And Now We Wait A Year-And-A-Half For More Frieren

Macht of the Golden Land, season three's big bad,
the most powerful member of the Demon King's Seven Sages of Destruction

It's been two weeks since Crunchyroll aired the final episode of season two of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and I'm still thinking about it all the time.

An incredibly intelligent and nuanced anime, it blends long tracts of cosy, lyrical, slice-of-life storytelling with sudden bursts of - usually magical - fantasy violence.

I'd only really heard the name of the series late last year when I was talking to Clare about what manga Alec (her son, my godson) would like for Christmas. She gave me a list of titles and asked me to "report" back on which I thought would be appropriate. Top of the list was Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

At the time, the first volume of the manga was out of stock, but it looked suitably fantasy-orientated that when I saw the anime was on Netflix I decided to check it out... and the rest, as they say, is history.

I didn't really know what I was getting into when I started season one, but I was in love with the show by the end of the first episode.

Like Delicious in Dungeon and the classic Record of Lodoss War, Frieren's approach to swords-and-sorcery is clearly influenced by Dungeons & Dragons (our inquisitive heroine's passion for collecting magical tomes often sees her accidentally diving headfirst into treasure chests that are actually mimics!).

Frieren in mimic, Fern - her apprentice - being all judgy

In fact, the anime is pretty much a template for a dream character-driven campaign, interspersing dungeon crawls into an epic overland quest.

One of the aspects that really spoke to me was the story's main theme, a fascinating meditation on the different approaches to life between immortals and mortals, different perceptions of the passage of time and so on.

For those not au fait with this incredible Japanese animation, here's my - off the top of my head - summation of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End's general story (I might have some bits wrong and this certainly doesn't cover everything... not by a long chalk):

Immortal elf mage Frieren was part of a small adventuring party that undertook a 10-year mission to slay the Demon King. Then they all went their own way.

Fifty years later, Frieren discovers her former colleagues - including human fighter Himmel The Hero, who she was possibly in love with - are all dead or on the brink of death.

She wants to commune with the ghost of Himmel but the only place she would be able to do this is at the northernmost tip of the continent.

So, she sets out on this new adventure, on the way picking up a pair of young companions, former wards of one of her old party members, including Fern, a stoic mage, and Stark, a cowardly fighter.

On their journey they undertake a number of side quests that earn Frieren magical Grimoires containing seemingly useless spells... which will surely have some pay-off down the line.

The first - 28 episode - season of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is available on Netflix, while season two, which is only 10 episodes, is - currently - only on Crunchyroll.

Season three is slated for October 2027 and was announced at the end of season two. Production has begun and a teaser visual (at top) of the powerful demon Macht of the Golden Land was released on the day the final episode of the current season dropped on Crunchyroll.

Such a layered and beautiful work, understandably, provokes a lot of discussion and analysis online and below are just some of the short videos examining aspects of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

The Green Knight (2021)

Although The Green Knight has been available to stream on Prime Video for ages now, it wasn't until I came across the Blu-Ray in an Amazon sale the other day that I finally decided it was time to clear 130 minutes in my schedule and sit down to watch this Arthurian epic.

It's Christmas in the court of King Arthur and aspiring knight Gawain (the perfectly cast Dev Patel) is seated beside the king, his uncle, when the mysterious emerald-skinned Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) rides in and issues an honour challenge.

He will allow someone to strike him, but then the following Christmas they must seek him out in The Green Chapel and he will repay the blow in the kind.

Gawain, with the loan of King Arthur's sword (is it Excalibur?), beheads the Green Knight, but then the supernatural entity picks up his head and rides off.

Eventually, time passes and the aged Arthur (a brilliant turn from Sean Harris) tells Gawain he really should go and find The Green Knight.

Thus begins Gawain's odyssey across the misty realm of Ancient Britain, searching for The Green Chapel where the unearthly knight will be found.

A hypnotic, often unsettling, blend of gritty Medieval verisimilitude and mythological magic realism, odd things happen throughout A24's The Green Knight and are just accepted as par for the course.

On his journey Gawain helps a ghost, meets a talking fox, mystical tokens are lost and found, and our hero is nearly flattened by hauntingly ethereal giants (who look like they've stepped out of the classic 1973 French animated movie Fantastic Planet).

