Shangri-La Frontier Review (Patreon)

I thought it would be fun to review shows after we've just finished them for you guys here on Patreon. We do give a brief "out-of-10" rating when we finish a show but I always have more thoughts after the fact. I also get to declare if your guys' recs really are "trash" or not :)

The point of the show: sweaty gamer makes a name for himself in the latest Full Dive VR AAAA MMORPG etc etc. The big guilds and casual players cannot compare to this gamer because they have a skill issue and are not loremaxxing.

SLF is really the anime for us gamers. If VR technology got good enough and this god-tier game came out, I would definitely no-life the hell out of it. The anime makes a point of explaining gamer terminology like "inventory," "parrying", etc. which is pretty cool.

Sunraku's path through the main questline really tickles my gamer brain. I love discovering progression-breaking questlines, optional sidequests, and secret levels. The Lycagon questline triggered the discovery of Rabituza, which set him up for the arena gauntlet, which triggered Vysache to give him the lore hints on Wethermon, who Pencilgon just coincidentally was organizing a party to kill. These make for a great plotline and I love playing games where things like that are discoverable (just gotta plug Elden Ring here). This is SLF at its best.

The weak point is the characters. I think the writers are hoping that we find the banter between the characters enganging, but the gags become one-note and repetitive. This is crucial because we spend the most time with Sunraku and Emul, but if those interactions start getting stale then that's when I'm less engaged. Another dropped gag is Saiga's crush on Hizutome. Again, the first couple times where she barely makes any romantic progress are funny, but then it starts getting repetitive. She is a freak fr though.

The best character dynamic is the vibe between Sunraku, Oikatzo, and Pencilgon. These are just 3 sweaty gamers who want to get that bag. They don't even truly know each other IRL, but because they have history playing other games together, their gamer "shop talk" dialogue sounds fun and totally natural. In contrast to how they played those old trash games, that they take SLF so seriously also makes me interested in the mechanics and lore of SLF.

Beyond these things there's not much else to praise or criticize. SLF is nice and simple. It doesn't try to have any deeper meaning; it's simply about gaming. And because of this it's easy to enjoy!

The verdict: W recommendation. 7.5/10

-Nathan