Title: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Vol. 12
Author: Kanehito Yamada (Story), Tsukasa Abe (Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: February 11, 2025
The Story
After touching the monument of the goddess, Frieren is transported back in time and is, once again, standing beside Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen! As she’s trying to figure out what happened and how to get back to her time period, they are confronted by Zart, a demon. Frieren tries to hide her secret by using magic from that time period but she realizes that if she doesn’t do something soon, they are going to get annihilated. She ends up using power from the future to kill Zart and, suddenly, everyone knows that she came from a different time.
Despite their awareness, Frieren tries her best not to divulge anything that would cause the future to change; however, this is a bit contradictory as the party agrees to help her find a way back to her time which never happened in the original timeline. Dead end after dead end, they come upon a town filled with monsters where they learn that one of the scriptures holds the key for Frieren to return but it is known as an empty scripture because in the 1,500 years that it has existed, nobody was able to find a time traveling spell among the words.
Meanwhile, four greater demons receive word from the demon king that Frieren has arrived from the future, one of them is a familiar face from the previous story arc! They look to capture Frieren and siphon information about the future out of her before killing her!
Characters
One of the things we learned about Himmel and Heiter is that they used to be childhood friends. This was something that Frieren didn’t know and it kind of shocked her to learn that little piece of information. In fact, it was Heiter who made fun of Himmel when they were young, telling him that he would never become a hero. It was that which caused him to push himself to prove Heiter wrong. I think we all know how that worked out for him!
Outside of this, there wasn’t much in the way of development outside of the heroes marveling at how much Frieren has changed. By stating this, it’s an indirect way of conveying to the reader how much different she had become over time, thus, showing her development without the need to actually develop her any further as a character. It was a clever way to display a character’s progress throughout the past twelve volumes.
Final Thoughts
While this was supposed to be a great volume in terms of feelings and whatnot, I’m kind of puzzled as to why this arc exists… and here’s why.
After the opening of the series, after Himmel and Heiter pass away, Frieren sets out on a journey to collect the grimoires of the world. She came across Flamme’s workshop and discovered that in the far north, there was a place to commune with the spirits of the dead. After realizing what everyone meant to her after they died, she was filled with regret and wanted to convey her feelings to them at that place in the north. This is the entire point of the series.
So, the series just nonsensically ignored the main reason why it exists and threw Frieren back in time with her old party and then used the excuse of “I don’t want to change the future” to ignore the fact that she could just convey her feelings right then and there. That would be the argument but the counterargument here is that they learn she’s from the future… they’re trying to help her find a way back which never happened in the past, and now they are being attacked by greater demons who know she’s a time traveler.
And yet, they are worried about changing the future even though so many events have already taken place that could (and will) do just that. Sorry, but this is one of the biggest plot holes I’ve seen in a manga series. Maybe I’m missing something here but it seems kind of pointless for Frieren to just not convey her feelings to them.
Then again, this arc isn’t over yet so maybe she does? Maybe when she gets back, her journey to the north gets canceled because there’s no longer a need for her to go there. I don’t know how the series would handle this but to have her go back in time and meet the old party again completely undermines the journey she’s taking in the present since the ultimate goal is to summon their spirits and reunite with them one last time.
Gripe aside, the adventure she’s having with them is great. To see them play off one another, to enjoy her company again, and to see them band together to help her is nice. There are some tender moments in there and it is still a good read but from a logical standpoint, this arc just doesn’t make any sense.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
