by One of the great things about Frieren (voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki ) is her surprisingly expressive face. When she received her “1000-year ban,” her downcast face, like an emoticon, warmed viewers’ hearts, making them think, “When you think of Frieren, it’s this face.”
The currently streaming anime ” Furieren: The Funeral of Frieren ” is based on the same manga, which is currently being serialized in “Weekly Shonen Sunday” by author Yamada Kanehito and illustrator Abe Tsukasa. Set in a world “after” the Demon King was defeated, the story follows Frieren (CV: Tanezaki Atsumi), a magician who has lived for over 1,000 years, as she embarks on a “journey to learn about people.”
The original manga has won numerous awards and received tremendous support and acclaim, with 13 volumes already published and over 22 million copies sold. The TV anime, which aired from September 2023 to March 2024, became a huge hit, with many related words trending on X (formerly Twitter) after each episode.
Frieren has a dry and calm personality and generally doesn’t show much emotion, but that’s why the expressions she does show are so memorable. Her “downcast face,” with horizontal lines for her eyes and an omega-shaped mouth, is trendy among fans.
In the 28th episode, the final episode of the anime, Freiren also showed a sad expression. Fern (CV: Ichinose Kana ), who passed the first-class wizard exam, was to attend the privilege award ceremony. Freiren and Stark (CV: Kobayashi Chiaki) were invited to accompany her, but Freiren frowned and looked unhappy.
At the reception for the award ceremony, it was announced that “Lord Seelier has issued a notice that Lord Frieren is banned. He will not enter Continental Magic Association facilities for 1000 years.” Frieren, who has a complicated relationship with the great magician Seelier (CV: Ise Mariya), turned around and said, “It can’t be helped. I’ve upset Seelier,” with the familiar downcast expression on his face.
Frieren looked genuinely saddened, and viewers were touched by her comments, “He looks dejected,” “This is the face that Frieren has,” and “Banned Ren is so cute.”
By the way, in episode 28, there is a scene where Seelier makes a “very displeased face,” just like Frieren. In this scene, Seelier tells Fern, who wants a certain magic, “Are you out of your mind…” This scene also made viewers laugh, with comments like “Do all elves make faces like this lol?” and “Seelier has a displeased face lol.”
