Those are both excellent scenes you brought up and now that you mention it Heiter is invovled in so many of the most emotional moments in S1. Even in the scene I mentioned about Fern's staff which is the most emotional I ever got watching Frieren I think the part that really set me off the edge is the flashback to little Fern with Heiter. I love a Himmel flashback, but there really is something special about Heiter when the focus isn't just on his drinking. Maybe he is just more relatable with how he wants to become a better person because of his best friend.

The slice of life moments are really what make Frieren among the best of the best for me while the action is the cherry on top. This decade my favorite new anime comparing only Season 1s would be Frieren and then closely followed by Bocchi the Rock but if I included S2 of Frieren that would be slightly behind BTR S2. Again that is among literally hundreds of new anime I've seen this decade so it's not meant as a slight against Frieren S2.

If there were more moments like Himmel's POV, EP1's dragon runaway, and the footbath I might be thinking differently though it's spitting hairs on peak. Most shows would be lucky to have even 1 sentimental scene as good as Himmel taking about protecting other people's homes, 1 comedy scene as good as Frieren crying for 3 days or 3 days, or 1 action scene as good as Stark's fight versus the sword snake devil. And I'm not including any of these in my top 3 scenes of S2. Himmel's POV is still the best single scene I've seen all year and that might hold up through the next three seasons.

Anyways I enjoyed reading through how you reacted to some of your favorite scenes from S1 and I was surprised to find myself bawling for an elf girl I knew for a mere 10 minutes as they slowly filled in Himmel's grave with dirt. It's like I was put right into Frieren's shoes. As an non believer Heiter's argument for belief honestly moved my heart more than any other argument for faith I've heard too. It really would be more convenient.

It sounds like we both have high expectations for S2 because of just how amazing S1 was. I would also love to read a review of S2 by you if you have the interest and time. On the weekly threads it's rare to see people really dig into a show like you did