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

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.

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.

Shangri-La Frontier is a very paradoxal anime. While its story follows a high schooler (we'll call him Sunraku) playing a fully-immersive virtual reality video game named Shangri-La Frontier, the series actually doesn't feel like it was made for an audience of 'experienced gamers' but rather for people that don't know much about games or how a multiplayer environment functions.

There actually isn't much to talk about because there simply isn't much going on with the anime. There is no story, no meaningful goal, the characters are just there, we know next to nothing about them, there is no backstory, no character development, you're just watching a ... bunch of people play a video game. While the anime tries to be realistic by referencing real world video games' principles, any semblance of realism is broken by the absurdly strong MC and the author's misunderstanding of players' behaviours. If you play video games a lot you'll probably notice that a good part of the show doesn't represent actual multiplayer games, MMORPGs in this case. Am I supposed to believe that out of the 30 million people playing Shangri-La, no one has ever managed to kill 'unique monsters' before Sunraku? Am I supposed to believe that no one has ever gotten a certain unique scenario before Sunraku?

The show is plagued by the author not understanding MMORPGs and him desperately trying to make the MC special. He's supposed to be special because he plays a lot of 'trash games' which makes him really good at actual good games like Shangri-La? He's supposed to be special because he skipped the game's tutorial and dumped all his stat points into Luck? He's supposed to be special because he wears no armor and a goofy helmet while every other player wears normal gear? Does the author think everyone is a normie? Has he ever played games? If this was real everyone would be playing a female avatar wearing skimpy outfits. If dumping all your stats into Luck was so good everyone would do it. Another example of the author's poor understanding is showcased when one of the game's rule is explained: the game's NPCs can die and they don't respawn. Come on, anyone knows that if this was real people would purposefully kill all the NPCs in the game to troll the developers.

As stated there isn't much to say about the characters. No one really matters except for the MC, Sunraku. He's the god-gamer himself, able to immediatly understand and deal with everything the game throws at him. The issue with Sunraku is that he's too good while every other player is utterly incompetent even though they've been playing the game for way longer than him. The MC seems like a self-insertion from the author who's just displaying his gaming fantasies. As with any good story, there is a shy and submissive female character with voluptuous breasts whose sole personality trait is being in love with the MC. Can this trope just die already? Why is it so hard to write female characters?

How do you make a series about a guy playing a video game interesting? I don't think Shangri-La has the answer. Because the anime takes place inside a game where players respawn when they die, there is no tension or stakes which creates a stalemate of ideas where nothing can evolve, so the only factor left is enjoyment.

In short, if you're very familiar with video games, chances are you'll not enjoy this anime if you think too much about it as it feels like it was written by someone that doesn't actually play video games. But if you don't or only casually play games, enjoying this series should be way easier. While the pacing of the show is very slow and the MC never stops explaining everything he's doing, the art is pretty good and the animation is clean. Apprehend the show from a pure entertainment perspective, enjoy the fights and try not to cringe at the awful humor.

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.

it is good, kinda.
i like and i don't like this anime, sometimes it kinda boring. the jokes are not that funny and its kinda cringy for me.. its average.
i enjoy it because "Action" genre and the animation is not that bad, anyone could enjoy the animation even if the story is boring or sum.. the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way in game but💀💀 i mean that was kinda strange and cringe to watch. the main characters tryna be funny but he was not. he just a silly blue bird naked, that avatar looks sucks

MMORPG themed anime, when characters take what happens to them way too seriously, become pure cringe. Everything that happens to them is in a controlled environment meant to entertain, but they act like their lives depend on it. There are ways to make it feel justified and look cool, but this is not the case here. There are no real stakes here. You are constantly reminded that this is a setting where the enemies are programmed to lose, which removes any suspense.

Add to this the refusal to show or even mention the fact that any information about games is usually monetized via video or streaming ... sites. The moment someone finds something new, you are almost guaranteed to see a video about it. Information about how to play is so abundant that it is almost impossible to find anything new in a game that has been out for more than a few weeks (or maybe days, depending on how popular the game is).

Stuff outside the game is boring and generic. Game store with physical discs aside (who the hell goes to those nowadays, let alone in the future), it feels like this is an anime with a vision of a near future from the 90s.

Anime is watchable, if you enjoy "level up" journey thing. It takes about first half of a season, then you could stick around to watch them beat some generic "unique" boss in a second half, and it gets back to the journey in the last few episodes. Boss fights have too much (shit)talking, too little action and not enough cool animation.

