When I read the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End manga, I couldn’t help feeling how this is a special sort of story, and the anime version cements that impression. Things kicked off with a feature-length special consisting of its first four episodes, and somehow it seems fitting given how much happens in these early moments. But, even more important, I feel like what’ve seen in this Frieren anime adaptation really explains how meaningful her tale is.
Editor’s Note: While there will be no major spoilers for the plot of the Frieren anime, it will explain the impetus for her journey and the first season.
Frieren is an elven mage and a hero. She’s one of four who, 50 years ago, traveled with Himmel the warrior, Heiter the cleric, and Eisen the dwarf to slay the Demon Lord. After their success, the group split up, but promised to reunite for a trip to watch the meteor shower again. Upon doing so, she begins to realize exactly how much she missed, due to the difference in time span among all of them. Himmel and Heiter are humans, after all, and while dwarves like Eisen are long-lived, they’re still nothing compared to an elf. When Himmel dies shortly after, Frieren is affected in a way she didn’t expect. However, it takes another 20 years and reuniting with Heiter again to help train a child war orphan named Fern with magic for her to start taking action to connect with shorter-lived species and find a new purpose beyond magical studies.
The execution of this feature-length debut is to the series’ benefit. The first half, consisting of the first two episodes, essentially focuses on Frieren dealing with the grief of losing someone who she suddenly realizes was important to her. It makes her question how she’s been living her life, and results in her resolving to change. When Heiter calls upon her to visit 20 years later to do some research on a particular type of magic and help train Fern as a mage, we’re seeing her first opportunity to connect with a human since her travels with Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen 70-74 years ago. It’s like the first half is about establishing her relationships with her past allies and sowing seeds for the latter half of this introduction.
Once we get into the second half consisting of the third and fourth episodes, we’re really establishing what kind of show Frieren is going to be going forward. As she travels with her now-apprentice Fern, we see her visit certain areas and develop a new sense of purpose. Not only is she trying to understand humans, but also perhaps understand herself. We see that now that she has opened up more and matured, and is taking the time to connect with people like Heiter, Fern, and Eisen, she develops a new goal. She wants to head North, perhaps to find a way to connect with Himmel further.
It’s such an incredibly touching batch of episodes. We watch as Frieren grieves. We get insight into what life is like for a 1,000+ year old individual. We see how she can still learn and grow. Plus, that grief then allows her further revelations into herself and inspires her to form connections with someone new, like Fern take on a new task, which is training her apprentice, and heading on a new journey to perhaps better understand one of the most important people she lost. At the same time, we’re seeing action scenes where she encounters opponents. There are slower segments that make this feel more like a slice-of-life anime than a fantasy drama.
This truly is a window into Frieren’s life as an elf, and having the feature-length anime debut helps emphasize its many facets. I can only hope more people also feel as dedicated to seeing her journey through, so we can have both the manga and anime chronicling this adventure.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is streaming on Crunchyroll. The manga is being handled by Viz Media.
