Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Frieren at the Funeral

Japanese: 葬送のフリーレン

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 28

Status: Currently Airing

Aired: Sep 29, 2023 to ?

Premiered: Fall 2023

Broadcast: Fridays at 23:00 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Dentsu, Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Nippon Television Network, TOHO animation, Shogakukan

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Manga

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 9.12¹ (scored by 87,401 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #675

Members: 338,084

Favorites: 7,897

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@Anime_Frieren

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May be unavailable in your region.

9.12

Ranked #1Popularity #675Members 338,084

Episodes: /28

Synopsis

During their decade-long quest to defeat the Demon King, the members of the hero's party—Himmel himself, the priest Heiter, the dwarf warrior Eisen, and the elven mage Frieren—forge bonds through adventures and battles, creating unforgettable precious memories for most of them.

However, the time that Frieren spends with her comrades is equivalent to merely a fraction of her life, which has lasted over a thousand years. When the party disbands after their victory, Frieren casually returns to her "usual" routine of collecting spells across the continent. Due to her different sense of time, she seemingly holds no strong feelings toward the experiences she went through.

As the years pass, Frieren gradually realizes how her days in the hero's party truly impacted her. Witnessing the deaths of two of her former companions, Frieren begins to regret having taken their presence for granted; she vows to better understand humans and create real personal connections. Although the story of that once memorable journey has long ended, a new tale is about to begin.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Sousou no Frieren was released on Blu-ray and DVD in seven volumes from January 24, 2024, to July 17, 2024.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Sousou no Frieren
Other:	Yuusha, Sousou no Frieren: ●● no Mahou

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Frieren

Main

Tanezaki, Atsumi
Japanese

Fern

Main

Ichinose, Kana
Japanese

Stark

Main

Kobayashi, Chiaki
Japanese

Himmel

Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko
Japanese

Eisen

Supporting

Ueda, Youji
Japanese

Heiter

Supporting

Touchi, Hiroki
Japanese

Flamme

Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko
Japanese

Aura

Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana
Japanese

Linie

Supporting

Iwami, Manaka
Japanese

Sein

Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Fukushi, Yuuichirou

Producer

Iwasa, Naoki

Producer

Kikuchi, Ruriko

Producer

Itou, Yuukou

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Yuusha (勇者)" by YOASOBI

Edit

Ending Theme

	1: "Anytime Anywhere" by milet (eps 1-)
	2: "bliss" by milet

Reviews

Oct 13, 2023

Czekaj

Recommended

Preliminary (5/28 eps)

With lives so short, why do we even bother? To someone who lives for thousands of years, it is barely worth giving the wistful existence of humans much consideration, let alone getting to know them. That is, at least, until you meet one who is worth getting to know.

From the very outset, this series does not hide that it will focus on some of the tough questions in life: purpose, meaning, our own endings. Yet embedded within these, it unpacks the many guised forms of regret. Upfront it reminds us that our lives are short; our prime is even shorter. It is easy to be ... nonchalant or carefree – or to believe we are working towards “something” – but yet, after the fact has passed, what will we wish we did instead? What should have mattered to us more at the time?

In story, sousou no Frieren is about everything that happens "in the moment”, and the things we didn’t know we had until we find time to reflect; the end is what catches up to us when there is no tomorrow to put things off until. As our lives speed towards that end, we start to learn the meaning in making those small moments count. But did we not always know this? Wisdom is as much about its meaning as it is about how we come to acknowledge it. Our teacher may be there for only one one-hundredth of our lives, yet it only takes that one person to question us on the things we haven’t yet stopped to think about. For even if we don't appreciate wisdom at the time, once that seed has been planted, do we not continue to grow it unknowingly until the season is right for it to fruit?

Visually, while peppered with small parts of almost misplaced silly humour, sousou no Frieren captures the story’s deep sentiments with detailed subtleties: slight shifts in wrinkled expressions, dirt flicking up from a wagon’s wobbly wheel, the agefulness in the differences of characters' hands, or the objects that become absent from Himmel’s cabinet between scenes. The unobtrusiveness of the character banter is paired with genuinely “normal” character flaws that serve only to make the characters more real, as they struggle with their own vices, internal demons… and regrets. The music and sounds can almost go unnoticed: the crackling of lanterns in the otherwise deafening silence of night, the rushing water as they cross a stream, or the dampening fog of the wood. Combined, the story, visuals and sounds sustain a gently forlorn yet serious undertone that ensures you always know where this story’s journey is taking you.

The studios behind this series are well-known for quality and care, and thankfully they were given the time to pore over these details for us: for example, the cut scenes in episode four, of Frieren’s “master” and the finding of her magical tome, are short but powerfully emotive. As always, it's refreshing and reassuring to have series such as these – series that know they can hold their own against the usual roll out of typical tropes, formulaic story recycling, and the essential must-have fanservice; a series that takes the time to tell its story, to unpack its themes, that takes you on a journey and rewards you for your emotional investment.

