Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End | A Review

Hello everyone, I am the timelessly transient G.E.M.Simov, a being that will, in the near future, no longer be, here to tell you about “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” (henceforth just Frieren).

Simple review details - I rank shows (anime) on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.

A disclaimer - due to the episodic nature of the thing being reviewed, I will largely talk about stuff in general, and only in regards to the most important things will I zero in on a particular episode. In addition to that, due to the fact that the material upon which this show is based is as of yet unfinished, and the show generated excitement to guarantee its complete adaption into animation, I am only reviewing a part of the show - namely, the 28 episodes of Season 1.

In addition, due to this being an anime - as in, something that only features voice acting, and that voice acting is in japanese - I can’t grade it on just acting; thus, I’ll tear what I normally reserve for the Story section in twain and judge this show on the story and the content of the story, as I do with books.

Presentation

Frieren looks great. In regards to how it appears on a frame-by-frame basis, I would argue that it is very beautiful and very well presented, because of the fact that the majority of the show’s episodes involve no physical (or magical) conflict. There are a few fight scenes, but they are not the dominant form of conflict, as a result of which the show gets to go slow. It winds up being a slice of life for a very long duration of its run-time, only transitioning into mostly action in the last third of its runtime.

That allows a lot of the scenes to be mellow and rooted, which, in turn, seems to provide opportunity for the show to look good. Most times when one hits pause, the frame that winds up frozen on the screen is not just passable, but maybe even beautiful. The show really likes showing off landscapes, as establishing shots, and there are many episodes that feature more than one of those.

However, the show has had care put into its creation, as is evidenced by the fact that the classical fumble, which features splendid backgrounds with clearly defined and outlined elements that stick out like a sore thumb, because they are only temporarily parts of the background and are about to become vital actors in the scene. The avoidance of that is achieved through the addition of an outline to everything. There are, naturally, the landscape shots mentioned earlier, which have no such outlines and are reminiscent of paintings, but there are either no characters in them, or the characters are markedly pronounced.

What I am getting at is that this anime really does not look cheap. It appears as though the folks working at it had plenty of time and resources to do things just right, as a result of which it is a joy to behold. I never once had a moment of looking at a scene, or a background, or anything for that matter, and thinking to myself that it was ugly.

That applies even to the few instances that featured easily discernible CGI - those being 3D models of the otherwise 2D Characters - they looked good. I could tell that they were such, because there was a discernible shift in the appearance of the Character who had been replaced with their model, but it was very slight and minor.

Then there are the fight-scenes that start showing up more and more often as the show goes on. They also look very passable, but in most cases they are just that - passable. Whether it is due to the fact that the combatants are mages, or because of the context of the encounters themselves, there is something slightly unsatisfying about them.

That is all inapplicable in the case of the BIG fight of the anime, which is an incredible visual spectacle and indicates that the animators got to go wild - it was a joy to behold. Though, it is possible to say that said fight was too good, due to the fact that it makes all other fights very bland and uninteresting by comparison.

Regardless, the fights do have a certain charm of it, and they are legible. The viewer can understand what is going on, and some of them do look flashy, though in almost all cases the fights that are on display are rarely there to be something pretty to look at. The fights are a vehicle through which exposition, that would otherwise be too drab or heavy, manages to get presented to the viewer without totally boring them. They also serve as means of showcasing progress made by certain Characters.

With that said, I will mention the work done by the voice actors. I will pronounce it to be very good, and I will be done with that topic. In regards to sound, I will say that the sound effects are also very well done. There was never anything that stuck out to me as improper or bothersome, which I would argue maintained the plausibility of the show’s events and the immersion I was allowed to perform - thus, quite good.

Its music, on the other hand, was very… Well, it was very bland. There is one track that wound up being slightly memorable, but everything else was excruciatingly basic, in some sense. It got the job done, it helped with conveying a bit of emotion or just providing some noise to stave off the silence that would otherwise be present, but it was nothing too exceptional.

Something else that needs to be mentioned is the fact that this anime was very tame with its “anime” elements. There were, of course, a few scenes that were exceedingly “anime”, in the most stereotypical, trope-y fashion, but their rarity and their appropriate placement into the story was very welcome. Aside from employing the drastic simplification of a character’s features as a means of making them cuter, or conveying a particular emotion very strongly, but in a light-hearted manner, there were also a few odd bones here and there, such as perspective being way off for comedic or even serious effect, or a character’s skin being a different color to convey some sort of intoxication or, again, feeling.

Something else that managed to happen was that, through the “anime” elements of Frieren, the show was very, very cute, and very, very wholesome. In particular, one example that really stuck with me was during episode 4, in which Fern drags Frieren along, while both of them are wrapped up in snug winter clothing, and they seem a bit stumpy and wide, giving them a very particular appearance… A very good vibe, if so can be said.

There’s also the matter of Openings (OP) and Endings (EP?) - as anime shows have those - and Frieren has two. The first OP is very neat, and the song accompanying it is decently good. The second OP is less so in both regards. The EPs, on the other hand, both have songs that are a bit of a miss, but they both look very nice, particularly the second, which has this stop-motion-esque appearance to it.

