I’m reaching outside the season preview for this one. But there was probably some fatigue built in there given the sheer size of the fall schedule, and in hindsight (I said this before it premiered) Shangri-la Frontier probably should have been in there. The manga is well-regarded enough and the previews looked good enough.
As with Ragna Crimson, I’m certainly not the target audience for Shangri-La Frontier. Gaming anime always have a challenge with me because I’m not a gamer, and a lot of the insider stuff I’m simply not going to get. If the writing is good enough that can be surmounted, and while it’s too early to say if that’s the case here, I can say I liked the first episode way better than Ragna Crimson. The visuals were seriously good here (those combat scenes were very well done), and there’s a certain breezy irreverence to the tone that isn’t unappealing.
The premise is that a kid named Hizutome Rakurou is a “freak” addicted to trash games – “so bad it’s good” stuff with tons of bugs and shitty graphics. His local game store owner talks him into trying the titular “God-tier” game, a MMORPG with a state of the art game engine and millions of players. All this is set sometime in the near future when VR rules the roost (but games are still sold on physical media, apparently). Rokurou is kind of a punk, but I suspect he’s basically harmless – just a kid with weird tastes and a lot of attitude. His mom in an entomologist and if he has a dad, (as usual) there’s no sign of him.
I won’t say there was anything brilliant in the premiere but it was fun. “Shangri-La Frontier” looks like an interesting place to spend time, as I said the visuals are really good, and I didn’t feel seriously annoyed even once. It’s a long way to get from there to seriously considering blogging SLF, but I’m more than interested enough to stick around for a bit and let it makes its case.
Nicc
October 4, 2023 at 7:32 amThe primary reason why I decided to pick up this show was because it had a dude with a bird head. I figured that was worth at least one episode. It turned out to be better than I expected. There’s certainly appeal in the VRMMO genre given that it’s a quasi-isekai and with folks having one foot (Or, body) in the real world. If done so, this can expand the scope of the story into the real world as well. I wonder if we may really get to a point where VR consoles and games are mainstream. The last time I even tried one was way back with the Virtual Boy at an electronics store and I wasn’t impressed with it.
Our protagonist is Hizutome Rakurou, who is an aficionado of trash bin games. It makes me wonder if he enjoys watching bad movies too. That bin is probably right next to the one for games. Otherwise, he seems like any ordinary high schooler. He has at least one admirer at school too. After his latest trash game conquest (It really does smack of poor game design), he’s looking for another one. Right, the game store owner gets him to try out an AAA game for a change. The difference in quality is immediately apparent right at the character creation screen. I too use the same name all of the time for character names (I’ve got dozens of characters named “Lando”). He picks out the looks and class and that’s how we get the muscular dude wearing shorts and a bird mask.
It takes him a little getting used to a game that doesn’t crash or is full of bugs like the trash bin games he adores, but then he’s mightily impressed with how smooth everything is. Due to his starting class, he’s placed outside of the starter town. With his gaming experience, he very quickly picks up the combat mechanics, all of which looked slick. He’s progressing quickly with new skills and equipment and at the end of the day he’s now closer to the 2nd town than the starter one (The city number progression reminds me of “Mother 2/Earthbound” with “Onett”, “Twoson”, “Threed” and “Fourside”). However, he’s going to have to fight a gatekeeping boss first to get there. Yep, it was a fun episode and better than I expected. I’ll stick around for the 2nd episode.
Guardian Enzo
October 4, 2023 at 7:45 amWhy is everyone so obsessed with the bird head?
Bob
October 4, 2023 at 10:02 amIt shows character.
Nicc
October 5, 2023 at 4:46 amYep, it’s unique. However, I am surprised that there was only one option that covered the face at character creation. This suggests to me that more are in the form of DLC (Free or paid) or microtransactions. Frankly, I’d like to see him wearing different masks, like a Olmec head, or a Moai head (Are those still popular in Japan?) or a Bob Ross mask.
doomrider7
October 11, 2023 at 1:45 pmBased on Splatoon 3, yes Moai heads are still VERY popular in Japan.