Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su

I was planning to wait until the final episode aired, but I couldn't control myself and I wanted to make sure more people are aware of this anime. C2C delivered a massive hit to this adaptation and with the attention it's getting, I think it's only going to get better from here.

I think when the term "Video Games" exists in an anime, isekais were the first genre to jump into this train, they usually shit out a huge exposition of RPG mechanics that means literally nothing with tasteless buffs the writers love to give to their characters without any meaning behind it. They also introduce ... the most tropey characters that receive no character development throughout the story and then make them cry out the MC's name during any dramatic clashes. Or they ultimately have to make the scummiest villains alive so that the story can somewhat progress.

As other genres jumped into it, it's treated as a niche topic that's used as a trigger point for the main plot of the story. For example, if the story is Romance, it's going to use "Video Games" just to introduce the character's love interest and make them fall in love with each other. Or if the story is purely Comedy, they'll use it just to create bland comedy between the characters thems4elves. The same could be said for Drama, going out of their way to play children's games so they could ruin long-lasting friends' relationships for no effing reason. It seems that any anime that has a Video Game theme in it, it's just there as a hook for the anime.

Shangri-La Frontier is entirely different from others that utilize Video Games by actually showing a player playing a Video Game without any major consequences. It's a guy that got his hands on Game of the Year after he played too many crappy RPG games in the past. That's all you need to know about this guy. What Shangri-La Frontier has to offer is that the video game world they present actually has lore and a realistic player base, and no, I don't want to hear how there are toxic players or griefers that ruin other people's experience. The main character doesn't have to fight his life over a game, he's still getting challenged but never feels overwhelmed, and most importantly, he's having fun without the presence of video game characters having to be present to talk and serve as unnecessary fanservice for the MC. On top of that, it also has good animation and the characters don't look generic whatsoever? This anime has been such a pleasant surprise that finally shows what a Video Game anime is actually about. I'm willing to say that this anime brings other predecessors to shame.

Looking forward for more of Shangri-La Frontier and considering it's going to have a 2-cour run, I only hope for C2C to keep up with their consistency in animation quality and pacing.

Honestly I was hoping that this will finally be the "Go inside the game" genre that's going to be unique and not generic. This is an anime that wanted to pay a homage to great games, or as they called it Kamige, but they failed miserably at it, the author feels like a normie who doesn't even understand any gaming nor dev knowledge.

First of all, this is definitely inspired from Elden Ring, and the Author somehow think that a game better than Elden Ring, The "Kamige", is when it's an MMORPG and there will be a unique quests hidden only for "lucky" players. How ... in the fuck would it be fair for other players? Why would there be content that only "lucky" players have? it's so stupid. Of course the MC is the lucky player and him having an advantage out of everyone else defeats the purpose of him being a "good player". It's so stupid from the start where he get the item for leveling up.

Now this item is beyond beyond stupidly broken, you will gain double and a half the stats when leveling up but your xp gain when wearing that item is halved. Again who in the world wouldn't want that? so if the MC is level 100 he's like level 250 stat wise. It's so bullshit. The MC is known for his gaming skill, why the fuck would he not play in the same level field? even better put him at an actual disadvantage but still power through because he's that good at gaming. But of course, the moral of every generic anime story is, you will not succeed unless you got "lucky", "chosen", "trained by the best", "prophesized", etc.

Disappointing, good animation but the plot is ultra generic. Was hoping to see how MC good at video games, but we are being shown how MC is the lucky player to get the "unique event" to make him the most OP because of stats. MF THERE ARE ESPORTS WHERE ALL THE PLAYER ARE ON THE SAME LEVELING FIELD, THE FUCK IS THIS ANIME TROPE BRUH, IM SO GODDAMN TIRED.

Shangri-La Frontier - Trash games are TRULY trash. However, God-tier games are TRULY the best of the best, for both newcomers and veterans like connoisseurs.

AniManga based on video games come in all sorts of flavours. Of course, that's not to say that every single one of them are good (I'm looking at you, Reki Kawahara with the SAO franchise), and most of them (like last season's Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki a.k.a A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life) are truly equally trash with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. However, while one can easily criticize the video gaming landscape when it comes to anime, few ... have come across as actual video games that have been done with much research and purposeful lore, mimicking virtual worlds and putting the viewers into their shoes as fellow gamers, even if you're not a seasoned player. And one of them is mangaka Katarina's Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su a.k.a Crappy Game Hunter Challenges God-Tier Game, or simply known as its namesake title: Shangri-La Frontier, SLF, ShanFro (whatever you want to call it), which won the 47th Kodansha Manga Award in the Shonen category last year.

