Forum - View topicShangri-La Frontier (TV).
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smurky turkey
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I think it refers to just enjoying the game and not worrying about keeping certain information regarding quests and unique encounters exclusive/hidden? Sunraku is now back to just having fun instead of wondering what not to say or who not to involve.
It was an interesting and well put together episode. I for one am thankful that the fight against the wyvern was skipped and made into a gag. We had like 3 or 4 episodes of back to back fighting and another boss straight after that would have been too much for me. Stats wise Sunraku kind of got an upgrade. Both his Arcanum and improved mark have demerits but given his build I think they add more than take away. That goes particularly for the Fool and its reduced cooldowns. Given the ending of the episode it seem cthulhu adventure time is approaching. |
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Edjwald
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I'm glad they skipped the second boss fight too. I've mentioned this before, but Emul may well be the only cute, talking animal sidekick that I consistently find funny and likable. I don't know if it's the animation or the voice acting or the lines or if all three just blend right. In any case, I enjoyed the magical hangover scenario where Emul woke up from a blackout and kept finding out about the crazy things she did in bits and pieces that never quite added up.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1854 |
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Welp, I enjoyed that episode. I get the biggest kick out of Pencil-Gon and Katzo and Sunraku being together, but I was glad the show touched base with the rest of Clan Wolfgang.
I'm a little curious about how Pencil-Gon's designs on that castle are going to play out. We know from that endless battle trash game where she took over the kingdom that she doesn't respect normal game boundaries, and in a way, her emotional connection with an NPC in SLF shows that same tendency. And she again mentioned the name of Schwarz Wulf's clan leader as if they're friends, or at least frenemies. Anyway, I get a kick out of her scamming and scheming. And I'd always kind of wondered if Katzo's professional gaming career would wind up slipping given the amount of time Katzo spends in SLF. The idea that Katzo is at least partially using the game as professional prep answered that to some extent. I was also surprised to see that another game was going to come out using SLF's game engine. And I have no idea how to reconcile all the hints that there's some mystical otherworldly element to SLF with the clown trio who seem to be the game's primary developers, or Katzo's claim that they're starting another game next Fall. I'd love it if the trio were actually gods, squabbling and being stupid and human the way gods from mythology often are, but that seems a bit of a stretch. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
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I'd say you are stretching several different ways. They don't say Utopia Games is making Galaxia Heroes or that Utopia made the game engine for SLF and the show makes fairly clear that SLF is made by an IRL company and the lead development team are actual people. Even if Galaxia Heroes is made by Utopia, it isn't a given that the same dev team would do both SLF and that (that big building means there are lots of people working on games)... And what "otherworldly" hints? The SLF setting and story might have some basis in those elements but there is no indication that extends IRL. Unlike Infinite Dendrogram where Mr. Franklin states the game seems too sophisticated to be made by humans and might be a test by extraterrestrials... |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2944 |
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A very welcome episode since Sunraku is going on a sea faring adventure soon and it seems like Pencil-Gon and Katzo will likely not be part of that. The show is about Sunraku most of the time but it would be a shame to lose track of his buddies for months on end.
Katzo is a competitive professional gamer and in that regard Sunraku and also (though to a lesser extent) Pencil-Gon have kind of outshone him thus far. That is not to say he was useless but his feats are somewhat lacking compared to the other two. Meanwhile Pencil-Gon was lacking in direction since Setsuna's quest was finished. She still seems to be lost in what she wants to do but has not given up on the game (though it did seem like she came close). As for the devs... I hope that they are just silly humans, we already have way too many anime about VR games were there is such an element or were people get killed for real. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1854 |
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@ Hiroki
. Sorry, I saw Smurky's post and thought it was the one after mine - didn't see your post until this week. In regards to hints, I'd have to rewatch season 1 (and I will at some point) or Google (and I probably won't for fear of spoilers) to be more specific, but -the title itself implies a border with a mystical land that is meant to be explored. -When the shade of Wethermon's former lover was talking to Pencil-Gon, she made it sound as if she was a tech on the same project that ultimately formed SLF, and that it was from a different or dying world. Of course, that could be a tech programmer putting in an easter egg or a meta reference. -I seem to vaguely recall Chief Vorpal bunny referring to some prophecy in regards to why he was looking for some vorpal soul like Sunraku, but that could of course be a game quest, I think....maybe...this is where I first heard someone talking about divinity? But it's certainly possible I was reading into it and my memory is fuzzy. -The professor's talks about the library and its massive endeavor to unlock the mysteries of SLF could just be a crazed fan base willing to spend millions on arbitrary hints dropped by storyline writers to give an illusion of background lore and mythology, but it sounded like he was convinced there was some deeper truth hidden in the game. I'm pretty sure this is where I first heard reference to something called the Second Plan, but the IRL developers may have mentioned it soon after and I'm blurring the two. I just edited that in because I remembered the phrase after I posted BTW, and then edited again because I saw all the grammar errors I made when I rechecked to see it it made sense. So, no proof that couldn't be explained away. Just a lot of enigmatic touches that could be the game adding garnish to the setting. Last edited by Edjwald on Sun Feb 02, 2025 12:45 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1854 |
