Reviews for Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

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 benonchalant 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.

Style- Frieren doesn't have its own unique style in any way. It just feels like every other Fantasy/Isekai ever. and I know it's not an Isekai, but it certainly feels like it in a lot of ways. The characters are very uninteresting and forgettable, the ost is one of the most generic things I've ever heard, the directing is very basic and boring, and the world is also uninteresting and forgettable. It's ironic how the only intriguing location is one we never see on screen through the whole anime (The North). Besides that there isn't a single location that sticks out. So in terms ofstyle this anime offers nothing that anybody who has seen more than 20 anime likely hasn't already seen before. It's not ambitious in any way and just feels soulless. I will say that for an anime to be good it doesn't have to be avant garde, or have insane directing that blows your mind, but there is nothing this anime offers that even makes up for its lack of identity (boring soulless characters and world).

World Building-

I've seen so many people praising the "amazing world building" this anime has, but I don't understand where they are getting this from.

The actual locations they go to feel like they have little to no importance in the actual world. They just feel like random kingdoms and villages, but why are these kingdoms actually important in the world? We are never really told, so it kind of just feels like they are just there to give the characters a place to go. it makes the world feel less alive and less dynamic. The world isn't changing around our characters, but rather they are changing around the world. It makes watching them journey around random areas feel meaningless. I never once during this anime thought to myself about where the characters would go next, nor did any area feel distinct from each other. There was nothing differentiating the different areas culturally and it just made the anime really boring and feel not alive. There was never a single character we met in one of these areas that wasn't also forgettable.

The world we are in is also so incredibly stereotypical. The fantasy elements aren't creative in any way and they just feel like copies of the same blueprint that fantasy stories have been using for a long time. Even Konosuba was parodying these stereotypes over 10 years ago but yet we are seeing them even more now for some reason. Regardless, Frieren does nothing interesting with these elements. The magic system is generic, the Demons are just bad guys who want to kill people, the kingdoms and villages are all generic, and I can go on and on. It just felt like this anime had a checklist of fantasy setting elements to include, but didn't bother to do anything interesting with any of them. The magic system is poorly implemented as well. Why doesn't pretty much everyone in the world use magic? It's such an advanced tool that I feel like everyone even people doing basic jobs should use it to make their jobs more efficient. It isn't a very well thought out concept and it goes back to what I was saying earlier about how they just included it because that's the norm for fantasy stories.

Animation/Art/Directing/Soundtrack

This is the strongest part of the whole anime. The animation was insane sometimes and there were lots of pretty colors that I actually liked looking at. Animation is such a non factor though this barely added anything to the experience for me. This is probably the least important category when it comes to making a good anime. As far as the art goes, I thought the background scenery was overly generic a lot of the time. Once again, it felt like I couldn't separate it from anything else. It didn't feel very atmospherically alive, but if it did I think I would've liked it a lot more. If this anime was more like Mushishi for example where each scene is just breathing life, I would've appreciated it so much more. In Mushishi there is always so much going on in the background and environmentally, even when nothing is happening it creates such a nice watching environment, that I am just completely entranced. It feels like this is what this anime wanted to be, but failed miserably. The lack of an interesting soundtrack also plays a heavy role in this. There were times where it actually felt like the soundtrack was AI generated.

The directing was very boring and there were a lot of annoying flashbacks that happened in the middle of a fight. Sometimes I literally forgot the fight was even happening because of how long the flashbacks were, which is where the problem lies for me. There is nothing wrong with the flashbacks inherently, but they were just very annoying and uninterestingly implemented. There were some scenes where a monster or demon would die, and for some reason they would randomly dissolve as if it was a video game or something. And there is also an annoying amount of explosions in this anime. To the point where explosions pretty much mean nothing since there is one every 3 minutes on average. Even when nothing happens to cause an explosion, one will just randomly happen anyways.

There were a lot of questionable sound design choices surrounding the comedy scenes that took me out of whatever immersion I possibly had left. They would use silly sound effects that didn't fit in the actual world and it felt really off putting. However, as for my first positive in this whole review, I actually really love the crystally sound effect they use whenever a character uses magic. It actually sounded really cool and it was probably my favorite part of the whole anime.

Comedy-

This anime does a poor job at mixing in its comedy with seriousness. There is one episode where Stark is bitten by a venomous snake and he was on the edge of potentially dying. Yet, the characters were being very unserious about it, as if it didn't even matter. There were many instances of this during the anime and it just got unwatchable. How am I supposed to take this anime seriously when even the people making it aren't taking it seriously.

Besides that a lot of the comedy feels like it was written by a 13 year old. The jokes just felt very forced in, and it often repeats jokes a lot as if us hearing about the drunk priest again for the 50th time was gonna be any more funny than the 49th time. A lot of the characters are purely used as comedy sticks and don't even feel like their own person. Pretty much the entire cast of Frierens old group are 1 dimensional comedy characters that got carried by Frieren to defeating the demon king. The priest is drunk every time we see him in a flashback, himmel is always acting like an idiot which is supposed to be funny because he's actually supposed to be like a hero or something, but he actually is just a goofball (its funny and stark is totally not the same character), and the beard guy never talks and is pretty much just afk. Oh and if one drunk priest wasn't enough, we get a second one midway through the anime.

Characters-

None of the characters feel like humans. They are constantly expressionless, especially during fights, and it just makes them very unrelatable. The way they talk is robotic as well. It's annoying that our main 2 characters are the most expressionless in the whole anime, and of course they get the most screen time. I already talked about the other characters from Frierens flashbacks, and that applies here too. Most of the characters are either expressionless robots, or purely comedy characters. There are very few actually serious characters and when I say very few I mean only 2. There is no character development, and everyone stays the same as they were before. After Stark defeats the dragon on his own early on, he doesn't grow as a character, he just stays as an annoying whiny brat. Fern is always mad at stark, even when their relationship progresses, it always goes back to square 1 and nothing ever happens to progress anything really.

Plot-

Boring, nothing happens between episodes 10-18. There isn't really much to talk about because there isn't really much plot to begin with. Frieren is kind of just looking after Fern because the drunk priest wanted to and they just wander around together. That's pretty much it. I guess they have an objective to go up to the north so they spend 18 episodes doing nothing, and then doing an exam so that they can try becoming tier 1 mages to go up north. It's very boring and nothing happened this entire season. This anime is more about its themes than its plot but I think the themes aren't explored very well. I did resonate with them a lot early on, but the same themes of nostalgia and time perception got really repetitive and they never really went anywhere.

In conclusion, this anime is not good in any way and honestly I gave it the most positive rating I could've possibly given it. I was bored from start to finish, and there was very little redeeming qualities in this anime. The only reason I didn't rate this anime lower is because I think there are much worse anime out there and in comparison to those, I guess this one isn't the worst thing ever, but it probably deserves a 2 or a 3 in reality. This anime is full of plot conveniences and nonsense. If you would like to see more of what I thought about this anime, feel free to check out the youtube channel in my bio. I uploaded a full length review on this anime where I talk about a lot of the things I wrote here, as well as a lot of other things I didn't go into depth about.

I feel so catered to. It feels like an eternity since I've been given such a phenomenal anime with a well thought out plot, great art and animation to accompany it, emotional thought provoking moments... more than that, it feels so mature in that it doesn't baby me with your typical anime tropes. No obnoxiously screaming kid protags, no overly ecchi scenes meant purely for fanservice, no moments where I have to groan and just deal with whatever stupidity is put before me-- Just a fun and emotional journey that is pure story and human feelings. I'm not going to go into too incredible detail, but ifyou're a fan of fantasy and pure story elements, this is the anime for you. It focuses on the after story of Frieren, who has already well and finished her main quest to defeat the demon lord that plagued their lands. We join her at the end, celebrating the accomplishments of her and the party she traveled with. Time passing ever so swiftly as her party aged while she does not as an elf. She's always known that she will easily outage everyone surrounding her and did not think twice of how she spent her time in those many years till next they met. And then she had to come to face with reality-- The hero she'd traveled with would die. Her compatriots would surely soon follow. Uncaring as she was before, she now realizes just how much she should have bothered to care.

Thus does she go on a journey to find herself and to meet up with the others in their older ages. Thus does she take on an apprentice and decide to try and reunite with the hero waiting where they last felled the demon king.

What anyone may appreciate most will go into just how well these characters are written. Especially the women! Rarely have I seen a well written woman character that I could fall in love with... and I had just about given up hope in such a male protagonist dominated field. You'll come to appreciate that they're their own characters, with their own thoughts and emotions, with varying personalities and things that get to them in a very human way. Sometimes our emotions don't make sense and occasionally you'll see these characters on their bad days, acting out of sorts and it's interesting to see.

