Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (葬送のフリーレン, Sōsō no Furīren, “Frieren, the Final Farewell to the Dead”)
The video above is the anouncement in Japanese with English subtitles that “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” will release an anime version on September 29, 2023 in a two hour presentation.
Fans of the Manga are beyond excited, and references to this opening are appearing all over the net. And for good reason. In 2021, the Manga won the 14th Manga Taishō Grand Prize, and the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize New Creator Prize.
Pywackett has read all Seven English released Volumes, Vol 1 – 7, and Vol 8 English dropped on June 20, 2023 for which we are awaiting delivery.
Frieren is an unqualified master work of extreme creativity and profound beauty. The work contains adventure, slight touch of Romance, profound observations on life and death, and great amounts of silly comedy. And this work will gobsmack you if you are not careful! Just underestimate its story telling prowess and beware the consequences for your feels and your soul.
Frieren is an immortal Female Elf of great power and learning who joined an adventurer’s group which destroyed the Demon King, but this story is not about that adventure, but rather, the aftermath for Frieren watching all her comrades pass on. In some senses Frieren is a meditation on death. One literal English translation of the title is “Frieren, the Final Farewell to the Dead”. It asks questions like “What is the meaning of life for an immortal being?”, “What do I do next?” and “What comes after?” The Demons are some of the geatest creations in Anime and Manga. They are purely rational beings with enormous intellect, but no feelings. But this is a weakness because they can be fooled and destroyed by an irrational line of thought.
“Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” is basically a Slice of Life series. It can be slow moving with nothing happening, and even the fights with demons and enchanted dungeons are more puzzles like “Hunter x Hunter” than they are combat like “Hell’s Paradise”. But that factoid is problematic. Many Anime fans do not enjoy SoL, exactly because it has no action. So how will they respond to the Anime. We will see in September.