This one definitely fits into the mixed feelings category for me. This anime is about a gamer that plays buggy, unpopular games and exploits bugs and mechanics to the max, becoming a sort of a pro gamer in those categories, sorta inspired by "let me solo her". This takes place in an age where VR games are the norm and provide an experience similar to real life. One day he decides to pick up a triple-A MMO game and he applies his 'pro gamer' skills to that game. The fights, animation, the story - are not bad at all. But I am also not a ... fan of this basic premise at all, it ends up feeling like just another Shounen-Isekai in a costume with zero stakes on the line, I mean... okay, MC dies to a boss - boo hoo, it's just a video game. The fact that there's also a real life behind the game is not leveraged much, not much of interest happens outside the game. In the game, the plot is not bad, if it were a game I would find it interesting, the hidden quests and evolutions the MC goes through do have some appeal to them. But since we are focused on our 'God Gamer' MC play perspective... it ends up being a bit linear, he gets stronger. Don't get me wrong though it isn't a total blunder- Overall this is solid in doing what it does... but I don't feel like it makes enough use of the things that are unique about it or brings enough new things to the table to keep me interested. I might just be over Isekai'ed.

As someone who loves Dark Souls-style games, I really enjoyed the character's thinking and playstyle.

*Wethermon was excellent; the best animations were used in those segments. Hayami Show was a great choice for a voice actor.

I would add this video game-themed anime to the list of anime I like, such as Log Horizon, Overlord, and the first season of SAO. Of course, it's not a perfect anime; it has its shortcomings...

Why are those damn rabbits even there? The anime spends so much time filling up with the ridiculous rabbit kingdom and its silly rabbits. Every time Emul makes a joke or I hear that high-pitched, annoying ... voice, I turn my head to the second screen. It not only makes the anime feel more childish but also keeps it from exploring the game's world by spending too much time in the rabbits' territory.

Psyger-0, go get some therapy; you're such an obsessive and pointless character, stealing unnecessary screen time. The mini segments that appeared in the last minutes of every episode were bad and almost all of them were unnecessary; there's no need to watch when the ending comes.

For the game's world, the stories involving substantial characters, and the boss battles, I’d give an 8. However, for everything related to those damn rabbits (except Vysache), I’d want to give a 5 or 6.

So, I’ll settle on a 7 overall.

At the start, we are introduced to a protagonist who only ever played games that are so bad, they're considered unplayable. Because of this, the MC develops gaming skills that place him well above most other gamers. He then proceeds to try out a popular MMO.

The premise is that due to his mad gaming skills, he will overcome challenges in the game that would otherwise be impossible for a new gamer, and in some cases, this is true. However, one thing to note is that the MC is also extremely lucky and finds unique quests and items that also give him an edge. To me, ... these two things don’t tie very well.

What’s the point of being extremely good at a game when you get lucky with everything anyway? There is no sense of struggle. He’s just off chasing stuff to make himself even stronger and get ahead of everyone else even more. And to me, as a viewer, there’s no sense of satisfaction. There is also no sense of anticipation because I already know he is going to get what he's after, and if he doesn't, it means he's gonna get something even better.

It's not a bad anime and it's not hard to enjoy. If you want a story where the MC does some power leveling and quickly gets ahead of those who started before him and is greeted with power-boosting rewards one after another, you might like this. But if you're looking for a story where the MC has to overcome some sort of struggle, maybe it's not for you.

the trash man

I think this anime biggest plus is the main character he is so fun seeing him yelling about I am the master of trash games I can beat this new good game. is fun seeing all of the different ways. He has to do it because he's under levelness and his curse. It's what I am about. I think that is the funniest part and god I love the rabbit. She is god damn cute. I want her in every single frame.

I think the plot is fine. It is entertaining the character is very cheeky. So it is fun to listen them talk ... to each other and it has the right bro feeling to it. It's just that it's not really too much to the anime. It is what it is and what it is. Just a good fun time but nothing more nothing against it but that's just it what it is.

The fight scenes are good and it is very detaining to see him figure them out and how to do it by using his trash gamer skills. It's just that it can get too long in the tooth. It's one of the fights. I'm mostly thinking about ways. Just feels like it takes way too long but most of them are very fun because they only take one episode any short and good though out.

