Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Last week, we took a look at Gun Gale Online, a spin of the ever so popular SAO series that was better than the SAO series. Want to do it again? Enter Shangri-La Frontier. A light novel written by Katarina in 2017 and continuing to this day. When SAO came it started the trend of MMORPG animes which quickly jumped to isekai animes taking over the industry. MMORPG animes have been a tricky road since then. Some were good, others bad and boring. In 2023 the often-overlooked C2C (Reincarnated as a Sword) turned the novel into an anime. Where did it land on the scale? Well let’s review to find out. This is Shangri-La Frontier.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Broken Games” by FZMZ. This was an opening that took me sometime to like. At first, I thought it felt out of place but gave credit in that it does a good job summing up the main character and his play style. Over time I started to like it and felt it went with the series. Not one of my favorite openings but a decent one that captures the mindset of a gamer.
The ending is “Ace” by Chico. This is another one of those endings that feels like it could have worked as opening. With it’s upbeat tempo and encouraging lyrics it honestly feels like this was meant to be the original opening. A good song but didn’t really care for it all that much.
Episodes 1-4
So the anime takes place in the future where VR games rule the world and anything considered display-based is retro (so, it’s the present in another timeline). While there are great games, beneath the surface are a bunch of shitty games that people avoid (some things stay the same in the industry). However, there are some people out there who seek these shitty games to play and beat them (because they’re masochists. Or the AVGN who may be a masochist. No judgment here). We meet our main character Rakuro voiced by Yuma Uchida (Megumi from Jujutsu Kaisen) who is one of these people who seeks shitty games to play and beat for his own personal enjoyment. He just got done beating a shitty game (which was so shitty that I honestly believe the developers did it on purpose) and goes to his local game shop run by a hot mature woman named Mana (yeah, now I know this is a work of fiction) looking for the next game to play. Mana suggests he play a good game for once to better appreciate the highs of life and recommends Shangri-La Frontier. A new MMORPG with over 30 million players worldwide. Rakuro buys the game and creates his character, a mercenary with twin-blades who wears a bird mask, doesn’t wear armor, and fights half-naked (he’s living his exhibitionist dreams). He finally starts where he has no complaints. The graphics are great, the controls are excellent, the enemies are fair, and there’s no bugs or glitches (this is what Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to be on launch day. Actually, this is what every game should be like on launch date).
In episode 2 Rakuro manages to solo the boss of the first area (scene here: https://youtu.be/VGWjGNANsjU?si=cVUMJ2hJPhnfWg_z) and barely makes it to the second town before he dies from poisoning (I’ve been there). The next day he finally buys some clothes and gets material to make some good weapons (gimme your weapons and clothes. Now!). He then heads out into the field at night where the monsters are a lot stronger and more dangerous (freaks do come out at night). He finds himself caught in a fight with a bunch of red-cap goblins (I always did wonder where the caps come from) only for a unique monster to appear. The monster wipes out the goblins and then sets its sights on Rakuro (you’re fucked, man).
We start episode 3 by learning about unique monsters, special monsters that appear with titles and everything. There are seven of them and each one is hard to beat let alone find. No one knows what the criteria for spawning them is and players have actually formed their own guilds with the sole purpose of fighting said monsters and taking them down. Rakuro is currently in the middle of fighting one of these unique monsters known as the Lycagon after he activated the spawn for it (all this for taking down a bunch of goblins). Despite his best efforts he unfortunately loses and respawns at his last checkpoint which was the inn at the second town (scene here: https://youtu.be/MEPzoq2lJA8?si=2MX4lXqkjLlVSPUx). When he wakes up, he discovers strange markings on his body known as the Lycagon’s mark. It’s a curse that stops the player from equipping stuff to that body part which means Rakuro can’t equip clothes/armor anymore (which means he’s going to look like a pervert from now on) and monsters lower than him will flee on the spot so good luck level grinding. The only way to remove the curse is by saint magic (which I’m going to assume is high-level) or by defeating the Lycagon. The only upside to this is that he gains increased resistance to magic and a lot of experience points. While walking the streets he sets off another unique event which sees him chase down a rabbit named Emul voiced by Rina Hidaka (Filo from The Rising of the Shield Hero. Fun fact, she and Yuma are married to each other) and wind up in Rabituza the kingdom of rabbits with a recommended level of 80 (he’s at level 28. He’s gonna die). He meets their leader Vysache who was impressed by his fighting spirit and wants to have a little chat with him.
