Hey gamers Limit your gaming to ten hours per day. Any more and youre seriously gonna die No More Heroes 3 https://files.catbox.moe/jeb8v8.png Gaming is a feeling in your SOUL man. Its as much a thing you do as a thing you experience as a thing you inhibit as a thing you BECOME. Playing video games is the rawest form of escapism because you become the player the hero the number one propelling the force of the narrative at the push of a button. ShangriLa Frontier is the first anime that gets the holistic gamer shtick down pat. See the whole joy of gaming is a very tactile feeling: you get the sense that its never really DONE. Whereas with a movie you press play and let it run till its over video games are an eternal experience. Whether it be sidequests speedruns or achievement hunting most games offer repeatability rePLAYability and that is their greatest strength. Theres always something to do. https://files.catbox.moe/mr4ncc.png SLF captures this in stride kicking things off with trash games player Sunraku a young man choosing to revel himself in only the bottomest of the barrelest games because he loves tearing at the mechanics from the inside seeing what ticks seeing how far he can push the game seeing just how awful everything is with his surprisinglywellworking eyeballs. So when his friends invite him to hit game ShangriLa Frontier hes skeptical. He doesnt play good games any more than I watch good anime Regardless he gives it a shot and soon finds himself itching at every turn to get back into it. From here theres glimpses into protagonist Sunrakus everyday in the real world but it rarely consists of more than a convenience store run and a silly romance subplot. From here its all gaming all the time baby. In terms of a narrative SLF isnt gonna blow your socks off but it doesnt need to. Its a simple tothetop narrative propelled by fun characters old friends and cheesy villains with bosses to beat and quests to fulfill. In that way its a video game you can watch which is an experience that I cant say Ive had with anything else. Except maybe Versushttps://youtu.be/wg7ljhZuJJc?si=ezTm9xnMLKfDJWR. Loveeee Versushttps://www..com/watch?v=B7rgZMnKvI. https://files.catbox.moe/yh5c29.png One fun twist to it all is that Sunraku decided to dump all his points into the luck statistic something most players wont do and gets so lucky in that luck that it prompts a whole narrative with him as the epicenter. He encounters legendary enemies at low levels uncovers a new dimension gains access to superweapons and is cursed with scars that wrap around his body marking him as The Special The Chosen Onein case we werent aware already Nothing is told or explained in excess. ShangriLa trusts its viewers with its simple mechanics and quirks and characters laying it all out on the table very clearly and referencing back to itself when it needs to whatwith item descriptions abilities and the whatnot. Each episode has a myriad of accomplishments and is polished with solid animation and silly tunes to keep you rolling. The energetic performances recall latenight voice calls and blazing trivial bickering that only the devoted could know. Interesting but unobtrusive hooks funny sideplotsAre you sold yet? https://files.catbox.moe/jj1i7t.png In many ways ShangriLa Frontier is the antiSword Art Online. Though both take place in video game worlds Sword Art Online takes a serious slant with the you die in the game you die in real life mantra whereas ShangriLa Frontier offers no such ultimatum to its characters as they log on and off freely instead being allowed to revel in their world feeling more like an extended hangout session. Its got the gall to build up a legendary boss with four episodes worth of brutal cathartic highstakes fighting. Its got upgrades. Its got savescumming. Its GAMING. Inside the box but thinking outside it. Where Sunraku starts a ritualistic funhaving doomsayer with masochistic tendencies for the awfulest of awful games is completely different from where he ends up a freewheeling reliant still funhaving optimist with a laundry list of fun todos It feels HUGE like even just with Sunraku as a character he becomes more reliant on his friends on allies ingame on the world itself as he learns to stand on its feet too and trust it. Theres a slow feeling that ripples down your arms and to your toes when you settle into a good game and thats exactly the feeling this captures. ShangriLa Frontier is the video game anime given flesh. Its what you want when you think of one much in the way that Speed Racer is the perfect animetomovie adaptation. Its very much simple entertainment for entertainments sake but sometimes all you need is an energy drink to the mouth a lack of sleep and a play of the game. Welcome to ShangriLa Frontier. https://files.catbox.moe/azu8lo.png