Everything from the art, to animation, to music, to details... all of it is wonderful on the eyes and ears. When the going gets tough and the fights begin, the battle choreography is just so gorgeous to watch. So much detail and weight goes into everyone's movement. I think my only possible gripe could be that sometimes the characters can come off as a little stiff, their faces of emotion not as exaggerated when it comes to anime standards. Maybe that's a good thing and we're too accustomed to over the top facial expressions after all this time-- but occasionally, one wonders if it's not just a little too lifeless at times.

Other than that nitpick though, I can't help but recommend this anime to all of my friends and share in all its glory! My group of friends were particularly entranced and just so pleased to have a more adult show that felt appropriate for our older age. Just don't go into this expecting it to be fast and getting into this for that quick hit of awesome epic moments. This is a slow ride and an enjoyable one as it builds its world and relationships at a relaxing pace.

TL;DR: 5/10, I don't recommend this for anyone that has standards and enjoys a fantasy world that tells you from the very beginning at least SOME of its rules, a good or at least somewhat decent power system, not made on the spot spells for whenever the author needs them, well-explored themes, complex characters or intriguing dialogue. This anime can easily be described by saying that it is mediocre and generic and it has no reason to be as popular and praised as it is. The reason why I believe this is the case is because of the kind of interesting premise of the show whichmakes people think that this story and characters are actually mature, complex, or even philosophical (which it isn't, only at a surface level), the waifu bait mc, the episodic Slice of Life (SoL) elements and the presence of the well loved fantasy genre which is so popular these days in the anime community, giving huge generic isekai/fantasy anime vibes (especially the world and characters). While I have no problem with people that simply enjoy something for what it is, going from that to giving this anime only 9's and 10's and calling it anything close to "deep" or "philosophical" is an insult to any piece of writing that actually are this things. If you want something philosophical or deep, I can easily recommend anime such as Kino no Tabi (old version), Serial Experiments Lane and Casshern Sins.

World Building/Power system

Almost non-existent, the author makes things up as he goes along the way. No one explains the different classes which apparently exist, the races and the relationships between them, since there are quite a few of them (apparently they are all friendly with each other, except the demons, who are supposed to be the bad guys cuz that's what all the generic fantasy anime/manga/ln's also do) and kind of explain (on a surface level of course) the presence of magic. You have no history or sense of the world and how every species lives the way they do and no well-established fighting system, which makes this world seem extremely uncooked and was just an afterthought for the author cuz he knew all too well that classic fantasy worlds easily sell and everyone understands them, so he had no reason to think about it. While the demons are made up to be a threat, although to a lower extent, they barely appeared and got mentioned throughout the anime, they were probably put in just to have an occasional fighting sequence and to build anticipation of living threats (which they aren't, cuz Frieren's power is completely broken, so there is no tension or urgency for the party).

To add to the power system argument, the fact that Frieren's main hobby is collecting spells makes the anime even worse, since we are led to believe there are spells for pretty much everything since she collects a huge amount of books regularly on her journies, even before the story starts. Too add to that, how she has so many spells and the most important and even basic ones for battles or problematic situations for some reason don't exist or she doesn't have them is beyond me, especially since she has all kinds of spells for daily chores and needs, but not spells such as one that makes you lack the need for sleep, keep you warm in the cold or makes you see what is an illusion and what is real. But of course, we need some fake tension or to show some struggle with the characters because the existence of magic is used as the author sees fit and whenever it leads to the outcome that the author wishes for and it can easily be excused by saying that "she has so many spells, we don't know which she has or which she doesn't" or "she has so many spells, she can't remember all of them".

Story

The protagonist goes on the journey to the demon king castle to relieve the moments she had with her old party members. This is the kind of show where you should simply enjoy the journey, characters and the SoL elements without putting much thought into it. Too bad that, while I will talk later about why the characters are bad, pretty much every episode Frieren and her gang go to different towns, helping people for a few days, then moving on to another town doing fetch quests and sometimes beating an average bad guy (monsters). Fans of these show will likely tell you that all these moments are to build the characters and their relationships and while that may be true to some extent between 2 of them, Frieren not only doesn't do that, but she doesn't even try to learn more about the humans about which she wants oh so much to learn about, this being one of the main reasons (beside reminiscing about the old party) for why she goes on this journey. You would think that when someone wants to learn about other people or races, they would actually spend a significant amount of time with and questioning them at every chance they get. Not Frieren though, she has never even tried to question humans about their short life spans (compared to hers), how they see themselves compared to other species, or the value of their lives, to name just a few potential questions. Instead, she spends a few days in a town, does some chores for a few townsmen and moves on, constantly thinking about the old party she had which she didn't even try to get to know better even after she had realised that she wants to learn more about them.

Art style

As generic as it can get, you have the average fantasy world with pretty, vibrant colors, cute and moe female character design, and soy boyish male characters (not all but quite many of them, as it is the current trend).

Sound

While I usually don't notice the music and sound effects in anime's, there a few exception when I do so, but not in this anime, the OST is your typical medieval fantasy soundtrack.

Characters

Pretty much all of them can be defined by a simple character trait or stereotype, such as kuudere, another kuudere (the mc and the purple haired girl), the energetic crybaby that gets serious when it counts, for the main party, and drunk priest (get it?it's funny cuz that's a contradiction), serious dwarf and energetic crybaby (again), for the old party of Frieren. They all are the typical good guys with not much else going for them. In fact, for some reason, every single person that they meet on their journey just so happens to be good, except the demons, which are bad, as we all know. the old cast and the frequent flashbacks are used to make you feel bad about Frieren (a bit of emotional manipulation since you don't know any of them in the first few episodes when they appear the most so it's better and easier to make Frieren cry after them instead of building up for at least a few episodes the characters and that crying scene), and to make Frieren realise that she actually knew plenty of things about them and actually had a connection to them. This is considered an important plot point in the story because the anime tries to hammer almost every episode (if not every ep) how much she is starting to remember and care about them, but the story keeps going with the flashbacks even though both the watcher and Frieren understand this after just a few episodes and it still doesn't matter cuz Frieren doesn't change in the least after the first few episodes since she has this revelation and starts her new journey to know more about humans (which she doesn't even try to do, as i pointed out earlier). The least I can give it is that the old party isn't, at least, simply forgotten but a reminder for why Frieren goes on her journey, even though this can be simply canceled due to what I just mentioned.

Focusing on Frieren, the main protagonist, shows just how flawed the execution of its supposed themes in this show is. The fact that she is +1000 years old is one of the selling points and main reasons why this anime is usually praised, since it's something "new" and "original" (and as we all know, new and original=quality, doesn't matter how bad the execution is), but too bad that the aforementioned execution shows that it doesn't even matter if she is +1000 years or 20 years old since you can explore the same themes that this show pretends to explore in the exact same way and you wouldn't feel a difference. Actually, it would be even better like this, since she acts like a 5 year old that constantly needs to be spoon fed, woken up and dressed by her kuudere companion, despite her age. She was also a social outcast for hundreds of years , but good thing she ain't a +20 year old shut-in male who collects figurines and posters and suddenly tries to become more social, but a +1000 years cute woman elf that collects spells and only knows how to live like this, despite the years of experience, self reflection and time that she had to change over this period of time, because it would be quite clear who would be more appreciated and liked by the watchers. It is literally impossible to suspend your disbelief that she can still act like a child and have no maturity whatsoever after all this time if you have basic human knowledge and know that change can happen, even just by getting older (not to mention the life experience that she more or less has, even by simply existing) (and since there is no explanation, as far as I know, about the difference in development of human and elves, it's easier to go by human logic since they are extremely similar, except their pointy ears and long life span, which doesn't excuse the almost non-existent development from her childlike state). Neither her behavior, nor her thoughts show anything that could make me point to her and say she is actually a deep or complex characters used to explore themes such as the importance of bonds, of life, the inevitability of death, and the fact that the author just slaps over all her childish elements "+1000" years doesn't change anything about her shallowness, she is just a moe waifu bait who is liked only because she is a cute female, seing a +1000 year old male acting and being treated by others like she is creating quite the different perception of how a person should be at that age.

While I have nothing to say about the rest of the cast except that they are generic characters that are easily replaceable (which would be preferable since it would create more interesting dynamics than the ones in here), I at least enjoyed some of the interactions between purple hair girl and red hair boy, despite the fact that they don't add anything to the anime, not in term of themes, nor of story, especially the purple haired, since this anime shows you just how bland a cast of characters can be if you have more than 1 kuudere, red hair boy being used to liven the atmosphere a little (though it doesn't change much since the show is still boring and bland and mediocre due to the many reasons I presented here).

Conclusion

So yea, this show has nothing going for it except it's empty premise which the anime fails to build upon or execute even in a relatively competent way, being one of the most generic anime i have the (dis)pleasure to watch, but I am quite curious to see if it will even try to do anything better than it currently does, or it will remain an empty premise which the author isn't capable in the least to do something with.

