Frieren: Beyond Journey's End: A review
Apr. 19th, 2026 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewduckerI'd been hearing talk about how good Frieren was for a while. It seemed to have come out of nowhere to instant acclaim, and to actually be about things. So a month ago, when I was looking for something to watch during the occasional 20 minutes when I get lunch alone, I thought I'd give the first episode a go. And while it didn't make me cry it came very close, and it had an atmosphere I hadn't encountered anywhere else, so I was completely grabbed from the beginning, and now that I've finished the first season I feel somewhat bereft.
It is, in background, a bunch of totally standard fantasy tropes. But it does something interesting with them, which is to base itself after the point most stories end. This is the story of what happens to Frieren, an immortal* elven mage, after her adventuring party defeat The Demon King. And how she lives in a world where the friends she makes live much shorter lives than her, how she connects with the people around her, and what she does when she realises that this matters to her.
There is plot, and action**, but mostly not that much of it. The point is the people, and watching them orbit each other, learn from each other, or completely fail to. The characters are interesting, and I love feeling that there is much more to most of them than is obvious on the surface. I particularly loved the first few episodes, which set everything up, but even once we get past past these in to the ongoing arc*** I have found myself looking forward to the next episode more than in almost any TV I've seen in the last decade.
I suspect some people will get put off by some of the tropes, both the ones taken straight from fantasy/roleplaying and the ones that are stock anime conventions. But I could happily look past those and enjoy the meat of the show, which was excellent. I eagerly await season 2. The only nervousness I have is that the original manga has been on hiatus since October, and the creators have clearly struggled with the production schedule, so I don't know whether it will ever be completed. But, frankly, it's not (at this point) the kind of show where I need an ending, I'm delighted just to be along for the ride.
* It is not clear how long elves live. But it is clearly at least thousands of years.
** And when it happens it is gorgeously animated
*** I'm not sure it's a plot, as such. Things are happening, but I'm not convinced that it's going somewhere in particular more than it is just following characters around to see what they get up to.
It is, in background, a bunch of totally standard fantasy tropes. But it does something interesting with them, which is to base itself after the point most stories end. This is the story of what happens to Frieren, an immortal* elven mage, after her adventuring party defeat The Demon King. And how she lives in a world where the friends she makes live much shorter lives than her, how she connects with the people around her, and what she does when she realises that this matters to her.
There is plot, and action**, but mostly not that much of it. The point is the people, and watching them orbit each other, learn from each other, or completely fail to. The characters are interesting, and I love feeling that there is much more to most of them than is obvious on the surface. I particularly loved the first few episodes, which set everything up, but even once we get past past these in to the ongoing arc*** I have found myself looking forward to the next episode more than in almost any TV I've seen in the last decade.
I suspect some people will get put off by some of the tropes, both the ones taken straight from fantasy/roleplaying and the ones that are stock anime conventions. But I could happily look past those and enjoy the meat of the show, which was excellent. I eagerly await season 2. The only nervousness I have is that the original manga has been on hiatus since October, and the creators have clearly struggled with the production schedule, so I don't know whether it will ever be completed. But, frankly, it's not (at this point) the kind of show where I need an ending, I'm delighted just to be along for the ride.
* It is not clear how long elves live. But it is clearly at least thousands of years.
** And when it happens it is gorgeously animated
*** I'm not sure it's a plot, as such. Things are happening, but I'm not convinced that it's going somewhere in particular more than it is just following characters around to see what they get up to.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-19 02:59 pm (UTC)If you've watched that and are looking for something else to watch, I recommend Delicious in Dungeon. It's also very character-focused, has some tropes but completely defies some others. I think there is a very large overlap between people who like both.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-19 08:31 pm (UTC)The manga has released 15 tankoubon so far, and they're currently in the middle of a major arc. However, there is enough material in volumes 9 through 12 (mostly Denken's Golden City story) to do another cour of the anime.
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Date: 2026-04-19 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-19 04:29 pm (UTC)It's on Netflix, if that helps.
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Date: 2026-04-19 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-19 04:29 pm (UTC)It's on Netflix, if that helps.
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Date: 2026-04-19 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-19 05:21 pm (UTC)Another couple of recommendations are The Apothecary Diaries (Chinese court intrigue in the background of a very intelligent servant girl trained as an apothecary) and the dounghua (Chinese animated) Lord of Mysteries (occult horror investigations in a very involved pseudo-steampunk world).