The Frieren manga presents combat through a series of key panels, individual freeze-frames of spells and strikes, but most of these fights do not have as much movement as viewers see in the anime, especially amongst the mages.
Frieren's manga delivers emotion through Tsukasa Abe's panels and Kanehito Yamada's dialogue alone, but Madhouse hired composer Evan Call to score the anime, and Call's music anchors every emotional beat of Frieren's journey.
Madhouse extended Frieren's tantrum sequence in Season 2, Episode 3 into a prolonged montage of her sobbing for days, a moment the manga depicted in one panel in Chapter 66.
Compared to the manga, Madhouse extends the journey segments in the anime, showing Frieren, Fern, and Stark actually traveling between towns across sweeping northern landscapes.
The manga gives Himmel limited flashback space, his presence, mostly in Frieren's memories, delivered through single panels or brief exchanges.