Sousou no Frieren is a series that has the power to change how you choose to live your life: to reflect now on what you may live to someday regret and choose how you will take action to cherish it in the moment while you still live it.

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Oct 13, 2023

TheRealist68

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (6/28 eps)

Through 3 episodes, Frieren appears to be a unique masterpiece in storytelling and worldbuilding, a bright spot in the middling fantasy genre, and one of the leading anime of the season, no, anime of the year candidates; I do not recommend it to 70% of anime fans.

Don’t get me wrong, this show is absolutely amazing at pretty much every aspect of being an anime, and through 3 episodes, I literally can’t find a single gripe that I have about this series. However, I can easily see how the average anime fan would find the series “boring” or “uninteresting”. Frieren isn’t a flashy series: it ... primarily deals with character development, symbolism, and storytelling. There are few fight scenes, a whole lot of dialogue, not a lot of effort spent on comedy and a general lack of the “fantasy tropes” that people expect from the genre. However, if you have seen a lot of bland fantasy anime and are looking for a change, or perhaps you have a somewhat nuanced view or sense of appreciation for higher-level stories, Frieren will be nothing short of an amazing experience for you.

Frieren isn’t an anime that you would celebrate in the group chat “DUDE that episode was sooooooo hype”. It’s more of something that you would write a thesis paper for in English class. Our story follows Frieren: an Elven girl who seeks to understand the human perspective of life: one foreign to her as her long lifespan doesn’t allow her to see the value in most human endeavors. The only deep connection she has to anything is to her 3 friends and the adventures they went on together. When the friend she has the deepest connection to dies off, she is willed to reconnect with the other friends before they die off; collecting apprentices from each of them as she looks to retrace that adventure she took for granted. Any doubts that I had about this premise on paper were quickly washed away by the masterclass of storytelling.

The story is primarily told through flashbacks rich in symbols of Frieren’s previous adventures that develop our characters and give them a general sense of direction, followed by an actual storyline acting on these flashbacks. The flashbacks are all succinct enough to remain interesting without feeling long-winded, and each and every flashback has a clear story purpose: whether that be as clear characterization or setting up Chekhov's guns for later. These Chekhov's guns are used perfectly in a way that guarantees you an “oh, *that’s* what that was for” moment every episode. Both of these positive aspects of the use of flashbacks are commonly botched in other anime in the genre, making Frieren just that much more impactful.

*Lightning round of praises*

The story is amazingly emotional, yet nuanced as it tackles heavier-than-normal topics for the genre with a degree of tact. It doesn’t try to be overtly shocking with big *gasp* moments or overtly emotional with moments that make you want to bawl your eyes out, instead, it maintains a constant level of impact on the viewer: a factor lost on some anime that have a degree of variance to their impact.

The characters are deep to the extent simply not found in most fantasy anime. The original party interacts with each other in a way that makes their friendship feel genuine: almost in a Konosuba-esque manner. The new party has fluid dynamics that can even foster a bit of comedy that never detracts from the actual story.

The animation is high quality without being overly showy or bombastic: almost in a way that reminds me of the first season of Mushoku Tensei (minus the cool bread-tearing scenes)

The op is yet another Yoasobi op with depressing ass lyrics atop an upbeat score. It admittedly took me a long time to warm up to it, but by episode 4 I recognized that it was amazing.

Frieren does the Oshi No Ko thing of having a long-ass first episode(granted this one was split into 4 episodes but I digress). This helps the viewer get into the more convoluted premise more easily, and honestly, this should become common practice for anime of this nature.

If any of this sounds appealing to you, I suggest you check out Frieren. I personally see the series as a fantastic representation of what a true higher-level fantasy anime should really be like. However, I do recognize that for some, it simply doesn’t have that traditional anime impact that you need to enjoy a series. That’s perfectly okay, but just know you're probably missing out on something truly great.

Thanks for reading, let's have more Frieren-like fantasy and less vending machine isekai.

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Nov 26, 2023

ChouunShiryuu

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (11/28 eps)

This might be biggest disappointment this season. You don't need to know much about it to know why it's not worth your time except that it's one of those explore and learn about human feelings slop. The story is about a long lived elf whose fwens die (oh no~), so elf-chan needs to journey around retracing the steps she once took with them on her adventure to give the melodrama enthusiast some low quality cri pron.

To accompany elf-chan on her adventure in stead of her boring and uninspired teammates, she finds an even more boring and uninspired kuudere. Together they travel the brilliantly uninspired world ... of whatever it is and run random errands for the NPCs of the world. Each such errand reminds elf-chan of her time with her companions, what they liked, what they said to her, all in her quest to understand human feelings and more specifically to know about her now deceased comrades (and their feelings?)

