Welcome to Manga Unmasked! In this series, we'll be taking a deep dive into the various manga series available in our collection. So, whether you're already a fan of manga or just a curious reader, we hope you might learn a little about your next potential reading obsession. In this edition, after the demon king is defeated and the adventure is over, what does it mean to be a nearly immortal elf while your human companions age?
Check out the previous manga explored with the Manga Unmasked series—My Hero Academia, Spy x Family, Sailor Moon, Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki, One-Punch Man, One Piece, Delicious in Dungeon, Apothecary Diaries, Witch Hat Atelier, Kaiju No. 8, and Mob Psycho 100.
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Recent History
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a fantasy, adventure shounen manga written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. It was first serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine in April 2020 and has since expanded to 120+ chapters in 13 volumes as of April 2024.
Prior to Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Kanehito Yamada wrote Nanashi wa Ittai Dare Deshou? which ran from June 2014 to May 2015 and Bocchi Hakase to Robot Shoujo no Zetsubouteki Utopia which ran from September 2016 to December 2017. Tsuakasa Abe debuted with their one-shot Canon in 2017 and later won an honorable mention prize in the 82nd Shogakukan Newcomer Comic Award in the shounen category for the one-shot Meet Up in 2018.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End hit the small screen with a two-hour screening of the first four episodes on September 29, 2023, during a timeslot usually reserved for films, making it the first anime series to release that way. The series ran for 28 episodes in season one with season two confirmed shortly after. A chibi series of mini-episodes titled Sousou no Frieren: Marumaru no Mahou was also released on Toho Animation's YouTube channel from October 11, 2023, to March 24, 2024.
In 2021, the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End manga won the 14th Manga Taishō grade prize and the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize New Creator Prize. In 2023, the manga won Rakuten Kobo's eBook Manga Award in the category "I Want to Deliver It to the World! Top Recommended Manga" and the 69th Shogakukan Manga Award. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End also won the 48th Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shounen Manga.
Lore
The Demon King is defeated. The world can enjoy a time of peace, thanks to a party of brave heroes: Himmel the Hero, Eisen the Warrior, Heiter the Priest, and Frieren the Elf Mage. With the decade-long adventure over, their shared experiences strengthen the bonds of their friendship to last a lifetime... for most of them. For the centuries-old elf, Frieren's "mere ten years" of traveling with Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter is more fleeting from her perspective. When the companions part ways with a promise to meet again, Frieren returns to her solitary travels and study.
Fifty years later, Frieren reunites with her now-elderly companions to fulfill their promise on that night a half-century before. Their advanced age and the death of one close companion shake Frieren. She must confront her own near-immortality while setting out on a new adventure to fulfill the last wishes of her old friends.
A Mage and Apprentices
Frieren is the protagonist of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and a centuries-old elf mage. She is highly skilled in the use of magic. She previously traveled with Himmel the Hero (center right), Heiter the Priest (left), and Eisen the Warrior (right) to defeat the Demon King.
Due to her long life, Frieren has a poor sense of time and her perception of forming meaningful relationships differs greatly from her human companions. After the death of one of her old companions and the difference in their lifespans becomes clear, she makes a better effort to get to know and connect with her human companions as she embarks on a new adventure.
Fern was orphaned and raised by Heiter the Priest. She becomes a mage and travels with Frieren as her apprentice, though she often finds herself caring for Frieren as Frieren's poor sense of time leads her to sleep well into the morning.
Stark is Eisen the Warrior's apprentice and eventually joins Frieren and Fern in their travels. He is diligent in his training and kind, though he can be childish and is actually terrified of monsters. Like Eisen, he wields an axe that he can swing with brute strength and speed.
- Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Volumes
**This list includes a brief summary of the events in each book. Here there be spoilers, so read the later summaries at your own risk.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 1 by Kanehito Yamada
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…
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 2 by Kanehito Yamada
At Eisen's urging, Frieren and her apprentice Fern head north seeking the land where heroes' souls are said to rest, which also happens to be the location of the Demon King's castle. Along the way, they meet Eisen's apprentice, whose fighting skills may come in handy—though the Demon King is long gone, his surviving minions have unfinished business with Frieren!