As far as I can figure - and it feels as though you are diving into a dense text as you try to follow along on a first viewing - the story is primarily concerned about upholding a chivalric code of honour, a parable about being true to your word.

For some bizarre reason, although I've heard the tale of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight several times, I can never remember how it pans out, but the dialogue-free extended epilogue of writer/director David Lowery's adaptation of the original 14th Century text is sublime.

Although prone to occasional atmospheric mumbled dialogue and minimalistic, naturalistic, lighting that makes some scenes as dark as The Long Night, there's a lyrical quality to the narrative of Lowery's The Green Knight that buoys you along. 

While not the traditional swords-and-sorcery, knights-and-armour type of film that I enjoy, it certainly doesn't feel like an arduous two hours if you allow yourself to sink into the world David Lowery has conjured up for us.

It's not necessary to know the names of all the characters and their backstories (in fact, if you check IMDB very few of the characters even have names), because The Green Knight isn't that sort of story, rather it's a period piece told using modern technology but as it would have been recounted "back in the day".

We also don't need to know where the giants came from or how the fox spoke, because these were aspects of Medieval storytelling that were just accepted in stories told around the campfire.

That said, on a more academic scale, I strongly suspect that with a bit more reading about - and research into - the subject matter of The Green Knight, more will be gleaned from this great movie upon subsequent viewings.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: When We Got A Games Table!

At last, my chance to go full Eddie!

Thanks to my amazing, hard-working and supportive wife, Rachel, we acquired a games table in December, 2022.

It's something I'd yearned for ever since learning they were a real 'thing; and finally it was mine... er... ours.

Rachel has long said we needed a new dining table and I managed to persuade her that she should spend her bonus on a games table, which would then double as both dining table and venue for the Tuesday Knights and I to sling dice.

I did a ton of research, we measured a lot, drew up plans, found a UK company that specialised in games tables (Geeknson), asked a lot of questions, and finally pulled the trigger on a bespoke design back in late July/early August of that year.

The table arrived, and was unwrapped, just before Christmas, but I'd kept shtum on my "secret weapon" so that the Tuesday Knights would be the first to see it, in person, at that January's session of Pete's Hollow Earth  Expedition campaign (see below).

However, that didn't stop me 'playing' with it beforehand, for an Eddie Munson-esque "photoshoot" of an imaginary game of Dungeons & Dragons featuring the characters from the '80s cartoon as the protagonists, caught between a demonic flying creature and a warband of orcs.

I have such dreams for this new addition to the house that will justify the expenditure of Rachel's hard-earned cash on my geeky dream.

Presto the magician blasts the demon, as the evil gnome sorcerer cackles

Eddie does it much better than me, but you get what I was going for!

Gamesmaster Pete goes high-tech, flipping his tablet screen over the wooden GM screen
attachment to present us with a slideshow introduction to the adventure

A lot happened as always in that night's episode of Pete's pulp Hollow Earth Expedition campaign (which, by 2026, has morphed into an OUTGUNNED game), but here's a "picture special" of The Tuesday Knights enjoying their first meeting around the new games table.

Afterwards, Clare wrote the following about the table in her daily blog (now a Substack) of positive moments, Three Beautiful Things:

"I am so astonished by Tim's new gaming table -- which he has been keeping a secret since it was ordered in the summer -- that I gasp at each new revelation. First the top lifts off; next there's a green baize playing surface... that could be lifted off to reveal a map table... and then there are extra little tables to attach for your drink and your notebook; and a special desk for the GM, too. The whole smells pleasantly of new wood and polish."

Me using the "player's side table attachment" feature for my dice and notebook

Pete, at the head of the table, liked having a wooden screen and his own tray for dice, notes etc

An impromptu shoot-out in the back streets of 1930's Rio puts Oynx (Mark's character)
and Freya (Clare's character) in the firing line.

Here's me making full use of the "cup holder" feature

The morning after and the table had transformed back into a dining table

HEALTH UPDATE: Biscuit Club Is Over!

I got a certificate for completing my Postural Stability Course (aka Biscuit Club)

After nine months of weekly classes (barring Christmas and weeks when our trainer was unavailable), Biscuit Club is over.