Also Please also note that the elf grill travelled with the guys for 10 years, didn't get to know them. One of the teammates (one guy from her party of four) dies and elf chan has an epiphany that she needs to get to know her comrades, then she doesn't get to know about her still alive comrades because they need to be dead to set the find my feelings find myself cri pron journey into motion. Sasuga~

Now i haven't seen violet evergarden or fumetsu no anata e, but if you have, you don't need to see this. All of these kinds of stories are usually this exact kind of slop and if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Solid 4/10.

To further expand on my earlier review, it hasn't improved one bit and im already almost 11 episodes into it. The female main character is as expressionless as ever and so is the aforementioned kuudere. joining them now is a third character that is not very expressive himself but seems like he is just because of the contrast with these 2. In fact, no character in the show is very expressive, it's like the FMC in a low effort shoujo manga, the one with the personality of a fish with her mouth open in an O shape. Or like a guild of serial killers killed these guys and now wears their faces, like yakuza clans and their tattoos. The writing might be taking a battle shounen-ish turn at this point but it is not one bit better than it previously was. Itt might be going the battle shounen route in part/partially. It might thus be undoing the one thing it is praised for, which i don't think it was doing well anyways. The battle shounen parts you can guess won't be as good as a genuine battle shounen since they're about the feels and viscerality and emotionally charged characters. It tries to play on power fantasy where frieren is stronger than some mighty demons, but again there's better shows to do that as it's again not that gratifying seeing the mixed nature of the show and again the lack of viscerality.

Earlier i compared this to violet evergarden, but You can't expect any visercal sentimentality from it (which you might from violet evergarden?), or compared to other titles with drama like koe no katachi which is memorable and makes you feel. It has the drama tag but it lacks the visceral nature of a good drama. There's some lighthearted jokes sprayed in, some of them sexual, but these jokes are just as lukewarm as the show's drama is. The delivery may be okay and so is the comedic timing, but they're the usual generic uncreative kind and they don't offset any pressure from the barely visceral drama and they are not unexpected twists on another visercal chain of events to catch you by surprise and be humourous. You can get a smile, but the comedy won't either warm your heart or make you laugh heartily.

But maybe, just maybe, the show is something like the monogatari series? No, it is exactly what you would expect from a show with characters like these, it's not particularly atmospheric, the music is generic fantasy music and the locations, quests, characters etc are all one dimensional things from generic fantasy. It's not exactly some chill/relaxing travel where you take in the journey and the beauty of the locations or activities the party is indulging in. Like it does not create an appreciation for the mundane by presenting it in a different form. Like for example you find a ditch in a road, and then maybe you see a bunch of children floating paper boats in it with insects atop. There's nothing like that here. watching paint dry can be relaxing some time, but you can't say it's anything more than being just that, but sure it might relax you if that's your inclination, just that there's nothing to see there and you can't say it is more than that (used paint dry as an example and drew an analogy, not used as the usual insult).

There are little moments where the show tries to give the characters a layer of subtle emotional responses and dialogues but it feels mechanical and jarring and that it was done to manipulative you into thinking it has depth. But why does it fail? why is this manipulative feeling and not koe no katachi? because again the show is bland and not viseceral, and because of its mechanical nature the tool of subtlety too feels mechanical and that it is there based on a formula. It doesn't get disguised as you're not on an enjoyable ride where you don't get the chance to sit and nitpick.

All in all, i don't know what slice of life or drama is on display here because everything is so lukewarm that it amounts to nothing from what i've seen and felt about it. There's no form of visceral charm to it. Even a laid back relaxing atmosphere is fulfilling, kind of like denpa onna for example, it's not mundane but a title can be the run of the mill mundane that is beautified in presentation. Slice of life shows elicit different feelings but they're visceral just like blood and gore shows, just without most of the adrenaline. frieren is not this. It is brilliantly uninspired.

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Recent News

'Sousou no Frieren' Reveals Additional Pair of Cast

The official website of the Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) television anime revealed a pair of additional cast on Thursday. The anime premier...read more

Nov 23, 6:40 AM by Nioxys | Discuss (2 comments)

'Sousou no Frieren' Announces Additional Cast

The official website of the Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) television anime unveiled additional cast members and a new visual (pictured) on F...read more

Oct 13, 10:25 AM by Hyperion_PS | Discuss (3 comments)

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Poll: Sousou no Frieren Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Nov 24	289 replies	by LaiusTheGreat »» 1 minute ago
Poll: Sousou no Frieren Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 1	76 replies	by Rob7 »» 3 minutes ago
Its really that good? I havent watch it yet Umbreon20 - Dec 1	40 replies	by TRC_Randy »» 35 minutes ago
Poll: Sousou no Frieren Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Oct 13	224 replies	by fukumenkei »» 2 hours ago
Well that was very honest surajpanda - Dec 1	20 replies	by V1P3R0P »» 2 hours ago

Sousou no Frieren

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Frieren

Fern

Stark

Himmel

Eisen

Heiter

Flamme

Aura

Linie

Sein

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Sousou no Frieren

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

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Ending Theme

Reviews

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