Frieren Season 2 Premiere Review: A Return to Quiet Beauty

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End returned to screens on January 16, debuting its second season on Crunchyroll. The premiere episode, titled "Shall We Go, Then?", marks 29 years since the events of the first season and continues the series' signature approach to fantasy storytelling.

Unlike many high-stakes fantasy adventures, this series remains comfortable with low stakes even in a world full of potential excitement and turmoil. The Season 2 premiere luxuriates in daily rituals and understated reaffirmations of the bonds between its core trio: the long-lived elven mage Frieren, her stern prodigal apprentice Fern, and the warrior Stark.

The series is set long after Frieren and her previous party of adventurers helped end the reign of a tyrannical demon king together, becoming storied heroes with statues and tales told about them. The series began with the passing of her closest companion Himmel from old age, setting a melancholic tone that was established almost immediately in Season 1's feature-length premiere.

By comparison, Frieren, who is already hundreds of years old, still looks like a young woman and will for centuries to come. The first episode of Season 2 quietly observes how she sees decades as though they were mere weeks. This temporal perspective is central to the show's charm, as it allows for a unique exploration of longevity and memory in a fantasy setting.

• 29 years have passed since Himmel's death
• The premiere marks the arrival of a new series director, Tomoya Kitagawa
• Previous director Keiichiro Saito moved on to other projects

Sinking back into the comforts which made the show stand out in the first place, the dramatic stakes remain relatively low in this premiere. The episode is simply focused on Frieren's current party continuing to travel, bicker, and reflect on the state of the world together. It's not without adventure, as giant angry beasts pursue them through the wilderness, but the show treats this as just another day.

Like in the first season, Frieren's simple pleasures come from both its beautiful animation production, courtesy of the artists at Madhouse, as well as in seeing people underestimate the depth of Frieren's knowledge. That may be in the context of demons quietly trying to take over a city, or as in this episode, pulling out a magic nullifying rock buried decades prior. The main character's coyness about her stature and power is a consistent delight.

The episode is comprised of two rather simple tales, especially when compared to the previous arc of the show, which had Frieren and Fern undertaking a complicated magic exam.

The premiere has a little bit of everything as it gets reacquainted with familiar faces from the back half of the first season. The relationship dynamics between the main three are explored through Fern and Stark's will-they-won't-they bickering, with Frieren's quiet amusement at this situation providing subtle humor.

It's not a particularly plot-forward episode, but this is part of why Frieren is enjoyable. As ever, the style of dialogue is very reserved and clipped; they also talk about things which are rather mundane, like how that magic nullifying rock works. It's refreshing to get an anime series as capable at action design as Frieren which also has the patience to not overindulge in the bloodshed.

• Stark's feelings about the group and himself are explored
• The episode features two distinct narrative tales
• Character work is given room to breathe between action sequences

The Season 2 premiere focuses a little more on Stark and his feelings about the group and himself—first through the tale involving the aforementioned rocks, and then in a plot concerning a job offer. This interest in exploring even just the geological curiosities of this fictional world ties in with Frieren's hunger for knowledge and how she uses her vast amount of time on the Earth to learn everything she can.

Previously this knowledge had no direction, and though this first episode of Season 2 is deliberately sparse and slow-going, it still shows a world of difference simply in how Frieren is applying the fountain of knowledge at her command. Chiefly, that's by sharing it with a younger generation, and watching what they do with it. The lush soundtrack from Evan Call contributes greatly to the atmospheric quality of these moments.

"Shall We Go, Then?" doesn't really give a strong indication of where the season is going other than the next destination on the map, which is actually a point in its favor. Just as Frieren savours new experiences, the show thrives on finding stories in unexpected places.

The premiere demonstrates that Frieren remains a series capable of balancing action design with the patience to not overindulge in violence. It continues to offer a refreshing alternative to more bombastic fantasy series, proving that sometimes the most compelling stories are found in the quiet moments between adventures.