Anime: Sousou no Frieren

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a bittersweet fairytale about losing loved ones and carrying on living while revisiting the shared memories you have with them. The subject matter could be depressing, but this anime series manages to make it interesting and light-hearted enough without falling into parody.

This balancing act between drama and fun adventure works in the first part of the series, but fails in the second part. There the focus is shifted from the past memories of Frieren into her present adventure and the story turns into a generic fantasy adventure.

I suspect that younger viewers who have never experienced the loss of a loved one will find Frieren's story boring and pointless. You need to have some scars in your soul to identify with the character of Frieren and appreciate her story.

I'd give the first part of the season a 9/10 and the second part a 5/10, averaging to a overall 7/10.

Frieren is a beautiful story about an awkward old elf’s journey in both present and past. It’s a cosy fantasy story without all the annoying screaming protagonists, jiggling breasts and so on.
Rather than revolving around forced fights and meaningless action, Frieren is more of a slice-of-life show that can be both serious and silly, but in a cute and relaxing way.
I can’t put my finger on what makes this show great, but every scene, encounter and conversation rubs you just the right way.

If you’re one of those that disliked Vinland Saga S2 because of the Farmville vibes and absence of action, Frieren won’t be for you, but if you instead enjoy shounen for the many interesting characters and world building, you should definitely give it a try.

Animation & Sound:
Animations and music is very pleasing. Opening and ending songs are really catchy and the soundtrack is nice. Animations might not be MAPPA level but the overall design and pretty colors make up for it. They really nailed the character design and expressions, making them more believable rather than overly extreme.

Story:
I suppose this is its weakest part. It’s more about introducing the world and its characters rather than telling a compelling, deep story. But it’s damn good at it and you keep wanting more.

Character:
Just great! This is the center of the show in my opinion, making every character in it seem important and interesting. VAs did a really good job making them feel alive and believable.

Value:
I’d definitely rewatch this for it’s many emotional moments, interesting characters and cute jokes and interactions, and it’s very different from many other shows.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed every moment of the show. Some parts where slower than others, but I was always happy and satisfied after each and every episode.

Someone recommended me to watch this title last year months before it began airing as a similar series to Mahoutsukai no Yome, and although it also has a mage and their disciple studying, training and traveling together, and the main characters share voice actress, I don’t see much resemblance beyond the premise. Concept wise, I find it to be more similar to Fumetsu no Anata E, since it is about a long-lived non-human protagonist learning about mortality and the short live span of humans while traveling around the world and getting some friends and new abilities.

The issues with that title are that the protagonist didn’t have a personality initially, it was full of emotional manipulation to make you cry, the main character was becoming stronger by acquiring the abilities of his dead friends, thus coming off as feeding off of them, the secondary cast got a lot of focus on their mini arc and then disappeared from the story completely, essentially wasting time and screentime, and the protagonist changed completely after a time skip. That’s where I dropped that show but from what I understand afterwards the series mutates from a road movie type of drama to a fighting shounen which in turn drops tremendously in visual quality.

Frieren doesn’t have those issues. To start off, the animation is pretty good for the most part, there are some weak moments in the artwork and backgrounds but they are usually consistent and very good, even if typical for a fantasy series. The lighting and shading as well as the rest of the special effects are very good, except for the offensive spell that some charracters use, I don’t know why but that looks very outdated. The character designs are very simple and even kind of childish, which are not bad but kind of unfitting at first with the melancholic feeling of the show. The motions are very good at every moment, even the most relaxing ones, each character even has their own distinct way of walking, the facial expressions are very varied and well done, and the action scenes tend to use dynamic movement, like Burn the Witch, Majo no Tabitabi, Akudama Drive and some others did in 2020, and Trigun: Stampede did last year. Overall it’s pretty good in that regard, even if it doesn’t compare with Shangri-la Frontier and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, which were airing at the same time.

