This kind of perfect adaptation is actually quite rare.
Summary:
- Frieren: Beyond Journey's End improves upon its source material via its great animation, music and voice acting.
- Some manga readers didn’t like Stark on the initial read, but Chiaki Kobayashi’s performance helped them change their mind.
- Frieren is one of the best adaptations we've got in recent times.
A manga being better than its adaptation is considered to be a norm. After all, there is rarely a way to translate content from one medium to another — usually, some things get cut out or compressed.
That said, some aspects of anime can be better than those of manga. For some series, the incredible animation makes the anime better, as in the case of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Frieren’s anime improves upon the manga
In the case of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Sousou no Frieren), however, it’s not just the animation that elevates the anime so much. Yes, of course, it looks great — but there are other aspects of the series that are absent in the manga, like the soundtrack of the series.
One thing that not many people talk about is how well the voices of the characters in the Frieren anime are chosen. The cast of voice actors is absolutely amazing, and their portrayal of the characters actually improves the series in ways you probably haven’t noticed.
Some of the casting choices make the characters feel more alive
Stark is a great character overall. He’s a very good person who wants to help people — yet he’s realistic and not without flaws. He occasionally acts simple-minded, for example. This characterization makes him fun to watch, but some manga readers thought he was annoying.
Chiaki Kobayashi’s portrayal of Stark breathes life into the character. Kobayashi has proven to have a versatile range, voicing characters like Mash in Mashle: Magic and Muscles and Askeladd in Vinland Saga.
Another great casting choice in the Frieren anime is Frieren herself. Atsumi Tanezaki has proven to be amazing at voicing reserved and introverted characters, and casting her as Frieren was an excellent idea. And if you like her as Frieren, you may want to check out some other anime with her.
Comparing the anime and the manga
Is Frieren’s anime just better than the manga in all aspects? It’s really hard to compare them, because they’re very different mediums, and the manga is far ahead of the anime — which makes source readers wonder if a sequel of the anime is possible at some point.
Regardless of that, this adaptation is one of the best we got in recent times. The anime for Frieren looks consistently great — in both action and non-action moments, has very good music and voice acting, and doesn’t stray too much from the source material.
It has become common to complain about poor adaptations — just look at The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland) S2 — so perhaps we should be happy we’re getting at least this iconic manga adapted this well