Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Review

The Legendary Hero’s Party

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Sousou no Frieren / 葬送のフリーレン) is currently the highest-rated anime of all time. It has a whopping 9.39 on MAL. That’s 0.3 higher than the next highest-rated anime, which is insane. But, is this series really that good? I don’t know about that.

I’m not going to argue that Frieren isn’t an amazing anime. It is. However, this overall rating seems pretty inflated. In a year, I’m predicting it won’t be rated as high as it is now. It’ll probably settle somewhere in the top 10, though.

So, what’s Frieren about? I’m sure most of you know, but I’ll still go over it for those who don’t. Frieren is a fantasy anime (not isekai) about an elf mage named Frieren. She was a member of the legendary Hero’s party that defeated the demon lord. And, this series follows her journey after that journey.

The Hero’s party had two humans, a dwarf, and an elf. So, as the decades pass, members of the party die off. Frieren, however, is still the same as she’s always been. If you’ve seen the movie Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, you’ll have some idea of what this series is like.

Frieren isn’t as sad as Maquia is. But, it still covers many of the same themes. There’s a lot of content about cherishing the time you have with people, looking back at what they taught you, etc. It has a lot of deep themes.

That’s not to say that the whole series is serious, though. There are many lighthearted moments. There’s also a lot of action and world-building, which I love. Basically, this series does it all and does it all well. I haven’t seen a single person who dislikes this series have a good reason for thinking that.

Beyond Journey’s End

On her new journey, Frieren gains a few new companions. Specifically, Fern and Stark. But, before I get to those two, what exactly is this new journey Frieren’s embarking on? She’s headed to Ende, also known as Heaven, so she can meet Himmel the Hero once again.

Himmel was in love with Frieren. However, Frieren didn’t understand how Himmel felt until after he was gone. So, now she wants to be able to see him one more time so she can tell him how important he is to her.

Alright, now onto Fern. Fern is a young mage who became Frieren’s apprentice. She was previously raised by Heiter, the priest of the Hero’s party. And, on his deathbed, Heiter told Fern to go with Frieren on her journey. Until this point, Frieren had never wanted an apprentice. Fern changed that, though.

Something interesting about Fern is that she wasn’t even born yet when Himmel died. She’s from a generation for which the Hero’s party really is like a legend. They know of the Hero’s party from stories and statues. Even though Fern was raised by a member of the party, she’s still very disconnected from it.

Stark is in a similar situation. He’s a warrior who was trained by Eisen, the dwarf warrior of the Hero’s party. But, that doesn’t mean Stark is a dwarf. He’s a human, as is Fern. But, what makes Stark special is how strong he is — he’s immensely strong.

In fact, Stark is so strong that even Eisen became afraid of him. However, Stark doesn’t recognize his own power. He doesn’t believe in himself and doesn’t understand how special he is. That makes him a very endearing, yet flawed, character. He has a lot of character growth to go through.

First-Class Mage Exam

In case you weren’t aware, this first season of Frieren is 28 episodes long. And, the second cour of the series is dedicated to the First-Class Mage Exam. This is an exam mages can take in order to prove their skills. If they pass, they get a lot of perks.

In particular, First-Class Mages can travel into the northern lands. The northern lands are dangerous, which is why most people can’t go there. But, that’s precisely the direction Frieren, Fern, and Stark are headed in. Additionally, all First-Class Mages can ask Serie, the most powerful mage, for a single spell of their choosing.

Now, none of this matters all that much to Frieren. Frieren’s not interested in having Serie simply hand over a spell. She loves collecting spells. However, it’s the journey that matters most. Someone giving her whatever spell she desires doesn’t interest her.

What this arc of the story does, though, is introduce a lot of new characters. We meet a bunch of Second and Third-Class mages who are trying to earn their First-Class status. There’s Denken, Laufen, Richter, Übel, Land, Wirbel, Ehre, Methode, and many more. The fan favorite is, of course, Übel (pictured above).

If you like tournament arcs, which many of us do, the First-Class Mage Exam arc is great. It’s not quite a tournament. But, it’s close enough. The exam consists of three tests, the first of which reminded me of the second test of the Chūnin Exams from Naruto.

I’m hoping that the characters introduced in this arc come back later. I don’t want them to have only been used for this arc. It’ll be way more fun if Frieren & co. run into some of them again on their travels. Denken, Wirbel, and Übel are three I want to see more.

Final Thoughts

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a 9/10 from me. It’s great and I think everyone who’s interested in fantasy series should watch it. Or, you know, if you’re just into good anime in general. That’s a good reason to watch this series, too.

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