Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Volume 2 Delivers Five New Stories — Release Date and Where to Read
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End -Prelude– is leveling up: the Mei Hachimoku–penned, Kanehito Yamada–supervised prequel novel returns with volume 2 on December 18, 2025, after its April 17, 2024 Japan debut — and Oricon says it packs five fresh additions.
Frieren fans, clear a little shelf space. The prequel novel that quietly fills in all the stuff the manga speeds past is getting a second volume, and it sounds like real-deal canon rather than fluff.
So, what is 'Prelude' again?
'Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Prelude -' is a prose prequel written by Mei Hachimoku, with the manga's original author Kanehito Yamada supervising. It launched in Japan back on April 17, 2024 with a first volume of side stories that plug gaps the manga leaves behind by sticking so tightly to Frieren's point of view.
Volume 2: what it adds
According to Oricon, volume 2 lands with five brand-new stories that were not in the manga. The topics they call out are pretty juicy: Ubel's past, Frieren's Elven village (finally), a slice-of-life look at the Continental Magic Association, and Serie's days as Flamme's pupil. That is four specific threads, with a fifth story not detailed yet.
Release plans and the English rollout
Japan gets volume 2 on December 18, 2025. There is no English edition announced yet for that one. Over on the overseas side, Yen Press revealed at Anime NYC in August 2025 (via Anime News Network) that they have licensed the novel, with volume 1 set for an English release in March 2026. Volume 2's English date is TBA; if past patterns hold, expect a lag after volume 1, but nothing is confirmed.
What volume 1 covered
Volume 1 packed in five original stories focusing on Fern, Stark, Kanne and Lawine, Aura, and Frieren herself. The standout is Aura's backstory: her first run-in with Himmel does not go the way she planned, and the narrative then jumps to 50 years after the Hero Party beat her and she went into hiding. It is the kind of context that reframes a villain without softening them, which is exactly what these books are built to do.
Why this matters
The manga is laser-focused on Frieren's journey, which is great, but it also means a lot of side characters and history only get sketched in. The novels slow down and color in the margins. Volume 2 digging into Frieren's hometown and Serie's formative years with Flamme is the good kind of lore dump: character-first, not just a timeline entry.
Dates at a glance
- Prelude volume 1: Japan released April 17, 2024; English release set for March 2026 from Yen Press. Includes five stories centered on Fern, Stark, Kanne and Lawine, Aura, and Frieren.
- Prelude volume 2: Japan release on December 18, 2025; English release TBA. Includes five new stories covering Ubel's past, Frieren's Elven village, day-to-day life inside the Continental Magic Association, Serie's time as Flamme's pupil, plus one more story Oricon did not specify.
If you want to catch up on the animated side, 'Frieren: Beyond Journey's End' is streaming on Crunchyroll.