But the problem I have with the show is I'm trying to think about it and most of it is already gone. It is mostly it is for in the moment I enjoy it but it's gone I have watched all of the First season and I'm always forgetting most of it. It's just a fun forget about show and that's okay.

If you're on the hunt for an anime that delivers thrilling and high-octane action scenes, this one will definitely meet your expectations. The fight sequences are beautifully animated, and the choreography is nothing short of spectacular. Each battle is crafted with such intensity and excitement that you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat.

However, if you're someone who values a well-developed storyline, you might find this anime lacking. The plot is virtually nonexistent, with little to no narrative depth or progression. There are hints and glimpses of a larger story that could be compelling, and the series does attempt to lay the groundwork for ... a more intricate plot. Unfortunately, this potential remains largely untapped, and the storyline fails to come together in a meaningful way. In short, enjoy it for the action, but don't expect much in terms of a cohesive or engaging story.

Shangri-La Frontier is good, not great. It spends a lot of time on Sunraku, the main character, but fails to engage deeper with other characters. The story is relatively nonexistent, and the final episode of season 1, left me shaking my head. With 25 episodes to cook, you should be able to muster up something of significance in terms of plot, and character/character development. There is only one part of the season that gets that right. This is around episode 17 if I remember correctly, and then after that, we get the remainder of the season, with no plot, and ... no direction towards what we will be expecting in season 2. It is very shallow and uninspired in the directing of this season. After finishing Undead Unluck, and then finishing Shangri La, it is night and day, when it comes to developing story and characters. They are both 20 ish episodes, but Undead Unluck uses every episode to develop its story and characters. Shangri La fails miserably at this. On the brighter side of things, it has great animation, and sound design, and arguably the best OP/OPs of the season.

Animation 10/10
- Great fight scenes, character animation and detail, one of the bright spots of this anime.
Sound 10/10
- Sick OP 1 and 2, great EDs, Great sound design throughout the anime.
Story 5/10
- The story is nearly nonexistent, the premise is a kid who plays trash games, and exploits their bugs to become OP, but that kind of game play isn't really emphasized in the game Shangri La. Sunraku does use an exploit at the very end of the series, but it has no impact. Beyond that, the story is about learning the world of Shangri La and taking down the Colossi, but again, this aspect of the season is nonexistent for most of the season. The end of season 1 leaves much to desire.
Character 6/10
- Despite enjoying the characters, I feel like Psyger0 is completely ignored, and we only get crumbs from everyone else. I wanted more cohesion between the supporting cast, but we get mostly a journey with Sunraku and Emul instead.
Enjoyment 9/10
- Looked forward to watching it week to week, and in general, enjoyed it as one of the anime you can turn your brain off and just enjoy, despite its flaws.

If you enjoy the MMORPG anime genre, then you might like Shangri La. Unfortunately, that's the only swath of anime viewer I can recommend this to.

5.5/10

I am very confused how this got a 8.07/10, this show is extremely mid by todays standard, Okay graphics and animation, okay character design, sub par plot, not great pacing, and tropes up the butt. However the thing that kept me going was the use of early 2000/2010 gaming humor that I dont hear alot these days, as someone that played alot of Vanilla wow, RuneScape, Ultima Online and FFXI some of the plot devices were amusing enough. I would say the first 13 or so episodes were a solid 6/10... maybe even a 6.5/10... but around episode 15 I realized there was a drop ... in quality that I cannot put my finger on, which really perplexes me. The drop in quality comes down to somewhere between 4.5 to 5.5 / 10 at most points, so I will average it out with the best parts at 5.5/10. And as I say in most reviews, 5/10 is average, so this is technically better then the average show, at least in its genera.

Honestly unless you are or were a huge MMORPG fan, I would just hard skip this one and save yourself the time, I doubt I will watch the next season unless I can confirm it gets better. 🤷‍♀️

An anime about watching people play video games...

[ART: 8]
The art style is clean and animated well. Vibrant colors and the environmental animation for different biomes really feel like a fleshed-out world.

[ACTION: 8]
The fight sequences are well done.
Abilities are unique and the combat from trash games are representative of the issues-turned-mechanic that you would find in actual games.

[STORY: 7]
... You feel like part of the game. The intended plot is nice, with sub quests and side stories, just like actual games.

