Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Friren the journey beyond end is the new sensational hit anime that took the whole community by storm.An unique fantasy anime that has received a lot of critical acclaim as well as some minor controversy.What is the deal with this anime??It really lives up to the hype?? It really is as good as people say it is?? And most importantly. Does it really deserve the number 1 spot on this very website?? With this review I'm gonna try to answer all of this question(A quick summary can be found at the end of the review). The concept of Friren is different from the usual fantasy/isekai anime. WithFriren instead of watching the classic
journey that the hero's party takes in order to defeat the demon lord, this anime focuses on the aftermath of said
journey, specifically on the elf magician of the group(Alas Friren) and her regrets as well as her desire to understand better human values, something in which she failed on her previous journey.I don't know if Friren is the
first type of fantasy product that tries this kinda of approach on its storytelling(probably not)but regardless of how original it is,I have to say it is really refreshing and unique. I particularly love the idea of finding out more
about Friren's old companion with the use of flashbacks as she progress her new journey with her new companion, her
apprentice Fren and one her old companion ones Stark speaking of which, they are both amazingly well written characters that mesh very well with Friren, Fren being somewhat strict and pouty contrast pretty well with Friren calm and laid-back nature that makes her go and do things at her own pace which, considering she is an elf she does things slower than everyone else due to her large lifespan and Stark... well is pretty aloof and also a bit of a coward but he makes it up with his great courage to face the danger despite him being afraid in the first place.Friren's og companion are also well written Heiter that, despite being called by Friren a "corrupt priest" he is a good person,despite having it's own short-comings as a human being, Eisen despite being the less memorable of the bunch in my opinion is also quite good,he has a profound wisdom and despite his status as a "Warrior" he also has his weakness and much like his apprentice also is afraid which makes him slightly more relatable... and Himmel... Where I even start with him...
He is fantastic! Charismatic,calm,funny,wise and with that little bit of egocentrism that never hurts yet he is not
blinded by it, Himmel is an amazing character! If Friren is the heart of the show then Himmel is definitely its soul because, the dynamic between her and HIM are what made me feel in love with this show despite its few shortcomings that I'm gonna address later.What makes him even better is the fact that we mostly get to know him through the flashback and despite that and him having the less screen time of the main cast he far outclasses every other character in the show Friren included in fact, when we get to see Friren most intense emotional and relatable moments it's often related to him. I love this duo dynamic mostly because it reminds me of a similiar dynamic between two characters from a videogame that I really love. In short, Friren characters are the strongest weapon that show uses to capture the viewer and making them interested heck, even the side characters while not as flashed out as the main cast is portrayed in a realistic tone that makes them believable people and that is what makes the show interesting to watch.

So then, what about the story you might ask. Well.. the reason why I still haven't talked about is due to the anime particularly nature and Friren long term and not urgent goals, it is a bit difficult to talk about the story without spoiling the show and, since I want the most amount of people to read this review(and also them watching this show)
I'm gonna try my best to explain the show without spoiling anything or almost at the very least.
Premise, if you think this is the type of show in which you can understand the general direction of the plot in the first 3 episode or the fact that you like or not then I'm sorry to say but this anime might not be for you. Like I said before, due to Friren long term goal and her lifespan and the fact that she likes to take her time results in the show taking things slowly which could put a lot of people off (myself almost included). My advice is to give this show a bit more time, for me it starts to become really interesting from episode 7-8 and then I was completely sold from episode 10. I takes a bit of a while for the show to really start shining due to the build up but I promise you that it's really worth it(At least it isn't One-Piece).As for the actual plot, It like I said before it follows around Friren which she, after she suffers a tragic loss. She wanders a bit till she is reunited with an old member of her team(Heither) Which with who she ends up meeting a girl that he took care of(Fren) which after a while she ends up taking care of her as her apprentice as the start their Journey to a place called Aureole. As she progress her journey she ends meeting a lot of people with different mindsets and perspectives about things but that nevertheless is useful for our main cast to grow as they experience new things.The anime likes to take a lot of detours as it keeps going which is a risky choice since it may have alienated some people or even straight up bored some but it was correct choice since the plot of this anime functions better like this since, the plot is revolved around characters and not objectives or enemies to defeat and that is it's biggest strength and its biggest weakness.That's because you can have either characters doing completely meaningless things and still have fun watching them due to how they interact with each other or, having them having to face important situation but you caring less about it because you'd rather watch them goofing around or watching another of those succulent flashbacks. The pace it's slow but never to the point that it makes you feel like you're wasting your time watching it(another thing does that but I'm gonna talk about it later). The characters are both focused on reaching their goals but at the same time not to focus to the point that they start ignoring everything else. Perfectly balanced as every- I mean... as a journey should be. There is one point in which I feel like it slows down way too much or rather arc but before reaching that I have to address one issue in particular that I have with this anime, one of which I feel like it is barely talked at all in a negative way and that is... the battle of this show.