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: itprimarily 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.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is unethical because it has no qualms about portraying demons as inherently flawed despite the fact that they showcase intellect and empathy that is on par with humans on numerous occasions. Nevertheless, elves, who are implied to be unable to empathize, are given preferential treatment simply because they pose no threat to humans, which in itself is a contradiction. The above-mentioned seems to indicate that Frieren is not actually about time and change, but rather seeks to promote anthropocentrism and communism. It is anthropocentric in the sense that humans are at the center of everything in Frieren, despite being substantially inferiorto both demons and elves. To further illustrate the point that is being made, in every single scene that involves demons or elves, humans are invariably brought up. It is as if the lives of every demon and elf revolve around human beings.

This show is fervently against the exertion of power, except when it benefits humans. This is most notably seen when frieren states directly to Serie, the personification of power, that her favourite spell is one that creates a field of flowers. In spite of that, Frieren does not have any second thoughts about massacring demons despite having seemingly no motive to do so. After all, it has already been established that elves feel no attachment towards their species as a whole and lack self-preservation instincts, which excludes the possibility that she is avenging their deaths. On top of that, Frieren's obsession with killing demons predates her meeting Himmel and Flamme, which could otherwise have served as a catalyst. The only explanation is that it benefits humans. This is another case of narrow-minded anthropocentrism in which the writer is unable to imagine a world that does not revolve around human sentiments.

As for the atmosphere, it is degraded by the constant barrage of flashbacks and jokes that are more often than not inserted into serious moments, which lessens the impact. Frieren was great when it was simply a story about an elf who wanders around aimlessly with her companion, collecting spells that she happens to come across along the way. The writer, blinded by her communistic viewpoints and subconscious craving for violence, changed the course of the story to better reflect her ideal world scenario, a scenario in which wealth and power is distributed among the people (humans), as opposed to the unfeeling aristocrats (demons). To achieve this objective, she posits that a powerful state (elves) needs to intervene and redistribute the power. This is alluded to when Flamme (influenced by Serie) successfully persuaded the Emperor of the continent's largest unified empire to endorse nationwide research into magic; magic is power. Prior to that point, every type of magic was viewed as demonic practice, and prohibited as a result. Furthermore, the goddess of creation is depicted with the long ears of an elf, which is in line with the establishment of the elves as the symbol of the state.

The previously mentioned flaws detract from the immersion of the reader, while also reinforcing the belief that Frieren is not a proper fantasy. Fantasy relies on the improbable, but to be effective, it must maintain a level of believability; truth is stranger than fiction. For instance, The existence of a species (referring to elves) that does not conform to the biological imperative (drive to reproduce, will to power, etc) is fantastic in nature, but the audience is nevertheless owed an explanation as to how that can be, and Frieren fails miserably in that regard. With that said, it does not come as a surprise that a sizeable portion of the Frieren fandom have correctly surmised that it is in fact a "native isekai", rather than a regular fantasy.

If you don't understand the complex characters that elves are, then don't write a story about an elf protagonist. People, There's a reason why elves are portrayed as cold creatures devoid of emotions and empathy, it's because they've been around for hundreds to thousands of years. So while humans are slaves to their emotions which often compromises their decision making, elves on the other hand have lived for so long and have so much experience that they are able to see the bigger picture and remain objective no matter how seemingly cruel the situation requires them to be. Think of Avallac'h in the Witcher 3 for instance. Frierenis a THOUSAND YEAR OLD ELF (estimates have her at around 1400-1500 years). Just to put things into perspective that's the equivalent of 14 full human lives at the very least. Think about how much you managed to do in the past 10 years of your life, now multiply that by 100 and maybe you start comprehending the scale we're talking about here. She's not a teenage girl who has just left her parents' house and is starting to discover the world around her for the first time. And yet that's precisely what the author wants you to believe. It's as though Frieren's time with Flamme, her decade-long adventure with the hero's party as well as the thousand years in between were all absolutely insignificant. During that time she gained no wisdom, learned nothing about humans, felt no emotions and didn't care about anyone or anything except for learning about magic. But when the anime starts, she does in the space of A FEW MONTHS what she failed to do throughout all her life! Can people really not see how utterly absurd this is?

Himmel on the other hand is a teenager but somehow he's wiser than the wisest elf. He knows exactly what to say especially to Frieren, he can do no wrong and does exactly what he's supposed to do every...single...time. Of course Frieren never noticed any of that during the decade they spent together, nor the fifty years afterwards, that would've made too much sense. Instead she noticed only after he died because that's when the anime begins of course, and set out on a journey to revisit all the places the party visited during their quest to defeat the Demon king. Hence the title.

The premise looked very promising at first, and the first few episodes were enjoyable. Sadly, what followed was a repetition of the same formula over and over again AD NAUSEAM: we visit a location, flashback to when the hero's party visited that same location, Himmel displays his all-knowing wisdom, Heiter is drunk, Fern pouts, Stark tries to cheer her up, and Frieren discovers something so basic about life that we wonder what she was doing the first 1500 years of her life.

Visuals are pretty good, animations are fine, and the sound track is forgettable. But if you think that such an anime is anywhere near worthy of being hailed as the best anime of all time then I have lost faith in this community. I can overlook the plot holes and the inconsistencies which I haven't even bothered addressing because, well, there's a much more serious issue at hand. The author doesn't understand basic concepts on which their whole story was based, and instead of being reprimanded they have been rewarded.

Do better guys, much better.

I feel some of the other reviews say it all too well, but what makes this a masterpiece in my opinion is that it absolutely captivates the sense of time of Fireren the titular main character, and how grand her lifespan is. Entire stories and experiences, entire lifetimes of people she's met are spoken of as if they were a brief scene like depicted in these flashbacks. The series does this brilliantly I feel. It wants us to focus on her journey of where she's going now, why, and who she is now rather than dwell too much in the past but to understand thatwe've got to see into her past, her many human lifetimes worth of experiences which again we see in brief glimpses, which could depict years, decades as that's how Frieren perceives time.

As much as the current story and current journey we see in the series is fantastic storytelling as is, it leaves us wondering how many other journeys and what other kind of things she may have seen. It gets us asking and wanting to know more about her, about Frieren but also it allows us the luxury of seeing this current chapter of her life. This "one one hundreth".

The series doesn't overtell, it allows you to feel immersed into the world, which is greatly helped by the sublime soundtrack.

This is a true gem of a series that I personally feel, will be remembered as a classic in years to come and I'm absolutely grateful to be able to watch it. I hope this review helps, I don't want to share too much or spoil after all. I recommend this, watch for yourself and see how you feel. Violet Evergarden and Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song vibes for days.

I really have no idea how this anime got such a high rating and is now considered a masterpiece, unique, legendary, etc. The only legendary and unique thing about this series is that it's so overrated, topping the list as the best anime of all time. The anime itself isn't bad, and the art is actually pretty good, but it's definitely not a masterpiece: - There are so many repeated themes in the story with lots of elements that other fantasy anime handled better. - The anime lacks originality and doesn't really bring anything fresh to the table. - The plot feels a bit empty and relies toomuch on flashbacks.

- The character development centers around nostalgia, repeating the same idea over and over again.

- It's like the anime as a whole feels more like a bunch of filler episodes or OVAs.

With that being said, I think it deserves a 6 or 7 out of 10 at most.

It's been 3 years since I last wrote up a review. Frieren is a slow burner. But hits so, so, good. After watching episode 10 it concludes it. Anime of the Year. I have no doubts. This is the only anime this season that I feel is worth reviewing or taking the time to write up a review about it. Being available on YouTube as well is a big plus. I look forward to every Friday/Saturday for new episodes. When I'm watching it's like a breath of fresh air, I can smell it and it just feels so refreshing. The music ESPECIALLY the Ending Songis a vibe. The animation is quality, and it's just overall a goddamn banger what else can I say? I might be slightly biased.

The environment around Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is beautiful. The beauty of nature, and the character designs. The voice acting is top-notch. It's a colorful show that showcases the beauty of the medieval times.

In terms of blood, and gore, it checks out as well. A bit of a trigger warning, the way the blood drips, how thick it is, and how it's spread out, OK that sounds wrong when I re-read it. Anyways, the level of detail with the blood, the animation, and the character designs is superb.

I've been keeping up with most of the anime this season. But once again, this is the only show that I felt writing up about how good it is. Taking me off from my 3-year hiatus from reviewing anime. A lot has happened these past years but this is not about me. WATCH FRIEREN.

Episode starts and Frieren interacts with an insignificant and uncatchy episodic character, it cuts into a flashback of the perfect human being Himmel with his unquestionable act of truth on a similar situation Frieren is experiencing. Maybe They add an alcoholic priest joke which is so funny so why don't we do it for a hundredth time. Anyway eventually the flashback ends and Frieren smiles, how heartwarming. Meanwhile Fern pouts on either Frieren or Stark but cheers up in the end and Stark just feels sorry the whole episode as always. What am I talking about? Oh it is just the every episode of theSousou no Frieren. Yes, each episode is repetitive in base of writing. Oh, I am sorry, the Chunin Exam arc is different, my bad! Series enter an unnecessarily long arc just when we started to focus personal and relationship developments of the characters other than Frieren.