The presentation is good, it’s just that the aesthetics are nothing special. Same thing applies to the audio department, the sound effects are really good and impactful and not too loud and not saturated, the voice acting is ok, nothing special. The soundtrack is really fitting, it’s just typical background music for a fantasy show but it’s very well done and at times even absorbing. The ending song and the insert song (to my understanding, used as an ending for an early screening), both by Milet fit the series really well and are quite beautiful on their own, and the lyrics go very well with the anime. The openings are not as good but the second one is better than the first, which although it had good lyrics for the story, it was strangely upbeat for this time of anime, and thus didn’t fit very well. The second one had a little more energy as well, but at least it felt more appropriate for the second half of the series.

Characterization is not the strongest aspect of the anime, the main characters have a name with a specific meaning, and their whole characterization is based around that, in anime terms, the two female are basically kuuderes and the male is the typical kind hearted but misunderstood and poorly treated harem lead. No, I’m not saying nor implying this series is a harem, I’m just saying that the characters fit some of those archetypes, and although that makes them easy to remember because of that, they don’t have very elaborate nor complicating personalities for the same reason.

What they do have, however, is backdrop stories good enough to flesh them out instead of just leaving them as dry archetypes, and they more or less serve to explain the way the characters are. More and more background information about them is revealed and they also come to learn more things about the previous important party, as it also does the audience that way.

People really seem to like the possible romantic dynamic between two members of the party, I personally don’t give a shit about that, the boy is kind but treated poorly by the girl for no reason besides “comedy”. I’ve seen the same dynamic in anime from the 90s and 00s and got tired of it. At least she recognizes later on that she was acting like a brat and they become friendlier with one another afterwards, and for some people they seem to be “couple goals” or some shit like that, I don’t really care.

What’s important is that even the basic main cast here is better than the rock turned wolf turned boy from Fumetsu, he couldn’t even talk, he had no personality nor backdrop, and he changed completely after a time skip, thus that doesn’t count as organic character development.

This anime has time skips as well but they are nowhere near as big, they don’t skip the scenes of characters learning new things, especially for the main one Frieren, who comes to realize, she knew and was closer to her original party than she always thought and she gains a purpose in life by doing what they want her to do after they died at the beginning of the story, and it all happens on screen, not between time skips.

It’s even related to the themes, despite being one of the most important heroes in history, Frieren never stood out and never truly cared for anyone else, she never had ambition and never understood how brief a human life could be for an elf like her, until she found out when trying to reunite with her old party, that’s when it clicked in and when she notices that she always took that time for granted and regrets not spending more time with them or getting to know them now that there is no going back. The rest of the series she dedicates to fulfill the last wishes of her old party and recall old times in their adventure, thus coming to realize she knew and cared more about them that she ever considered to, while also collecting some more magic here and there.

That way, the series also has the chance to flesh out the older support cast that dies early on through flashbacks, and I also realized where the main appeal and value of the series might be, as a sort of company of sorts for people who have recently lost someone and regret not spending enough time with them.

Sousou no Frieren is not a tearjerker however, the drama is presented more in a melancholic tone than anything else, which is something I appreciate about it, considering that there are so many shows out there filled with emotional manipulation.

The other mains are fine on their own, they also get flashbacks and learn new things and like I said they become closer with each other, it’s just that the focus is clearly on the protagonist, so they come off as simpler and more inferior characters, especially the guy who gets completely sidelined in the second half.

Also, compared to that other series, Sousou no Frieren is clear about what it is from the very beginning. There is some action here and there and is usually well animated, directed, choreographed and has some tactics here and there, but for the most part it’s a lighthearted road movie type of fantasy adventure where the character we follow through for the whole show is the strongest, thus the stakes are low. She might not be the most powerful in-series, but we only know that thanks to some throwaway lines, we never really get a sense of urgency or that Frieren might lose or struggle against someone. It’s a show meant to relax to and look back at some of your past relationships, with some magical beams thrown around from time to time for flavour.

Some other things I want to praise the writing for is caring about some very specific things that add to characterization and world building despite being such small details. First, since elves are so long-lived, they get easily emotionally detached from everyone else, they don’t have strong feelings for anyone, neither romantic nor sexual, and that’s why there are few of them and why the protagonist herself is so cold at first. It also helps to explain why, despite being one of the most well-known heroes in history, no one seems to recognize her at first, like Luffy in One Piece, but here is far more believable because the setting doesn’t have the same technology and the main character herself does as much as she can to keep a low profile.

