Forum - View topicShangri-La Frontier (TV).
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doomrider7
Posts: 94 |
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Never bothered with the anime, but I remember getting bored SUPER hard with the Red Light District arc because the fight just dragged on for what felt like ages with some new thing they needed to deal with(oh there's two of them, oh they can shift their necks like cloth, oh we need to cut off BOTH their heads at the same time). By comparison this one just felt like the correct length even in the manga where it took up nearly two volumes. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11406 |
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Yeah, Sunraku's facial expressions during his imagined gloating sessions were hilarious. But I also got a kick out of the PG chocolate theater at the end. That's so me - overthinking every possible negative outcome and potential misinterpretation to the point of paralysis and end up doing nothing.
Also loved the new ED visuals this ep. Very poignant. Wethermon was kinda hot. And can I just say the OP is a banger? Perfect fit for this arc. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23833 |
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Episode 18
Four episodes is by no means an outrageous length for a boss fight arc, but I'm glad it's over. I have more clarity as to why fights in this show aren't as engaging for me as perhaps for some others: I ain't a gamer. I literally feel like I'm watching somebody play a video game which is my equivalent of watching paint dry. I take no delight in whatever clever "game" moves a character comes up with. I laughed at the six months of bagging too but it reminded me that there really are no stakes for these characters. I like them so I want them to succeed in whatever they set out to do, but if they fail it doesn't really matter... except for the bagging, of course. Also, I wish Setsuna had been more of a factor during the fight. It probably would have driven a bunch of you crazy, but I wouldn't have minded interrupting the fight for some flashback backstory stuff of why I should care about Wethermon and Setsuna. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11406 |
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I suspect we might get some of that in the denouement next week, along with more about the ID crystal. They're obviously not done done with this yet, and I'll be disappointed if we don't get something from a now-rational Wethermon, since so far it's all been from the pov of those who knew him. |
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Edjwald
 Posts: 1166 |
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Come to thunk of it, the episode started with Emul - the computer generated character? - pacing back and forth talking to itself while worrying about Sunraku, with nary a player or game scenario in sight. That might not be a shock to anyone, but it means Emul has verified, stamped and approved, independent life and emotions. There's also that weird bit where Setsuna, the video game character, was talking about being a programmer. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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There were a couple moments that I thought they really went all out on the animation.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11406 |
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I didn't think about the implications because I was too distracted by the Alice in Wonderland visual of the white rabbit with a pocket watch. 
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2008 |
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Yup, as expected, it was not a simple quest over one and done. We got some actual story bits and since the world story meter has progressed things may have changed? We sadly did not see the drops the crew gained (I assume they did get some at least), but with the announcement they are sure to be in the spotlight from now on.
Otherwise there was more fun banter (and a bit of emotion), the PK players got killed off (and with that probably Arthur too) and I wonder where the story will go next. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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I was a little surprised by Pencil-gon's decision to commit suicide by Psyber-gon. It kind of clarifies her freak status as a gamer since she's abandoning all of the loot and screen cred she got for killing Tomb Guarder.
I assume/hope Pencil-Gon is going to come back and create a new character from scratch? Given the fact that Pencil-Gon already knows all the levelling tips and Katzo and Sunraku are still relative newbies, Pencil-Gon could rejoin them fairly quickly if that's in the cards. But I could also see Sunraku going off on his own again for a while, or trying to, what with all the movers and shakers interested in him now. It does indeed look like Psyber-gon is more than just a pretty pay-to-win build. I liked the slow head roll when she looked from Sunraku to Pencil-gon. There were practically subtitles saying Psyber-gon realizes that this is a chance to kick the ass of a potential rival for Sunkarku's affection. I'm also jotting down all this talk about first pioneers and second pioneers in my mental notebook. (With a mind like a steel trap door) |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23833 |
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Episode 19
*gasp* Could we FINALLY be getting to some larger story here beyond episodic dollops of Sunraku showing off his super-duperness??? Well, that would be nice. My theory, born from this latest episode is that Shangri-La is actually an isekai that can access the consciousness of Earth humans via the medium of a computer "game." As the "world" progresses, I think the ultimate goal is to be able to summon humans from Earth to the isekai. Remember, folks, you read it hear first! And man, they've gotta tighten up those post credit SLF theater bits. It's okay if the bit is funny, but when you're not into it, they friggin' drag on forever.... |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2529 |
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Sorry, but that steel might need some oil, they are inheritors of the "Second Plan" and those alt names...(?)  .
Well, that's a convoluted bit. Mr. AJ posited a "trapped in the game" twist to Setsuna as well. What current pop fiction has wrought...Ok, we'll see but I have my doubts. I think the bit about being "pioneers" and "throwing open the door to the future" is more likely a reference to the use of player-interactive MMO games with generative AI as a new storytelling or creation medium. It actually already is...
