Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

[MINOR SPOILERS] "To live is to be remembered. You just need to change their lives, just a little bit." Ultimately, Frieren is about living, its about the beauty of us and our relationships, the importance of memories and how others change our lives for the better Frieren is an elf that could live for many human lifetimes, not being able to put in perspective the fragility of human life, the weight of loss and grief. She lives with this burgeoning regret that she did not understand her companions well enough, and now that they are gone, there is no way she could do anything about it What wouldyou do with such a regret? Would you constantly dwell and despair at the past? Would you try to erase those painful memories, pretend they never happened?

Frieren decides to go on another journey, the same route that she took with her companions, Himmel, Heiter and Eisen, to defeat the demon king so many years ago. She may not know the answers to her regret now, but as the show progresses, it becomes clear there is nothing to regret. She cherishes her beautiful memories of the past, while embracing the relationships in the present.

Her past experiences, her present experiences, all have become her.

Sousou no Frieren is beautiful in this aspect, as it comes intimately close to our own experiences in describing the universal regret of not being able to spend enough time with loved ones. It does not try to preach exactly how to overcome them, but rather shows how, in the limited time you did spend with them, it was full of smiles, laughs, jokes and banter.

Characters: 10/10
Not only do we get the perspective of Frieren in accepting the past, but also from her travel companions Fern and Stark.
Fern was raised by the priest Heiter, also one of Frieren's previous travel companions, because she lost her parents at a young age.
Initially finding life meaningless after losing her parents, Heiter breathed a sense of purpose and hope back into her. Eventually, Heiter asked Frieren to take Fern under her wing on her journey as he was too old to take care of her. Wishing to repay Heiter for essentially saving her life, Fern takes on the responsibility of "taking care" of Frieren, almost like a mother figure. She wants to show that she is strong and independent, and there was no need for Heiter to worry about her in any way. However, through Frieren, she finds another purpose in life beyond repaying Heiter: magic. While most people use magic to reach an end goal, Fern uses and learns magic for the sake of doing so. Heiter's impact on Fern is huge, yet Fern does not live her days constantly trying to "repay" him, but finds new purpose and meaning in life. Heiter wanted Fern to live, and I could confidently say, Fern lived.

Stark was raised by Eisen, one of Frieren's previous party companions, who taught him what it means to be a warrior. Stark is by nature cowardly and even "fragile", and Eisen does not seek to change that. Instead, Stark learns that being a warrior doesn't mean he can't be weak, he just has to be strong to protect what is important, just like what Eisen tried to do in his lifetime. As such, Stark carries on Eisen's legacy beyond his lifetime, raising his weapon to protect Fern and Frieren by fighting alongside them, while even literally carrying on Eisen's fighting technique, "lightning strike".

The show's characters are especially interesting outside of Frieren's party too. With each character, one feels pure, unfiltered human emotions towards their complex characterization and intricate character relationships. Frieren attests that she wants to understand the complex human relationships between people, and the show perfectly portrays the duality of how complicated and contradictory, yet simple and beautiful relationships can be.
There are many examples of this throughout the show, without going into spoilers, many relationships depict two characters who seemingly dislike each other, or help each other out of obligation, but ultimately find a reason to stay by each other's side. With a simple act of care, blocking an attack, protecting one another, complex relationships are reduced to this one, singular, emotional moment, and one could truly appreciate, how beautiful relationships are.

Plot: 9/10
Frieren moves from place to place, town to town, meeting new people and obtaining new experiences. Every town has a couple new and interesting characters, who not only bounce off Frieren and her party very well, but have their individual personalities and characterization that contribute to our understanding of the importance of memories, the past and beauty of human relationships.
Often, Frieren recalls a memory of her and her previous party coming to the same place, showing how each individual experience with them is deeply etched within her, so much so that it something affects her actions in the present.
The story could divided into these subplots within each city (generally), and through these individual fragments, one could piece together an overall picture of the world and its characters. After each episode, you feel like you have learned something new about the themes of the anime, or something new about the characters, and it is so heartwarming and satisfying to watch almost each and every episode.
My only gripe is that some subplots are quite long, so much so that some episodes are not as meaningful as others.

The worldbuilding is rather complex and nuanced in the show too, and is a breath of fresh air from the typical MMORPG setting many isekais default towards. While Frieren is not removed from a typical medieval setting, where it truly excels is that complexity it attributes to a core element of the world, magic. Instead of a messy power system where each spell is seemingly made to outdo another spell, Frieren describes an interesting magic system where users could use magic to attack, defend, conceal, and manipulate objects. That's not all, many of the mages in Frieren have their own style of magic, be it water or fire magic, or magic that could penetrate anything given enough "belief". I will not go into more detail about all the different spells and types of magic, but rest assured that that the interactions between these spells and types of magic are a sight to behold. Beyond battle, magic is also used to make life easier as well as give protection to important places. It is clear that the show has carefully incorporated magic into its setting and story, making its world unique interesting and complex.

Animation/ Art: 10/10
The animation is breathtaking, dynamic and intense. While never being centered around fights and fight scenes, Madhouse and its animators have put in an extreme amount of effort to show each fight in stunning detail. In recent years, I felt that some anime excessively use digital after-effects and 3D animation in trying to animate action. While this is not necessarily bad, I love how Frieren is a callback to an almost purely 2D animation style.

Music: 9/10 (Disclaimer: I know nothing about music theory, this is all based on subjective experience)
The music is composed by Evan Call, also the mastermind behind Violet Evergarden's soundtrack, and its clear he did an amazing job on the soundtrack. The main track brings out a sense of adventure, of hope and of tranquility as we see Frieren and her companions travel around the world. The music easily matches the medieval setting while subtly including elements of nature as Frieren travels through rural areas between cities.
Insert songs, especially "Zoltraak", is intense and powerful, played during intense fight scenes or moments in the anime, they bring out a sense of suspense and reflects the importance and gravity of the current situation
While not a unique masterpiece, Evan Call's soundtrack perfectly compliments and adds to the overall atmosphere in Frieren.

Enjoyment: 9/10.
Frieren is a joy to watch, I find myself immersed in its world, interested and intrigued by characters and character interactions, and tearful at how the show portrays human relationships and especially how Frieren develops to understand and care for others better.
On "Frieren Friday", I find myself eagerly tuning into every episode, and I always leave with a warm feeling in my stomach. I love how the show never becomes too serious, putting in comedic moments between important plot points and especially how relaxing and tranquil it is. Some shows overindulge in their themes, repeating them over and over like some mantra, but Frieren is more careful to not continuously preach its themes but rather show them gradually, and often visually to the watcher, something I greatly appreciate.
As mentioned previously, my only gripe is that some episodes are "nothing episodes", due to being in the middle of a long story arc, which slightly impacts my enjoyment as I look to Frieren to be enjoyable and meaningful every episode. (I know, sounds unreasonable, but it is what it is)

Overall, Sousou no Frieren separates itself from the rest through the depths of its characters and world, and how it tackles the universal theme of loss, change and love.
If there is one thing I have taken away from this show that I would remember for a long time, it is that

One has truly lived, if it changes others' lives for the better.
One has truly lived life, if people carry on memories of you into the future.

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