It’s a good time to be a Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End fan. Hot on the heels of the manga’s return following a brief hiatus, a second season for the anime has been green-lit, with studio Madhouse set to take the reins yet again.
The announcement came by way of the show’s anniversary event, which saw both the main and new cast in attendance. A new key visual and trailer were also unveiled, alongside a commemorative visual by the manga’s illustrator Tsukasa Abe featuring Himmel’s original party of Frieren, Heiter, and Eisen.
“It has been decided that a second season of the TV anime will be produced! We owe it all to everyone who has supported us,” reads the official statement by series creators Kanehito Yamada and Abe. “We are eternally grateful to everyone involved in the anime who has made this wonderful anime. As a viewer, I look forward to Frieren’s journey as she sets off again. We hope you will continue to support Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.”
The fan-favourite anime premiered with a two-hour special on 29 September 2023 and ran for two consecutive cours (quarter of a year) until March 2024. Keiichirō Saitō directed the first season at Madhouse, while Tomohiro Suzuki (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., One-Punch Man) penned the script. Evan Call, of Violet Evergarden fame, served as composer, with Reiko Nagasawa (take op.Destiny) taking charge of character design.
Viz Media describes the story as follows:
“The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about. Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her? Decades after their victory, the funeral of one her friends confronts Frieren with her own near immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure…“
While Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has its fair share of action scenes, the series is at its best when exploring the themes of mortality, the passage of time, and the dynamics between the main characters. The original manga has won several awards, including the 25th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the 14th Manga Taisho Award in 2021, as well as nominations for Best Shōnen Manga for Kodansha’s 45th annual Manga Awards.
Season 2 of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has no release date.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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