What We Can Learn About Worldbuilding From Frieren

If you haven't read the manga or seen the anime Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End then stop reading this post, stop everything you’re doing, and watch season 1 twice. Only then, come back and hear me rant about it, not because of spoilers, but because it’s just that good. Okay, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, we can talk about one of the many things that author Kanehito Yamada does so well, world building.

Frieren creates a world that fans of the fantasy genre instantly recognize but also makes it unique and explores the space in interesting ways. The simple plot conceit of the story beginning after the party of heroes has saved everyone by defeating the demon king and focusing on what happens after already sets it apart from the many other stories Frieren is clearly inspired by. 

This opens up a space to explore other themes that don’t come up as often like the cyclical nature of life and finding deep meaning in the more mundane moments. Even if you aren’t up for reading/watching the whole series, just the first four episodes of the anime (roughly the length of a single movie) does this incredibly well. Even a simple “sidequest” of trying to help an old woman find a specific species of flower turned into something deeply moving. 

Another aspect of the worldbuilding in Frieren is that they only reveal what is necessary and relevant to the story, but they do so in a way that you can tell they know all the details, but are only revealing them to the reader when it makes sense. The first time we see Frieren cast her regular “offensive magic” spell, we don’t get the whole history of the development of the spell, Zoltraak, but when it’s relevant to the story, we do. When they show a map of the continent on which the story takes place, we aren’t put to sleep by unnecessary details or histories, but when they come up in the story, we learn what we need to learn and it all fits together in such a way that you know it was part of the plan all along. 

What this does for me is it includes all the rich and detailed worldbuilding that makes a fantasy setting come to life, but doesn’t intimidate me or make me feel like learning the ins and outs of that particular world is going to feel like a chore. It makes the world of Frieren accessible, but deep.