Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End definitely has romance elements in it. The spark between Stark and Fern’s is rather obvious. However, Frieren lived rent-free in Himmel’s head. Frieren’s flashbacks of Himmel clearly shows how he tried several things to make Frieren happy, and potentially steal her heart. But, alas, she didn’t catch the clues in time.

Himmel was too loyal to Frieren for his own good. Even until his death, he never fell in love with anyone else. It’s super romantic, but also so heart-wrenching at the same time.

Frieren essentially put Himmel in the party member zone for all his life, and the man just took it. Her unawareness make her a perfect romantically clueless trope, but what is that exactly?

Romantically Clueless, What Is Love Exactly?

A romantically clueless person is someone who always misses social cues, and ignore almost every hint that another person likes them. It’s not something intentional, if anything the unintentional ignorance is an essential aspect of this trope.

We might dismiss them simply as dense or just too innocence most of the time. Not to be confused with the clueless romantic, the clueless romantic actually knows they’re in love, but so clumsy in executing their approach. The romantically clueless, on the other hand, won’t even recognize someone’s feelings for them just because they don’t have the knowledge about romance, or dismiss anyone’s interest in them.

It becomes hilarious, or rather sad in Frieren’s case, when they finally realize the love they were receiving. In Frieren’s case, the trope showcases perfectly the themes this anime brings, time perception, cherishing precious moments, and regrets. But, there are a few things that I noticed in the anime that made her this way.

Why Is Frieren Romantically Clueless?

Whenever I see Himmel head over heels for Frieren in this anime, how Frieren reacts really reminds me of a short animated skit, Is She Into You by Casually Explained. However, in Himmel’s case, he is facing a one-thousand-years old elf who spent her whole life fiddling with magic instead of men.

So, it was an uphill battle for Himmel to begin with. However, there is more than Frieren’s nonexistent experience in love that drives her clueless. It’s a combination of the nature of Elves in Frieren’s world, the existence of the demon king, and Frieren’s own personality.

Elves Aren’t Romantic Creatures

The first reason why Frieren is built the way she is, is simply because she is an elf. As she put it herself, Elves don’t seek out romantic relationship as much as humans. Partly, their long lifespan is to blame. Why seek out a partner when you can outlive most living beings on earth?

Long living elves is nothing new in the fantasy genre. In LOTR universe, Elves are practically immortal, and pretty much only die when they’re hurt or slain. I find it very similar to Frieren, she has lived for more than a millennium, yet she still puts a good amount of cautiousness when facing her enemies.

The only glaring difference between Elves in these two universes is their sexuality. While Tolkien describes his elves to be romantically active, Frieren’s kind isn’t as keen. In fact, they’re kind of dying off due to their own disinterest in romance, and the demon king’s genocide attempt. The latter contributes greatly to the second reason why Frieren put love aside and her hatred against demons.

Elves’ Twisted Perception Of Time

Honestly, this one is a consequence of the long lifespan of elves. The longer you live, the more different you see time compared to those with shorter lives. To put it simply, Frieren might see human lifespan just like us, real-life humans, seeing the lifespan of a real dog.

Frieren’s definition of a short stay in one town is long enough for a college student to finish their degree, twice. Just after defeating the demon king, she bid farewell to the hero’s party, and embarked on a fifty years trip looking for magic, alone. That trip might feel like a well deserved one-year hiatus, rather than a half-century long journey.

With that in mind, we should notice that the hero’s party spent ten years to reach the demon king and defeat him. While to Himmel and Heiter it might be a fairly long time, to Frieren it’s nothing. Eisen might understand a bit how Frieren perceive time. But, the average lifespan for a dwarf is four hundred years, so it’s still a huge difference.

Himmel died at the age of seventy-six. Let’s round it up to eighty, so we get his quest defeating demon king exactly 1/8 of his life. If we assume Frieren is 1200 years old, it takes 150 years for her to feel a comparable time perception. I’d be not surprised if Frieren took Himmel’s flirting just like when a random kid calls he pretty.

Too Focused On Killing The Demon King

If there is anything that can turns a person’s attention away from love, a strong purpose would be on top of the list. Likewise, Frieren has a strong reason why she hates demons, and was determined to kill the demon king.

Frieren’s village was actually a victim of the demon king’s massacre. The demon king for some reason aimed for the total annihilation of elves. He might be terrified of the idea of a race that can actually compete with the demons. However, it seems like he was close to his goal, judging by how rare elves are.

The massacre happened almost around a thousand years ago, yet the demon king only met his demise eighty years ago when Frieren and the hero’s party slayed him. That time reference is enough to picture how strong and terrifying the demon king was.

For this reason, when Flamme decided to take up Frieren as her disciple, she specifically instructed Frieren to lie low until the right time comes. Flamme did instill this idea to her literally a thousand years ago. During this time, Frieren trained her magic, including mana concealment. She might be really engrossed in the final result of their adventure, to the point it’s the only thing within her head.

Frieren Is A Hardcore Magic Nerd

Lastly, it’s Frieren’s own hyperfixation on magic that isolates her from social life. Honestly, it still happens. When Frieren was stuck with Sein, Fern, and Stark in a town, she spent most of her time hanging out in a magic shop.

Heck, whenever someone offers her a job, she always asks for a grimoire. Sometimes it takes her hours to choose if the person has a wide collection. I wouldn’t be surprised if Frieren is the equivalent of a book nerd in modern day.

Most of the time, she prefers to be on her own in her downtimes. To Frieren, magic isn’t just a tool to kill demons. There is much to discover in magic, and it brings her joy to collect the most obscure magic.

However, it also means Himmel couldn’t really relate to her, and vice versa. If only Himmel had been a mage too, things would be different. Imagine them going on a magic book hunt in a date, it would be so cute, wouldn’t it?

In Frieren, It Leads To An Incredibly Romantic Trope, Love After Life

Despite Frieren’s cluelessness of Himmel’s love for her, I think this trope is just a part of a very interesting trope this anime has. So far, I think it’s pretty clear the anime is leading to the eternal love trope. They gave us Old Man Voll who keeps his promise to his late wife, after all.

It’s both tragic and sweet at the same time. When a character keeps their love with their deceased significant other, it gives us a longing feeling as an audience. The only difference between Voll and Frieren is that Frieren is still learning about Himmel’s true feeling. So, the romantically clueless vibe is strong with her.

However, I also can see that this anime may be heading toward the together after death trope. Frieren is going to Aureole, or heaven as humans call it, where we can speak to a dead man’s soul. It’s possible that we see Himmel and Frieren reunited in the end of the anime.

It really reminds me of Sokka and Princess Yue from Avatar: The Last Air Bender. If only Sokka didn’t meet Suki, I think his romantic journey would be so heavy to hear. I suspect Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End will take the heavier route. It isn’t a coming of age anime, after all.