Frieren: Beyond Journey's End achieves a feat against Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood that many anime failed to do

Modified Oct 01, 2024 17:30 GMT

In November 2023, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End outclassed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and became the highest-rated anime series on MyAnimeList. After almost a year, the fandom is still dazzled by this achievement of the anime series and even more amazed at how no other seasonal anime has managed to dethrone Frieren in the past year.

So, the fandom took to the internet and recalled the greatness of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. However, some fans thought otherwise and stated that the future of the series, as the #1 of MAL, could be short-lived due to numerous reasons. Some of these reasons include new seasonal anime seasons with the potential to become the #1 and the fandom that is purposely axing the series for no reason.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this article belong to the author.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End maintains its #1 spot after beating Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood almost a year ago

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On September 29, 2023, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End started its airing and has one of the best first-episode premieres. Moreover, during its 28-episode airing, the series was ranked #1 on MyAnimeList, the internet's biggest anime database, numerous times.

Its spot as the #1 anime persisted during its last episodes. Today, after almost a year, the series is still the #1 rated anime series on MyAnimeList, beating its predecessor, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

The surprising thing about this is that no other seasonal anime series has managed to outclass Frieren from its #1 throne since then, proving that the series is one of the best in fiction.

Reaction from the fandom

Frieren as seen in the anime (Image via Madhouse)

The fandom had mixed feelings over Frieren's current position at the top. While one part of the fandom sang the series' praises and titled it "the Lord of the Rings of anime," some were adamant that the series could lose its post in the future and might go below the top 10 spot due to the opposition fandom downrating it purposely.

Moreover, some fans also hinted that Frieren: Beyond Journey's End's popularity was destined as the manga series was all over the internet and people were discussing its chapters in abundance. This led to a fan even criticizing the series for its second cour and branded this part as "lacking," which could be due to it being more dialogue-based, rather than action-based.

"I've said this before and I'll say it again. Frieren is the Lord of the Rings of anime," a fan said.

"The manga was pretty popular from chapter 1. Each chapter discussion on reddit had an average of 200+ comments," another fan said.

"Tbh i think it will be out of the top 10 sooner or later. People just love to hate it whenever an anime gets to popular," another one said.

"I like it. But I believe it’s a bit over hype to being #1 of all time. The second cour of S1 is a bit lacking. I’m also a manga reader. S2 should be more promising if it following the manga," another one claimed.

Final thoughts

As the fandom has already stated, Frieren's spot could indeed be temporary as before the series, many other competitors have emerged before it, like the Fruits Basket final season and Gintama. However, the fact that Frieren: Beyond Journey's End has managed to maintain the spot for almost a year is indeed praiseworthy. Thus, this could be a special series in the eyes of the fandom in the future.

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Edited by Meenakshi Ajith