Frieren, a maga que derrotou o Rei Demónio e deixou o seu nome na história. Para prosseguir a viagem rumo a Aureole, Frieren decide submeter-se a um exame de magos. Novos encontros com magos de carácter peculiar — a história vai revelando as convicções e a determinação de cada um. Uma fantasia de sequela que desvenda a “história” dos heróis!
Is there a higher compliment for a book than when you pick it up to write a review of it you end up simply re-reading it for the second time that day?
This manga always find some way to surprise and amaze me even while it seems to be doing ordinary or cliched stuff. Take this volume for instance, as Frieren and her apprentice get involved in a cutthroat competition of mages that might as well be Quidditch, what with its little birds to be captured. But the action and intrigue are handled deftly, enhancing our knowledge of the main characters while effectively introducing the new ones.
The entirety of the first phase of the first class mage exam is covered conveniently in this volume. Since only Frieren and Fern are the mages of the party, Stark gets to sit the bench on this one, undergoing his own training off panel.
The first phase of the exam splits Frieren and Fern into different parties, which allows the author to introduce new characters to interact with our main characters. Both Frieren and Fern get to shine, putting themselves head and shoulders above the mages of this age.
The well developed characters are one main draws of this story, and splitting the two into different parties for the exam allows the reader to show different facets of Frieren and Fern. Fern is usually the adult of the party, although he's just in her teens, but she's her usual dependable self, but she lets her cute pouting side show for once. Frieren acts on whims, relying on Fern to reel her in, but being grouped with two bickering friends, she acts like a teacher to bring her party together.
It's an entertaining arc that brings the best out of Frieren and Fern, but sadly not for Stark.
One sentence: I think Himmel should have confessed to Frieren long, long time ago for closure's sake, even though Frieren probably would just shoot him down, or not even understand.
(1) I admit I am losing my patience over all these mage examination things...
(2) In the end, it is a half DNF-ed read. I am not saying it is a bad book but the artwork, the design of the panels and the slow-paced story really is trying my patience. I will try to watch the anime series later. Hope I have better luck.
I LOVE this series. It is so poignant and bittersweet. It tugs at the heartstrings, but gently. The first volume grabbed me and it still has a hold on me five books in.
Highly recommended, though it does have very serous moments that might affect you if you have lost someone you love and the wound is still raw. Be aware.
5, this is such a beautiful series I am so glad I started it, stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media LLC for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I admit I really perked up when we were going to go take the First Class Mage exam. Frieren is simply too humble to be believed, now that we've seen some of what she can REALLY do.
EVERYONE underestimates her. And through her, even Fren. Really gorgeous storytelling. Simple settings, great exam to start out with, and yet it's the details and the clever connections that really make it shine.
Page after page of exposition in the first half didn't do it for me, so this volume was just ok. I am part of the 12% who gave this only volume only three stars. My dislike of competitions and exams in manga probably has something to do with the average rating. The book picks up again in the second half.
One of the USP's of this series is the absence of passion in the characters. Not just Frieren, but some other characters' personalities, too, are stoic to the point of being cold. Even in life-or-death battles they keep their heads uber cool, and if they emote they do it in an understated way.
This volume was a ton of fun, as always. The First Class Mage exam brings in a colorful new cast: some charming, some arrogant, some aloof, and a few downright homicidal. It’s a big introduction, yet no one gets lost in the shuffle. I love a good forced-proximity setup, especially when monsters and magic are involved. And while I was glad Stark wasn’t completely sidelined, I would have liked a bit more spotlight on the party’s warrior in residence.
This is the first round of the mage exam with the brief cool down period between parts.
The beginning's a little dry and it picks up at the midpoint through end. I really like seeing Frieren's displays of power. I love it when main characters are competent and powerful.
Aaand the series reaches what I assume is its final form, a fantasy series without much distinction, in a volume that is 80% a BATTLE ROYALE fight, not helped by the fact that it dumps about 20 new characters, at least three of which are all but indistinguishable from the main character and few of which get much in the way of characterization. I have volume 6 lying around but assume that that is going to be the end of my own journey.
genuinely enjoying the world building and plot, but Fern's starting to be especially annoying too and unlike previous volumes, it's hard to ignore it in this one.
