is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written by and illustrated by . It has been serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

's manga magazine ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...

'' since April 2020; its chapters have been collected in 14 volumes as of March 2025. It is licensed for English release in North America by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

and in Southeast Asia by Shogakukan Asia. The series takes place in a fantasy world and follows Frieren, an elf mage on a journey to the resting place of souls to reunite with her former comrade Himmel, whose Hero Party slew the Demon King. Madhouse has produced an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation, with its first 28-episode season broadcast from September 2023 to March 2024. A second season is set to premiere in January 2026. By February 2025, the ''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' manga had over 24 million copies in circulation. The manga won the 14th

Manga Taishō The is a Japanese List of comics awards, comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer Tankōbon, collected volumes in length. The Manga Taish� ...

and the 25th annual

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...

's New Creator Prize in 2021, and the 69th

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is ...

and the 48th

Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...

(in the category) in 2024.

Plot

The elven mage Frieren is a former member of a party of adventurers who defeated the Demon King and restored harmony to the world after a ten-year quest. The party also consists of the human hero Himmel, the dwarven warrior Eisen, and the human priest Heiter. Before they part, they observe the Era Meteors, a

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at ext ...

that occurs once every fifty years. Frieren agrees to see the group again for the next occurrence of the Era Meteors. Frieren departs and travels the world in pursuit of magical knowledge. Fifty years later, Frieren returns to the capital to find humanity has changed and her former companions have aged. After one last adventure to see the meteor shower, Himmel dies of old age. During his funeral, Frieren expresses guilt for not attempting to learn more about him. She visits her other former comrades, and accepts Heiter's request to teach and care for Fern, an orphaned child he had adopted. She also receives an invitation to travel north to the resting place of souls to see Himmel again, express her feelings and bid him farewell. Frieren travels with Fern while still learning magic. Along the way, she is joined by Stark, a young warrior boy Eisen had taught. Frieren's elven nature grants her an extremely long lifespan, causing her to experience years or decades as ephemeral. With this perception of time, Frieren considers the ten-year adventure with Himmel's party a fleeting experience. The story thus occurs over a long time, with characters showing physical and mental development through periodic flashbacks.

Production

Katsuma Ogura, the editor-in-charge of ''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'', noted Yamada's previous work ''Bocchi Hakase to Robot Shōjo no Zetsubō Teki Utopia'' did not sell well, but Ogura considered it a masterpiece. This led to a suggestion to give Yamada an illustrator for his next manga. They had several ideas, including a gag manga, which resulted in storyboards for a one-shot of ''Frieren''. Upon reading the storyboards, Ogura started laughing, saying it was not a comedy at all. When Yamada finished the first storyboard, Ogura contacted Tsukasa Abe, and asked him to draw a character chart and send the work to the editorial department. Yamada was impressed, and submitted the project to the editorial department after Ogura asked him to do it. Ogura was pleased with Abe's artwork and suggested he work with Yamada. Yamada approved of the first illustration of Frieren, believing the title character had an aura of humanity. During an editorial department meeting, the editor in charge said: "If we decide on a good title, we will pay a prize of 10,000

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. T ...

out of our own pocket". One of the title ideas submitted by the deputy editor-in-chief was ''Sōsō no Frieren'', and Yamada and Abe decided to use it for the manga. ''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' started in

's manga magazine ''

'' on April 28, 2020. In January 2023, it was announced the manga would go on hiatus; it resumed in March of the same year. It went on another hiatus in May 2024 and resumed in August; it entered on hiatus again in December of the same year.

Media

Manga

''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' is written by and illustrated by . The series began in

's manga magazine ''

'' on April 28, 2020. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual volumes, the first of which was published on August 18, 2020. As of March 18, 2025, 14 volumes had been released. In February 2021,

announced it licensed the series for English release in North America, and the first volume was published on November 9, 2021. On May 9, 2023, Viz Media launched its ''Viz Manga'' digital manga service; the series' chapters are published in English in North America at the same time as their release in Japan. In Southeast Asia, the manga has been licensed by Shogakukan Asia under the title ''Frieren: Remnants of the Departed''.

Spin-offs

Five one-shot

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

chapters by different authors were published on the manga website ' from May 22 to 26, 2023; by Kassan (May 22); by Ren Miura (May 23); by Jona (May 24); by Kazumi Yamaguchi (May 25); and by Sōichi Igarashi (May 26). The chapters were later collected in a single volume titled , released on December 18, 2023. Shogakukan Asia published the volume in English in Southeast Asia in September 2024.

