シャングリラ・フロンティア〜クソゲーハンター, 神ゲーに挑まんとす〜

SHANGRI-LA FRONTIER: KUSOGE HUNTER, KAMI GE NI IDOMAN TO SU

MANGA

STATUS
RELEASING
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
Invalid Date
CHAPTERS
Not Available

DESCRIPTION

Second year high school student Rakuro Hizutome is interested in one thing only: finding "shitty games" and beating the crap out of them. His gaming skills are second to none, and no game is too bad for him to enjoy. So when he's introduced to the new VR game Shangri-La Frontier, he does what he does best—min-maxes and skips the prologue to jump straight into the action. But can even an expert gamer like Rakuro discover all the secrets that Shangri-La Frontier hides...?

(Source: Kodansha USA)

CAST

Rakurou Hizutome
Emul
Towa Amane
Kei Uomi
Rei Saiga
Vysache
Beelach
Wazaemon
Momo Saiga
Lycagon
Setsuna
Animalia
Mana Iwamaki
Eika Hizutome
Kuon Amane
Akane Akitsu
Elke
Mia
Arameese
Tsukuyo Tsukuri
Aritomo
Sylvia Goldberg
Kyouju
Rumi Hizutome
Ritsu Amachi

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO SHANGRI-LA FRONTIER: KUSOGE HUNTER, KAMI GE NI IDOMAN TO SU

ANIME ActionShangri-La Frontier

Cover Art for Shangri-La Frontier 2nd Season

ANIME ActionShangri-La Frontier 2nd Season

REVIEWS

FenrirBlack22
85/100
God-Tier Game World with God-Tier Humor
Shangri-La Frontier is essentially the story of "Gamer plays a video game." While the story isn’t bad, there’s no real stake or substantial plot. All stories rely on at least one pillar: plot, character, gimmick, genre. The problem with this story is that it doesn’t have a plot beyond “guy plays a VRMMORPG”. To put it another way it’s like a manga version of watching someone stream a game on Twitch or even watching a walkthrough of the game online.
The beginning chapters are basically gaming but the story does improve dramatically after two more main characters are introduced and the "party" is formed. There is also the "romantic interest" with the one-sided crush on the MC who adds a nice bit of flavor to the story but has yet to develop. The manga is good for the genre but unremarkable in its plot. The story shines with its world building and characters who take a while to warm up but once they do have incredible comedic chemistry and humor. The art is the same as it also improves to become more expressive and entertaining.
As far as I can tell the MC's only character trait is "gamer" and he has nothing remarkable going on in his real life that would make him stand out from the millions of other gamers in the world besides his tendency to play "trash games". it doesn’t rely on a ridiculous gimmick but it doesn’t have anything that really engages the reader. The author clearly wanted to write a down to earth story about vr gaming with a well structured realistic video game world that doesn’t rely on gimmicks or tropes, but it puts it at a disadvantage if it doesn’t have a strong plot. The characters are great but their personalities and "gamer" traits can make the dialogue a tedious slog. For example, there is a lot of exposition where the characters have to explain core gameplay elements to the reader as well as the mechanics found in RPG's. In other words there is a lot of exposition to shift through that has little to do with the plot and more flexing how thought out the fake RPG world is.
The biggest issue is that there is no conflict or stakes beyond just playing the game against other players which isn't exactly engaging storytelling unless you invested in the characters in the first place. The second issue is the combat. This being a RPG story there is a lot of fighting monsters and true to the realistic progression the story implements to make it as RPG-ish as possible, the fighting can go on way longer than it should. If you've ever played an RPG and fought a "secret boss" then you know that they can take a while to beat. And this story doesn't cut corners like other stories in the genre.
I enjoyed this story quite a bit. Compared to other stories of this genre, it takes longer to accomplish missions or tasks but the characters interactions and the creativity of the RPG world itself make up for it.
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