#sunraku slf

[duskneko]

can't stop thinking about some of the god awful game design choices in Shangri-la Frontier (the game itself in the anime/manga, though i haven't read the manga yet) so imma rant under the read more

like why the fuck do they not explain what any of the classes do Sunraku was completely unaware that he would be dropped in a random place outside of the starting town and was forced to skip the whole ass tutorial. and like yea he could've gone to the starting town to initiate a tutorial but why the fuck should he have to do that when he probably would've figured all the basic shit down by the time he got there. Why isn't the game programmed to explain the skill combining stuff in the second town for players like him? and then he gets made fun of for it instead of like the game devs themselves??

and then there's the fucking stats system why do they only give points for the player to distribute instead of having the stats naturally go up and then give the player extra points to distribute like most games that have a stat distribution system (thank you smt). and like at first it's presented that they go up naturally (like the wanderer class Sunraku chooses says that it has higher luck growth) and yea stats only have a certain chance of going up in some areas EXCEPT the stats have never gone up naturally by leveling up bc there's no way his health should still be at fucking 30 at level fucking 50 if they every went up naturally

and don't get me started with the fucking Unique Scenarios and Monsters and the NPC dying mechanics like why the fuck would you make an ONLINE game where certain bosses and all NPCs die permanently who in their right mind would fucking do this

the only reason players aren't that affected by this is bc most of the players in this story don't actually care about the story or what the full extent to what the game has to offer bc they're too busy goofing off ingame and it makes me question how fucking awful the gaming culture is in this world where most people just ignore the main shit the game offers

so anyway "God-tier" game my ass

[therestofmyfandoms]

so ive been watching shangri-la frontier lately - because its amazing - and ive been watching both the dub and the sub. mostly because i usually watch anime dubbed, but ive been so into the story that ive been watching the subs to stay on top of it

and oh boy oh my god. ive seen people talking about how good the show is, and how much sunraku sounds like a japanese gaming youtuber n stuff. but no one has been talking about how much work the dub has been putting in??? sunraku has been saying so much streamer slang that i double over laughing rewatching. "poggers" "suh dude" "f in the chat" dude im going feral over this show i love this so much

[snbossart]

Sunraku Sketch

[jjs-brainrot]

My beloved trio: Pro-Gamer (hrt could fix them), LetMeSoloHer (bird mask edition) and Lesbian Murderhobo

[thatgirlonstage]

Shangri-La Frontier and Re:Zero have both hacked a fantasy isekai where they don’t have to give their protagonist the normal amount of plot armor because they *can* die over and over and it’s Mostly Fine and I just think this is a very funny two nickels situation

[fluffyblue-multifandommess]

i made a sunraku mini on hero forge please enjoy

[bebackthen]

bird posting

[beatnikbedlam]

“Emul being adorable” moodboard bc why not

[ship-of-skitties]

a very neat bit in SLF (series) is sur-vile was able to simulate pain perfectly and that sparked outrage and got it heavily regulated. later in the ctarnidd encounter, sunraku notes that "this is messing with our emotions! that's really neat! but also creepy and if this got to the public SLF would be regulated like sur-vile"

[crehador]

one thing i love about slf is how hard it subverts the hot girl harem trope. like yeah you have the mc playing as a guy whose party is all girl avatars. but literally none of them are into him (and the one girl who's into him is Big Time Struggling to get into the party REI PLEASE GIRL USE YOUR WORDS YOU'RE SO OP I'M SURE THEY WOULD LET YOU IN)

like arthur is even a hot girl supermodel in real life but also a complete dick (affectionate) and her and sunraku are just absolute assholes to each other (positive) literally zero romantic tension there

then there's katzo. obligatory spunky tomboy girl of the group. and he's just some guy lmao

then there's emul. npc rabbit with a hot girl form. but sunraku is never not normal about her

maybe i'm just setting a very low bar but it's refreshing and fun! to see these interactions between people that are just. genuinely and completely there for the game

[kodanshamanga]

NEW Kodansha Print:

🎮Shangri-La Frontier, Volume 9🎮 By Ryosuke Fuji

⚔️Sunraku eagerly jumps back into SLF and embarks on a journey to meet with an acquaintance from Nephilim who promises an opportunity to learn about another of the Seven Colossi.

[therestofmyfandoms]

ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR FOLKS, BACK ON MY SHANGRI-LA POSTING

first off: i remember looking at crunchyroll maybe like a week or so ago, and was disappointed when i did not see my show yet :(

please imagine my surprise when i found out that the first episode dropped SEVERAL DAYS AGO NOW

anyway. i am like 8 minutes in. and godDAMN have i missed this show. the music is BOPPING!

[curried-mermaid]

A Review: 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

[marisandini-chu-blog]

I like to add points to this because there's so much about SLF that makes it a love letter to games and gaming community through anime.