[CHARACTERS: 6]
There is some slight character development. The characters themselves are unique. You also have trolls, furries, people that take RP way too far, PKers... just like a video game

[OVERALL: 7]
The anime is good at what it sets out to do... show the characters play a video game and progress through it.

And that's where the issue is for me personally. There is nothing serious. Although the action scenes are excellent, we as the viewer don't feel any sense of urgency or desperation. It's a video game.

Did not expect this anime to be so good. I got interested in the series because of the opening but my god did the anime deliver. The MC is super relatable if you are a hardcore gamer in MMO-like series and the way the series explored MMO games was so realistic and entertaining without it being corny like other video game-related movies or shows. The animation was stellar and I can tell that the directors really cared about this series by how much detail they put into many scenes. Though the plot line isn't super deep or serious, I do find it enjoyable, and I ... see others thinking the same. I highly recommend this series for anyone who loves video games and entertaining anime.

Just finished watching EP6 and I'm not sure I'll be finishing it. The action is fun, but it really bothers me that a level 99 fully kitted out player wasn't able to absolutely demolish a low-level noob with no gear. Either the MCs skills are completely broken, or you're telling me that the MC's rival is just super garbage at this game (and has no skills despite also being a "trash-game player"). The lack of consistency was just a bit too much for me and I wasn't satisfied with the gaming elements of it.

There were no standout characters and the love interest is completely ... unnecessary. The MC hasn't shown any traits or reason for why a classmate would be so desperate to get his attention from the get-go of the show.

I wasn’t really interested in this series at first because in my experience anime about videogames tend to be crap, but this one got quite the positive reception so I checked it out, out of curiosity, and surprisingly I found it to be fun and I enjoyed it.

Unlike other videogame anime this one doesn’t have endless exposition about how videogames work, partly because the protagonist doesn’t care about the lore of the game he plays, and partly because the director realized he could add all the information needed as quick short descriptions in or outside the HUD of the videogame for those who don’t play ... and don’t know the terminology of MMORPGs.

Since a big part of the second part it’s about a specific boss raid, it means that part of the buildup to that it’s showing the lore behind that boss, or train in order to defeat him, there is more exposition than in the first half unfortunately.

Same thing happens with the pacing, although there is no long term objective, thus it’s weird to say that the series was moving well in the first half, it was definitely faster and with more energy than the second half. But still, it makes sense when you consider that part of the second cour is the fight against a raid boss that can literally kill the characters in one hit, so they have to get around that somehow.

The show also lacks all the stuff that people that want a videogame anime don’t want to see in them, no slow moody bonding between sad people like in .hack//sign, no tons of plot points that overstuff and ruin the series like Good Night World, no pretentious and cringy sense of empowerment for playing fucking videogames like in Accel World, and no overpowered protagonists with an endless harem for a sense of a self-insert male power fantasy like, well…a lot of titles with a similar premise actually. And it’s also not an isekai or a semi isekai, thus it doesn’t feel like you are following a setting that should be natural and instead feels artificial. You know this is a videogame being played by real people, so you can adjust to the mechanics and simple lore and world building much easier.

Did I say world building? Yeah, there is some explanation behind the lore of some npcs, enemies and weapons, but because the characters don’t care much about it and don’t properly explore it, it feels short, simple and disjointed from everything else.

The show focuses on people having fun playing videogames, simple as that, and it looks like the author pays enough attention to actual mechanics and builds, since the protagonists goes full aggro focused on damage and agility with twin blades and masters parries, like the dude that solos her in Elden Ring that became a meme. I mean he even goes half naked with a short and something on his head and nothing else, like that player. Actually the whole thing feels like if From Software made a VRMMORPG, and now I kinda want to see that happening, but with their usual tone and aesthetics.

The power and level scaling feels mostly appropriate as well, since even though the main character is particularly good at videogames thanks to all his previous experience playing lots of them across different genres and implementing that knowledge and mechanics into the titular one, he still gets his ass killed easily by a secret boss that he found randomly, as it sometimes happens in videogames of this kind.

He also unlocks secret scenarios for the first time, and it’s cool to see how everyone else reacts to that in a way that feels plausible.

Oh, and I also have to mention how no one takes the game nowhere near as seriously as I have seen in other anime, so I never cringed with this title as I did with all of those other anime I mentioned earlier.

It’s not like everything about it it’s believable of course, such as the placing of the bosses and the amount of players that the game can support at the same time, among others that have been called out, but for the most part I can buy the way things in this series are presented and play out.