In a world, what happens after the defeat of the Demon Lord? Or what will the heroes do after that? Well I don't know, because story doesn't telling it neither. It doesn't ever ask the question, we defeated the demon lord so what. Time flows and story only focuses on one character and it is of course Frieren. The other characters are just stair steps to make her shine, help our introvert and unemotional old little elf to realize the meaning of time, and quality of human life. Others only mean to make her feel like a human, they don't have any other purpose and their characters aren't important at all, hack, they don't have any personality neither: We have an always righteous all seeing knight, drunk priest(s) (Twice the fun), dwarf being dwarf, pouting robot girl, sorry feeling dude and such. Only thing changing and developing is Frieren.

Well After criticizing like this, I would like to point out that the visuals and animations are fine, credit where credit is due, but sound tracks are unnoticeable and forgettable. Its world is far from calling it identical. It is yet another mediocre fantasy / isekai world with similar atmosphere, rules and order. Its fanbase is saying it is peak but the only deep talk I see they are making is how lovely their loli elf or murderer waifus.

Don't get me wrong. Frieren is an average series to watch in my opinion, it is watchable but I don't recommend it in general. When the hype is too high about the series, you enter to it with high expectations. Eventually it becomes more disappointing to watch a series like this and it seems Frieren is praised hard as if it is the best anime of all times and I just don't buy it.

First time I felt compelled to write a review on this website, even though I’ve been using it for years. That’s how incredible this anime is. Ive been watching anime for 15 years and I don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed by a show than I am with Frieren. It’s absolutely a masterpiece and possibly the best anime I’ve ever seen. Beautiful atmosphere, likeable characters, amazing music, and a good, unique take on the typical “hero saves the world” story. If things continue like they they are now until the end of the season, it will definitely become my favorite anime of all time.

Frieren is an anime that I’ve been meaning to review for months, but I wanted to wait just a little bit for the emotions and hype to settle down. There’s a LOT to discuss when it comes to Frieren, but not all of it directly has to do with the anime itself. Firstly, I’m reviewing this on MAL and that means by necessity that I must address the elephant in the room. Frieren accomplished the unthinkable in unseating Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood from its highly controversial 15-year reign. Why was it controversial? Vote brigading my friends. It was artificially kept at number 1 by ahighly obsessive faction of MAL users and…it’s a long story.

The first thing you need to know about MAL is that this site and its user base have always been incredibly image conscious to an obsessive and often downright comical degree. While MAL is Japanese owned, the early MAL userbase was overwhelmingly Americans and a lot of MAL’s culture was shaped by the perception of anime and anime fans in the United States in the 2000s. MAL users existed largely in isolation from the “offline anime community”. The people you meet at your local comic book shop buying battle shonen manga and monster girl ecchi or cosplaying at your local anime convention. In contrast, MAL has always aligned itself with the “Elitist” faction of the anime fandom who define themselves as the antithesis of the “weaboos” who formed the image of the Western anime fandom back in the 2000s. The weaboos were constantly getting dunked on back then and were widely perceived as pervy, horny, stupid, immature, manchildren. MAL users followed the lead of the European anime community on 4chan /a/ and desperately wished to be seen as well-cultured, sophisticated intellectuals who only appreciate a select few anime that have artistic value. With this kind of attitude and site culture being enforced, it was no surprise that Galactic Heroes rose to the top of early MAL. However, there was a problem. For there was another anime that began with a G. While the Americans and Europeans on early MAL would have been happy with Galactic Heroes staying on top, Japan and for some reason a huge chunk of the developing world happen to really, REALLY like a certain series called Gintama, which is famous for its irreverent, highly referential humor. The image obsessed elitists would be God Damned if they allowed “Japanese Family Guy” to become the highest rated anime on the site, so the first massive rating bombing and Great Fandom War began. This war threatened to tear MAL apart, but a new faction was forged in the fires of war: The Order of Brotherhood. A loosely organized group of MAL users decided in the forums that a 3rd anime should be deliberately upvoted to number 1 to keep both Galactic Heroes and Gintama from that spot. This anime should be a largely neutral, inoffensive work that presents a respectable face for the anime community but is still accessible and isn’t snobby enough to chase people away. The popular shonen Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood was chosen for this role. It would be like The Shawshank Redemption on old ass IMDB. It’s a peacekeeper title everyone basically at least likes. However, the Order of Brotherhood began to abuse their powers. Every single time a new anime briefly gained the number 1 spot, it was absolutely bombarded by 1 and 2 ratings until it was no longer a threat for the top spot. For 15 long years this happened. It got to be such a well-known meme that a youtuber asked his followers to get Interspecies Reviewers to number 1 just to mess with these guys and MAL had to completely change how it calculates ratings and how many anime you must watch before your opinion even counts. I think it’s at least 50 now. Throughout all this time, The Brotherhood firmly believed that they were keeping the peace and instilling order. Despite all their efforts, the downfall of the Brotherhood was inevitable simply because time doesn’t stop. While anime popularity in the US was in sharp decline in 2009, this is no longer the case in 2024. For most of the world, anime has never been more mainstream. Anime certainly still has a bit of a stigma in more rural parts of the US, but the image of the typical anime fan is no longer homogenous. A person’s first mental image of “anime fan” is just as likely to conjure up a famous athlete, rapper, or social media personality as it is the images in Filthy Frank’s “Weaboo Song”. If the anime fandom doesn’t have a huge image problem, there is no need for self-loathing, hyper self-conscious anime fans to gatekeep everything and bully others to try preventing the entire community from being bullied. Another factor is that the percentage of active MAL users who are American has dropped substantially over the last 15 years. The Brotherhood was and still is overwhelmingly composed of American users obsessed with image and “elitist vs weaboo” bullshit from a million years ago that doesn’t even apply to the anime experience and history of countries like India, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, China, Indonesia, etc. Random anime like Oshi no Ko were sneaking to number 1 more and more often and the effort it took to ratings nuke these newcomers back out of the top 50 kept increasing. Frieren just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

So…is Frieren actually the best anime of all time? Personally, I would say no. Not even close. However, there is some substance behind the hype. There is a reason the Frieren was able to unite the terminally online with offline casuals, liberals with conservatives, male viewers and female viewers, and Japanese otaku with the rest of the world. Frieren has many aspects that it does remarkably well. Before we even talk about the characters and plot and all that stuff, let’s look at some of the technical aspects. Frieren is a GORGEOUS anime that represents a triumphant return for Studio Madhouse as the king of quality anime. A title which had been slipping from them over the last few years. Frieren is also the 2nd mega hit in a row for young director Keiichirou Saitoh following up on his incredibly well received debut: Bocchi the Rock. He is only 31 years old and is now one of the most in-demand directors in the entire anime industry! Every scene in Frieren is not only visually appealing and directed in a way that squeezes every bit of emotion it can get from the source material, but it also has the confidence to pace itself as if it’s going to run for 6 seasons. Even though that’s far from guaranteed in the anime industry. Fortunately for Frieren, its Japanese merchandise and figurine sales are quite strong and further seasons seem like a safe bet. It is always tragic when you get a Promised Neverland situation where the director poured their heart out and they either get cut off completely or given WAY too few episodes to wrap up the story all because Japanese consumers didn’t buy enough dakimakura and didn’t care as much as the gaijin so the studio fucks it over! Frieren’s soundtrack was outsourced to an American composer named Evan Call and it sounds much closer to a Hollywood mega film than a shonen anime. Have you ever actually bought an anime soundtrack? There’s the main theme, the battle theme, and a few main character themes that you can instantly recognize and are REALLY good compositions. Then you get to the comic relief scenes and it’s like listening to a cat walking on a synthesizer and farting up a storm. Kaoru Wada is especially guilty of this. The Inuyasha soundtrack for example has some BEAUTIFUL tracks and then some of the worst auditory vomit you’ve ever heard in your fucking life. The vast majority of anime soundtracks have always been like this. There are one in a million exceptions like Cowboy Bebop, but music was a major theme of that anime. You’re not going to get a seasonal fantasy anime where the OST sounds like the LOTR movies and every single track in every single scene is good. However, Frieren is actually able to accomplish just that!

