Cover of the first Frieren: Beyond Journey's End home media release by Toho
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga series of the same name written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. It is produced by Madhouse and directed by Keiichirō Saitō, with scripts supervised by Tomohiro Suzuki, character designs handled by Reiko Nagasawa, and music composed by Evan Call.[1][2] The story follows elven mage Frieren, a former member of the party of adventurers who defeated the Demon King and restored harmony to the world after a ten-years-quest. As years pass, Frieren stays the same due to her longer lifespan while the others age. Following Himmel's death, Frieren also receives an invitation to travel far north, to the resting place of souls, and see Himmel again to bid the hero a fitting farewell and express her feelings.
The series premiered with a two-hour special on September 29, 2023, on Nippon TV's Kin'yō Road Show programming block (which is usually reserved for feature films), which is the first ever anime series to do so,[3][4] with later episodes airing on the network's new Friday Anime Night programming block.[5] The series will run for two consecutive cours.[6] Yoasobi performed the opening theme song "Yūsha" (勇者, "Hero"), while Milet performed the ending theme song "Anytime Anywhere".[7] Milet also performed the first episode's ending theme song "Bliss".[6] The episodes are set to be released by Toho on seven DVDs and Blu-ray volumes from January 24 to July 17, 2024.[8]
Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia.[9] Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia.[10]
Episodes
| No. | Title [11] | Directed by [11] | Written by [11] | Storyboarded by [11] | Original air date [12] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Journey's End" Transcription: "Bōken no Owari" (Japanese: 冒険の終わり) | Ayaka Tsuji | Tomohiro Suzuki | Keiichirō Saitō | September 29, 2023 | |
| After defeating the Demon Lord, hero Himmel, priest Heiter, dwarf warrior Eisen, and elf mage Frieren return to the royal capital. Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen are ready to settle down after their ten year adventure, but Frieren, whose lifespan lasts thousands of years, considers ten years barely noticeable and plans to travel and learn new spells. They watch the Era meteor shower together with Frieren promising to show them a better place to watch it during the next shower in fifty years. Fifty years later Frieren returns and finds Himmel and Heiter are elderly, while Eisen is middle aged. After retrieving a dragon horn from Himmel they go on one last adventure to watch the meteors again. Himmel dies of old age shortly after the trip. At Himmel's funeral, Frieren tearfully realizes she never really got to know him and decides to learn as much about humans as possible. Twenty years later she returns and finds the now extremely elderly Heiter has adopted a war orphan, nine year old Fern. Fern has potential as a mage and Heiter, who has come to fear death in his old age, asks Frieren to research life extending magic and tutor Fern in her spare time. Frieren agrees after finding Fern is already remarkably skilled despite her youth. | ||||||
| 2 | "It Didn't Have to Be Magic..." Transcription: "Betsuni Mahō Janakutatte..." (Japanese: 別に魔法じゃなくたって…) | Tomoya Kitagawa | Tomohiro Suzuki | Tomoya Kitagawa | September 29, 2023 | |
| Frieren spends four years tutoring Fern while translating an ancient grimoire concerning immortality. Heiter becomes bed-ridden and Fern trains nonstop, wanting Heiter to see her become a mage. She reveals after the deaths of her parents Heiter stopped her committing suicide, so to repay him she needs to prove she can survive on her own. Frieren's translation reveals nothing about life extension, which Heiter already knew; it was just an excuse to have Frieren train Fern. Heiter dies shortly afterwards so Fern joins Frieren on her travels but is confused by the effort Frieren puts into learning spells, even silly ones. In a certain village they find a statue of Himmel that Frieren is compelled to decorate with Blue Moon Weed, a flower from Himmel's village. As it is extinct they spend 6 months searching for even a single flower so Frieren can save it. Fern is frustrated Frieren could be helping the world yet wastes years on seemingly pointless tasks. Frieren reveals Himmel inspired her spell collecting to prevent the apathy caused by her lifespan. Eventually they find the flower in a Seed-Rat nest, allowing Frieren to create a field of them in Himmel's memory. Fern realizes it is important to have a passion, be it for magic or anything else. | ||||||
