Shangri-La Frontier Vol. 1
Author: Katarina
Illustrator: Ryosuke Fuji
Publishers: Kodansha Comics
Age Group: Older Teen
Genre: Shonen
Type: Manga
Content Warnings: Naked Hilarity
Spoilers ahead
Plot
Second-year high school student Rakuro Hizutome loves nothing more than finding so-called “trash games” and beating the crap out of them. When he decides to change things up by playing a new, god-tier VR game known as Shangri-La Frontier (aka SLF), he does what he does best: min-maxes, skips the prologue, and jumps straight into action! Rakuro may be a seasoned gamer, but a meeting with an old rival will change the fate of every SLF player forever.
Character Development
Rakuro (gamertag: Sunraku) is an interesting character. He loves trash games so when he plays SLF he can’t help but love the fluidity and lack of bugs. Though his luck is high, he’s got the worst luck you can imagine. He gets cursed by a Unique Mob: Lycagon. Which means, no clothes…good thing he can still wear his bird mask. Though… now he just looks like he’s a fetisher. He’s arrogant, gung-ho, and strategic. His play through of SLF is fun to read.
Emul is our spunky sidekick with cutesy british-esque linguistics. She’s an adorable bunny that’s not annoying and very helpful to Sunraku. She’s the daughter of “The Boss” of Rabituza, Vysache (my favorite character). She packs more of a punch than you’d think.
We get introduced to Katzo and Arthur Pencilgon/Knight during the light novel portions of the manga. It’s helpful to know these names as, if you’ve seen the TV series, they become a big deal in Sunraku’s play.
The characters each have their own unique personalities. I like that the NPCs that Sunraku comes across all have their own as well. It makes the game more immersive.
World-building
SLF is a medieval style world with long lost technology from The Age of Divinity. It’s very immersive not only in illustration but from the snippets of the forum pages we can read in the manga. We learn a lot of the world at the same time Sunraku does. This keeps the audience closely engaged in the game as much as Sunraku.
The times we aren’t in the SLF, we are in the contemporary world mostly containing Rakuro’s home and the gaming store.
Themes
Life is meant to be enjoyed so find your passion and pursue it relentlessly. There are many arguments that people come up with why that’s just not possible. In our day and age, what isn’t possible? The only thing that limits people is their thinking. If you can’t pursue it now, work towards it. Everything you do should be a stepping stone, so don’t give up.
Observations & Predictions
From what I’ve read and seen on the series, Sunraku is going to be a huge game changer for all of SLF. The gung-ho way that he adventures through SLF is quite fun to read. My hope is for more of this focus. I’m hoping he realizes there’s a girl (Rei-chan) in IRL that likes him. If not, there’s nothing lost in this series from not pursuing that route. Hopefully they can at least be friends that actually adventure together in SLF, though that hasn’t happened as of yet.
Recommendations
Sword Art Online
By: Reki Kawahara
A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life
By: Shiina Howahowa
Log Horizon
By: Mamare Touno
