For those of you who follow my reviews, you know that I tend to rate in the seventy to eighty range. This means to me that an anime is very good to great. Anything above a ninety in my scores is something I believe to be a near masterpiece. I have also only ever given a perfect score to eight different series while having completed nearly two hundred-fifty anime. This is not to say that I am by any means an expert on anime or to say that my opinion on anime matters more than anyone else’s opinion. I am simply telling you this to give you perspective on where I am coming from when I start to talk about Frieren in this review.
Frieren is a series I initially heard about when it won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for its manga back in 2021. I read the first volume back when it first initially dropped in English back in November that year. I knew then I would like it (though I didn’t fully understand the degree to which I would end up liking it). I watched the first episode back when it initially released in 2023 and absolutely loved it. Then I didn’t touch it for nearly two years.
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you why because I’m not completely certain why I didn’t watch it while it was airing. With the upcoming date of season two’s release and the glowing reviews season one of Frieren was receiving I decided why not jump back into it and see what I was missing out on. A part of me believed that there is simply no way that Frieren could be in the conversation for the greatest anime of all time. Another part of me wanted to believe the hype and to be blown away by an anime like so many other people have been by Frieren.
I’m not going to rant at you too much longer because I know you want me to get to the point of this review. What I will say is that if you are looking for someone who is going to say that Frieren doesn’t meet the critical acclaim and cult following it has accumulated over the past two years then you are going to be very disappointed. In this review I am going to go over what I believe makes Frieren one of the greatest anime I have ever seen and why it is a story that I would urge just about anyone to consume in some fashion.
If you have read one of my reviews before you will know that I keep my reviews spoiler free. I will be mentioning a spoiler for the second half of the pilot episode in my story/plot portion of my review but it will be marked accordingly. My reviews are meant to encourage people to consume a manga, anime or light novel for themselves and for this reason I try my best not to spoil anything that happens in the series. All scores I give in my reviews are based solely on my own enjoyment and opinion of a series. I am by no means a critical person when it comes to rating a series. With that all in mind, I’m going to tell you about all of the great things Frieren brings to the table and why I believe it is such a vital series to watch as an enjoyer of the anime medium.
format(webp))Story/Plot:
Frieren initially follows a similar formula to many different fantasy anime. A story where a party of heroes goes on adventure to save the world from an evil force. Where Frieren immediately subverts expectations is that this only lasts for part of its first episode. Immediately following the early portion of its pilot episode the series has already come to where the conclusion of so many other fantasy anime would conclude. The party of heroes has defeated their main adversary.
Spoiler, click to view
The series then pivots into the story of what happens after the heroes have saved the world. It is at this point that Frieren begins to follow the daily life and adventures of its main character, an elf mage named Frieren, and what she does following her adventures with her party of adventurers. Before you know it a human lifespan has passed and the majority of her party has passed away.Following the pilot episode we begin to follow Frieren on her daily journeys and how she handles life embarking on a new adventure. She meets new people, makes many new memories, and rekindles old friendships as well. All the while Frieren is taking her time to enjoy the adventures she is having with the people around her. For this reason some stories go by quicker than expected and other stories take longer than anticipated. Frieren does this style of pacing not due to a lack of content to provide but in order to effectively emulate the passage of time in real life.This is also where the pacing of the anime is actually utilized to relay the message I mentioned earlier.
What makes Frieren’s plot and story so great isn’t necessarily the stories it tells, though they are all great in their own way, but the way in which it is utilized to get across the messages that the series is trying to engage the viewer in!
In this section of my review I’m going to talk about another one of Frieren’s strong points, its characters. More specifically than that I am going to go in depth on how four specific characters in the story relay important life lessons through their actions and characters. Those four characters being Frieren, Fern, Stark, and Himmel. Prior to that I do want to briefly talk about how phenomenal the cast of supporting characters in Frieren truly are. Frieren takes the time necessary to develop the vast majority of its supporting characters with in-depth backstories and gives them moments that make them all memorable. I could go on about many of the characters but I really want to focus on those four characters I had listed because of just how integral they are to the messages Frieren presents in its story and also how they help make this series so great!
Frieren-
Obviously I would not be doing a proper job of reviewing an anime if I didn’t talk about the main character of the series. One of the main complaints I see made about Frieren is that Frieren is not a good main character. More specifically, I see the argument made that Frieren is awkward, boring, and disconnected. I couldn’t disagree with this analysis more.
Frieren is an elf who is over one thousand years old. What this means is that Frieren has already lived well over ten human lifespans when we see her initially. The argument being made that Frieren is a character who is emotionally stunted and awkward actually demonstrates how great the writing of her character is. In life very few things are as painful as losing someone who you care deeply about. Frieren has experienced this many times over and as a result has decided to socially alienate herself in order to avoid having to feel that pain. When someone is socially alienated for long periods of time, let alone hundreds of years like Frieren is, they are very likely to be socially awkward and emotionally distant. In this way, Frieren’s character is used not as a boring main character but instead as a realistic example of what happens to someone who socially alienates themself in life.
In spite of what I am certain are countless examples of heartbreak over the loss of loved ones, Frieren decides to put herself out there with a new party of companions in Fern and Stark. She knows that barring a disaster she will outlive both of them and yet continues to fight to make a genuine connection with both of them. Furthermore, she makes mistakes that some may view as her not caring about her friends but in reality are examples of her caring but not knowing how to go about forming a positive relationship. Throughout their adventures she is also making the effort to teach both Fern and Stark what she has learned in life in order to ensure that their lifetimes can be better. In many of the ways people criticize the character of Frieren I believe her to be a fantastically written character.
