In this year’s 48th issue of the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday It has been reported that the manga was written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, Sousou no Friren (Freeze: Beyond the end of the journey) has exceeded the cumulative circulation of 4.5 million copies. The count includes the six anthologies published so far and the digital copies sold.
On the other hand, Yamada and Abe started to publish the manga in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday from the publisher Shogakukan in April 2020. The publisher released the fifth compilation volume on July 16, and will release the sixth volume on November 18 in Japan. The literary franchise had just under 3.5 million copies in circulation in July of this year.
Summary of Sousou no Friren
The Demon King has been defeated and the victorious group of heroes has returned to their respective homes after their dissolution. All four – the magician Frieren, the hero Himmel, the priest Heiter and the warrior Eisen – look back on their decades-long journey when they say goodbye. But the passage of time is different for elves, so Freeze sees his beloved companions slowly dying.
Before his death, Heiter succeeds in forcing Freezing on a young apprentice named Fern. Driven by the elf’s passion for collecting a multitude of spells, the two embark on a seemingly aimless journey, visiting the places heroes of yore visited. During his travels, Frieren slowly comes to terms with his grief over missed opportunities to develop deeper bonds with his comrades, who have since passed away.
Source: Manga Mogur
© 山田 鐘 人 (原著), ア ベ ツ カ サ (イ ラ ス ト) / SHOGAKUKAN 小学 館
