Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d step back into the world of Frieren, as our heroes prepare for a confrontation with an imposing dragon. Having been instantly rebuffed by the monster’s mighty scales, Frieren has decided it is time for the party to acquire a front-line fighter, that she might be afforded more time to conjure a properly armor-piercing sorcery. Thus our pair headed off to recruit Stark, the ax-wielding apprentice of Frieren’s old companion Eisen, only to find he’d been studiously avoiding confrontation with the dragon for three years.

It’s no surprise that our party of two mages are now in the market for some kind of warrior, but Frieren has so far avoided straightforward fantasy action, with each of its conflicts ultimately resolving in some quiet revelation regarding the nature of memory, personal relations, or finding purpose in your life’s journey. I’ll be intrigued to see how Stark facilitates these dramas, as he actually seems like the most “normal” member of the group, at least compared to Frieren’s elven sensibilities and Fern’s trauma-born perspective. With a dragon battle awaiting us, let’s meet back up with our brave heroes!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today a late summer storm is currently raging beyond my window, fleets of rain shaking the trees as I sit quietly ensconced in my bedroom. It’s a scene much like the comfort of watching snow fall from beside a warm fire, a snug feeling of safety within a tumultuous world, and the whole scene has me thinking it’s just about time for an episode of Frieren.

Frieren has so far proven itself a show all about enjoying moments like these, the incidental fragments of impossible beauty scattering our passage through life. When we are preoccupied with distant goals and tangible landmarks, we have a tendency to miss the observations and indulgences that ultimately furnish our memories, transforming a list of tasks accomplished into a journey rich in unexpected wonders. Whether it’s in narrative drama or our own lives, the incidental, ephemeral things matter more than we might think, adding distinct texture to our experiences, and texturing our own personalities and memories in turn. Let’s see what memories our pair make next as their journey continues!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we might check back in on the gentle drama of Freiren: Beyond Journey’s End, and see what our perpetually unbothered mage and her young apprentice are getting up to. Our last episode actually covered a great deal of ground, taking us from the last years of Heiter’s life through the first years of Fern’s wandering with Frieren, which turned out to involve a lot less glamor than Fern was expecting. Helping with errands, gathering niche magical proficiencies, and venerating those who came before: Frieren’s passions are not exactly the peak of fantastical drama, and that is precisely what makes this production special.

In our frequently action-obsessed animated media ecosystem, the idea of fantasy not being a route to power, but instead a tool for achieving greater understanding, appreciation, and integration into the world around us makes for a lovely change of pace. And Frieren doesn’t simply luxuriate in its unique atmosphere; through the course of its meditative vignettes, it takes the long view in grappling with the idea of a “life well-lived,” using its heroine’s unique perspective to consider how we might pass each moment without regret, as well as the legacy we will ultimately leave behind us. Great acts of momentary glory tend to fade in memory; what remains is often intimate and incidental, allegedly idle moments shared with the people we love. Let’s see what our wandering mages get up to this time!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to continue traveling beyond the journey’s end, catching up with Frieren and maybe learning something about human nature or nostalgia in the process. Frieren’s first episode demonstrated a refreshingly meditative approach to fantasy drama, focusing not on some big arbitrary external threat, but on the simple, inescapable melancholy of growing older, watching things you love pass into memory, and finding some peace with what you have left.

While defeating a demon king might not be easy, I’d imagine finding purpose and satisfaction in such an objective certainly is. But for the rest of us, the process of identifying and appreciating what is most important to us is not quite so obvious. We are driven by dreams that are frequently unfulfilled, beset by anxieties that are often as not unresolvable; life is riddled with such disappointments, and the great task of living is not “defeating” these challenges, but learning to find joy in the imperfect messes we make of ourselves. Frieren blinked, and the man who loved her was nearing his death – how might she go forward and live such that future happiness will not similarly pass her by? Let’s find out!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re setting off on a new journey, or more precisely beyond a journey’s end, as we check out the first episode of the recent and much-loved Frieren. There was a great deal of buzz surrounding Frieren prior to its release, and it’s not hard to see why; in this era of modern otaku being constantly flung into Dragon Quest-reminiscent worlds, an honest-to-god committed fantasy drama is an inherent and very welcome change of pace. And beyond that, Frieren’s novel twist on genre convention provides an additional pull: the allure of a more somber, reflective story, one primarily concerned with finding value and beauty in life after the great adventures are over.

That’s a hook that holds a great deal of appeal to me! It feels adjacent to my beloved “apocalyptic travelog” subgenre (think Girls’ Last Tour or Kemurikusa), stories where the chance for transformative, world-shifting change has already passed, wherein the great challenge lies in coming to a happier understanding of our place in a land at peace. It’s so appealing that I actually wrote a long-form variation of it back in high school, though no, I am not showing you my high school fiction. Anyway, Frieren is also directed by Bocchi the Rock’s fast-rising Keiichirō Saitō, and from what I’ve told, the production is a lush spectacle from start to finish. That’s a fine stack of reasons to be optimistic, so let’s see what we’ve got in the first episode of Frieren!

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