In the middle of a sequence of all of the Immortal Comrades (that's their official title, yes they have an Official Title) in their past lives coupled with them settling into the modern world, this random fucking frame of Kahaku shows up for one second and then disappears.
(This is normally where I would make some comment about how idiotic he looks, but I decided that would be bad form since he's dead and all.)
Now, they chose to include Kahaku and not any of the other, very important characters who were impactful to Fushi yet no longer with them in this modern era (the nameless boy, Parona, Rean), so that's probably on purpose, yeah? Given that the sequence Kahaku's been inserted into the middle of is so specific, it's not terribly hard to imagine what the anime staff are trying to imply:
"Kahaku is an honorary member of Fushi's Immortal Comrades."
But does the story actually substantiate this claim, or is it just wishful thinking?
It does—quite a bit, actually. To be more specific, I think that not only would Fushi have resurrected Kahaku if he hadn't reincarnated already, they actually tried to do it.
Let's look at what's shown up in the anime already: Fushi and Mizuha's first meeting!
Immediately jumping down like that is a bit of an overreaction, no? Fushi has seen Hayase's reincarnations six times already. It's such old news that they didn't even bother getting out of bed when they met Kahaku for the first time (by the way, the frame of him in the OP is from that exact scene, haha). It shouldn't be a surprise to see that the lineage is still alive and kicking five hundred years later.
But... Fushi is surprised. For some reason. They actually have to get close up to Mizuha's face and stare at her in silence long enough to make it awkward before they can finally believe it (in the manga at least, in the anime they're an appropriate distance—though that's just because Mizuha immediately backs away when they try to get closer, ahahaha).
This isn't just a mild "oh, so Kahaku chose to reincarnate?" level of surprise. This is so disbelieving that they need to actually double-check to make sure. And their initial reaction after verifying Mizuha's identity wasn't to smile and ask how she was doing. It was this face:
When asked what they were going to do about Kahaku at the end of the Renril arc, Fushi said this—
—right before they went under. There was no time to go meet with Kahaku before the timeskip. They didn't even try, even though at this point they had already decided on going to sleep until they eradicated all the knockers. Isn't that indirectly admitting that they were planning on having the conversation after they woke back up?
Keep in mind Fushi hasn't actually seen any of their friends yet, apart from March. They've just assumed that they're all doing fine—and that they all chose to wait those five hundred years for the world to change. So, within the story's timeline it's entirely possible Fushi just assumed they had resurrected Kahaku and didn't notice otherwise until running into Mizuha. And really, why would they have to worry about the guy who said he would always be by their side?
I repeat, why would they have to worry about this guy? There's literally nothing to worry about. It's fine. Just trust him. It's probably fine.
When you look at it that way, running into Mizuha by pure coincidence was probably kind of a gut-punch. Anime Fushi genuinely sounded happy that she was happy with nothing else getting in the way but at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist I 110% believe manga Fushi had... mixed emotions. Look at these expressions:
There's a hint of melancholy in there. Kahaku has been granted the posthumous title of "someone Fushi used to know." That's probably the most tactful thing they could have said, but still. Wow.
I guess whether or not Fushi actually tried to resurrect Kahaku like the rest of their friends is a little debatable. Maybe they had just hadn't gotten around to bringing him back yet. But they are in fact so shocked at seeing Mizuha's face that I would completely believe that Kahaku's empty body is decomposing in Yanome somewhere. Good angst material, if anyone wants to take that and run with it. Hell, I might do it myself.
Anyways, this piece of inferred information is pretty helpful context for a lot of Fushi's frankly bonkers decisions in the present era. This scene between Fushi and Mizuha is the only one that I can use as evidence that's aired at the time I'm posting this. But it's by no means the only proof available... I'll reblog with more as it comes out.
Himmel definitely gave Frieren the ring meaning “everlasting love” after her venture into the past. A part of him had already given up on his feelings being returned but then he sees that future Frieren carries the same dream he does then. It gives him some hope that maybe one day she’ll feel the same way as he does. And when we see no evidence of a lover in elder Himmel’s home, it’s clear he kept that fact very close to his heart. He was willing to wait for her. For as long as it’d take. Even if his death came first.
