Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

TL;DR: It's a 7/10 (8/10 at x1.75 speed). It's solid, but definitely not "the best of all time with a huge lead", the way it is ranked right now. I'll go over the bad first: ---Pacing is the biggest problem. It's one of those "intentionally slow" anime. But unlike something like Mushishi, it didn't really made me want to take things slow, instead I had to resort to x1.75 speed and skipping some boring parts. I kinda get why it's going for a slower pace, giving the viewer the time to marinade is the existential crisis of the passage of time, but I think they're making ita bit too literal. This anime definitely moves at "Frieren speed" for better or for worse.
---Story. Isn't necessarily bad, but often a bit bland and doesn't really have a strong pull. Also the point of the whole journey is a bit weak. Frieren just kinda went on a whim, it feels. Just cause she was a bit curious. Which is completely in character for her, it's just not the most exciting of motivations.
---I don't really know how to word this one, but, I see what this anime is doing and it's not working for me. I've heard from several people that this anime is emotional and deep, and I see why other people would feel that way, but I didn't got emotional and I don't think it's particularly deep. All this "human life is so short", "all Frieren's friends are going to die of old age", "she says "see you in 50 years" like it's nothing" and so on, didn't had much of an effect on me. Probably because I'm not that young anymore. Maybe some years ago it would hit me harder, but I had to deal with the conundrum of the passage of time for awhile now and I'm kinda with Frieren. 10 years isn't that long of a time, and if I could live for centuries, 50 years wouldn't have been either. Really the only emotion this whole beginning section made me feel was the jealousy towards the longevity of elfs. I was worried that the whole anime is going to be this "passage of time" tearjerk, but luckily it wasn't. And as for it being deep, I'm yet to hear it saying anything deep about anything. The only thing of note it did do is it really beat you over the head with how big the difference in time perception between humans and elfs is. Which, I think is a part of a reason for it's current popularity, because we all are kinda hyper aware of time nowadays. Just saying "this or that was 10 years ago" or "90s was that long ago" is enough to put a person in an existential crisis, and I think Frieren hits people in the same spot (with an extra tearjerk). But once again, I personally didn't particularly care and I'm glad that this anime had more to offer then just that.

And now for the good:
---Animation and visuals: generally solid, occasionally breathtaking. It's not a visual splendor of something like the first season of One Punch Man, but Madhouse are once again showing everybody how it's done.
---World building. It's not trying to do anything flashy or groundbreaking, it just feels well put together, well thought out and interesting enough. We'll see if this impression continues all the way through to the end, but so far so good. Magic system... exists.
---Story. Yes, it's in both bad and good sections. While it is a bit bland, I also think "reliable" is a good way to describe it. It does something interesting enough often enough and does it reliably well, that, even though it wasn't the most exciting watch ever, I did wanted to keep watching. Some people say that it gets worse in the second half. I disagree. Maybe I'm a sucker for exam arcs, but I welcomed a break from an "episodic" structure.
---Characters. They are a bit simple, but they have enough quirks and unique reactions to make them feel interesting. They are a bit less exaggerated than anime characters tend to be, which I appreciate. And I feel like, while characters starts simple, over time they accumulate details, so by the end of the first season, the main three do have some amount of complexity. The rest of the characters don't feel cardboard thin either, but most of them didn't had enough time to benefit from this "accumulative writing". But they're likable enough and feel like they have things going on, even if you don't know much about them.
---Liberal use of montage sequences. Yes. Somehow this is a highlight. A lot of fun stuff and small character moments are in these.
---I think the best thing this anime does is that - it doesn't do many things wrong. While I wouldn't call any of it's elements exceptional, they all are well put together and "reliably good". This show wasn't getting me hyped, but it also wasn't disappointing me. And because of that, it was almost comforting to watch. It didn't started on a high note for me, but by the end I can definitely say that this show was a good time and I'm looking forward to the second season.