Totally agree with the observation about the SLF Theater, the latest edition was too long and a poor accompaniment to the gravity of this episode. I believe they meant it for a gentle comedic relief, but these serve better when they are short and relay info the viewer can use to see "behind the characters" that wouldn't fit, or drop clues that could be easily missed, if integrated into the episode body. Here, we get to see Emul's third sibling who sold the Medjed "disguise" to Senraku Ep8 for what it's worth... |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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No, see, it's not a steel trap. It's a steel trap door.. As to what's going on...well, I won't say I have no clue. There are some clues. - As mentioned on an earlier post, at least some of the nominal NPCs have demonstrated independent thought, and that independent thought doesn't seem to include thinking of themselves as NPCs. - The Utopia headquarters had a long line of computer servers which suggest that these servers were helping to generate Shangri-la frontier. The HQ seemed to be located in the real world. And maybe it was. But that outside shot of the headquarters was maybe a little weird? Granted it was night, but the city didn't seem to have a single car or person unless I missed one (certainly possible), and it also seemed kind of laid out and brightly lit like a circuit board itself. But the computer monitor at the top floor had a mouse, which suggests it was designed for a human hand, or at least a humanish hand even though the room was empty at the time. There weren't any fast food wrappers or half drunk cups of coffee, but there wasn't any dust either... - Setsuna, the NPC (<---insert own quotes as seen fit) making all of these plan and pioneer references was wearing something like a lab coat in a fantasy setting . She indicated that she was a recording of someone who was once alive. She seemed to indicate that this original person was a contemporary of tombguarder (okay, fine, Wethermon the Tomb Guard, happy now? ). Wethermon was a VR construct, but rather than a fantasy lich type, he had a robot body maintaining his un-life. Artificial body + real emotions somewhere underneath.
Setsuna referred to Sunraku and Katzo and Pencil-motif as pioneers and descendants of the second plan. Descendants might mean they're the second generation, but normally you'd say sons and daughters. Descendants is usually used to indicate multiple generations. And Sunraku and Katzo and Pencil-motif don't have any clue what Setsuna is talking about. Was this second plan top secret? Or was it forgotten over a long period of time? Or both? - Setsuna also indicated that the original Setsuna lived in the long distant past. But how distant could that past be when the technology to create VR in the "real world" has only been around for so long and Sunraku's life doesn't seem all that futuristic? - A tomb guard would be someone monitoring people who died. - the royal library where the scholars were gathered was called the second collection. Does that mean there's a first collection in a different location? Or was the first collection wiped out or rebooted like the first plan? They all co-exist in Shangr-la frontier and the real world just like Sunraku and friends because the professor was logged off. So...one possibility is that there was some extinction level event, and people were recorded or preserved as a new form of virtual life without realizing it. Kind of like that old anime "Interlude." And the matrix like world that was created for them has multiple layers. - the wonderland references would certainly go with the worlds within worlds and fragile nature of reality ideas. I'm just waiting for a Red King reference. Maybe there was a second plan because Setsuna and friends didn't like the first plan, and they tried to implement a programmed change where this snow globe of a virtual world that was created to house human consciousness would become capable of a new evolution? They programmed it so that the virtual world would create another virtual world called Shangri-La Frontier with some subversive possibilities. Another possibility is that Setsuna and the other creators of Shangri-la frontier were from some other reality - be that an alternate dimension, alien planet, future timeline, etc. And they created Shangri-la Frontier as a way of planting some kind of seed or exit door in our real world which would go along with what Blood was suggesting when he prematurely speculated all over the place Sunraku and co. aren't literally descendants, they are spiritual descendants of those first pioneers.
Wow, I didn't mean to write that much. Anyway, that's some of the stuff I've been keeping on the old mental backburner. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23833 |
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Point is that it's way past time for the show to start really dealing with this stuff. Jesus, we're 19 episodes in and there's only been a few scattered bread crumbs amid all the, "zomg, isn't Rakuro just, like, the most amazing gamer, evar???" stuff. I'd like to think with six remaining episodes we are FINALLY going to see more of the so-called "secrets" this game holds as mentioned in the ANN plot summary, but I have a sneaking suspicion that actually what we're gonna get is a boatload more of, "zomg, isn't Rakuro just, like, the most amazing gamer, evar???" stuff.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11406 |
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That idea reminded me of Zegapain, since I don't know Interlude. But I like it! I see what you mean about the city around the Utopia building looking oddly sterile and circuit board like. But then actual city layout models have that look too, but with added cars and people. I think it's partly a function of circuit boards being designed by the same type of human logic toward space usage as cities. I seem to remember a scene early on in the series with a bunch of people around a table commenting on Sunraku's (or somebody's) unusual progress and how it would affect the game development, but I can't tell if I'm remembering that from this series or one of the myriad other series with similar gamer themes recently.  Anyone else remember this, or which ep it was and who these people were? I feel like they were dressed in business clothes, but maybe not. Too much anime is really starting to blur together, 'cause off the top of my head I can think of at least half a dozen recent series I could've pulled that table-meeting image from (depending on their attire). :/
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23833 |
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I don't remember that scene, Gina, but given the general piss-poor state of my memory, that means absolutely zero. That scene could have lasted the entire episode and have been filled with subliminal messages exhorting me to remember it and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference.
... Um... who are you, again? |
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