Tag: Chiaki Kobayashi

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Review: The Greatest Anime Adaptation of All Time?

I have been keeping up with Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End ever since I first read the manga back in 2021.
Written by Kanehito Yamada, the manga has a unique spin on the fantasy genre.
Rather than follow the heroes Himmel (Nobuhiko Okamoto), Frieren (Atsumi Tanezaki), Heiter (Hiroki Tochi) and Eisen (Yoji Ueda) on their adventure to defeat the Demon King, the story instead takes place decades later, with Frieren reminiscing on that epic, ten-year journey.
This was a journey that passed in the blink of an eye for Frieren, due to her long life as an Elf.
By the time she realizes what that time meant, the hero Himmel and the rest of the party are either gone or fading.
The current story thus follows Frieren, as she embarks on a new journey with Heiter’s adopted daughter Fern (Kana Ichinose), and Eizen’s apprentice Stark (Chiaki Kobayashi), while reflecting on her old adventure.
It is a moving story that I was quite excited to see animated by Madhouse. 

Past events take new meaning for Frieren on her current adventure.

Directed by Keiichiro Saito, the studio clearly had a lot of faith in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End because, not only did they greenlight 28 episodes, but they also aired four of the first episodes together.
Seeing this faith in the project made me excited for the adaptation but nothing could have prepared me for how masterful it was.
I would go as far to say that Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is the greatest anime adaptation for a manga of all time.
This is a bold claim but I feel that it is more than warranted with just how much the anime elivates the source material.
So many battles in the manga take place in single panels, yet the anime adapts these into fully fledged and meaningful fights, with stunning animation that never falters.
The incredible animation even applies to character building scenes, with a moment as simple as Frieren jumping out of a bed being unbelievably detailed. 

The humor of this scene was enhanced by the animation.

The emotion of the anime also just hits deeper, with the soundtrack by Evan Call working with the animation to bring the viewer into the scene, whether that be a fight scene or a character growth one.
Staying on tune with the sound of the anime, the voice acting is also superb, with the actors ironically bringing a lot of life to the often-monotone voices of the characters.
This monotone style of speaking creates a lot of humorous situations, as do the few moments when characters break out into explosions of expression, as mostly seen with Stark.

Stark reacting to Fern being angry at him will never not be funny.

I have been heaping praise upon praise for this anime adaptation but now comes the time in the review where I have to state my criticisms… or I would, if I had any.
Seriously, this adaptation is so good it even removed some of my criticisms of the manga.
In my review for the manga, I said that it felt like some storylines overstayed their welcome, yet the flawless nature of this adaptation made the scenes flow so well together.
Seeing the quality of this adaptation made me extremely excited to see future arcs in the story adapted.

Epic scenes like this one make me even more excited for Season Two.

If the anime can keep up this level of quality for future seasons, then Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End could stand among the best anime of all time.
I would even argue this first season is one of the best in all of anime.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is now the gold standard of anime adaptations, for me.
I would say goodbye to it, until hopefully Season Two, but it would be embarrassing when we meet again. 

Hell’s Paradise Anime Review: Well-Animated or a Let-Down?

I know I have found a good story when I decide to read the manga rather than wait week by week to see the anime version of it.
This was my experience with the Hell’s Paradise Mappa adaptation.
I loved the first three episodes so much that I read Yuji Kaku’s manga over three days, being rewarded by a compelling story with incredible characters and inventive fights that worked perfectly with the theme of accepting strengths and weaknesses. 

It was this scene which ultimately convinced me to read the manga..

From that point on, I was watching the anime not as someone experiencing this story for the first time but as someone who had read the manga and was judging the anime based on how well it adapted the source material.
This is where a lot of complaints from manga readers came in.
I saw many critcizing the adaptation as it was airing for the quality of its animation.
To be fair, I can understand why this criticism is happening.
The animation is clearly not up to the par of Mappa’s other brilliant adaptations, like Chainsaw Man.
However, the animation is still solid, with numerous excellently animated fights, like in Episodes Two, Nine, Twelve, and Thirteen. 

While some fights do feel a bit lacking, some of them are fantastically animated, especially towards the end.

The story is also much the same as the manga, with Gabimaru the Hollow (Chiaki Kobayashi) travelling to a mysterious island with his executioner Sagiri (Yumiri Hanamori) to claim the Elixar of Life in the hope of receiving a pardon from the Shogun so he can see his wife again.
Gabimaru, Sagiri, and all of the other prisoners and executioners are well voiced and just as endearing as they are in the source material.
The themes are also well expressed, with signs of how they will eventually tie into the story in a big way in the coming seasons, how ever many there are. 

I am excited to see how Tao is portrayed in future fights.

Hopefully, the following season will have a bigger budget and more time to develop its animation so that it can reach the heights of the manga.
Again, the animation we got in this first season is very good but we know Mappa can do much better.
Although, in saying that, good treatment of their animators should come first because this was one of those anime where I heard rumors about the animators being under a lot of pressure again.
Overall, this was a good first season for Hell’s Paradise and I am anticipating its continutation.