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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Sousou no Frieren) is a story you should definitely check out! Originally a manga series written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, it got a 2 cour anime adaptation that began airing in fall 2023. The manga has sold over 17 million copies and won several awards for its unique premise, emotional depth and humorous moments. It is one of the best recently airing anime and has even become the number one ranked show on My Anime List. Frieren’s journey might be wrapping up with only a few episodes left to air at time of writing, but ours is just beginning.

Anime is filled with great fantasy stories, many of which involve trying to defeat some kind of world destroying monster to save humanity. Frieren is different. The world has been saved. The only enemy left, is time.

The story follows Frieren, an elven mage, and former party member of a group of adventurers who defeated the Demon King. The story begins with the group saying farewell as they had completed their quest. In addition to Frieren, the party included: Himmel, the hero who defeated the Demon King, Heiter, the priest who heals and supports the party and Eisen the dwarven warrior. All of the characters are well-developed and realistic, each with their own personality, backstory, and motivation and play an important part in developing Frieren's character.Having spent the past 10 years on an adventure together they have one last celebration and watch a meteor shower. Frieren makes a promise to show them a better view the next time it occurs in only a short 50 years. Frieren then departs and travels the world in pursuit of magical knowledge. The once great party of adventurers is no more.
After 50 years, Frieren fulfills her promise and returns. What she finds however, is that humanity has changed and her former companions have gotten real old. After one last adventure to see the meteor shower, Himmel dies of old age.During the funeral, Frieren expressed guilt for not attempting to learn more about him. Frieren then pays a visit to her other former comrades and ultimately decides to travel far north, to the resting place of souls in order to see Himmel again. Her goal is to give Himmel a farewell fitting to the hero who vanquished the Demon King and express her feelings.

As an elf, Frieren appears to be very young but has lived for over a thousand years. Because of her long lifespan, her sense of time is greatly different from humans. As such, she is often perceived as being insensitive to human emotions. Her occasional clumsiness in social interactions leads others to mistakenly label her as aloof, but in reality, Frieren possesses a kind and caring nature.
The developments in the story thus take place across a long time, with periodic flashbacks. It is a different kind of adventure story. Frieren's story stands out in the fantasy genre not by focusing on incredible fight scenes (although it even has that), but instead by exploring Frieren's changing views of life, friendship, mortality, self reflection and improvement. By showing the contrast of Frieren’s long lifespan with humans’ rather short ones, we get to see how that affects their perspectives and choices.
While it could feel very heavy, depressing and grim, the series takes on more of a slice of life vibe and stays positive by showing the importance of cherishing the moments and the people that matter. The story may follow an elf but we could all learn the same lesson. Humans are fragile and it's never too late to start appreciating those around us.

Frieren has been a huge success with fans so it is probably safe to assume there will be plenty of figures popping up in the near future. This Frieren figure from Kotobukiya however will definitely be tough to top.

The figure shows Frieren standing on a meadow of flowers, holding her staff and looking ahead with a calm and serene expression. It completely captures the spirit of the show and is a faithful recreation of Frieren.
The figure has a somewhat soft and melancholy air which is due in part to the delicate painting and Frieren's color scheme. The cool and subdued color palette consisting of her mostly white mage robes, silver hair and pale skin match her personality and make the colored gold highlights really pop!
The figure’s base, however, uses warm and bright colors like yellow, green and pink, to create contrast and harmony with the figure itself. The meadow of flowers below Frieren makes for a fantastic base and accentuates the beauty. It illustrates the overall happy tone of the series, despite the heavy topics explored.
The flowing movement of Frieren's hair looks realistic and adds to the overall peaceful feeling of the figure. It is a bit difficult to see in pictures but Kotobukiya has utilized translucent pieces in the hair to further enhance the visual.
Kotobukiya did an excellent job ensuring all aspects of Frieren are authentic. From her pointy ears down to her boots, the meticulous attention to detail pays off. The usage of slight gradient coloring creates subtle contrast and depth on Frieren’s skin, clothes and staff truly bring her to life.
Scheduled to release at the end of October this year (2024) she is available for pre-order. If you know you need to get your hands on this figure, act fast. Frieren is currently 20% off thanks to our early bird discount, but only for a limited time!

Thank you for reading!