The Beauty in a Doomed Love Story

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End follows the long-lived titular Frieren as she travels with a new party. Much of the story takes place in Frieren’s current journey, but it uses her current experiences to recontextualize and reframe those she had with her previous party many years ago. One of the most important elements that gets reframed for Frieren is that of her old party’s hero, Himmel. Being the leader of a party that defeated the Demon Lord, Himmel is known across the land.

The show starts, however, with his passing. Viewers only come to learn more about him through Frieren’s memories. As she continues along her journey, she comes to look back and inward to discover that she may have shared feelings with Himmel that went beyond friendship. Those feelings and moments point toward a more romantic interest between the two of them, but the beginning of the show clearly depicts this wasn’t realized by the time of his death.

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How Frieren’s Journey Depicts Love

Knowing how this love story ends, the show asks the viewer not to hope for a happy resolution but rather to enjoy the journey. The flashbacks showing the developing relationship between Himmel and Frieren are the essence of their path rather than just the leadup to them getting together. As with all great times, it is difficult to recognize them until after they have passed. Frieren’s journey is recognizing these moments, and the show wishes to impart the message that it is in these moments that one can know if they truly feel love. It is a love story tied to the moments of connection they made, and how important those moments become in hindsight.

Due to the inherent undercurrent of time in this show, these flashbacks also put the viewer in Frieren’s shoes. The viewer comes to realizations about what those romantic gestures from Himmel truly meant at the same time that Frieren herself makes those connections. This love story being presented as such not only grounds the viewer with Frieren, but it also reinforces the show’s central themes of the journey being far more important than the end goal.

What The Show Means By Love

This presentation of a love story serves as a dissection of what love truly is and how it blossoms. While most romance stories just show grand gestures and people falling head over heels, Frieren instead takes a more subtle approach. It showcases how a person can grow from just an acquaintance into a prospective partner. It moves beyond the obvious, such as Himmel having a deep knowledge of flowers and giving Frieren a ring with flowers that can only mean one thing, and instead brings out the small things. A glance, a brush of skin, doing something just for a smile, all of these small moments that are part of a growing romance that present themselves before those involved may even notice.

It could also, of course, be argued that this story is inherently a tragedy. It shows a loss, the death of Himmel, and then provides all of these flashbacks that just make the loss hurt more. To this point, it could be said that it is truly difficult to recognize the impact something or someone had until it or they are gone. The presence of such an important piece of one’s life is not lessened for having not understood it in the moment, and it in fact honors that importance by continuing to look back while moving forward. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End argues this point with all its heart.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is now available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is an animated adventure-drama series based on the manga series created by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe. Following her parties’ victory against an all-powerful demon king that threatened to destroy their world, Frieren, an elf, attempts to find her place in a new world with an undetermined future fifty years later.

Release Date

September 29, 2023

Seasons

1

Number of Episodes

28

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