Sousou no Freren is a fantasy adventure Shonen manga by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe whose work started publishing in Weekly Shonen in August 2020. The manga was already very popular before the anime came out, winning a few rewards during the time before the anime adaptation dropped in 2023. It's an understatement to say that the anime is pretty popular, amassing widespread mainstream recognition and arguably becoming the single most talked about anime since its release. At the time of writing this, the manga is currently on hiatus with 140 chapters and the anime is going to get its second season soon.
So really, how good is Frieren? There will be some spoilers ahead.
The story in Frieren is at its strongest at the beginning of the manga when it combs through the relationships between its characters, namely Frieren and her relationship with the others. As this is what everyone likes to talk about when discussing what makes the series so good. And don't get me wrong, they're right when they say that, as the first thirteen chapters truly are special. As we get to learn more about the people who have been in Frieren's life. We also learn about the experiences she had, and after Himmel's passing is when she realized just how precious they were to her. She shortly after learns about Aureole, a place where she can meet Himmel again. The beginning of the story is truly something amazing. It's just what comes after these chapters is where Frieren fizzles out.
In the very next arc, Aura the Guillotine, the issues of Frieren rear their ugly little heads and make it clear what this story is about. Two of the main problems with this arc and others are the portrayal/roles that the demons fulfill in the story, and the shift to a more action focused shonen as opposed to what is presented to the audience in the first arc. Though the Aura arc had a few of these issues, I wouldn't call it all that bad because we got to see a more in-depth look into Frieren's relationship with Flamme. Even during the confrontation between Frieren and Aura we see the effects that Himmel has had on her as she pays respects to the fallen soldiers after having defeated Aura. Other than those two instances, the arc was pretty uninteresting.
The traveling arcs are worth mentioning as they serve the reader with some really nice laid-back slice-of-life moments and also fulfill the hunger that the audience have for more Frieren/Himmel flashbacks that are absent in the main arcs. Ironically, these moments in between the arcs are substantially more enjoyable than most of the main arcs
The Exam arc is where Frieren really starts to shift the focus away from what was initially established. Turning the laid-back emotion driven story of Frieren's self reflection on her past life into an action-oriented shonen. With Frieren and Fern needing to take the First Class Mage exam in order to continue their travels. This doesn't really make any sense considering what happened in Waal where Frieren is recognized as the mage who was a part of the Hero's party and is allowed to pass through.
If we're being honest though, the real reason why they need to do this is so the author can introduce characters in the most uninspired way possible, through what is essentially a tournament arc. What makes it worse is that there's barely any characterization for the characters being introduced. Not all of them are cardboard cutouts though, as Lawine and Kanne have a little more going on in their relationship than what's immediately on the surface.
This arc didn't really need to happen, it was just filler that took away from what actually makes Frieren good. These characters didn't need to be introduced in such a lazy way, they could've just popped up as they Frieren and the others made their way to Aureole. I'd even argue that this would actually improve the worldbuilding of Frieren if it was done this way. Overall just a disappointment of an arc.
The only interesting part about the Golden Land arc was Macht himself and the drive he had to understand human emotions, no matter after being told by others that it was simply impossible. Be it the faulty, lackluster worldbuilding that surrounds the demons in the story or because of how dangerous his powers are to the others around him. Yet this arc has some the same problems as the Aura arc, only that this arc is more well executed because of the inclusion of Macht and how he was handled.
The Goddess's Monument arc is by far Frieren's most frustratingly disappointing arc. The Goddess's Monument arc has Frieren time travel back to the past where she's able to meet her party, the Hero's party, again. By concept alone, this should've been one of the best arcs in Frieren by having Frieren interact in a meaningful way with the others instead showed us the origins of Himmel's sword and how much he really likes it. Oh yeah, it also shows us how Himmel and Heiter are actually childhood friends. The reason this is so disappointing is that these are the type of scenes that should've been used for flashback sequences during Frieren's travels.
