With the show’s second season around the corner, there’s some good news for fellow physical-media obsessives eager to return to its setting: the entirety of season 1 is on Blu-ray. If you care way too much about hypothetical bitrates and like to own things instead of relying on the whims of the streaming gods, you can now experience one of the most aesthetically lavish anime in recent memory at its best (even if your internet connection stinks).
As for what’s on the discs beyond the 28 episodes of the first season, they also come with the creditless versions of the opening and closing animations that play at the start and end of each episode, web previews used to tease each episode, advertisements for the show, and a mini-anime.
Of these, the web previews are surprisingly hilarious, offering room for lampshading as the voice actors remain in character while bantering and vaguely alluding to what’s coming in the following episode. Similarly, the mini-anime makes for an amusing 15 minutes, where chibi versions of the cast test the effects of various spells—it’s light on actual animation but is fun for what it is.
If there’s a big missed opportunity here, though, it’s the absence of any behind-the-scenes features. Admittedly, these are incredibly rare for anime Blu-rays sold outside of Japan due to a long list of issues, like difficulties with translation, licensing, and more, but regardless, the absence of a director’s commentary is still a bummer.
Thankfully, when it comes to the quality of the actual episodes themselves, the crystal clear quality of the Blu-rays offers room to admire the show’s textured, painterly background art and its remarkably consistent animation. While there don’t appear to be any major updates to the show’s animation from the original broadcast version, which can happen with anime Blu-ray releases (usually in shows that had visible production problems), this is almost certainly because Madhouse got things right the first time around. As for the physical packaging of the discs, they come in surprisingly striking rainbow holographic slip covers that are sure to generate some “oohs” and “aahs”—it seems to activate some latent batch of neurons usually reserved for rare trading cards and other shiny objects, but it looks quite nice.
Then there’s the Limited Edition for the second set of episodes, which is the previously mentioned $219.98 one. While this is admittedly a very steep price, there are some great inclusions here. Packaged in a briefcase that mirrors Frieren’s from the show, this contains the part 2 Blu-ray (again, it doesn’t include the first half of the season, which feels a bit odd), a case that can hold both of the season 1 Blu-ray sets, a set of seven shikishis (traditional rice-paper boards for art) with watercolor illustrations of the central characters, three art cards (more illustrations of the cast, but less impressive), a sticker set, a plastic standee of Frieren getting duped by a Mimic, a luggage tag, and the biggest get of the collection, the 200 page artbook.
The artbook contains character and concept illustrations alongside interviews with the cast and crew that shed light on the making of the series and how the staff came together; it’s the kind of information that is usually fairly hard to find, especially in English, partially because of the previously mentioned lack of director’s commentaries and partially because studios often remain cagey about day-to-day operations. Overall, between the artbook, the shikishis, and the briefcase to store them all, it’s a well put-together set that should prove worthwhile to Frieren-heads who have two hundred dollars to burn—again, this is for the most hardcore fans, and the regular Blu-ray is what most should probably aim for.
Lastly, to speak a bit more about the series itself and why it’s worthwhile, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End plays with the tenets and expectations of high fantasy storytelling to thoughtfully turn its drama inward, all while still leaving room for well-animated out-of-this-world moments. Instead of following a quest to vanquish a Sauron-equivalent, it’s about what comes after the big bad is defeated, as Frieren, an elven mage from the group of adventurers who bested the Demon King, grapples with the ennui of outliving her companions and the fact that she never got to know them better. It’s about what people leave behind when they’re gone, poignantly delving into the emotions of its characters without ever devolving into an overly saccharine tear-jerker. Admittedly, there is one sticking point worth mentioning: the weird dissonance between its generally empathetic, nuanced outlook on the world and its irredeemably evil bad guy faction that makes Tolkien’s orcs look upstanding. Thankfully, this is mostly glossed over and isn’t a major focus compared to its more well-considered material.
Meanwhile, the show’s many affecting asides and occasional explosive action moments are brought to life by a star-studded animation team assembled by Yuichiro Fukushi for Madhouse (as detailed in the art book) that amplifies each moment with both smoothly rendered character animation and sorcerer-fueled fireworks. Sharp direction from Keiichiro Saito similarly sells both the mundane, like a graceful ballroom dance, and the magical, like season 1’s climactic final battle, visually communicating how both halves are equally important to this tale.
All things considered, if you’ve been eager to own the first season of this spellbinding series, these Blu-ray sets will very much accommodate, with the Limited Edition proving particularly worthwhile for super-fans keen to geek out at the show’s concept art or stare longingly into Himmel the Hero’s eyes (via his shikishi illustration). With season 2 quickly approaching this January, it’s as good a time as any to catch up on one of those rare anime with appeal for both longstanding-weebs and normie passersby alike.