Fern-
Fern is a very interesting character. She is essentially raised by Frieren and in many ways that sets her up to fail socially from the jump. Then, somehow she doesn’t. She is a very kind, compassionate, and giving mage who hides her soft side behind a hard exterior. She cares deeply about specifically Frieren and Heiter (a priest who also raised her prior to Frieren) but she learns to care deeply about a Stark (the third member of her adventuring party). She initially puts up a lot of walls against him, not because she is incapable of caring for another person but because she has never interacted with a boy her own age for an extended period of time. In many ways their friendship shouldn’t work but both Fern and Stark put in the effort necessary to make it work.
Stark-
Stark is a young warrior with a lack of confidence but a very kind heart when we first meet him. Stark is a great character not because of who he is (though he is a character who grows a lot) but because of what his life represents.
Spoiler, click to view
Stark is a character who ran away when the demons attacked his home town. He lives with this regret every day of his life prior to meeting Frieren and Fern.
Himmel-
Himmel is the last character I am going to touch on. Himmel is a character whose presence is felt throughout the story of Frieren despite very limited screen time. He is a larger than life figure throughout the story and as a result inspires countless characters in the world of Frieren. However, where Himmel’s impact is most felt is through the way he lives life. Himmel lives with a set of very specific goals in mind. He wants to help save the world from the greatest evil he has during his lifetime. He wants to be remembered as a great hero by generations to come. He wants to make a lasting, positive impact on the lives of his friends. However, more importantly than all these things Himmel wants to leave the world a better place than it was when he was living. __Through Himmel, Frieren tries to tell the viewer that if you actively make the attempt to make a positive impact on the world and the people in your life then you have lived a life worth living no matter how long or short!
__
Animation:
I’m not going to go too in depth when it comes to animation. For one, I am far from a professional when it comes to understanding the different levels of animation. I know with absolute certainty that Frieren is a beautiful anime to watch and while it doesn’t go out of its way to regularly make visual spectacles of its animation, similar to anime like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, it is more than capable of doing so and does countless times throughout the series. Overall, Frieren is a beautifully animated series that regularly displays near the top of the industry animation.
Soundtrack:
Besides the life lessons that Frieren delivers as a series I honestly believe this to be Frieren’s greatest asset as a series. Every moment with beautiful background images is met with an equally beautiful soundtrack. Every moment of joy, met with an equally uplifting song. Every emotional moment portrayed met with an equally emotional soundtrack as well. Simply put, nothing feels anything less than deliberately placed where it is when it comes to Frieren’s soundtrack.
Those who know me know I am also a sucker for a great opening and ending of an anime. Frieren provides us with two fantastic openings and one phenomenal ending that is split into two different parts throughout the series. All three songs are fantastic but by far the standout of the three is its ending song, Anytime Anywhere by milet. This song is an emotional song that could not more perfectly fit the series and might genuinely be one of my all time favorite endings in all of anime.
Messages about Life:
This is what I believe to be Frieren’s greatest strength by far as an anime. Frieren teaches countless life lessons throughout its anime. It addresses one of the most important aspects of human life, our mortality as humans, head on. It does not shy away from teaching lessons that may be uncomfortable for some people to intake.
The most important thing that Frieren addresses is the reality of our mortality. Regardless of your beliefs all people are mortal and one day their time on earth will pass. It is extremely hard to address this topic without morbid tones coming across. Frieren does this beautifully. The messages that it delivers to the viewer about how life is a beautiful thing and how to live your life with purpose are beautifully done. It reminds us to embrace this mortality rather than fear it. It reminds us to be present in the moment and enjoy our lives. It reminds us to enjoy life because each moment in our lives is something to be treasured. It reminds us to live life with our best foot always being set forward. It encourages us to make every effort to leave our world a better place with us having been in it. Most importantly to me, it encourages the viewer to treasure the time we have in this world with the people we love and be present with them in the moment because we never know when our last moment with them will be. Frieren delivers all of these messages while still being entertaining to watch and still keeping a positive outlook on life.
Final Verdict:
Frieren is an anime that brilliantly makes some of life’s most important lessons not only approachable but enjoyable to intake and learn from. I genuinely came away from this anime with a deeper understanding of how our outlook on our own mortality impacts the way we live our lives. I can’t say with certainty that this is something that will last with me for the remainder of my life but I can say with certainty that this is an anime that impacted my life for the better. For me this is what makes an anime a masterpiece. There are countless anime that entertain me. There are countless anime that are visual spectacles. There are countless anime that attempt to deliver a message and don’t succeed in doing so or do so but don’t leave a lasting impact. Frieren is one of the few anime I have seen that delivers countless messages, makes positive impacts in peoples’ lives, and makes the world a better place for having it been created. I genuinely believe Frieren to be one of those series. This isn’t to say that its animation, its soundtrack, and its characters aren’t among the best in anime but simply that these things are not its greatest asset. In fact I believe all of those aspects of Frieren are among the best of anime as well but simply that they get overshadowed by the life lessons Frieren successfully delivers in an approachable and enjoyable fashion. It is for all of these reasons that I believe that Frieren is an absolute masterpiece!
