You probably missed these details.
Summary:
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End often focuses on the passage of time — in more ways than you noticed.
- Serie’s attire in flashbacks is completely different from the clothing the characters wear in the era of the main story.
- Even the inanimate objects are shown to be getting older.
Of course, one of the main topics of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Sousou no Frieren) is the passage of time. Most of the time, fans point out how Frieren felt no attachment to her party (including Himmel, who was in love with her) because the time they spent together was too short from the standpoint of an elf.
However, that’s not the only way the anime shows how time passes in the world. Both the manga and the anime pay a lot of attention to its central themes — however, some of the ways it showcases them are not that easy to notice.
Serie’s fashion sense in flashbacks is very archaic
Most notably, the passage of time is shown in flashbacks involving Serie. She has lived for thousands of eras, and seen civilizations rise and fall — and her attire reflects that.
While the main plot of the series takes place in what seems to be a medieval fantasy, in the flashbacks, you can see Serie (and other characters) wearing something closer to the clothing worn by ancient Greeks or Romans.
Such attention to detail has been praised by fans. Many feel like fantasy worlds tend to get stale, with thousands of years passing without any progress. Frieren subverts that trope, showing that society certainly developed during the time that passed.
Some even wondered how Frieren would look in a thousand years — perhaps she would be wearing something close to the modern clothes of our world?
Everything gets older, not just characters
Another way the passage of time was shown was actually in the very beginning of the series. The road that Frieren took when the Hero Party split up was new and clean at the time. When Frieren revisits the place later, the stones are worn out, indicating that a lot of time has passed.
This scene doesn’t just show that the road got older — it also gives viewers some context about elves and how long they actually live. After all, even architecture crumbles and gets old, while Frieren remains the same physically.
This shows how great the anime is
The “show, don’t tell” approach seems to be really rare in anime these days. A lot of modern anime fans want everything explained — they hate missing things and being confused. That said, this approach still works, and Frieren executes it perfectly — which is another proof it’s an excellent anime that will withstand the test of time