia, with her divinity upped, is the one person in Orario other than Bell who can resist Freya’s charm. (Freya’s minions don’t seem to be affected, either, but that’s probably because they’re already linked to her.) That the normally-worthless Hestia is capable of this is the franchise’s greatest irony, even if why she can do so isn’t clear at this point. But we can speculate based on divine profiles. Freya’s spell is a powerful charm, and Hestia is one of the true virgin goddesses. She’s also the goddess of the hearth, and the hearth fire was regarded as the most important of all fires in ancient times, so that combination may give her a purity which transcends all attempts at corruption. (Even if Hestia rarely acts like that.) But even with that defense, she’s powerless to do anything when everyone else around her – even her own familia members – are subject to the all-encompassing charm, and Freya is making damn sure that Hestia is making no attempt to try to taking advantage of her unaffected status.
Of course, Hestia is not the only one besides Freya’s minions who isn’t affected. Her effect seems limited to the city, and Asfi got clear of that with Ryu. Whether or not the effect penetrated down into the Dungeon – and how far it did – is also uncertain at this point, so it’s reasonable to believe that the Xenos or anyone traveling deep might not be affected, too. So there are potential gaps in this attempt to rewrite everyone’s memories into believing that Bell has always been a Freya Familia member and their up-and-coming new star. But until those potential flaws can manifest and coalesce, Bell’s on his own, stuck in a classic “only I know the real truth” scenario and with every avenue for getting any sympathizers cut off.” The one-year rule on conversions (which last came into play when Mikoto joined Hestia Familia to help with the war game against Apollo Familia) at least buys him and Hestia some time, but that also gives Freya time to wear down Bell’s resistance. Even though it’s not a super-tight clock, the clock is, nonetheless, ticking.
But one other interesting thing is going on here, too. At the beginning of the episode, Freya states that she “killed” Syr. And yet, at the moment where she unleashes her charm, she seems to turn back into Syr, tears and all. (This was in the novel, too, but I especially like how the animation handles it.) That doesn’t at all seem like she’s forsaken her Syr identity as completely as she claims, and that smacks of a potentially fatal flaw.
USA Anime 