In the world of Shangri-La Frontier, think of it as an evolution of the SAO universe where full-dive VRMMOs have become commonplace against the retro games which vary from old-school resolutions to game mechanic gimmicks that have been analyzed and beaten every single time. As a result, smorgasbords of VRMMOs are released through the mainstream, though you'd not know if the game is actual trash or not, from rushed plots, bugs from games being full of glitches to faulty gameplay, or simply game systems which have been rendered obsolete upon release with bad graphics that are simply not up to par with the current standard. And that is the mission of the eponymous MC Rakuro Hizutome of IGN Sunraku to route out all games as the aforementioned "trash game hunter", deciphering the play styles of all games alike and mastering them like a "Jack of All Trades, Master of All" character. But as is like typical gamers, there comes a point where the burnout syndrome really gets to them, and Rakuro feels the heat to try and break out from his rut. Fortunately, the game shop that he frequently visits has a new game in store: Shangri-La Frontier, which boasts as a full-dive VRMMO with a staggering 30 mil players, with the majority of players giving it rave reviews for an experience like no other. Rakuro, feeling enticed from the offer, gives it a try with his usual IGN moniker, and thus, begins a game that's truly like no other, with the skills harvested from his time playing trash games and being an expert at it, come into play critically as he progresses through Shangri-La Frontier.

Like all modern day Isekai reincarnation stories, Shangri-La Frontier got its start as a Syosetu novel in May 2017, which according to Katarina, he'd read novelist Tsutomu Satou's Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei a.k.a The Irregular at Magic High School on said Japan's most prolific novel website while living overseas, which inspired him to start writing novels. At the time, said Isekai reincarnation-type fantasy stories (like Mushoku Tensei) were popular, and the novelist took cues from it. But his Eureka moment was when he encountered a VR-type story, which took him completely by surprise and amazement, and thus, that inspiration became the birth of Shangri-La Frontier. The interesting tidbit: the anime project was announced back in Feburary 2020, which was before the manga's serialization from July the same year, which is mind-boggling that whoever was planning the series, took a massive risk that the anime would be a massive hit when it hits the small screen, and that gutsy gamble...really paid off.

If you're a gamer by any stretch of the imagination, you'll definitely come to love and appreciate Shangri-La Frontier as a whole. Sunraku as a character, is a limitless person who has expressed his potential to conquer each and every game out in the wild, be it trash or god-tier, and through him as the MC...to skip the tutorial stages and go straight for the big guns, I hear you say that "Sunraku is like me fr fr", and you're not wrong at all. Dangers of any immaculate depth don't scare Sunraku, for he challenges the damn near-impossible by putting and racking all of his brain muscles and brawn strength to the limit to test the game's system, and how much can he actually profit from unexpected loopholes that give him the edge when it comes to leveling up ASAP. All this in the effort of figuring out Shangri-La Frontier's real game progress, Sunraku's got the smarts once he actually figured out the game's main plot, and his gamer skills maketh the young man that he is, abash with confidence.

However, Sunraku's not alone in this regard. Unbeknownst to him, someone caught his attention, and it's Rei Saiga, the girl whom has her heart strings attached towards Rakuro, but is always shy to speak up to him about his gamer aesthetics. The coincidence with them both frequenting the same game shop allows Rei to stalk Rakuro in Shangri-La Frontier behind the scenes like a fangirl, but don't be fooled for her appearance in-game as she is Psyger-0, one of the strongest players, with a menacing appearance hiding a girl hypnotized in serious affections of love for the half-naked swimming trunk and bird-head masked young man. I love their banter, which especially in game, feels like they're like-minded comrades with similar interests, though Sunraku is always forward-looking at the big picture every step of the way enough to just plainly ignore her (as a "man" knight from external looks) before she could ever speak her heart out. Don't lose faith yet, Rei Saiga a.k.a Psyger-0!

If the gamer vibes can't get to you enough, then the private discovery of a doorway to limitless growth will. And that's how Sunraku found a portal to Rabituza, a land full of rabbits that can only be unlocked once players reach a certain level requirement, which Sunraku got lucky even though he was under-leveled to begin with. There, he finds the rabbits that will help him smolder his competition: the mascot NPC Emul, of which its leader is her boss-cum-father Vysache, who is ruthless on anyone not aligning to his goals or objectives, Sunraku included when he first stepped into the hidden area. But through the test of time, Sunraku proved himself to be a viable and trusted player enough to earn Vysache's respect and have him as their esteemed guest to improve his stability as and when he needs it. Again, Sunraku and Emul's relationship is quite the charm because she provides immediate help to him in all circumstances, and vice versa. Though Sunraku always likes to take Emul at her word and abuse it to his nefarious and hilarious game plans, these two have such good vibes going for each other, which is rare since most games don't usually emphasize NPCs for assistance, let alone even a little help at best towards the players. And that's generally true with most AniManga as well.

