Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a Japanese manga series written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. It has been serialized in Shogakukan’s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday since April 2020, with its chapters collected in eleven tankōbon volumes as of September 2023. The series is licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media. An anime television series adaptation produced by Madhouse premiered in September 2023.

By December 2023, the manga had over 17 million copies in circulation. In 2021, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End won the 14th Manga Taishō and the New Creator Prize of the 25th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Plot

The story follows elven mage Frieren, a former member of the party of adventurers who defeated the Demon King and restored harmony to the world after a ten-year quest. In the past, the heroic group included Frieren, human hero Himmel, dwarven warrior Eisen and human priest Heiter. Before they part, they observe the Era Meteors together, a meteor shower that occurs once in fifty years. Frieren agrees to see them again and offers them a better view the next time the celestial event occurs. Frieren then departs and travels the world in pursuit of magical knowledge.

Frieren returns to the capital fifty years later; however, humanity has changed, and her former companions have distinctly aged. After one last adventure to see the meteor shower, Himmel dies of old age. During the funeral, Frieren expressed guilt for not attempting to learn more about him. Frieren then pays a visit to her other former comrades. She accepts an offer to teach and care for Fern, an orphaned child adopted by Heiter. She also receives an invitation to travel far north, to the resting place of souls, and see Himmel again to bid the hero a fitting farewell and express her feelings. To fulfill those requests, Frieren embarks on a journey together with Fern while still pursuing her passion for learning magic.

Frieren’s elven nature grants her an extremely long lifespan, causing her to view periods of years or decades as ephemeral (this perception of time makes her consider the ten-year adventure with Himmel’s party a fleeting experience). The story thus takes place across a long time, with periodic flashbacks accompanied by the physical and mental development of characters apart from Frieren herself.

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Anime

In September 2022, it was announced on the cover of the ninth volume of the manga that the series would receive an anime adaptation. It was later revealed to be a television series that is produced by Madhouse and directed by Keiichirō Saitō, with scripts supervised by Tomohiro Suzuki, character designs handled by Reiko Nagasawa, and music composed by Evan Call. The series premiered with a two-hour special on September 29, 2023, on Nippon TV’s Kin’yō Road Show programming block (which is usually reserved for feature films), which is the first ever anime series to do so, with later episodes airing on the network’s new Friday Anime Night programming block. The series will run for two consecutive cours. Yoasobi performed the opening theme song “Yūsha” (勇者, “Hero”), while Milet performed the ending theme song “Anytime Anywhere”. Milet also performed the first episode’s ending theme song “Bliss”. Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia.