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Shangri-La Frontier is perhaps the best ongoing shounen series. (As of chapter 85)

It ticks all the boxes:

Rivalry between parties

All encompassing story arc journeys

Friendship/camaraderie

... The final end goal the cast wants to achieve

Amazing fights

(spoilers here)

ALL of this without a single need for real people to die. There is barely any sappy romance or bullshit in this series. The genuine excitement and competition from all the different factions who wish to search for unique monsters/events seeps through the page, you cant help but root for them.

The world of SLF is a MMO that actually makes sense game design wise. Players always try breaking the game in creative ways. Hoard and explore almost every nook and cranny. Form parties just to hunt a single unique monster. Actually plan for boss raids.

The main character actually fails his first fight with a boss, and when he does succeed its because two other insane and rich enough players used extensive planning and quick thinking to fell a mighty foe.

The tryhard gang, Pencilgon, Sunraku and Oicazzo have such good chemistry, undercutting each other in funny ways while always having each other's backs

Find the McGuffin quests are never a slob and actually turn out with results rather than prolong the story for another 500 chapters.

It has been a while since an action series has made me giddy with excitement while i look forward to each new chapter. 10/10.

Long story short, this is a simple yet well executed shounen series. I will wait in bated breath for each new chapter.

Short version:
It's brainless fun, meant to be enjoyed by people who don't mind shallow narratives.

Story: 3 (MAJOR SPOILERS)
The first few arcs were quite a joy to read, off to a good start. Despite the ridiculous premise of fire fighters literally using fire to kill walking flaming monsters, I was very immersed in the premise. The world the characters reside in was so real and alive, even the minor details were considered. Characters had enough time to shine and had excellent chemistry. The mystery of Spontaneous Human Combustion was very intriguing. The more I ... read, the more I got addicted.

Then we are introduced to the first major villain, Company 5 commander, Captain Hibana. Then she gets defeated in literally one chapter and crushes on our MC, the conflict is then resolved in the next chapter and everyone is friends again! Then it turns out the Infernals were artificially created, oh turns out the fleas cause Spontaneous Human Combustion, oh turns out the fleas came from the extra-dimensional realm called the nether, oh turns out alien demons are responsible, now moles can talk, a bunch of KKK pyromaniacs are trying to turn all of humanity into Infernals, everyone one their mom is so concerned about this adolla burst flame (which the MC has), the holy tokyo empire were lying about the origins of the Infernals, blah blah blah.....

In summary, the pacing is way too fast, the plot has too many elements introduced in it, too many unnecessary characters, there is no narrative weight or impact in the later chapters due to the sheer amount of plot threads. It feels like I'm being wrangled by the neck whenever I read the next chapter.

Art: 9
It is such a shame that a story like this gets such fine art. Every characters' design looks cool as shit, except for Tamaki. The powers and fight scenes are very entertaining, and even more ultra badass in the anime. The use of lines and gradients really look unique and breath life into the story, it feels like the characters are actually moving.

Characters: 7
Solid job establishing the goals and motivations of the cast, even the supporting cast. However, the score was lowered because of my pet peeves on Hibana's story arc and Tamaki just existing in the story juz cuz fan service. Additionally, the much cooler guys like captain Benimaru, Joker, Karim and captain Obi are sidelined in exchange of just Shinra and more KKK arsonist shenanigans.

Enjoyment: 5
The worst thing any piece of entertainment, no matter good or bad, no matter the medium, should never do is to bore the audience. It is meant to entertain, via mystery, via story, via presentation.
But in this case, the mangaka is force feeding the story down my throat. When I read the later chapters, it felt too overwhelming, which dampens the reading experience. You literally get flooded by the amount of shit that occurs. One moment it's Company 8 Helping reconstruct a destroyed Asakusa and slowly earning the trust of a reluctant anti Tokyo Empire Captain. Next thing, Shinra's little brother is teleporting by bending space with his fire powers. Next thing, Haijima (the heavily hinted to be major bad guys) is completely forgotten and the KKK wants to burn the world to return to their god.
The tone is so all over the place, it caused me to go into a stroke from the sudden change in pacing.
For god's sake slow down the pacing.

Overall: 4
I'd only recommend this series to people who only enjoy action. There's just too many flaws to be an acceptable story in my eyes. I personally feel that the mangaka is just unsure of the direction he is heading with the story and it clearly shows.