You know what they say: "Birds of a feather flock together", and Sunraku has gamer friends to help out in the game's both side and main issues. Player Killers, or more commonly known as PKers, are nothing new in games and is a rather common thing to have, and this describes Towa Amane of IGN Arthur Pencilgon. Her being the leader of a PK group and leading a pack of player executioners, Arthur doesn't take shit as sympathy: if she deems you a waste, you're in the chopping board of the entire group. On the other hand, there's Kei Uomi of IGN Oikatzo, which Sunraku befriended from another trash game as a hardcore trash hunter, alongside Arthur as well, whom they were both invited to Shangri-La Frontier by his recommendation as fans of Sunraku. The trio is like the quote "teamwork makes the dream work", and overtime, we get to see the real Arthur Pencilgon and who she really is, aside from her ruthless PK kills and more on compassion and roots as well. It's amazing how the quote "Don't judge a book by its cover" is done here, and is done exceptionally well.

Over the years (or rather recently), studio C2C has been defying expectations each and every time when they're called to the production table, showcasing stunning and exquisite animation, that like the studio's name moniker of "Challenge 2 (to) Challenge", has put them into the forefront as a sure-fire worthy production contender for best animated shows throughout the seasons. Such examples like Fall 2020's Majo no Tabitabi a.k.a Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Summer 2021's Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu a.k.a Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy (of which J.C.Staff is now helming Season 2), and Fall 2022's Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita a.k.a Reincarnated as a Sword, these 3 shows are quality titles put out by C2C. And I can purposefully say that Shangri-La Frontier is once again another crowning achievement in the ever-increasing catalogue, which is made an even bigger impact due to the studio's first-ever lone undertaking of a consecutive 2-cour run (not counting 2015's Aquarion Logos, collaborated with Satelight). Huge props to director Toshiyuki Kubooka and his entire staff team for the long commitment to Shangri-La Frontier, and with that being said: if you want a quality show, C2C is really up to the challenge.

For a game-based anime, music also is a key component of the show, and like its gamer roots, it has done that and much more. The OST is filled with so much gamer-centric goodness that it's respectfully composed and used throughout the entire show. And you wanna know something? Even the show's theme songs know that and play to their ultimate strengths. Speaking of which, this may be the masked avatar band FZMZ's (pronounced "Fathoms") Anisong debuts for the show, but you'll be even surprised to know some of its 5 members: JACK the rapper is (sic)boy, who gained attention not only for his unique sound that blends rock and hip-hop, GAVI the guitarist is Ivan of Survive Said The Prophet, and KAMATA the drummer is Pierre Nakano of Ling tosite sigure. Unsurprisingly, these people are not just talented musical artistes, but are also people who are deeply knowledgeable about anime, games, and VR culture, thus also bringing their songs into the Metaverse. Both songs of the 1st Cour's "Broken Games" and 2nd Cour's "Danger Danger" feat. Icy are great compliments to the anime as a whole, though I resonate more with "Broken Games" just by its sheer rap style and tidy musical resonance. The ED songs are mostly alright with Chico's "Ace" for the 1st Cour and ReoNa's "Gajumaru ~Heaven in the Rain~" for the 2nd Cour, but make no mistake: all songs here are fantastic in their own right, especially the OP songs which help set the tune of the anime.

At the end of the day, are we truly witnessing a revival of video game-based AniManga? I would like to think so, because Shangri-La Frontier has more than just captured the gamer hearts of everyone, it has a game-centric plot that captivates and encourages the gamer souls in us for further exploration. And let's face it in gamer terms: this shit is TOO GOOD to pass up for another season or 2.

If you're craving the gamer Hunger Games in you, I warmly welcome you to Shangri-La Frontier, where death is but a swing away, but living and breathing life is an out-of-this-world experience on its own.

This anime definitely deserves more consideration. It's not necessarily that the plot knocks it out of the park - it's a comedy with fundamentally lower stakes than Log Horizon or Sword Art Online. But at the same time, the action is very invigorating. It's like Bofuri meets shonen battle anime. The pacing strings episodes together effortlessly. I finished the nine episodes that exist at the time of this review in a single night and it barely felt like any time passed at all. It perfectly embodies the joy of MMOs other shows have failed to fully capture.

This is the best looking anime from C2C thus ... far, and has all of the qualities fans of those shows could hope for.

Shangri-La Frontier is a fantasy themed MMO anime which boasts impressive production values, but fails to produce any real content within its 25 episodes, where half of it feels like meaningless filler.


Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10
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The world of Shangri-La is beautiful, and the animation quality is very impressive. Some of the fights, especially the one against the big boss was quite possibly some of the best I've ever seen in any anime. Very cool.


Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 8/10
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High quality stuff across the board. We get high octane opening tracks, some nice music themes through-out the show, and top notch voice acting for the main characters.


Story - 5/10
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And here comes the weakest point of Shangri-La. Its story. Or lack there-of.

