The new anime season is off and running, and I’m already way behind in my anime-watching. One show I immediately fell in love with was Sousou no Frieren, aka Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. It’s a relaxing fantasy anime about an immortal elf with little awareness of the passage of time, and the friends she makes (and loses) along the journey of her life.
Sousou no Frieren is the Story of an Immortal Elf
What would it be like to be an elf, an immortal being who lives for thousands of years? You’d probably do awkward things like say “see you again in 50 years” to your friends, forgetting that this is a long time for humans. Or spend a year looking for a rare flower because you’ve literally got all the time in the world. You probably wouldn’t understand how the passage of time felt for mortals, and you might have problems connecting with them emotionally for that reason.
That’s the premise of Sousou no Frieren, a super relaxing anime about the elf mage Frieren. She’s just returned from a decade of adventuring with three other party members: hero Himmel, alcoholic priest Heiter and Dwarf fighter Eisen. They managed to defeat the Demon King, and to celebrate the new era of peace, they attended the Era Meteor Shower together.
The group parts ways, promising to reunite at the next meteor shower 50 years in the future. When she sees her former comrades, Frieren is shocked to see how old they’ve become. Soon after, Himmel and Heiter both pass away, and Frieren ends up with a traveling companion, Heiter’s adopted daughter Fern.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is based on a popular manga running in Shounen Sunday, and is directed by Keiichiro Saitou (Bocchi the Rock!). The series has been confirmed for a full 2-cour run, so we’ll be getting 24+ episodes to explore this amazing world. I’m so hyped!
An Extremely Relaxing Anime
Sousou no Frieren reminded me of another series involving magic, the popular Flying Witch. That show told a cute-witches-doing-cute-things story set in northern Japan. It’s great watching Frieren journey around looking for new spells, engaging in comforting banter with Fern along the way.
And yet…the feels. The core story of Beyond Journey’s End focuses on how Frieren realizes she needs to work harder to connect with her mortal friends. It doesn’t come naturally to her because she doesn’t feel the passage of time as humans do. This change is amazing to see and often brings strong emotional responses out of us as viewers.
A big part of the relaxing nature of Sousou no Frieren comes from the outstanding voice-acting. It’s extremely pleasant in the ears. Frieren is played by Atsumi Tanezaki, who voices Anya from Spy x Family, Rio Futaba from Seishun Buta Yarou and Vivy. Fern’s voice is provided by Kana Ichinose, who voices Ichigo from Darling in the Franxx, Sayu from HigeHiro and Suletta Mercury. Both seiyuu really shine in this anime, and I recommend you watch it in Japanese with subtitles.
How To Make Your Anime Stand Out
As I wrote in my blog about the Autumn 2023 anime season, there are a whopping 66 new and continuing anime series this season. Knowing it would be hard to stand out from the crowd, the creators front-loaded several episodes, giving fans more content to consume while other series were just getting spun up. That’s smart! Having an amazing OP by anison group Yoasobi won’t hurt the show’s popularity, either.
(Frieren is a powerful mage, but has issues avoiding Mimics.)
Thanks for reading this post about Frieren: Beyone Journey’s End. Will you be watching the show? What other series should we cover? Tell us in the comments below!
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