DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionShangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kami ge ni Idoman to su
ONA ComedyShangri-La Frontier Mini Anime
ANIME ActionShangri-La Frontier 2nd Season

REVIEWS

• 

  lezvie

  68/100
  What if SAO didn't have the whole death threat thing, and instead was a carefree MMORPG anime?

  Well, over the last years of watching way too many anime, i believe i have now the ability to spot well produced trash. These are those anime that at first look, seems promising, and maybe the next big thing. But ultimately fall off, to the point where a season later no one remembers it. Or maybe it is actually hyped until more seasons drop and people start realizing it wasn't that good in the first place. I believe Shangri-la Frontier falls into this category. Yet, i also believe this was one of the best of its genre.

  Now, way to start a review, right? Let's start with the basic. What is this anime about? In a near future, where non-VR games are considered oldschool classics, the game industry is suffering from a similar event that us anime fans are. There are way too many carbon copies of sucessful titles, and most of them are absolute trash. But, like in our case, there are some people that choose to specialize in this type of trash media. The MC of Shangri-la Frontier is one of such people. Actually, he is one of the best at this. He is a high school average student that has this big breasted girl secretly crushing on him blablabla, it isnt important. What is important is: he is only interested in playing the so called Kusoge (trash games) in his free-time. He is well known in this niche community, where he managed to beat the most obscure trash games, even those that had gamebreaking bugs that made them impossible to beat normally. He is kind of a glitch hunter, if you will. There is even a pvp game where these madlads play by only exploiting glitches.

  But, this isn't what Shangri-la Frontier is about. This anime is about the time when the main character, that calls himself Sunraku in games, meets the opportunity to stray from the Kusoge for a while, and instead experience the recently hyped Kamige (god game, it is a term the japanese use for the GOATs) Shangri-la Frontier. Yet, he is still in the mindset of a Kusoge master, so he will approach the game with his own quirks, making a birdhead character, with a glasscannon build and try to parry and evade everything. In the first moments playing the game, he unintentionally skips the first town, notices it way too late, and decide to go to the second town, that is closer to his current position. But to get there, he has to beat his first boss. Which he does in a very well made action sequence.

  This was the first red flag for me. One of the things i expected from this was a closer vibe to when i play MMORPGs. I know this was way too compared with SAO, but one of the only things SAO did well was the beginning, where it really felt like a game, and the players needed to grind, and get better at the game to pregress through the floors. Shangri-la Frontiers approach, however, is closer to that anime "I don't want to get hurt, so I will max out my defense". Remember how Maple unintentionally kept discovering unique hidden quests and exploits in the system and became way too much overpowered? This is kinda of what happens here. Sunraku, while playing the game his own way, will discover a questline that no other player ever did, by chance meet with a legend boss that no player ever encountered, receive buffs, weapons, and so on. It feels like Sunraku is playing a whole different game from everyone else in Shangri-la Frontier, because while other players can discover new things, generally it will be discovered and shared by others eventually. But as someone who played a lot of MMORPGs, Sunraku's adventures in the game feel too distant for me to hype it.

  Ultimately, this anime is another Isekai power fantasy in disguise. Remember how people hyped Shield Hero, but as the seasons went by, people realized Shield Hero without the revenge arc is just another powerfantasy isekai? Well, i think the same applies to Shangri-la Frontier. It uses a lot of plot devices to convince you it is different, but it is actually the same formula. The main character has access to powers, opportunities and npcs no one else does. Every secondary character is there to make the MC feel like god. Hell, the characterization of Sunraku, the player, is generic, with the goal of making the watchers self insert.

  Now, i feel i'm shitting too much about it. But it does have it's qualities. Despite the aforementioned, Shanri-la Frontier is still one of the best representations of game systems in anime that i've ever seen. The reason people hyped this was that the writer actually plays and understands games. Also, from a storytelling standpoint, this is a solid one. The Weathermon arc was very well written, and was the reason i decided to watch it to the end. I also NEED to talk about the visuals. This anime project value is what we all want for action anime. It was no Jujutsu Kaisen, but when it mattered, the fight scenes are breathtaking. This anime has amazing special effects on the skills, as well as great photography, camera work, and fluidity on movements. The charaterization of players felt a little boring, but the monsters and enemies look amazing. Also, going back to the Weathermon arc, the visuals there came close to JJK levels.

