Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Elves have been a part of fantasy-based pop culture for quite some time now and in all this time no one had thought about making a story about the longevity of elves and how it affects their relationship with other races and society. Sousou no Frieren does exactly that! It tells the story of an elf after she has achieved her greatest feat with her human and dwarf companions. Plot: The anime for majority of the time is a slice of life anime, but there are some subplots that make the anime a more thrilling action spectacle from time to time. The anime for mefeels like a mixture of Mushishi (calm and quiet with lots of ambience), sometimes it feels a bit like a Ghibli and Disney film (lots of sweet emotions with swelling music) and sometimes it feels like a slice of life anime where the protagonists just handle day to day tasks.
However, the plot sometimes falls down for being a little bit too convenient like Himmel is presented way too perfect and knows exactly what to say to everyone, the ring finding spell or Ubel’s spells. It feels the stakes aren’t really high for the characters in the anime.
Art/animation: I really like the colors in the anime, almost every object has sunlight shining over it to give it that slightly yellow tint. The artwork looks colorful and vibrant while being calm and mellow. It kind of reminds me of Mushishi a lot. The action scenes are decent, they have chaotic magical explosions firing off that look fun to watch. Big plus point for the two outros, they both have non anime style that looks really mesmerizing.
Soundtrack: The soundtrack is made by Evan Call, the same person who made Violet Evergarden’s soundtrack. The music is celtic folk inspired orchestral music which suits the theme very well. I’m listening to the Ost as I write this review and the music is very dynamic. It has very quiet parts and very loud parts. Because of the slice of life nature of the show the soundtrack is a little forgettable but that one action theme is pretty dope “Zoltraak”. The sound design is pretty spectacular too, again it sounds a lot like Mushishi with great ambient sounds of animals, water and wind. While action scenes have that huge subwoofer energy.
Final verdict: Frieren is a spectacular anime that explores a new plot in the fantasy realm that should’ve been done years ago. The Sound and visuals are top notch, but the plot might seem to be too convenient at times. I hope the show goes here like how Attack on Titan went from S1 to S4. If Frieren manages to make a bigger world with a more robust magic system and lore, it will truly be one of the greatest anime of all time.