What on earth did she do? “Funeral of Frieren” Frieren’s pathetic expression after being banned for 1000 years is cute

Frieren (CV: Atsumi Tanezaki) is usually cool, but the cute expressions she sometimes shows are very appealing! When she was banned for 1000 years by the great magician Seelier (CV: Mariya Ise), her “downcast face” warmed the hearts of fans, who commented, “What’s with that face?” and “Frieren’s sadness.”

[Video] Frieren’s eyes turn into lines after being banned for 1000 years… (From around 13 minutes 55 seconds)

The currently streaming anime “Furieren: The Funeral of Frieren” is based on the manga of the same name, 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 has been defeated, the story follows the magician Frieren as she experiences separation from her companions and sets off on a “journey to get to know people.” When the first season of the TV anime aired from September 2023 to March 2024, it was so popular that many related words trended on X (formerly Twitter) after each episode. The long-awaited second season has also been decided, and further news is awaited.

Freiren is an elf who has lived for over 1000 years, so she is calm at all times. However, it seems she has a surprisingly expressive side…? The exaggerated facial expressions she shows when she is depressed are loved by fans and are called the “sad face.”

In episode 28, the final episode of the first season of the TV anime, Fern (voiced by Ichinose Kana) passes the first-class wizard exam and is to attend the privilege award ceremony. Fern invites Frielen and Stark (voiced by Kobayashi Chiaki) to join her, but for some reason Frielen frowns and looks unwilling.

When Frieren went to the venue for the award ceremony, he was told at the reception, “We have received a notice from Lord Zellier that Lord Frieren is banned. For the next 1000 years, you are not to enter any Continental Magic Association facilities.” Frieren tried to act tough by saying, “It can’t be helped. I’ve upset Lord Zellier,” and “Well, I didn’t really want to come either,” but he seemed to be really depressed. His face looked just like a dejected emoticon.

Viewers were touched by Frieren’s dejected expression, commenting, “What’s with that face?”, “Banned Ren is cute,” “I’m glad we got to see Frieren’s dejected face even in the final episode,” and “Melancholy Frieren.” Incidentally, in the same episode 28, Zeller also showed off a facial expression that was just like Frieren’s, which fascinated many fans, who commented, “Does Zeller make a dejected face too?” and “Maybe it’s an expression unique to elves.”

*The character “崎” in Atsumi Tanezaki’s name is officially pronounced “tatsusaki.”
(C) Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe / Shogakukan / “Furieren” Production Committee