Shangri-La Frontier – A Hidden Gem On Crunchyroll?

When I posted my review of Solo-Leveling on my YouTube channel, a fellow anime watcher shared an anime worth watching. I had never heard of an anime called Shangri-La Frontier, and I was not disappointed when I watched it.

I always thought it was high stakes in the video game setting which makes an anime great, but Shangri-La Frontiers proved me wrong.

Shangri-La Frontier is a VR game in the anime that follows the gaming escapades of Rakuro Hizutome initially introduced as a trash-game hunter. These gamers are the ones who make it their mission to beat the most bug-ridden, bad games exploit the game’s bugs, and finish the game. Mainstream games in this world are in VR and all games played on a screen are considered retro.

Although the setting has no life-and-death situation, the stakes are still high as Hizutome is out to give every game his best, and each situation is relatable for all kinds of gamers.

Plot

The story is set presumably during summer vacation in future Japan since it seems everyone is just playing games on VR. The show introduces us to Hizutome as a Trash Game Hunter who is an admirer of faulty/buggy/rushed glitchy games. The challenge in such a game is the game being so bad, that beating the game itself is a huge challenge, either due to bugs, or frustrating mechanics. The show starts with the protagonist having just cleared another such game called Faeria Chronicle Online and on the verge of burnout from Trash-Game hunting.

While looking for a new game, the game store owner asks him to try an ongoing rage, a AAA title called Shangri-La Frontier. Hizutome decides to give it a shot and is soon pulled into the game.

Hizutome joins the game as a bird-faced character called Sunraku, and due to his prior experience playing games staked against the player, soon feels comfortable in the new setting of a game with proper and well-designed game mechanics.

The story also has a minor romance angle as it is revealed that the game store owner is a friend of Rei Saga, a girl who has a crush on Hizutome and wants him to start playing so the two have something in common to build a relationship on.

Characters

The main characters in the show are

Sunraku/Rakuro Hizutome – Sunraku is the main protagonist of the show who starts as a Trash-Game hunter, but ends up being a big deal in the AAA title Shangri-La Frontier. He does so by being part of the first group of players to defeat one of the 7 Collosi, the undefeatable rare bosses from the game. Unlike usual anime where the main character mostly looks the same, the protagonist being a bird face does stand out.

Psyger-0/Rei Saga – Psyger-0 also called Attack Master in-game is a high-level player in the world of SLF. In real life, she has a huge crush on Hizutome and one of the big reasons Sunraku ends up playing this game. Psyger-0 is well-known in the world of SLF and is considered one of the best in the game.

Arthur Pencilgon/Towa Amane – Pencilgon is another high-level character whom Sunraku knows from other games they have played together. She is shown as a ruthless no-nonsense player whose sole aim is to defeat one of the undefeatable Collosi in the game. She knows a lot about the game and is the main strategist in their first fight against Wethermon the Tombguard, one of the powerful in-game bosses.

Oikatzu/Kei Uomi/Katzo – Katzo is another big shot Trash Game hunter friend of Hizutome. He too is invited by Pencilgon to get together and form a band of players to take on the mighty colossi in-game. His real-life persona is briefly shown as a wealthy big-shot e-sport gamer who is into fighting games.

Emul(NPC) – Emul is a rabbit NPC sidekick to Sunraku which he receives when he unlocks a unique scenario in the game. So far he is not sure how he unlocked the said scenario, but Emul is a great help who often ends up getting Sunraku out of difficult situations during his fights with world bosses, and other players.

Vysache(NPC) – Vysache is the king of the land of Rabituza, a land to which Emul belongs. He acts as a mentor and guide to Sunraku in the initial half of the show.

Other than the main characters above there are many other NPCs and fellow players introduced in this show who are responsible for many interactions which makes this show fun.

Story & Animation

The animation is usually run-of-the-mill but the action is pretty good. The show is easy even for non-gamers as every aspect of gaming which may seem straightforward for a gamer like buff, debuff, mana, levelling etc is explained when such terms are used.

The characters are nice and fun, with Emul being a cute sidekick to Sunraku. The show frequently refers to many topics a gamer would feel at home to like online forums, game wiki, the developer’s take on the games they have built etc.

This is not a high-stakes world-ending kinda of series. This helps in allowing the protagonist to fail, so it is not obvious how a battle would end since Sunraku can fail, get better and fight again. This does happen in the show and I loved that aspect.

Every problem and events happen within the virtual world of Shangri-La frontier, and 80% of the show is in this world.

So far in the first season, the characters whose real life has even been hinted at are Sunraku, Rei Saga and Kei Uomi.

The only information about the rest of the cast is essentially restricted to the game world.

As the show is low stake it can’t be compared to Solo-Leveling in terms of end goal. This is a fun show with as deep a lore as you can expect from an RPG game. Every event is a piece of code, every enemy/boss/NPC is playing a role they are meant to. Death is not permanent and leads to respawns. The players either play for fun or for bragging rights.

These aspects make the show fun to watch, the boss battles, buffs and debuffs are well-designed. It would relate much more to a gamer than a show like Solo Leveling did. The game frequently delves deep into in-game mechanics which can give you some tips on how to approach the games you play in real life. There are some references to game updates which is a nice touch.

The world of Shangri-La is persistent, reviewing this show is similar to reviewing a game. And this aspect gives the show its charm.

Future

The lack of high stakes is one of the reasons that season 1 did not end on a cliffhanger, but still, I would love to see what this world will bring into the life of Sunraku. There are plenty of characters and clans that were introduced in this game, but none have yet been expanded upon.

I am surely looking forward to how the relationship between Rei and Hizutome evolves as the series progresses.

The next season is expected to come out in October 2024.

Verdict

The easy watch and relatability for a gamer make Shangri-La Frontier a fun watch. There is more than one scenario in the show where you would go wow, I would love for this mechanic to be part of the games we play. Hopefully, someday a VR MMORPG like this will come to the market.

This show is 8 out of 10 for its easy watch and gamer relatability.

Have you watched this show yet?

What do you think about this show?

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Till we meet again. Good Bye.