A mere year has passed since Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End anime premiered on September 29, 2024, and we are celebrating its 1st anniversary today with some of our favorite characters from the first season. The anime will be holding a special event on Saturday where every fan will be hoping for the same thing, but for now, let’s take a look at who we want to see again. The aim is to feature the top 20 characters in no particular order, and the list will not be ranked.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Anime 1st Anniversary – Top 20 Characters
- Frieren
- Himmel
- Fern
- Stark
- Heiter
- Eisen
- Flamme
- Serie
- Sein
- Denken
- Wirbel
- Übel
- Land
- Methode
- Kanne
- Lawine
- Richter
- Laufen
- Sense
- Ehre
- Bonus: Aura the Guillotine
Frieren
Who else to start with but the titular Frieren. The incredibly strong yet easy-going mage defeated the Demon King as part of the Hero’s Party, and she is now on a quest with Fern and Stark to reach Ende. She has learned to respect the passage of time and made significant character development through her new party, and we can’t wait to see more of her.
Frieren’s voice actress in the anime:
- Japanese: Atsumi Tanezaki
- English: Mallorie Rodak
Himmel
Long gone but never forgotten, Himmel the Hero will definitely be making more appearances as Frieren moves along on her journey. We’ve seen the ways he tried to make sure Frieren would have a better life long after he passed, and the synonym for perfection is no doubt his name.
Himmel’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Nobuhiko Okamoto
- English: Clifford Chapin
Fern
Frieren’s prodigy human apprentice, who was even offered mentorship by the Great Mage from the Mythical Era, Serie. Fern was voted Best Girl of the Fall 2023 anime season ahead of her master, and her relationship with Stark will no doubt continue to make us all relate to Sein when he slammed the table.
Fern’s voice actress in the anime:
- Japanese: Kana Ichinose
- English: Jill Harris
Stark
The cowardly yet insanely strong warrior, student of Eisen the Warrior. He may prefer to sleep and do nothing, but when push comes to shove, no one is more reliable than him. His density will probably not improve quickly, but his willingness to learn (and not make Fern mad) is something that makes us look forward to seeing more of his growth.
Stark’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Chiaki Kobayashi
- English: Jordan Dash Cruz, Brittney Karbowski (Young)
Heiter
The drunken priest of the Hero’s Party, Heiter the Priest. We have him to thank for taking care of Fern and entrusting her to Frieren, and he did his part in defeating the Demon King. There is probably more to learn about his past with both Frieren and Fern, so might just be seeing him again.
Heiter’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Hiroki Tochi
- English: Jason Douglas
Eisen
Like Heiter did for Fern, Eisen did for Stark. Eisen the Warrior also did his part in defeating the Demon King (although he and Himmel almost got executed before they could even depart on their journey), and he trained the new generation as well as could. His way of handling fear in face of adversity is something that is respectable, and his teaching will definitely help out Stark in the future.
Eisen’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Yoji Ueda
- English: Christopher Guerrero
Flamme
The Great Mage Flamme, Frieren’s master and one of the strongest human mages in history. She paved the way for Frieren and taught her everything she could, from the importance of concealing her mana to her favorite spell to create flowers.
Flamme’s voice actress in the anime:
- Japanese: Atsuko Tanaka*
- English: Lydia Mackay
*Atsuko Tanaka passed away on August 20 this year following a year-long battle against an undisclosed illness.
Serie
The living grimoire and the head of the Continental Magic Association. While largely uninterested and cold, we know that her intuition is never wrong and that she does not miss potential in young mages. She has only been introduced, but there is definitely a lot more to learn about the experienced elf.
Serie’s voice actress in the anime:
- Japanese: Mariya Ise
- English: Anastasia Muñoz
Sein
While an incredible priest, Sein just got too annoyed with Fern and Stark’s failure to start dating and left the party. Wait, that’s not exactly what happened. He went to search for his Gorilla childhood friend. Either way, Sein is sure to appear again at some point, and he’s a character we’re looking forward to seeing.
Sein’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Yuichi Nakamura
- English: Christopher Wehkamp
Denken
The elderly mage who is not afraid to get into a fist fight. Denken is another interesting character who seems to understand things similarly to Frieren despite being a short-lived human. Having tragically lost his wife despite trying to save her, he took the First-Class Mage Exam so he can return to his hometown. He has no children, but he enjoys spoiling the young mages.
Denken’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Jiro Saito
- English: Ben Phillips
Wirbel
Not a fan of killing, but not afraid of doing so when necessary, Wirbel is yet another interesting mage we met during the First Class Mage Exam. He is used to war, and he cares deeply about his allies, acting like a tsundere with Ehre and Scharf while they were on the same team.
