Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is one of the best anime of the Winter 2026 season, partly because it features such a lovable trio of heroes. The mighty mage Frieren once belonged to a quartet of adventurers who saved the world, and now she's the mother figure of a new squad. Fern is Frieren's apprentice and daughter figure, while Stark is the lovable son who doesn't understand Frieren quite as well as Fern does. This is a heartwarming trio to hold the Frieren anime together, but some anime have even better trios.
Not all worthwhile anime trios do the same thing better than the Frieren/Fern/Stark trio does, with some trios being stronger for totally different reasons. Interestingly, some of those trios are more compelling because their members don't get along, with friction, drama, and rivalry defining those groups rather than found-family dynamics. Some of those anime trios are legendary in the medium, and others are instant classics no one will forget anytime soon.
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Loid, Yor, and Anya Forger Perfected the Found Family Trope
Mother, Father, and Daughter All Keep Secrets
The found family trope is always a heartwarming one, with strangers trusting each other with their happiness and even their lives. What the three Forgers found in Spy x Family is simply a delight to watch, and it outstrips Frieren's own found family narrative. Both anime handle this trope well, with Frieren and Fern having plenty of precious moments together, but the found family trope is stronger and more thematically relevant with Spy x Family's main trio.
Loid is a spy from Westalis who once thought he only needed his wits and a mission to have a complete life, and Yor Briar felt a bit lonely even with her co-workers and younger brother around. When they met and adopted Anya, everything changed, to the point Yor and Loid each worry their feelings are too strong. It's a clash of duty vs personal commitment, and it challenges the foster mother and father to show anime fans what they're really made of and what they truly stand for.
Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo Have Come So Far as Heroes
They've Also Come a Long Way as People
Main trios and quartets are popular in the shonen action anime world, with the members of the shonen "big three" often using this concept. More recent anime like My Hero Academia love trios as well, though they might be more loosely defined. It's just as well, so Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo can form teams with other characters as well to enrich the narrative. Thematically, though, there's no denying how Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo are quite the trio.
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These three UA students have each gone Plus Ultra in astonishing ways, with each refusing to coast on his powers or let vanity take over. Such a process challenged the trio's members to face their inner doubts, demons, or guilt, from Deku's ongoing strain to Shoto's family woes and Bakugo coming to terms with his own toxic ways. By the end of My Hero Academia, these three heroes have become true stars, and they earned it beyond the amazing Quirks they were given or born with.
Guts, Griffith, and Casca Are Tragic Figures in a Blood-Soaked Fantasy Realm
Romance and Betrayal Are the Heart of This Seinen Trio
Some anime trios are defined by comedic antics and fighting together as inspiring heroes, but it's not just shonen anime that can use this trope to good effect. For every Team 7 or Forger family, there is also a trio like Guts, Griffith, and Casca from the iconic Berserk franchise. The various anime adaptations did explore this trio in some detail, but author Kentaro Miura's original Berserk manga is the best way to appreciate the fantasy genre's finest trio.
These three characters have been through a lot -- sometimes together, and sometimes because of each other. The personal nuances and plot twists with this trio are too many to name, from Casca's unrequited love with Griffith to Casca and Guts finding love in each other's arms as fellow scarred warriors. And even after Griffith's nightmarish betrayal that scarred Guts and Casca again, Griffith remains a large part of their lives, even if they can't stand it.
Eren, Mikasa, and Armin Have Been Through So Much Together
Each Has Shined and Suffered in Distinct Ways
Attack on Titan is another dark fantasy franchise that features a grim main trio. Not unlike Berserk, the story of Attack on Titan features a trio of heroes who sometimes fight together as a found family, while other times, they are each other's worst enemies. Eren Yeager is the Griffith of this trio, a mighty warrior who led Armin and Mikasa to glory in battle before betraying them as their worst enemy in Season 4.
Find all 10 pairs
Find all 10 pairs
Attack on Titan fans are wistful about the good old days before the Colossal Titan's arrival, when Armin, Eren, and Mikasa were carefree kids whose worst problem was Eren's habit of getting into street fights. Even if those days were marked with petty violence, they feel quaint compared to what these shonen heroes have experienced since, and it makes the characters feel that much more real. Their innocence is lost, and violence is all that's left.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji Sailed From One End of the World to the Other
These Three Pirates Would Give Their Lives For Each Other
Over time, pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy has built quite a crew in the story of One Piece, to the point that there is a decent chance Prince Loki of Elbaph might join the crew as well. Like Frieren the elf, Luffy is an adventurer who's ready to explore anywhere and everywhere to see what the world can throw at him, and he's got friends to back him up. Luffy isn't a parental figure like Frieren is, but his heart is just as big.
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Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Vinsmoke Sanji are the "monster trio" aboard the Thousand Sunny, and they've been the Straw Hat crew's top three fighters for quite some time now, even before One Piece's time skip. These mighty pirates may annoy each other sometimes, but they are also brothers in arms who are ready to fight side by side and even risk their lives for each other if it comes to that. Beneath the taunting and jokes lies a great deal of mutual respect, which helps set the Straw Hat crew apart from the likes of Baroque Works and the Navy.
Ai, Aqua, and Ruby Hoshino Formed a Strange Yet Loving Family
Ai's Death Threatened to Ruin More Lives Than One
Not all trios in anime stick around for long, with the Hoshino family in Oshi no Ko being a prominent example. This bizarre little family only spent about three years together, yet it meant the world to Ai Hoshino and her twin son and daughter. Having her two children was what finally let some true love into Ai's life, just when she feared love was impossible for her. Ai's life was grim and painful underneath the glamor of her idol career, so fans were overjoyed Ai found the real deal before her untimely murder.
This trio is a fascinating one that goes far beyond a fantasy adventurer party in Frieren. Frieren does entertain fans with her motherly role in that little group, yet Ai's own maternal arc is even stronger. The power of Ai's love in her dying moments had a mixed effect, inspiring Ruby to emulate her while also twisting the brother and sister into chronic liars with their own eye stars. It's tough to say if the Hoshino family is primarily built on love, truth, lies, or pain, since there's a bit of each in this tragic trio.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
- Release Date
- September 29, 2023
- Network
- Nippon TV, YTV, FBS, Chukyo TV, RNB, FCT, STV, KNB, HTV, YBS, RAB, TVI, YBC, UMK TV Miyazaki, TSB, MMT, TeNY, RNC, NIB, KKT, KTK, NKT, ABS, JRT, Daiichi-TV, FBC, RKC, KYT, KRY
Cast
-
Atsumi TanezakiFrieren (voice) -
Kana IchinoseFern (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is an animated adventure-drama series based on the manga series created by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe. Following her parties' victory against an all-powerful demon king that threatened to destroy their world, Frieren, an elf, attempts to find her place in a new world with an undetermined future fifty years later.
- Studio
- Madhouse
- Japanese Title
- Sousou no Frieren
- Number of Episodes
- 28
- MyAnimeList Score
- 9.31
- Creator(s)
- Tsukasa Abe, Kanehito Yamada
- Executive Producer(s)
- Katsuhiro Takei, Kazutaka Yamanaka, Atsushi Takahashi, Mikito Bizenjima
