Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End review – An enchanting tale of new beginnings

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a fantasy series that makes its anime debut today with a special premiere episode – here’s our review.

Based on a popular manga by Kanehito Yamada (story) and Tsukasa Abe (art), Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a Shonen is set in a mythical world of magic and demons. The story follows Frieren, an elf who has been around for several centuries.

The series is one of the most highly-anticipated anime of Fall 2023. The manga has been publishing since April 2020 and won the New Work Prize at the 25th {Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Awards 2021.

Madhouse, the animation studio behind Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, is popular for creating several critically acclaimed series such as One Punch Man, Death Note, Hunter X Hunter (2011), and so on. The series is soothing and comforting. Here’s our review of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Warning: This review contains minor spoilers from the two-hour premiere episode.

What is the plot of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End?

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The story begins with the ending of an epic journey. Four members of the victorious hero party return home after traveling together for ten years. Together, mage Frieren, hero Himmel, priest Heiter, and warrior Eisen defeat the demon king and bring peace to the kingdom. 

They reminisce about their bittersweet memories as they promise to meet in fifty years. But unlike the others, Frieren is an elf with an eternal life span. She watches her friends grow old and die. The only thing left with her is the regret of not knowing more about them.

Before Heiter died, he requested Frieren to take Fern, a talented young mage, as her disciple. After much hesitation, Frieren agrees to take her along. The duo embark on an aimless journey before Frieren finds a new purpose in life.

A deeper look at the protagonist

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Frieren means “cold” in German, which aligns with her personality. She has been around for over a thousand years and met countless people. However, she’s always the one left alone in the end. Hence, she believes it’s not worth it to know more about humans who only live a few decades.

Even the 10-year journey with the hero party was only a fraction of her life. After parting ways with her friends, she meets them 50 years later, only to see them old and weak. She doesn’t check on them for all those years since she never left the need to. It’s not like Frieren never cared for them, but she is simply incapable of viewing the world the same way humans do.

Himmel is the first to die. During his funeral, Frieren expresses her regret of not knowing him better. She knows she purposefully pushed her friends away so she wouldn’t feel too disheartened when they died. However, watching Himmel being cremated made her realize how wrong she was.

Hence, she continues to search for new spells and hopes to know more about humans along the way. Despite her cold demeanor, Frieren is also very clumsy. She falls for obvious tricks and sleeps throughout the day. Her relationship with her past and present companions is often explored in such a way that they end up taking care of her.

The story focuses on her character development as she confronts her regret. Somewhere along the line, those ten years she never thought were worth mentioning changed her in a way she never realized.

How the world-building outlines the story

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The cities, the scenery, and everything resemble a European setting; even the characters’ names are German words. Despite the underlying melancholic slice-of-life, the setting is mostly that of an isekai fantasy genre. 

So far, the series has introduced several races, including humans, dwarves, elves, and demons. Frieren is the only known elf, and Eisen is the only dwarf so far. However, the powers aren’t simply limited to one particular race. Both humans and elves can be mages, and humans and dwarves can be warriors. 

The world-building is beautiful but a little lacking. Magic contributes significantly to the world-building of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. The demons, the mages, and everything else are somewhat interconnected to magic. As the story progresses, this power becomes the central theme of the story. However, it’s not as thoroughly explored as it should’ve been. 

Final thoughts

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The passage of time flows steadily with each scene. The series skips through several decades of time in the blink of an eye. Hence, time becomes an objectivity defined through units of measurement and more momentary treasures. Himmel death is taken as a guide to explain the timeline of the narrative.

The 10-year-long journey of the hero party serves as the foundation of the story. Frieren relives those memories during her journey with Fern and begins to value those bonds more than ever. Throughout the series, we see flashbacks of her time together with Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen.

The character design is somewhat flat, as their expressions are often (not always) deadpan and unvaried. However, it could be because of the melancholic themes of the story. But just because the characters and the story aren’t flashy doesn’t mean it’s boring. It’s somewhat comforting and heartwarming despite the sad moments.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End review score: 4/5

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End gets better with every episode. Frieren’s journey of self-discovery, her changing perspective of human life, gets you hooked from the beginning. Despite the somewhat melancholic premise, there are plenty of delightful moments to balance out the tears on the edge of flowing. 

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

How to watch Crunchyroll from outside your location in 2023

Crunchyroll is the world’s best hub for streaming anime, whether it’s One Piece, Attack on Titan, or Jujutsu Kaisen – and thanks to ExpressVPN, you can access the platform’s full library even if you’re outside the US.

If you’re abroad, here’s what you need to do to access Crunchyroll’s full selection – and it really is this simple: 

1. Sign up for ExpressVPN, which has ultra-fast servers and offers a secure, private connection wherever you are in the world.
2. Connect to a location anywhere in the US. Express VPN allows you to choose from 24 different spots, from New Jersey to Santa Monica.
3. Visit Crunchyroll online and start streaming all of your favorite animes – and perhaps some you’ve never watched.

Accessing Crunchyroll’s US roster makes a difference. For example, Hong Kong users only have access to less than 100 titles, while the US has nearly 1,000 movies and TV shows. 

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