When I first noticed stills from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, I do must admit I shortly wrote it off. I’m not at all times a giant fan of anime that closely attracts from European fantasy, to be a bit imply it could actually generally come throughout as a bit a dime a dozen. But the distinctive factor about animation is the emphasis on motion, taking particular person pages of drawings and turning them right into a movement image. And on the advice of assorted voices I belief, I made a decision to present Frieren a go, within the course of discovering a surprisingly considerate anime that I feel followers of Final Fantasy 14 ought to take into account setting apart a while from their day by day duties to observe.
In many fantasy sequence, you will usually discover your typical group of heroes – a warrior, a mage, a cleric or healer, and a barbarian – off on some journey to defeat a demon king hellbent on killing everybody, or taking on the world, or no matter. The traditional. Frieren, however, is the story of what comes after you save the world from assured destruction, and particularly, coming to grasp what loss is whenever you your self are virtually immortal.
Frieren, the titular protagonist, is an elven mage, and equally to elves in one thing like Lord of the Rings, she ages at a glacial tempo, having already lived for a whole lot of years earlier than she even met the group of heroes she defeated the demon king with. She additionally would not at all times fairly perceive why you do sure issues, and her respect for others’ time is minimal as she has a lot of it to waste.
The catalyst, then, that units Frieren on a course of change, comes many years after defeating the demon king, the place the chief of her group Himmel dies. She’s left feeling confused as to why she’s unhappy, crying over his loss of life, and it clearly marks a distinction in her. In flip, her remaining pals from their adventuring group activity her with coaching their very own disciples, her pals now too previous to take action.
Like the entire finest anime, friendship is on the coronary heart of the sequence, however extra importantly it is about being thoughtful of the way you spend your time with others, and the methods during which you wish to assist them develop.
All of that is accentuated by an artstyle with some improbable, skinny linework, accompanied by stellar colourwork and a quiet however supportive rating. Keiichiro Saito serves as director on this explicit sequence, who beforehand additionally directed the splendidly kinetic Bocchi the Rock from final yr, and regardless of having fairly completely different kinds, it appears like there is a sturdy throughline in terms of the character performing on show in Frieren.
The stakes in Frieren are additionally extremely low. There is an overarching plot of Frieren eager to go see the spirit of her lifeless buddy Himmel, however for essentially the most half it sees her and the forged of characters becoming a member of her as they journey from city to city, serving to folks as they go together with usually uninteresting duties. One notably beautiful episode noticed them clear up a seashore stuffed with shipwrecks, all in order that the townspeople may get pleasure from the brand new yr’s dawn collectively. Moments like these really feel like a number of the quieter Final Fantasy 14 aspect quests, those that are not grand in nature, however really feel value it for the folks they’re serving to.
I’m not going to say that Frieren goes to wrap up its first season as one of the vital revolutionary anime on the market, or essentially an important sequence of the yr (that title belongs to Pluto), nevertheless it feels comforting in the way in which that Ghibli movies might be. Not in the way in which folks usually describe Ghibli movies as these politics-free, beacons of cosiness, however within the precise method that they’re, with an understanding that disappointment, loneliness, and tranquility are comforting themes in and of themselves. Plus, it’d simply scratch that itch when you await Dawntrail.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is at the moment accessible to observe on Crunchyroll.