| 3 | "Killing Magic" Transcription: "Hito o Korosu Mahō" (Japanese: 人を殺す魔法) | Daiki Harashina | Tomohiro Suzuki | Daiki Harashina | September 29, 2023 | |
| Fern notices Frieren acting suspiciously and follows her to several unusual and dangerous shops. Frieren admits despite her efforts she has learned almost nothing about Fern and was trying to think of a gift for Fern's birthday. Fern is happier knowing Frieren at least tried to learn about her. Frieren decides to revisit places she visited with Himmel, Heiter and Eisen. The first place is a village where Frieren sealed away Qual, the Demon of Corruption. The seal will break soon so Frieren must defeat Qual. She is surprised to learn Himmel checked the seal every year until he died and was always confident Frieren would visit before it broke. Frieren reveals Qual invented a killing spell that bypassed all barriers and armour to strike the body directly which was so powerful at the time she could only manage to seal rather than destroy him. Qual is unsealed but Frieren reveals in the eighty years he has been asleep human mages learned and reverse engineered his spell, allowing them to develop new defense spells to block it. Unable to harm them, Qual is easily killed when Frieren uses his own spell on him, which he does not know how to block. Frieren realizes the village elder is a boy she met at the village eighty years ago, reminding her fondly of Himmel. Fern also points out Himmel must have had deep trust in Frieren to be so certain she would return to deal with Qual. | ||||||
| 4 | "The Land Where Souls Rest" Transcription: "Tamashii no Nemuru Chi" (Japanese: 魂の眠る地) | Kento Matsui | Tomohiro Suzuki | Yoshiaki Kawajiri | September 29, 2023 | |
| In exchange for cleaning a beach, Frieren receives a grimoire written by famous mage Flamme, even though it is fake. The work is finished by New Year when the locals traditionally watch the sunrise. Frieren, a notorious late sleeper, missed the sunrise during her last visit, upsetting her friends. This time she makes it but finds the sunrise dull, until she sees Fern enjoying herself and realizes why missing it last time upset everyone, because they were supposed to go together. They then visit Eisen's home, having not seen him in thirty years. He asks for help searching Voll Basin for Flamme's genuine grimoire as Flamme supposedly found a way to speak to the dead, and he thinks it will be beneficial for Frieren to speak with Himmel one more time. Frieren recalls Flamme was her human master 1,000 years ago, who instructed her to find her home if she ever felt regret and wanted to speak to the dead. Frieren recovers Flamme's genuine grimoire which describes where all souls go, Aureole, at the northernmost point of the continent where the Demon Lord's castle is located. On the way home, Eisen is happy Frieren is learning to care about people and is a good teacher to Fern. Frieren asks Eisen to accompany them to Aureole, but Eisen declines, citing he would slow her down in his old age. However, Eisen also reminds them that their original adventure to the Demon King's castle took ten years, which Frieren acknowledges. | ||||||
| 5 | "Phantoms of the Dead" Transcription: "Shisha no Gen'ei" (Japanese: 死者の幻影) | Kōta Mori | Tomohiro Suzuki | Ken'ichi Shimizu | October 6, 2023 | |
| Frieren acknowledges ten years is potentially a tenth of Fern's lifespan but Fern decides to follow her. A short way into the journey they enter a village where several people disappeared after seeing ghosts of their deceased relatives. Frieren suspects an Einsam, a monster that lures victims with illusion magic. The illusions are easily destroyed with attack magic, but as this involves attacking the ghosts of people they loved even experienced warriors cannot fight back and become its prey. Fern is almost caught by Heiter's ghost but Frieren easily shoots Himmel's ghost, exposing the Einsam so Fern can destroy it. Continuing on the journey Frieren decides to kill a dragon to collect a grimoire from its nest. This requires a strong warrior so they seek out Stark, one of Eisen's students who once defeated the dragon in a staring contest and now lives nearby. Stark admits he has never killed a monster before and only won the famous staring contest because he was frozen with fear. Frieren gives him until morning to decide to help. Fern doubts he is capable but Frieren is confident since, thanks to Eisen's training, Stark possesses the strength to cut through solid rock with his axe. | ||||||
