SPOILERS FOR FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY’S END
About seven months ago I realized that I would have a new show to watch every Friday night. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End had an instant grip on me within the first episode. If we are talking about a mysterious and layered magic system, Frieren has it. If you are looking for a worldbuilding that makes you feel like you are traveling with the party, Frieren has it. If you want to just watch one of the best shows filled with fantasy, Frieren is it.
With the season finale capping off at the 28-episode mark this last week or so, it is finally time to take a dive into the show and review it!
Journeys End: A Short Experience
We start the first episode with a map of the lands not yet known. In the top right corner is a short description from Flamme the Legendary Mage, more on her later. We then see a horse-drawn cart and in the back of this cart, is an elf woman with long silver hair. She is intensely reading a book, and then we hear her name for the first time from a blue-haired young man.
We, of course, find out her name is Freiren the Mage (elf). She does not travel alone though, and in the cart are the other members of her adventuring party. Himmel the Hero (human), Eisen the Warrior (dwarf), and Heiter the Priest (human).
Traveling alone on the road, they find the city they are traveling to. The quiet of the road erupts into cheers and celebrations as the heroes who have defeated the Demon King have returned! The scenes of joy are beautifully animated and the celebration all feel so human. They are thanked by the king and that night enjoy a banquet with exquisite food and drinks.
Joyous Celebrations
As the celebrations start to wind down, we see the group come together and look up at the night sky. Himmel says it is the end of their adventure with Heiter mentioning it has been ten years since they started. They go over their moments and reminisce about the past, being glad they were all together.
Except for Friren, who mentions it was just a mere ten-year adventure. At this moment the stars start to fall, The Era Meteor Shower, happens once every 50 years. Frieren dryly mentions that their view from the city is not a great viewpoint. Which the group mutters not to ruin the moment. Frieren goes on to mention she will take them to a place in 50 years to properly see them. This surprises the group but are eager for it.
Himmel the Hero laughs, saying they would go see them together.
The Era Meteor Shower
We see a montage of Frieren living her life as she always has, time passing her by. A great bit they do is having her go to a shop when it was a young man operating it. Towards the end of the montage going back and sees him as an old man in the same shop.
The time has arrived again. 50 years have passed and she makes her way to the home of Himmel the Hero. Himmel and Heiter, who are human, have aged generously since their last encounter with Frieren. The only one who seems to not have aged too much would be Eisen who is a dwarf and like elves ages slower.
They take their last adventure, traveling for days to find this perfect spot that Frieren mentioned decades ago. They arrive, and they all can agree that this is a much better spot and take great joy in each other’s company again.
Shortly after, Himmel the Hero dies of old age. As they show their respects to the hero who saved the lands from the demon king, there is not much emotion from Frieren at this moment. This is until they bury his body where she cries regretting she didn’t get to know him better; her companions comfort her in this moment.
New Beginnings
20 more years have now passed. There is communication between Heiter and Frieren towards the end of Heiter’s human lifespan. While working on a project for him, he asks Frieren to take care of a little girl he found on the battlefield, named Fern. Initially saying no. Frieren agrees after years of working on that project for Heiter (which turned out was just sparse so that Fern could get strong enough for Freieren to travel with her) and when now teenage Fern proves her worth as an apprentice.
The next few episodes are very interesting and when I was first watching, I enjoyed it. I was just not sure if there would be any more substance than these little adventures. I would, of course, be proven wrong. After a few episodes of them helping locals and Fern learn basics, they come across a possible grimoire location of Flamme the Legendary Mage. They head towards that direction because why not?
They run into an old friend, Heiter, who helps them find this mysterious location. This is where the new journey begins when we find out Frieren’s teacher, Flamme the Legendary Mage who lived over a thousand years ago (What!), had found Aureole. This is the land where souls rest, she had spoken to those she had fought alongside with.
Hiding behind Power
Before leaving Eisen mentions they will need a warrior if they plan to go north. He asks Frieren about the student he had taken in, where they had departed in anger. Traveling to where the student is, they find a little town with a dragon problem.
This is where they meet Stark. He admits that there was a dragon, but it had flown away soon after. Saying he was too scared to fight it and that he was not sure if he could beat it. Frieren, the masterful teacher she is, send Stark the dragon while they prepare a spell. The spell does not come though, actually promoting Stark to fight the beast.
We then go into a flashback of when Eisen and Frieren had spoken together. They had left in anger because Eisen, the warrior who had beaten the Demon King, hit Stark. We then find out that Eisen had hit Stark because he had startled and scared him with his presence.
