YMMV / Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Whether or not Frieren and Himmel were an item. Was Himmel in love with Frieren and just never confessed or didn't think a relationship between an elf and a human would work? Was Frieren in love with Himmel and never understood it? Were they both in love with each other but never acted upon their feelings? Chapter 30 hints that Himmel was in love with Frieren, but she never realized, considering he put a ring on her that meant "eternal love" and made it look like a marriage proposal, but she never realized any of it. Chapter 117 outright confirms that Himmel loved Frieren, as the illusion Grausam put him in has him marrying her. On Frieren's end, she's never explicitly said she loves Himmel, and she mentions that elves aren't naturally inclined towards romantic or sexual feelings, but she very clearly considers him the most important person in her life.
  • Gluck, in Macht's final moments, deems the latter to be Beyond Redemption and asks Denken to finish off the demon. Some think that Gluck really meant it, considering Macht is a danger to anyone he sees as an enemy and his last action after reuniting with him is to hold him hostage. On the other hand, Gluck has had no reservations using Macht as his personal assassin, seemed to enjoy his servitude, and he acknowledges both himself and Macht as people who are probably destined for damnation. He also knows how weak Macht was upon their reunion and how he avoided hurting everyone else before the hostage threat. With this in mind, Gluck comes off as playing along with Macht's last attempt to act like a demon and asks Denken to kill him as a Mercy Kill.
  • Flamme is the greatest Troll who ever lived and will ever live. Trained and adopted by Serie, The Great Mage Flamme knows that she is going to die much sooner than her close to immortal and ridiculously long-lived elf teacher. So what does she do? Flamme trains an elf student of her own and imprints her most "annoying" and disagreeable qualities on Frieren, ensuring that Serie will be annoyed by Frieren (and reminded of Flamme) for thousands of years, long after Flamme is dead. So there's her immortality, eh?
  • The Marumaru no Mahou chibi shorts imply that rather than suffering from Aesop Amnesia in regards to the Mimics, Frieren deliberately lets herself be partially eaten by Mimics and that she secretly likes the whole experience.
• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • Qual is hyped as a demon who was so powerful that Himmel's party couldn't defeat him and had to seal him away instead. By the time his seal is broken and he returns, however, his magic has been so thoroughly studied by human magicians that it is no longer called killing magic but "normal offensive magic". Fern blocks all of his attacks thanks to her mastery of defensive magic before Frieren defeats him with his very own magic in a short battle. Tropes Are Tools in this case; Since Qual's the first actual fight we see, he serves to establish the setting's Sufficiently Analyzed Magic and to help Frieren demonstrate to Fern the advances of magical science, and push the latter to focus more on her independent studies. It is further made clear that a single mistake with the defense spells would have resulted in Fern or Frieren dying, as it's not like Qual's magic had gotten weaker, defensive magic had simply gotten better.
  • Aura the Guillotine is told to be a remnant of the army of the Demon King, a demon who survived the battle against Himmel and his party, as well as one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, the strongest demons serving the Demon King. In her actual fight with Frieren things end quickly as once Aura is convinced Frieren has exhausted her mana she tries to take control of her, only for Frieren to reveal her true strength and order Aura to kill herself, leading to Aura having a rather pathetic death by beheading. It is lampshaded by Frieren that if Aura hadn't fallen for her mana trick then the fight would have been much more difficult.
• Arc Fatigue: The Magical Exam arc brings the bittersweet journey to the north to a screeching halt in favor of a Tournament Arc that embraces shounen tropes that would be more fitting in a more generic fantasy adventure, and runs from roughly Chapter 37 to Chapter 60.
• Awesome Music: The track "Zoltraak", first used in the fight against Qual and frequently used again for other battle scenes, manages to be a perfect mix of folk music and epic choir. There's a reason why this is one of the most popular soundtracks of the anime.
