Frieren Is The New Shonen Queen

Kneel before her!

So final thoughts on Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End now that I’ve finished what I assume to be the first season: this was definitely the standout in terms of all the recent big shonen we’ve gotten in an effort to find something new after Chainsaw Man. The animation was really good and the directing was extraordinary, as expected from Madhouse and the director of Bocchi the Rock. Those production values really go a long way in making shonen the most popular genre in anime, and while it’s not always a requirement to be huge, they never get or stay as huge as the current blockbusters. I’m not sure how long Frieren will stay relevant, but I would not be surprised if it has a longer life span than Spy x Family.

A lot of people say that Frieren is a breath of fresh air after all the meathead shonen shows eating up anime’s popularity. But let’s be honest: Frieren is one of those shows. It may not be from the Jump magazine. The lead characters are primarily female. And the action isn’t super prevalent like it’s more modern competition. However, try denying Frieren is a shonen when you reach the show’s tournament arc. And let’s not deny the beautifully choreographed fight scenes (apparently the fights in the manga are lackluster, which really goes to show how well Madhouse adapted the show) that admittedly don’t have much power scaling or narration (edit: actually I take that back. There’s a lot of talking in-between the action), but there sure as hell are a lot of flashbacks in-between the big moves.

While I like the shonen-esque nature of Frieren reminding me that it’s not that different from the popular Jump stuff, the anime really shines when it more resembles a fantasy JRPG or an introspective slice-of-life. With the titular character being completely overpowered, it can be hard to feel tension whenever she has to fight someone who’s clearly not on her level. And in terms of the non-action stuff, it was really good. I liked how the premise is basically the sequel to an epic fantasy RPG that we never got to see and how the only party member from that time who’s still active is going on a new journey. The fantasy world is depicted beautifully with a lot of impressive detail and human drama that fits the setting. There’s a lot of slice-of-life moments, but they’re really engaging here because they act as a means to see more of the world rather than relying on relatability, which is of course very subjective as that genre tends to be.

It honestly can be easy to forget that Frieren is a shonen in the same way people forget that Spy x Family is a shonen, because of what sets it apart from the other popular franchises. That said, it’s not hard to notice that after the initial episodes, Frieren stops focusing on the whole “elf outlived her former JRPG party” angle and instead just becomes a regular fantasy shonen adventure that gets by on executing it’s cliches really well. The story is mostly just an excuse to have shonen arcs, and there’s not really a whole lot of narrative momentum to the end goal within these arcs itself. What exactly does Frieren liberating a city from a demon whose name literally means “Liar” or getting her mage certification actually contribute to the big picture? World-building and revealing how strong the characters are, but story-wise it’s just another fantasy pit-stop in Frieren’s long history of fantasy pit-stops.

I can definitely see Frieren having a long life span due to this plot outline, but I can also see it growing repetitive in the future if the later arcs don’t add enough unique things. It’s a problem that pretty much every long-running series with distinct arcs go through, especially when the editors want to keep milking the manga for more money. We’ll see in the future (apparently manga fans say that the exam arc is the weakest arc, although that’s mostly because of how Stark wasn’t in it), but for now I’m happy with how Frieren turned out. Even when it loses a lot of it’s uniqueness, it’s still one of the most refreshing fantasy stories I’ve seen with Ranking of Kings being it’s only real competitor. Granted, Ancient Magus Bride is also refreshing in it’s own way, and of course there’s House of Dragons and Brandon Sanderson novels and all that. So maybe not the only real competitor, but it’s the only real competitor that I give a shit about.

In terms of it’s characters, I liked Frieren a lot. Just this quirky elf who sees time (and honestly human interactions in general) differently from others yet does have emotional moments as well as comedic moments when the realization of her differences hit. Also never comes off as a Mary Sue because there aren’t a lot of situations where she’s required to fight and she uses actual strategies based on her years of experience to get out of the tough jams she runs into.

I’ve seen a lot of people compare Frieren to female leads in the major Western media and how she stands out because of how poorly we’re doing it on our side of the globe. Even though Frieren is always going to be so much stronger than everyone else until Fern eventually surpasses her, you don’t care because of how likable Frieren’s personality is combined with how she can’t do everything on her own. She may be the titular character, but she’s willing to let everyone else get their spotlight without being condescending about it. Never gets the big accomplishments, but you know she doesn’t need them.

In terms of being a shonen protagonist, Frieren reminds me of Sigourney Weaver in Aliens. Although mainly for that one franchise with Aliens being the only good installment after the original, Sigourney Weaver became a really good female 80s action icon in a mostly male-dominated space when Aliens became the success it was. And with her show, Frieren has become a very good female shonen lead in a similarly male-dominated space without having to share that space with a male counterpart like Fuko from Undead Unluck does with Andy. There is Burn the Witch I guess since Balgo is too useless to really share or steal the scene from the female leads in that, but it’s too new for me to judge accurately. Arguable if Jolyne from Stone Ocean counts. And Ryuko from Kill la Kill basically acts no different from a male character.

Fern and Stark are great too. Really like how strong yet childish they are, and they contrast Frieren pretty well. I liked how Fern is only taught basic spells and yet that’s all she needs to succeed as a mage, especially considering how magic evolves over the years. That scene in the early episodes where an incredibly powerful demon lord gets unsealed and realizes that he got reset to Level 1 due to magic evolving in order to counter his attacks over the last century was both brilliant and hilarious. Stark is just a fun dork with some great action scenes and good chemistry with Fern. I didn’t actually mind that he wasn’t in the Mage Exam arc because Frieren is all about characters showing up and leaving whenever they feel like it.

But of course, the standout character that everyone fucking remembers to the point that he’s a meme in of himself is Himmel. Despite the fact that he only shows up in flashbacks on account of being dead, he really was the GOAT. I loved how despite being lauded as the hero who defeated the demon king, he was a lot dorkier than people thought. That detail that he wasn’t the chosen one and yet still defeated the evil demon king because apparently said king was sorry as hell was great. And of course, the fact that he died a virgin because he was in love with an elf who didn’t understand his flirting was also funny. Every time you saw this guy, there would always be this new detail that made you love and meme him at the same time, and that’s impressive for someone not actually in the show.

In terms of the Mage Exam characters, who I’ve been told will show up again in the future so looking forward to that, obviously there are a lot of people who simp for Ubel. I’ll admit that every time she grew more sadistic, she got more interesting. Denken grew on me over time. Did like the memes that made him out to be someone who can throw hands, and his analytical approach to combat was cool. Everyone else I’m more okay with. Don’t really have strong opinions on the girls who partnered with Frieren in the first exam or the glasses dude that seems to be Ubel’s love interest (think his name is Land), especially seeing as how I don’t remember their names. If they become more relevant later on, I’ll bother to retain that information.

All in all, this is just a really great show. The visual highlights. The likable characters. The unique fantasy rules. The way it mixes slice-of-life with action. It deserves to be one of the blockbuster shonen and I’m glad we’re still getting these, even if it is screwing over other genres in the process. But what can you do? Fruits Basket just doesn’t vibe with a lot of people.