So far, Shangri-La Frontier was a pretty fun video game-inspired story.
The romantic subplot, on the other hand, starts feeling grating.
The show needs to either do something with this subplot, or drop it.
So far, the story of our bird-headed Let Me Solo Her expy in Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su has not progressed too far — we have only seen one third of the planned 25 episodes, after all. Still, perhaps it’s time to examine this Fall’s seasonal king of cliffhangers, and see where its obligatory love side plot is going.
The story so far
Sunraku is a kusoge hunter — an enthusiast of bad quality games, the more horribly unplayable a game is, the better. One day, he is suggested by a video game store clerk to try a high quality game for a change — a so-called “Godly Game”, VR MMO Shangri-La Frontier.
Due to avoiding guides, he chooses an unconventional dodge crit hunter build, and the one backstory that spawns him outside the starting town. He grinds through the starting area leading him too close to the second town — so he goes there (and nearly dies to first area’s boss DoT in the process).
Soon after reaching the second town, he’s ambushed and killed by a unique raid boss, and receives a curse that makes him unable to wear armor (or pants), and also unlocks a special Rabbit Kingdom scenario. Before starting it properly, he makes his way to the third city (nearly dying in the process), gets ambushed by a group of Player Killers led by another kusoge enjoyer, and survives that encounter as well.
The 7th and 8th episodes are dedicated to Sunraku finally going through the Rabbit Kingdom scenario in a series of 10 battles against overleveled threats. Needless to say, he died literally hundreds of times before completing it, and ending the 8th episode in another cliffhanger. Speaking of which…
Secondary love plot
Shangri-La Frontier’s secondary plot is about Sunraku’s classmate who has a crush on him, yet is too shy to even start a conversation with the guy. She tried to pick up horrible games like him, but found them too difficult — though that same video game clerk recommended her to try the “Godly Game” MMO instead, as Sunraku was sure to eventually play it as well (wink-wink, nudge-nudge, shipper on deck).
Our main character completely missing the first town lead to this poor girl (who’s a high-level player named Psyger-0 in the game) waiting for him in the first town for hours, before deciding to check the second town instead. She misses him there as well, only finding some players who encountered the bird-headed guy there.
Then, she catches the wind of Sunraku being ambushed by PKs near the third town, and rushes to his rescue — becoming one of several reasons he survived the encounter — after which he disappears again, teleporting to Rabbit Kingdom.
And at the end of Episode 8, just as Sunraku is wondering where to go from the third town, the story leaves us at a cliffhanger of Psyger-0 watching him from behind a corner, like a veritable stalker.
And… Look. Shangri-La Frontier. We get it, sometimes romance can be a great addition to the main story (or even a story by itself). But in order for it to be, something needs to actually happen. You went to the trouble of adding a romantic subplot, so either get these two to play together already, or STOP. WASTING. OUR. TIME.
Will they-won’t they went out of fashion over a decade ago, even the comedic kind. Have some respect for your viewers, and start things proper already.
Aside from sideways, that is.
Summary:
So far, Shangri-La Frontier was a pretty fun video game-inspired story.
The romantic subplot, on the other hand, starts feeling grating.
The show needs to either do something with this subplot, or drop it.
So far, the story of our bird-headed Let Me Solo Her expy in Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su has not progressed too far — we have only seen one third of the planned 25 episodes, after all. Still, perhaps it’s time to examine this Fall’s seasonal king of cliffhangers, and see where its obligatory love side plot is going.
The story so far
Sunraku is a kusoge hunter — an enthusiast of bad quality games, the more horribly unplayable a game is, the better. One day, he is suggested by a video game store clerk to try a high quality game for a change — a so-called “Godly Game”, VR MMO Shangri-La Frontier.
Due to avoiding guides, he chooses an unconventional dodge crit hunter build, and the one backstory that spawns him outside the starting town. He grinds through the starting area leading him too close to the second town — so he goes there (and nearly dies to first area’s boss DoT in the process).
Soon after reaching the second town, he’s ambushed and killed by a unique raid boss, and receives a curse that makes him unable to wear armor (or pants), and also unlocks a special Rabbit Kingdom scenario. Before starting it properly, he makes his way to the third city (nearly dying in the process), gets ambushed by a group of Player Killers led by another kusoge enjoyer, and survives that encounter as well.
The 7th and 8th episodes are dedicated to Sunraku finally going through the Rabbit Kingdom scenario in a series of 10 battles against overleveled threats. Needless to say, he died literally hundreds of times before completing it, and ending the 8th episode in another cliffhanger. Speaking of which…
Secondary love plot
Shangri-La Frontier’s secondary plot is about Sunraku’s classmate who has a crush on him, yet is too shy to even start a conversation with the guy. She tried to pick up horrible games like him, but found them too difficult — though that same video game clerk recommended her to try the “Godly Game” MMO instead, as Sunraku was sure to eventually play it as well (wink-wink, nudge-nudge, shipper on deck).
Our main character completely missing the first town lead to this poor girl (who’s a high-level player named Psyger-0 in the game) waiting for him in the first town for hours, before deciding to check the second town instead. She misses him there as well, only finding some players who encountered the bird-headed guy there.
Then, she catches the wind of Sunraku being ambushed by PKs near the third town, and rushes to his rescue — becoming one of several reasons he survived the encounter — after which he disappears again, teleporting to Rabbit Kingdom.
And at the end of Episode 8, just as Sunraku is wondering where to go from the third town, the story leaves us at a cliffhanger of Psyger-0 watching him from behind a corner, like a veritable stalker.
And… Look. Shangri-La Frontier. We get it, sometimes romance can be a great addition to the main story (or even a story by itself). But in order for it to be, something needs to actually happen. You went to the trouble of adding a romantic subplot, so either get these two to play together already, or STOP. WASTING. OUR. TIME.
Will they-won’t they went out of fashion over a decade ago, even the comedic kind. Have some respect for your viewers, and start things proper already.
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