It's rather sad, really.

While I am proud of my 100 per cent attendance record, I'm going to miss our weekly get-togethers, my two inspiring fellow participants, our primary coach Caroline, and her two volunteer assistants, Barbara and Sheila.

Those months of increasingly arduous exercise have seen me turning up, early on, in a wheelchair and then - over the weeks - regain the ability to walk "normally".

I'm also definitely more stable on my feet; it was my frequent falling over that sent me on this course in the first place.

The osteoarthritis diagnosis came later and, let's be honest, I couldn't have been in a better position to face that issue head-on.

Without this course, Rachel and I are adamant I'd still be in the wheelchair... with all the additional complications to everyday life that that would have brought with it.

For our final session this week, we had a truncated exercise class, then everyone gathered for tea, cake, and biscuits and a good old chinwag. Although I'm now on a diet (also part of this new fitness regime) I allowed myself a "cheat day" with a couple of chocolate biscuits and a small slice of lovely chocolate cake.

In the short time I've been on this "no snack" diet (what is it, six weeks? Seven weeks? I've stopped counting now), I've lost over a stone in weight and it was remarked upon in the class that my appearance has noticeably changed. I confess my t-shirts are feeling slightly baggier and my shorts aren't as tight these days, either.

I'm now in the process of trying to get myself enrolled on an exercise course that the borough council runs at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge, but my initial emails and phone messages were ignored (which was rather frustrating) and so now I've tried filling in an online form that will hopefully open the door for me.

There's also the possibility that the charity which ran Biscuit Club might have another course beginning soon or even that Caroline will have a window in her hectic schedule to start a new pilates class that I could sign up for.

In the meantime, I must remember to do regular exercises on my own and - now that our run of weekend events is over for the moment - get back to my weekly "tree safari" walks with Rachel and Alice.

CHAPBOOK REVIEW: Meet The Shrivelwoods (Kek-W)

 

Meet The Shrivelwoods is a 40-page Gothic horror-comedy written by fan-favourite 2000AD scribe, musician and artist Kek-W, available through his Bandcamp merchandise page.

The publication contains two text stories about the creepy Shrivelwood family, wealthy and decadent maple syrup magnates who bear a superficial similarity to The Addams Family but with the darkness dial turned up to thirteen.

Chapbooks are somewhere between a novel and a fanzine, an easily digestible booklet with an affordably low page count; a format with a rich and fascinating history.

The Old Dank Manse, the first story in Meet The Shrivelwoods, tells of a contemporary, failed romance writer seeking solace in the bosom of her rich Vermont extended family, at their "crumbling Gothic mansion", but finding something much stranger than she expects.

The second, Christmas With The Shrivelwoods, takes the form of a late 19th Century letter from Minnie Shrivelwood to her uncle, Heinie, who is currently restrained in the Hartford Retreat For The Insane. It's a bonkers - matter-of-fact - recounting of the family's preparations for the Christmas holidays.

Both tales blend surreality and slapstick with leftfield black humour, shock revelations and general absurdity, as should be expected by those who have read Kek-W's Dark Judges: Fall of Deadworld work in the universe of Judge Dredd.

I was also reminded of the Wojciech Has's very weird The Hourglass Sanitorium for the short stories' occasionally unsettling, nightmarish narrative logic and potentially disturbing imagery.

Rambling - by design - the chapbook's two stories are delightful, amusing, and quick reads that most definitely leave you wanting to hear more about the different generations of this peculiar, and freakish, inbred family of maple syrup-obsessives. 

You'll Have To Pry My Blu-Rays From My Cold, Dead Hand

My new Frieren blu-rays along with the Frieren Funko Pop! Paul got me for Christmas

One of the few things I picked up for myself in the Boxing Day/New Year sales this year was the blu-ray box set of the first part of the first season of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

But, you say, that's available "for free" on both Netflix and Crunchyroll, so why buy it?

To which I retort that not only does 'solid media' rule, but that just because the show is currently on those two streamers that doesn't guarantee it will always be.

Netflix, for instance, is always churning through its contents and removing great swathes of material to make way for new stuff. 

But, owning a show or movie on solid media (Blu-ray, DVD, even VHS) means it's always yours for as long as you have the means to play it (and you treat the media with enough respect to prolong its life).

