Frieren: Beyond Journey's End | Post JRPG Depression: the Anime | Free on Crunchyroll in May, no account needed

[Daxtreme]

 

Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Drama

 

Synopsis

The party of heroes saved the world from the Demon King, bringing about an era of long-lasting peace... 

... now what?

 

 

That's right, we start the story where 99% of stories finish. I suspect few people watch anime here but I think it deserves to be mentioned, because it's, well, the best show of the year so far according to yours truly. And I hardly ever watch Anime. Also, it doesn't contain many anime tropes.

 

The hook is the synopsis above plus, well it's a bit like Lord of the Rings in anime form, and flipped on its head (we start basically after Return of the King). The writing is superb and it tackles on interesting philosophical themes. The animation is gorgeous featuring an intricate spell system that's really fun to watch. The story also goes in often unpredictable direction due to the nature of the narrative. 

 

 

It's also been incredibly well-received, currently ranked #1 all-time on some anime websites like MyAnimeList above.

 

I highly suggest not watching/reading anything about it, not even a trailer, and just going in, letting the story surprise you. If you're not hooked in the first episode, I'd be shocked.

 

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is currently free to watch on Crunchyroll for the whole month of May, in full HD, no account needed! The best time to watch is now. 

 

Link: https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GG5H5XQX4/frieren-beyond-journeys-end

 

Edited May 6 by Daxtreme
added link to Crunchyroll

[Brainbug]

Frieren is very good.

 

Is it the best anime of all time? Nope, there is some heavy recency bias going on with that right now, but its certainly one of the best fantasy anime series in recent years.

 

I think its also a great show for non-anime fans who maybe want to try out the medium.

[Daxtreme]

on that subject, do you have recommendations in the fantasy genre? I've been out of the game for a while

[Brainbug]

14 minutes ago, Daxtreme said:

on that subject, do you have recommendations in the fantasy genre? I've been out of the game for a while

 

Part of the problem with that question is that theres such a ... mixture of generes within the broader "fantasy" one itself in Anime 😅 for example, the vast majority of fantasy-themed shows are actually Isekai anime, a genre where most of the time a teenage boy from Japan gets transported into a fantasy world with (or sometimes without) some kind of special power. Its power fantasy essentially and most of it is honestly trash (though i do enjoy my trash from time to time)

 

I would personally recommend the following ones:

 

For good, non-Trash Isekais, id say theres Re:Zero, That Time i got reincarnated as a Slime, KonoSuba (a parody of the genre), Mushoku Tensei, Overlord and The Eminence in Shadow (though that one is borderline also trash and also kind of a parody)

 

For "pure" Fantasy shows besides Frieren there is actually only Made in Abyss on the top of my head that i recently watched. Some would probably put shows like Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen or Solo Leveling into Fantasy as well, so its maybe a definition thing like i said.