Tag: Frieren Beyond Journey's End

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 2

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 2 by Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe
Series Name: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Genres: Adventure, Elves, Fantasy, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Sunday
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2723-0
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Elf Mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?

At Eisen’s urging, Frieren and her apprentice Fern head north seeking the land where heroes souls are said to rest, which also happens to be the location of the Demon King’s castle. Along the way, they meet Eisen’s apprentice, whose fighting skills may come in handy – though the Demon King is long gone, his surviving minions have unfinished business with Frieren!

Personal & Info

I forgot I already bought this. Well, I guess that means I can read it sooner than I expected. At the time I am typing this, I already have volume three, so it will follow soon. Anything after three is going to take a little while to get and review. I don’t know when, but I’ll review them quickly once I obtain them.

I highly recommend this series for anyone who likes elves or D&D or fantasy. It’s so good it might even be one of my new favorites.

Characters

Frieren is an elf mage famous for defeating the demon king with her companions around 80 years ago. She’s a bit of a slob and rather lazy. Her hobby is collecting any and all types of magic spells, no matter how useless they may seem.

Fern is Frieren’s mage companion and apprentice. She seems to take a motherly role in caring for Frieren.

Stark is Eisen’s apprentice. He is a powerful warrior whose never seen any actual combat.

Story & Thoughts

Frieren recruits another traveling companion in this volume. Eisen has an apprentice who has run out on him. His name is Stark, and while he has great skill, he lacks confidence. A warrior will be a helpful addition to the group.

The story is gaining more traction as Frieren sets out to complete a goal. She is heading to Ende in search of Aureole, so she may speak with her dead friend Himmel. It takes approximately ten years to reach Ende, and with Frieren’s leisurely pace, it could take far longer than that.

Things get more intense toward the end of the volume. A town is dealing with demons, and in imminent peril, because they are not as aware of demon nature as Frieren. Apparently her reputation is well known among demons.

I love how Stark and Fern interact. Their conversation while clearing the landslide cracks me up.

The art is beautiful. I never tire of looking at it. There’s just something about the style that makes it cute, but also serious, and the backgrounds are always so detailed.

The elf perspective is still done great. Frieren is ready to wait possibly more than three years for permission to pass through a gate, but her comrades are having none of that. We also get a vague idea of how long Frieren will live. Ten years is apparently less than one one-hundredth of her life. It’s mind boggling to think about.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 1

fantasticfictionsblog

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 1 by Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe
Series Name: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Genres: Adventure, Elves, Fantasy, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Sunday
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2576-2
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?

Decades after their victory, the funeral of one of her friends confronts Frieren with her own near immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure…

Personal & Info

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this series, and it popped up regularly in advertisements. When I saw it in my local bookstore, I made sure to grab it to give it a try.

People who enjoy fantasy, stories about elves, or D&D will probably like this series. I definitely plan on continuing to read and review it. It might not happen quickly, but it’s definitely on my list of things to continue.

Characters

Frieren is the main character. She is the elf mage in a party that defeats the Demon King and then goes their separate ways. She’s also a bit of a slob and rather lazy.

Himmel is listed as the hero of the party. He is the pretty boy with a heart of gold.

Heiter is the priest of the party, constantly called corrupt by his comrades because of his drinking and ideals.

Eisen is the Dwarf warrior of the party.

Fern is an aspiring mage in the care of Heiter. She becomes Frieren’s new companion in her travels.

Story & Thoughts

I hear this series is a bit of a tear jerker, and I can see why. The cover is beautiful, but the implications start immediately. Upon opening the book, the first page is a blackened out version of the cover image, so all you see is Frieren sitting by herself with barely visible shadows of her friends beside her. As the elf of the party, it is her fate to outlive everyone she meets.

The first chapter does a good job pointing out the differences in how an elf thinks compared to the average person. Her life span is so much longer that while everyone is commenting on how it’s been a long ten years and discussing retirement from adventuring, Frieren is thinking of it as having been ONLY ten years. What is a long time to her companions feels more like five minutes to her. The comments she makes in this chapter really drive the point home. She talks about meeting up in fifty years like it’s nothing.

When the reality of her life span becomes obvious to her, Frieren decides to travel. Her reasons are unclear to herself, but I think she wants to honor her comrades and clean up whatever messes are left unfinished. She thinks her reasons are to learn more spells and do tasks specifically for herself in a form of self gratification, but I’m sure there is more to it than that.

The elf perspective is done wonderfully, and the responses to Frieren’s behavior and ideals as an elf are great. It is perfectly understandable for a human to get a little impatient spending six months simply looking for a flower.