So Frieren is gorgeous, has an amazing OST, and is super well directed. So what? How is the world building? This is a shonen that deals with magic, so how is the magic system? This is once again an area where Frieren triumphs. Frieren is very happy to take a pause and explain minor aspects of its world and history but never in a way that bores the viewer. It gives enough details to keep us engaged but there is still a LOT that we want to learn. As for the battle system, some characters in Frieren have a higher base level of mana and can cast bigger and flashier spells, but it avoids the vertical power scaling pitfalls of previous shonen titles. Frieren is very strong, but she’s not invincible. Someone with a lower level of overall mana but the right spell at the right time could easily kill Frieren. This isn’t a series where strategy just goes out the window and it’s all about who has a bigger number. Frieren also manages to avoid one of the huge traps of bad fantasy writing where one spell is SO much better than anything else, that it ruins the magic system and makes everything else essentially irrelevant, so all battles end up looking the exact same. Stuff like fireball in the original D&D, Balefire in Wheel of Time or the Avada Kedavra in Harry Potter. Frieren actually pokes fun at this while adding to its own recurring theme about the passage of time. You have this super arrogant demon who has been frozen in stone for 50 years. He developed this killing curse that’s similar in essence to the Avada and he absolutely decimated the wizard population of 50 years ago so temporarily sealing him was the best they could do. He gets utterly humbled by an apprentice mage because his world beating spell became the new standard by which all offensive magic is judged and all defensive magic was developed against, so after 50 years it’s very average instead of remarkable. This tends to be how real-life weapon advances work and describes the relationship between armor and weapons development.

In terms of characters, Frieren once again does a good job. The anime hops back and forth through time between the current day, Frieren’s adventure party from over 50 years ago, and Frieren’s time with her teacher around 1000 years ago. In each time period, we see little ways in which Frieren has developed as a character and been impacted by those around her that she grows to care about. While Frieren gets the most development and character investment, Fern, Stark, and others are also allowed plenty of room to grow. Having said this, Frieren is still a shonen and once you reach the first tournament arc…yes course there’s a fucking tournament arc…you do get some characters that are less impressive. For example, we get this grumpy, middle aged bastard named Richter who not only is willing to kill 2 teenage girls to pass his wizard exam, but he goes out of his way against the orders of his superior to try do so and seems to revel in it. Then this sadistic and murderous aspect of his personality is just kind of dropped and is never mentioned again. Another wizard is a murderous psychopath, but this is largely played off as a joke and her personality never really evolves much beyond “lol, what a psycho bitch!” The demons are also kind of boring and shitty antagonists, but they’ll get their paragraph later. Don’t you worry!

Frieren is a shonen in terms of its core demographic and it uses several of the familiar trappings of popular shonen manga, but also a deliberately slower pacing in order to place just as much focus on its themes as it places on kickass fights. Frieren at the end of the day is a series about mortality and the bonds we form with other people. Even if we’re not immortal like Frieren, we all know a grandparent, a friend, or someone else who passed away and we would do anything to have spent more time with that person. We care deeply about the people that we love and recognize on an intellectual level that we only have a very finite, precious time to spend with those people, yet it’s still so easy to take our time on Earth for granted and neglect our personal relationships. Frieren captures a fundamental human struggle that’s both universal and powerful. When it’s at its best, Frieren is an emotionally moving series that inspires us to live our lives better and not shut ourselves in.

Sadly, we must now talk about the other controversy surrounding Frieren besides its unusually high MAL score. This controversy surrounds the demon race, who are the primary antagonists of the series. Frieren needed some kind of external conflict to add danger and keep things from getting too boring. So, the writer of the Frieren manga took the easy route and created a generically evil fantasy race that wants to wipe out or enslave all the other sentient species and must be stopped at all costs. However, this evil species isn’t like the goblins from Goblin Slayer. Those little bastards are a semi-sentient walking virus who can’t even naturally reproduce on their own without raping the females of other species and murdering the male population. They are simply a fantasy disease. Frieren’s demon race are a civilized, intelligent, fully sentient race who are simply evil and must we wiped out. Who cares? They’re literally demons, right? Well…sort of. They’re not demons in a Christian sense. They’re a naturally occurring, sentient species of humanoids with a slightly higher base level of magic who all just happen to be jerks and normal humans refer to them as demons. Unlike Warhammer demons and other Christian inspired demons, they don’t literally come from Hell. If you kill a Frieren demon, they die permanently with no afterlife. If you kill a Warhammer demon or any Christian inspired demon, they just kind of go back to Hell. The demons in Frieren have no interest in corrupting Humanity or deceiving humans into doing horrible things. They trick other species like Elves, humans, and dwarves into feeling sorry for them or giving them a chance before immediately betraying and kill them. Then the demons cry crocodile tears when they finally get what they deserve. The concept of an innately evil species that needs to be wiped out is one that fantasy has largely been trying to leave behind for about 40 years now. Tolkien is sometimes credited as the architect of this trope, but with him it comes from a very different place. Tolkien’s writing is always heavily influenced by his devout Catholicism. The orcs, trolls, and Easterlings aren’t evil because God made them that way. The God of Tolkien’s universe known as Eru Iluvatar didn’t create any being specifically to be evil, let alone an entire species. Tolkien’s equivalent of the Devil was jealous of God’s creations, so he took stuff that Iluvatar created and made his own warped mockeries of those things. However, even the Orcs in Tolkien’s belief are not entirely beyond redemption since they still retain the gift of language, which shows that part of their original souls are intact. Frieren is entirely secular in its morality and advocates a genocidal solution purely based on what seems to be rational.

“There are no women and children. Get it through your head. These are mere animals who imitate human forms. They convince the whole world to feel sorry for them and each and every time it’s just a trick so they can attack us again the moment our guard is down. The solution is obvious. We should just kill them all!”

While this quote is very close to one spoken by our favorite Elf Waifu, a quote that the series does EVERYTHING to perfectly validate her on, this isn’t actually a Frieren quote. This is a quote from some random old lady that got interviewed by CNN last month. The language that Frieren uses casually and without much thought by the mangaka is used almost word for word to advocate genocide in real life. It’s not just bad timing and bad luck that Frieren was released when it was. There is no time period where this aspect of the series’ writing would have been praiseworthy. Frieren in regards to this sub-plot engages in writing so lazy and so regressive that it stumbles into uncomfortable territory. Imagine for a second if you would that some political party in some country was actively planning a campaign of genocide or ethnic cleansing. However, they know that such actions are no longer seen as acceptable in any circumstances by an overwhelming margin of society. So…they decided to finance an addictive and popular show that (while not being the focus of course) subtly promotes genocide in a rational light and tries to shift the thinking of young audiences. This isn’t what happened of course, I already said that Frieren’s case is one of criminal laziness. However, that show would look EXACTLY like Frieren and that’s not a good thing.

Overall, I’m giving this series an 8 for now…but it would be more accurate that I’m giving it an I for Incomplete. I think Frieren promises to be a strong franchise and has all the potential in the world if it can avoid shooting itself in the foot. However, I wouldn’t have written that lengthy previous paragraph if Frieren was safe from monumental errors of judgment. The series could very well turn out to be a disaster that I will be embarrassed that I ever enjoyed. Or it could be absolutely amazing, and we will all just kind of forget some of the less ideal aspects of S1. The future of Frieren has not yet been written. Most of my offline buddies haven’t seen Frieren and don’t want to watch Frieren. To be honest, I’ll probably hold off shoving it down their throats until I get a better grasp on which way this franchise is headed.

Get this garbage out of #1. It is embarrassing for us as a community. This medium contains the highest of possible art, the deepest and most meaningful of story; yet this show is not amongst that. This is a sloppy collection of annoying characters and intentionally mundane meaningless plot lines. The vibes are not cozy, the moments are not wholesome, and the show is not good. I will not be holding back at all with this review and I will be holding this show to the highest possible standard. If it Is truly the best show it should hold up against the highest level ofcriticism.

I will start with the positives. Freeren is number one amongst all anime in one aspect. The first outro of Freeren is the greatest anime outro I have ever seen. It is absolutely gorgeous and compliments the show perfectly. For a show that is supposed to focus on the stuff in between the action, the action is pretty much the only enjoyable part, and a lot of it is quite good. There are two arcs of the story that I found generally quite enjoyable. These are between episode 7 and 10, and between episode 18 and 21. This series contains one episode that I would consider to be really good, that being episode 9. This episode features two very high quality fights that have multiple points where I found myself rewinding to rewatch sections of the animation because they were so well done, which is something I do not do very often. I do not mind the characters Fern and Shtark. I enjoyed many of the moments that these characters shared, And will admit that some of these moments could even be considered mildly wholesome, although I do not take back my previous statement. I also didn't mind a couple of the Mages they added during the Mage exam. Many of the monsters and demons have great designs, and many of the landscapes and settings looked quite nice. There are a few high quality moments of small intricate dingdongmenship relating to ideas such as memories and flowers.

Now onto the negatives. If something is to be considered the greatest show, I would say a reasonable minimum requirement is that it doesn't contain any mistakes. This is not a standard that Freeren meets, There are many objective writing errors in the show. This is not my opinion, this is A fact about the show. None of them that I was easily able to catch were that significant or seriously affected the show, yet they are still there.

