DAILY WIRE: Why The Left Hate An Anime's" Simple Message About Fighting Demons
"Frieren" is polarizing because the show's central claim is that demons cannot coexist with other species.
Few TV shows illustrate the heart of the culture war like “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End,” a Japanese anime whose hit second season just wrapped up. Centered on the adventures of elven-mage Frieren and her traveling companions over several lifetimes, the show has garnered immense popularity in America since landing on Netflix in March 2025. Frieren’s singular focus is slaying demons, and as she performs this duty from one century to the next, the human friends she makes must learn what Frieren has come to know with time, and it’s very controversial: Demons are irredeemably bad.
I cover the intersection of philosophy and culture on the GeekyStoics YouTube channel, and our predominantly Christian-Catholic audience wouldn’t stop recommending “Frieren” in the comments. So I caved. Upon looking into the show, I found analysis after analysis claiming this show was racist, genocidal, and fascist, which is a signal that fringe weirdos don’t approve and, therefore, it might be worth watching.
Meanwhile, in right-wing pockets of X, “Frieren” litters feeds with conservative and MAGA-themed memes depicting the elf and her companions as ICE officers, Crusaders, stained-glass iconography, and quasi-missionaries wielding Bibles.
“Frieren” is polarizing because the show’s central claim is that man-eating demons cannot coexist with other species. It violates the most sacred dogma of progressives raised on moral and cultural relativism, the belief that no one idea or set of values can be proven superior to another.
It’s Frieren’s mentor, Flamme, who tells her of demons: “They are nothing more than monsters capable of speech.” It’s a black-and-white view, and depending on the viewer’s biases, it’ll come across as either a statement demanding evidence or an obvious truth. One of Frieren’s idealistic companions, Himmel, needs evidence.
In a pivotal moment from the first season, Frieren recalls arriving with Himmel at a town where a demon, presenting as a child, has eaten a young girl. Despite the grief and rage of the victim’s family, Himmel can’t slay the demon once it calls for its “mommy.” When the village chief offers to take the demon under his roof and raise it alongside his children, Himmel accepts this plan, hoping the creature can be reformed.