English Dub Review: Shangri-La Frontier “A Trash Game Realignment of Elevated Tastes”

Overview

Sunraku agrees to train under Vysache and he’s saddled with the Vorpal Soul Collar which decreases his EXP gain but increases stat point rewards upon leveling up. Afterward, Emul offers to join Sunraku’s party and they set off for Thirdrema.


Our Take

Consistently since the previous episode, Rei is still unable locate Rakuro but Mana (the game store clerk) convinces her to keep trying. Rakuro reads online walkthroughs and confirms he is the first to meet The Rabituza lord Vysache who offers him Vorpal training and equips him with a weird looking training collar that reduces his experience gains by 50% but increases his status gains by 250%. Later on, Rakuro is unexpectedly invited to a completely different online trash game that he uses as a meeting spot for hardcore trash hunters, by his online friend Katzo. Katzo is confused at first that Rakuro would play something mainstream, until Rakuro explains his rivalry with Lycagon. In response to this, Katzo considers playing Shangri-La too, as does Arthur Pencilgon, another trash hunter and fan of Rakuro.

But consequently, Sunraku encounters many new players over summer break, which forces him to temporarily leave the Unique Vorpal Scenario to focus on reaching the next town, Thirdrema. Emul the cheerful bunny person accompanies him as an NPC follower so they can teleport back to Rabituza at any time. Unfortunately, given how much of an anomaly Emul is, players quickly take pictures wanting to know how they can get an Emul themselves. Rakuro later on takes notices some of the effects this bite is starting to have, yet he chooses to instead defeat the area boss, Mud Digger, so he can travel to Thirdrema. Unfortunately, Mud Digger lives in a swamp which puts Rakuro in a bit of a disadvantage…

Overall, a passable but potentially foreboding episode. I thought he’s gonna stay on that Vorpal bunnies island to train with the yakuza boss bunny. In the end, he got out and played that shitty fighting game. Also, why are the NPCs treating him so weirdly for not wearing a shirt? What kind of games has the author been playing where that’s a thing? And if it’s players who are saying that, in reality, they don’t care about your style in these types of games. At the very least, I continue to be astounded by how much actual game mechanic knowledge is portrayed here. As for the ending and post credits, it raised too many questions on what’s going on and I’m curious to see where this goes next!