Even if you purchase something digitally, you're essentially just renting it.

The Case of The Missing Music

Several years ago I purchased - via iTunes - the album Stand By For Action! The Music Of Barry Gray, which was essentially all the beautifully bombastic and inspirational themes and tunes from the Gerry Anderson shows I grew up with.

A magical collection of music that could very quickly carry me off to my happy place, thanks to some of the greatest theme tunes ever composed: UFO, I'm looking at you in particular.

Only, when Rachel and I went for a car journey the other week and I fired up my "driving playlist" (a mix of tracks from throughout the ages and across multiple genres) I realised that the opening track - Stand By For Action - wasn't there.

When I later checked the listing for my Barry Gray album on my iPhone, I saw more than half of the tracks were "faded out" (see picture at top of this article), and when I tried to click on them a message would pop up saying these tracks weren't available in my country!!!

WTF? I bought and paid for this music years ago.

This being Apple there's no customer service, no recourse for the angry customer to get an explanation.

Then late last year the tracks magically reappeared in my library, without a word or an apology. So now I can start blasting them out again.

But how long before they disappear again? Or tracks from other artists? God, what if all my Atarashii Gakko! music vanished over night? I don't even want to contemplate such an apocalyptic scenario.

But this isn't really a dig at Apple per se, as I love my iPhone (thank you, Rachel!), it's more about the fact that when you're talking about digital media... it doesn't really exist, it never feels truly your own, and it is vulnerable to the whims of the digital realm. 

Combine this with the numerous hic-cups I've had buying movies from Sky Cinema (I've given up pre-ordering movies this way and have reverted to Blu-rays), it's no wonder I'm sticking to physical media.

I know they take up room (not as much as a VHS cassette, of course), but they look cool and have all those spiffy extras that someday I'll get round to watching.

When you have a solid disc - or book, or whatever - in your hand, it's yours until you give it up. No megacorporation can arbitrarily decide - without explanation - that that object is no longer yours and remove it from your possession like a thief in the night.

Admittedly, on the music front I still actually err towards digital these days, but most of the time now I simply stream tracks via Rachel's Spotify account anyway.

PS. I know this is slightly hypocritical as I am a massive proponent of audiobooks, particularly the material produced by Big Finish, which I primarily purchase as digital downloads and play through their own app. 

My theory here is that these will exist at least for as long as Big Finish does... and I couldn't imagine living in a world without Big Finish!

Miniatures Make My Wife Happy

I'm delighted - and proud - to report that Rachel's occasional blog, Miniatures Make Me Happy, has awoken from hibernation.

The primary focus of the blog is Rachel's obsession with decorating 1:12 scale dolls houses.

She kicked off with a pre-Christmas post about the quality Christmas tree she had purchased (and that we used in our digital card this year).

This was then followed by a trio of posts about her current "big project": a modern Malibu Beach House (pictured above). Over the holidays, with some help from her talented dad and no help from clumsy me, Rachel has painted the accent colour on the outside of the house, scratch-built a statement chandelier, and started on the flooring.

The latest mini-project involves assembling the shower unit (which included several hilarious superglue-related moments), but requires the purchase of some tiles to complete.

Now the holidays are over and Rachel is back to work I hope she can still make time to squeeze in more miniature work, as I know how satisfied it makes her feel.

With my back getting better, allowing me to resume the majority of the chores I used to do and Rachel not having to wait on me quite so much, that should free up some time for her in her manic schedule.

AND THE WINNER ISSSSSSS...

For my money, the strongest comic book of the year was the Judge Death 2025 Mega Special, from Rebellion.

I've always loved the fact that the futuristic, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi world of Judge Dredd also freely embraces the supernatural.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that my favourite villainous characters in the decades-long, ongoing saga are The Dark Judges: Judge Fear, Judge Mortis, Judge Fire and their iconic poster boy, Judge Death.

This year's Mega Special, published to celebrate 45 years of Dredd's demonic nemeses, showcased all four of the Dark Judges in their own nightmare-fuelled short stories, beautifully written and illustrated by a variety of creators from 2000AD's stable of talent.