For example I will break one down in detail so you can understand what I am saying. In episode 15 there is a quick flashback where Freeren Is caught by a mimic right in front of Fern. Although it is not directly shown, This scene logically requires that one of the two following options has happened. Option one is that Fern gets Freeren out of the mimic, requiring that Fern learns how you get someone out of a mimic. Option two is that Freeren gets out of the mimic herself, Requiring that Fern learns What happens to Freeren’s hair when she gets herself out of a mimic. By episode 15, Fern is required to have learned a minimum of one of those two pieces of information. In episode 23 there is another scene, in the present, of Freeren getting caught in a mimic, In this scene Fern reveals that she does not know how to get someone out of a mimic, as she has to be told by Freeren how to do it. Fern then immediately reveals that she also does not know what happens to Freeren’s hair when she gets herself out of a mimic, as Fern has the aha moment of “So that's why sometimes you show up with a completely different hairstyle.” It is impossible for Fern to be learning both of those pieces of information at that point in the story, yet this is what the scene is. If one was to intake extreme quantities of copium, A scenario could technically be invented where During the events of the original flashback Fern was separated from Freeren while she was still in the mimic, and then Freeren Gets out of the mimic by herself, and they remain separated for long enough for Freeren’s hair to go back to normal. Yet this scenario of course requires a pretty extreme assumption, along with the assumption that on their previous Journeys Freeren was only caught by a mimic that one time in front of Fern, as well as this Behavior requiring a pretty significant bad-girlesk break of Character for Fern. Thus this is an objective writing error. Again this small little detail does not really affect the story in any meaningful way, but in my opinion something that is considered the best should not contain errors like this.

Two more examples of Inconsistencies. Once they enter the northern lands it is the beginning of winter, and it begins to snow, and thus they find a cabin to stay in, they then stay in this cabin for 6 months to wait out the winter. At the end of this sixth month period, at the beginning of Summer, it is still snowy all around them. The next scene, presumably happening in the middle of summer, is them getting caught in another blizzard and having to find shelter again. (Freeren during this time also reveals that she does not know any spell that produces any type of heat, fire spells do exist yet she does not know a single one.) They could have justified this scene by simply saying something along the lines of, they're traveling through the mountains now, so the weather is like this even in the middle of summer, and if it was winter then it would be 20 ft of snow or something. But they don't do this, it doesn't explain, it just gives us the characters stuck in a blizzard in the middle of summer and expects us to figure out why. It feels like they were so obsessed with having time pass that they forgot to have time actually pass.

Early on in the show there is a section where Freeren and Fern decide to clean a massive beach for a fake book. We are then treated to a couple of scenes where Freeren, the most powerful Mage in the world, is picking up 10 little pieces of wood at a time. It then clarifies that Freeren and Fern stay here and are cleaning this beach for 3 months, meaning that both of these Mages have spent a minimum of 3 months exclusively training their floating magic ability. Later on in the show it attempts to justify why Freeren was only capable of picking up small quantities of wood at a time, by saying that no one other than demons and monsters had the ability to fly or float until very recently. (And although spells being made recently is an advantage for things such as zoltrock derived spells it's not for floating Magic.) And even though we know they spent months exclusively training this ability they are barely able to actually use it when they need to. And at the end we see an elf using floating Magic 1,000 years before the events of the story, which from my understanding is not a monster or a demon. It's just sloppy, weird little inconsistencies like this shouldn't exist in the best show ever.

Now onto the character of Freeren. I do not like this character. First of all this character is an elf, and elves live a long time. She is very proud of this aspect of her existence, and she will bring up how old she is and brag about it every chance that she gets. Yet at the same time if anyone else brings up how old she is she gets insecure about it. She is extremely selfish and narcissistic most of the time, but then sometimes decides to be absurdly generous. At the funeral for her friend, She begins to cry, and she clarifies that the reason she is crying is not for them, but because she feels bad for herself because she didn't get to know him as well as she would have liked. This is the same friend that she had spent the last 50 years ignoring for no reason other than she was too distracted in pursuit of her own personal Joy. If time is truly that abundant for her it would have been no issue for her to send a couple of letters back and forth, at the absolute minimum at least once every couple years but she couldn't even manage that. It only takes 10 years to make it across the planet, so she was likely in his vicinity a couple of times assuming that she was just wandering around the southern lands. This strange feeling of guilt is the thing that inspires this whole story, Yet she is fully responsible for how she feels. If she had just acted like a normal person She wouldn't have this issue in the first place. She has had hundreds of years to learn how to act mature and she still doesn't. It also doesn't make sense why she is having these feelings in the first place, As there is only one person that she has ever known better than Himll, this being her master. Meaning that in comparison to pretty much everyone she has ever known she knew him very well. And she is making the judgement that she didn't know him very well based off of a singular slightly deeper relationship that she had 1,000 years earlier. It is impossible to have any sympathy for Freeren, in her 1,000 years on that planet she should have learned how to have/be a friend, And it never gives any reason as to why she is so closed off to everyone. Just the fact that she is old and from some perspectives it doesn't matter as much, Doesn't work to explain it very well. I think that the character is pretty annoying as well, I usually like characters that are annoying, but not like this. The way that she acts around grimoires is so contradictory to the way she acts around everything else that it feels like she is breaking character and doesn't feel like some natural quirk. It feels like an excuse that is employed to get this character to do anything, as without it the character wouldn't be willing to do anything. Any good character is flawed, as this is how a character develops, they have a flaw at the beginning and have character development by changing. Yet, at the end of this series there's a scene where an old lady drops her basket of goods onto the ground right in front of Freeren, It would take Freeren essentially no effort at all to help out this old lady, The show clarifies that in this moment the thought to help this old lady crosses her mind, and it shows her actively making the decision to not help. In the final episode of this series it clarifies that Freeren Has not had any meaningful character development, and is just as selfish as ever. Yes, she now has a regret, but she is still acting the same way that caused her to gain that regret in the first place. I would assume that eventually in this story she probably learns to have a heart in some way, to act with a little bit of humanity, but that didn't happen in this series, so this is my interpretation of the character.

I believe there is a place and time for Slice of Life anime. But that place is not number one, and that time is not all time. I am clearly not whoever this show is meant for. Slice of Life is not really the type of story that appeals to me, I view it as a valid part of what anime has to offer, yet I do not believe it is where anime truly shines. I went into this story knowing that it was very unlikely I would view it as a masterpiece, I only expected a high quality fantasy story. And I still feel disappointed, it did not even deliver on that. There are so many more criticisms I could give But I feel that I have already said enough. I know somehow I am in the minority here, there is some sort of fundamental difference between what I enjoy and most people on this website enjoy, as was clearly indicated by how much respect people give to things such as Steins Gate. And even acknowledging all of this, I still believe that this show is not very good, The story is not well written, it is full of objective errors, The characters are annoying and not relatable, The ideas are not fun or interesting, And I genuinely do not recommend watching this show.

Sousou no Frieren," an anime with tremendous potential, ends up suffering the same fate as a run of the mill anime. Frieren had something special, and that was its premise: an immortal elf grappling with the impermanence of human life after the death of her companions. However, the potential was destroyed, but how? Very slowly anime with a story lacking direction and constantly introducing unplanned events that made the viewer much more confused and forgot the purpose of the journey because not even our characters were discussing it anymore The biggest problem with this anime is its pacing; episodes feel like a race between snails anddedicate too much screen time to scenes that are non-essential and do not contribute anything to the story. For example, "Frieren walks around the city and talks to a random character from whom she learns nothing, and that character will not even reappear.

As for the story, what can I say? It largely relies on flashbacks to the adventures our elf has gone through, but initially, they are interesting, and then they become repetitive and boring. We see the same moments unfolding again and again. Some flashbacks feel like they only exist to fill up time in the episode rather than being used for something more useful (like character development).

The entire series tries to drown you in emotions... Bombs of "sentimental" moments are thrown in without reason. I can't understand what the author exactly wanted to do; they try to create many dramatic moments with the "adventurers," but at the same time, we barely learn anything about them, and in the end, we know just as much as we did in the first episode about the elf's past comrades.

It started nicely, with a fascinating premise, but it fails to deliver even 50% of what it promises. The pacing is sluggish, the story repetitive, and the characters underdeveloped, ruining everything and turning it into a dissatisfying series by the end of the journey. This could have helped the viewer to question life, and the weight of time, but instead, the slow pace and awkward melancholy make the viewer lose interest in such matters. I cannot recommend this anime; I struggled with it... if I didn't watch it weekly, I probably would have been knocked out after watching 3 episodes on the same day.

Frieren has got to be the most overrated anime of all time on MAL. I'd like to make it clear that I do not hate this anime by any means, but I just find it extremely boring to a point its almost unwatchable. Any adventure or fantasy story has any objectives to complete or to follow, for example hunter x hunter we see that gon is adventuring to find his dad, in FMAB we see that ed is trying to cure his brother. Although it's not a necessity, it's pretty clear that it gives a backbone to a thrilling adventure/fantasy story. Frieren starts from wheremost fantasy/isekais end which is the story after defeating the demon lord. But since it starts from an absurd point it lacks clear objectives to accomplish or achieve. Frieren the main character who is an elf is just shown to be adventuring while tutoring a student in magic. In hindsight, this is not the adventures of frieren but of her student who is also a relative of a human who was previously in the hero's party with frieren that defeated the demon lord. Since the demon lord has already been ended, its unclear as to why even fern (the student) wants to learn magic from the greatest mage of all time.