«-¿Y qué es lo que hay que hacer para que le recuerden a uno? -Cambiarle la vida a alguien. Aunque solo sea un poco. Eso debería ser suficiente.»
No puedo estar más dentro de esta historia. La magia es la gran protagonista de este tomo porque para sacarse la licencia de mago de primer nivel, tanto Frieren como Fern participan en unas pruebas para demostrar su valía. En otros mangas, esto habría sido una sucesión de combates y ya, pero aquí no. En Frieren nos explican cómo funciona la magia, cómo son las diferentes líneas de pensamiento y cómo la humanidad también define el tipo de magia que podamos usar.
Me ha encantando y me sorprende que tenemos arco para rato, o eso quiero creer. Una maravilla de primer nivel. Y claro, cuando bajas las defensas, ahí llegan esos flashbacks que nos dejan al borde de la lágrima. Sin duda, una obra que solo va a mejor.
Un volumen centrado completamente en enfrentamientos y estrategias para demostrar quién es el o la maga más fuerte. Es muy entretenido, donde Frieren saca a relucir todas sus cualidades y fortalezas. No tengo nada que quejarme en ese sentido, pero muy alejado de lo que más me gustó de esta obra, la intimidad de las y los personajes. Aun así, me gustó muchísimo la presentación de otra elfa, quién no sabemos mucho más que su gran poder, Serie, quién a su vez fue la maestra de la maestra de Frieren.
There is no denying how much I love this series. You might even say that most of what I will say could be biased. But the book, in its entirety, is just truly amazing.
Continuing on their journey, Frieren and Fern have participated in the Class One Mage exam. It is a requirement if they want to get past the northern lands as the dangers of the location require the strength of a class one mage to survive.
This is one of my favorite volumes because we see more into Frieren. We don't just see who she was before the Hero Party; we see her as a collection of her past and present self. I love the way she managed the party she was assigned with as well.
Another alluring part of the volume is the introduction of so many more new characters. I especially liked it when Ubel, one of the new mages to be introduced, tells us, the audience, how magic is all about visualising what you can do. More importantly, Frieren's joy when she met Denken, who told her that magic is all about the journey and discovery.
Nothing changed with the art style. It's still that beautiful contrast of sharpness and softness depending on situations and character moods. An intriguing discovery, though, was when I realized that most of the flashbacks have black backgrounds while the present storyline has no color in its background. It was such a nice way to distinguish where you are in the story but also to change the atmosphere a bit.
Overall, I really love this volume and I can't wait to proceed to the next one. It's even more exciting considering I am close to reaching the current available episode of the anime, which means that I will now find out what happens after these exams.
I just have to say how much I love this series. In this volume we see the group split up into different teams for the first class mage exam. Frieren and Fern are paired together and the goal is to catch a rare bird in the allotted time. The dynamic amongst the teams is very interesting and it's nice to see a bunch of different characters all in one place but on their own so that we can get to know them a little bit. I'm looking forward to the next volume to see what happens!
It’s the first stage of the mage exams and Fern and Frieren are on separate teams. Of course, multiple teams could win, so that means no need for competition. Of course. When things take a turn, Fern gets to show how much she’s learned, while Frieren shows, again, just what heroes are made of…
Let’s cut to the chase - does Frieren end up stuck in something with her butt hanging out? Yes, yes she does. Automatic five stars, as per the rules, but the rest of the material is thankfully still quite strong, if a rather different flavour than previous volumes.
This set-up brings the most action the series has seen to date as we veer away from the travelogue and reminiscing to focus on the now that is the mage test. What seems like an innocuous enough challenge soon turns out to be structured mayhem with all sorts of deadly intent.
And, well, the series does good action. This challenge is structured well and given how frequently ridiculous magic duels can get, just from their ‘anything the author wants’ nature, these are interesting and make good use of established limitations rather than constantly revealing something new.
Frieren ends up being a pure force of magic, as usual, but the youthful inexperience (and constant bickering) of her new teammates gives a very different flavour to things. The face Frieren makes when they act up becomes a great running gag too. This change allows her to once more play the role of teacher and pull from the past. It’s a rather cute touch, as so much of this series has been focused on looking backwards and how it informs the present.
This storyline tilts the balance to the present even more than usual, but still shows how all her life has been leading Frieren here. Part of why I think she makes such a compelling lead is that we know so much about her backstory - most manga would give you some brief snippets, but this one has gone deep into her life by design and it has constantly paid off.
