The ZONE Podcast: Nerdy News and Reviews
We, the Zealots of Nerd Entertainment (or the ZONE Alliance), are a group of eople talking about old and new movies, television shows, video games, and everything else in nerd/pop culture!
The ZONE Podcast: Nerdy News and Reviews
Shangri-La Frontier (Season 2): Gaming Beyond Garbage
Shangri-La Frontier drops us into a future where traditional video games are considered retro relics, and anything less than cutting-edge VR is dismissed as "crap." Yet it's precisely these supposedly inferior games that have forged Rakuro Hizutome into a formidable player. Known online as Sunraku, he's built his reputation by mastering games others abandon, developing skills and reflexes that give him a unique edge when he finally steps into the god-tier VR world of Shangri-La Frontier.
What makes this series stand out isn't just its premise, but how authentically it captures the essence of gaming culture. The second season brilliantly expands on this foundation, taking us deeper into both the mechanics of the game and the psychology of its players. We witness Sunraku's evolution from a pure solo "class cannon" who eschews armor for attack power to someone who gradually learns the value of teamwork and community. The series doesn't just show gameplay—it explores how gaming relationships blur the line between virtual and real connections, with characters often defaulting to using gamer tags even when meeting face-to-face.
The show excels at depicting the complex relationship between players and developers. When characters discover that a supposedly unbeatable monster had been secretly buffed by developers to extend gameplay, it mirrors real-world gaming controversies about difficulty balancing. Similarly, when players discover unintended mechanics—like using an inventory space as a teleportation tool—we see the eternal dance of players finding creative solutions while developers scramble to maintain game balance. These moments resonate because they reflect genuine gamer experiences, from exploiting glitches to adapting when those exploits get patched.
The animation quality deserves special praise, particularly during combat sequences where strategy and skill combine in fluid, impactful visuals. Whether it's Sunraku's lightning-fast attacks or the awe-inspiring appearance of the Colossi, the animation team delivers consistently impressive results that make each encounter feel unique and consequential.
Ready to join the 30 million players in Shangri-La Frontier? Subscribe to follow our journey through this masterfully crafted gaming adventure that understands both the technical and emotional aspects of what makes gaming communities so special.
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DISCLAIMER: The thoughts and opinions shared within are those of the speaker. We encourage everyone to do their own research and to experience the content mentioned at your own volition. We try not to reveal spoilers to those who are not up to speed, but in case some slips out, please be sure to check out the source material before you continue listening!
Stay nerdy and stay faithful,
- J.B.
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Shangri-La Frontier. When was the last time I played a game that wasn't crap? This is a world in the near future, where games that use display screens are classified as retro, and anything that can't keep up with the state-of-the-art VR technology is called a crap game. And you see a large number of crap games coming out, and those who devote their lives to clearing these games are called crap game hunters, and rakuro hizutome is one of them. The game he's chosen to tackle next is shangri-la frontier, a god tier game that has a total of 30 million players, online friends, an expansive world, encounters with rivals these are changing rock and roll and all the other players fates. The best game adventure tale by the strongest crap game player begins now.
Speaker 1:Now, first of all, let me just say I will admit that I slept on this series during the season one premiere when the rest of the gang was reviewing season one, and honestly, there was like so many things that had the review that I just couldn't get around to it. It is what it is, but I finally got around to watching both seasons of Shangri-La Frontier and I will say that it is pretty solid, like I want to say at least a solid eight, maybe bump it up to a nine because, first of all, that kick to the face in episode one, that was all the impression that I need, that this series was going to be kind of funny and the animation is going to be kind of good, like see. First of all, the opening thing goes hard a funny and realistic perspective on video games, especially the bad ones, and everything doesn't always take place in shangri-la frontier. So you can tell that it was inspired by SAO Sword Art Online to some extent, and Nephilim Hollow is a mecha game which is part of Shangri-La Frontier, but that was one of the themes that I wanted for Sword Art Online. If they had a mecha game, a racing game and a fighting game, not like RPG fighting but more like arcade, one-on-one type shit with boxing and whatnot, that would have been hype. That would have been hype, but it didn't get that far, so I will.
Speaker 1:The plot for Single Out Frontier seemed to be centered around defeating the unique monsters in a game, and there is an interesting array of characters. Uh, I already mentioned rocker. Oh, he's a tome who's better known as sun roku. He's a major enthusiast for quote-unquote trash games, because, you know, if it's not virtual reality, it's crap and I'm like it's not the opposite, our reality. I mean we don't have full dive by sao, but uh I don't know about these virtual reality games, but it really depends on the game.