So in episode 4 Rakuro accepts Vysache’s offer to get stronger and becomes his underling. He gets a collar that halves his experience points and he can’t take it off without Vysache’s say so (hardships build character). On the upside, the collar does increase his stat points by 2.5 times for each level he gains. Rakuro takes a break to play with some of his online buddies who decide to start playing SLF as well after hearing about his exploits. When he logs back into SLF a few girl gamers spot him talking to Emul and he runs away not wanting anyone to investigate the special event he’s found himself in. Unfortunately, one of the girls snaps a picture of him and Emul and plans to post it on the forums later. Rakuro decides to defeat the boss of the area and then head to the third city. The area boss is a swamp fish with legs called Mud Digger and you have to fight in the swamp (meaning this is the worst match-up for Rakuro who relies on speed to fight).
Episodes 5-8
So in the first half of episode 5 Rakuro and Emul fight Mud Digger (it ain’t messing with no clean *beep*). It’s a pretty straightforward fight where Mud Digger is notorious for beating solo players via fall damage. It flings them up into the air and then lets them die via fall damage (and since a party isn’t there to break the fall or soften it with magic, Rakuro is screwed). Luckily, Emul does a last-minute teleportation spell and makes it where Rakuro lands on Mud Digger to kill it with a critical hit (scene here: https://youtu.be/qi0gpIkuKiI?si=Y3TARTcGdTnboGhw. Thank you, luck stats). They make it to the third city with Emul using a bracelet to hide her rabbit form (scene here: https://youtu.be/YH8lqymFNVg?si=ArEhiDOJeRmCU6vU). Rakuro has become a bit of a celebrity now as the screenshot of him and Emul has gone viral and now everyone has a few questions they want to ask him.
At the start of episode 6 Rakuro meets Arthur aka Pencil Knight an online friend he knows from another game. Unlike Rakuro, she (or he I don’t know their play style) has been playing SLF for quite some time and is a PKer (you part of this world’s Laughing Coffin?). The two met in a previous crappy game where you play as knights protecting a collapsing kingdom from monsters (sounds fun). The problem was the drop rates sucked. Players spent hours just completing the first quest and getting higher-grade items was next to impossible (a quick patch could have fixed this but game developers are lazy). The players then decided to just start looting NPC shops and each other to get the items they needed and the game soon evolved (or devolved) into a post-apocalyptic looting game (Seras: That sounds like fun. Make that a game and add in zombies). Arthur rose to power in this new world becoming the final boss and even sending out her agents to start resistance groups to keep the game entertaining for her (Seras: This girl is awesome). The only person who was able to beat her was Rakuro who fought her to a draw and since then she’s held a grudge against him. Returning back to SLF, Arthur attacks Rakuro (I can’t tell if this is anger or love) where she delivers a message from her clan telling Rakuro to divulge information about the special scenario or die. He fights against Arthur a little while before making a run for it but other PKers show up to stop him. Not even a shaman can buy him time to escape (scene here: https://youtu.be/NhcTCtfiNpc?si=svkG8HBR0xathywq). Luckily, he gets saved by Rei a classmate of his and one of the strongest players in the game who has a crush on him (a girl gamer? Where do I sign up?). She’s been trying to find Rakuro all this time but keeps missing him (the problem with wanderers is that they’re always. . .wandering). But now that he’s a marked man (literally) she can save him and open the door to talk with him.
In episode 7 Rakuro takes advantage of Rei’s arrival and uses that to escape into town while Pencil got taken out by the shaman player. Rakuro and Emul make it back to Rabituza where he continues that quest. He gets taken to the arena where he’ll have to fight 10 monsters and he can only use vorpal weapons to fight. Some of the monsters he’s able to beat in one try while others take him multiple times (it’s like a Cuphead stage, your body and mind learn the patterns of your opponents and then you manage to beat them). Despite the opponents being way stronger than him, he only goes up two measly levels throughout the whole process (that collar is becoming a real pain in the ass). On the 10th fight, Vysache appears and presents his opponent who is way stronger than Rakuro, so he changes up the winning conditions to make it fair. If Rakuro can survive five minutes he wins.
Rakuro’s endurance battle begins in episode 8 and it’s a hard one. Rakuro has to dodge tree branch attacks, chains, and magic attacks that keep increasing by the minute (it’s only been 2 minutes and he can barely keep dodging the attacks). At first, Rakuro wants to give up and accept the loss but his gamer spirit won’t let him and he decides to take it up a notch. At the two-minute mark he goes on the attack knocking away the monster’s wand and pissing it off. Rakuro survives the five minutes and completes the quest to become an honorary Rabituzan (scene here: https://youtu.be/GeDamBueXa8?si=3HWDgzW_qiNLTEV5). He gets the collar removed, the choice to do another unique scenario, and that’s it (no loot, no special weapons or skills. Well at least he gets bragging rights). The next day he decides to hold off on doing the unique scenario and venture forth into the world. He dawns a new disguise and starts making his way to the Prismatic Forest Grotto but he has a stalker (in the form of a lovestruck knight with an intimidating appearance).