  Overall, it is okay if people liked this. I also did. I just want to make sure people are aware this is nothing new. This anime is an application of a tried and overused formula, but still a successful one. Still, i believe it is not a good experience for those that hyped it for its gaming aspects. If you want to turn off your brain, watch an anime with an ok plot, and really well done fights, this is the anime for you. Still, i find it ironic that, just like Sunraku sometimes thinks Shangri-la Frontier is a well produced Kusoge (trash game) in disguise, i think Shangri-la frontier is a well produced trash anime. But we all like our trash, don't we?

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• 

  Wavieff

  100/100
  THE JOY OF GAMING, "a feeling in your SOUL, man."

  > “Hey, gamers! Limit your gaming to ten hours per day. Any more, and you’re seriously gonna die!” - No More Heroes 3

  Gaming is a feeling in your SOUL, man.

  It’s as much a thing you do as a thing you experience, as a thing you inhibit, as a thing you BECOME. Playing video games is the rawest form of escapism because you become the player, the hero, the number one, propelling the force of the narrative at the push of a button.

  Shangri-La Frontier is the first anime that gets the holistic gamer shtick down pat. See, the whole joy of gaming is a very tactile feeling: you get the sense that it’s never really DONE. Whereas with a movie, you press play, and let it run ‘till it’s over, video games are an eternal experience. Whether it be sidequests, speedruns, or achievement hunting, most games offer repeatability, rePLAYability, and that is their greatest strength. There’s always something to do.

  

  SLF captures this in stride, kicking things off with “trash games player” Sunraku, a young man choosing to revel himself in only the bottomest of the barrelest games, because he loves tearing at the mechanics from the inside, seeing what ticks, seeing how far he can push the game, seeing just how awful everything is with his surprisingly-well-working eyeballs. So, when his friends invite him to hit game Shangri-La Frontier, he’s skeptical. He doesn’t play good games any more than I watch good anime! Regardless, he gives it a shot, and soon finds himself itching at every turn to get back into it. From here, there’s glimpses into protagonist Sunraku’s everyday in the real world, but it rarely consists of more than a convenience store run and a silly romance subplot. From here, it’s all gaming, all the time, baby.

  In terms of a narrative, SLF isn’t gonna blow your socks off, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a simple to-the-top narrative propelled by fun characters, old friends, and cheesy villains with bosses to beat and quests to fulfill. In that way, it’s a video game you can watch, which is an experience that I can’t say I’ve had with anything else. Except maybe Versus. Loveeee Versus.

  

  One fun twist to it all is that Sunraku decided to dump all his points into the luck statistic, something most players won’t do, and gets so lucky in that luck that it prompts a whole narrative with him as the epicenter. He encounters legendary enemies at low levels, uncovers a new dimension, gains access to superweapons, and is cursed with scars that wrap around his body, marking him as “The Special”, “The Chosen One”…in case we weren’t aware already!

  Nothing is told or explained in excess. Shangri-La trusts its viewers with its simple mechanics and quirks and characters, laying it all out on the table very clearly, and referencing back to itself when it needs to, whatwith item descriptions, abilities, and the whatnot. Each episode has a myriad of accomplishments and is polished with solid animation, and silly tunes to keep you rolling. The energetic performances recall late-night voice calls and blazing trivial bickering that only the devoted could know. Interesting, but unobtrusive hooks, funny sideplots…Are you sold yet?

  

  In many ways, Shangri-La Frontier is the anti-Sword Art Online.

  Though both take place in video game worlds, Sword Art Online takes a serious slant with the “you die in the game, you die in real life” mantra, whereas Shangri-La Frontier offers no such ultimatum to its characters, as they log on and off freely, instead being allowed to revel in their world, feeling more like an extended hangout session.