It's an MMO themed anime, but there are zero stakes of any sort. Our protagonist just tries out this new MMO for kicks. No special reasoning behind it. And once inside the game he has no specific goals either, other than to just mess around and see what it's about. Eventually he does pick up a goal of defeating some bosses, but at no point does it feel like he cares overly much, nor is there any kind of a timer or pressure to actually do anything.

Most of the show is about our protagonist just "fucking around and finding out" for fun. No grand storylines, nothing is ever at stake because dying in the game just gives a temporary debuff, so he can die a 100 times in a row and it does nothing. There's literally no failing at anything except when fighting some unique bosses, which only happens in a few episodes.

It's hard to put into words how boring it can be to watch a character fight enemies where nothing is on the line. Where death and failure means literally nothing.

On top of that, the video game mechanics are incredibly poorly explained, making all the various stats and skills that are being used be largely meaningless to us as viewers. Like, "oh this character got a +50 to this stat and so the fight changes now." How? There is no information given about the relative benefit of any stats or skills, or any game mechanics for that matter. It's all gibberish and adds nothing of value. For a game that's about an MMO, such an approach is very puzzling.

Despite its 25 episode run-time, half of the show feels like filler. This is the opposite of where Solo Leveling failed, where that show only had 12 episodes and felt like there wasn't enough time to flesh anything out in depth. But in Shangri-La, it feels like there are too many episodes, and nothing is being done with them.

Like, do we really need to watch the main character fight some random mobs for 2 episodes, after he already defeated one of the hardest bosses in the game just previously? It's a complete waste of time that does literally nothing to move the story forward or even bring any excitement at all. Fighting a bunch of trash mobs where you can die endlessly and just restart 100x over is not fun at all.

In addition to all this, the show also features some real life scenes, which are just very average slice of life moments that don't really add any value. Seeing the protagonist sit down with his family for 2 minutes to have dinner added nothing useful as his family members were never mentioned again and have no part in the story. Just filler.

There's also a meaningless cringe teenage romance sub-plot that also doesn't go anywhere and seems rather pointless, as the romance character barely gets any screen time. There is literally no foundation for a romance when the characters don't even interact for more than a few minutes through-out the entire show and our protagonist doesn't even know who they are, lmao.


Characters - 7/10
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There are quite a few characters in the show, though most of the focus is on the protagonist Sanraku. He's an extremely energetic teenager who gets extremely excited about beating video games through sheer skill and willpower, rather than any sort of meta gaming. He doesn't really develop as a character in any way, but he's still quite fun to watch due to the combination of extreme skill and arrogance which occasionally backfires as he runs into new and unexpected things.

Secondary characters feature a Bunny NPC who acts more of a comedic character for Sanraku to bounce off of, as well as being a source of exposition.

Sanraku also has a couple of friends from other MMO's that show up and help create a party, but their presence is fairly limited to a small portion of the season. Still, both characters are fun and interesting and hopefully they make a return in the future.

There's also a romance sub-plot character. A teenage girl who is part of Sanraku's highschool class. However, Sanraku is effectively not aware of them, nor does he care about the girl in any way. This leads to a very one sided, and utterly meaningless romance attempt that doesn't really go anywhere.

There are some additional backstory characters introduced, but the story doesn't really give them any real depth.


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Total - 7/10

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Shangri-La is a very impressive looking and sounding Fantasy MMO anime, but its weak story and setup that makes half of its episodes feel like meaningless filler, does drag the whole experience down.

When it's good, it's REALLY GOOD. Some of the fight oriented episodes are mindblowingly fun to watch. However one just can't help but to get bored in a lot of episodes because literally nothing of worthwhile is happening.

A worthwhile watch to fans of the genre, but I do hope Season 2 tightens up the storytelling and progression.

I want to make a disclaimer first. I don't think Shangari-la is a bad anime because the author need those unrealistic setting to bring audience enough stimulus/ excitement to keep on watching the show, but I do have to say Shangari-la is a very shitty MMO that has very ancient design and unrealistic premises, especially for a MMO that's said to be God tier game taken place in future with 30 million player-base.

For someone that played MMO for more than 25 years since the early 2000s up until now (with more than 50000+ hrs play time), I can confidently tell you that a MMO ... like Shangari-la cannot work / exist in real life.

I want to ask you guys a question first. What do you think is the most important aspect for a successful/ sustainable MMO?
insanely difficult raid bosses? Free Open World? Lots of class variety and skills?
Those are all nice and all, however, the most crucial aspect for the survival of a MMO game is REPLAYABILITY and ACCESSIBILITY, which Shangari-la sorely lacks.

