Review of Shangri-La Frontier

While this show has been rather enjoyable, there are some things that I would have done differently as the writer. The dialogue alone can be irritating, especially when they use terms from back in the 2010s like “broseph”, but it can also be hilarious, at times. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much while watching an anime. There have been so many new, fantastic anime coming out that I have watched or want to watch and I think now is the time to start showcasing my writing skills with my thoughts on all of the anime I’ve seen since, like, 2015; which is quite a few, but not nearly enough compared to other reviewers like Anime America, the YouTube channel.

Back to Shangri-La Frontier. The animation is subpar compared to something along the lines of Heavenly Official’s Blessings, which features a more 3D-like animation, whereas Shangri-La is more 2D. Not to say that it’s a bad thing. However, the fight scenes alone are pretty fucking epic, but not quite up to par with those in say My Hero Acadamia.

Another problem with the show is that while the characters in-game become stronger, I don't see much character development in the actual characters themselves that advances the story. SunRaku doesn’t seem to change or care how he treats some of the NPCs in-game, mostly Emul. Other anime have come out recently where the character growth is important for the story, like Frieren, Beyond Journey’s End. Frieren actively changes her perspective on the human race after spending a long time adventuring with one, to hardly knowing anything about the man when he passed. Pencilgon seems to have changed for the better after the Weathermon fight and Setsuna’s memory or ghost (whatever you wanna call it) finally moving on.

Ahh, the opening and ending credit music. Something that some anime watchers just skip over once they’ve heard the music at least once. For me, it depends on whether or not I like the music. With Shangri-La, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first season’s openings, but the second season, man…. It is SO GOOD!! I love the simplicity of the 2nd season’s second opening. While the first season’s openings were more rock or heavy metal, “Frontiers” by Awich is more R&B, which isn’t a style of music I normally like, but it makes sense with this song and opening animation as well.

I will admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the dialogue throughout the first two seasons. The 2010s terminology, while funny at times, did begin to annoy me as we came to the end of season two. When I was watching Shangri-La, I wasn’t thinking about the dialogue demonstrating how gamers talk over chat. As someone who didn’t play video games in my childhood, I didn’t think of the possible perspective that Katarina (the original web series writer) was trying to convey with the dialogue that she wrote for her characters.

Overall, I thought this was a decent new anime to hit the scene, and I’m looking forward to season three. I’m hoping for some new faces and to see some new towns (with more creative names) that include epic showdowns as well. Season three is set to come out in 2026!