Frieren fans at the 2025 Anime Expo were pleasantly surprised by the reveal.
It’s been an exciting weekend for Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End fans. During Anime Expo 2025, Crunchyroll unveiled the first official trailer for Season 2 and confirmed that the platform has acquired worldwide streaming rights (excluding Asia, but including India and the Indian subcontinent). The new season is set to begin streaming in January 2026, with a simulcast planned alongside the Japanese broadcast.
Surprise reveal made during Frieren’s Crunchyroll panel at Anime Expo 2025
The announcement came as a surprise during Crunchyroll’s dedicated panel at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Fans in attendance were treated to a preview of the much-anticipated continuation of the acclaimed fantasy anime. The panel featured several notable guests from the production team, including Chiaki Kobayashi (Japanese voice of Stark), producer Yuichiro Fukushi, and series composer Evan Call.
The trailer itself offered glimpses of Frieren, Fern, and Stark as they reflected on their journey so far. Based on where Season 1 concluded, Season 2 will adapt the Continued Northern Travels arc, starting from chapter 61 of Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe’s manga. This arc will take the trio into new and unfamiliar territory, promising fresh adventures and emotional growth.
Yuichiro Fukushi confirmed during the panel that Tomoya Kitagawa will direct Season 2, taking over from Season 1 director Keiichiro Saito. Kitagawa, who previously worked as a storyboard artist and directed several episodes in Season 1, now steps into the lead role. Saito, also known for his work on Bocchi the Rock!, will stay on as supervising director for the new season.
Additional staff joining the project include Daiki Harashina (takt op. Destiny) as assistant director and Tomohiro Suzuki (One-Punch Man) handling series composition. Character design will be led by Takasemaru (Violet Evergarden), Keisuke Kojima (100 Meters), and Yuri Fujinaka, who previously contributed key animation to Spy x Family Code: White. Seiko Yoshioka, known for her background work on Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, is in charge of concept art. Evan Call will also return as the series composer.
Season 2 was first confirmed in March 2025 during a talk show.
What is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End about?
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is based on the manga Sōsō no Frieren (Frieren at the Funeral), written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. The story follows an elf mage named Frieren, who once helped defeat the Demon King alongside a legendary party of heroes. Decades later, long after her companions have grown old or passed on, Frieren begins a new journey to better understand the fleeting nature of human life and the bonds she took for granted.
The manga began serialisation in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on 28 April 2020 and is published by Shogakukan. As of March 2025, the series has been collected in 14 tankōbon volumes. It is licensed for English release by Viz Media in North America and by Shogakukan Asia in Southeast Asia.
Season 1 of the anime adaptation aired from 29 September 2023 to 22 March 2024. It received widespread acclaim for its emotional depth, worldbuilding, and animation quality, and swept several major accolades during the 2024–2025 awards season.
The series was crowned Anime of the Year at the 11th Anime Trending Awards, where it also won Action/Adventure Anime of the Year, Fantasy Anime of the Year, and three additional genre-specific honours. It also claimed Best TV Anime and Best Music (for composer Evan Call) at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2025. At the 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the series won Best Director for Keiichiro Saito, Best Drama, and Best Background Art.