I'm going to talk about all those baffling design from raid standpoint and game design standpoint:
1. Infinite rev item allowed in raid (and an expensive p2w item even)
2. P2W item up to 100mil in game currency during raid (per encounter)
3. Boss design relying on ultra rare stat boost items with some insane drawback like dropping 30 levels.
4. Permanent destructible gears inside raid (hello really? Boss has moves that break your gears and when they break it's perma gone)
5. Shit community that after 2 years of in game release time, 30 million players cant even beat one ultra boss. (it's almost like those ancient old MMO from 2000s with ultra bosses wondering in the world map that requires insane gear check/manpower)
6. MMO community that's so ancient, as if youtubers / content creators don't exist (players don't know about most of the secret areas, which is baffling)
7. Hiding Vipor Bunny town for 2 years that no-one outside of mc triggered it before (what kind of MMO dev hide their own contents this long?)
8. We now know that the in-game story only progress 12% within 2 years. Locking major story progression of the game behind ONE CLEAR ONLY Super Bosses , on top of locking any future attempt of the boss if anyone cleared it. What kind of of MMO can survive for 2 years while hiding/locking 90% of the contents in the game?

Some light players that watch Shangari-la said the game is like Elden Ring, however , Elden Ring is a single player game with some coop feature so the premise is completely different. Everyone get to challenge all the super bosses in Elden Ring, there's no restriction nor is it hidden. Furthermore, in Elden Ring, almost all hidden areas are discovered/ all bosses beaten in less than a week or two due to active player-base and online community, so none of Shangari-la baffling design on top of incompetent clueless player base applies to Elden Ring.

The whole premise of Shangari-la is so unrealistic for a modern MMO/ modern game, as if the show is taken place pre 2000s , but they have this futuristic VR tech that's way beyond our current tech.
People who find Shangari-la setting realistic probably never play MMO, or haven't play MMO for decades.

We live in an information explosion era with players digging thousands of hours into gaming, so mc and his friends being the only competent players in the game that trigger top secret contents and beat super bosses for the past 2 years in a 30 million player-base MMO makes no sense no matter how you look at it.
The author seems like he's using his ancient gaming experience from two decades ago (when info transection is limited, few gaming media/ content creators exist), then try to apply it to a futuristic setting MMO. (In fact from the all the game setting/ design, I'd argue the author probably don't play MMO at all, he probably only play single player action rpg. There's a statistic showing that only 12% of Japanese players play MMO genre, very minority)

I can confidently tell you any sane game developers who try to adapt this game and release it later on (oh trust me, they'd do it), would have WAYYYYY different system/ design from the show's setting , otherwise people would drop this shit game so fast. This would be yet another generic jrpg adapted from an anime like SAO games.

I'm confused: Is this meant to be a parody? Because I really can't tell. It certainly has all of the hallmarks of one, what with the ridiculous levels of pandering (male power fantasy, escapism etc.) and goofy character-designs.

Another reviewer claimed that it's better than Sword Art Online, which is a fair comparison, but I have to disagree on the conclusion; in the very least SAO had some tension, while in Shangri-La the protagonist is constantly yelling and overreacting to everything happening, but... y'know... no one can actually die in this game! That's right, there is no risk of bodily harm, which makes you wonder ... what the point of any of this is. It's not like SAO, where the VR-headsets have a microwave emitter installed for the purpose of keeping the players in the game, here it's just a videogame.

Not to mention the horribly boring romance which feels like it was tacked on in the very last minute to make the protagonist more enviable, because if they hadn't included that element to the story he would be like any other loser who does nothing but play videogames all day. He barely even interacts with the female lead for the first 9 episodes. I'm not exaggerating when I say that they've had like 5-7 minutes of screentime together.

The character-writing is also superboring. No one has any actual personality or struggles that it's worth connecting with: The main character, who is allotted the vast majority of the screentime, is essentially a blank slate; we don't know anything about his family, friends, any other hobbies or things that 'capture his imagination' - nothing. All of his dialogue amounts to, "If this swamp monster has a half-second delay on his upward slash, then I can get one hit in before having to dodge." In the very least, in the show it's a little more in-depth than what I just portrayed, so that I can get a little engaged in the... videogame he's playing that he can't die in, and where all the social interaction he gets is with an npc bunny. Riveting stuff.

Sometimes, he also rambles on for way too long about the game's mechanics. There's this one part in episode 8 where he spends 2 whole minutes describing a series of enemies he's defeating in arena-style combat, which I realize sounds pretty exciting, but it isn't because it's depicted with still images - sort of like a powerpoint presentation. It would have been fine if they had instead quickly regurgitated the names of the enemies whilst the protagonist is posing in the foreground, and the enemies bodies are dissipating in the background or something like that, but the way they chose to do it is incredibly obnoxious. Even the show itself points out how goddamn tedious this whole rigmarole is. So why do it then?