Anime

In September 2022, it was announced that the series would receive an

adaptation. It was later announced that it would be a television series produced by Madhouse and directed by , with script supervision by , and character designs by Reiko Nagasawa. The two consecutive- cours series premiered with a two-hour special on September 29, 2023, on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

's programming block , which is normally reserved for feature films, becoming the first anime series to do so. Later episodes debuted on the new block Friday Anime Night on the same network and its affiliates, and ended on March 22, 2024.

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

compiled the episodes into seven-DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

sets, which were released from January 24 to July 17, 2024. In September 2024, it was announced the series was renewed for a second season. It is set to premiere in January 2026. Eleven short episodes, titled , were released on Toho Animation's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel and on ''Frieren''s official anime X and

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

accounts from October 11, 2023, to March 24, 2024.

Music

The music for the series was composed by Evan Call. An original soundtrack album was released on April 17, 2024. For the four-episode premiere broadcast, the special ending theme is "Bliss", which was performed by

Milet Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and e ...

. The first opening theme is by

Yoasobi Yoasobi is a Japanese pop duo formed in 2019. It consists of musician and record producer Ayase (music producer), Ayase and singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta, under the moniker Ikura. With the slogan "novel into music", the duo originally released Y ...

, while the ending theme is " Anytime Anywhere" by Milet. The second opening theme is by

Yorushika is a Japanese rock duo founded in 2017. The group is composed of N-buna, a Vocaloid producer, and Suis, a female vocalist. They are known for their juxtaposition of "passionate" and "upbeat" production and instrumentation fused with heavier l ...

, and the second ending theme includes a different part of "Anytime Anywhere".

English release

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

licensed the series for streaming outside East Asia, and an English dub directed by

Jad Saxton Jad Saxton (, born September 27) is an American voice actress and voice director. Early life Her name is an acronym of her parents' names, Jimmi and David, and is pronounced "Jayd". She grew up with a good singing voice, which eventually l ...

premiered on its streaming platform on October 13, 2023. The

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

is releasing the series on DVD and Blu-ray sets; the first part, which includes the first 16 episodes, was released on December 17, 2024, while the second part is set to be released on September 23, 2025.

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of Japanese animation. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and E ...

licensed the series in Southeast Asia.

Other media

Shogakukan published an official fanbook that features information about the series, illustrations, summaries, and initial rough character designs, on January 12, 2024. A prequel novel, , written by Mei Hachimoku with supervision by Yamada, was released on April 17, 2024. The novel includes stories centered around Frieren, Fern, Stark, Kanne, Lawine, and Aura that are not depicted in the manga. A 24-page

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

, also written by Hachimoku, subtitled , was bundled with the special edition of the manga's fourteenth volume, released on March 18, 2025. In April 2024, s Real Escape Game announced the creation of an

escape room An escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, exit game, or riddle room, is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal in a limit ...

based on the manga, titled "Escape from the Millennium Dream".

Reception

Manga

By March 2021, over two million copies of the manga were in circulation, which steadily increased in the following years. By February 2025, it had over 24 million copies in circulation. Volume 12 was Shogakukan's second-highest first-print-run manga volume of 2023–2024 (period from April 2023 to March 2024), with 600,000 copies printed; volume 14 was the publisher's highest first-print-run manga volume of 2024–2025 (period from April 2024 to March 2025), with 700,000 copies printed. The manga ranked second on

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

's list of best mangas of 2021 for male readers ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying professionals in the manga and publishing industry. The first two years saw two s ...

''; it ranked sixth on the 2022 list; and twelfth on the 2025 list. The series ranked second on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2021" by the website "Honya Club". The series ranked seventeenth on the 2021 "Book of the Year" list by '' Da Vinci'' magazine; it ranked tenth on the 2022 list; twelfth on the 2023 list; and ninth on the 2024 list. ''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' was ranked in the top-ten graphic novels by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

's Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table's 2022 list of "Best Graphic Novels for Adults". Its volumes were ranked on

Circana Circana, Inc., formerly known as Information Resources, Inc. and the NPD Group (previously National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.), is an American market research and technology company headquartered in Chicago. In 2017, NPD ra ...

(formerly NPD)

BookScan BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales, owned by Circana in the United States and NIQ in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Italy, Spai ...

's monthly top 20 adult graphic novels list since February 2025.