Speaker 1:I can understand a horror game, but other than that, I just don't see the hype around them, which is ironic because VR was hyped up for many years in media. But now that they're around I'm like I will understand if it was full dive technology. But then again, with the way SAO and, dare I say, hat turned out, sometimes you gotta be careful what we wish for. But anyways, with Sunraku, he is an enthusiast for trash games, to a point where he built up a collection of them and his performance was affected by his mood. So in other words, if he's like mad or riled up, then he'll probably fight harder, or if he's like depressed, then he's like ah, he's gonna be piss poor or whatnot. So he's one of those players. His gaming alias, sunraku, is partly derived from his real name, with Sun substituting for Hizu, which means sun. So Sunraku is the type of guy that dismisses the usage of armor for the best weapons, a class canon, so to speak. More so an unorthodox player. I'm more of an all-rounder myself, but hey, I respect the hustle.
Speaker 1:There is this one girl, rei Saiga, also known as Saiga Zero in the game. She's a classmate of Rock and Roll and has a crush on him, but too shy to tell him. But when she finds out that he was playing Shangri-La Frontier, she tries to meet up with him so that they can become friends. And what not Funny thing about Saiga Zero. Imagine this intimidating Suit of armor looking down on you and some ruckus like oh, I need to be careful around this guy, like he might bite me up like when he killed me and then at the same time, this intimidating looking knight character doing the whole finger touch shy maiden shit.
Speaker 1:And I'm sitting there like bro, I can't take this seriously. But like in a funny way, like not to say, like I was trying to take the whole series seriously because with my first impression of the first episode I'm not expecting this to be like super serious. But it's like sometimes you're like good lord arthur pencil gun uh, it's the screen name for toa amane, a pk air player, killer and shangri-la frontier. Uh, sonaraku first met her in another game, nebula Hollow, where he led a raid on her castle with the help of Oikatsu I hope I pronounced that correctly, speaking of which Oikatsu, real name Keiomi is a pro gamer of fighting games and a long-time friend of Sunraku and joins Shangri-La Frontier on Sunraku's recommendation and creates a female brawler.
Speaker 1:Emu is a vorpal bunny from Rabitza oh, my god, I'm gonna fucking kill me with these names Like the rabbit clan, I guess you could say. Sonaraku meets her after his encounter with Lycaon and she Allows him exclusive access to Rabitusa, rabitusa, rabitusa, rabitusa I'll go roll with that and introduces him To the many important NPCs Found there. And then here comes the big sister of Ray, saiga Momo, also known as Saiga 100, the leader of the Schwartzwolf guild. There's this druid named Animala, who leads the guild of Shangri-La SF2, I guess and obsessed with animals and obsessed with Emu Biola, who's the oldest sister of Emu and the blacksmith for the rabbit people. Sessina Amatsuki, also known as Sessina of Bygone Days, is a ghost NPC who only appears in a secret area at night, who has ties to Weathermon and Pencil Gun feels a deep connection with her Weathermon.
Speaker 1:The Toon Guard is one of the Seven Colossi and only appears during the full moon is the leader of the library guild, aramis, who's a cat, sith, who's deeply in love with Biola Akane, akaso Akisu excuse me the second player to gain access to Ravisua I don't know what I'm saying and there's other characters like Seacrew, Rust Mold and some others.
Speaker 1:For the most part, I just want to say it's a fairly entertaining anime, like not a whole lot to say, but it looks fairly good to me and, with that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to the rest of the team because chances are they probably have way more to say on it than I do. So that's my little two cents. On Shangri-La Frontier, did I say 8 to a 9? Yeah, 8 to a 9 out of 10. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about that rating.
Speaker 2:Hey, what's good everybody. This is Kokugasu, professor Tuck and Mira Jane Rolling in with Shank the Law Frontier, season 2. And Season 1 was a trip. Season 1 was an absolute trip. Absolutely loved it, thank y'all. If y'all tuned in for the first one, then you understand that we had quite a bit to say into Season 1. And now we definitely have a lot to say for Season 2. First off, 25 episodes episodes we is eating. We is eating for real, because I love animated like, just give us some shows, give us something to try to work through. And there's not a single boring episode this season either. Man, season two is an excellent step up into this series and I'll be honest with you, I still have not had a chance to pick up the manga personally, but we absolutely still love this series, absolutely love how things are going. So, without further ado, we're rolling into how think, how it is that we feeling into it. So first off is a general basis. Now we're just focusing on just season two. How do you guys feel about that man?
Speaker 4:well for me, um, season one was so great I was looking so forward to season two that, um, I started watching it almost immediately. You know, I try to watch it, uh, dub, but as the sub was coming out, I just kept watching the sub and then re-watching it in a dub. So, um, it took until today for me to watch the last two episodes, um, because I was just saving them, you know, just saving them for good luck, uh, but everything was dope in it, um, the new arena, the monsters, the character development, uh, all the major battles and the tournament art, uh, which is my personal favorite, because I'm always about the tournament and the showmanship of the game, building up on the world, and it's given us a lot of insight. I honestly want to. I know this is becoming, this is becoming a trend here, but I want to say thank you to Talos.