Friren while being a fantasy is also classified as a Shonen meaning, that there are several battles on this show with the characters despite not having to face a true villain,they have to occasionally to face some obstacle of some sort. those come in the form of demons, the underlings of the Demon lord and usually a fight would be a welcomed change of pace to spice things up a little but unfortunately, for better or worse, the show seems firmly and obtusely stuck to keep the same slow pace which unfortunately devoids them of any fun or enjoyment, especially considering the fact that the characters rarely apply any kind of tactics at all which would have make sense considering the pace of the show. Instead what we get is usually the main cast prolonging the battle,trying to sell the illusion that they are actually struggling for them an instant later, overpowering their enemies and beating them easily.It certainly doesn't help that the characters are so much OP on their own.Friren in this show is as OP as Saitama,Fren is as talented as Goku or heck even Gohan and Stark with his ridiculous plot armor know as his endurance and them being like that while the enemies are just for the majority underlings makes the battle anything but fun to watch, especially with how cold and calculated the two mages battle so there isn't even the sense of hilarity that you get when you watch Saitama one shot their opponent since both Friren and Fren don't care to show off and unlike the bold hero they have fully control of their power. As for Stark... well it's even worse as he seems to be on the ends of getting beaten but then suddenly he too also one-shots his enemies and that makes me infuriate a bit as the show seems to be trying so hard to sell the illusion that Stark is actually danger but then he suddenly wins because it makes me feel like the show its being disingenuous with its viewers,trying to selling them something that it clearly isn't that being a shonen anime and no,just because they have beautiful doesn't mean they are good or fun to watch.In all the series there were only 2 battles that were slightly interesting, one against a freaking plant and the other one which didn't even feature the main cast and the fact that the last arc is composed for the majority of battles makes it worse since the last arc was so boring that I struggled to finish them I actually stopped watching it for a bit.I saw some shoujo anime that have more engaging battles than this anime and I know a lot of you will respond with "the point of this anime isn't to be a battle shonen"and yes I know that, but at the same time if you put a lot of battles and said battles are boring to watch and you're also on top of that classified as a "shonen" then yeah, I have to criticize the anime for that. On top that the so called "Amazingly written" magic system that everyone talks about isn't nothing so amazing to shout about.Sure it still is a miles better than that crap of confusionary system that Index has but it's far from the complex system that people want to make you believe.The only "complex" thing is how convoluted of an explanation we got for what essentially is literally ordinary offensive magic (Zoltrak). Other than that,the majority of spells are self-explanatory and the actually cool and complex magic the characters use are barely explained if not at all. Add that with stakes that are so little that are basically nonexistent and you get the most overhyped and boring battles that have ever existed, although animated beautifully and with an excellent choreography lack in term of script-writing and emotional substance. In other words, Friren's battle are basically the most close definition that there is of "Style without substance".