Critical reception

Rebecca Silverman of ''

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

'' gave the first volume of ''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' an A-. Silverman praised the concept of Frieren outliving her companions, and being forced to live with an understanding of the human world and her own emotions, calling it an "interesting take on the fantasy genre", but said the art is not "quite up to the emotional tasks of the story". Richard Eisenbeis from the same website praised the second volume of the series, saying it "delivers both emotional tales and deep thematic explorations of human nature". He described the third and fourth volumes of the manga as "an action climax that delivers not only a grand battle but also character-development and world-building. Smaller one-off tales that hit you right in your emotional core." Ross Locksley of ''UK Anime Network'' considered it as an interesting take on the fantasy genre by contrasting the enduring existence of one race with the ephemeral lifespan of another, finding it similar to the manga series '' To Your Eternity'', highlighting how the series explores the relationships Frieren builds with the people around her. Wolfen Moondaughter of ''Sequential Tart'' rated the first volume 9 out of 10. Moondaughter highlighted the story's

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to Naturalism (theatre), naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence ...

nature, despite its premise, which involves a " ungeons & Dragonsstyle adventuring party", and praised the interaction between the characters and the art work, concluding: "If you want a break from fight scenes, and want something more serene and contemplative, this book should serve you well! It's also a lovely story of honouring the memory of lost loved ones, and dealing with grief". Sheena McNeil of the same website gave the first volume a 7 and called the concept of "what happens to the party when the quest is over?" interesting. She praised Frieren's struggle to become less detached and seeing her experience the "lovely poignant moments, bittersweet ones, and happy ones". McNeil also compared the series' pace and feel to those of ''

Haibane Renmei is a 2002 Japanese anime television series based on an unfinished ''dōjinshi'' manga series by Yoshitoshi Abe, . The 13-episode series was directed by Tomokazu Tokoro, animated by Radix, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda. It first aired on Fuji ...

''. Antonio Mireles of ''The Fandom Post'' named it the sixth-best manga of 2021 and wrote: "Time waits for no man and that line may be overused but that line strikes a chord in this manga. There is always more to discover and Frieren has to learn that lesson as time marches on. It's a sweet but harsh reminder to enjoy the moment for all its worth." Kara Dennison of '' Otaku USA'' liked the art and the touches of humanity that help the narrative to appeal, comparing it with '' Lord of the Rings'' and other fantasy series. Gracie Qiu for Anime Trending gave it a score of 94.5 out of 100, writing: "Through its characters, its themes, and its astounding execution of the nuanced story, I end each episode looking at my own life, appreciating the journey I have traveled and wondering in anticipation at what is still yet to come."

Awards and nominations

Anime

Critical reception

The anime adaptation received critical acclaim. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the first season of ''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' holds an approval rating of 100% based on five reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. Since the start of 2024, ''Frieren'' is the top-rated anime on '' MyAnimeList'' and ''

''. ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

''s Ali Griffiths praised it as one of the best fantasy anime from 2023, citing its themes surrounding the passage of time as well as praising the show's "cozy, calm atmosphere" and sound design. Richard Eisenbeis of ''Anime News Network'' praised the dynamics between the main characters as Frieren's character and backstory develop. Jenni Lada of ''

Siliconera The GAMURS Group, simply known as Gamurs, is an esports media and entertainment publisher. Established in 2014, the group operates multiple brands focusing on the esports and entertainment news markets, including the websites: ''Dot Esports'', '' ...

'' considered it one of the best anime of late 2023, praising Frieren's depths as she wants to reconnect with Himmel following his death in the first episode, while also noting other events in the manga go from drama to slice-of-life. Dan Mansfield of ''The Fandom Post'' praised the anime's fights and narrative, but felt some sex jokes were out-of-place despite appreciating the humor overall. While commenting on Frieren's personality, Mansfield appreciated scenes in early episodes in which Fern comforts Stark, who is worried about being scared. Kambole Campbell of ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' praised the production values and the show's "simple but moving" narrative. Cy Catwell of ''Anime Feminist'' enjoyed the soundtrack, comparing it to the music of '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' and ''

Tears of the Kingdom is a 2023 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The player controls Link (The Legend of Zelda), Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to prevent Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule. ''Tears ...

'', and praised Madhouse's animation. Ayaan Paul Chowdhury of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' called it "the future of fantasy" and wrote: "''Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'' dares to carve its own path amidst the cacophony of familiar tropes and archetypes".

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * at

* * * * {{Navboxes , list1 = {{Series in Weekly Shōnen Sunday {{Weekly Shōnen Sunday - 2020–2029 {{Manga Taishō {{Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize {{Shogakukan Manga Award {{Kodansha Manga Award - Shōnen {{Madhouse {{Tokyo Anime Award for Animation of the Year Adventure anime and manga Anime series based on manga Crunchyroll anime Crunchyroll Anime Award winners Drama anime and manga Elves in popular culture Fantasy anime and manga Fiction about immortality Madhouse (company) Manga Taishō Muse Communication Nippon Television original programming Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Toho Animation Upcoming anime television series Viz Media manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōnen) Winners of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (New Artist Prize) Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award

Plot

Production

Media

Manga

Spin-offs

Anime

Music

English release

Other media

Reception

Manga

Critical reception

Awards and nominations

Anime

Critical reception

Awards and nominations

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links