Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Violet Evergarden meets Spice and Wolf meets Sword Art Online Disclaimer: This is my first review, even though I've been watching anime since I was a little kid (more than 25 years now). If you quickly peek at my list, you will find that I tend to prefer serious themes, more substance than action—things many people might find boring and/or old school. With that being said, off to the review. First, the good stuff. The animation and music are both great—mature, relaxed, and flowing. It's a colorful world, living and breathing, full of people, creatures, plants, and so on. Some people say that the lore is irrelevantto the plot, and to some extent, it is, but it serves the main goal of retracing Frieren's journey and reflecting on her memories and feelings in a new way.

I didn't find the plot boring or slow-paced; my favorite anime is Monster, after all. Character interactions are well-depicted and serve the purpose of the main story. Last but not least, there are some really cool battle scenes and a few funny moments here and there as well.

Now, about the things I don't like. To me, this anime exploits the same concepts as the critically acclaimed Violet Evergarden but falls short in many places. Violet brought me to tears with almost every episode, while Frieren managed to only touch the surface on many issues, such as the true meaning of life, friendship, love, and the fleeting passage of time from the perspective of a creature who lives thousands of years.

Frieren's quest to understand humans is analogous to Violet's quest to understand her feelings and emotions. The trouble is that all the plot devices in Frieren are very naive and shallow. They are repeated almost every episode and tend to be emotionally manipulative, but after a couple of episodes, they (unsurprisingly) don't work anymore.

Frieren is a good anime; it's a feel-good story that's quite enjoyable to consume. It's just not very original and sometimes too obvious with the plot and too emotionally manipulative in a way that lacks subtlety. There are much better series out there exploring the same subjects and ideas. I'm giving this one a solid 7, but I cannot fathom how and why this anime sits at the top of the MAL chart.