A Taiwanese man helped stop a knife attack on the Taichung metro because his anime hero, Himmel from Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, "would've done the same."
As reported by the China Times and translated by Siliconera, Ruixian Xu was one of 17 civilians who rushed to stop a man who injured three people with a knife on a train in Taichung, Taiwan on May 21, 2024.
Upon accepting an award for his bravery, Xu referred to himself as an otaku — a term usually referring to someone who loves anime, manga, video games, and other elements of nerd culture — before pointing to Frieren as his inspiration.
"If Himmel was there, he would’ve done the same thing," Xu said. He also said he hopes his actions and pride as an otaku will help improve public perception of those who identify as such.
Frieren follows an elven mage of the same name as she embarks on a quest to make peace with the nature of life and death. Himmel is the former leader of her adventuring party who helped defeat the Demon King and usher in an era of peace.
The show earned an 8/10 in IGN's review: "Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a simple but moving fantasy adventure that favors contemplation over action – and is all the better for it," we said.
Image credit: NOWnews / YouTube.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
