News
Muse Asia Licenses Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The anime will premiere with a two-hour special on September 29 at 9:00 p.m. JST (8:00 a.m. EDT). It will be the first ever television anime series to premiere in NTV's "Kinyō Roadshow," a Friday evening programming block usually reserved for feature films. The anime will then air later episodes in October in NTV's new anime timeslot.
The fantasy story follows the travels of Frieren, an elf who once journeyed on perilous adventures to defeat evil with stalwart comrades. When peace comes, she bears the burden of her long-lived race, and sees her friends pass away before her one by one. At the same time as she mourns the aging and passing of old relationships, she forms valuable new relationships in her travels.
Atsumi Tanezaki plays the protagonist and titular character Frieren.
The other cast members include:
- Nobuhiko Okamoto as Himmel
- Hiroki Touchi as Heiter
- Yōji Ueda as Eisen
- Kana Ichinose as Fern
- Chiaki Kobayashi as Stark
Keiichirō Saitō (Bocchi the Rock!) is directing the anime at Madhouse. Tomohiro Suzuki (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., One-Punch Man, Boogiepop and Others) is in charge of series scripts. Reiko Nagasawa (takt op. Destiny) is designing the characters. Evan Call (Violet Evergarden, Josee, The Tiger and the Fish, Muv-Luv Alternative) is composing the music.
Yamada and Abe launched the manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine in April 2020. The 11th volume will ship on September 15. The manga went on hiatus from January 18 and resumed serialization on March 22.
The manga has won several awards, including the New Creator Prize for the 25th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2021 and the 14th Manga Taisho Award in 2021. In addition, the manga was nominated for Best Shōnen Manga for Kodansha's 45th annual Manga Awards in 2021 and the 46th awards in May 2022. The American Library Association's Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table (GNCRT) included the manga in its top 10 list of 2022 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List.