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 3 by Kanehito Yamada
An old enemy returns as Frieren continues her journey north. Decades ago, Frieren and her party defeated a servant of the Demon King called Aura the Guillotine, one of the powerful demons known as the Seven Sages of Destruction. Now Aura is back with a score to settle. But what price did Frieren pay for victory in the past, and how will the choices she made then affect the present?
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 4 by Kanehito Yamada
The village priest Sein has no intention of becoming an adventurer, but his desire to find a long-lost friend may lead him to join Frieren's party on their journey north. They are headed for the magical city of Äußerst, where Frieren can obtain the first-class mage certification needed to enter the Northern Plateau region. At Frieren's urging, Fern decides to take the certification exam as well, and faces some unexpected competition…
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 5 by Kanehito Yamada
Frieren and Fern have ended up on different teams in the highly competitive first-class mage exam. Capturing a rare bird is required to pass, but personality clashes among teammates are making things difficult. Everyone soon realizes there is more at stake than mere success or failure—for some of them, the exam could be a matter of life and death.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 6 by Kanehito Yamada
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?
The mages begin the second stage of their certification exam: a dangerous expedition into the innermost depths of the ruins of the king’s tomb. This time, there are no teams and it’s every mage for themselves. Whether they want to team up or not, the challenge they will face—their own clones—will push their skills to the limit.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 7 by Kanehito Yamada
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?
After all the dangers the examinees have faced, passing the first-class mage exam will come down to a simple interview with Serie, whose intuition will determine success or failure. Then, Frieren, Fern, and Stark set out again on the road to Aureole, the land where souls rest. The journey provides new challenges—though the most challenging thing Stark and Fern may have to face is a date with each other!
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 8 by Kanehito Yamada
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?
The Northern Plateau is a wild place, teeming with monsters and other dangers—a place Frieren once traveled with her legendary companions now long passed. Now, she finds herself once again following old familiar paths, this time with new friends. But powerful enemies still stand in their way, and a demon lord of exceptional ability may be more than a match for this party of heroes.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 9 by Kanehito Yamada
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?
As Frieren, Fern, and Stark continue their journey in the Northern Plateau, they face many obstacles, both natural and supernatural, including the Great Tor Canyon. But once across the canyon, they receive a plea for help that will take them to a cursed city and a confrontation with Macht of the Golden Land, the last and most powerful of the Seven Sages of Destruction. Macht also has a surprising connection to Denken that may provide an edge in the struggle…
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 10 by Kanehito Yamada
Macht, the most powerful of the Seven Sages of Destruction, had a peculiar relationship with humanity. Macht’s desire to understand humans brought him to the city of Weise for a meeting with another demon with an interest in deciphering human motivations. The strange tale of Macht, the fate of Weise, and Denken’s own past will all lead Frieren and her companions to one of their most difficult battles yet.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 11 by Kanehito Yamada
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?
Frieren has broken the curse of Diagoldze and released herself and Denken. Now they face Macht and Solitär in a final battle of retribution. With his memories of his wife driving him, Denken challenges Macht, his former master. Frieren takes on Solitär, who is confident of victory. But demons have always underestimated Frieren, one of the greatest mages to ever live, and Macht and Solitär would do well to not count Frieren out just yet!!
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Volume 12 by Kanehito Yamada (Expected on: February 11, 2025)
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?
Upon touching the ancient monument of the Goddess, Frieren finds herself cast back in time to 53 years before the death of Himmel. Her old adventuring comrades don’t know she has come from the future, and Frieren realizes she must protect the secrecy of advancements in magic from their enemies. Here, the Demon King has not yet been defeated, and his minions are still powerful and determined to destroy Frieren!
More to come!
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Anime
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End anime is produced by Madhouse and directed by Keiichiro Saito. The first season premiered with a two-hour special in September 2023, introducing the long-lived elf mage, Frieren, and her companions. It ran as two consecutive cours, totaling 28 episodes, until March 2024. Season Two has been confirmed.
Check out the trailer for Season One!