Ultimately, Frieren is a very well presented show. Aside from its issues with its music, its middling OPs and EPs (though those do not really matter), and an impressive repertoire of flashbacks, it does not fail in any regard.

3/3

Content

Frieren is a story about life and death. It is about living with the thought of death, it is about dealing with death, and it is also about how a timeless being deals with living in a transient world with even more transient inhabitants.

It could be said that, because of that, I really like it. And one would not be wrong - it deals with the idea of memory, of being remembered, of how being remembered is actually how one lives, not only past death, but also prior to it. It raises the questions of how important simply being remembered is, of how valuable that concept is, that some are willing to be remembered for something bad, if only to be remembered.

The way Frieren deals with its content is very neat - due to the fact that it is a show with many episodes in it, it has opted to present an idea or a concept in each episode. One episode might be almost entirely about the fear of death and how people deal with it, while another might be about what the afterlife is, whether it exists and whether it matters.

As a result of that, Frieren has room to spread out into a large number of directions. Not only because of the fact that the story swirls around an impossibly long lived character’s journey, but also because that character meets others constantly, and winds up in situations that lead into the presentation of these concepts.

What is even more appealing is how seriously it treats the moments when the concepts are introduced. Not only that, but it treats them with great respect, even if they are very minor. Aside from tackling death and memory, it also winds up presenting a number of life-lessons here and there. Some of those lessons are, surprisingly, about how to treat other people, but they are not presented as end-all-be-alls of interaction, rather as the solution of a socially awkward, incredibly distant, uber-old elf who has lived by herself for hundreds of years.

So it does not seem to get preachy… Well, it manages to avoid being preachy most of the time, though there might have been a few moments that were a bit unnerving. In particular, there’s the demon question in Frieren.

As far as is known, at the moment, demons in it are monsters who can use human speech. However, they only use it as a means of tricking and manipulating humans. Ultimately, what the show does here is present an intelligent race of humanoids, it gives them human traits and even aspirations, it gives them human language, the ability to understand it and the ability to think, and then it says: But they are all, without exception, evil, and here is a bunch of episodes to prove just that.

In fact, killing, or rather exterminating all demons, is the motivation of two of the most important characters in the show, as well as the motivation of a number of more minor characters. This irks me, because I like the idea of being able to just talk it out and of being able to get along. It also irks me, because it appears to take a particular stand on the nature vs nurture “debate” - and it is one that really sticks to nature.

Demons are, by nature, evil monsters. The fact that they can speak and that they understand concepts, if said concepts are explained to them, is evidently irrelevant. Aside from the possibility that this is some veiled attempt to parallel “scientific” racism in our world, it just bothers me on a personal level.

Regardless, with that put aside, there’s another concept that this show introduces and which I find very intriguing. It swirls around death and memory, but its central point is longevity. How when one lives longer and longer, the passage of time seems to become quicker and quicker, because we get to put it into perspective. In addition to that, it also leads into how memories are made, what is considered important or impactful. It also affects relationships, and, most important of all - the loss of them.

Losing a relationship because someone died is something… Well, decrepit. There’s something wrong about it, something off-putting, and I haven’t lived half a century yet. Ask a person who is soon to be 100 years old, and their answer will be their own, but it will definitely feature an overwhelming feeling of solitude and loneliness. Everyone you have known is dead, and not because they were killed by someone - unless time, itself, is a very frightening murderer - they just went away, forever.

The fact that everyone you have known has died, and you knowing that you will live ten, twenty times longer than you have currently lived, will definitely affect how you look at people, and how you look at relationships with people… It is a really interesting thing.

Frieren adds more to the cake by making these impossibly long lived fellows essentially gods, considering just how powerful they are. In fact, one of them is literally compared to a god! The way these gods choose to spend their time, the way they interact with humans, the way they cope with the loss of humans who were somehow precious to them - absolutely fascinating.

So even with its slight problem, Frieren is full of incredibly interesting, thought provoking content that really gets the gears turning!

3/3

Story

Frieren is a story about Frieren, who is an elf mage, who went along with the great hero Himmel and his two companions, Eisen and Heiter, to defeat the demon lord… And did it. Now, almost thirty years after Himmel the hero died from old age, Frieren is off, collecting spells of all shapes and sizes, taking care of her apprentice Fern, whom she took on in accordance with Heiter’s own dying wish.

Later on, a warrior, named Stark, who was Eisen’s apprentice, goes on to join the pair and they become a funky trio, traveling the lands with a particular destination in mind. Along that road, they encounter many other characters, many interesting and curious situations, as well as some new friends and old enemies.

Alas, to get further, they need to get permission to do so, and are roped into a tournament arc, playing the role of an ‘exam’, with the successful completion of said exam netting them permission to go further. The season concludes with the trio setting off once more, one step closer to their ultimate goal.

With the very short bit of the story out of the way, it must be noted that Frieren is a show that almost lends itself to being watched out of order. There are some episodes that might require the context of the previous ones, but, ultimately, the way the story is told - through bite-sized little adventures and encounters, many of which ultimately can be contained within a single episode, burdened with some meaning.

