An event for the TV anime "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End," based on the manga serialized in "Weekly Shonen Sunday" (Shogakukan), was held on July 4th (local time) at the anime event "Anime Expo 2026" in the United States. Director Tomoya Kitagawa, directorial assistant Keiichiro Saito, character designer Keisuke Kojima, and Madhouse producer Yuichiro Fukushi appeared at the event. The main staff for the third season, "The Golden Land Arc," which will air from October 2027, was announced, and it was revealed that Director Kitagawa, Assistant Director Daiki Harashina, Directorial Assistant Saito, Series Composition Tomohiro Suzuki, Character Designers Kojima and Takasemaru, Concept Artist Seiko Yoshioka, and Music Composer Evan Call will all be continuing in their roles.
Producer Fukushi commented on the third season, saying, "We are currently working hard on production, and we will do our best to deliver an even more powerful third season than the second! We are determined to make something better each time, and we are feeling confident because we have assembled a wonderful staff. Frieren's journey will continue, so please look forward to it!"
At the event, Kojima looked back on the second season and spoke about episode 36 of the "Revolte Arc," which he directed as chief animation director and which was notable for its intense battle action. He said, "As chief animation director, I was in charge of episodes 34-36. There was a lot of work to do with the main characters of the Revolte Arc, Methode and Genau, and Revolte, but I did my best to make it as good as possible within the schedule." He continued, "I was conscious of balancing beauty and manliness in Revolte. The beast-like movements of Revolte were expressed through the work of the animation staff, so I added drawing corrections to add beauty and manliness to that." Kojima then demonstrated live drawing, drawing Genau and Methode in color.
Director Kitagawa explained the opening sequence, for which he was in charge of storyboarding, saying, "It depicts Frieren's life up to now and her journey ahead. I used flowers as a motif to show Frieren's encounters and partings with Himmel and Flamme, and I aimed to connect them to her journey with her current companions, Fern and Stark." He continued, "After the storyboards were completed, I had concept artist Yoshioka Seiko create a color script that would give the overall color scheme and the image of the finished screen. We designed a texture that is slightly different from the main story, retaining the colors that evoke light and the brushstrokes. From the chorus onwards, a lot of colorful flowers appear, and animation director Takase Maru drew the flowers intricately, resulting in a gorgeous image. It was a challenging opening sequence with lots of falling flower petals, but assistant director Harashina Taiki drew over 1000 key frames to complete it."
When asked about the scene in episode 31 where Frieren cries for three days and three nights, producer Fukushi said, "The humorous direction was conceived by Yohei Tsuchiya in the storyboards. Animator Toshiyuki Sato drew it with good timing, and animation director Runa Harano added facial expressions, which I think further enhanced the character's charm. The staff were also excited to watch it." The original drawing of Frieren with a towel wrapped around her head, which also appeared in episode 31, was also shown, and it was revealed that "In the script stage, she was just returning from the hot springs with an ice pop in one hand, but the staff added the movement of her eating the ice pop with a towel wrapped around her head, and here too, it is depicted as a picture full of Frieren's charm."
Saito, who served as director in the first season and participated as a directorial assistant from the second season onwards, spoke about the scene with the sacred snow crystal in episode 38, "A Beautiful Scene," saying, "I felt that this episode had to be something befitting the final episode of the second season, and the challenge was to expand on it with original anime content to make it suitable for the finale. My job in the second season was as a directorial assistant, supporting Kitagawa's vision for the series. During the discussion about episode 38, there was a moment when Kitagawa and scriptwriter Suzuki Tomohiro seemed a little confused. So, I analyzed what function this scene serves within the episode and told them what wasn't being expressed in the current scenario and how it should be expressed in future scenarios. We thought about it together, and although I was the one asking the questions, I think that's how Kitagawa and Suzuki arrived at the final episode." He also showed a photo of the whiteboard used in the meeting.
Finally, Kojima said, "We will be creating something that surpasses the quality of the second season (for the third season), so please look forward to it!", Fukushi said, "Anime Expo is the best, and I would love to meet all the Frieren fans again, so I will do my best to bring a big souvenir next year," Saito said, "The Golden Land arc in the third season is a popular episode in the original work, and it is a grand and dramatic episode, so please continue to look forward to it," and Director Kitagawa said, "All of the staff are working hard to meet everyone's expectations for the third season, so please wait a little longer!"
"Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" is a manga series written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, which began serialization in "Weekly Shonen Sunday" in April 2020. Frieren, the mage of the hero's party who defeated the Demon King, is an elf and therefore long-lived, but after experiencing the death of her companions, she embarks on a journey to "understand humanity." It was selected for the Manga Taisho Award 2021, the New Artist Award at the 25th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, the 69th (2023) Shogakukan Manga Award, and the Shonen category at the 48th Kodansha Manga Award. The cumulative circulation of the comic books exceeds 35 million copies. The first season of the TV anime aired from September 2023 to March 2024, and the second season aired from January to March 2026.