Episodes 9-13
In the first half of episode 9 Rakuro runs away from Rei believing she’s out to get him (https://youtu.be/6-jQjtXscf4?si=1KS9X1KoLEoMKUkh). As he runs away, members of Arthur’s guild chase after him as well but he gives them the slip and makes his way towards the grotto. Before entering the grotto Rei approaches him and gives him a friend request (this girl is as pure and timid as Hinata). Rakuro thinks this is a trap but knows he doesn’t stand a chance at beating Rei’s character so he accepts the request (scene here: https://youtu.be/KvHyy4BAAsQ?si=3VHFKqWYarOfmXpJ, good for her). Rei offers to help Rakuro on his adventure but he says no and Rei lets him go on his way not chasing after him because she’s so happy right now. In the second half not much really happens. Rakuro makes it to the grotto and explores the area fighting monsters and collecting dropped items (typical adventure stuff. Hope he doesn’t spend days exploring the area).
Episode 10 starts with Rakuro taking on the boss of the forest, a giant spider (https://youtu.be/DWhkMaT7jVo?si=NdRVfdxRcGg_i8UW). Rakuro easily defeated this boss (like it was so easy that he didn’t even get hit by the thing. That’s how easy it was for him. Scene here: https://youtu.be/d27vOWZtwrE?si=S01WMRaqBgG1r97_). In the second half, Rakuro goes to meet Arthur and Katzo, another online friend of his who in reality is a pro gamer. Arthur wants to join forces with them in order to take down Wethermon the Tombguard in SLF. It’s another unique monster that gets stronger the more people you have in your party when you face it (reminds me of games adjusting the level of the NPCs automatically to give the player a challenge) so a smaller party works best. They both agree to do it and Arthur tells Rakuro to leave Emul out of this battle because if she dies it’s permanent.
At the start of episode 11 Rakuro tells Emul that he’s going to face Wethermon. This freaks Emul out so much that she runs home to tell her dad (Vysache. Yes, I too see the family resemblance) everything. Naturally, he’s against Rakuro taking on a character he’s too weak to face but Rakuro plays the honor-bound card to gain Vysache’s blessing. We do learn about Wethermon who has a good but sad backstory. He’s lost his wife to a lousy lie and ended up with a body that won’t let him die. He’s a living corpse that can’t die and is abused by players as a way to get easy experience (sort of like the cows in Witcher 3). Vysache decides to help and introduces him to his daughter, Bilac, a blacksmith. Vysache picks up the hammer and ascends the vorpal blades of Rakuro as it gets revealed that he’s a divine blacksmith (and you haven’t lived until you see a yakuza-looking rabbit do blacksmithing while singing. I didn’t know I needed this in my life but by God is it one of the most badass scenes you will ever see). Vysache finishes giving Rakuro some very powerful blades but he’s unable to use them because he lacks the required stats to use them (scene here: https://youtu.be/Elm-Lr6RkSE?si=0o0fSR319jT5y3P2). He needs to be level 50 so before the battle he goes level grinding with Katzo in the Iron Ruins.
Not much really happens in episode 12. Rakuro and Katzo enter the Iron Ruins and following a map given to them by Arthur they discover a hidden area where they can fish for a lake serpent that will give them good experience points. We see Rakuro bust out some new blades he got from Bilac and also learned that he screwed himself by skipping the first town. Not only would he have learned about the skill garden where he can fuse skills together to get better skills, but he also would have learned about sub-classes (so basically he’s been playing with a handicap all this time. On one hand it’s impressive that he’s been able to get this far not knowing this information, but on the other hand it shows his stupidity by skipping the tutorial town). They manage to reach level 40 and Arthur takes them to meet a unique NPC to start the quest (scene here: https://youtu.be/R52sxrAO4nk?si=__Qt9Gj1OgzUVgXN).
We finish off the first half with them meeting the NPC named Setsuna who is Wethermon’s wife and believes they have what it takes to beat Wethermon (they shall do the impossible). We also get to see Rakuro’s family who are just as obsessed with their hobbies as he is with his. Mom likes to study bugs, the sister is into fashion, and the father loves to fish. Despite this they still love each other and take a break from their hobbies to spend family time with each other.
And this looks like a good place to stop. I should spend time with the AI girls. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.