Saturday, October 26, 2024

2024 read #125: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Volume 2 by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Volume 2, story by Kanehito Yamada and art by Tsukasa Abe
Translated by Misa ‘Japanese Ammo’
196 pages
Published 2020 (English translation published 2022)
Read October 26
Rating: 3 out of 5

When I read Frieren’s first volume, I wasn't sold on it. It was fine, perfectly adequate, but it didn't grab me the way the first installments of Delicious in Dungeon or Witch Hat Atelier did. It intrigued me enough to keep going and see if I would get hooked, but not enough to want to spend actual money on it.

Enter the arcane magic known as library cards.

This second volume continues along in a similar meter. I like Frieren as a character. I think a near-immortal elf confronting the mortality and loss of her old companions is a neat twist on the standard Tolkien / D&D legendarium. But the very nature of her characterization makes Frieren seem flat on the page, distant and unresponsive. Her apprentice Fern, despite being human, is similarly stoic, rarely reacting with more than half a smile. This book adds apprentice warrior Stark, who at least has some pep in his personality, but compared to Delicious or Atelier, both of which had vivid and memorable characters and creative elaborations on their respective tropes, Frieren continues to be just… fine.

There’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned fantasy adventure. Chapter 14 even introduces some stylish antagonists: demons, who look more or less like tieflings in ruffled dresses and shirts. The demons have no nuance to them, just pure eeeeeevil, but they’re fun.

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