And whenever 'conversation' happens, it almost always commits the most deadly sin of all bad media, which is to have the characters talk at each other, instead of with each other. This is due to the fact that none of the conversations have been written with the intention of strengthening the characters' bonds, they instead exist to exposit information to the audience. For instance, in the first episode when the main character picks up the MMORPG that the series is named after in a videogame store he frequents, he hits up a 'conversation' with a woman who works the cash register. We don't really get any understanding of their relationship with each other, other than the surface-level reading that he's a regular customer who always buys trashy games. Most of the 'conversation' revolves around, again, the protagonist rambling - this time about a shit game he played. The whole interaction is so incredibly stilted; she just stands there, willingly listening to him complaining about a bad game he bought - that he knew was gonna be bad (because he only buys bad games) - which is presumably a 'conversation' they've had tens if not hundreds of times in the past. I can't tell if she's supposed to be annoyed or not at him, or if she's enjoying it, but she basically only responds shortly to his complaints, before recommending that he plays Shangri-La.

Why does she do that? Because the girl who's inexplicably crushing on him plays the game, something the cash-register lady of course doesn't disclose to him, instead giving some bullshit explanation about how playing a 'godly' (actual expression used all the time in the show, yes it's cringe) game will help cleanse his palate of the shitty games he's always playing, to which he agrees. The main character doesn't even know who the girl crushing on him is by the way. I'm not joking. It's so fucking stupid and annoying I can't believe I wasted 3 hours of my life watching this garbage. I'm obviously only writing this review to ramble myself, which I think I've reserved the right to do after having listened to the protagonist's rambling dialogue for a whole 9 episodes.

I could also talk about how many horrible design decisions there are in this supposedly 'godly' game that has over 30 million active players, but that would be even more time of my day that I'm throwing away, so let's not do that.

So should you watch Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su? No. If you're thirsting for some escapism, just play an actual videogame. Then, you might even feel some adversity, as opposed to what you will get from watching this frankly brainless anime.

You know this one is kind of flying under the radar. I will be the first to say its not exactly a masterpiece. But I'll be damned if it isn't fun. Most RPG and Isekai animes are ass, lets be real. This is one that doesn't pull any weird stuff, no truck-kun sending some guy to another world where he is a hair straightener with the power of god and a harem of big tiddie anime waifus. Nope, just a dude playing a video game. And its WAY more relatable because of that. You can tell the person who made this *actually* plays ... video games. Its not just a plot device.

The animation isn't MAPPA slave labor level but its good. The story isn't the greatest of all time but its fun. I would definitely recommend this show for anybody who wants an easy watch.

To me, this is the surprise of the season. Nobody saw this coming, and now Shangri-La Frontier looks to be the most promising new Anime in terms of pure raw appeal. If you're still not sold on the show yet, may I suggest you go to YouTube and look for an extended PV of about 4 minutes. It'll be all anyone needs to be sold right then and there.

Plot: The synopsis more than adeptly summaries the plot without delving into spoiler territory. It's essentially, 'can you beat the game?' Though, that's just the initial hook, everything that follows can only be properly communicated through experience. ... It may seem like a standard isekai, though let me assure you it's not. It's much, much better than people realise.

Characters: With the few characters that have been introduced thus far, everyone seems to have a charm about them. For instance, a couple of minor characters, a boy and girl he has a crush on, with almost negligible screentime, have more to them compared to most MCs. Then there is our MC, who is a package of entertainment himself. Add to that a weird but crazy powerful knight, who has a secret agenda, and a whole host of interesting and unique characters. Even the NPCs look and feel awesome.

Animation: This is by far best Animated show of the season so far. Everything about it is just oozing quality. From the terrific backgrounds, to the subtle lighting, to the absolutely gorgeous motion, to fully animated 2d creatures and monsters, to the most promising combat animation in a while, you can't praise it enough for how good it is.

A special mention for the OP and ED, both looked as if they could have been part of a huge franchise without any problems.

Music: The background music is solid so far. It does it's job commendably without ever lagging or feeling dissonant. It does exactly what it should do, compliment what's going on in the screen.

For a moment, the OP really caught me off guard. It sounded so energetic and dynamic that it reminded me of what good J-Rock sounds like. It's very easy to mistake it for an AOT op, or a hardcore Shounen OP. The ending too is extremely well done in terms of music, quite a contrast to the OP.

Enjoyment: Without a doubt, I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far. There is something for almost anyone here, no matter what your tastes may be. I really can not recommend this Anime enough. Please do consider seeing the extended PV, you'll be sold more than my words can ever manage.

Solidly put together, decent writing, and above average animation. There is nothing about this show that is over the top special, but it is consistently good and enjoyable in about every measure. If "overpowered shounen level up in a fantasy world" is the kind of thing that sounds up your alley then just watch this show because it does the genre very well.

