Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End was the anime series in the Winter season that was most able to make me ugly cry. It starts off with some heavy reflections on grief and mourning and every few episodes it manages to slip in another shot in the feels. That said, this isn’t a depressing show – instead, it’s a bittersweet reflection on the fact that we and the people we know will eventually grow old and die, so we should value our time with them while we can. It then proceeds to do all of this interspersed with some tremendous fight scenes.

The premise follows Frieren, an unaging, effectively immortal elf sorceress. At the start of the series, she and her companions have returned from a quest to defeat the Demon King and save the world – the sort of story that would normally be a complete series in its own right. It then skips forward 30 years, where most of the members of that original group of heroes have grown much older, where they reunite with Frieren to a journey to a place where they can see a once-every-30-years meteor shower better, before the Hero of that group, Himmel, passes away.

We then spend a little time with some of the proteges of the other members of that group – particularly Fern, an aspiring mage who was trained by the priest Heiter, who Frieren takes under her wing until Himmel’s passing. From there, Frieren and Fern travel to the home of Frieren’s own human mentor – where she learns of a place in the far north, near the Demon King’s former castle, where one can speak to the souls of the dead. With that, Frieren, Fern, and later Stark (a warrior trained by Eisen – a dwarf who was one of Frieren’s companions) – set out on a journey that takes them following in the footsteps of Himmel’s group, fighting new opponents and meeting new friends, while also reflecting on the past.

As my statements in the first paragraph state, this is a series with some rock-solid character writing. The flashbacks show how strongly Himmel’s party got along, along with how Frieren and Fern’s party gets along – in sometimes similar, sometimes different ways. So, throughout the series, in addition to Frieren’s party’s relationships developing, our almost Highlander-esque flashbacks also slowly show how the relationships in Himmel’s party developed, including the idea that Himmel had been holding a torch for Frieren for quite some time, possibly even before the party even formed. This leads to current events informing elements from the past party, and ultimately setting up even more tearjerker moments, considering Himmel passes away early in the series, and Heiter not long after that.

On top of this, the animation of the series is top notch, from the mage fights throughout the series, to really basic elements like wind blowing through a field of flowers. Mark Cousins, in A Story Of Film, frequently quoted D.W. Griffith describing film as being “The wind through the trees” – Frieren is a series that is very willing to take the time to do just that, more than just focusing on the fluidity of action and the expressions on characters faces in dialog scene. Though, to be clear – the reaction game in this show is absolutely on-point. Between this and Delicious in Dungeon 2024 is shaping up to have some of the best reaction faces in anime for quite some time.

The manga of Frieren is still ongoing, and the conclusion of the anime does hint at a second season eventually coming, even if it’s not actually confirmed yet. I do hope that season does come.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.

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