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.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Season Two Review: Emotional Gut Punches Throughout.

The first season of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury did a great job of getting plenty of people hooked for a second season.
Ending on the cliffhanger of Suletta (Kana Ichinose) killing someone in front of Miorine (Lynn) and being completley unbothered by it, there were a lot of questions about what would happen next.

This dark ending hinted at grim things to come.

This is why it was surprising to see the second season have a slow start, with the first episode mostly being setup.
Unsurprisingly, this caused a few complaints, but people should have been more paitient because, low and behold, the second episode gets right back to the grim story telling the first season left on from.
The story follows Suletta, who is struggling to deal with the blow that has been dealt to her relationship with Miorine, who, in turn, now has to run her father’s corporation while also trying to get Suletta away from her conniving mother, Lady Prospera (Mamiko Noto).
This leads to many a tragic moment, some of which are not even related to a character death, with the characters words alone doing the emotional damage.

This scene especially was hard to watch.

It is not just Suletta and Miorine who get the spotlight though because plenty of the other characters get time to shine, with Shaddiq (Makoto Furukawa) making his move, and an unexpected bond growing between Elan (Natsuki Hanae) and Norea (Aoi Yuki).
It is Guel (Yohei Azakami) who really shines this season, however, as he deals with the trauma of accidentally killing his own father, while being held captive on earth.
I have loved Guel’s arc, as he started off as a privileged bully at the beginning of Season One, only to grow into a humbled leader and friend of Suletta.

Guel’s arc in seasons one and two is fantastic.

Not all about his story is great though because this does lead into one of my issues with Season Two, that being Guel’s brother Lauda (Takeo Otsuka).
Towards the end of the season, Lauda’s brain does a whole lot of mental gymnastics to blame Miorine for everything, leading to a conflict between him and Guel.
It honestly felt like the writers just wanted Guel to have a fight at the end so they came up with a reason to have Lauda be his opponent, no matter how contrived it was.

Lauda’s reasoning ultimately left me scratching my head.

Unfortunately, that is not my only problem with Season Two because I feel that the ending is a bit lacking.
Don’t get me wrong, the characters do get a satisfying ending but, as for the world The Witch from Mercury has built, it felt like everything was wrapped up too neatly.
I think we could have got another season showing a conflict between earth and space, rather than it all being quickly wrapped up here.
Sadly, it seems like this really is the end of The Witch from Mercury.

It is a shame if the show is truly over because I felt it had the potential to go further.

That being said, if this is the end then the show was highly enjoyable.
Along with the story and characters, the animation and score were also great, with the OPs and ED being very well done.
This is especially the case for Season Two’s ED “Red:birthmark” by Aina The End, which has banger singing, visuals and symbolism.
All in all, The Witch from Mercury Season Two is a great follow-up to the first season, which provides a satisfying conclusion, despite it being a bit lacking.
I hope we get some continuation, even if that seems unlikely at this point.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Review: Revolutionary Girl Suletta.

The Mobile Suit Gundam series is an anime well known for its war commentary, explosive fights, and traumatic deaths.
My first exposure to the series was Iron Blooded Orphans, which I highly enjoyed and definitely met the criteria I just laid out.
Initially, this appeared to be the same for the latest Gundam series, The Witch From Mercury, with the prologue having plenty of war commentary in regards to corporations, quite a few well-animated Gundam fights, and a tragic death that the series is so well known for.
Imagine my surprise when the first few episodes of Cour One for The Witch From Mercury set this anime up as something more akin to Revolutionary Girl Utena than a Gundam series.

*The Witch From Mercury* starts off quite differently from other *Gundam* shows, making it unique.

Directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi The story follows Suletta Mercury (Kana Ichinose), a socially awkward girl sent to the Asticassia School of Technology, along with her Gundam, Aerial.
After defending the honour of fellow student Miorine Rembran (Lynn), the daughter of Delling Rembran (Naoya Uchida), the head of the powerful Benereit Group, in a duel, Suletta unwittingly finds herself engaged to her and must protect this engagement through dueling her other suitors.
Sounds very similar to Revolutionary Girl Utena, right?

This is how I imagine some *Gundam* fans reacting to this show’s set-up being different.

Well, despite this, the anime is still very much a Gundam series, with plenty of dark moments scattered throughout the first cour.
As for the slice of life moments that dominate a lot of the episodes, they were very welcome, delivering a lot of great humor and also endearing the characters to the audience.
Suletta and Miorine are both fun and relatable characters with great romantic chemistry that is interesting to watch grow.
The other characters are just as fun, from the Earth House kids, like ChuChu (Miyu Tomita) and Nika (Yume Miyamoto), to those in power at the school, like the emotionless Elan (Natsuki Hanae), shady Shaddiq (Makoto Furukawa), and Miorine’s previous fiancee Guel (Yōhei Azakami).
Guel, in particular, was a surprise because he started off as such an unlikeable character and yet, by the end, he is one of the most sympathetic characters.

Speaking of the end, boy, does it get dark, showing that the next cour will probably be much more in line with the grim tone of other Gundam anime.
There are also many questions raised in this first half that I am interested to see answered, like just how the prologue relates to everything that is happening, what exactly is going on with Suletta, and how her incredibly suspicious mother, Lady Prospera (Mamiko Noto), ties into that.
This and the seemingly inevitable darker tone Cour Two will have has me very excited for it but also dreading it because it is all bound to be tragic.

The ending of Cour One does not bode well for the light-hearted tone seen in much of the anime, previously.

The first cour of The Witch From Mercury does a fantastic job of setting up its story, getting us attached to the characters and mysteries, while also providing plenty of excellently animated Gundam fights.
Prepare for Cour Two where our hearts will inevitably be crushed under a Gundam’s hand.