• - -

_

SPOILERS for Shangri-La Frontier below!_

• - -

ProductionFirstly, lets talk production. In terms of animation this anime is clearly above average, Shangri-La Frontier is host to a plethora of environments that all have a distinct and memorable feel to them thanks to the outstanding background art. In particular, I thought Wethermon's arena and the Prismatic Forest Grotto were especially well designed, the monotone color palette used in Wethermon's arena creates a more somber and lonely feeling environment, while the Prismatic Forest Grotto is a vibrant forest hideaway, drawn completely in a style that is more akin to a painting than a drawing. Similarly, action sequences are also treated to some great animation, with every fight being consistent in quality.

Sound overall was really good as well, I wasn't the biggest fan of some tracks that played during dialogue, but they never harmed the experience in a major way. The more fantasy themed woodwind tracks in particular were really excellent, tracks like the one that play at the beginning of episode 15 really helped in setting the correct tone for the scene. Another moment that just impressed me to no end was the smithing scene in episode 11, the way the sound of the hammer acts as the metronome for the song that starts playing is just genius sound design. Aside from songs, sound effects in general were good as well, everything was high quality and clear sounding, and action scenes made great use of chunky sound design to enhance the feel of collisions and explosions.

Plot & CharactersThe writing of Shangri-La Frontier in general is very cheesy. Lots of cringeworthy dialogue, done to death tropes, and a story that is just too simplistic to get at any deeper themes or meanings. A simplistic plot isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there are times where the plot just feels like its moving from point A to point B without any nuance, which made some episodes a bit of a slog to get through. Some episodes also largely took place in games that weren't Shangri-La Frontier, which I felt impacted the pacing in a negative way. Writing wise Shangri-La Frontier makes up for some of its flaws in its action, the fight scenes are all well written and make extensive use of the setting being a video game world, with characters using game mechanics and items to overcome challenges, every action scene was engaging in some way. This is especially true for the Wethermon arc, which I think is the high point of the show.

The plot also suffers from a lack of meaningful stakes, due mostly to the fact that none of the characters can actually get injured or die due to the setting being a standard video game. There is a noticeable lack of tension in most of the action scenes because you know that even if the character gets injured in some way, they will eventually recover/respawn and be perfectly fine, only losing some items or currency. This is not a problem in some scenes where the characters put a lot of money or resources into a single fight, or when an encounter is time limited, but for the majority of the action the lack of real consequence for failure makes it hard to feel as stressed as the characters do in the moment.

Speaking of characters, the characters of Shangri-La Frontier are about as simplistic as the plot is, none of them get an extensive backstory or have any major growth as a character, and they largely only have 1 or 2 traits that really define them. The dialogue between characters had its flaws too, there were a few points while watching where I thought it just sounded unnatural and over the top, even for a gamer. More specifically I felt this way about how some of the characters would provoke each other and start arguments over things in the game, it just felt random at times and didn't add much to the scenes where it happened. I will say that despite this, the characters antics were still fun to watch, which I think is partially due to the great voice acting. The majority of characters while not having a very deep or complex relationship with other characters, still had fun dynamics with each other that resulted in some genuinely funny jokes and entertaining dialogue, though I still wish that the relationship between some characters was explored in a little more detail. I'm especially heartbroken over Setsuna and Arthurs relationship not being expanded upon, all we really get to know is that they are close to each other, but we don't get to see how they got to know each other or any of their past dialogue, I think this in particular was a big missed opportunity by the author to include a more emotional character arc in the show.

ConclusionPROS: + Amazing overall production + Very entertaining fight scenes that make good use of the setting + Simple but fun character relationships

CONS:

• No deeper themes or messages are explored
• Plot isn't very focused for the majority of the show
• Lack of tension in most action scenes

If you are looking for well produced and written fight scenes wrapped up neatly in a well designed game world, with a more simple storyline and characters to move the action along, then this is a worthy watch. If you want something deeper to dig into in terms of plot or characters, then you might be better off watching something else.