Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

The fact that this is the #1 anime on this site, with more than double the amount of 10 star reviews than 9, makes me despair for the current state of human aesthetic sensibilities. Appealing to the blandest most flat and passionless standards of writing and characterization with no consideration for emotionally compelling arcs or depth or location memorability... the list could go on and address nearly every bland moment of this soulless slog. The most compelling moments are of Frieren's former party and Flamme. Everything in the present feels devoid of passion and intention and relies on comparison to the past to give anynoteworthy reaction from Frieren herself and results in her current companions having no genuine personal development or motivation. Even the silly memeiness that git this show famous is dry and derivative and never made me laugh once. Stark especially is useless and is literally dropped from the show for the longest arc of it. Which is consistent with the continual failures in pacing and scene direction that can make any fight scene feel like the longest pointless interaction with 0 developed or released tension.

There are fun series, there are emotional series, there are adventure series, there are thematic series, and so on and so forth. Frieren wanted to be all of these yet lacked any sense of balance and failed on all accounts.