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Episode 42 -
I'm really psyched about this IRL tournament plotline, though I don't know how convenient being on a world stage would be for Sunraku and Pencil-Gon since he's an eccentric who likes to do his own thing and she has a successful modeling career that, as far as I know, she's kept separate from her gaming persona. Sunraku's sister is a magazine article reading genuine IRL Pencil-gon fan, and she seemed unaware that Pencil-gon is a gamer. That said, I guess the other people on the end piece weren't Akitsuane and Rei-Shei after all. It would make more sense if they were the rest of the people on Katzo's professional gaming team. The opening of the barrels surprised me, and in a good way. It was interesting seeing Rei-Shei's torn loyalties between Sunraku and her guild. I kind of wonder if that's going to be more of a thing. Still loving it. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24477 |
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I've been basically enjoying this title with story gripes but FINALLY things are starting to click for me on a story level. I groaned at the beginning of this episode with the set-up for helping Blondie in the Global Games contest because I thought we were going to have a classic SLF story hiccup where we are pulled away from the Kraken storyline (which itself has been delayed for several episodes while the show did its usual meandering around) and on to something new. Don't get me wrong, i'm interested in the Global Games storyline, I just want to see Kraken dealt with first, is all. And that seems to be what's going to happen, but then again I shouldn't bet my bottom dollar on that.
I too was surprised (and delighted) to see Psyger-0 and New Girl pop out of the barrels. I was really expecting it to be Blondie and Pencil-gon. I thought maybe Blondie had gotten wind of Kraken and contrived to show up to help so that Sunraku would be available to help at the Global Games. Anyway, I'm pretty pumped for this sea adventure... if it actually happens. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1854 |
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I somehow quoted myself while trying to edit, and now I can't delete it. So ummm...never mind.
Last edited by Edjwald on Sun Feb 02, 2025 12:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24477 |
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Reduced to quoting yourself, eh? Sad.
*phones Shady Acres Retirement Home to see if they have any vacancies* Although, I suppose we should be thankful you didn't post it twice..... (hee hee hee) |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2944 |
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Certain people perhaps going a bit senile aside this week's episode was rather interesting. Given how things are going both the sea adventure and the game competition are going to be major arcs. Taking down one of the colossi involves quite a lot of time and thus I do not think it is going to be a simple one and done voyage. So maybe both arcs will be happening/progressing at the same time. I would be into that given that the gang working together to win a tournament sounds like a riot while doing a new quest to reach mr eldritch squid sounds exciting too.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1854 |
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My big concern - other than my mental state
 - is trying to figure out how many episodes the show has left and whether or not we're going to wind up with a cliffhanger. Perhaps Quality Assurance has traumatized me in that regard.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2944 |
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I would not worry too much, Shangri-La is popular in Japan and the second season seems to be doing rather well. I am not sure if we will get a third season announcement right as the second one ends but I don't think the anime will end with the second season.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24477 |
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A perfectly undersandable error. Coulda happened to anybody. *pats Edjwald's palsied knee comfortingly*. There, there. *exchanges glance with smurky turkey and both begin to snicker*
MAL is claiming this chunk of SLF is going to be 25 episodes, which means we have 8 left. That means there will be 50 episodes of the anime in total. Right now, 20 volumes of the manga have been published. If you go by the rule of thumb that roughly 3 manga volumes = 1 cours of anime, that means there's probably 8 volumes of manga that have not been adapted yet. So yeah, I'd say the odds of this chunk of SLF ending on a cliffhanger is pretty darned high. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1854 |
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Let me rephrase - and not by accidentally quoting myself either
 - my concern is that given this show's tendency for 4 to 5 episode long boss fights, trying to wrap up two big story arcs within the time frame left to us might be pushing it. I thought there were going to be 24 episodes, not 25, so maybe that will help in avoiding a Dan Da Dan style season ender, or a bunch of filler episodes leading up to the beginning of the professional gamer competition and then bailing.
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