| 6 | "The Hero of the Village" Transcription: "Mura no Eiyū" (Japanese: 村の英雄) | Tōru Iwazawa | Tomohiro Suzuki | Tōru Iwazawa | October 13, 2023 | |
| Stark admits that even though he is strong enough to take on the dragon, he is too afraid to. Fern encourages Stark by telling him all he needs is resolve. The next day, Stark reluctantly agrees to distract the dragon despite still being scared. However, Frieren points out that Eisen was always scared as well before a major battle. Stark then engages the dragon and manages to kill it without needing any assistance from Frieren and Fern. Frieren collects the grimoire and Stark agrees to accompany her on her journey. The trio head north to the city of Waal, but find out the checkpoint is closed due to increased monster activity in the northern lands. Frieren is content to stay in the city to continue her magic research, but Fern and Stark grow concerned when they find out it may take up two years before the checkpoint can be reopened. Stark reveals to Fern that he wants to go on an adventure so that he can return to Eisen to regale him with his stories. Fortunately, the city's castellan recognizes Frieren and believing that she has headed north to pacify the monsters, gladly opens the checkpoint for her. Frieren and her party are given a heroes' sendoff, which embarrasses Frieren but Fern and Stark are excited that this marks the official beginning of their adventure. | ||||||
| 7 | "Like a Fairy Tale" Transcription: "Otogibanashi no Yō na Mono" (Japanese: おとぎ話のようなもの) | Keisuke Kojima | Tomohiro Suzuki | Naoto Uchida Keisuke Kojima | October 20, 2023 | |
| Frieren and her party continue to travel north, and Frieren explains the Elven race has been declining since due to their long lives, they are too apathetic to even reproduce. They pass by another village with statues of her and her original party who celebrate "Liberation Day". Frieren recalls a memory where Himmel was adamant the party leave behind statues of themselves as reminders to Frieren that they actually existed and aren't simply fairy tales. Heading to another city, Frieren spots demons and tries to attack them, only to be arrested by the city guards for threatening peace envoys. Fern and Stark visit Frieren in the dungeon and reveal that one of the Demon Lord's lieutenants, Aura, has recently regained her power and has been waging war against the city for 28 years, leading both sides to open peace talks. However, Frieren warns from experience that demons are incapable of being reasoned with since they only learn human language as a way to deceive humans. Just as Frieren predicted, the demon peace envoy led by Lügner are simply there to trick the city into lowering its barrier so Aura can raze it with her army. However, one of his attendants, Draht, heads to the dungeon to assassinate Frieren, but she warns him that she is far more powerful than Aura. | ||||||
| 8 | "Frieren the Slayer" Transcription: "Sōsō no Furīren" (Japanese: 葬送のフリーレン) | Tomoya Kitagawa | Tomohiro Suzuki | Tomoya Kitagawa | October 27, 2023 | |
| Draht ignores Frieren's warning and attacks her, but she easily kills him and escapes the dungeon. The city's Graf, Granat, becomes suspicious about Draht's disappearance and Frieren's escape and confronts Lügner. With his plot exposed, Lügner captures Granat with the intention of forcing him to disable the city's barrier. Meanwhile, Fern and Stark agree to warn Granat about Lügner when they come across Frieren. Frieren refuses to help them against Lügner, confident that the two are strong enough to defeat him. Instead, Frieren leaves to confront Aura, who is waiting outside the city with her army. That night, Fern and Stark sneak into the keep and work together to seriously wound Lügner. With Granat badly injured, the two adventurers decide to rescue him and withdraw. As he heals his wound, Lügner finally realizes that Frieren is in the city. He recalls how Frieren is also nicknamed "Frieren the Slayer" due to killing more demons than anybody else in history. Outside the city, Frieren confronts Aura face to face. | ||||||
| 9 | "Aura the Guillotine" Transcription: "Dantōdai no Aura" (Japanese: 断頭台のアウラ) | Kōki Fujimoto | Tomohiro Suzuki | Kōki Fujimoto | November 3, 2023 | |
