An Introduction to Frieren
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End was first published as Sōsō no Furīren, aka “Frieren at the Funeral” in the pages of Weekly Shonen Sunday in April of 2020. By 2021, the creative team of Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe won the prestigious “Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize” in the “New Creator” category. #frieren 1/7
International recognition quickly followed when, in 2022, Frieren was listed among the top Graphic Novels for Adults by the American Library Association and the series began to earn an international cult following. 2/7
In 2023, an anime version that was highly faithful to the original manga both narratively and stylistically debuted with an English dub of the series appearing on Crunchyroll that same year. The popularity and acclaim behind both further spurred the success of the original manga. 3/7
Articulated through two narratives set over 50 years apart, the titular Frieren (a thousand-year-old elf) re-traces the steps of her past journey in order to revisit and to come to terms with all the emotional nuances of her relationship with her original party (both platonically and perhaps romantically). 4/7
Through this wholly unique narrative structure, the manga eschews the spectacular explorations of myths and monsters that are usually so favoured by high fantasy in favour of a somber and deeply existential exploration of the dialogues we create between the past and the present. 5/7
Though the story has yet to finish, it has already garnered tremendous attention from manga scholars in both the East and the West for its originality, for its poignancy, and for being a transnational manga property that draws on all manner of international storytelling traditions. 6/7
In the weeks ahead, Sequential Scholars will seek to unpack Frieren as best we can in the aim of accounting for, somewhat, why manga readers are so excited about the series and what to watch as a modern manga masterpiece unfolds in the future. 7/7