Shangri-La Frontier

The story is set in a near future, where games that use old-fashioned display screens are classified as retro games, while full-dive VR games have become commonplace. As a result of these games becoming mainstream, there exist many so-called "trash games": rushed, full of glitches, faulty games, the systems of which have not kept up with the improved visual technology. Rakuro Hizutome is a "trash game hunter", a great admirer of these usually shameful games, which he plays with the nickname Sunraku until he is able to master them regardless of the difficulty due to their glitches. Rakuro has cleared the oversized Faeria Chronicle Online trash game and is suffering a sort of burnout syndrome. At the suggestion of the owner of his favorite game store, "RockRoll", he buys the best-selling and excellent Shangri-La Frontier, a full-dive VR game with 30 million registered players. He enters the world of Shangri-La Frontier as Sunraku, his bird-masked player character, where all the skills he has attained as an expert trash game hunter will come in handy as he progresses in the game. == Characters ==

; : : Rakuro is a major enthusiast for trash games, to the point that he has built up a collection of them. His performance is affected by his mood. His gaming alias Sunraku is partly derived from his real name, with "Sun" substituting for "Hizu", which means sun. ; : : A classmate of Rakuro. She has a crush on him, but is too shy to tell him. When she finds out he has joined SLF, she tries to meet up with him so they can become in-game friends. ; : : A PKer in Shangri-La Frontier. Sunraku first met her in another game, where he led a raid on her castle with the help of Oikatzo. ; : : A pro gamer of fighting games and a longtime friend of Sunraku. He joins Shangri-La Frontier on Sunraku's recommendation, and creates a female brawler. ; : : A vorpal bunny from Rabbituza. Sunraku meets her after his encounter with Lycagon. She allows him exclusive access to Rabbituza, and introduces him to the many important NPCs found there. ; : ; / : : Rei's older sister, and leader of the Schwarz Vulf guild. ; : : A druid who leads the guild SF Zoo. She is obsessed with animals, and is obsessed with Emul. ; : ; : : Older sister to Emul, she is the blacksmith of Rabbituza. ; : ; : : A ghost NPC who only appears in a secret area at night who has ties to Wehtermon. Pencilgon feels a deep connection with her. ; : : One of the Seven Colossi, he only appears during a full moon. ; : ; : ; : ; : : Leader of the Library guild, dedicated to cataloguing the lore of SLF. Despite having a young girl as an avatar, he's got a deep masculine voice. ; : : A cait sith who is deeply in love with Bilac. ; : : The second player to gain access to Rabbituza, she has a deep devotion to Sunraku. ; : : One of Emul's many siblings, he's a samurai who shows Akitsu Akane Rabbituza. ; : : The number one PVP fighter in Nephilim Hollow. ; : : Rust's Spotter. He analyses her opponents and advises her in fights. ; : ; : ; : ; : == Production ==

Web novel While living overseas, author read The Irregular at Magic High School on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website, which inspired him to begin writing novels. Although reincarnation-type fantasy stories were popular on the site at the time, he was particularly impressed by virtual reality narratives and the distinctive appeal of VR games, which eventually led to the creation of Shangri-La Frontier. For the title, Katarina chose "frontier" to evoke a sense of pioneering exploration. He paired it with "Shangri-La" after considering terms for a paradise or "Garden of Eden", as the game's world represented such a place. He also contemplated "Eldorado", but selected "Shangri-La" after learning its origin in a novel by James Hilton, where it refers to a lamasery housing the world's wisdom. This aligned with his concept of a game world where players uncover knowledge from a lost advanced civilization. He maintains a fan-made, Wikipedia-like resource to track story details, characters, and events when his own memory is unclear. While the major story arcs and ending were planned early, minor adventures are developed during the writing process. and minimal attire were inspired by players in games like Dark Souls who defeat bosses while wearing only headgear. A promotional video combining animated footage and manga panels, narrated by Azumi Waki and featuring Yuma Uchida as Sunraku, was released on July 7, 2021, to mark the manga's first anniversary; Uchida later reprised the role in the anime series. Katarina participated in anime production meetings, providing supervision and additional worldbuilding details. Fuji, trusting the adaptation team, was less involved but provided reference materials from the manga when consulted on visual elements like colors and environments. == Media ==

Web novel The web novel series written by started on May 19, 2017, on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. No printed version of the novel series has been released, despite numerous requests. Manga A manga adaptation illustrated by Ryosuke Fuji has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine since July 15, 2020. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on October 16, 2020. As of April 16, 2026, 26 volumes have been released. In North America, Kodansha USA announced the English-language digital release of the manga in November 2020. In November 2021, Kodansha USA announced that it would begin releasing the series in print, with the first volume released on September 6, 2022. Anime In July 2022, an anime television series adaptation produced by C2C was announced. The first 25-episode season aired from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, on the programming block on all JNN affiliates, including MBS and TBS. The first opening theme song is "Broken Games", performed by FZMZ, while the first ending theme song is "Ace", performed by . while the second ending theme song is , performed by Reona. Aniplex collected the episodes on two DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets, released on March 27 and June 26, 2024. A second season aired from October 13, 2024, to March 30, 2025, on the same programming block. For the second season, the first opening theme song is "Queen", performed by Lisa, while the first ending theme song is , performed by . The second opening theme song is "Frontiers", performed by Awich, while the second ending theme is "RealitYhurts", performed by Cvlte. A third season was announced after the final episode of the second season. It is set to premiere in January 2027. English release Crunchyroll has licensed the series for streaming outside of East Asia. The company has released the first season on two Blu-ray Disc sets; the first volume was released on March 4, 2025, and the second one on April 9 of that same year. The second season was released on a single Blu-ray Disc set on April 24, 2026. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia. Video game On July 7, 2022, a video game adaptation, developed by Netmarble Nexus and published by Netmarble, was announced. Titled , it is set to release in 2026. == Reception ==

By April 2024, the manga had over 8 million copies in circulation; by September of the same year, it had over 10 million copies in circulation; by April 2025, it had over 12 million copies in circulation; by March 2026, it had over 16 million copies in circulation. The manga ranked eleventh on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2021" by the Honya Club website. It placed fifth in the 2021 Next Manga Award in the print category. The manga was nominated for the 46th Kodansha Manga Award in the category in 2022; it won the 47th edition in the same category in 2023. == Notes ==