Speaker 4:I know we fight, we argue, we bicker. He's my arch nemesis and my rival. But he was right about another thing. He told me that Sword Art Online and Shangri-La Frontier could be neck and neck and he would pick Shangri-La Frontier over Sword Art Online. Now, I'm not up to there yet, because Sword Art Online is one of my personal favorites. But it's up there, I ain't gonna lie, it's up there. And the art style, oh my. The fight scenes, oh, top tier. It's a god tier anime and it's a god tier game. And if they come out with this game in real life, oh my.
Speaker 2:I don't think we ready for that. People be like losing jobs and stuff. We be like we put too much dedication for that. People be like losing jobs and stuff we put too much dedication into that.
Speaker 4:I'll go work for the company. I'll go work for the company immediately.
Speaker 3:But then you wouldn't be able to play as much. Who, who wouldn't? Never mind, I'm the continual product tester Vanessa of the year.
Speaker 4:Y'all need somebody to help out? Yeah, I can help out with that. No, I ain't got nothing going on.
Speaker 2:Steve can do that for me, see, yeah, whoever, whoever insert random name that's gonna be working with me as my.
Speaker 4:Oh my god, oh my god so steve's the one that's not gonna be able to play the game?
Speaker 3:yeah, steve ain't gonna be playing no that's exactly why we're gonna end up second game.
Speaker 2:That's what how do we switch from Shrink or? Law to some damn hack. You've all now been trapped inside this game and cannot leave That'll be cool with me.
Speaker 3:That'll be cool with me All, because Professor Tuck said Steve couldn't play the game.
Speaker 2:Oh goodness, mary Jane, so far. How? How you feeling about this season two?
Speaker 3:season two. I have to agree with Professor Duke unfortunately it was a banger. The fight scenes are absolutely amazing. It definitely expanded upon its world and it did a good job of that, of not losing track of the plot, because sometimes with these shows it seems like they lose the main plot. But this time, nah, we focused on them seven beats, we focusing on the lore, we focusing on exactly what's happening, and I feel like they kind of upped the, the psychology of this one and like the combat felt more strategic. It didn't feel like people were just kind of running in.
Speaker 3:It's like they had plans this time around. I really loved season two. It definitely made me feel like I was playing an mmo and I don't know if anyone has ever played nine dragons, but nine dragons was an MMO. That was like back in oh god. I don't want to say that, it was like popular back in like 20 in 2012, because it was ran by a plane and it finally got shut down. That's not the point. The point is it feels just like I'm playing Nine Dragons and that is absolutely incredible. So that's how I feel about season two.
Speaker 2:That's what's up. That's what's up. Yeah, absolutely. I do agree with you on to that. It does Just like we said for season one, it does feel like in watching this it feels like we're really into it, and I think it's because of the fact that we are gamers, because of the fact that we have played games, we can relate so easily into it.
Speaker 2:One of the best things I love about this, like how you said, we're kind of we're still sticking with the lore of the seven colossi, but I also love the fact that we're actually able to branch out into other stuff as well too, because one of the things about an anime like this and I will say is one of the things that kind of got me even with dot hack as well too is the fact that you focus so much onto this one sole game. There's nothing else out there. It's like, oh, this game overtakes everything else. There's nothing else out there. This is the top tier game. Nobody's playing anything else. No other game exists and we get a chance to take a momentary break, with our main character being able to go ahead.
Speaker 2:I want to say son roku that's his title. He goes by because it's the same thing for me like at this point we just go by the gamer tags. That's pretty much what we do here. We don't really use each other's real names too much like that. We just go straight up by the tag names. That's just what it is into it, and I love that, even when they, like, interact with each other outside of the game, it's kind of the same thing.
Speaker 2:It's like it's kind of hard to call you by your real name. I just called you by your gamer text. I've known you. That's just what it is. That's a fact by me. I don't know you by no other name. This is what it's like having that work name. Like you know, you go to work, you have that name. That's it. There's, there's nothing else. It's like oh, who's that? It says so, who is? Uh, shannon, who shannon, shannon? I don't know nobody known by shannon. They say you talk to shannon all the time. I'm talking about her name, shannon, what you talking about? Shea, shea, oh, shay, shay, yeah, I know she gave me shay shay hr.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like. Why did you say that, shannon? Don't, nobody call her Shannon, oh God.
Speaker 4:I got a cousin. She was a fat baby and her name's Fat Baby to this day, Skinny is I don't know what, but Fat Baby. You're going to stick every time.
