ShangriLa Frontier is essentially the story of Gamer plays a video game. While the story isnt bad theres no real stake or substantial plot. All stories rely on at least one pillar: plot character gimmick genre. The problem with this story is that it doesnt have a plot beyond guy plays a VRMMORPG. To put it another way its like a manga version of watching someone stream a game on Twitch or even watching a walkthrough of the game online. The beginning chapters are basically gaming but the story does improve dramatically after two more main characters are introduced and the party is formed. There is also the romantic interest with the onesided crush on the MC who adds a nice bit of flavor to the story but has yet to develop. The manga is good for the genre but unremarkable in its plot. The story shines with its world building and characters who take a while to warm up but once they do have incredible comedic chemistry and humor. The art is the same as it also improves to become more expressive and entertaining. As far as I can tell the MCs only character trait is gamer and he has nothing remarkable going on in his real life that would make him stand out from the millions of other gamers in the world besides his tendency to play trash games. it doesnt rely on a ridiculous gimmick but it doesnt have anything that really engages the reader. The author clearly wanted to write a down to earth story about vr gaming with a well structured realistic video game world that doesnt rely on gimmicks or tropes but it puts it at a disadvantage if it doesnt have a strong plot. The characters are great but their personalities and gamer traits can make the dialogue a tedious slog. For example there is a lot of exposition where the characters have to explain core gameplay elements to the reader as well as the mechanics found in RPGs. In other words there is a lot of exposition to shift through that has little to do with the plot and more flexing how thought out the fake RPG world is. The biggest issue is that there is no conflict or stakes beyond just playing the game against other players which isnt exactly engaging storytelling unless you invested in the characters in the first place. The second issue is the combat. This being a RPG story there is a lot of fighting monsters and true to the realistic progression the story implements to make it as RPGish as possible the fighting can go on way longer than it should. If youve ever played an RPG and fought a secret boss then you know that they can take a while to beat. And this story doesnt cut corners like other stories in the genre. I enjoyed this story quite a bit. Compared to other stories of this genre it takes longer to accomplish missions or tasks but the characters interactions and the creativity of the RPG world itself make up for it.