Sad, but respectable!
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- Perfectly conveyed atmosphere ensured Frieren's leading position in many tops.
- Sein's departure was no big surprise, but everything was perfect from the director's point of view.
- Fans were impressed with a good start of the second cour.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Sousou no Frieren) claimed to be a groundbreaking anime from the beginning, and it did a pretty good job. Perfectly conveyed atmosphere and a well-constructed plot ensured Frieren's leading position in many tops. The second cour started recently and it impressed again by breaking the usual tropes.
Tropes breaker
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a shonen, but it doesn't look like a typical representative of this genre. The anime about Frieren's journey is very quiet — the melancholic atmosphere is one of the strongest features of the series. There are no hyper-emotional characters or action-packed adventures.
The characters are all quite calm and show realistic emotions. There are also almost no battles in Frieren — the only intense confrontation was shown in Episode 10. However, it didn't take all the attention and was done in the spirit of the whole anime.
No wonder Frieren is considered a breaker of familiar tropes. Already at the heart of the plot there is an idea that turns our vision of adventure shonen upside down. Instead of telling about the great journey, the creators decided to show what happens to the characters afterwards.
Sometimes Frieren is more like a fantasy slice-of-life — many episodes don't show important events, but just sketches from the everyday life of the main characters.
Great beginning of the second cour
After a short break, the creators impressed fans with a good start of the second cour. Although Sein's departure was not a big surprise, everything was perfect from the director's point of view. First, fans were given hope that the hero would change his mind and not go on his own — the Frieren group was delayed in the village because of a snowstorm.
We were shown many touching moments and Sein's importance to the group was outlined — as the most responsible member, he once again solved the conflict between Fern and Stark. Nevertheless, he left the party and started his own journey.
Fans were impressed by the bold decision not to strip the characters of their individuality. Sein originally joined Frieren to find his missing comrade, and when it became clear that their paths were diverging, he went his own way.
Considering the character hadn't been a part of the group that long, this was a non-obvious twist. It's rare in shonen to see this kind of ignoring characters that are important to the plot. However, we love Frieren so much because of the unusual perspective.