On top of that the series is pretty well animated, especially in its initial episodes. The character designs are typical both in and outside the videogame, but the artwork is often very good, the backgrounds are pretty great and so are the motions and special effects. The directing is quite good in portraying the parries and following every element and abilities or spells used during the fights, and even implementing the HUD and effects such as the parry confirms into them. Now that I mention that, perhaps there are some moments that deserve a seizure warning. There is some CGI but for now it’s well rendered and mixed with the rest of the visuals, even though it’ll inevitably look worse in some years. In the second half, some episodes looked and were overall worse than others, but overall it was a very well animated show.

As for the audio, the sound effects are loud, impactful and just very good as a whole, the voice acting is nothing special but properly done, and it’s funny how sometimes the seiyuus imitate the characters of others during some short lines. The soundtrack is composed mostly of electronic themes and although I’m not into that genre much, it fits the action scenes well, I otherwise prefer the more fantasy themes and the insert songs sung by the seiyuus. The openings are typical j-rock stuff and the endings are typical j-pop stuff, I liked some of them but they don’t deserve any special mention.

The thing about this show that prevents me from giving it anything more than an average score is exactly the same thing that can make it enjoyable for its target audience, there is no long term objective so what are you watching this show for? There are no antagonists besides some player killers that get disposed of quite easily and fast, there are no stakes whatsoever besides some in-game death penalty that hardly matters to these hardcore gamers anyways, and there is of course no ending.

And the characters are completely shallow, they barely have some presence and personality, and are otherwise given no immersion or characterization whatsoever beyond their play-style or short scenes of their everyday life, plus the girl that’s in love with the main character for superficial reasons acts like a creepy stalker half the time, even if it’s played as comedy.

The anime also has a comical mini segment after the ending and a similar issue that Megumi no Daigo has, the recaps at the beginning of every episode that takes away runtime from it and makes the pacing feel slower than it actually is. It’s not as bad as it is in that other series, but it’s still a problem, even more so because this series even had special recaps, outside the episode count, like that other show, were any of them even necessary? The plots in both series are extremely simple to begin with.

So those are my two cents about the show, well made in aesthetics and accessibility for its target audience or anyone else that just want to kill some time with something easy to watch, but also lacking in any actual content, substance or characterization to care for in it, which is what ultimately makes it a title that you watch casually and most likely forget about once it’s over.

It's like Sword Art Online but without any of the stakes from Sword art Online. The premise of the story is simple, a expert gamer who loves bad games finally plays a good one. The story rips a page out of your standard Isekai playbook with tropes like the main character becoming the most important and overpowered person in another world with video game mechanics being integrated into the various world systems and combat, only it makes more sense here than other Isekais because this is actually a video game.

The characters are serviceable with no one in particular standing out besides the vorpul emperor ... who's only shown up in one episode. The general animation and fight scenes look good I have no complaints about the art or music direction.

I have two main issues, one being the main reason I gave this mixed feelings the other just being a personal opinion. Like I said in the intro there are just no stakes. The plot basically has morphed into MC training to defeat a unique monster who killed him for the first time in the game. It's left MC with a mark and he's begun encountering special story specific content no one in the game has seen yet, making him a target. The show does it's best to take itself seriously and be fun, but as I watch I can't help but think "what's the point?". This anime is basically a YouTube let's play but heavily scripted. The MC won't die if he loses in game, he's not being forced to play the game because of some outside condition. This is just a kid enjoying summer playing a game with us all along for the ride which makes the anime feel pointless. He will never be harmed or have to worry about any of the threats in game affecting him because he can just respawn and have nothing bad happen to his personage Irl like in comparison to SAO where you die for real if you die in the game or log horizon where you slowly forget the outside world everytime you die. I can't quite commit to taking this show seriously or giving it a positive review when I don't feel it's even worth watching because it feels like it lacks a point. The other thing I take issue the most with is the dialogue about the perfect bug free AAA game gets pretty grating because our reality is far from this anime's premise. I can't help but roll my eyes everytime they gush about how perfect the game is.

TLDR The main reason why I have mixed feelings about this anime is it just feels like "what's the point"? It's just a guy leveling up his character and playing a video game, at least in SAO there were stakes and a reason to follow the plot. There's none of that in ShangriLa frontier so it definitely feels like a waste of time in that regard