| Fern and Stark manage to get Granat to safety in the town church, where he warns that Aura's trump card is a magic artifact called the Scales of Obedience, which measure the amount of mana she and opponent possesses. The one with the greater amount of mana can then dominate the loser, which is how she has created an army of puppets. Frieren destroys some of Aura's puppets, and seeing that she still has no understanding of humanity, concludes that she can kill her like a monster. Back in the city, Lügner and his assistant Linie ambush Fern and Stark. While the demons initially have the upper hand, Stark learns that Linie copied Eisen's fighting style from observing him in a battle, and uses that to his advantage to purposely take a blow from her axe so he can land a killing blow on her. Fern seizes the initiative by taking advantage of her main strength of being able to cast her spells more quickly than even Frieren, eventually overwhelming Lügner's defenses and killing him. | ||||||
| 10 | "A Powerful Mage" Transcription: "Tsuyoi Mahōtsukai" (Japanese: 強い魔法使い) | Nobuhide Kariya Kazumasa Isogawa | Tomohiro Suzuki | Nobuhide Kariya | November 10, 2023 | |
| Mortally wounded, Lügner is left to wonder how Fern is so powerful, until he comes to the realization that she had been suppressing her mana to look weaker than she actually is, which is considered a taboo among demon mages. Fern then finishes off Lügner. In a flashback to a thousand years ago, Flamme comes across a destroyed elf village and finds Frieren the only survivor, having managed to kill the demon general attacking her. Flamme decides to take Frieren on as her apprentice and teaches her how to indefinitely suppress her mana. She also teaches Frieren how to fight demons. Since demons are proud and self confident in their own magic and are incapable of suppressing their own mana, Flamme explains that by suppressing their mana, they can trick demons into feeling a false sense of security where they can be destroyed in a surprise attack. Flamme's last instruction to Frieren is to keep training and suppressing her mana and live in obscurity until she is powerful enough to defeat the Demon King. A thousand years later, Himmel and his party track down Frieren and attempt to recruit her. Seeing that Himmel can instinctively sense her true power, Frieren decides to join them. In the present, Aura uses the Scales of Obedience, but is horrified when Frieren shows the true extent of her mana. Aura is dominated by Frieren, and she is forced to behead herself under Frieren's order. | ||||||
| 11 | "Winter in the Northern Lands" Transcription: "Kitagawa Shokoku no Fuyu" (Japanese: 北側諸国の冬) | Kento Matsui Kunio Fujii | Tomohiro Suzuki | Keiichirō Saitō | November 17, 2023 | |
| After paying proper respects to Aura's victims and enjoying Granat's hospitality, Frieren and her party continues on their journey, but plans to drop by at Äußerst, a large magical city in the northern lands, to get a first-class mage certification that will enable them to travel through the Northern Plateau. However, on the way, they get lost in a blizzard at the foot of the Schwer mountains and Stark begins to suffer hypothermia. Fortunately, they find an emergency cabin and meet an elven monk named Kraft. Frieren and her party stay with Kraft inside the cabin for six months to ride out the winter. Kraft then confides in Frieren that he decided to worship the Goddess because with all of his old friends dead and his accomplishments long forgotten, only she can remember his deeds and praise him when he finally goes to heaven. He then asks about Frieren's past, offering to praise her in the place of the Goddess. This triggers a flashback where Heiter once said the exact same words to Frieren and she declines Kraft's offer, stating somebody has already praised her. Kraft advises that Frieren cherish her friends and companions before parting ways with her and her party. | ||||||
| 12 | "A Real Hero" Transcription: "Honmono no Yūsha" (Japanese: 本物の勇者) | Yoshiki Kawasaki | Tomohiro Suzuki | Yoshiki Kawasaki | November 24, 2023 | |
