Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 01
葬送のフリーレン
Sōsō no Frieren 01

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

The human hero Himmel, the human priest Heiter, the dwarf warrior Eisen, and the female, elf mage Frieren arrive at the royal capital. Ten years prior, this party set out to defeat the Demon King and have succeeded. After receiving honors from the king, they attend a massive celebration. After night falls, the Era Meteor Shower happens. Frieren says she’ll return for the next event in 50 years, taking them to a better location.

The time passes and Frieren returns to the capital to visit Himmel. She’s surprised to find him a short, elderly man. Later, she goes and looks at the statue raised in their honor. Eventually, she and the elderly Himmel connect with the now old Bishop Heiter and the old dwarf Eisen. She tells them they have a one week’s journey to go to the best spot to see the Era Meteor Shower.

When they eventually arrive, Himmel expresses his gratitude at this reunion. They observe the meteor shower, after which Himmel dies. At the funeral, some of the humans not that Frieren hasn’t shed a tear. For her part, Frieren laments not having known Himmel despite spending 10 years with him.

Twenty years after the funeral, Frieren visits the elderly Heiter. He has a young orphan girl living with him named Fern. Heiter wants Frieren to take Fern as an apprentice, but Fern refuses, citing the danger. As such, Heiter gives Frieren a book to translate. Since it will take 5-6 years, Frieren agrees to train the gifted Fern.

Thoughts/Review

I’m current with the source manga material, but to be honest, I don’t feel like doing a “how well was this adapted” thing like I normally would. So forgive me for this. That said, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 01 was a great way for me to relive the series in a whole new way.

An End and a Beginning

Although the current manga seems more about adventures, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 01 is all about a near immortal elf coming to terms with the fact that human lives are but a vapor. For her, ten years may as well have been ten days. But for her companions, especially her human ones, they were some long years, even if there were moments of fun and joy. Thus when Frieren broke down, I felt it.

The same is true for Himmel’s final adventure. I have NO idea why he lost some 2-3 feet of height. (Possibly a gag since in anime, elderly folks often get depicted as VERY short.) Speculation is that a story explanation is the shadow dragon horn he kept for Frieren for 50 years damaged him and caused him to age more quickly than Heiter.

Regardless, this first episode covered a seventy year time span. And if you count the ten years Frieren spent with the party, she has spent a human lifetime knowing them, yet not knowing them. So that’s where Heiter’s request to have Frieren train Fern while at the same time deciphering the book comes into play. He wants to protect Fern. Five to six years are nothing to Frieren. As such, by the time it is over, Fern should be a powerful mage.

Finally, I’d like to mention Madhouse. I recently dusted off the Record of Lodoss War OVA anime for my Back to the Vaults series. Madhouse did that OVA and frankly, I was not impressed. However, the art and animation in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 01 were quite good. Hopefully this continues.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 01 is a powerful, emotional start to what I know is a really good, fantasy story. I do wish the official subtitles retained the honorifics though. “Mister” is way less than “-sama”. That said, I look forward to watching more and hopefully finishing the series before the next season/series comes out.