Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Manga)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (のフリーレン), also known as Soso no Frieren, is a manga written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Abe Tsukasa. The first chapter was released on April 29, 2020 in Weekly Shonen Sunday.

Synopsis
The demon king has been defeated, and the victorious hero party returns home before disbanding. The four—mage Frieren, hero Himmel, priest Heiter, and warrior Eisen—reminisce about their decade-long journey as the moment to bid each other farewell arrives. But the passing of time is different for elves, thus Frieren witnesses her companions slowly pass away one by one.

Before his death, Heiter manages to foist a young human apprentice called Fern onto Frieren. Driven by the elf's passion for collecting a myriad of magic spells, the pair embarks on a seemingly aimless journey, revisiting the places that the heroes of yore had visited. Along their travels, Frieren slowly confronts her regrets of missed opportunities to form deeper bonds with her now-deceased comrades.

Plot
The story follows a party of adventurers who vanquished the Demon King and restored harmony to the world after a ten-years-quest. The heroic group includes human hero Himmel, dwarven warrior Eisen, human priest Heiter, and elven mage Frieren. Before they part, they observe the Era Meteors together, a meteor shower that occurs once in fifty years. Frieren agrees to see them again and offer them a better view the next time the celestial event occurs. Frieren then departs and travels the world in pursuit of magical knowledge.

Fifty years later, Frieren returns to the capital, however, humanity has changed, and her former companions have distinctly aged. Himmel dies of old age after one last adventure to see the meteor shower. During the funeral, Frieren expressed guilt for not attempting to learn more about him. Frieren then paid a call to her former comrades. She accepts an offer to teach and care for Fern, an orphaned child adopted by Heiter. Another invitation she got was to travel to a soul's resting place and see Himmel again to bid the hero a fitting farewell and express her feelings. To fulfill those requests, Frieren embarks on a journey together with Fern while still pursuing her passion for learning magic.

Volumes

 * Main article: Chapters and Volumes

Characters

 * Main article: Characters

Gallery

 * Main article: Weekly Shonen Sunday

Publication
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Abe Tsukasa. The series began in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday on April 29, 2020. Its chapters have been compiled into individual tankobon volumes by Shogakukan, with the first volume published on August 18, 2020. As of March 16, 2023, ten volumes have been released with an eleventh volume coming out on September 15, 2023.

In February 2021, Viz Media announced that they licensed the series for English release in North America, and the first volume was published on November 9, 2021.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anthology
Everyday from May 22, 2023 to May 26, 2023, a spin-off chapter was released as part of the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End anthology. Each chapter was written and illustrated by a guest author and published online through Sunday Webry.

Reception
As of March 2021, the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End manga had over 2 million copies in circulation. The manga ranked 2nd on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2021 for male readers. The series ranked 2nd on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2021" by the Honya Club website.

Awards and Nominations
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End has won the following awards:
 * The 14th Manga Taisho award in 2021.
 * The New Creator Prize from the 25th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2021.
 * The third place for the Next Manga Awards in the print manga category in 2021.

It has also been nominated for the following awards:
 * Both the 45th and the 46th Kodansha Manga Award in the shonen category, in 2021 and 2022 respectively.