Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a show that is hard to review. Not because I don't know what to say, but I do not think a review could genuinely encapsulate what makes this anime so special. That being said, I'm going to give it a shot. Time is one of the most valuable things in the universe, but it is undervalued simultaneously. We constantly take for granted how little time we have on earth, and how short our lives are. Frieren the mage is an elf, and this means her lifespan far exceeds that of a conventional human. Because of this, what may seem like alifetime for us is a blink of an eye to her.

The show begins after the 10-year adventure to defeat the Demon King. This party of 4 includes Frieren the mage, Eisen the warrior, Heiter the priest, and more notably Himmel the hero. Unlike a traditional Shounen, this show starts after the story. The Demon King has already been defeated, and this sets it apart from any anime I have ever watched. Instead of following the journey, we get to see the aftermath.

Following this adventure, Frieren goes her separate ways from the other members on a 50-year adventure. Once she returns, the other members are now much older and close to the end of their lifespan, while Frieren is still fairly young for an elf. In her return, she gets to be there when Himmel passes on and this causes her to realize that those 10 years were the most important times of her life. This teaches her an important lesson about the value of time and thus begins a new adventure. (to avoid spoilers I will stop here as most of what I said is episode 1 content)

This shows writing is on another level. I watched "Oshi No Ko" right before this, and despite the level that the show achieves narratively, Beyond Journey's End exceeds it easily for me. It is so unique, powerful, and downright heart wrenching at times. Frieren is one of the best-written protagonists ever, period. She is so dynamic and realistic, and despite her many shortcomings, you can't help but root for her every step of the way. The other characters are also stellar and could have their own shows of how in-depth and developed they are. There are not many shows where I have found myself caring so deeply for even the side characters as much as this one. It is certainly a feat of writing to make characters this good.

Now to touch on technical factors, this show delivers. "Madhouse" does an absolutely fantastic job bringing this show to life with extremely detailed and mind-bending animation. The character designs are simple, but distinct and iconic. This show does not need flashy and eccentric character styles as it is going for a more down-to-earth and realistic style of character. The opening and outro are honestly mediocre and do not really interest me much, although they fit the show fairly well. The soundtrack, however, is very high quality and the music is used very effectively to invoke emotion within the viewer. Another thing I wanna mention is that this show literally made me rethink my other 10s, as this anime raised the bar exponentially as to what deserves that rating.

To sum up, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is fully deserving of universal acclaim, and I confidently say that it is fairly easily the greatest anime of all time. I would give it an omega-confident 10/10.