• Broken Base: The English dub has a rather split reception from fans. Some like it and consider it amazing, whilst others hate it to the point of accusing people who praise the dub of being paid to do so. The biggest example by far being Mallorie Rodak as Frieren herself, with some feeling her deep voice doesn't fit the character while others think the opposite, believing it to be appropriate for a someone who is long-lived.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Since Frieren doesn't emote much, tends to come across as blunt and/or uncaring without necessarily meaning to, struggles to understand others, and has an obsession with collecting even the most mundane grimoires, many fans have interpreted her as autistic.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Himmel. He died in the first chapter and we only see glimpses of what he was like when Frieren reminisces, but he still grabbed first place in the series' first popularity poll (with Frieren herself following right behind).
  • Seems to apply to an entire species. The Mimics as a whole are beloved by the fandom for their Running Gag and always turning up in a dungeon without fail. In the series' first official poll, the Mimics place third over other popular cast members and remain in the top 10 in the following poll.
  • Once the anime aired, Aura became really popular despite being a mere Arc Villain and having less screentime than her subordinates, primarily due to her attractive design and really memorable death scene that quickly became a sensation among fans, albeit one that makes her into a Memetic Loser in the fandom. It seems this popularity was great enough for her to get her own dedicated section in a Frieren: Beyond Journey's End prequel novel.
  • Übel is immediately a hit with the fanbase, owing to her... say, unique personality and fashion sense compared to the other characters.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: It's unanimously agreed among fan artists that Fern and Stark will some day get together and have many, many kids, and that Frieren will still be with them as the kids' grandmother/auntie/babysitter.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With the one shot Yuusha Goikkou no Kaerimichi (roughly, The Hero's Party's Way Home), another tearful and melancholic take on the traditional Japanese take on Medieval Fantasy focused on mages dealing with the aftermath of the end of their journey.
  • With Delicious in Dungeon due to sharing having a memetic elf character in Frieren and Marcille and being aired at the same time. Even more, the two are considered incredible fantasy stories, which have served as a breath of fresh air for anime fans who do not care for how much the Isekai subgenre has become the most prominent source of fantasy series.
  • Unexpectedly enough, with Warhammer 40,000, where Frieren often shows up in memes related to Eldar.
• Harsher in Hindsight: At first Stark's fear of facing the Demons is taken as comic relief but after the story arc ends it is revealed his entire hometown and relatives were killed by such group of monsters.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Almost to Black Comedy levels. Aura's Japanese voice actor and Eren Yeager's Japanese voice actor are married in real life, and both their characters got decapitated in their anime adaptations on the same week (November 10, 2023 and November 5, 2023, respectively).
  • Kana Ichinose goes from accompanying a white-haired elf to voicing another white-haired elf herself.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Mimics are treated as the pinnacle of monsterkind for being the only creatures that consistently defeat (so to speak) the otherwise extremely powerful and nigh-unbeatable Frieren. It's often joked that the best way to beat Frieren is to lure her to a Mimic and tell her that there's a Grimoire inside.
  • Thanks to how he impressed Serie enough to become a First-Class Mage, possibly on his first try, with his stunt of using clones while physically staying in his hometown Land often is revered as a "work-from-home gigachad" who accomplished the aforementioned, and, fans joke, caught the attention of Übel, a "crazy goth girlfriend".
• Memetic Loser: Aura became a huge one after her Undignified Death at the hands of Frieren, despite her hype as one of the strongest demons. After using her scale magic on Frieren, Aura discovers to her horror that Frieren was hiding her magic power, which vastly outclasses her own. This means Aura's spell backfires on her, putting her under Frieren's control, who promptly forces her to behead herself. With that, it's common in fanworks to see her humiliated and abused either by invoking her canon fate but with more humiliating orders^note like having to put on a microkini and post pictures of herself online, or just being portrayed as a weakling who talks big but is easy to beat.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "You should kill yourself... NOW!" ^{Explanation (Spoilers)}Aura uses her submission magic on Frieren, and ends up cutting her own head off because Frieren's mana trumps her own, putting her on the receiving end of her own magic. The fanbase immediately associated it with Low Tier God, and one fan even made a video of Frieren giving LTG's rant to Aura.
