English Dub Review: Shangri-La Frontier ” The World Progresses, the Heroes Are Revealed”

Overview

Wethermon falls into a slumber and Setsuna of Bygone Days leaves behind a hint that will lead to the truth about SLF. Wethermon’s subjugation is reported to all players in the game. Now, standing before the battle-weary trio are angry members of Ashura Kai…

Our Take

In the aftermath of Wethermon’s defeat by Suraku/Rakuro, and his crew, the significance of this victory becomes apparent as Wethermon bestows upon Suraku the title of “Descendant of the Frontier”. However, the moment is bittersweet as Wethermon crumbles to dust over Setsuna’s grave, revealing Setsuna’s ghost to be a perfect copy left behind by the real Setsuna to aid Wethermon in finding peace. With Wethermon gone, Setsuna’s fate is to vanish, but before doing so, she tasks them with uncovering the truth behind the world with the cryptic words “seeking Bahamut,” an enigmatic entity that raises more questions than answers…

As the game announces the defeat of its first Unique Monster and the commencement of the next stage of Shangri-La’s World Story, It’s of course not without consequences when Orcelott and his surviving assassins from Pencilgon’s former clan feel betrayed and launch an attack in hopes of seizing any loot obtained from Wethermon’s demise. In response, Pencilgon activates a “friend summoning” ability”, summoning Psyger-0 (Who Suraku/Rakuro still has one clue about is his friend/classmate Rei). The ensuing battle results in the demise of Orcelot and the assassins, transferring all of Ashura-Kai’s remaining rare items to Arthur. Left as the sole assassin, Arthur seeks redemption through a duel with Psyger-0 to atone for her past killings and bring an end to Ashura-Kai forever.

This was quite a twist after the 4-part fight with what was known as such an “Upper-Tier” boss. And the concept of a game evolving according to the actions of the players is a compelling twist that reshapes the dynamics of the game world and sets the stage for new challenges and revelations. It’s not a unique concept these days, but damn, this anime’s showing it quite well. At some point, if the right people are involved with the technology, we could be close to having games like that. As for the unexpected fight between Pencilgon and Psyger-0, I really didn’t know what to expect. But now that everyone knows who took down Wethermon, things will get very interesting for Sunraku and the others, and leave me (along with the audience) to wonder how things will change for them from here on out!