What Frieren Taught Me About Cats and Time

Sometimes we learn from people who have lived longer than we have — parents, teachers, or mentors who guided us along the way.

But sometimes, the most important lessons come from lives that were much shorter than our own.

Watching the anime Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, I often find myself quietly reflecting on death and the meaning of the time we spend together.

(What I am about to write may sound obvious to devoted fans of the series. If so, please forgive me. These are simply my own reflections.)

After the death of the hero Himmel, Frieren says something simple but profound:

“I think I’ll try to learn more about humans.”

To me, this line suggests that she experienced a certain realization — perhaps even a shock.

Frieren is an elf, a being who lives for centuries.
The ten years she spent traveling with Himmel and the others were only a small fragment of her long life.

But for Himmel, those same ten years were likely the center of his entire life.

Perhaps for the first time, Frieren realized something through Himmel’s death:
how a human life — short and fragile compared to hers — could still contain such deep emotions and such profound care for others.

Living longer does not necessarily make one's heart deeper.

In fact, it may be precisely because human lives are limited that people treasure each encounter, each memory, and each moment so intensely.

Realizing this may have left Frieren with a quiet shock —
the unsettling feeling that despite her long life, she might not truly understand the human heart.

Thinking about this led me to reflect on a different relationship: the one between humans and cats.

Many people deeply love their cats and feel that their presence is an important part of their lives.

But how much do cats understand about the role they play in our lives?

In terms of emotional understanding, cats might resemble Frieren.
They may not fully grasp the depth of the love their owners feel for them.

Yet in terms of lifespan, humans stand in a position closer to Frieren's.

A cat’s life is far shorter than a human life.

Seen this way, the relationship between humans and cats somehow mirrors the relationship between Frieren and Himmel.

My family once had a cat.

His name was Nyantaro.

He came to our home when he was about two months old and lived for nineteen years.

In the end, he passed away quietly — so quietly that it felt as if he had simply fallen asleep.

Last year, when I watched the first episode of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and saw Himmel’s peaceful final moments, I suddenly remembered Nyantaro's final sleep.

The nineteen years of Nyantaro’s life overlapped almost exactly with the years during which my children grew from early childhood into adulthood.

Through all those precious years of our family life, he was there.

To us, he was not just a pet.
He was another irreplaceable member of our family.

I do not know how much Nyantaro understood about the meaning his life had for us.

But I know this much:

He spent those precious years of our lives together with us.

Perhaps the ten-year journey Frieren shared with Himmel was just as irreplaceable to her as the nineteen years my family shared with Nyantaro were to us.

And with that thought in mind, I find myself watching Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End again today.

Japanese version of this essay:
https://note.com/ultramankr/n/nc0d4e807cd49