When it comes to anime, I tend to watch things that I know can and will interest me. When I first started watching anime, I mostly watched action-based anime or anime that had suspense included, although as the years went by, I branched out into more genres and really fell in love with the Fantasy genre, finding myself being drawn into any shows including it.
Although the fantasy genre for anime was lacking, filled with isekias which never really made me stick around, except for Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, but that’s for a different review for me to talk about later.
The only other fantasy-based anime that I can think of on the top of my head that received major attention was The Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime, which is actually fairly good from the few episodes I have seen so far. The other one was Goblin Slayer, but I can assume we all know how that one got its attention.
Today, I am here to talk about an anime that I hold very dear, something that surprised me with its storytelling. An anime, which is in my top ten, that being Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. An anime so good, I really did not want to finish that last episode, as I knew, there would be no more Frieren Fridays. With that out of the way, let's start with the story, I should point out that I have only seen the anime and know nothing about the manga.
Story
The story starts out not at the beginning but at the end of the hero's tale, Frieren is an elven mage who went and defeated the Demon King and restored peace in the land. The group she was with consisted of Himmel, a Dwarf named Eisen, and a preset named Heiter.
The group witnesses a meteor shower that occurs once every fifty years, Frieren agrees to meet them again and offers a better view of them. Fifty years have passed and Frieren returns to the capital city, although humanity has changed and her former companions have aged. After the group sees the last meteor shower, Himmel dies of old age. During the funeral, Frieren expresses guilt for not getting to know Himmel better.
She then pays a visit to Heiter and is asked to try and teach an adopted child by the name of Fern. She also receives an invitation to the resting place of souls, see Himmel, and bid a proper farewell. Friern embarks on a journey with Fern, along the way, they pick up Stark, a young warrior who was taught by Eisen.
The story for Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is fantastic and what I have told you guys about the story barely even scratching the surface. We get flashbacks from Frieren’s journey with the group she was with to take out the Demon King. We learn about how Frieren interacted with her party during the ten years she was with them through flashbacks. Seeing Frieren go along with a new set of adventures and show them the ropes on how to use magic and her adventures of defeating the Demon King in the past is honestly just heartwarming. Then we compare how she acts in front of Fern, who she teaches magic to and such.
Although to me though I feel like there are two major plot point narratives that Fern herself has to deal with when it comes to traveling with Frieren and Stark. First, Frieren is at times lazy and clumsy, as she likes to sleep in and tends to fall for obvious mimics. While with Stark, he generally has to be careful with what he does around Fern, or she will get upset at him. Then there is Stark, we have him trying to overcome his fears to be a strong warrior. I don’t want to spoil too much behind Starks's back story, as it’s interesting on its own.
Characters
The characters we meet along the way have something special to them all but it’s generally hard to talk about each one without dragging this review on for too long. Although my two favorite characters in this anime have to be none other than Serie and Ubel.
Serie is a very interesting character, like Frieren, she shows no emotion and may appear cold at times. Although she is fair in her judgment and has taught many people magic throughout her years. Since she has a long lifespan, she tends to not want to teach humans due to their shorter life spans, but she has not forgotten a single one of them. She also knows all spells thanks to this grimoire and knows almost every spell, including ones long forgotten.
My next favorite character and probably my top favorite throughout the anime is none other than Ubel. Ubel has an ability to try and empathize with people and can learn their spells by copying them for those she empathizes with. Although Ubel is also someone who looks like they are plotting something against you and you're her next target.
We get segments of each of these characters, and I love that there was time put into the side characters. There are episodes dedicated to the side characters and what they go through, it’s something I wish anime/manga did more by having these segments to flesh out the characters.
Art style
The art style is also something else I want to praise about the anime, the world looks very beautiful and colorful. It has something special to it that makes it all nice and mysterious that I just love about it. The character models all look very nice and well detailed with the art direction and world they are in.
Final Verdict
Currently, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is still ongoing, so expect more from this anime at some point. I am really hoping we get a season 2 soon. With that being said, I highly recommend Frieren: Beyond Journey's End to anyone who is a fan of drama and fantasy. This anime has a lot to love in it so I highly recommend this to any and all fans of fantasy, drama, and for those who want a rich story.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is available on Crunchyroll for free but with ads, premium users can access it add free.
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