(Warning minor spoiler alert)

The lack of real stakes that OP mention? Yo, there are real stakes in the form of tens of millions game money and rare magic items collected and bought after a year of gaming that if you fail the battle/quest you can never get them back. Failing an investment is a such a relatable stakes to any gamers.

The shy girl who has a crush on MC? Instead of continuing being static character and be the butt of a joke throughout the season for a cheap comedy, she actually grows a backbone! She manage to talk to him irl after she did it in the game! As someone shy myself that becomes more outgoing the more I play games with people, I relate to her a lot when seeing her improvement in her dynamic with the MC.

Then the Alpha bitch in game? Boy is she one of the most interesting character in the anime. She is an absolutely ruthless gamer and you can see why she becomes a Dictator in another game through her wit and charm. Inspite of that, she is not at all an edgelord. Moreover, you could tell she's a gamer through and through from her being competitive, hot-headed, being invested in story, the range of her expression. Plus, because death isn't a big consequence, we can see her enjoying PK and be able to laugh about it even though it was a dick move.

Trash talk. Lots of trash talks it felt so real. I'm more of a tabletop RPG gamer than a video gamer, but the amount of trashtalk I had with my friends when the stress is high or just being shit to each other is the highlight to most gaming experience. Seriously, any other gaming-theme anime wish they'd be this bold.

Diverse playstyle. MC's build is powerful, sure. But the narative never proclaims or established it to be OP build, simply a playstyle someone like Sunraku likes to play. They showcase build like tank with buff attacks, a build that focus their stats for attacks, someone who loves to PvP. There's just a subtle substance in the narrative that all those playstyles are as good as any other and it all depends the better gamer to make the character shine.

The importance of Role Playing. As a DnD player, it's cool to see RP becoming an integral part of of the gaming mechanic. Your dynamic and dialogues with the NPC matter, and players act accordingly to it. I have read more than a few MMO webtoon that simply being "nice" like in real life or "curry favor" to the NPC is enough to unlock hidden quest. In SLF, there's tension and weight in the scene where the MC has to carefully consider what he says and the keyword to get support.

Heck, one of the most surprising and great subvert would be how characters other than ths MC cares about the NPC. Just loving a character and the backstory is reason enough to gamble with their whole wealth is such a relatable feeling. The vibe of "Yes, the NPC is fiction, but fuck I like them and have form attachment so I wanna make them happy" is something I don't see often in video game anime without the isekai or trap-in-game troupe.

Then, there's the prep and tuning. The amount of thought in the game mechanic during a Boss Fight where the MC put the cooldown timing and weapon into a condition to create this buildup where instead of spamming attacks or a cheat OP skill, it's one strategic and powerful attack that just blow us away during the climax.

It's Okay to Fail. Anime with no deaths may not have stakes, but the feeling of failure is still there. The oppressing air of fighting an enemy so above your level, and the daunting feeling of the long climb you have to grind and train to get to that level. Without death as the stake, this story show us how to climb back up from failure, to meet the challenge in the eye and have fun growing stronger. It makes the anime that much more distinctive.

Have I said I love this anime? I love this anime

Shangri-La Frontier seems like a direct response to every annoying VR MMO trope of the last 10 years and goes out of its way to subvert them.

Invincible overpowered protagonist? Dude beefs it all the time and only gets through most encounters through pure gamer skill.

Cheat skill that gives him an unfair edge? Only if you count years of playing broken games that gave him the skills of a professional playtester.

Build thought to be underpowered is actually OP? He’s a crit stacker who was forced into an agility build bc a debuff from a superboss made him unable to equip armor, and some bosses counter his build pretty significantly.

Party full of waifus? He tries to solo most of the early content, the one friend request he gets is from a girl he barely notices exists (and whose help he explicitly turns down), his bunny npc party member can’t keep up a human form for more than 5 minutes and he calls it out as trash game design, and his other two party members are a minmaxer and a player killer that he knows from other games.

“You die in the game you die in real life?” Respawns are established as a thing in the first episode and the real stakes involve finding and completing unique content that 30 million active players haven’t experienced.

This anime is everything Sword Art Online wishes it could be.

[therestofmyfandoms]

its great to see that Sunraku's cheese strats are still plentiful. and how accurate this anime continues to be about how video games are.

his exploit for farming crystal scorpions by quickly teleporting in and out and making them kill themselves gets patched out? easy, just figure out a way to make them fall off a cliff instead, using a double-jump ability to negate the fall damage for himself.

god i fucking love this show

[therestofmyfandoms]

Rust?? the name is Rust??? god i literally cannot wait until next week ive been eyeing this character in the intro every goddamn episode pleaasssseeee let me see Rust i Beg You