Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Volume 4, written by Kanehito Yamada and drawn by Tsukasa Abe, falls short of the previous volumes yet continues to be a very entertaining read. This volume marks a return to the more slice of life, meandering journey as at the beginning of this story, with the addition of a new character which keeps things interesting.

The story continues with the recruitment of the priest Sein, then flows into more character focused stories with Fern, Frieren and Stark with Sein as a very prominent side character. The story then shifts to the beginning of the next arc. While I still think that the format of the story being a journey allows natural downtime and provides reason for side characters to come and go, I found that compared to the previous volumes the downtime this time was harder to get through. It was enjoyable, but I found it less purposeful compared to the previous volumes when they focused on small mini stories along the journey.

I believe that this was due to it feeling more like busy work. They only kept my interest due to the character development being showed and the developments in the relationships between the characters. I found Sein a good character to add a different, more average adult perspective compared to Frieren. Their dynamic was entertaining to see, and I did find much enjoyment in seeing Fern’s relationship with Stark develop, albeit almost unrealistically slow compared to what one would be realistically.

The characters, while they did grow, they grew very slowly this volume. We got to see more of Sein’s growth compared to the rest. His arc was done well, and as the main character of focus this volume I found him likeable. I do hope to see him return in the future with his friend. I wish we got some more focus on Frieren this volume, the one chapter that focused on her past was the best of this volume.

The tone of this volume was lighter compared to the previous one which was a good decision considering how much darker and violent last volume was. I did appreciate how present the previous theme of grief was still, in some of the stories.

To conclude, this was good, but it was the weakest of all the Frieren volumes so far. It felt much more meandering and I’m finding myself wishing we had a greater focus on the main story. The next arc seems interesting, and I’m hoping I enjoy it more than this volume.

I’d rate this a 4.6/5

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