That approach to the story slowly teeters off, and also does not exactly show up in the story at its very beginning, but the episodes leading up to the moment Stark joins the pair, and even up to the ‘exam’, are such that they could easily be watched in a vacuum, or with the context provided from the first few episodes, and are still not only understandable, but also provide a certain provocation for the audience’s mind.

Frankly, I am compelled to say that it is incredibly pleasant and interesting. Having these small adventures that are not coupled with high stakes, which focus on slightly unveiling the world around the characters or using what is already known of the world to tell stories that present something that would urge the audience to think - those are great.

So I would like to then present the last third of the season, the ‘exam’, as an example of how not to go about doing things, due to the fact that it not only derailed the entirety of the story - for, so far, the longest the story had lingered on a particular topic, aside from the near immortality of Frieren, was two episodes. As a result of that, showing up with eight episodes worth of something that is almost entirely disconnected from not just the story itself - because the journey towards the goal is halted - but also something that breaks away from the established approach to telling the show’s stories, AND goes out of its way to stop engaging with the main concept, that being death, how one deals with it, and how does a timeless being deal with the death of those around her.

Frieren somehow starts off strong, telling interesting stories with interesting characters who are likable and believable, only to then decide to veer off into a trope reserved for shows unlike itself - particularly stuff for young boys that involves lots of fighting and spectacle - and introduce a vast plethora of characters who are nowhere near as interesting as those so far shown to the audience, and are far more annoying, implausible and problematic.

The prime example for that would undoubtedly have to be the stereotype trope character. You know what I speak of, if you have watched the show, or if you have watched any anime at all - this is the insane female character who gets off on hurting and killing others, who is also designed to be physically appealing and provocative. Japanese people have a very big problem if they keep shoving this garbage, with no restraint on my part, into their stories.

This kind of character only works if the story is focused on them and how they overcome the trauma that has caused them to become the way that they are, or, alternatively, how they deal with their mental illness so as to be able to interact with others without being a risk for them. When a character like that is just thrown into a story, be it as a villain, as an antagonist or a simple side-character, they are always incredibly problematic.

Why? Well, because unless their story is explained, they are just someone utilizing a harmful stereotype of folks with mental disorders. And, if their story is explained, then they need to be made into a semi-important character, but that would then require more and more time to be dedicated to that character. Guess what happens in Frieren?

The ‘exam’ starts, and immediately the audience gets treated to scenes featuring the crazy, psycho murder-woman. Then she gets paired up with one of the main characters, so the audience is forced to spend more time with her. Then, the audience keeps getting more of that character shoved in their face - whilst it is revealed that she has this funky, previously totally unknown and so far unreplicated ability to just learn how to use the magic a person can use by getting to empathize with that person.

And then it is revealed that said character is actually incredibly powerful and a prodigy unlike any other, capable of killing opponents who are supposed to be far higher level than her in one single hit or without any issue at all, and the way that is explained away is so ludicrously unsatisfying that I’m almost speechless.

So yes, I do not like the psycho-horny cut-things mage woman. I also dislike the vast majority of the characters that show up in association with that particular character - such as the two fledgling mage girls who get paired up with Frieren, who serve no purpose in the story and might only be there as an improper attempt at pushing in comic relief, because for the entirety of the ‘exam’ arc Stark - the third main character - is relegated to LITERALLY HAVING NO SCREEN TIME.

He is just NOT a character anymore. He shows up once every few episodes for a gag, and that is it. How this story, which was doing so incredibly well, managed to mess up so badly, I am beyond confused.

Sure, by the end of the ‘exam’ arc, things got a little tied together, the story once again found its way to what had initially been so captivating about it in the first place - the consideration of death in relation to timelessness, as well as how transient beings deal with death. The characters who were introduced had some time to become actual characters, though many of them remained just background noise, bodies that occupied space, even if there was an attempt at giving them some personality and charm - ultimately, there were too many of them, introduced in too short a time.

But what does Frieren ultimately accomplish with its story? It lays out the set-up for a continuation, and leaves the audience wanting more. With the exception of the egregious pit that is the ‘exam’ segment, the two-thirds of the show that remain are exquisite, and even the dreaded tournament arc has some moments to shine. Thus, Frieren does well. Not perfectly, but good.

2/3

Legendary Point

Does this show get the Legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? I am compelled to say YES, because not only did I like the characters and the dynamics between them, but also because the world is very interesting, the goal before the heroes is kept to a relatively small scale, and the show talks, thinks, prods and agitates the audience with the idea of death.

I’m not going to go on a long tangent here - because Frieren is not yet finished - but this first season clearly provokes me into wanting more, into considering it, into… Feeling a spark ignited under my butt. That’s enough. 1/1

Conclusion

9/10. Frieren is a splendid, and not that little either, show about a very interesting thing, coupled with a cast of colorful characters and a number of amusing adventures. It might have some slow-downs, but I would say it is such a good show that it could be enjoyed by anyone, in the same way a Studio Ghibli film is good for everyone. Naturally, though, the weight of Frieren’s explored concepts grows with the age of the viewer, so keep that in mind.

I tuck it under my belt, another shining achievement that I proudly display.