Separating Fern was another capital idea and lets her show how much she’s grown under Frieren’s tutelage and come into her own as well. She’s picked up a lot of her master and that’s nicely shown and not told. Interestingly, despite the way things seemed at the end of last volume, there’s a lot that deviates from the obvious plotting choices and that was pretty clever too.
Stark doesn’t get a lot to do, but don’t fret, he and Frieren manage to tick Fern off yet again. Twice. The way this story weaves its staples into the narrative while continually expanding its repertoire is a thing of beauty.
There’s little point in covering the mage test, since it’s a lot of plot and counterplot and heroic moments and a shocking amount of death and is best experienced fresh. Suffice to say, it is a very good way to spend time with these characters, even without the melancholic gravitas of earlier, and a rumination on what people will do when they’re desperate.
If you don’t like this sort of story shift, I could see it being a thing, but, as I said, it makes great use of a lot of its preceding material and goes in some fun new directions.
Some of the more shonen-forward sensibilities are a bit out of place, there’s at least one costume that made me go ‘really?’, but not enough to drag it down or anything. And I’m quite looking forward to the next test, which intriguingly promises to be even worse.
5 stars - a definite change of pace, literally, but a welcome one that turns a simple contest into a really pitched conflict that’s as exciting and dynamic as the next battle manga, but maintains the heart the series does so well.
Je vous l’annonce sans ambages, ce tome m’a un peu déçue. On retrouve Frieren et sa disciple, Fern. Elles s’apprêtent toutes les deux à passer l’examen pour devenir Mage de premier ordre. Leur première épreuve consiste à capturer un oiseau particulier. Les deux magiciennes ne sont par contre pas dans la même équipe.
Sur l’instant, j’admets avoir été déstabilisée par le tournant que prend l’histoire jusqu’à ce que je réalise que tout cela a un but propre. Malgré tout, hormis quelques moments sympas, je n’ai pas retrouvé ce qui faisait le charme de l’histoire avec cette question du temps qui passe.
On revient, à mon sens, à un scénario plus classique et mainte fois usité en fantasy. Frieren cache en partie ce qu’elle est et son vécu pour parvenir à donner le change. Si ça reste sympa à suivre, ce n’est pas ce que j’attendais et je n’ai pas pu m’empêcher d’être déçue.
Heureusement, lorsque Frieren tente de briser le dôme magique mis en place par une magicienne aux pouvoirs hors du commun, on se rend compte que notre héroïne et elles se connaissent déjà.
Dans l’ensemble, si ce n’est pas ce que j’attendais, j’ai tout de même passé un bon moment de lecture. Les dessins sont toujours réussis et la fin et les connexions de Frieren avec certains personnages donnent envie de savoir ce qu’il va se passer ensuite.
I love how diverse the cast is. Perhaps only temporarily, the cast of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is growing, and it feels as though multiple of them are very different people from the others. In my own life, I’ve begun to observe that the world is made up of all types of people, and I don’t need to understand them all. Respect is enough. So, I enjoyed reading this volume of Frieren and experiencing the diversely different cast the author created. Time and again, I cannot summarize any one thing in just one concrete way in Frieren. For everything within it, there’s multiple perspectives to see it from. The art of Frieren imitates life in that way— the way in which there is never just one way to see or explain something, there are always multiple perspectives to see something from. Much like there are multiple solutions to every problem, which was another fun thing to observe as teams and characters tried to catch, steal, or hold on to the Stille bird. The first exam tested far more than what was asked of the teams from the way in which the exam was orchestrated.
Frieren is travelling with Fern, her apprentice. Fern wants to take the mage exam so Frieren is taking the exam with her.
The first exam divided the mages into teams and asked them to capture a magic bird.
Frieren knows a lot of basic magic and some everyday magic. For this, she uses the magic of capture. With her teammates who use water and ice magic, they got ahead of the game.
Unfortunately, other teams who want to finish the exam need their bird. So they use tracking spells. For Frieren and Fern advantage, they could hide their magical power well.
The story is about how far humans would do to get what they wanted. And one of the way to not worries so much about other people hidden agenda is to be honest like Frieren, and also be as powerful as her.