I have really enjoyed the feel of the show and general direction of the story. This show has all kinds of elements that I enjoy in an anime and it has very few things that I could criticize. I am generally a ... somewhat critical watcher but this show has me just sitting back and enjoying the show. If you can suspend you disbelief about how logical the game Shangri La itself would actually be with so much unique content made that only 1 person or group out of 30 million is ever going to experience, but besides that kind of inconsistency the show uses the video game angle pretty effectively as a plot device.

I have been impressed with some of the fight scenes, their length, and frequency. The first season so far has not lacked for action and the other pleasant thing is that the animation quality of fights and just in general has been consistently good and I haven't noticed them cut corners in one place to have time for something else, it seems like they took their time to make this show just how they wanted it.

I also appreciate the slow burn of a potential love-interest with the character. Making that a very small and slowly progressing aspect of the story is preferable to me to a lot of the love at first sight stories we often see, or worse yet, harem-building.

I didn't know anything about this show coming in and was ready to enjoy some random trash but this show turned out to be a great surprise.

This show is so bad that I have to wait 7 whole days to watch the next episode! Like how crap can you be to make a top tier anime, and then just make me wait after every new episode for another episode. It is a total nightmare! I want all the episodes now! BTW, I absolutely love this show! I'm on episode 5 and every week leaves me wanting the next episode more then the last. If you like isekai/video game world based anime, this anime is likely for you. Gamer/isekai needs ftw. This show is like Sao minus all the nightmares that Sao ... solely focuses on.

This guy is what the chic from bofuri needs for a chance at kids with normal stats.
In a nutshell the mc is in an rpg. So fights give him xp and the usual stuff. Sunraku(mc) has no time for defense and armour and instead bets everything on agility, stamina and luck.
Thus, every decent enemy can ko him with a good slap but they first have to match his cat like reflexes and battle instinct. The result is some really tense battles. Every close miss feels so cool since it could have ended him. And of course the animation is amazing. Matches up to anything the ... big studios have.
The only crime is how low its rated here on mal, i think its at least an 8.4. great action, lots of it, great animation, decent story, minimal plot armour.
An edit: called it too early. Gets boring really fast esp exposition episodes. Fights have evolved into single frames of big moves; animation on martial arts moves almost non existant. Cant rate this 10 anymore its a 7 at best

Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su is an anime with good ideas but between good ideas and errors the final impression on me was neutral.

In this story we follow the player specialized in bad games known as Sunraku who, after a long time trying all kinds of bad games, decides to play a virtual reality game known as the best game today, Shangri-la Frontier. This is the basis of the entire story since the anime.

The premise of a story that takes place in a game world isn't exactly new, but this anime pleased me at first because it didn't resort to the ... cliché of the protagonist being trapped in the game or taken to another world like any Isekai, however, this point is harmed when the author does not add any other form of risk to the plot. In both the real and virtual worlds, there is no risk of anything serious happening that could permanently affect anyone in this story, which means that all the scenes that should be exciting are empty because there is nothing at stake.

As this is not a story about risks, the plot could focus on the gameplay of Shangri-La Frontier but the author does this in a very frustrating way. When showing any kind of training, the lack of stakes makes it a bit tedious to watch because our heroes are going to get what they want and have nothing to lose if they fail, they can die all they want and nothing really matters. But if watching these training sessions already seems like a waste of time, it only gets worse when the characters almost always just say that they acquired a new skill off-screen and that it works in a very arbitrary way.

Our protagonist is a pleasant surprise as he is not the typical loser or edge protagonist, in fact from the little that the script allows us to see it is possible to notice that he has friends and is loved in his social circle, it is a shame that there is no narrative arc for he. Sanraku learns nothing that leads to personal growth or that leads to any change in perspective from the beginning to the end of the story.

The human secondary characters suffer from a lack of screen time in the real world because even with how little the story shows, I was really interested in finding out more about Oikatzo and Pencilgon. In the end, the character that had something closer to a development arc was Pencilgon but as we know very little about her and most of it is from other characters' statements, we can only believe that she changed but we didn't see that change.

The animation is quite decent because if it doesn't shine like some contemporary shounen anime, at least it doesn't displease. The fights, although they don't have very good choreography, are not bad to watch due to the quality of the animation, but they end up suffering from a lack of emotion due to the lack of risks that I mentioned before.

In short, Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su practically cancels out its successes with its mistakes, which gave me an experience that was neither good nor bad, it was empty and neutral. I don't see it as a waste of time to watch it, but don't expect it to leave a deep impression on you, whether negative or positive.

This actually surprises me. This is a very good anime that everyone should watch, especially if you also watch SAO. The concept is very similar to that of SAO, or should I say this anime is inspired by SAO? However, this anime is more creative in terms of the scenario in the game.

The MC is a veteran gamer, so he is very skilled in the game that he was playing. I think most people will love the MC for his personality or how he acts. The plot is very interesting so far and still manages to keep me watching the anime.

