Shangri-La Frontier Season 2

Episode 28

I should have hated this episode. I feel like everyone dreads a show where all the characters just sit around and talk at a table because there are only so many ways to make that type of episode interesting. Sometimes, it's necessary for the sake of exposition, and this episode definitely falls into that category, but I also worry that things will get boring visually. I would have loved watching this episode dubbed because it's easier to consume all this exposition by listening to it rather than reading it. The dub for season two just dropped, and now I can actually talk about it after neglecting to do so last season. Eric Vale brings a lot of enthusiasm to Sunraku with funny quips that befit his character, and I laughed out loud when I heard Gabe Kunda as the lore keeper. My favorite part about the dub is the rabbits since they all have different modes of speaking, like Bilac, who has a bit of a Southern accent. Stuff like that makes the world feel a bit bigger and more involved.

Thankfully, even subbed, I quite enjoy this episode because it continues to play into Shangri-La Frontier's strengths, comedy, and character interactions. Not only are we finally following up on all of the player encounters that were previously set up, like the lore keepers and beast tamers, but the way that this episode was executed also feels very economical. The narrative doesn't waste time giving each group a whole episode; everyone is in the same room to lay their information out on the table. It was all orchestrated by Arthur and Oikatzo because they also utilize this situation to benefit themselves while getting all the headaches out of the way. It leans into the unique friendship these three have. Sunraku has a lot of helpful information that could benefit different factions and potentially help progress the game's story, especially since the new story patch was added. I would've liked to have gotten a bit more from the other guilds regarding what exactly they are trying to do, but I guess not having a lot of information is kind of the point. It's why Sunraku comes off as such an asset right now.

The information that everyone wants from Sunraku is a lot more standard than he was expecting, and I like that he was discovering just as much from the situation as everybody else was. I was not expecting a way to remove the curse on his body, which makes me wonder if we'll finally see non-naked Sunraku at some point in the future. We even get a little bit of lore about the rabbit kingdom! I was very fascinated to learn more about what was happening here, and I'm wondering if the show is setting up a finale involving the dark wolf that arguably kickstarted much of the story thus far. If we have more exposition about this game in the future, I hope it's handled similarly to how it's done here.

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