Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

EDIT: I forgot to mention that one of its weaknesses is that the first half has some parts where it's unnecessarily slow. I also bumped down the rating so that it's more consistent with my other ones. Frieren should be more of a 7 rather than an 8. Frieren is a show that DOES NOT deserve all the hype and praise it gets. However, it still remains pretty enjoyable. If you want to watch Frieren, you have to delete any notion that this will be an unprecedented masterpiece. I suspect that the reason Frieren gets so much praise is because the past few years have beencompletely devoid of any attempts at a new story or concept. Watching Isekai #508 made me feel like Katakuri from One Piece where I could see the dialogue 5 seconds before it happens. If I had to give an analogy, Frieren feels like you drank cold water on a hot day, but it's not like you drank an amazing milkshake. It is a very welcome breath of fresh air.

The originality of the show is its main strength in all categories. It takes a beaten up horse and adds a spin on it. It is a deconstruction of the fantasy genre

Instead of being set in a fantasy world where the heroes must beat the demon king, the story is set after their successful mission. Frieren is an elf who will live for an impossible amount of time. This causes her, and other elves, to take the flow of time lightly. After the hero dies, she starts to feel regret over how she took what little time they had together for granted. The premise is a fresh take on what is usually an uncreative setting. It also gets handled quite well. Instead of the show being about Frieren constantly expressing her regret (which I expected and would have been completely fine with), It is relegated to the background and becomes another cog that influences Frieren's decisions throughout the show.

It was really pleasant seeing Frieren go around the world and see all these remnants of her party generations ago. There are all these statues of her friend that are now becoming rusty, old and dilapidated. The villagers remember that the hero existed, but she is the only one who has real memories of him.

The setting itself is not appealing. It is the usual medieval fantasy world with all the races you come to expect. The landscape is just every medieval fantasy. However, the interesting thing is how the show builds up the setting in its unique way. It is difficult to describe what specifically is interesting without spoilers so I will not do that here.

The characters, for the most part, are consistent with their own personalities. For example, Frieren does act the part of someone who is extremely old and negligent of the passage of time. Although some of the character personalities are tropes, they aren't walking bags of repeated gags. Rather, they are deconstructions of those tropes; they talk and behave like real humans.

One point of criticism is the plot during the second half of the first season. Tournament arcs are overdone. There also isn't a unique twist regarding them in Frieren. The arc also halted the main plot which was unwelcome.