Speaker 2:That's just how it is, man, you've said it for so long. It's ingrained. Trying to call them by what the government name is, it just feels so unreal. You're like who, but yeah, and so getting the opportunity being able to talk to them outside, into other games as well too, I love that we're exploring that. It's not just shangri-la frontier name and anime is shangri-la frontier, yes, but we're following the players into it. You know we have mostly we're following son raku, but we're actually being able to have even like a episode where, hey, let's see what kyle's is doing, you know, let's see what pencil going is doing, let's see what is happening in their lives, type of thing, and we get a chance to kind of just let them see them do other stuff. We're seeing other games. You know I love that. We had a couple episodes of a break to be able to see a robot game, dang. I really wish Talos could be on here because, come on, met God himself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Met.
Speaker 2:So like, aside from the fact that he's definitely one of the main ones to put us really heavily to say how much we would love to show, and also considering the fact that there's a whole mech sequence into it. And then, oh, girl Rust, I had to stop playing S. Then old girl rust who I had stopped playing shingle on frontier because we ain't ran into no robots. And then soraka was actually I have a robot, you what? Bring us right back into the game. That's how I felt as far as I was like, yeah, yeah, I've done that, I've had a person. I was like I had to drop the series, drop stuff like that. Somebody tell me it does get better, you do get what you want. At this episode you're like, wait, seriously, so you get up to the episode. You're like, yeah, you're right, we did get there and that's just. You know it gets better. Into that. So I absolutely really love Into it. Now I do want to say one thing as well too. This was going to be to me as a counter for what you had said, mira Jane.
Speaker 2:We had more strategy in season one. For season two, there was no strategy. There, no strategy. There is not a single scenario that they were fully prepared to be in this time, especially with fighting like a gone bruh, they would just wandered in. The only people who were supposedly prepared was sf zoo and they got wiped by like a gone, like it was nothing, and then getting a chance, like our main characters and ray, they finally jumped in and like, okay, we're not prepared for this fight. Everyone. They finally jump in and like, okay, we're not prepared for this fight. Everyone else just shows up and they're like, honestly, we were not prepared for this fight whatsoever, but we're going to try to pull through the best that we can, pulling out all the stops. So last minute strategy I could definitely see into this, but there wasn't a real strategy in this, so this was a straight up go with the flow. We're not prepared to die today. We're not prepared to die today.
Speaker 3:We're going to just do this best that we can. That was the best strategy though.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's all you could do with that kind of opponent.
Speaker 2:The best offense is a strong defense. The best strategy is no plan at all.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 4:Sometimes you got to pop out and show them.
Speaker 2:You know what? You're not wrong.
Speaker 4:And, as you see, it's a little bit of foreshadowing as it prepares for the ultimate battle that Son Raku got to go through, because that's going to be epic. It's going to be like Voldemort versus Dumbledore or Dumbledore versus literally anybody.
Speaker 2:True, true. I am kind of curious how this next season is going to go because of how it ends, because we was really hoping that, yeah, it's going to be. This is a chance. We're not going to focus on some rock anymore. We're going to get a chance for k to get his shine, get his revenge back and stuff, and you know, him versus selby and see how this is going to go. But then at the last minute they switch it up that it's going to be Son Raku versus Selvi and it's like seriously, I was like I don't know. I think that revenge is supposed to be more personal. It doesn't feel as personal right now because y'all switching it up.
Speaker 4:I mean, it's what the fans want. They got the similar play style.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true, but considering the fact that they have a similar playstyle, that's what probably make it even better for K To be able to reign on top, because you know, k still has a 60%, well, 60-70% Win against Sunroku when it comes to fighting games. So it's like you know. But Sunroku is that jack of all trades. Oh, speaking of them cards, though, hitting them tarot cards, dude, getting the Joker. I'll be be honest with you. I can see how joker works for him. I could not be the joker. I could not do that. Them drawbacks is entirely too hard. Double the buffs, defense is gone.
Speaker 4:He still can't equip armor like oh yeah, my boy going through it. If he ain't had that speed it'd be over with. He would've been big. That's it. The opposite of him would be. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Maple. Probably Maple yeah, from Bofori. Yeah, having that ultimate defense, but he has absolutely no speed whatsoever, has overpowered strength attacks. I mean she put all her defense points.
Speaker 3:You know True.
Speaker 4:What did y'all think of the pacing? How was the pacing compared to season two versus season one?
Speaker 2:So personally, the first couple episodes felt a little slow to me at first, but I wasn't mad at it. The only thing that kind of got me into when I say into that slow pacing, is that we got more explanation of stuff and then we finally, once we got into action, we was into action. There was a second moment about going back to those tarot cards. We only heard of two different, two different of those things you know. We heard the world that that Rey has and we heard about the fool that Sunraku has, but we don't know nothing about the other ones. If we had that pacing like how we had at the beginning, that detailed, explained out some stuff, explained what was really going on, given that lore and stuff, I want to see what those other cards are, what are the other possibilities that you can have what's going on type of thing into that.
