Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su

High school student Rakurou Hizutome has a peculiar hobby of playing poorly made games—ones that are unbalanced or are filled with so many bugs that make them borderline unplayable. The few who share his hobby might recognize him by his in-game name, Sunraku. For his next game, Rakurou is recommended Shangri-La Frontier, a popular and well-received virtual reality game as a breather from the terrible games he has been playing recently.

Once he boots up the game, Rakurou decides to sell off most of his starting gear to gain extra money, leaving himself with only a pair of boxers, a bird mask, and some weapons. He is instantly hooked as he meticulously levels up his avatar. However, after encountering some intimidating monsters, he realizes that he may have underestimated the challenge that a mainstream game can offer. As Rakurou progresses, he must draw on all the skills he has perfected from his previous gaming experience. Before long, Sunraku's eccentric playstyle takes Shangri-La Frontier by storm.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hizutome, Rakurou Main

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Emul Supporting

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Amane, Towa Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Saiga, Rei Supporting

Waki, Azumi Japanese

Vysache Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Uomi, Kei Supporting

Koichi, Makoto Japanese

Hakamori no Wethermon Supporting

Hayami, Show Japanese

Bilac Supporting

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Saiga, Momo Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Elke Supporting

Yasuno, Kiyono Japanese

Shimada, Yousuke Producer

Yamada, Ryousuke Producer

Hayasaka, Kazumasa Producer

Kubooka, Toshiyuki Director

Reviews

Feb 4, 2026

AntonyAV

Recommended

In Shangri-La Frontier we follow Rakuro (Sunraku in-game), a gaming pro in a world where VR is able to almost imitate reality to perfection, and NPCs are intelligent and believable, while he's an fan of glitchy, buggy, trash games, he gets caught up in the "god-tier" game that is taking the gaming world by storm: Shangri-La Frontier.

The story centers mainly on Sunraku's adventure as he takes on this MMORPG-like VR game in an unusual way due to both his main experience being with glitchy games and his one-of-a-kind skills, being able to do incredible feats even while being a newbie. There's a big focus on ... action, and while the animation isn't amazing, it is very well crafted, as is the sound design. I liked the first opening a lot. Even if all the OPs/EDs aren't my cup of tea, they do a great job of capturing the anime's setting and feel.

We don't get a lot of character development for most, but at least we get to see the way Sunraku explores the world, thinks of boss strategies, finds glitches, secret areas, etc... Things that gamers can relate to and find interesting. I disliked the hollow romantic interest that boils down to "OMG, he's a gamer, I'm in love" although it is polished out a little better in the next season.

The pacing is my main gripe with this anime; there's so much thinking and talking during fights, and cuts to other, less interesting things happening. Important fights can take many episodes for this reason, not as bad as DBZ in the Frieza arc, but you get what I'm saying. I was debating whether to give a 7 or 8, and what made me settle on a 7 was the "mini" specials at the end of the episodes, with skippable filler that takes 2-3mins of the episode and doesn't even work to flesh out characters.

There's a certain illusion that needs to be held for these advanced VR scenarios, and I think that introducing the programmers as two immature girls that constantly get into fights as the SOLE development team of such a high-scale project really broke the suspension of disbelief; the show could've done without them. The mini shorts at the end also didn't add any substance; for me, they're a cheap strategy to add more length to your episode and save on costs, a couple of them were ok though.

I recommend this if you're a gamer or just want to see action/fights with skills and strategies. You'll connect with it even more if you tend to play with friends. It is SAO, but carefully crafted and consistent, and with lower stakes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 19, 2026

quezgot

Mixed Feelings

[ hood review ]

Yerrrrr, wats hatnen , first off I want to say this anime is rated pretty high and I don’t see the reason don’t get me wrong. It’s a decent anime, but I don’t see the hype behind it.

The one thing this anime is missing is that sense of urgency the sense of eminent death it doesn’t have that in this anime when you die you just kinda respawn. Yeah you might lose your weapons or lose the battle or lose your progress but it doesn’t give a sense of urgency, the sense of death the other anime give.

Other than that, ... the lore of the anime is fantastic. It does make you want to see what happens next probably the best Lore in an anime I’ve seen in a while. It’s definitely a modern anime with modern anime graphics and modern humor. I give it a 7.5.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 10, 2025

Elaestu98

Not Recommended

Shangri-La Frontier is an anime similar to Sword Art Online, set in a world of highly advanced virtual reality games.

First, I will start with the positives:

The animation is surprisingly solid.
The C2C studio, which is also responsible for Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy, achieves fluid animation with well-choreographed battles and a brilliant use of colour. The effects in the fights against unique bosses, such as Wethermon, are impressive.

Now it's time to talk about the negatives:

Irregular pace.
... There are episodes where the story gets bogged down in explanations about game mechanics or side missions. While they contribute to worldbuilding, they can feel like narrative grinding.

Lack of emotional weight.
The focus is almost entirely on the game. Relationships outside of VR (for example, with Rei or the other players) are barely developed, which detracts from the impact of the more personal moments.

Genre clichés.
Although it tries to avoid them, the anime still falls into several isekai gamer tropes: the ultra-talented protagonist, enemies who admire him, “boss rush” progression, etc.

Honestly, I'm surprised that this has an 8 in MAL

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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