Combining the lack of goals or objectives, this show also fails at recognising itself as what it is. Is it about the action considering the last few episodes which were full of it or the emotional slice of life appeal which is shown in bits and pieces, also which everyone talks about. It fails to stand as both.

The action is little to none atleast in the first half of the show, which already makes it a bad action show if it is one. The last few eps which had the most action were considerably and arguably the worst arc to even exist. Let me explain to you this worst arc that I am talking about:--

(MINOR SPOILERS)

So in this arc as frieren and her two friends fern and starc are adventuring, in desire of a somewhat GOAT title in magic, they are shown to be giving a test. This is beyond any logic or sense since how can a previous literal hero who has defeated the demon lord mind you be allowed to give such an exam and to fight to death with literal kids in an exam who are yet to even hit puberty? Well even forgetting this as we begin the test, we got literal bunch of screen time for side characters who only have existence for the sake of this arc. Literal episodes worth of screen time for the sake of nothingness. The fight scenes were them just fighting non sensically with each other for the so called title.

Now, the latter which is the emotional slice of life appeal of this show, lets get to it.

So, first of all it is really really important for us to note that Frieren is a literal elf. Elves lives for thousands of years and thus they do not form any kinds of emotional bonds with any person, even if they do it doesn't affect them. Now frieren while adventuring is shown to be remembering her time of when she was in the hero's party and how she regrets not enjoying those bits and moments with her party members. Now this to give you any kind of emotional appeal is just plain absurdity. You need to be extremely soft to even feel emotional with these scenes. Why do I say that? It's because we are only shown bits and pieces of the past in the present! The way I see it for it to be well done is actually giving a decent amount of screentime to the hero's party before the adventuring begins! If the audience is shown some good moments beforehand, instead of some nonsensical 30 seconds of despair maybe it would be easier for them to actually feel emotional.

Frieren is actually also one of the most blandest written character of all time. She is arrogant as hell and does not give a fuck, which you would expect from an elf. So how do you think that she is able to feel more than 10 seconds of remorse for her long gone dead party members? It is a mystery just like the ratings of this show. I do think that Frieren being a female protag added some biasedness to the overall judgement of this show by the audience but at the end of the day, Frieren is an elf before being a female. And elves do not give a fuck, neither are they capable of giving it. This story would have been 100x more entertaining if frieren would have just called it a day after defeating the demon lord and decided to settle in the countryside just bing chilling. But oh well then this anime would have been named "Chilling in my 100s after resigning from the hero's party, I decided to open a circus".

This show is being spoken as some masterpiece, when in essence and reality it's just some confused, muffled mumbo jumbo of the author which some recognised as "wise words have never been spoken" and it's now giving the domino effect.

A point outside the curve. In times where the anime industry seems to be stagnant in a sameness of isekais and battle shounens, Sousou no Frieren comes to bring renewal at a completely different pace than what we are used to seeing, I'm writing this review after the fifth chapter and I can already dig in which is the anime of the season. Sousou no Frieren brings an incredible story full of sensitivity, following the protagonist's learning process in understanding something that is simple about our concepts, the anime very subtly brings to each episode the changes in the way she sees life and her regret atnot having valued the little moments with her group of friends more, all of this is accompanied by fluid animation, great art direction and enviable soundtracks reminding us of studio ghibli films.

So far Sousou at Frieren has perfectly managed to mix the right tone of melancholy with a spark of hope that things will be better, I am extremely excited to see how this will conclude at the end of the season.

Frieren isn't deep. It's just empty pretty wrapper. So I watched Frieren, and honestly... I just couldn’t keep the thoughts to myself. People are constantly praising it for being emotional, thoughtful, and “beautifully slow.” And yeah, I get where they’re coming from. But to me, it felt more like someone telling me to stare at a river because it’s relaxing. Like… sure, it flows, but that's really all. So what’s the goal and point ? There’s no real conflict, no antagonist that actually matters, no moral dilemma to chew on. The characters just kind of go through the motions without ever really being challenged. Even Frieren herself. Her"growth" feels way too safe and linear. She slowly becomes more emotional, but never hits any serious internal wall or has to make a tough decision. It’s all just kind of... flat.

And here’s the thing: the big message Frieren tries to deliver is that time, friendship, and shared memories are important. That’s such basic knowledge. Watching a show slowly spoon-feed me an idea I already understand felt more like reading a children’s book about emotions.

If they condensed the story down to 4–5 episodes, it might’ve worked better. But dragging one simple thought across an entire season just made it feel like a low-calorie meal dressed up as fine dining.

Yeah, it looks pretty. The animation is fine. The music is nice. But all of that is surface-level. Underneath, there’s just not much there. Emotional depth isn’t about being quiet. It’s about delivering something that makes you think. Unfortunately, Frieren takes one broth of an idea, dumps a bucket of water on it, and calls it soup. While what you really get is 28 episodes of watered-down broth.

Not every story needs to be action-packed, I totally get that. But if you’re gonna go slow, there better be something real waiting at the end.

With Frieren, I kept waiting — and it never came.

Someone recommended me to watch this title last year months before it began airing as a similar series to Mahoutsukai no Yome, and although it also has a mage and their disciple studying, training and traveling together, and the main characters share voice actress, I don’t see much resemblance beyond the premise. Concept wise, I find it to be more similar to Fumetsu no Anata E, since it is about a long-lived non-human protagonist learning about mortality and the short live span of humans while traveling around the world and getting some friends and new abilities. The issues with that title are that the protagonistdidn’t have a personality initially, it was full of emotional manipulation to make you cry, the main character was becoming stronger by acquiring the abilities of his dead friends, thus coming off as feeding off of them, the secondary cast got a lot of focus on their mini arc and then disappeared from the story completely, essentially wasting time and screentime, and the protagonist changed completely after a time skip. That’s where I dropped that show but from what I understand afterwards the series mutates from a road movie type of drama to a fighting shounen which in turn drops tremendously in visual quality.

Frieren doesn’t have those issues. To start off, the animation is pretty good for the most part, there are some weak moments in the artwork and backgrounds but they are usually consistent and very good, even if typical for a fantasy series. The lighting and shading as well as the rest of the special effects are very good, except for the offensive spell that some charracters use, I don’t know why but that looks very outdated. The character designs are very simple and even kind of childish, which are not bad but kind of unfitting at first with the melancholic feeling of the show. The motions are very good at every moment, even the most relaxing ones, each character even has their own distinct way of walking, the facial expressions are very varied and well done, and the action scenes tend to use dynamic movement, like Burn the Witch, Majo no Tabitabi, Akudama Drive and some others did in 2020, and Trigun: Stampede did last year. Overall it’s pretty good in that regard, even if it doesn’t compare with Shangri-la Frontier and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, which were airing at the same time.

The presentation is good, it’s just that the aesthetics are nothing special. Same thing applies to the audio department, the sound effects are really good and impactful and not too loud and not saturated, the voice acting is ok, nothing special. The soundtrack is really fitting, it’s just typical background music for a fantasy show but it’s very well done and at times even absorbing. The ending song and the insert song (to my understanding, used as an ending for an early screening), both by Milet fit the series really well and are quite beautiful on their own, and the lyrics go very well with the anime. The openings are not as good but the second one is better than the first, which although it had good lyrics for the story, it was strangely upbeat for this time of anime, and thus didn’t fit very well. The second one had a little more energy as well, but at least it felt more appropriate for the second half of the series.

Characterization is not the strongest aspect of the anime, the main characters have a name with a specific meaning, and their whole characterization is based around that, in anime terms, the two female are basically kuuderes and the male is the typical kind hearted but misunderstood and poorly treated harem lead. No, I’m not saying nor implying this series is a harem, I’m just saying that the characters fit some of those archetypes, and although that makes them easy to remember because of that, they don’t have very elaborate nor complicating personalities for the same reason.

What they do have, however, is backdrop stories good enough to flesh them out instead of just leaving them as dry archetypes, and they more or less serve to explain the way the characters are. More and more background information about them is revealed and they also come to learn more things about the previous important party, as it also does the audience that way.

People really seem to like the possible romantic dynamic between two members of the party, I personally don’t give a shit about that, the boy is kind but treated poorly by the girl for no reason besides “comedy”. I’ve seen the same dynamic in anime from the 90s and 00s and got tired of it. At least she recognizes later on that she was acting like a brat and they become friendlier with one another afterwards, and for some people they seem to be “couple goals” or some shit like that, I don’t really care.

What’s important is that even the basic main cast here is better than the rock turned wolf turned boy from Fumetsu, he couldn’t even talk, he had no personality nor backdrop, and he changed completely after a time skip, thus that doesn’t count as organic character development.

