REVIEW: ‘Shangri-La Frontier’ Season 2 Understands Gamers

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 contains great action scenes and strenuous expository narration, but it never fails to entertain. Setting itself apart from other VR video game anime, mangaka Katarina masterfully understands how MMORPG gamers think. This season branches out the world, and the characters, leaving off on a cliffhanger across multiple games.

Shangri-La Frontier follows Rakuro Hizotome aka Sunraku (Yuma Uchida) who only cares about one thing: beating crappy VR games. He spends his entire life playing buggy games and can clear them all in his sleep. One day, he challenges himself and plays the popular god-tier game called Shangri-La Frontier (SLF). But he quickly learns just how difficult it is. Using his skills from other VR games, he hopes to uncover every hidden secret the new VRMMO has to offer.

Toshiyuki Kubooka directs Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 at studio C2C, with the series composition by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, character designs by Ayumi Kurashima, and music by MONACA. Award-winning musician/singer LiSA performs “QUEEN” for the first cour’s opening theme song, and singer-songwriter otoha performs the closing theme song, “Dancer in the Dark Night”

For the second cour’s opening theme, the proclaimed queen of Japanese Rap, Awich, makes her anime music debut with “Frontiers.” CVLTE performs “realitYhurts.” for the second cour’s ending song. Both cours’ music themes go hard, but arguably, the second cour has the best music themes matching the hype levels of Shangri-La Frontier Season 2.

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 expands Sunraku’s games beyond SLF.

The second season picks up with the kusoge-loving Sunraku, who gains new allies, encounters new enemies, and discovers new areas to explore. Sunraku’s gaming circle extends beyond SLF, setting this season apart from the first. While his main companions/rivals are OiKatzo/Kei Uomi (Makoto Koichi) and Arthur Pencilgon/Towa Amane (Yôko Hikasa), Sunraku gains a ton more friends, even though he prefers to play solo.

Uchiba’s voice acting talent carries the show whenever Sunraku works out solutions to the hurdles before him. He captures the true gamer spirit through Sunraku’s failures and victories—always so boisterous and expressive.

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 comprises 25 episodes, but doesn’t waste a single one. As the series focuses on SLF, it doesn’t shy away from introducing other games Sunraku plays. Since he plays a lot of VR games, there isn’t a clear separation of arcs for the season. Rather, the arcs are sequestered by each bonus unique scenario in SLF or an event happening in another game.

The season’s first quarter shifts Sunraku’s solo mentality as his three-person guild, Wolfgang, allies with three other guilds: Schwarzer Wolf, Library, and SF-Zoo. They ally to exchange information about Unique Scenarios and Monsters, including the Seven Colossi and Rabituza.

The best part about Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 is how Sunraku is never pigeonholed into one strategy to overcome his challenges or enemies. This also means Sunraku doesn’t just focus on playing one game to transfer skills in SLF. When Sunraku reaches an impasse in SLF in Episode 6, he hops onto one of his old VR mech fighting stomping grounds, Nephilim Hollow, which resembles the Armored Core games mixed with Titanfall.

Small moments between gamers raise the show’s authenticity.

In Nephilim Hollow, he reunites and battles old rivals Rust and Mold. After a few mech-fighting episodes, Sunraku gains information from Rust and Mold about the secret of the unique scenario for Ctarnidd of the Abyss. They all agree to meet in SLF’s fifteenth city Fifticia where they can plan and start the questline. This information exchange feels like any natural conversation among gamers.

Someone who plays Monster Hunter Wilds and Final Fantasy XIV may run into and exchange information across games if they recognize the same in-game names (IGNs), or if they’re already friends in real life. The genres don’t have to match either. Counter Strike 2 players could be talking about new Champ builds in League of Legends. Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 smoothly incorporates this reality with Sunraku, raising the show’s authenticity as a whole.

From Nephilim Hollow, Sunraku returns to SLF, where he stumbles into a rematch with his unique monster nemesis, Lycagon, on his way to Fifticia. This time, he has his trusty Rabbituza NPC ally Emul (Rina Hidaka) and alliance members Psyger-0/Rei Saiga (Azumi Waki), and Akitsuakane (Yuka Terasaki) to help him—along with Akitsuakane’s NPC companion and one of Emul’s older brothers, Ceecrue (Natsuki Hanae).

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 Episodes 11-14’s animation is electrifying, as everyone fighting Lycagon uses various combos together. Even though Sunraku has cool moments in his 1v1 fights, these group battles add a nice change of pace, much inspired by games like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls when they are taking down unique monsters. Sunraku’s leadership skills shine in group battles too, as shown through various team-ups in Season 1 and the latter third of the season.

Another significant point in Shangri-La Frontier Season 2’s animation is the distinct animation styles of the real world versus some of the game worlds. The real world and SLF are animated similarly, but there are stark differences when Sunraku plays Nephilim Hollow and Galaxia Heroes. Nephilim Hollow employs quick mech movements, so the art style blends 2D and 3D techniques to execute dynamic fights. In Galaxia Heroes, the animation blends inspiration from old dot-print comics like in the old Marvel or Archie comics, with newer 3D techniques.

The 25-episode season also allows Sunraku to fail—something numerous mainstream shonen anime rarely emphasize. Both seasons of Shangri-La Frontier show Sunraku failing and dying to difficult monsters other players. The story paces Sunraku’s battles superbly as he learns from each obstacle, whether he’s in immediate combat or collecting information for a future fight.

Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 brings another hefty 25 episodes of pure entertainment, bridging gaps between otakus and gamers. Sunraku is pushed to his limits but warms up to working with others to overcome difficult foes. The second season expands the cast and new areas, offering new backdrops, going as far as introducing the esports scene in this depiction of Japan. Whatever faults are present in this season are overshadowed by its strengths tenfold.

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

Catch up with other season reviews:
Season 1