This was literally the golden opportunity to have Frieren actually have discussions and be friendly with Himmel and the others. I don't even have a problem with the action portions of the arc since it makes sense since she went back in time to before the defeat of the demon king. It's just another case where the author had a great idea but just could not stick the landing, and instead used this arc to introduce more demons who'll obviously appear later in the story with their own dedicated arcs.
The foundation festival isn't really worth mentioning, not only because is it not interesting, but also because it's not even finished. However, chapter 140 shows some promise that Serie might become a more compelling character than she initially let on.
To make it clear, I don't necessarily think that the action scenes in Frieren are a problem, I just don't like it when they're the main focus and causes other more interesting aspects of the story take a back seat for it.
Overall, Frieren had a very promising start, but things have slowly been going downhill ever since.
5/10
The characters are what make Frieren what it is, as every interesting part of the story is about the relationships that the characters have with one another. That's not to say that every character is amazing, but they are what they are. Well, aside from the demons as they're all pretty lackluster when it comes to being actual characters.
I'd say that one the more interesting dynamics to look at would be the master-apprentice relationships that we see in the story. Because Frieren and Flamme are entirely different in the way that they teach their apprentice. In Flamme's case, when she finds a younger Frieren who is on the verge of death after failing to protect her village from invading demons, she takes Frieren and carefully "cultivates" her to be a perfect demon killing machine.
These teachings leading Frieren to isolating herself from others in order to continue to perfect her mana repression. Frieren does not raise Fern the same way that she was raised by Flamme, as she not only becomes an adoptive mother to Fern but also teaches her the joys of magic at an early age and has shown Fern the care and compassion that a mother would show her child. Notably, she also does not have Fern isolate herself for the sole purpose of killing demons!
Throughout the story there are some touching moments sprinkled throughout. Like one of the cardboard cutouts introduced in the Exams arc gets some nice development in The Golden Land arc. But honestly speaking, it's just not nearly enough that is needed for manga like this to have. It's honestly kind of disappointing when you consider how the author makes the active decision for things to be like that. Besides, it's not like the authors incapable of doing these things, because if you've read the story then you know they clearly are.
7/10
To preface this section, I do have to say that I think demons are meant to be portrayed as mentally ill rather than any racial minority. This is proven by how the demons are represented in the series as they are unempathetic and unable to feel guilt for their actions, so they fit under the umbrella of ASPD well enough.
Not gonna spend too much time on this since this horse has been beaten into a gooey pulp already, but I think that the controversy surrounding the demons is because of the author's lackluster attempt at worldbuilding. We've heard many times, especially from Flamme and Frieren, that demons are "incapable of communicating with humans" or "only use words to deceive humans" as we see demons communicate with each other in the same arc these are stated. There are also demons stating similar sentiment, like "demons would have gone extinct if they felt grief"
But why? Why can't they communicate with humans? Why can't they feel grief for humans? What's the reason that they die out if they felt grief for humans? Are they even sentient? None of these questions are answered whatsoever in Frieren, they're just stated as fact that the author lazily throws in to hand wave the issue away and expects the reader to accept it. If you're going to have the demons be real characters, namely any of the humanoid demon characters for example, then the least you can do is give a proper explanation as to why these things are the way they are.
Annoying/10
It just feels like the author bit off more than he could chew. Unable to stick to the premise that was initially established and ended up with a story that's largely uninteresting. That's not to say that "Frieren" can't be good though, because the potential is clearly there as there are plenty of nice aspects in the story itself. It's just a little disappointing to see the shift from a laid-back emotionally driven story about the relationships between people slowly turn into an action-oriented shonen. Hopefully things change in the future, and it goes back to how it was in the beginning of the story. Since this manga has had such a cultural impact, I'd probably end up recommending it to anyone who wants to get into animanga anyways because I think it works well enough as a gateway.
So really, how good is Frieren? Well, it's no masterpiece, but it's just alright with all things considered.
60 out of 96 users liked this review