On a more positive note, the battles as well the whole anime in general is animated amazingly well but that's to be expected from those who have animated Death Note,One Punch Man(S1),No game no life and many other but this time around they really have outdone themselves. the soft palette color really was an excellent choice for a chill and calm adventure like this one and the expressions really reinforce the work done with the writing when it comes to portrait them in a realistic manner and makes them even more enjoyable to watch.The battle also are amazingly animated though it gravely suffers from the issues that I have mentioned previously. The sound design is also pretty amazing,completed with the amazing OP that is Yuusha which I really and I mean REALLY love on a personal level completes another amazing work produced by those MADlads(eh get it?)of Madhouse which I really hope that the second season gets also animated by them considering the amazing work they have done here.

In conclusion.Friren The Journey Beyond End it's a fantastic anime that really feels a breath of fresh air considering the stagnation on the fantasy genre caused by the Isekais which I really recommend you to watch if you want something different and more interesting that the usual "guy gets reincarnated/transported in another world".
However, I do not think this anime is perfect and faultless that people make it out to be and that leads to my big talking point.I have a slightly issue of current with the insane critical acclaim this anime is getting and the reason why I feel that way is because when I see a lot of people talking about this anime or even here those who review it here are praising it either for things that are downright exaggerated like the quality of the battles and the complexity of the magic system(both of which are quite false in my opinion)or worst, for stupid reason like"the fact that it isn't an isekai" or the fact that "It doesn't have fanservice"(Which is also slightly wrong but go on) which are completely downright stupid reason to praise a show for just because of those.It's not like only Isekai anime exist and it's not like shows without fanservices doesn't exist either(Death note that was animated by the same studio is one of those shows).I feel like it's really disrespectful to shower the show with infinite praises for this stupid reasons alone,not only for other amazing shows out there but also is disrespectful to Friren as well because people who praise it like that fail to acknowledge the shows true amazing qualities with it deep although a bit cliché thematics of regret and growth which is really sad to see because it feels to me that the average viewer hasn't learned nothing from the show at all.
It makes me feel that people upvoted this anime to the number 1 spot just as a sign of frustration of all the years in which we got bad,after bad,after bad Isekais in all of this years with only a few exceptions and also as a sign of rebellion of the viewers that got sick of the current trend of Isekais that the anime industry still doesn't seem to want to get rid of it. I know a lot of people might get upset upon hearing this but it's the only way that I can explain the absurd score that it got with 9s being barely equivalent to the 40-45% of total 10s something which I've never seen before and I don't believe that Friren is that good a masterpiece to justify that mass amount of critical success or the fact that there isn't someone that even tries to do an constructive criticism of this anime.Leaving that aside I think that Friern is an amazing anime that despite it's slow start and slow pace, offers an amazing experience that only a few other anime can give so I definitely recommend to give it at very least a try even if it isn't you favorite genre.That said I do not think that this anime is as spotless and as perfect that people make it out to be therefore, I believe that there are better anime suited for the number 1 spot although you can only count them with the palm of your hand(and not I'm not necessarily referring to FMA:BH)just that I feel like it's a bit too soon to define this the best, I repeat THE BEST anime of all time, especially considering that this was only the first season. We don't know if this series is gonna improve with its second season like Mob did... or if it's gonna fumble badly like The promised neverland did. I surely hope the first because there are some things that I really love about this show and hopefully with a few fixes it can really become the masterpiece that everyone says it is.

Positive Notes:
Interesting and compelling Story.
Different and more original take on the Fantasy genre.
Characters are FANTASTICALLY written!
Best flashbacks that I ever seen!
Himmel is HIM!
Ability to entertain the viewer with the simplest of things.
Beautiful animated completed with a good soundtrack and an amazing OP.
Good world building.
The pace is consistent..

Negative Notes:
But it's slow rhythm may make it difficult for some to digest.
The battles are glorified art presentations. Boring and bland, almost Soulless in a sense.
The magic system is remarkably unimpressive.
The story takes a halt in the last arc which was a CHORE!

Voto:9/10