The world vastly expands in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2, as the team sets out for the Northern Plateau following the First-Class Mage Exam. The first season saw Frieren, Fern, and Stark in the Southern Plateau, said to have less active demons—minus the one interaction with the Seven Sage. In contrast, the team now heads to the Northern Plateau, where more dangerous enemies reside.
The beginning of this season was slightly off to a slow yet relaxing start, more focused on lore-building than making significant gains on their travels. Episode 2, The Hero of the South, is the perfect example where not much happens in the present, other than cleaning the bronze statue of the hero. It is also a surprise to audience members, as they learn that there was another hero before Himmel. The backstory behind the Hero of the South was important because he is the reason Frieren eventually met Himmel.
I felt that Episodes 1-5 were not necessarily filler, but in retrospect, they seemed like expository-heavy episodes in comparison to where the party ends up by the finale. The charm of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is getting to see the mundane moments for both the present and Hero’s party, but it is a treat whenever we get to see some combat. Episode 2 has some combat and mind games to satiate some of that need for some action, but later in Episodes 6 to 8 is where Frieren, Fern, and Stark show off their combat skills.
In both Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 1 and 2, one of the most purposeful writing and directing choices in regard to combat is how the over-1000-year-old elf Frieren never flat-out goes all out if she does not need to. She lets Fern and Stark handle most of the combat, allowing them to gain experience. The only time we have seen Frieren take combat more seriously was against Aura the Guillotine in Season 1, Episodes 9 and 10.
In a way, it shows unspoken character traits about Frieren. She trusts that her party members can handle themselves, or will at least gain knowledge from the encounter. Frieren may act and look like a teenager, but being around for over a millennium still makes her wise.
“Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 sees the group traverse the dangerous Northern Plateau, and with it, invites more villages that continue to be ravaged by demons.”
The fantasy and folk music themes that composer Evan Call brings this season hit all the right moments. There are some very sad and bittersweet scenes this season, and the violin stings and Irish flutes hit hard. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 sees the group traverse the dangerous Northern Plateau, and with it, invites more villages that continue to be ravaged by demons. Without a doubt, the sadder circumstances invite more sombre themes that carry across the season. These notes of yearning and melancholy remind me of Violet Evergarden’s score, ironically, a series that Call also composed.
As much as I enjoyed a balance of combat and comforting interactions this season, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 teases that the story may be taking a grander turn with where the present-day party is heading. With all that was established and introduced in Season 1, I enjoyed some special appearances of side characters we met in the first season.
This shows that the mangaka and show creators care about the side characters and use them to help build out this world as much as the main characters. One Piece does a ridiculously good job at this, but many anime series fail to build out their side characters in order to make the main characters stand out the most.
Talking about the quality of an anime like Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, we cannot ignore the animation and artwork quality. Easily, I can say that the animation and artwork hold up in this second season. Fans of the first season can expect the same high-quality work from Madhouse. Madhouse continues attuned to keeping its painterly, hand-painted look to the environments. There is one landscape that shows the amazing hand-crafted artwork, where I saw detailed snowflakes within ice crystals—all while the gleaming sunset beams through these ice crystals. It warms my heart to see these aesthetically pleasing environments.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 does not overstay its welcome by showing Frieren, Fern, and Stark eventually end up at the start of their path to a much grander quest. I wish the show would overstay its welcome, though, since Season 1 had 28 episodes and this season only had 10! However, I understand that this season was a short one, due to the fact that the creator Kanehito Yamada and illustrator Tsukasa Abe are on an indefinite health break.
Season 3 is already in production, which should cover the latest arc in the manga. As long as both Madhouse and the mangakas take their time to craft the great stories and animation they have produced so far, I will continue watching every beautifully-made season!
All episodes of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Season 2, are available on Crunchyroll.
