Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Episodes 1-6
You know what my biggest pet peeve is with multi-episode anime premieres? The fact that I get fewer episodes to discuss on a weekly basis. I mean, if any series deserves an episode-by-episode breakdown, it's Frieren. But alas, sometimes we have to play the cards we're dealt.
Overall, these first six episodes are all about introducing us to the characters, their goals, and the reasons behind them. The story revolves around the titular Frieren, the elven mage who helped Himmel the Hero defeat the Demon King and save the world. As an immortal being, her perception of time is severely skewed; to her, the ten years she spent with Himmel might as well have been a week in our eyes.
However, when Himmel dies of old age, she has an epiphany that changes her life. She had five decades to get to know him better and simply didn't. Only now does she wish she had, when it's too late.
Thus begins the story of an immortal woman learning the value of interpersonal relationships, no matter how fleeting they may seem to her.
Fern
Her first companion is Fern. The initial few episodes are dedicated to building the relationship between the two. To Fern, Frieren is both a mother figure, imparting magical knowledge and life lessons, and a daughter figure, who needs care and supervision due to her lack of common sense.
Although Fern is often frustrated by Frieren's eccentricities, she loves the elf. She finds great joy in the moments when Frieren awkwardly tries to overcome her immortal nature and forge emotional connections with those around her. The duo's relationship brings both exasperation and comedy and is the heart of the narrative.
Stark
Her second companion is Stark, a warrior trained by her and Himmel’s companion, the dwarf Eisen. He is a man of little confidence and great strength. He believes he is weak when he feels fear or is "being a coward," as he puts it. In his introductory story, he learns that courage isn't the absence of fear, but pushing on despite it.
His goal is to experience a true adventure, full of both danger and joy, and to return to Eisen with that story before the dwarf himself passes away. And since Eisen's adventures with Frieren were the highlight of his centuries-long life, it's only logical that Stark experience an adventure with her, even if it likely will take a decade to complete.
Frieren
All of this brings us back to Frieren. By retracing the adventure she and Himmel undertook, now with Fern and Stark by her side, Frieren slowly realizes that the "mere ten years" she spent with Himmel affected her far more than she realized. That those ten years changed who she was.
Experiencing similar situations and acting in ways she believes Himmel would reinforces her connection to him despite the decades since his death. As does passing on what she learned during that adventure to Fern and Stark.
Each of these small revelations of hers serves to look at all the small facets of human nature from an outside perspective. This gives the series tremendous emotional weight so far, and I won't pretend I don't tear up at least once per episode.
Conclusion
All in all, these first six episodes are pretty much everything I wanted and more. Now, with all the setup done and the initial collection of standalone adventures out of the way, it's time to move on to our first major story arc of the series and our introduction to the series' main antagonists.
If you doubt that Himmel's death is the defining moment in Frieren's life, pay attention to how the series measures time: in the number of years since Himmel's death.
It makes me smile that both Heiter and Eisen are raising kids and not-so-subtly forcing them into Frieren's care. Not just for the kids' sake, but also to prevent their friend from being alone in her eternal life.
My absolute favorite scene in these early episodes is when Frieren encounters the demonic illusion of Himmel based on her memories. He doesn't play with her emotions like the Heiter illusion does with Fern, saying all the sweet things she wants to hear. He simply asks her to kill him.
That tells us so much about who he was as a hero. But I also love that there's a hint in there of who he was specifically in relation to Frieren: He would gladly die to protect her, and deep down, Frieren knows that too.
For the series' first proper action scene, namely Stark versus the dragon, they pulled out all the stops. It looked awesome.