Frieren is renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s favorite anime

Murakami even mentioned Frieren in his new Kyoto exhibition.

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Takashi Murakami has long been inspired by anime, but recently, he named Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End as his favorite anime.

It’s fair to call Murakami one of Japan’s most well-known contemporary artists. After all, even if you’re not big into the contemporary art scene, you’re probably familiar with Murakami’s iconic Flowers, not to mention that Murakami has collaborated with musicians (such as Billie Eilish and J Bavlin) and fashion brands (like Louis Vuitton and Supreme).

Given the “superflat” style of Murakami’s art, it’s no surprise that anime is one of his major inspirations. Despite this, Murakami hasn’t really talked about specific shows much over the years. This changed recently though as Murakami can’t get enough of Frieren.

Following the anime’s recent finale, Murakami shared on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account how much he loves Frieren and how he was moved to tears by episode 28. Specifically, he said that Frieren “helped heal him” as he has had a lot of hard times over the past 6 months. Murakami also shouted out Frieren director Keiichiro Sato (who also directed Bocchi the Rock!) for his impressive work ont eh anime.

Presumably, Murakami’s “Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” exhibition was a major source of stress for the artist. Murakami himself mentions this in the ongoing exhibition at the Kyoto KYOCERA Museum of Art via pieces of commentary throughout the exhibit.

Recently, I got to visit the the exhibition while on vacation in Kyoto. As someone into contemporary art (and Murakami’s work), the exhibition is definitely worth going to if you’re ever planning to visit Kyoto anytime soon.

Even though the exhibition doesn’t feature artwork inspired by Frieren, the anime did get mentioned by Murakami in one of his commentaries.

To be exact, one of his 727 pieces featured an essay of sorts where he mentions how he relates to Himmel’s hero party feeling the passage of time given how he and his assistant have also grown old.

Here is the specific part where he mentions Frieren:

If a tweet and an exhibition shoutout isn’t enough, Murakami himself called Frieren his favorite manga and anime in a recent rapid-fire interview with Tatler Asia.

We can’t blame Murakami for falling head over heels for Frieren. After all, ourselves along with many anime fans from all over the world have been enchanted by the fantasy anime. Here’s hoping that it gets renewed for a new season.

Haven’t seen Frieren yet? You can watch it now on Crunchyroll in the US and most of the world. As for fans in parts of Asia (including SEA), Frieren is also available to stream on Muse Asia’s YouTube channel and Netflix.

Featured image source: @fmkyoto