Holiday Review: FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY'S END

Fantasy stories continue to dominate the modern manga market, although today's review is one of the latest and most atypical of this year's offerings.

FREIREN: BEYOND JOURNEY'S END (Soso no Furiren), written by Kanehito Yamada with art by Tsukasa Abe.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

Once upon a time, Frieren the elven mage joined a group of adventurers in order to defeat the Demon King.  They succeeded, and afterwards they spent the next decade helping others.  Eventually the group split up, promising to meet up again.

Decades later, at the funeral of the leader of the group, Frieren decides to seek out her surviving compatriots and figure how their lives and actions have impacted others.

STORY:

Frieren couldn't be more different from the other fantasy manga of the year.  It's not just the fact that there are no reincarnations, alternate worlds, or video game trappings to be found.  It's the fact that it starts where most fantasy stories end.

Most fantasy stories are about excitement and adventure and slaying some great villain.  In other words, it's all about the moment and being in the now (at least, in-story).  This manga isn't about that.  Instead, our titular heroine is grappling with the concept of legacy.  This story is steeped in mono no aware, as Frieren watches the people she knew and others she met along the way grow old and die while she barely changes.  She's also forced to confront her own legacy when she's tricked into mentoring Fern, a young orphaned mage who becomes her newest companion.  Fern not only serves to give Frieren someone else to explain things to, but also to anchor her to the present and give her purpose beyond following her own whims.

Frieren is on the surface not all that different from the other elf girls we've seen in anime and manga.  She is wise yet aloof, someone who served as a support role as the magic-wielder in her party once upon a time.  She's a pretty blonde whose youthful stature and looks belies her true age.  Yet these sorts of characters are often nothing more than accessories for the human hero, a prize to be won once he wins his way past her loftiness or temper.  They don't often get to take center stage in the way Frieren does, and that's not insignificant.  Only time will tell if the writer manages to use that perspective to make some really good points or just get completely lost up its own butt.

ART:

Frieren's art isn't particularly splashy.  The character designs are nice, but not particularly distinctive outside of Eisen the dwarf.  His long straight hair and beard, combined with the long cape he drapes around himself, makes him look amusingly abstract.  The backgrounds are nicely drawn, but not extraordinarily so.  The page layouts are unfussy, although Abe has something of a knack for well-constructed montages.  Yet there's a quiet confidence to all of it that fits so perfectly with the tone of the story.  This might not be a manga you read for the art, but the art perfectly supports the story.

RATING:

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a quiet, contemplative take on the fantasy genre that is very good, but I do personally wonder if it'll catch on with American audiences.  It's been racking up a number of awards in Japan, but I wonder if something this low-key and adult in perspective can reach an audience that's used to simple characters, ridiculously literal titles, and pandering galore.

This series is published by Viz.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 6 volumes available.  1 volume has been published and is currently in print.

There's only 10 days left in our annual Holiday Review Giveaway! Let us know about your favorite manga of 2021 to win a $25 RightStuf gift certificate!  Click on the link above for more details.