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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 7 

Anime TV Show Review: The Human Experience according 
to Frieren: Beyond Journey's End / Sōsō no Furīren 

Nathalie Velasco-Quiroz 
Department of Sociology 

California State University, Los Angeles 
 
In the fantasy and adventure anime show Frieren: Beyond 
Journey's End, the human experience shown through the eyes of 
the protagonist, an elf mage named Frieren, takes viewers on a 
journey of discovery, both of the self and of others. From a 
sociological perspective, some of the themes reflect the 
experiences of human life, such as social structure, collective 
memory and shared experiences, and aging and time. Throughout 
this review piece, some situations are not too descriptive to avoid 
spoilers for those interested in watching the anime. From Abe, 
Yamada, Suzuki, and Saitō’s (2023) description on Crunchyroll, a 
major anime hosting site, here is the plot for Frieren: Beyond 
Journey's End explores the following plot:  

After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they 
restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. 
Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face 
to face with humanity’s mortality. She takes on a new 
apprentice and promises to fulfill old friends’ dying 
wishes. Can an elven mind make peace with the nature of 
life and death? Frieren embarks on her quest to find out.  

 
SOCIAL STRUCTURE 
For this topic, the nature of relationships is displayed in the 
anime’s world where different beings have varying life 
expectancies. The biggest example of this is the protagonist 
herself, Frieren, a long-lived elf who outlived her human friend 
with whom she shared an adventure. Frieren’s long life has 
influenced how she perceives and values her relationships with 
others in a detached way that takes social relationships for granted. 
On the other hand, her human friends treasure the moments they 
share with their group, knowing that their time is limited 
compared to Frieren. Her emotional detachment due to her long 
life makes her unfamiliar with human social norms when it comes 
to relationships and mourning. When she is confronted with her 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 7 

friend’s mortality and grieves, she understands the neglect in her 
relationships with them and their significance to her social life.  
 Frieren also takes on the position of mentor to the new 
group formed for the journey, particularly to the two young 
humans, the mage Fern, who is also Frieren’s apprentice, and the 
warrior Stark. The intergenerational interactions showcase the 
times of peace that the world is in after the accomplishments of 
Frieren’s past group. While Frieren shows Fern the world of magic 
and mages, Fern’s interactions with Frieren teach her emotions 
and human experiences. This dynamic helps in Frieren’s character 
development as she learns more about human life and its value 
while both generations learn from each other.  
 
COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND SHARED EXPERIENCES 
Time plays an important role when it comes to the way that 
Frieren’s group, especially how Himmel, the human Hero, is 
remembered during and after their adventure. Time aids Frieren in 
getting to know Himmel better through others, as she felt regret 
not doing so before their past journey ended. The time that passes 
is not only shown just through Frieren’s perspective but also 
through many individuals who encountered the group and relayed 
to her what Himmel did for them and what it meant to them. As 
she and her new group hear the different experiences that others 
have had with Himmel, the shared stories give more insight into 
Himmel and his actions to help others. For Frieren, reliving these 
moments with a new outlook helps her discover the significance 
of those memories. While her original group’s achievements 
restored peace, what people remembered the most was how 
Himmel the Hero helped them in small ways, which impacted 
them so much that the experiences stayed with them for years 
afterwards.  
 
AGING AND TIME 
Although Frieren herself has appeared almost ageless throughout 
her journeys, the same cannot be said about her human friends. 
Dockery, a Senior Contribution Writer at Crunchyroll, (2024) 
notes that aging is accepted and embraced within the anime as it 
acknowledges how time can mean different things to different 
characters, which creates meaningfulness. The human characters 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 7 

enjoy what is beautiful in the world, knowing that death is 
inevitable, and enjoy their lives while they can. In the first episode 
of the series, Frieren mentions wanting to see the meteor shower 
again with the original party but only when they bring peace to the 
kingdom. Frieren’s human friends are surprised at her promise and 
agree to it, even though they know they will either be very old or 
have passed on. 50 years later, she returns to her companions and 
fulfills her promise to see the next meteor shower. While the time 
that passed may not have mattered much to Frieren, that was not 
the case for her human friends, which she inevitably realizes.  
 
STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES 
As much as Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is thought of highly, 
this show has its strengths and weaknesses. The strengths that 
have led to its success in the anime fandom are its narrative, 
journey to understand mortality, and its stunning animation and 
visuals. Further, the narrative is an interesting take on the 
aftermath of a group of heroes saving the world, differing from 
typical anime storytelling. The show's premise about 
understanding mortality gives viewers an opportunity to look at 
humanity through the perspective of Frieren, as she learns more 
about mortality. The art and visuals of this anime are beautiful as 
they illustrate different types of landscapes and characteristics of 
the area that change as the characters travel to many places.  
 The weaknesses of this show involve its pacing and a lack 
of worldbuilding. Although the show is an adventure and fantasy 
anime, its pacing can be considered slow as there are few action 
sequences. This is also because Frieren is retrospectively 
becoming more appreciative of her experiences with her former 
group. The lack of worldbuilding is based on the small amount of 
lore in the world of magic and social structures that are not 
explored in depth. Despite these weaknesses, they play a role in 
the development of the show by allowing viewers to reflect on 
mortality in Frieren’s world while coming to a better 
understanding of humanity's experiences.  
 
CONCLUSION 
Through the anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, there is a 
reflection of human life and the human experience in cherishing 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 7 

the lives that come across and memories that are made. The 
exploration of sociological themes adds to the viewing experience 
as it can relate to our own lives and invites viewers to go on their 
own journey of growth. Frieren also grows to understand human 
experiences throughout her new journey, from grieving with the 
pain of loss to her past and ongoing journey. I highly recommend 
watching this series as it expresses the different types of human 
experiences and the one we will all face in death. Dockery (2024) 
beautifully encapsulates this theme when writing, “In Frieren: 
Beyond Journey's End, your presence might leave the earth, but 
where you remain is in the margins. In the moments where you 
find enough peace to reminisce or to be able to evaluate yourself 
— that’s where you find the past at its strongest.” Perhaps what 
we can take away from Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is 
cherishing moments in our lives that make life beautiful and worth 
living.  
 

REFERENCES 
Abe, Tsukasa, Kanehito Yamada, Tomohiro Suzuki, and Keiichirō Saitō. 

2023. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End / Sōsō no Furīren. Tokyo: 
Madhouse, Inc.; San Francisco: Crunchyroll, LLC. 
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GG5H5XQX4/frieren-
beyond-journeys-end. 

Dockery, Daniel. 2024. “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and the Beauty of 
Age.” Crunchyroll News. 
https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2024/5/4/frieren-
beyond-journeys-end-beauty-of-age.  

 
 
 

 
  


	Anime TV Show Review: The Human Experience according to Frieren: Beyond Journey's End / Sōsō no Furīren - Nathalie Velasco-Quiroz



