Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Before I started watching Frieren I thought to myself that this would be one of the most overrated animes of all time. Why ? Well naturally it's because it dethroned FMAB from the number 1 spot on MAL by an unbelieveable difference of .30 points. Don't get me wrong I do not think FMAB is the greatest anime of all time as well but I do understand why it was regarded as the number 1 anime of all time. FMAB was a perfectly welll balanced anime for the most part but, it wasn't perfect in any category whether that be the story, characters, animation etc.It just had something for everyone to enjoy. I was 100% sure that Frieren immediately taking over the No. 1 spot was all due to recency bias, because since the beginning of the 2020s especially (i think) a lot of both mid and good shows have received outrageous scored on this site as opposed to the scores of older shows. This is of course all due to the extreme burst of popularity anime has received in the 2020s.
I however wouldn't say I went into Frieren with negative expectations. I knew it would be a great anime I just thought it wouldn't be the best anime of all time according to MAL. Boy, was I wrong.
To start off, what makes an anime great? When deciding this there are a lot of different aspects to rate. The story, characters, animation, voice acting, music and of course enjoyment are all deciding factors when it comes to rating anime. There are two ways we rate these aspects in our minds. Objectively and Subjectively. An anime might have incredible visuals, wonderful characters and a gripping plot but in the end if we do not feel a special conneciton to the characters, if we can't find parts to relate in the story and if that anime just didn't feel 'special' for us even if that anime is technically perfect we probably won't think it is the best or greatest anime of ever made. Just because it isn't our favorite. In my opinion when picking the "greatest anime of all time" on a site like MAL it is important to overlook some of the subjective opinions because this is not only the preferance of you or another person, it is the general consensus that choses it. Basically, I think our favorite and the greatest of all time are two very different things.
With all this in mind I do not understand why people do not think Frieren deserves the top spot of MAL. Frieren in my opinion is definitely the greatest anime ever made. It is the closest that any anime has ever come close to perfection. There is not a single aspect of Frieren that is lacking. I have enjoyed almost every second of Frieren. I loved the story and the characters, the animation and art style are mind blowing absolute perfection, everything that happened in the 28 episodes was very entertaining from the simple shopping to the beautifully animated action sequences. I would also like to say, how the hell was all of this only 28 episodes. The episodes were so packed with different events and plot lines that after I finished watching it felt as if I watched double the number of actual episodes.
So why isn't Frieren a 10 on my list. It all comes down to subjectivity. Yes I loved the characters and the story but it just wasn't special for me. Don't get me wrong this is not a bad thing at all. Just because an anime didn't earn a special place in my heart doesn't mean that I regret watching it or it was a bad watch. Frieren is the best anime I have seen in almost a year and I am grateful for that.
In conclusion. Frieren deserves that number 1 spot 100%. If you still haven't watched it go and watch it right now. Who knows maybe it will gain a special place in your heart. I sure wouldn't be surprised because it can easily gain that place with its wonderful story and characters. Even if it doesn't, you won't regret it and I believe you will agree with me in saying that Frieren is the closest anime to perfection.
Edit: I realized I mixed up subjective and objective while writing this review (english is not my first language) and that made some parts very confusing I fixed it now i think