Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

This is a solid anime, no doubt. Does it deserve the #1 spot on MAL? Decidedly not. I am biased by my high expectations, due to the high rating, but it is an average anime with beautiful art and a good ost, cookie-cutter characters, unfunny jokes, and not nearly the world-building you would assume from other reviews—and it will probably prove forgettable. I enjoyed watching, but it was still disappointing. One of the best parts of the anime is the art and music. It goes a long way to create the feeling of the anime, which is generally relaxing and friendly. This reads mostly asa slice-of-life anime, even if that isn’t the genre.

The story’s one unique aspect is that it takes place after the “main journey”. The thing this does well is that it feeds into your idea of Frieren’s ancient existence compared to everyone else. The rest of the story is rather average.

The characters are all common anime tropes. Don’t expect anything revolutionary, but none of them were annoying at least.

I’m not sure why people claim the world-building is anything special. Our group is traveling north and stopping at various villages of different sizes, that are mostly similar, and suffering from demonic attacks that the adventurers defeat, with very little suspense. Nothing special there.

I think most people who enjoy fantasy anime will enjoy this series. But don’t expect it to be an unbelievable masterpiece.