At this year’s Anime NYC, fans who braved long lines, a crowded convention center, and the New York City subway system were treated to a panel featuring the creators and staff from the hit anime Shangri-La Frontier. On top of that, the panel featured an exclusive premiere of the second season’s first episode, a perfect treat ahead of the official premiere of the season later this year. Namely, the panel guests included Katarina (original author), Ryosuke Fuji (manga artist), and Hiroyuki Aoi (anime producer) with discussion led by Crunchyroll’s Tim Lyu.
Q&A With Staff
The question and answer period started off with some background about how the story came to be and what the inspiration was behind some of the creative choices taken within it. Series author Katarina-sensei is a fan of hack-and-slash video games like Monster Hunter and Dark Souls / souls-like titles and that helped inspire some of the combat mechanics and boss fights within Shangri-La Frontier. Originally though, the story was thought up as a fantasy story. Katarina-sensei explained how it only became a story centered around a virtual reality (“VR”) game after the initial idea was thought up.
“Initially I was developing Shangri-La Frontier as a fantasy work. But then I was watching a lot of VR stories like Sword Art Online and I realized and thought, ‘Oh, okay, if this is a VR game, then the main character can die many times.’ So, the settings that I had, most of which I’ve seen in games, I just transferred it to a VR game, and that’s how the story came about.”
The staff also revealed their favorite moments from Season 1’s incredible multi-part boss battle against Wethermon the Tomb Guard, one of the seven unique secret monsters within the world of Shangri-La Frontier.
Katarina-sensei: I think it would be where Pencilgon and Oicatzo allied against Kirin. I liked it because it describes how those two people go up against this robot enemy who’s really strong, and it was very impactful, and we had a lot of fun.
Fuji-sensei: I would have to say the Sky Clear, because in the manga, when it happens, it’s just a scene. But in the anime, when it gets cut, then you can see the sky [split], and only anime can do that.
Producer Aoi-san also enjoyed the Sky Clear and shared some insight into how the scene and its beautiful score came together.
“Episode 17, when the Sky Clear first showed up, that episode is made with a method called film scoring, which means that the visual is made first, and all the music and the sound are added to match the visual. It’s a very rich way of making [anime], which doesn’t happen very often.”
Finally, the panel turned to some questions about the protagonist Sunraku and about the guests’ favorite characters who are not Sunraku. Author Katarina-sensei revealed an interesting detail about the bird-headed protagonist: that originally the head he wore was going to be a horse head of all things.
“In thinking about the character […] I knew going in that I wanted an animal head for him. So the first option was a horse, but when I tried to imagine what that would look like, I was a little freaked out about it. That’s why I ended up with the bird”
As for favorite non-Sunraku characters, the guests had these answers:
Katarina-sensei: Saiga. I’m rooting for her romance but I’m also the one giving her a lot of trouble (audience laughs).
Fuji-sensei: Vysache. I just love the visual of the Yakuza boss and I really enjoy drawing him.
Aoi-san: Pencilgon. Who else loves Pencilgon? (audience cheers). Sunraku just purely enjoys playing the video game, but Pencilgon — it’s not that she has an ulterior motive, but she sees the game from a different perspective, and she just shows up and causes a lot of drama. And the three of them, Sunraku, Pencilgon, and Oicatzo’s, dynamics are really fun to see. Their combination and their interaction I think is one of the highlights of the series, so that’s my favorite.
A Great Start to Season 2
Without spoiling any details about the first episode of Shangri-La Frontier Season 2, it serves as a smooth continuation from the end of last season. This was not one of those first episodes of the season where ample time is dedicated to recap. Instead, the story progresses and callbacks are made to events from season 1 as needed. It felt like a much more integrated way of reminding the audience why certain events are progressing the way that they are without any abrupt pauses or breaks in the story.
This first episode also treated us to some combat and action scenes, all of which were amazing. The animation was smooth, the art style was as sharp and pointed as ever, and we even got to see some weapons and combatants in action that we didn’t get a chance to during the first season. Fans were quite excited for this premiere, with the stage generating a long line prior to the panel’s start and audience members rushing around the room before the video started to ensure they were getting the best view of the action (and the subtitles) that they could.
Shangri-La Frontier is set to premiere this coming October 13 with two cours on Crunchyroll. This is an incredibly quick turnaround since last season ended just a few months ago, but I’m not complaining. Until the official premiere, look forward to seeing some more action from your favorite trio and their VR world.
© Katarina, Ryosuke Fuji, Kodansha / “Shangri-La Frontier” Production Committee
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