Antony Johnston's ultracreepy Fade To Grey (with art from Lee Carter and letters by Rob Steen), for instance, gave me a whole new appreciation of Judge Mortis

This 48-page magazine, released in time for Halloween, has been the only comic book in 2025 that, once I'd reached the end, I had a powerful urge to simply start again at page one.

Imagine my delight this Christmas when I discovered that Rachel had not only got me a print of that incredibly striking Brian Bolland cover but also had it framed, so that it was ready to hang once the seasonal festivities were in the rear view mirror.

The framed picture has now found a permanent residence on the wall adjacent to my new Dredd-laden bookshelves.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS - FROM MYSELF, RACHEL & ALICE

As usual, in lieu of mailing out Christmas cards, we've donated two places to Crisis at Christmas and sent out digital cards instead.

The picture for this year's "electronic card" shows off Rachel's new doll's house Christmas tree, with her 1/12th version of Alice next to it, along with some tiny treats, presents and baubles.

I hope, wherever you are, the holidays are treating you well and letting you recharge your batteries for whatever 2026 has to test us with.

Why NORAD Has Been Tracking Santa For 70 Years

Mission: Accomplished! It Must Be Christmas!

Here we are: Christmas Eve. The time has come for the final tally of the roleplaying game dice that came in my specialist advent calendar this year.

We ended up with a very ordered spread:

• 3d4
• 3d6
• 3d8
• 3d10
• 3d12
• 3d20
• Metal d20
• 3d% (that is, d10s with faces marked 10, 20, 30 etc)

And a pin badge along with, today, a plastic miniature of a mindflayer/illithid

This novelty advent calendar was - unsurprisingly given its contents - the perfect pre-Christmas present from Rachel... and has definitely set a precedent for future festive favours.

The standout piece has to be the hefty, spikey, metallic d20. Unfortunately, some of its delicate numbering is nigh-on illegible to my old man's eyes and I can't help feeling it would work better as a slingshot projectile for taking down Biblical giants from Gath.

CHRISTMAS AT THE CASTLE!

Just getting in there on its final day, Rachel, Alice, and I ventured out to Tonbridge Christmas Fest at the castle (and, no, I'll never tire of living in a town with a 13th Century castle) this evening .

We'd originally planned to go at the weekend but rain stopped play, and we decided it would be sensible to go once the torrential downpours had passed us by.

This evening's jaunt also happened to be my first trip out into the wild using just my old walking stick - rather than other, larger, walking aids - since June.

So, how better to celebrate that milestone than by embracing the spirit of Christmas?

The fair was a lovely little mix of food stands, carnival games, and geegaw sellers.

Rachel was most keen that we be there at 4pm for the daily spray of artificial snow.

We may have made tactical use of elbows and legs to get to the centre of the mosh pit under the snow fall - but it was worth it (even if I had flashbacks to attending a foam party in a nightclub during my hedonistic university days). 

As well as picking up a couple of bags of fudge (apparently it's the law that if you see a stand selling fudge you have to buy some), we also dined on foot-long sausages in baps from a food stand selling German sausages.

Rachel had a Bratwurst, while I had an absolutely delicious Krakauer (spicy sausage) that I coated in curry ketchup for that true Teutonic experience.

Rachel roasting a marshmallow

Beware the elves!

It's great to be walking with just a stick again

Happy Christmas!!!

MONSTER MASH: The Devils of Christmas

I think by now we're all pretty au fait with the concept of Krampus - and Krampusnacht celebrations - but the Sky History channel website has shared brief introductions to three other twisted, seasonal characters (Knecht Ruprecht, Belsnickel, and Père Fouettard aka Father Whipper aka Spanky) for inspiration and edification.

Climb down this chimney to find out more, then get to thinking how you could adapt these "monsters" to your roleplaying system of choice.

Of course, for those who can stomach such things (and this is definitely not one for the kiddies) if you want a genuinely shocking, contemporary tale of this time of year then you can do no better than checking out 2016's The Devil of Christmas.

This was the first episode (and Christmas special) of the third season of Inside No. 9, one of the U.K.'s finest anthology horror series.

This was my first exposure to the show and by the end I was thinking "what have I just watched?" (in a good way) and found myself compelled to stream the entire show, starting with the first season, on BBC iPlayer.