Another good detail is the explaining for why there isn’t any transportation magic and for why flying magic is limited, which also forces the main cast to actually travel through the fucking setting, whereas other series have several ways for the main cast to be where they need to be when the plot requires them to. This also helps in making the anime feel like, well, an adventure, because how can you have a proper adventure if there is no adventuring, no travelling, no exploring the setting? It’s not like Sousou no Frieren has a world that needs much building nor explaining, it’s a very typical fantasy setting with typical classes, creatures and archetypes, but at least is properly written and established, and it is actually explored, while it also doesn’t function like an RPG, how many other modern fantasy anime can claim the same, eh?

That’s why the characters can’t just go wherever they want and in any ways they would like, every city and every place has its rules, and since Frieren herself knows the route well, you get a bit of lore or history from them, having the rest of the party going on their first adventure also helps, since that way the author has a reason for all the explaining to be done, the exposition is excused.

Not to say that this anime is perfect of course, since there is no clear reasoning why, despite magic evolving so much for being studied for decades and even centuries, basic spells still work the best against newer, supposedly better instructed mages, or why the only mages that know how to control and repress mana in-series are the ones related in some way to the main character.

Then, the whole thing about Frieren kind of falls apart when you consider, “wait, wasn’t her teacher a human? Doesn’t that go against her whole character arc and the main theme of the show?” And the answer from me is yes, I have no excuse for that, and consider it a big flaw in the writing.

Likewise, the second half of the show is inferior than the first, exactly because it falls for the same issues as the series I compared it to. It is a tournament/exam arc that you would find in an action shounen instead of this one, it completely sidelines an important character, and although needed for the characters to keep going, the plot stops progressing completely for a lot of episodes instead of the mini adventures from earlier, and there are a lot of unimportant secondary characters getting a lot of rushed focus.

Other series do that as well (Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho) but being long fighting shounen, their characters don’t disappear completely from the story until way later. I’m an anime only here, thus I can’t tell if someone from the second cour is coming back at some point or not, but I hardly doubt it and I’m sure they don’t join the main party, essentially meaning that for at least this first season, they work against the plot by killing time and taking screentime for no reason.

With that said, it’s not straight up bad, since there are still moments to flesh out the two main girls and see them interacting, and there is still some cool action from time to time.

And also, well, there is hardly any plot in here, it’s just low on action and stakes basic traveling and adventuring with an overpowered protagonist that goofs around before solving most things thanks to how powerful or experienced she is, and although I like that she is kind of like Maomao from Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, neither an idealistic hot headed idiot typical shounen protagonist, nor an asshole that doesn’t give a shit about people like Elaina from Majo no Tabitabi, she still doesn’t actually do or not most things on her own wish, that’s why she says things like “Himmel would scold me if I did that” or “Himmel would praise me if I do this”.

Thus, despite part of me respecting the value and appeal it might have for some emotional people and for how mostly well established the writing and presentation are, the cynical bastard I am only finds boredom in here, because there isn’t much plot, the characters are simple, the stakes are low because the protagonist is overpowered, the plot devices are not the type of which I’m usually thrilled about, the setting is basic, the energy is low, the aesthetics are simple, and the second half, although it still fleshes out two of the main characters, is inferior than the first by falling for the usual meh writing of other shows. In the end I consider it a decent relaxing time passer that can be very appealing for some viewers, but nowhere near as good as the general consensus says it is, and a complete chore to watch for part of the audience, myself included. At least I can say that this anime doesn’t have recaps neither inside nor outside the episode count, which is more than I can say about the other shows I was following at the same time.

