In fantasy worlds, races with different lifespans are a given, but rarely does a work actually contemplate how these variations would affect relationships between them. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End starts after a great war, at the moment of peace, and to the titular elf, her shared journey with the human Himmel and their party feels like a blip in her life, their ten years of friendship blurred amongst her thousand years… until Himmel dies, which shifts her perspective on mortality. Frieren won’t have that much extravaganza we’re used to in other fantasy shows, but the way Frieren tries to reconnect with her former comrades, and the way she remembers their memory through flashbacks, all become a gentle and moving meditation on purpose, meaning, and connection, all paired with outstanding art and some of the best worldbuilding we’ve seen in anime.
Synopsis
After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s mortality. She takes on a new apprentice and promises to fulfill old friends’ dying wishes. Can an elven mind make peace with the nature of life and death? Frieren embarks on her quest to find out.
Storyline
After defeating the Demon King in a great war, mage elf Frieren visits her former comrades and sees how old they’ve aged, and how little of their lives remain. Upon realizing the significance they have in her long and lengthy life, Frieren seeks a new way of life that she once took for granted.
TLDR
Tsukasa Abe, Madhouse… My eyes thank you.
What stands out
The approach. Fantasy is often a genre of spectacle, often leading to intense fight scenes, magical worlds, and special effects all to inspire awe and wonder, but Frieren’s slice-of-life approach makes so much sense for a long living elf, and it’s no less lovely due to the impeccable art and animation.
