Shangri-La Frontier - Episode 12

Last week, Shangri-La Frontier introduced one of the show's strongest features. The impressive production values and excellent presentation allowed me to completely lose myself in the backstory and foreshadowing.

Weak Grinding

It truly embodied some of the best aspects I appreciate about the video game experience. However, this episode showcases the exact opposite, revealing some of the worst aspects of those games – namely, grinding.

Almost every game with a skill system and level progression has some degree of grinding, and some games mask the associated monotony better than others.

My problem with grinding is that it can break immersion once it reaches a certain level of boredom – which is exactly how I felt during this episode.

Female Avatar with Male Pronouns?

Seriously, what's happening in this episode? We spent a third of the time watching Sunraku run to a location where he grinds monsters in a lake… and then he actually grinds monsters in that lake.

The presentation remains quite good, and I especially liked the animation surrounding Katzo, who turned out to be a character with a tank/brawler build. I also liked the trans-related allegory that attempted to explain to an NPC why a female avatar is being addressed with male pronouns.

However, they could have completely cut this episode without losing anything. There was already an entire episode dedicated to leveling up – at least that one had creative circumstances and a strong hook.

This episode feels like watching someone secretly stream Elden Ring from a hidden dungeon.

I would passively watch to support the streamer, but my engagement would remain barely piqued.