1) Not saturated
Although I do not gravitate towards such genres, it is easy to see why Frieren got to be loved by so many watchers. The fantasy genre had suffered for many years, since such anime were usually lackluster videogame adaptations that were just going over the events of the game with no care for pacing or character appeal. Even worse, the isekai plague had led to a dozen fantasy-themed shows each season, most of which were slight variations of the same, lazily-written power fantasy tropes that usually involve harems and slavery. Frieren didn’t belong in either of these two types. It was not the adaptation of a videogame, thus it was not limited by whatever gameplay mechanics and dialogue infodumps the source had. It was also not written to be sleazy escapism for depressed people yearning to flee from reality into a realm where desires could be fulfilled instantly, and women could be conquered with little to no effort.

2) Aesthetic allure
Obviously this is not the first thing most people will realize about Frieren. Your average watcher is just going to notice it has good production values and a waifu-level elf on the cover, and that would be enough to please him. Even with this completely surface-level approach, Frieren manages to have a mainstream appeal by catering to the most basic desires of a casual watcher. Just pretty colors and cute girls. And nothing degenerate that usually alienates a big part of the audience, such as a harem of one-dimensional bimbos, or slavery where the protagonist is forced to do it but it’s otherwise okay because he cares for his slaves.

3) Uncommon premise
Once a viewer manages to see past the most superficial elements, he will be presented with feelings of nostalgia and melancholy, meaning that the show begins with heavy emotions and an elegiac type of premise. In fact, you could say that Frieren begins where most other shows conclude and that it’s akin to an epilogue. All the conventional tales you would get regarding the gathering of allies, leveling up and fighting the demon lord, are over by the time the show begins. We are given the aftermath of such stories, which by itself is something very few stories touch upon. The glory days are over and now we mostly get to see the aftermath of the heroes winning and what that means for the world.

4) World building
Because of how the premise is structured, the plot is heavily based on world building. Since the heroes’ journey concluded, every location bears the scars of their battles and triumphs, thus you are constantly let to know the main characters have impacted their setting. They are neither disconnected from it, nor forgotten as soon as their deed was done. The show places considerable effort in a mostly slice-of-life type of plot, where rarely action or major conflicts takes place. This approach lets the viewer to mostly glimpse into the daily lives of the people in the settings, instead of the wars they had with monsters. It enhances immersion despite being completely tensionless.

5) A protagonist you can get behind
Speaking of tensionless, Frieren is one of the most powerful beings in her world from the very outset. After centuries of training and fighting and getting stronger during the campaign against the demon lord, she is now at epic levels and nothing can be considered a threat to her. Although this could easily turn her into another trite power fantasy akin to the ones in isekai (broken powers right from episode 1) in this case she grinded for centuries to get where she is now, and has a long history of battles and people that interacted with her, instead of being a bland self-insert. Thus she is powerful (thus nobody can complain about being a weak loser), she earned her power (albeit only because of her race), and she has an actual personality and backdrop instead of being an empty vessel for the viewer to self-insert.

6) What the show isn’t about
Obviously, no show caters to the tastes of all audiences, and Frieren is not for action or adventure fans. It is a cozy slice-of-life show about a cute elf and her pouting apprentice, having wholesome vignettes as they travel around and fixing the problems of each area with mostly tensionless fights and stupid-strong magic no opponent has any chance against. It can become dull if you get too much of it, and you are never going to be biting your nails, wondering what comes next. It’s an anime you watch to relax and sometimes feel sad with the elegiac atmosphere, or laugh with the whimsical antiques of some characters. It is a mostly cute girls doing cute things anime, than a Lord of the Rings variant. In this regard, there are bound to be a lot of people who will not be interested in it, but even they are likely to find little to be overly negative about it, since it doesn’t have many elements it can fail at.

7) Personal thoughts
Even I who am not a fan of it, the worst thing I can say about it, is that both story and characters are simple. They don’t provoke contemplation or investment in their fates. Frieren, for all its merits, remains something you watch to relax, and I was never that kind of a fan. I favor action, adventure, big explosions, an inclination shared by the majority of anime fans who seek hype and excitements. It’s why fighting shonen are always the most popular anime, despite being filled with dumb plots and mindless fights. But even that does not mean I dislike the show. I just don’t consider its plot interesting, and thus my enjoyment of it remains anchored at a base level.