Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Manga)

Sousou no Frieren (葬送のフリーレン, Frieren at the funeral) is a manga written by Yamada Kanehito and illustrated by Abe Tsukasa. The first chapter was released on April 28, 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.

Characters

 * Frieren (フリーレン, Furīren)
 * Fern (フェルン, Ferun)
 * Himmel (ヒンメル, Hinmeru)
 * Heiter (ハイター, Haitā)
 * Eisen (アイゼン, Aizen)
 * Stark (シュタルク, Shutaruku)
 * Sein (ザイン, Zain)

Publication
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. The series began in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday on April 28, 2020. Shogakukan has compiled its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was published on August 18, 2020. As of March 17, 2021, four volumes have been released.

In February 2021, Viz Media announced that they licensed the series for English release in North America, and the first volume will be published in fall 2021

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 ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kono_Manga_ga_Sugoi! 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 won the 14th Manga Taishō award in 2021
 * It received the New Creator Prize from the 25th annual | Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2021
 * The manga was nominated for the 45th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2021
 * Frieren: Beyond Journey's End won 3rd place for the Tsugi ni kuru manga award