Speaker 3:So that's from me. I think that's something that could be revealed later. I think, yeah, that is true, cause, like I mean, it also sets up the possibility for even stronger villains.
Speaker 2:This is true, okay.
Speaker 1:I mean, I like how they had sent us off with you.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4:No, you're good. No, I was just going to say I like how they had sent us off on the three different storylines that they could follow. I'm excited to see what is going to be in the beginning of season three.
Speaker 2:It could be any of those true, true, I mean because, in fact, first off, son Raku has now had two additional unique scenarios outside of Pencil, gone and Cops. You know they're going to be mad because he still hasn't told them. He said I told them oh, by the way, I did beat Like A Gone wait what? But found out it's a ghost. So we actually did not fight the real one, that little shadow. He said I told him oh, by the way, I did beat like a gun Wait what? But found out it's a ghost. So we actually did not fight the real one. That little shadow dog that keeps going around is actually just that, it's just the shadow. Like seriously. And now getting this point, like oh yeah, I'm also into another unique scenario. I'm fighting one of the other seven colossi as well. Now too, like wait what? I'm fighting one of the other seven colossi as well. Now too, like wait what?
Speaker 4:You just jumping answers he gonna get beat up. I'm talking about knotted up.
Speaker 2:Especially because, in fact, one hit kills him. They're gonna keep doing it. They're gonna PK you over and over again. Keep trying Not keep trying.
Speaker 2:But for reals though. He's was like I'm just playing for have fun and stuff. Yeah, no, you purposely hit that. You was like, should I say something? No, I'm not gonna say nothing. And then, ray, good lord that girl. I don't know why it is that she just still can't straight up tell him hey, I actually know you, just so you know we go to school together. I know who you are. It's just like girl, son of zero bro. But the thing about best animation right now, straight up dude, apocalypse, apocalypse, oh my god, apocalypse. We finally got a chance and said this is the attack that gave me the title Attack Master, and nobody has been able to beat it. And we were sitting here thinking too like, oh dang, we thought Lycagon survived it. And it was like what? Even Apocalypse wasn't enough to put you down. And then he finally fades away and we're like, oh, okay, okay, you had us there, you had us there, you had us in the first half and I'm not going to laugh Right.
Speaker 2:You sat here and was like, wait that part.
Speaker 2:I was like I was like I don't pull out all the stops. You done already pulled out your robot and used up all his energy. It's a very smart move on to that, so I would give that strategy into it. The robot was very confused into this aspect. He's like I could tell. It was one of those moments that Simon was like what was that delay? I think delay was supposed to be like I'm attack wing, like, literally, the name of the robot is pretty much attack wing, it's a phoenix attack wing. Pretty much attack wing, it's a phoenix attack wing. So it's like so you don't want me to attack, you just want me to fly around and just blow away clouds. I was like I don't know how. I would feel pretty bad about that too. To be honest, like you know, I specialize in slashing up people and you're telling me I just need to blow some clouds away.
Speaker 4:Really, okay, I guess how strong are the colossi guys? Gosh, you was fighting a shadow.
Speaker 2:Nobody can defeat a shadow because, in fact they found out, the shadow is pure mana at that, nothing but just pure magical energy.
Speaker 3:So yeah, they just constantly kept repairing itself I just wonder how many people felt stupid after they found out. Like just the regular players, just like we don't know them, but they just hear in the rumor mill and they like, are you telling me this all the time? You know how many times I died?
Speaker 2:that part first off. No, you can go even further into that. How rude the dead, that one dead girl is the fact that they found out it's like. Oh, the shadow was supposed to always be beatable and I was wondering why nobody beat it until I looked into the game logs. And once I looked into the game logs found out someone secretly buffed it. Why does he have a second shadow?
Speaker 3:I ain't gonna lie, she would have got throat punch. Oh my god. Oh, never mind.
Speaker 2:It didn't say no, just disrespectful it is because she's like I want people to enjoy the game a little bit longer type thing. You know, we don't want to move and progress in too fast. This stuff like no, no, you're punishing people. The fact that someone has to go out the way, have all these glitches, do all this extra stuff in order to beat this extremely souped up character that you had? Seriously, no, you're doing too much. That's what the problem with you're gonna make an unbeatable character it's not fair.
Speaker 2:I would be like listen. You know how many meals I don't miss.
Speaker 3:You know what you owe me.