Wirbel’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Kisho Taniyama
- English: Ricco Fajardo, Meg McClain (young)
Übel
The most chaotic character we’ve met, Übel is still loved by many. She can be cold and brutal, but she also enjoys teasing people she finds interesting, such as Land. She is a genius mage, and her ability to use the magic of people with whom she can empathize gives room for a lot of growth.
Übel’s voice actress in the anime:
- Japanese: Ikumi Hasegawa
- English: Morgan Berry
Land
Another enigma, only Serie realized that he never left his hometown during the First Class Mage Exam. While Übel seems to think he’s warming up to her, Land might as well be completely detached and uncaring, and we have no idea about his motivation and true power.
Land’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Shohei Komatsu
- English: Corey Wilder
Methode
Also mysterious, but Methode took care of Fern’s clone with apparent ease. She loves cute things, even thinking that of Serie when she first saw the elf. Now also a first-class mage, we can look forward to seeing her again in the future.
Methode’s voice actresses in the anime:
- Japanese: Reina Ueda
- English: Caitlin Glass
Kanne
Kanne is a young mage who failed the First-Class Mage Exam, but there is not doubt she has plenty of potential to grow. We saw what she could do against Richter when she fought his team alongside Frieren and Lawine, and the water specialist is a mage to look out for.
Kanne’s voice actresses in the anime:
- Japanese: Azumi Waki
- English: Madeleine Morris
Lawine
Just like Kanne, Lawine is also only getting started. She is an ice magic user, and she can definitely grow more as she continues to train (and keep fighting) with her childhood friend. It will be interesting to see if and how they will be involved in the future of the story.
Lawine’s voice actresses in the anime:
- Japanese: Sayumi Suzushiro
- English: Rebecca Danae
Richter
One of the mages that probably deserved to pass the exam, Richter was unlucky and still ended up failing. The owner of the magical store has shown that he is not as cold and brutal as he first tried to appear, and he even ended up helping Frieren by fixing Fern’s staff. Hopefully he can pass the exam and we see more of him in the future.
Richter’s voice actors in the anime:
- Japanese: Eiji Hanawa
- English: Ian Mead Moore
Laufen
The unofficial and not-blood-related granddaughter of Denken, Laufen is yet another promising mage who was a bit too quick to try becoming a first-class mage. She is skilled, but she was also afraid of Serie’s mana and couldn’t overcome it. Regardless, the kind, donut-loving young mage has plenty of room for growth, and hopefully we learn more about her in the future.
Laufen’s voice actresses in the anime:
- Japanese: Shizuka Ishigami
- English: Marisa Duran
Sense
The curious proctor of the 2nd stage of the First Class Mage Exam, Sense is also very interesting. She doesn’t talk much, but she does seem to be kind in her own way and she did what she could to make her exam fair and (kind of) passable. Her hair magic is also quite unique, and hopefully we can see her get serious against a demon at some point.
Sense’s voice actresses in the anime:
- Japanese: Haruka Terui
- English: Lindsay Seidel
Ehre
Most likely the one with the least amount of fans on this list, Ehre is still yet to live up to her potential. Fern judged her to be the strongest from the party including Wirbel and Scharf, and she is also the granddaughter of Lernen, probably currently the strongest human mage alive (and Serie’s student who squared off against Frieren).
Ehre’s voice actress in the anime:
- Japanese: Kanae Ito
- English: Trina Nishimura
Bonus Feature: Aura the Guillotine
As a bonus on the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 1st anniversary anime characters list, we have to feature Aura the Guillotine. The overly-confident demon met her end against Frieren early on in the story, but she was still voted 2nd in the official character popularity poll (to Ayana Taketatsu’s surprise). Her story in the main anime is definitely over, but that doesn’t mean we can never see her again (in some kind of spin-off or side story for example).
Aura’s voice actresses in the anime:
- Japanese: Ayana Taketatsu
- English: Corey Pettit
And that’s it for our Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End favorite characters ahead of its 1st anime anniversary. The anime was animated by MADHOUSE and ran for 28 episodes from September 29, 2024. The anime was voted as the Best Anime of Fall 2023, also taking the Best Boy (Stark), Best Girl (Fern), Best Adaptation, Best Drama, and Best Opening (“Yuusha” by YOASOBI) awards.
In our 2023 Anime of the Year Awards, Frieren won Best New Anime, Best Adaptation, Best Fantasy, Best Adventure, and it was 2nd in Best Drama and 3rd in Best Animation. Then in the Winter 2024 anime rankings, the 2nd cour of the anime also performed well. It took 5 awards and was runner-up in many categories behind Bokuyaba, which had sweeped the weekly rankings that season.
Once again, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End will be celebrating its 1st anime anniversary this Saturday, while you can rewatch the anime to see the featured characters again on Crunchyroll.
All images from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End ©Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe/Shogakukan/”Frieren” Project
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