There are so many anime out there that the mind boggles, but many of them fall into the trap of hitting all the same story notes and patterns, leaving us feeling like ‘Wait, have I seen this one before?’ But one anime I love for its slow and effortless nature is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
Adapted from the manga written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, Frieren: Beyond Journey‘s End tells the story of the immortal elf mage Frieren. We first meet her and the party of heroes as they head back to the capital to be hailed for their victory over the Demon King. When they go their separate ways, she vows to come back in 50 years to show them a better location to watch a meteor shower.
When she returns as promised, she remains the same but discovers that her fellow companions are now older and not quite the strapping young men she knew. After viewing the shooting stars once again, Himmel passes away of old age, leaving Frieren to realize that she had taken her time with them all for granted, and she decides to get to know humans better.
It’s a beautiful anime, one of the best dropped in 2023! So, in that honor, let’s look at 10 reasons why it’s a must-watch.
1. Strong female characters
The main character is Frieren, a white-haired female elf who, thanks to her raw talent as well as centuries of accumulating knowledge, is one of the most powerful mages in the land. Her character is well-written, with nuance and layers, and avoids many of the tropes that protagonists in fantasy anime fall into.
She is calm, collected, and confident in her abilities, though by no means perfect. One of her flaws is her inability to grasp that time works differently for humans and, therefore, is more precious to them. On a smallerーand more relatableーlevel, she hates waking up early and dealing with other people.
There are other strong female characters throughout, such as her master Flamme, and her apprentice Fern. In one episode, Fern shows her discomfort at being physically touched, and a discussion over boundaries occurs, which is both wholesome and and important—much better than some anime’s ways of dealing with consent, at any rate.
2. Character-driven
Bearing the first point in mind, the whole show feels very character-driven, with characters making decisions that suit their independent desires and wants outside of just pushing the plot along. Because there is no big bad or imminent threat, the show focuses on the characters and their motivations.
One moment where this occurs is when Sein, a priest who has joined their party for his own reasons, leaves when the party’s plan doesn’t match his goals. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him, but it’s refreshing to see the show lose a well-liked character for the sake of staying true to those goals.
3. Its slow pace is soothing
In a world where we all feel the pressure to skill up as fast as possible to compete in an ever-changing and high-speed capitalist world, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End shows us the value of taking your time. Yes, Frieren has the luxury of immortality, but through her journey, we can all learn that life need not be such a rush. If we approached our own lives a little more like this—slow and steady wins the race—perhaps the pressure and expectations we place on ourselves would lighten somewhat.
4. Interesting storylines thrown in
Now, just because it’s character-driven and takes its time, that doesn’t mean the story is boring whatsoever. The overall plot is to reach the land of resting souls, but there is a long journey before they can reach there, with many traps (some of which Frieren cannot help but get stuck in) and obstacles along the way.
Though there are plenty of episodes that run at a leisurely pace without a sense of urgency, there are episodes where the action takes priority. One storyline revolves around a powerful group of demons and their attempts to take over a town. Here, we are allowed to see the combat skills of Fern and Stark put to the test and shown a glimpse of the true power Frieren wields for the first time.
5. Respects the journey, not the destination
Similar to one of the points made above, the show luxuriates in slowing things down, allowing the group to truly enjoy where they are at in the moment rather than rush on to the next goalpost. Frieren considers the process of searching for magic to be the most fun, turning down the offer to have her dream spell handed to her.
Many of us often feel like we just want to be at what we imagine is the pinnacle of our lives, but in reality, there is no such thing. Finding joy in the process of acquiring knowledge and experiences can make life a lot more fun and far less stressful.
6. Shows us that even heroes are human
Throughout their journey to the land of the resting souls, the people they meet often talk of the mighty deed the hero party accomplished, but Frieren remembers the tough times, the squabbles, and the fear that the party felt showcasing specific examples through flashbacks.
In one episode we learned that Eisen, the dwarf warrior, often felt fear enough to make his arms shake when facing certain foes. In another episode, we discover that Himmel the Hero was unable to pull the Hero Sword from its resting place as he was not considered worthy. Though disappointed, he continued vowing to be the one to beat the Demon King.
7. Beautifully animated
The animation style follows very closely with the manga. It’s a lot more toned down than a lot of anime that are currently airing, opting for softer colors with a watercolor-like animation that makes it feel much more fairytale-esque. This only lends itself to its soothing nature, as it isn’t in your face at any point as certain action anime can be.
The action in this series is also well-animated, with fans loving the scene where Stark fights a dragon, running up its back, sliding through its body, and jumping overhead before coming down for the final blow. This beautiful animation style is all courtesy of character designer Reiko Nagasawa and art director Sawako Takagi.
8. Mastering the basics is vital
In the world of magic, there are very few as knowledgeable as Frieren. Despite constantly learning new spells and types of magic, Frieren dedicates herself to strengthening her basic defense and offense skills, passing this on to Fern. As the two come up against powerful mages through their travels, we discover that no matter how flashy their spells are, against someone with a sheer mastery of the basics, they are overwhelmed.
Sometimes there is no cheat code to success. If you want to succeed at a skill, start from the ground up and dedicate time to getting the basics right so you are starting from a strong foundation.
9. Deals with regret and loss in a beautiful way
Much of the theme of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is about coping with loss and grief. Despite her many centuries and seeing the humans around her live and die in the blink of an eye, through the death of Himmel, Frieren comes to realize what she has lost. Through this realization, she vows to get to know humans better and starts to build connections once again.
We all suffer from loss in our lives and regret over what we could have done better, and this series shows a character dealing with that exact struggle. Her way of overcoming it is to build new connections, do better next time, learn, and grow. Loss will always stay with us, but moving forward from it is the only thing we can do if we don’t want it to overwhelm us.
10. It leaves us wanting more
Having come into the series a little late, I had the luxury of being able to binge it for a short time. Now I am up to date and have to wait a week for the next episode release, which I am not thrilled about. The show has taken some twists and turns, and its current arc, the First Class Mage Exam Arc, has more cliffhangers compared to earlier arcs.
This is a world I enjoy spending time in, and I look forward to new episodes each week.
If you are interested in checking out the show, you can find it in several places, including Crunchyroll, Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu.
(feature image: Madhouse)