Speaker 2:You owe me dinner, you owe me breakfast and then, on top of that, how dare you to extend the fact that, hey, we're gonna give you this special inventory. It's unlimited inventory space and it's like, oh sweet. And then they find out, oh, I could teleport into the inventory and teleport back out. Oh interesting, I'm able to use it to evade attacks. And there's like we didn't plan for this, so now we're gonna have to change up the monstrous ai, so we're gonna release a secret update. No, no, don't punish me for the fact that I pay attention.
Speaker 3:That's not fair that, that I didn't care that, but that's that and that's. I think that's what made it even feel even more realistic, because that is exactly what would happen in an mmo.
Speaker 2:They find out that everyone is cheating and they like oh no, it was like getting married in room skate oh yeah yeah, that was a big cheat into that one, being able to share inventory and do all this type of stuff. They were like, no, we didn't think it was going to be that serious, but apparently y'all abused it and no, we didn't abuse it. You set out the parameters and we followed it.
Speaker 3:That's not abuse it's not my fault. I got proposed to within. I took all that man money after the divorce. That was his fault this is true.
Speaker 2:I wanted to base it off of something Kind of realistic, and this is how it works Exactly.
Speaker 3:And I just needed to be rich. So I mean, what else can I do?
Speaker 2:I learned so much more about you and it scares me. It's unrealistic. It's just like I'd like to do more podcasts.
Speaker 3:I'd do with Jameerah Jane. I'd learn so much more about you, and it scares me, it's unrealistic, it's just like I wouldn't do that in real life. Real life, oh, I was a demon. I was definitely a demon, demon empress. Oh, absolutely, oh my God, oh my god. And I'm so glad nobody knew that I was also playing Guild Wars, because I was also a demon. I miss those days when I actually had time and I didn't have a job.
Speaker 2:Oh, my god. I mean, in fact our characters here are 19, except for Tomo. She's the only one that's like An actual adult Top model and stuff Like model.
Speaker 4:One's a pro gamer, One's a model like Bro, I just Play trash games so good.
Speaker 2:I'm great at stuff.
Speaker 4:It's not even fair. It's not fair. I will say I'm great at stuff.
Speaker 2:It's not even fair, it's not fair.
Speaker 2:I will say I am happy to get a chance. One of the things they did explain more the technology thing of how it is that Sunrock was as good as he is about the fact that trash games because he exploits the glitches, and we thought it was like, oh, he just exploits the glitches and he just pays attention more. But then he got a chance to explain when he finally got that super developed, uh, vr gaming thing and it was like, oh yeah, it really tackles on all your sentences and stuff and really it pays more attention. We get a chance to explain the fact that him using these glitches is the fact that it would normally overpower his brain, overpower another person's brain, like when we deal with the, the met game, nephilim, where he explains the fact that trying to go so fast and stuff it's it will tackle on a lot of people's mentality too much and they will get a mental strain. But for him he's able to mentally handle it because he just kind of relaxes into it. More so his body is. He has literally trained his mind and body to be high reaction speeds and stuff into these VR games because he literally puts himself into it, and so I'm happy they got a chance to actually explain into that that it's like oh okay, so you've mentally fried your brain so much that this is what it is Explains a lot.
Speaker 2:This is probably the only time you could probably be like yeah, video games are bad for your health In this case. Yeah, it would be. Yeah, video games are bad for your health In this case, yeah, it would be. Yeah, because understanding it does fry their brains. You made a fact, but can you survive that frying though?
Speaker 3:I mean, if you can survive, that means you can thrive. So therefore, if they didn't make it.
Speaker 2:They just didn't make it.
Speaker 2:They need to go and play lesser games true, and that's what a lot of people do and stuff, oh man, but then loving that opportunity of like seeing so many other people have such great gamers as well too, and it's like, oh, we're not following the best gamer in the world, type of thing. And it's like, oh, we're not following the the best gamer in the world, type of thing. And it's also understanding, by far sun roku is not. Like you know, kautz has actually proven his himself to be significantly better than sun roku in a lot of different things, in a lot of different regards, because he's that gamer that pays attention to stuff.
Speaker 2:You know, I like to look at the lore, I read the background, I understand, I look at the ups and downs and things like that. I kind of do the same thing, like when I play Mario Kart, like when I go through all the little vehicle aspects of the Mario Kart and then choosing your character, even when you're choosing your me, depending on how heavy you make your me and stuff, and if you want to make your me more realistic, if you make them look more adult, like you usually add, oh well, adults have a little bit more weight to them and that's going to drop the weight of your car. It's going to make a big difference, so that's automatically going to start changing up how your your mean goes into his racing and everything pay attention to. You know as far as the drift that you would have. So I love, like I do, some of the same things. He's probably the character that I most relate to. Um, it definitely feels like Mira Jane is the absolute pencil gun of our group, stealing people's money and stuff.
Speaker 4:You just willingly admitted this. That's not right. I completely agree 1,000%.