  It’s got the gall to build up a legendary boss with four episodes worth of brutal, cathartic, high-stakes fighting. It’s got upgrades. It’s got save-scumming. It’s GAMING.

  Inside the box, but thinking outside it.

  Where Sunraku starts, a ritualistic fun-having doomsayer with masochistic tendencies for the awfulest of awful games, is completely different from where he ends up, a freewheeling, reliant, still fun-having optimist with a laundry list of fun to-dos! It feels HUGE, like, even just with Sunraku as a character, he becomes more reliant on his friends, on allies in-game, on the world itself as he learns to stand on its feet, too, and trust it. There’s a slow feeling that ripples down your arms and to your toes when you settle into a good game, and that’s exactly the feeling this captures.

  Shangri-La Frontier is the video game anime given flesh. It’s what you want when you think of one, much in the way that Speed Racer is the perfect anime-to-movie adaptation. It’s very much simple entertainment for entertainment’s sake, but sometimes all you need is an energy drink to the mouth, a lack of sleep, and a play of the game.

  Welcome to Shangri-La Frontier.

  
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• 

  Humble

  90/100
  Gaming to the extreme!!

  Surprise anime of the year goes toooo.... Shangri La Frontier!!! At least so far this year, but honestly speaking Shangri wasn’t on my list of anime to check out for the season and yet here we are. Let’s get into the review. __Story __ Rokuro Hizutome Aka Sunraku his gaming tag is our main character who loves to indulge in the most awful trash games. This is literally how the anime begins; however, he begins to get tired of this repetitive process and is recommended that he try out the new God tier game Shangri La Frontier. Yup that’s it and I love it! To me I think this is genius, the plot is not the best part of this anime, the game is. We are just watching a gamer try to beat this VA game with an expansive world which is extremely diverse. Why do I think it’s a genius idea, because we do this everyday, watching streamers play games so why not do it in an anime. Now don’t get me wrong this anime is clearly a couple of years in the future because all the games are VA styled, and we also see Sunraku in the game more than real life which is great cause his normal everyday life seems kind of boring. Now what catches your attention is the actual game, they’ve done such a great job with creating bosses, special moves, abilities, different characters, and even special features to the point where you actually would like to play the game. __Characters __ We really focus on one character within the story which is Sunraku within the beginning of the story we see him do a pivotal move, which is dumping all his skill points to the luck attribute. This move right here successfully ties the story together, on why he ran across the “Lycagon the Nightslayer” monster, on why he’s found the special feature “Rabbituza”. Regardless of this, we see he’s basically coasting within the game based on his previous gaming experience. Another bullseye for this anime, you can’t have a gaming anime without great character designs. We meet a few side characters which are all girls surprisingly. We have Psyger – 0 which is like the attack god in the game lol. Surprisingly her real-life alias is a girl that secretly (not so secret) has a crush on our MC. With a background like this you would expect her to be a full suit knight of armor character who is probably one of the strongest in the game. We have Arthur Pencilgon, yes, the name is a bit weird but she’s a beautiful spear wielding player killing character. Not too much background on this character outside she’s famous in real life and a previous gamer friend of Sunraku’s. Another character is Oicazzo which is a pro gamer in real life, but character is a blonde hair girl who fight with her fists. Think of Oicazzo as Sunraku’s best friend/rival within this anime. __Animation __ This anime pretty much gets passing grades for every aspect you can grade an anime on. The animation of the anime is above average, and I appreciate the details of the background. The biggest aspect of the animation is the fight scenes. The fight with Wethermon the Tomb Guard was great! Not to mention the opening music was great as well, both songs. __Conclusion __ So, I’ve praised this anime for being a great anime in all aspects, deservingly so. However, I do fear that this anime will turn into somewhat of an energy drink as I call it. To explain the first season provides you with a rush and then crash after the first season. Like how The Sheild Hero anime has become. Ultimately watching a character progress through a game will slowly but surely continue to have people dropping the anime, with the next season I will be looking for a major plot or something big to happen. I rate this anime with a - __"You haven't seen this yet? Turn it on NOW"__.

  Anime scores of 90+ get this recommendation

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