Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

A near perfect season for what will hopefully be a near perfect anime. Frieren starts off as a slice of life anime with an interesting concept, cute fantasy elf, but evolves to include elements of a fantasy shounen. A perfect mix. Frieren alongside her two companions are such an enjoyable group to spend time with that episodes that would feel like filler in any other shounen, do not. It's an absolute joy to spend time with these characters as you see their relationships develop and change over time. The themes of loss, regret, and purpose hangs over each scene giving meaning to the mundane andthe action scenes. You feel this uneasy sadness of a nostalgia, a lost past that Frieren carries with her which aligns perfectly with the modern anime watcher.

The action scenes are given much more meaning having spend the mundane moments with these characters. So much so that you wish spent longer with these characters as they went through their day.

I said near perfect and that's because the last arc almost felt like a different anime. Depending on the viewer this may gel more if you prefer fantasy shounen but as someone who loved the mundane slice of life moments some of the story framing and plot beats feel out of place for a show that until that point had treated death as a serious concept.

Despite this slight slippage at the very end the show well deserves the title of a masterpiece, if you want a show that makes you feel warm and fuzzy watch Frieren. Like life in juxtaposes the moments of joy with moments of sadness and it mixes the two near perfectly.