Even though the concept is ... very similar to that of SAO, the story itself seems more unique and interesting, with a good world building inside the game, and I'm hoping that this anime won't rush the main plot like SAO did.

Dont judge by its rating.how can people enjoy this throughout 25 episodes and still dint get bored.Its just an anime about a guy playing vr games and his daily life(sometimes).
The real life of the mc is very realistic and relatable for me but not the gamer part
The animation is topnotch and until episode 5 it will keep you engaged. But after that anime gets hella boring

Boring means not saying hypothetically ,just straight up boring.its so boring that you can skip straight up from ep10 to ep15 and still can understand whats happening.Its just they are playing games and the enemies have changed nothing much. ...

characters appear out of nohere..The mc is always shouting.its supposed to be a funny anime but Nothing comedy or funny i can remember moments.Emotionless characters etc. If the characters die you know they will be back as its just a game.

The only thing i was interested in the girl who have a crush on mc but cant tell him.. Even she try its always that romvom shit where someone stops them or the mc or the girl got a phonecall or email and then say "ahh nothing" Ir " Ahh sorry i gotta go" Shit.

I was excited how their relationship will develop but her screentime is only half of the anime.

If you have watched the whole anime without skipping bruh you are a god of persistent or you have a bad taste

Shangri-la Frontier is a refreshing departure from the high-stakes, death-game narrative prevalent in the VRMMO genre. Instead of the usual imminent danger of real-life consequences, the anime focuses on a quirky ensemble of characters enjoying the virtual world, offering a delightful and nostalgic portrayal of kids simply having fun in a game—a welcome contrast to the often intense and serious tone of similar titles like the .Hack series, SAO, and Log Horizon. What sets "Shangri-la Frontier" apart is its seamless blend of fast-paced battles and silly humor. The adrenaline-pumping action sequences keep viewers on the edge of their seats, while the lighthearted banter and comedic ... situations provide much-needed moments of levity. This balance ensures that the anime remains dynamic and engaging, appealing to both fans of intense combat and those who enjoy a more straightforward, humorous approach.

Surprisingly a good and refreshing anime.

ENJOYABILITY:
Brings out that same excitement when you first play a new MMORPG and just want to explore the world. Overall, just great vibes from the very first episode.

ART and ANIMATION:
Pretty much THE best animation quality this season besides major triple A entries like JJK. Art-style is pretty good as well.

STORY:
Simple story and plot - which is fitting for this type of anime. The story sets up how vast the world is, which brings out more interest from the viewer. Not at all unique in terms of story, but is definitely refreshing as it is executed perfectly - it's ... basically a stress free and NO-BS version of SAO.

JUST WATCH THIS ANIME BRUH

Just overall really fun!

It may be somewhat stupid in its premise and cringy/predictable with its execution sometimes, but it definitely managed the recreate the childish wonder and enjoyment I used to experience watching classic isekais when i was a lot younger. Not for anime snobs who are looking for refined writting and take themselves too seriously.

they want me to give more information to be able to publish this review, but i dont want to express more than I have with the beginning paragraph so here are some filler words that should make it possible for me to post this.

Shangri-La Frontier: Unveiling the Game-Changer

Genre Trio: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

A blend that's not just a cocktail of clichés but a masterclass in genre synergy.
Video Game Anime: Breaking the Mold

Shangri-La Frontier defies the 'isekai' norm, ditching RPG mechanics lectures and tasteless buffs.
No scummy villains, no over dramatic crying; just a guy enjoying a game without risking his real-life sanity.
Raw Appeal Unleashed: An Unexpected Surprise
...
Buckle up for an anime that's not only a visual spectacle but also a narrative powerhouse.
With animation that puts others to shame, characters with charm, and music that hits the right notes, Shangri-La Frontier emerges as the season's dark horse.
In a world where anime often falls into predictable tropes, Shangri-La Frontier is the breath of fresh air we didn't know we needed. Forget the clichés; this is the real game-changer! 🎮✨

9/10 For me.

Just wow. It's been a looooooooooooong time since I've wanted to drop a show less than halfway through the first episode. I made myself watch a couple more just to make sure but nope, there isn't any redeeming qualities unless watching good animation is the most important thing to you.

It continuously feels like the writer learned about games from a faraway land where no one makes or plays them. He was just out walking in the forest behind his house and happened to find a usb stick poking out of the mud, and in it was a collection of game reviews by Taylor Swift written ... in hieroglyphics. Honestly, I feel like even if I was 12 years old and this was the first anime I ever watched, I would still hate it just as much. I mean, I rated Boruto 1/10 and I like it more than this show.

I wish this could fall into the "so bad it's good" category, but I couldn't even laugh at how absurd it is. Watch literally anything else instead.