Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 4

The opening couple of chapters with Serie are interesting in an odd way. Her judgments all feel absolutely correct, even when the reasoning feels wildly arbitrary. And her judgment of Fern is oddly thrilling all around.

The rest of the volume is the episodic traveling the series is so good at. Some parts are cool, some are funny, some are just chill, but altogether Frieren is a goof.

I've seen some sentiment online that the series was better at the start than in these later volumes because of the transition to more battles. But reading this, I'm laughing and excited even more than during the earlier volumes. There isn't a lot here that makes me feel reflective, unlike some other volumes, but in spite of the tension and combat all the charm of the series is omnipresent. 

Frieren is a goof. 

Did Denken, like, adopt Laufen? What a bunch of goofs.

This volume is a bit of a departure in that Frieren is only briefly a goof, and instead is surrounded by goofs who force her to be the sensible one. We know that there are some unhinged mages in the exam, so every battle has some tension where we don't know if the less experienced mages will come out in one piece.

So we get Frieren being a chad. Along with Denken being a chad. Along with Laufen being a goof.

"Why don't they just get together already?!!" — Goatee Priest, legendary hero and friend of Gorilla Warrior

While this volume lacks some of the emotional impact of the first volume, it has more of the stuff that I truly love this series for.

That is to say, Frieren is a goof.

The contrast between the serious flashbacks and fights at the start of this volume and the comedy of the last half is a lot of fun. This volume is pretty much the whole range of Frieren with reflective moments, crazy fights, relaxing (to read about) journeys, and goofy fun.

This is one of my all-time favourite manga series. It reflects on the passage of time, the meaning of life, the meaning of relationships, and more through the lens of Frieren, an elf who does not age and has started seeing some of the few friends she cared about pass away from old age. On my first read-through her tears at Himmel's funeral hit me hard, and they hit even harder on my reread.

The art is lovely. The paneling is phenomenal, perfectly showing the passage of months and years in just a page or two. The characters' personalities come through as much in little vignettes with no voice as they do in dialogue and action. The way the story plods along, gentle but not quite aimless, gives it a relaxing feel even in emotional and tense scenes. 

And most of all, Frieren is a goof and I love it.