The second season of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End aired earlier this year, earning praise for maintaining the first season's impressive production quality. A third season has also been confirmed for October 2027.
The anime's official X account posts fun photos almost daily of a Frieren plush traveling to different places. Its latest entry, titled "Hugging Frieren," featured none other than manga artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto cuddling the Frieren doll. The unexpected pairing quickly caught fans' attention and set social media buzzing.
Shimamoto is a veteran manga artist whose body of work includes Blazing Transfer Student, Blue Blaze, and Gyakkyo Nine. He is also known for his famously hot-blooded creative style. If you have ever visited an Animate store in Japan, you may recognize the equally fiery promotional character he designed for the retailer.
Of course, Shimamoto's manga have traditionally run in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday family of magazines. With Frieren: Beyond Journey's End also being a Sunday title, perhaps this crossover is not quite as random as it first appears.
Still, fans were stunned to see him suddenly pop up on the anime's official account, flooding the replies with comments including:
"Frieren being held by Shimamoto-sensei... Does this mean we will get Frieren of the Flames next?" "How did this suddenly and so naturally turn into Kazuhiko Shimamoto?" "Kazuhiko Shimamoto? Uh... maybe this collaboration should not happen after all... (laughs)." "What are you even doing? (laughs)." "Fern is going to be mad when she sees this!" The photo sparked a lively discussion across social media.
From now on, every spell is going to need a wall of sound-effect lettering...
The surprise photo also gave fans a welcome glimpse of Shimamoto after some time away from the spotlight, and he appears to be doing well. Who knows? Maybe one day Shimamoto really will create something starring Frieren.