Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

I consider myself to be an author. I write stories and I have been doing so since I was quite young, breaks aside. Whenever I read or consume other stories, I try to not only enjoy them for what they are, but I also like to look at what makes them work or what doesn’t make them work. Sometimes a story is great but part of it feels off and then I find it important to figure out what it is that makes it feel off. Other times a story does everything right and there really isn’t anything you can learn from it, you just marvel at its perfection. Frieren is one of those shows.

For the few of you that haven’t heard of this show yet, or don’t know much about it, let’s quickly summarize it. The hero Himmel and his party – to which the elven mage Frieren belonged – saved the world from the dangerous demon king and restored peace to the land. Fifty years passed and Frieren returned to meet up with her friends. Only upon meeting them does she realize how much the time that’s passed has changed them. Her friends are old and frail now while she’s barely aged. Even worse, that mere 10-year adventure that they once had together suddenly feels much more important than the blip on the radar she originally thought it was. We follow Frieren as she travels with Fern, a young human mage that trained under Heiter, the priest that was part of the hero’s party as well as Stark, a young man who trained under Eisen, the warrior of the hero’s party. Together, the three of them travel north for reasons I’ll not spoil.

What Frieren excels at is something that a lot of shows can struggle with. Frieren doesn’t move particularly fast at some points in time, yet there is a decent amount of action as well. This can often create that feeling of working towards the next big moment. So when you have a show that combines slower and faster arcs, it gets tricky to balance the slower arcs in such a way that viewers don’t get bored. Frieren never gets boring. I can watch the gang spend several minutes just doing chores in some town, help out an old lady with some minor inconvenience for half an episode or have an action packed showdown with a bunch of powerful demons. None of these moments feel better or worse than the other moments. Seriously. I don’t think I prefer the action heavy episodes over the slow episodes at all. And vice versa of course. 

What makes this show so sad at times is how Frieren realizes through her current journey that her past journey meant so much more to her than she initially thought. Human lives are fleeting for a near immortal elf and the mere 10-year adventure felt like a blink and nothing more, but Himmel was such an incredible force of personality that more than 50 years later, after his passing, Frieren still feels his impact tremendously. With Fern and Stark at her side they travel north, slowly and leisurely. They help people, encounter problems and even take a dangerous exam, all the while Frieren reminisces on her similar journey with Himmel. It adds to this sentiment that there are signs of Himmel’s heroics everywhere. From statues of the hero himself to old folks who still remember him. There’s even new heroes sprouting to follow in his footsteps, motivated by his heroics. Even the priest and warrior are hailed as heroes despite Frieren knowing Heiter to be a drunk and corrupt priest, he’s a hero now due to his effort with the demon army. 

Frieren is personal. Frieren isn’t a grand spectacle that feels epic in scale. Frieren feels like watching someone discover themselves through the love that others show them. It takes you along on Frieren’s journey of self exploration and she even manages to make some others reconsider themselves. Fern grows as a mage at a staggering rate and although Stark isn’t the bravest person out there, he has the right amount of courage when he needs it. We meet so many interesting characters along the road but the story also isn’t scared to leave them behind as we keep traveling onward.

I can talk about this show for hours, as it’s easily some of the best writing I’ve ever consumed, but most of you have probably already seen the show and know this. I am mainly writing this post for the few of you who haven’t seen Frieren yet. Those of you who have can just nod along and agree that it was an incredible journey. It might have been a mere 28-episode journey, but it’ll still have an impact on our lives a long time from now. Thanks for reading.