The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

Don't expect any surprises when you snuggle down to watch this wholesome, Netflix Christmas magic, time travel, rom-com.

Kindly 14th Century knight Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse, best known from his role in Poldark as Demelza's 'fancy man') is whisked away from snow-blanketed Norwich, England, to a snow-blanketed, proto-Utopian, Bedford Falls-like, small town in Ohio in 2019 and told he has one week - until Christmas Eve - to achieve his "quest".

Upon arrival, he bumps into science teacher Brooke (Vanessa Hudgens) and the two form a fast friendship when she agrees to let him stay in her garden guest house, thinking he is an amnesiac cosplayer whose memory loss was caused by his collision with her car.

Maybe it's meant to be an element of the crone's spell that catapulted him to our time, but Sir Cole adjusts to the 21st Century remarkably - if not ridiculously - quickly.

Neither he, nor Brooke (who soon realises the knight is actually who he says he is) can figure out what his "quest" actually is until the final moments of this 90-minute tale, despite the audience screaming it at the television screen.

While not a film to be thought about too deeply, I would question writer Cara J Russell's choice for the name for the knight. "Sir Cole" too often sounds like "circle", which is really odd and distracting.

Conversely, Cole shares a lot of interesting factoids about his life back in Medieval England, from his youth right through his training, suggesting elements of this movie are subliminally educational.

A formulaic, twee Hallmark Christmas romance, with a script that veers from quirky to cliché, The Knight Before Christmas still manages to be endearingly sweet.

This is thanks largely to its charismatic leads, despite the total absence of any logical sense of "why" or "how" in the ultra-lightweight storytelling.

MUSICAL MONDAY: All I Want for Christmas - A D&D Christmas Carol (Ginny Di)

MUSICAL MONDAY: A TPK Carol - D&D Parody (Ginny Di)

MUSICAL MONDAY: Carol of The Spells (Ginny Di)

Thank you so much to the amazing Ginny Di for this classic track, taking my favourite carol and giving it a Dungeons & Dragons spin!

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Tricycle

Back in 2018, at the start of the festive season, Rachel, Alice, and I visited the Christmas On The Home Front event at the museum of Kent Life, and the first thing that caught my eye was an antique tricycle parked outside one of the old houses.

This tricycle, with its solid rubber wheels (rather than those namby-pamby inflatable tyres the kids have these days), was identical to the one I had as a child, in the early '70s.

Was the tricycle that my parents gave me second hand? Quite possibly, as we weren't rolling in money.

I have no recollection of it being some kind of "family heirloom", so I don't know my trike's provenance.

Perhaps tricycle design hadn't evolved since the war years and mine was, in fact, newer?

I'll never know, but I didn't expect to be transported so clearly back to my own childhood while attending a recreation of British life during the war years of the 1940s.

I have fond, and vivid, memories of trying to build a ramp - with a stack of bricks and some hardboard - in the steep drive of our family home in Pembury, to Evel Knievel myself over some imaginary gorge.

Instead, the ramp just toppled over sideways as I rode my trike up it!

Those solid tyres were memorable as well. There was no give in them, so every lump and bump I rode over was vibrated through the tyres, and the bike's metal frame, right into my tiny body.

On the positive side, I never got a flat. So, there was that.

And look how small it is. In my mind, over the years, it has, of course, grown with me, so to be reunited (in a way) with it just brought home how long ago this all was.

Alice isn't interested in my nostalgia

Unwrap The Penultimate Stranger Things This Christmas

"Whoa, We're Halfway There; Whoa Oh, Livin' On A Prayer"

Dice (so far) from my advent calendar

We're halfway (12 days) to Christmas Eve, meaning we're halfway through my "dice advent" calendar (a glorious gift from my gorgeous wife, purchased from the TikTok Shop).

So far, the doors have revealed an interesting mix of dice (and an unexpected pin badge), namely:

• 3d4
• 1d8
• 2d10
• 3d12
• 2d20

All are quality dice that will find a home in my ever-increasing pool of roleplaying game dice, but I'm particularly smitten by the transparent 12-sider that was behind door number 12 today. It reminds me of a Fox's Glacier Mint.

But why no six-siders? Will the next dozen doors reveal a run of d6s?

We'll have to wait and see.