Shangri-La Frontier is an adventure and video game-themed anime set in a future where VR gaming is the popular form of gaming. But what is the anime based on? Is Shangri-La Frontier based on a manga or light novel, and is it ongoing or finished? Here’s what we know!
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What Is Shangri-La Frontier About?
Shangri-La Frontier is an action-fantasy anime set in the near future where full-dive VR games have become common. Because of this, “trash games” exist – faulty games full of glitches.
The story follows Rakuro Hizutome, a second-year high school student and skilled gamer. He seeks out “trash games” and aims to master them.
One day, Rakuro tries out a popular VR game called Shangri-La Frontier and enters its world as the player character Sunraku.
Rakuro then realizes that Shangri-La Frontier is not like other games he has played before.
He forms a team with other players and works with them to overcome the challenges in the game.
Rakuro also aims to uncover the secrets that Shangri-La Frontier hides.
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What Is Shangri-La Frontier Based On? Source Explained
Shangri-La Frontier is based on a web novel series of the same name written by Katarina. It began publishing on Shōsetsuka ni Narō back in May 2017. No printed version of the web novel series has been published yet.
The novel series later received a manga adaptation illustrated by Ryousuke Fuji. The manga started serialization in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine in July 2020.
The Shangri-La Frontier manga is still ongoing. As of writing, 15 volumes have been released, with over 100 chapters. The sixteenth volume will be released on December 15, 2023.
Talking about Shangri-La Frontier getting an anime adaptation, writer Katarina said (via Crunchyroll):
“When my story came out as a novel, it was only letters. Then Fuji-sensei brought my characters to life by illustrating them. And now, animation will make them move and give them a voice. So, I'm very curious to hear their dubbing work.”
On the other hand, manga artist Ryousuke Fuji said:
“The anime looks very cool and quite long. I think there will be a lot of work for the animation team and I hope they can maintain this quality until the end while giving 100 percent of themselves to make a good animated series.”
The Shangri-La Frontier manga is also available to read online!
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