This anime has time skips as well but they are nowhere near as big, they don’t skip the scenes of characters learning new things, especially for the main one Frieren, who comes to realize, she knew and was closer to her original party than she always thought and she gains a purpose in life by doing what they want her to do after they died at the beginning of the story, and it all happens on screen, not between time skips.

It’s even related to the themes, despite being one of the most important heroes in history, Frieren never stood out and never truly cared for anyone else, she never had ambition and never understood how brief a human life could be for an elf like her, until she found out when trying to reunite with her old party, that’s when it clicked in and when she notices that she always took that time for granted and regrets not spending more time with them or getting to know them now that there is no going back. The rest of the series she dedicates to fulfill the last wishes of her old party and recall old times in their adventure, thus coming to realize she knew and cared more about them that she ever considered to, while also collecting some more magic here and there.

That way, the series also has the chance to flesh out the older support cast that dies early on through flashbacks, and I also realized where the main appeal and value of the series might be, as a sort of company of sorts for people who have recently lost someone and regret not spending enough time with them.

Sousou no Frieren is not a tearjerker however, the drama is presented more in a melancholic tone than anything else, which is something I appreciate about it, considering that there are so many shows out there filled with emotional manipulation.

The other mains are fine on their own, they also get flashbacks and learn new things and like I said they become closer with each other, it’s just that the focus is clearly on the protagonist, so they come off as simpler and more inferior characters, especially the guy who gets completely sidelined in the second half.

Also, compared to that other series, Sousou no Frieren is clear about what it is from the very beginning. There is some action here and there and is usually well animated, directed, choreographed and has some tactics here and there, but for the most part it’s a lighthearted road movie type of fantasy adventure where the character we follow through for the whole show is the strongest, thus the stakes are low. She might not be the most powerful in-series, but we only know that thanks to some throwaway lines, we never really get a sense of urgency or that Frieren might lose or struggle against someone. It’s a show meant to relax to and look back at some of your past relationships, with some magical beams thrown around from time to time for flavour.

Some other things I want to praise the writing for is caring about some very specific things that add to characterization and world building despite being such small details. First, since elves are so long-lived, they get easily emotionally detached from everyone else, they don’t have strong feelings for anyone, neither romantic nor sexual, and that’s why there are few of them and why the protagonist herself is so cold at first. It also helps to explain why, despite being one of the most well-known heroes in history, no one seems to recognize her at first, like Luffy in One Piece, but here is far more believable because the setting doesn’t have the same technology and the main character herself does as much as she can to keep a low profile.

Another good detail is the explaining for why there isn’t any transportation magic and for why flying magic is limited, which also forces the main cast to actually travel through the fucking setting, whereas other series have several ways for the main cast to be where they need to be when the plot requires them to. This also helps in making the anime feel like, well, an adventure, because how can you have a proper adventure if there is no adventuring, no travelling, no exploring the setting? It’s not like Sousou no Frieren has a world that needs much building nor explaining, it’s a very typical fantasy setting with typical classes, creatures and archetypes, but at least is properly written and established, and it is actually explored, while it also doesn’t function like an RPG, how many other modern fantasy anime can claim the same, eh?

That’s why the characters can’t just go wherever they want and in any ways they would like, every city and every place has its rules, and since Frieren herself knows the route well, you get a bit of lore or history from them, having the rest of the party going on their first adventure also helps, since that way the author has a reason for all the explaining to be done, the exposition is excused.

Not to say that this anime is perfect of course, since there is no clear reasoning why, despite magic evolving so much for being studied for decades and even centuries, basic spells still work the best against newer, supposedly better instructed mages, or why the only mages that know how to control and repress mana in-series are the ones related in some way to the main character.

Then, the whole thing about Frieren kind of falls apart when you consider, “wait, wasn’t her teacher a human? Doesn’t that go against her whole character arc and the main theme of the show?” And the answer from me is yes, I have no excuse for that, and consider it a big flaw in the writing.

Likewise, the second half of the show is inferior than the first, exactly because it falls for the same issues as the series I compared it to. It is a tournament/exam arc that you would find in an action shounen instead of this one, it completely sidelines an important character, and although needed for the characters to keep going, the plot stops progressing completely for a lot of episodes instead of the mini adventures from earlier, and there are a lot of unimportant secondary characters getting a lot of rushed focus.

Other series do that as well (Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho) but being long fighting shounen, their characters don’t disappear completely from the story until way later. I’m an anime only here, thus I can’t tell if someone from the second cour is coming back at some point or not, but I hardly doubt it and I’m sure they don’t join the main party, essentially meaning that for at least this first season, they work against the plot by killing time and taking screentime for no reason.

With that said, it’s not straight up bad, since there are still moments to flesh out the two main girls and see them interacting, and there is still some cool action from time to time.

And also, well, there is hardly any plot in here, it’s just low on action and stakes basic traveling and adventuring with an overpowered protagonist that goofs around before solving most things thanks to how powerful or experienced she is, and although I like that she is kind of like Maomao from Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, neither an idealistic hot headed idiot typical shounen protagonist, nor an asshole that doesn’t give a shit about people like Elaina from Majo no Tabitabi, she still doesn’t actually do or not most things on her own wish, that’s why she says things like “Himmel would scold me if I did that” or “Himmel would praise me if I do this”.

Thus, despite part of me respecting the value and appeal it might have for some emotional people and for how mostly well established the writing and presentation are, the cynical bastard I am only finds boredom in here, because there isn’t much plot, the characters are simple, the stakes are low because the protagonist is overpowered, the plot devices are not the type of which I’m usually thrilled about, the setting is basic, the energy is low, the aesthetics are simple, and the second half, although it still fleshes out two of the main characters, is inferior than the first by falling for the usual meh writing of other shows. In the end I consider it a decent relaxing time passer that can be very appealing for some viewers, but nowhere near as good as the general consensus says it is, and a complete chore to watch for part of the audience, myself included. At least I can say that this anime doesn’t have recaps neither inside nor outside the episode count, which is more than I can say about the other shows I was following at the same time.

An anime that promised to be a unique look at life after completing the heroes' epic mission. However, despite the interesting concept, it failed to meet expectations. The first and most obvious omission of "Soukou no Frieren" is its slow tempo. The plot develops too slowly, focusing on the little things that do not always add depth to the story or character development. Instead of a lively and dynamic story about the consequences of heroic deeds, we get something monotonous and protracted. This is a huge problem for me, I think that long runs are bad and I appreciate finished concise works. Maybe this is oneof those chill titles for relaxation? oh no, it's a stupid emotional tearjerker. it would work if there was an interesting fantasy setting, but there isn't

One of the main disappointments is the anime setting. It feels like a boring and banal world in the style of Dungeons & Dragons, which brings almost nothing new to the genre. The viewer does not see any unique races, exciting locations, or interesting magic systems. Everything seems to be formulaic and predictable. As a result, the world of Soukou no Frieren is perceived not as alive and breathing, but as a boring backdrop for events that do not stand out in anything special.

The main character, Frieren, a representative of the elven race who lives for a long time, could become an intriguing character. However, her cold and distant behavior is sometimes repulsive and does not arouse the viewer's sympathy. Her development as a character seems shallow and unnatural, which makes it difficult to emotionally engage in her story.

The supporting characters also don't leave a significant impression. Instead of building complex and multifaceted characters, anime often resorts to stereotypes and patterns. This makes most interactions predictable and boring. Moreover, almost all the characters seem to be emotionless and to some extent on the autistic spectrum. Their social interaction and emotional reactions are very limited, which makes them less accessible and interesting to the viewer.

It is also worth noting the superficial and stereotypical depiction of demons in "Soukou no Frieren". Instead of providing them with layered and human characteristics that would allow the viewer to feel empathy for them, the anime portrays them as standard villains without much motivation. This is a missed opportunity to uncover deeper topics and create emotional tension. Against the background of the main characters, who do not experience serious problems and have excessive strength, demons seem to be more interesting and multifaceted characters.

In addition, the concept of the immortality of the main character makes the goal of the heroes meaningless. The whole point of adventures and victories over evil is lost when an immortal character can just wait out all the difficulties. This makes any bets negligible, and the viewer cannot truly empathize with the characters and their missions.

Visually, the anime is also not impressive. The setting of a default Asian second-rate fantasy. Despite the beautiful scenery and animation, it's just long and boring and not memorable

The musical accompaniment seems insignificant and forgettable. Instead of enhancing emotions and atmosphere, music often stays in the background without leaving a strong impression.

In addition, the concept of the immortality of the main character makes the goal of the heroes meaningless. The whole point of adventures and victories over evil is lost when an immortal character can just wait out all the difficulties. This makes any bets negligible, and the viewer cannot truly empathize with the characters and their missions.

In addition to all this, "Soukou no Frieren" failed to find a balance between drama and comedy. Moments intended to dilute the seriousness of the plot often seem forced and inappropriate, disrupting the harmony of the narrative.