Stark (Frieren)
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- Japanese: Chiaki Kobayashi
- English: Jordan Dash Cruz
| Stark | |
|---|---|
| Frieren: Beyond Journey's End character | |
 Stark as drawn by Tsukasa Abe | |
| First appearance | Frieren #11, "The Hero of the Village" (2020) |
| Created by | Kanehito Yamada |
| Designed by | Tsukasa Abe |
| Voiced by |
|
Stark (Japanese: シュタルク, Hepburn: Shutaruku) is a character of the Japanese manga series Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, created by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. The sole survivor from a race of warriors, Stark is an orphan raised by the dwarf Eisen to become a fighter and support the protagonist Frieren. Though Stark has no confidence on himself due to his lack of experience and fears, he shows a supernatural talent that allows him to save a town in his debut when being comforted by Frieren's pupil Fern. Since then Stark, decides to join Frieren and Fern's group, to find Heaven.
The character is voiced by Chiaki Kobayashi in Japanese and Jordan Dash Cruz in English. Critical response to the character has been generally positive for display of feats despite his cowardice which helps to give lessons to the reader. His fight scenes were also praised while his relationship with Fern attracted multiple response for the romantic overtones.
In Japanese Stark is voiced by Chiaki Kobayashi. The voice actor was delighted about the positive response he got from the first anime and looked forward for the second season. Debuting in the fifth episode, Kobayashi struggled to bring a proper balance to his performance as Stark and asked for the director's help when doing the first part. Despite the character's issues in the first season, Kobayashi believed his constant misrelationship with Fern was improving and wanted to show that side when the second-season premieres through natural conversations and be more careful with Fern's feelings. He noted Stark has a tendency to admire older men whereas Fern sometimes feels like a mother.[1]
Kobayashi believes that across the series' two animated seasons, Stark's fear and theme was consistent due to his needs of running away from a strong enemy regardless of all the training he does. However, he believes the character is different if he has to fight for the sake of Frieren and Fern found it charming that he has a notable human side. Fern's voice actor Kana Ichinose said that her character tends to be harsh at Stark but tries to keep it in a calm demeanor. Kobayashi compared the main to a family that constantly travel together with Frieren sometimes feeling like the child of the group.[2]
For the English dub, Stark is voiced by Jordan Dash Cruz. Cruz looked forward seeing Stark in more action scenes due to the how well they are executed even if he is often a decoy. He often practised the yellings he has to make which often hurt his throat. Cruz said that, in retrospect, Stark felt more comical and human in the Mage Examination as he was not forced to fight every episode and instead spent time in a tavern from a city. Nevertheless, he found that the more time passes in the series, Stark feels like he is developing feelings for Fern.[3] For the second season, Cruz and Fern's voice actress Jill Harris were surprised when an episode was devoted to their characters going on a date which was something they were looking forward. Cruz found the couple cute especially because Stark asked for Frieren's help when deciding what would appeal to Fern in the town. Finding the Stark out of character, Cruz believes the his character was better when admitting he asked for Frieren's help which gave the episode a better sense of conclusion as both Stark and Fern smiled together after such confession.[4]