Speaker 3:I feel called up.
Speaker 2:But is it wrong?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's not wrong.
Speaker 1:No, it's not wrong.
Speaker 4:So if I could highlight any character for Kokugatsu, it would probably be from Hmm, he would probably be the villain in glasses. I think that would be him. So much strategy, yeah, so much strategy. So much thinking, analyzing and then all around evil, just to get the job done, whatever it takes for us to accomplish the mission.
Speaker 2:I don't do that.
Speaker 4:You'll push your glasses up and it'll be over. We're gonna get it. Wait, I don't do that. You'll put your glasses up and it'll be over.
Speaker 3:Like yeah, we're gonna get it done Wait.
Speaker 2:That actually isn't how to do that. That actually fits. I plan out for everyone's benefit. Okay, there may be sacrifices along the way.
Speaker 4:I'll prove my point. I guess, you got a plan for the future and look, he built the whole city, made sure everybody, he started the government from scratch. Ain't nobody did that since Alexander Hamilton oh my god that would be cool, alexander Hamilton oh, my goodness anyway.
Speaker 2:Oh, now, I did want to go to to chance to highlight as well I love that we got a chance to see more of sf zoo and understanding their thing into it. I like that little strategy that they had when it came down to fighting against lycagon and they was like, straight up, they're like, yeah, this is a strategy that we use to even take down dragons and capture them and stuff, and I'm like that's a pretty good strategy. The only thing they clearly didn't plan for is the fact that the developers was like, oh, he says we gave him a second shadow that you just weren't aware of. Just straight up, bull. But um, as far as like how they had planned out their strategy, I did like that, um, having that moment of understanding. Okay, we gotta some people gonna take the tent. We're gonna have the tanks take the hit. That's your point. You guys are the high defenders, take the hits. Once you take the hits, then we're gonna go ahead and move through from there and having that whole capture spell.
Speaker 2:Um, what was it? A pot, not a pot. What was it? Uh, some in the abyss and like hades of the abyss hadades, yeah, cuz her. Her magical attacks were based off of Greek mythology and I like we get his little paint, pay attention to that. Every unique weapon there are special abilities is based off of, like Greek mythology and stuff from different mythologies. Then we wound up seeing Greek mythology and I do like it was some rock who you pay attention to, a lot of his abilities and stuff. His abilities are really based off of Hermes the messenger from greek mythology as far as his masterful speed, constant, being able to bounce around and stuff, and so I love we get a chance to like see things into that. You know what you got me started because you said it called me out for being a strategic person, don't you?
Speaker 3:you know, I mean if the shoe fits um.
Speaker 2:Son rocco also kind of reminds me of ikers he does fly too close to the sun half the time, doesn't he?
Speaker 3:he does, he does and I was kind of peeping that, more so during this season, because he keeps a lot of things close to close to the chest, so like I just feel like we gonna get to that point where he's flying so close to the sun, like are his wings going to burn. That's kind of what I kind of, I kind of want to see that that happened.
Speaker 2:That happened to like a gun.
Speaker 2:Earlier he was so confident that his confidence in trash games was the fact that like, oh, I can do this all by myself type of thing, and he got swept out, literally his feet swept from under him, completely annihilated and given a curse mark specifically that hinders him even further as punishment for doing so.
Speaker 2:So I think that was kind of his story starting off is that he flew too close to the sun because every single battle that he's been in so far he can't handle it by himself, even this one where he uh fought against the king of the great deep, this uh two, two elemental giant shark whale is the fact that, like that one, he still had to rely on some help. He couldn't do it by himself and he knew he couldn't. So now he plans better to working with other people versus being the trash gamer he is. He doesn't play with other people, he fights against them. Every other trash game he's done, he's always rocked solo. This is one that he's finally agreeing to work with a party, understanding he has to work with people and stuff. He wound up being helped, being found a guild and everything Something he would never do before.
Speaker 4:He started off that humbly. The season three of sword art on mine, because the first two seasons I'm a solo player. No, I can't do it. I'm a solo player like bro. It takes a village, bro. You gotta have a team to work with you. And the developing characters are also nice as they help craft different entities in the story and we can branch off. I know we said it before, but branching off to those different characters and then developing and building up their own stories can help develop further in the future. I want to see all the characters come together to fight. I don't know one of the Colossi in Avengers and Thanos type deal That'll be dope in the future.
Speaker 2:I mean to be honest with you, with one of these colossi right now that they're fighting against. It's a good possibility that that may wind up happening.
Speaker 3:I definitely think, we definitely won't get it.
