Death is an inescapable part of human life, and most of us will and have accepted the fact that one day we will leave the world behind whether you like it or not. But what happens when you have humans with a limited lifespan with a somewhat immortal being? You’ll get Frieren Beyond Journey’s End.

On a surface level, Frieren seems like your typical fantasy anime, being set in a medieval time period filled with magic and adventurers going on their journey to defeat a great evil. What sets Frieren apart is the story starts off with the party returning home after successfully defeating the demon lord.

The party that had subjugated the demon lord consists of two humans, Himmel the Hero and Heiter the Priest, Eisen the Dwarven Warrior, and our main character Frieren, and Elven Mage. During their grand celebration, the party came across a rare Meteor Shower that would only happen once every fifty years.

As the party shared an intimate moment with each other, they made a promise to meet up and catch the Meteor Shower again. Both Himmel and Heiter were wondering whether they’ll be alive by then, while Frieren just scoffs at them saying that it’s just a mere 50 years.

Half a century passes and sure enough, the party got together to catch the Meteor Shower again. Before Frieren met up with the rest of the party, she first came across Himmel, the hero that vanquished the demon lord and once considered the strongest person in the world, now left at the mercy of the passage of time. The gang then get reunited and go on one last journey together to catch the Meteor Shower, before Himmel eventually passes away.

Attending Himmel’s funeral, Frieren looks like the same emotionless and apathetic elf until suddenly she breaks down crying. This was the part where I was sold on the anime.

See, the party had spent 10 years on their journey on defeating the Demon Lord, which is a long time for humans; but to Frieren, it was just a mere short time period. Himmel sees Frieren as a dear friend and companion who he spent years of his life traveling with. However, Frieren only sees him as an acquaintance who she spent a tiny fraction of her life with.

Frieren wasn’t sad because her friend die, Frieren was sad because she lost the opportunity to truly spend the time to get to know them better.

To not feel the same regret, Frieren sets on a journey to retrace the steps she had took during the journey she and the party went on to defeat the demon lord, in hopes to find something that lets her get to know her party members better.

Throughout the anime, you’re able to see similar tones surrounding death and regrets, and it’s such a refreshing thing to watch through in contrast to most of the fantasy anime out there. It’s an interesting to see how Frieren revisits to towns that she and her party went through, and how the memories of what they did still be retained by the townsfolk even years after said events had passed.

It’s also a satisfying feeling to see how Frieren grows as a character, taking in the experiences she had learned from retracing her steps, seeing her take that extra step to know about people around her more and the beautiful moments that come out from it, even though her actions might seem weird from the perspective of other people.

While the anime has its fair share of sad moments, characters talking about how they’re afraid of dying, characters talking about how they wasted their lives away without achieving anything meaningful in their lives. There’s also equally beautiful moments like the episode where Frieren spent months trying to find a specific breed of flower to put on one of Himmel’s statue when she found out it was his favourite flower.

With recent anime seasons featuring more and more isekai power fantasy, Frieren Beyond Journey’s End is bittersweet series that I highly recommend people to watch.