"Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" Anime to Return for a 2nd Season

On Saturday, the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Sousou no Frieren) manga, created by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe, announced that the anime will be receiving a second season. Madhouse, the studio behind the first season, will return to animate the upcoming season.

The Frieren: Beyond Journey's End anime made its debut with a special two-hour premiere on September 29, 2023. Notably, it was the first-ever anime to air during NTV's "Kinyō Roadshow," a Friday evening slot traditionally reserved for films. Regular episodes began airing on October 6, 2023, in NTV's new "FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT" timeslot at 11:00 p.m. JST. The first season ran for two consecutive cours, concluding in March 2024. Crunchyroll streamed both the Japanese version and the English dub as they aired.

Based on the manga licensed by Viz Media, the story follows Frieren, an elf mage who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after her heroic adventuring days have ended. Though her party has brought peace to the world by defeating the Demon King, Frieren, who ages slowly compared to her human companions, must grapple with the passing of her friends and the meaning of life. The story begins in earnest after the funeral of one of her comrades, sparking a new adventure for Frieren as she seeks to honour her friends' last wishes.

The first season was directed by Keiichirō Saitō (Bocchi the Rock!) at Madhouse, with Tomohiro Suzuki (One-Punch Man, Boogiepop and Others) overseeing the series scripts. Reiko Nagasawa (takt op. Destiny) designed the characters, while Evan Call (Violet Evergarden, Josee, The Tiger and the Fish) composed the music.

The Frieren manga, which launched in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine in April 2020, has received numerous accolades. Among these are the New Creator Prize at the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the 14th Manga Taisho Award, both in 2021. The manga was also nominated for Best Shōnen Manga at Kodansha's Manga Awards in 2021 and 2022, and it was named one of the 2022 Best Graphic Novels for Adults by the American Library Association.

Sources: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End manga's X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie