Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Frieren at the Funeral, Frieren the Slayer

Japanese: 葬送のフリーレン

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Apr 28, 2020 to ?

Genres: Adventure, Award Winning, Drama, Fantasy

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Sunday

Authors: Yamada, Kanehito (Story), Abe, Tsukasa (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.88¹ (scored by 57,500 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #31²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #73

Members: 173,679

Favorites: 10,576

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@FRIEREN_PR

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8.88

Ranked #31Popularity #73Members 173,679

MangaShounen SundayYamada, Kanehito (Story), Abe, Tsukasa (Art)

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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Vol. 1
$6.99

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Synopsis

The Demon King has been defeated, and the victorious hero party returns home before disbanding. The four—mage Frieren, hero Himmel, priest Heiter, and warrior Eisen—reminisce about their decade-long journey as the moment to bid each other farewell arrives. But the passing of time is different for elves, thus Frieren witnesses her companions slowly pass away one by one.

Before his death, Heiter manages to foist a young human apprentice called Fern onto Frieren. Driven by the elf's passion for collecting a myriad of magic spells, the pair embarks on a seemingly aimless journey, revisiting the places that the heroes of yore had visited. Along their travels, Frieren slowly confronts her regrets of missed opportunities to form deeper bonds with her now-deceased comrades.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Sousou no Frieren ranked second and sixth in the 2021 and 2022 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! for the Male Readers division, respectively. In 2021, the series won the New Work Prize at the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize awards. The manga was nominated twice for the 45th and 46th Kodansha Manga Awards in the Shounen category before winning the 48th Kodansha Manga Award in the same category in 2024. The series won the 69th Shougakukan Manga Award.

The series has been published in English as Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by VIZ Media under the Shonen Sunday imprint since November 9, 2021. The series has also been simulpub digitally through VIZ Manga. It has also been released in Polish by Studio JG since May 12, 2023.

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Characters

Frieren

Main

Fern

Main

Stark

Main

Himmel

Supporting

Übel

Supporting

Eisen

Supporting

Flamme

Supporting

Heiter

Supporting

Sein

Supporting

Denken

Supporting

Reviews

Feb 3, 2026

infinitegreen0

Recommended

Preliminary (147/? eps)

What's to say that hasn't already been said?

The art is fantastic and moves seamlessly between cute and dramatic, serious and fun; the pacing is excellent and somehow manages to nail emotional flashback, action-packed arcs, and fantasy SOL all in a single package; it repackages old tropes like training arcs and unrequited love into something fresh and original, and its "fan service" is as hilarious and charming as fans joke about; the magic system is engaging and feels earned without becoming overly complicated, and explanations of its mechanics during action sequences are engaging and revealing rather than a cheap stall for time; and on and on ... and on.

But, in my opinion, what Frieren does better than any other manga is this: it sticks to its initial premise and explores it with unrelenting creativity and curiosity. How many manga have you read that have some stupid fifty-word title that is only truly relevant for six chapters, and then is abandoned for the rest of the series? Or, how many manga have you read that simply feel like they lose the thread as time goes on and slowly become a jumbled mess of competing storylines, love interests, villain arcs, and so on?

What makes Sousou no Frieren so incredible is its narrative and thematic clarity: nearly every chapter deepens the reader's understanding of how an immortal elf sees the world, her friends, her past, and her future. Growth across all characters is slow and sometimes imperceptible, but unlike other anime/manga that overload a good but lean story with globs of filler fat, Frieren manages to have *both* its action and its tranquil moments compel the story and characters forward in meaningful and interesting ways. Sometimes less is more, and sometimes more is more, and the mangakas have an uncanny ability to know when to take one route over the other in a given arc.

Bruce Lee once said: "Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick."

Sousou no Frieren takes the same approach — when a character is asked why they did something and responds, "Because that's what Himmel the Hero would do," it's a reminder to the reader that some of the best stories recognize one simple fact: seemingly cliche themes like love, friendship, and helping others are the enduring backbone of meaning and purpose to most people's lives. We want to believe that good people will be remembered and that their torch will be carried into the future, but all too often this theme is muddled in stories by poor writing, lackluster plotlines, and forgettable characters; Frieren delivers on each of these elements, and so when the iconic line is dropped, it always feels earned and fresh.

None of that is to say that Frieren is a "simple" story — the depiction of demons as unapologetic sociopaths is a refreshing return to the Tolkien era of maximally evil villains, while still retaining the inner complexity of post-modern writing — only that it acknowledges that most people, despite differing nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds, share a common desire: to remember, be remembered, and do something worth being remembered for.

... and also Fern and Stark are the cutest damn couple that's ever been, and Frieren and Himmel are the cutest damn couple that *should've* been. It's frankly insane how many interesting, likeable, and well-designed characters there are in this manga. It simply doesn't miss.

TLDR: Sousou no Frieren achieves narrative greatness by tapping into the human experience and presenting it from the perspective of an (adorable) immortal elf. This, in turn, re-contextualizes the "hero's journey" in a fresh light, while also highlighting its most enduring and simple qualities — the ones that stand the test of time. 10/10

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Gift

Apr 5, 2025

Holokaii

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

Preliminary (140/? eps)

As a side note I will be putting quotes around "Frieren" when talking about the story, and not the character.

"Sousou no Freren" is a fantasy adventure Shonen manga by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe whose work started publishing in Weekly Shonen in August 2020. The manga was already very popular before the anime came out, winning a few rewards during the time before the anime adaptation dropped in 2023. It's an understatement to say that the anime is pretty popular, amassing widespread mainstream recognition and arguably becoming the single most talked about anime since its release. At the time of writing this, the manga is ...

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Gift

Jan 10, 2025

Oculiquetzal

Not Recommended

Funny

Well-written

Preliminary (140/? eps)

Part II - It Got Worse (and Why)

"[...] there’s an increasing sense that culture has lost the ability to grasp and articulate the present. Or it could be that, in one very important sense, there is no present to grasp and articulate anymore." - Mark Fisher (Ghosts of My Life)

The anime adaptation of Frieren - Beyond Journey's End is a sensation. Not quality-wise, as I believe it to be a disappointing mess which I've already outlined in my review of the anime itself, but popularity-wise, in terms of "hype", it you will. It is currently (as of 2025, January 10th) the #1 anime on MAL ...

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'Sousou no Frieren' Gets Third Season in Fall 2027

The 10th and final episode of Sousou no Frieren 2nd Season (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2) ended with an announcement on Friday that the third season, ...read more

Mar 27, 8:10 AM by Syureria | Discuss (31 comments)

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3rd Character Popularity Contest Results dazedcowcow62 - Mar 31	11 replies	by Danpmss »» Apr 25, 10:23 AM
Poll: Sousou no Frieren Chapter 147 Discussion ARK-13 - Oct 13, 2025	20 replies	by postblitz »» Apr 7, 5:49 AM
Poll: Sousou no Frieren Chapter 2 Discussion Kuma - May 14, 2020	16 replies	by wewzie-e202 »» Apr 5, 4:52 AM
Frieren going on indefinite hiatus Flagging - Oct 11, 2025	28 replies	by tr25a3 »» Mar 27, 11:47 AM
Poll: Sousou no Frieren Chapter 123 Discussion TheSelleri - Jan 30, 2024	17 replies	by starflutter »» Mar 6, 4:08 PM

Sousou no Frieren
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
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