Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
This is not a bad show, it's even good, but I can't in good conscience say it's truly number one among every piece of animated media to come out of Japan. Also, as someone who speaks German, it is very difficult to take the show seriously when the writer clearly decided on every proper noun by typing a word into google translate and just running with that. The show doesn't hit the same when you realize its the adventures of Freeze, Distant, and Strong while reminiscing about some dude named Heaven. That girl named Laufen sure does run fast, that Denken guy sure is thoughtfuland that übel girl has a bit of an evil streak to her, doesn't she? I wonder if they're going to have difficulties crossing the Difficult Mountains on their way to the city of Door. It does take you out of it a little but you don't know any German, this won't really apply.
On the plus side, it is refreshing that, for the most part, this is a fantasy anime with world building that doesn't make it feel like a video game or rely on the isekai trope as a crutch to introduce the world to the audience, although it definitely reads as the writer's D&D campaign. The pacing is well done, they do a great job of weaving together the contemporary events with memories of Freiren's past adventures.
The characters are where the show falls apart just a bit. As I stated above every character is named by taking a word, translating it into German and that is also how that character is going to be characterized with little depth for most characters we meet. The dynamic of the main three cast members is a bit of an issue. Freiren and Fern don't really feel like distinct characters, their personalities are too similar so they end up being more defined by their more unique character flaws, which makes Fern rather unlikable because she doesn't communicate her feelings well, so when she gets upset, she simply comes off as unpleasant. Freiren is simply defined by being aloof to how others around her feel, except when she inexplicably isn't and she reads someone 100% correctly.
Overall, the show is enjoyable for an audience looking for a fantasy anime that lacks many of the distasteful tropes that have been plaguing the genre as of the last decade. It's not overly grimdark like RE:Zero and it's not a deconstruction of the genre like Konosuba. Frieren is more like a modern Record of the Lotus War. A solid fantasy adventure but it's not really worthy of the pedestal that it's been placed on.