| On their way to Äußerst, Frieren and her party stop by the Village of the Sword, the resting place of the legendary Hero's Sword, so that Frieren can fulfill her obligation to regularly clear out the monsters attracted by the Sword. Stark sees the Hero's Sword still embedded in a stone, and is confused because he was told stories that Himmel successfully pulled the Sword from the stone. Frieren remarks that Himmel failed at pulling the sword but stories claimed otherwise after the fact. She then recalls how Himmel wasn't discouraged at all, simply saying that he'll prove himself a hero by defeating the Demon Lord without the Sword. The party then heads to the next town, where Fern learns it is Stark's eighteenth birthday so she asks him what gift he would like. Stark reveals he's not used to getting presents because his warrior family never celebrated them, believing he was a failure to for being a coward, especially when he ran away when a monster attacked their village. Fern reassures him that she and Frieren will make sure he won't run away, and helps him buy a silver bracelet. Upon returning to the inn, Frieren has prepared hamburg steaks, which Eisen had always traditionally done on birthdays. This triggers a memory of his older brother Stoltz secretly cooking him hamburg steak on his birthday, as well as being the person telling Stark to flee the village so that he can live. Stark then feels some closure realizing that his brother truly loved him. | ||||||
| 13 | "Aversion to One's Own Kind" Transcription: "Dōzoku Ken'o" (Japanese: 同族嫌悪) | TBA | TBA | TBA | December 1, 2023 | |
Home media release
| Volume | Date | Discs | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 24, 2024[13] | 1 | 1–4 |
| 2 | February 21, 2024[14] | 5–8 | |
| 3 | March 20, 2024[15] | 9–12 | |
| 4 | April 17, 2024[16] | 13–16 | |
| 5 | May 22, 2024[17] | 17–20 | |
| 6 | June 19, 2024[18] | 21–24 | |
| 7 | July 17, 2024[19] | 25–28 | |
References
- ↑ アニメ『葬送のフリーレン』2023年秋に放送決定。主人公・フリーレンを演じるのは種崎敦美。制作は『ワンパンマン』などを手掛けるマッドハウスが担当. Famitsu (in Japanese). March 8, 2023. Archived from the original on March 8, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 8, 2023). "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime's Promo Video Reveals Cast, Staff, Fall Premiere". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 8, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ↑ Loo, Egan (June 29, 2023). "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime's 2nd Video Unveils 2-Hour September 29 Debut". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
- ↑ アニメ「葬送のフリーレン」は日本テレビの新アニメ枠で、主題歌はYOASOBI＆milet. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. September 1, 2023. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
- ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (September 3, 2023). "NTV Establishes 'Friday Anime Night' Programming Block in October". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
- 1 2 Cayanan, Joanna (September 27, 2023). "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime Reveals Half-Year Run, Premiere's Special Ending Song". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
- ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (August 31, 2023). "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime's Promo Video Reveals Theme Songs". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
- ↑ Beveridge, Chris (November 23, 2023). "TOHO Schedules 'Frieren: Beyond Journey's End' Anime DVD/BD Limited Edition Releases". The Fandom Post. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
- ↑ Cardine, Kyle (July 15, 2023). "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime Begins on Crunchyroll This September". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
- ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (September 1, 2023). "Muse Asia Licenses Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 "Sutōrī｜Anime "Sōsō no Furīren" Kōshiki Saito" STORY｜アニメ『葬送のフリーレン』公式サイト [Story｜Anime "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" Official Website]. frieren-anime.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- ↑ "On'ea｜Anime "Sōsō no Furīren" Kōshiki Saito" ON AIR｜アニメ『葬送のフリーレン』公式サイト [On Air｜Anime "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" Official Website]. frieren-anime.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 29, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 1". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 2". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 3". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 4". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 5". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 6". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Vol 7". Frieren Anime. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
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