Evan Call and the Music of Frieren
A score built like the series: strings, patience, and one famous spell-name.
Evan Call, the American composer of Violet Evergarden's music, wrote the Frieren score. The television soundtrack album runs to two discs and seventy tracks on Toho Animation Records, from "Journey of a Lifetime," the main theme, to "Zoltraak," the battle cue named for Frieren's signature killing spell, a track that became a fan landmark in its own right.
The recording sessions took the production to Hungary; the album's booklet carries photographs of the studio sessions and the trip alongside a three-way conversation between Call, music director Takahiro Ikeda and music producer Yui Arima.
THE THEMES
The songs around the score"Yūsha" · YOASOBI
The first opening theme: "Hero," a title that points at Himmel, sung by the biggest act in Japanese pop.
"Anytime Anywhere" · milet
The ending theme, carried across the season; milet also sang "Bliss," the special ending written for the four-episode premiere.
"Sunny" and after
The second opening arrived with the exam arc, keeping the series' unusual pattern of themes that behave like part of the narration.
THE ALBUM AS AN OBJECT
For the shelfTwo discs, seventy tracks
The original soundtrack is a full double album, not a highlights disc, in a three-sided case with new art by character designer Reiko Nagasawa.
Seven home-video sets
Toho Animation compiled season one into seven Blu-ray and DVD sets, released January 24 to July 17, 2024.
The recognition
Call's score was nominated for Best Score in the major anime awards of the season, in a year when the series' director took Best Director.