Flash forward, we watch the epic battle between Stark and this giant red dragon. The animation used in these scenes has such an attention to detail. The battle and movements felt so realistic to me as I watched. So I kept watching and saw Stark ready a powerful blow and one shot the dragon.
Hatred of an Elf
As the party now travels, they come across a human city near the edge of the entrance to the north. They quickly find out that they can not go any further. Guards are placed at the entrance and only special permission can get them past.
The humor in this show can happen in the best moments. Fern and Stark, who are opposed to Frieren’s slow-burn travel methods, want to go north. So all they can do is just wait until they can pass the entrance (Frieren proposes). The lack of caring when you have a life span like an elf comically makes the human party members so aggravated.
All of a sudden, they see a group of guards walking with horned human-like beings. Frieren instantly raises her staff and shoots at the taller horned man, which is surprisingly evaded. Frieren is then jumped on by guards and says she was just trying to kill the demons.
Throughout this next series of episodes, we see these demons and humans try and come to a truce. All while not exactly knowing why Frieren distrusts and hates them so much. When one night, an underling demon tries to kill Frieren in her cell, killing a guard in the process. Like all medieval/fantasy settings, killing guards is a big no-no.
We then look into the past, about 70-80 years ago when a demon had tricked a small town. Humans had taken in a demon child, who seemed to not want to cause them harm. One night there was a “misunderstanding” of morals and the demon killed the humans. Everything the demon had done was just to keep itself alive, even when saying “mom” before being attacked.
Demons do not raise their young.
Northward and Power Scales
After Frieren easily kills the underlying, her next goal is Aura the Guillotine. She trusts in her students that they can take care of the other two Demons in the city. Stark and Fern on the other hand do not have that confidence, but do come out on top.
During this interaction, we learn one of the most important aspects of magic in the show. Fern and Frieren, both mages, have auras of magic. Through constant training (Frieren has had hundreds of years of it), they can make the aura around them small to make themselves seem weaker.
This is exactly how both Fern and Frieren defeat their enemies at this moment. Aura the Guillotine had herself and Frieren have a battle of power. Both would put their auras of magic on a scale, whoever was stronger would have control of the other. Aura quickly discovers that she is, of course, no match for the Mage.
From there they are able to move forward, heading to the north.
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The First-Class Mage Exams
This arc of the show is the final one of the season. This is where it was truly cemented to me as a top-tier anime. I do not want to go too into detail with it, and truly think this should be enjoyed without too many spoilers. I will though, go into some vague aspects of why I enjoyed it so much.
Character Development
From episode 18 to episode 28, we meet a large array of characters. I titled it character development but it feels better to call it character revelations. Each mage in the exam have a very distinct personality. Alot of what they do and say though is guarded, since there can only be a set number to pass the test.
When we finally get to the last few episodes of the season, the remaining mages seem to understand each other. In this regard, it is more of the understanding that they are all (mostly) doing this with good intentions. A war mage from the north who seems like a ruthless warrior at first glance. This same war mage would remind Frieren of the kindness Himmel used to live by in the last episode.
Magic Systems
The different types of magic used in the series are interesting. It reminds me of Black Clover, where they have the same categories of magic but everyone uses it differently. Not only that, but the main difference is that those who weld powerful magic like this are all very intelligent. This brings about many interesting scenes of cat and mouse.
We do not even know the grasp of true power yet in this show, besides a few tiny glimpses. This show reminds me of Jobless Reincarnation, without the fan service but the same level of worldbuilding.
When is Season Two of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End/ Thoughts
Overall, the feel and energy of the show are something I can not wait to see in season 2. As of today, there is no official release date. With the popularity of the show, I would be very surprised if we did not get one though.
Watching this show gives such an interesting perspective on the experience of living creatures. Whenever you see Frieren interact or look at something long enough you just hope there is lore involved. The beautiful thing about this though, is that sometimes there just isn’t. It is the appreciation from a being that we do not even exactly know the age of.
As watchers, we witness Frieren trapped in a mimic chest, as she collects her grimoires, and the excitement of her spell collection. Through these moments, we see and experience joy that is a timeless wonder that transcends age.
If you liked this review, try our other anime-inspired articles like Delicious in Dungeon: Gygaxian Naturalism Done Right or Overlord: Overwhelming Knowledge In An Unknown World!
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Sources:
- Wikipedia contributors. (2024k, April 2). Frieren. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieren
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