Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Frieren doesn’t demand your attention in quite the same way as other masterpieces. The action, comedy, and heart-tugging you would expect are all there, but instead of relying on intensity to keep your focus, it’s understated in a way that means you have to actively choose to stay engaged. I’m really glad I made the effort, because as I did I kept getting more and more out of it. The show leans into some familiar adventuring tropes and then consistently goes beyond them, creating something very different from the shallow, generic template it came from. For one, the story begins after the battle with the demonking, where we see what it’s like for life after the climax, especially for the thousand year old elf Frieren. Despite the characters fitting party role archetypes, they are extremely lifelike as they muse on age, memory, relationships, and joy in the journey. The story puts less weight on the grand wars and conflicts, and focuses on the impact of our ordinary interactions as we go through life. Even Frieren’s new adventure, a years-long journey on the way to a place called Heaven, functions as an analogy of life itself.

And oh boy, the animation. Right away I was struck by the careful film grain and blurring, applied on top of crisp, polished visuals. That mix of nostalgia and modernity makes a perfect anachronistic art style for our anachronistic protagonist. It’s clear that a lot of effort went into the splendid character animation and background art. The contemplative scenes really work, and the action scenes hit so hard and fast they leave you wanting more (even though they’re not the point of the show).

It’s hard for me to find fault with a story that so excellently conveys the importance of enjoying the journey—that would feel like going against the whole point. For me the themes, and the understated, beautiful tone in which they were presented, really worked. If you’re looking for something gripping or climactic you might not find much here, but if you’re looking for something contemplative, subtle, lifelike, and finely crafted, I’d highly recommend Frieren.