REVIEW: ‘Shangri-La Frontier’ Season 2 Episode 1 — “Half-Naked Birdman and the Gang in Golem Paradise”

Shangri-La Frontier returns with an extensive, deeper dive into the dangerous, intriguing MMO world that shares the same name as the title of its manga and light novel. Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episode 1, “Half-Naked Birdman and the Gang in Golem Paradise,” provides an excellent, snippy transition from where Rakuro Hizutome, or Sunraku in-game, (Yuma Uchida) and the many plot points left off. The first season has a strange finale because it genuinely leaves off introducing so much to the Shangri-a Frontier world but screams the tone of ‘tune in next week to find out more,’ only for fans to wait a few months for this new season.

The stunning visuals continue to be animated by C2C, with the content remaining to be pulled from the mind of Katarina (creator of the light novel and manga). Even the production has returned, ensuring the quality and animation style will be fluid from season 1. Toshiyuki Kubooka also directed this episode, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu wrote the script. It’s great that the animation is just as pretty as last season, showing off the vibrant flames and embers that drift off in one scene.

The opening theme song for Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 is “QUEEN,” performed by the famous Japanese artist LiSA, who sings the iconic themes for Sword Art Online, Fate/Zero, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. otoha performs the ending theme, “Dancer in the Dark Night. ” The music video was just released a week before the season 2 premiere, and it is really on brand with the rock and roll beats for an action anime like Shangri-La Frontier.

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episode 1 seamlessly introduces the premise of the show. Rakuro transitioned from beating buggy, crappy VR games to one of the most intricately-designed MMO games called Shangri-La Frontier. After Sunraku teamed up with Towa Amane, aka Arthur Pencilgon (Yoko Hisaka), and Kei Uomi, aka OiKatzo (Makoto Koichi), to take down one of the Seven Colossi, he wanted to continue the game story. But to do so, he needed to get a magical operations unit.

The first scene re-introduces Sunraku’s now-balanced party consisting of his trusty, cute vorpal rabbit NPC companion Emul (Rina Hidaka); Bilac (Miyu Tomita), Emul’s older sister and the now-Ancient Craftsman thanks to Sunraku leveling her up; and Aramiyas (Hiromu Mineta), who has a strange obsession with Bilac, and is the Master Swordsman of the Cait Siths in Cazzeria. The ragtag team is traveling through a golem-infested area, with some of them resembling the explosive droids from Star Wars Jedi Survivor.

This first battle scene with the main party against the newly-introduced golems is a fantastic way to hook audiences back to what they loved from season 1. It contains crisp animated action and excellent dialogue back-and-forth of Sunraku figuring out how to beat the new enemies. Also, it shows how the party works together as a team for the first time.

One of the major mysterious cliffhangers from season 1 is Sunraku meeting someone named the Professor—no, not the one from Netflix’s Money Heist. The Professor has the avatar of a Magical Girl but the voice of an older gentleman, a surprising twist. This plotline gets somewhat sorted here, too, in Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episode 1.

The episode ends with some not-so-happy Pencilgon and Katzo eyeing Sunraku and his party from a nearby cliff since he was seen ghosting an email from Pencilgon from season 1. This is a cool way to re-introduce those characters while teasing more to come. It would have been nice to see Rei Saiga, aka Psyger-0, in this episode, but she should have some scenes soon. Hopefully, Rei’s story will get fleshed out more in the real world.

While most viewers are interested in world-building, offline connections are just as enjoyable in Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episode 1. Hopefully, Rei will finally have the courage to speak to Rakuro and not immediately confess her feelings. It will also be more interesting to learn who the Professor is in real life. Based on the trailer, Sunraku will also be dealing with building a clan, so that could be another layer. This also opens the possibility of many new characters being introduced this season.

Overall, Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episode 1 is off to a great start. The animation is still clean in these dynamic fights; the tension and comedic beats are timed well (Aramiyas’ flirtations with Bilac are really questionable); and the storytelling offers many fascinating plot crumbles for audiences to nibble on.

Will this season see a rematch of the newly improved Sunraku versus Lycagon the Nightslayer, and will Sunraku beat it? Only time will tell with this season’s story.

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episode 1 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.