    • Similarly, Frieren forcing Aura not kill herself, but to do something humiliating or horrific as a Cool and Unusual Punishment is a very popular meme
  • Smug Frieren / "You can just give this kind of thing to men, and they will be thrilled." ^ExplanationFrieren's smug face when she picks up the cloth-dissolving potion has quickly made rounds, especially online after Episode 12 aired. Meme edits replace the purple potion with something else that would "thrill" men, while meta jokes point out that Frieren's smug face is in the same vein as Anya's smug face from Spy X Family, helped by both characters having the same Japanese voice actress.
  • "I cast FIST"/"I might be out of mana, but I'm not out of options" ^ExplanationDenken's willingness to get into a fistfight with an opponent because he was out of mana in Episode 21 made quite the impression on many viewers.
  • Frieren as a Dark Souls boss ^ExplanationEpisode 23 of the anime ends with Denken's party about to face a clone of Frieren. The way the scene is framed, with a ground-up view, the Frieren clone hovering menacingly before them, and the epic, ominious orchestal music in the background led many people to compare it to a Dark Souls boss.
  • Fans often like to joke about Frieren's age by giving her a fondness for things that are considered out of date by the 2020s such as Bionicles or marveling at how the price of CostCo Hotdogs hasn't changed.
  • The fandom has absolutely taken up and RAN with Fern's various facial expressions, most especially her pout face.
  • Taking video game cover art and replacing the characters on it with Frieren and company has taken off substantially on Twitter.
  • Sein the shipper/"Just get together already!" ^ExplanationSein has a memorable moment where he loses his patience having to be Fern and Stark's relationship counselor and shouts that they should just start dating already. Given the pairing's popularity among fans, many where quick to label Sein as the mouthpiece of the fanbase for voicing what everyone is thinking. The line is also used as reaction on pairings with obvious Unresolved Sexual Tension for similar reasons.
  • <( ´ω` )> ^ExplanationA facial expression often made by Frieren whenever she feels dejected or disappointed. When Serie also started to make this face, people were quickly to label it an elf racial trait.
  • Obsessed with chests ^ExplanationGiven that Frieren is always getting duped by mimics and is also jealous of Fern's well-endowed bust, this joke inevitably came up.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Many have taken a liking to Frieren's English voice and how soothing & motherly it sounds, fitting for a character who is Really 700 Years Old.
• One True Pairing:
  • While it may not have the biggest shipping presence compared to other animes, pretty much the entire fanbase loves and supports Fern x Stark.
  • There are very few willing to have Frieren shipped with anyone other than Himmel.
• Self-Fanservice: Fern explicitly has a much bigger bust than Frieren, and some jokes are made about it in the series, but she nonetheless wears baggy robes that hide her figure and has not been shown having anything bigger than a moderate bust in illustrations. Fanart, especially at the time of the anime's airing, ups her cup size and figure to model levels under her outfit. There's also a trend to make her a Big Beautiful Woman due to her long, billowy clothes and her Big Eater tendencies, despite her travels requiring lots of walking and her usage of mana.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: A number are hoping that Sein would soon return to Frieren's party so he can someday meet Methode, a woman that embodies the mature lady aura he desires.
• Signature Scene:
  • One of the fanbase's anticipated scenes for the anime was Aura using her submission magic on Frieren, only to be on the receiving end and cut her own head off at Frieren's command.
  • The anime's dance scene for the amazing visuals provided when compared to the short manga scene that further cements the romance between Fern and Stark. Something similar happened when the anime adapted Himmel's "proposal" to Frieren.
  • The duel between Frieren and her clone is often considered to be the highlight of the final few episodes of the first season, not only for the stunning visuals but for also giving a glimpse into Frieren's vast arsenal of spells and showcasing just how powerful she really is, with a special mention going to Clone Frieren conjuring a friggin' black hole.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Journey of a Lifetime" sounds a lot like the Fellowship's theme from The Lord of the Rings.

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