Speaker 2:That'd be it, because I don't think he's going to beat Sittonit. I really don't think he's going to beat Sittonit Like at all. I know we're waiting for Abyssal Time, but I think even with all this build-up that he's doing, he's not going to beat him. Sittonit is entirely too huge. He's a complete underwater-based fighter, like that entire thing. I don't think he's going to work out. So I'm really curious on how that's going to be Now. Now, that sky emperor that's the one that really got me interested because, understanding, as far as we knew, like gone was the only one that cursed someone, that gave him a mark and stuff. They fought against, um, some of the other, um, some of the other seven colossi before, and no one has cursed them before until, all of a sudden, the sky king decided to curse, um, this this name is kind of long Kitana Karu, I don't know the ninja girl. That's all I'm going to have to say.
Speaker 4:Unfortunately, good job look, the shinobi sounds good.
Speaker 2:The shinobi, yeah, I want to see them fight too, that would be crazy.
Speaker 4:I mean we're want to see them fight too.
Speaker 2:That'd be crazy I mean, we're gonna see how this goes because, like I like her ability. Honestly, it's funny. She shows up. First thing she does is substitutes her juices over and over again replacement. It's just then, all of a sudden, they're like oh okay, you keep doing that, we're good to go. Actually, I have to have consumable items to do that and I used up all my consumable items. They're like what? Yeah, I can't do it no more. And it's like why would you Tell us this at first?
Speaker 4:so we can properly plan. Yeah, we done. Developed this whole schedule around you. Now we got to change up.
Speaker 2:Again, but I mean, it happens though those things do tend to happen, but it's still sometimes. Even just those last minute helps they. They make a big difference. Even if you can't keep exploiting them like you want to, they make a difference. So just do what you can, oh gosh. Otherwise, I mean there's multiple different things into it. I do wish we got a chance to explore deeper into the library and, honestly, based on how season one ended, I really thought that we was going to get deeper into the library this season and I was really surprised that that didn't happen. So I don't know, it's just it felt like it was setting up to that. Was that just me?
Speaker 3:no, I felt, I definitely felt the same way, because there's so much hidden story and it definitely felt like that's where we're going and I'm agree with you, that's kind of where I'm hoping, that that's where we go. We may not. I'm not reading the main, I don't know. I ain't gonna read it either. I ain't gonna sit up here and tell you that I am I'm not, so I'm not reading the same.
Speaker 2:I think it's because the anime is so good. It's one of the ones that you don't necessarily feel like you have to type of thing like you can, like absolutely can. But because they're doing so well with anime, I don't feel like I need to because from my understanding, they're doing a great job, doing a great adaptation of the anime. There might be like a couple things that's left out from the manga, but nothing that's like so major that you're just like oh my god, you really have to read the manga to truly understand. They still do a great job in helping you understand what's really going on thank you, it it's.
Speaker 3:I don't feel like I'm missing anything. I'm not looking for more information, I'm not like, okay, maybe I need to go google this because I know I'm missing something I legit just warped into the story at this point absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean we was literally just talking about both three earlier and I'll be honest, I still haven't watched season two, both three. I literally took a pause of that to watch this one and I'll probably talk we'll talk about when I do that review, but it's gonna be one of those ones of every anime is definitely tuned to different people and both free is just not for me. I'm not saying it was a bad, it's not a bad anime at all. It's just one of those ones that personally, for me, is it's just it's not one that I can get into. But it's understandable considering the fact that, like I really like shangri-la frontier and you can like both. But it does have an understanding that if you truly love anime like Shangri-La Frontier that focuses more on story and action and getting a chance to still relate to the gamers and stuff, both reads a little different because you wind up having a character who's never uh, never played video games at all and this is her very first video game and she's getting these main character anime experiences that nobody else would have, type of thing and it's interesting seeing it from her point of view. As far as, like, oh, I'm just assuming this is what's supposed to be happening and not understanding. The developers are like she's doing stuff that we did not expect. She's breaking the game, and I love that. Sean Rock is pretty much doing the same essentially as well too. I do like also, we understand that.
Speaker 2:I really thought that he broke the game entirely by being the only player to be able to go into the land of the rabbits and stuff. So I was like, oh okay, so the land of the rabbits and stuff. So I was like, oh okay, so he really broke the game. This wasn't supposed to be something that happened.
Speaker 2:But then, all of a sudden, now we do have the understanding that the secret to be able to get into the rabbits Additional, unique storyline and be able to have access, to be able to frequent in and out and have your own personal rabbit To be part of your party, is to be cursed by one of the seven colossi. So I love that you finally got a full confirmation onto that one. It was like, oh, we need to do a hundred counters and stuff into it. No, you just had to be a good enough fighter against the seven colossi that they wanted to mark you by saying next time you come back, I I'm gonna recognize that you were a good fighter and I'm expecting another good fight out of you, type of thing yo, that confirmation like warped my brain.
Speaker 3:I was like I knew it, I was. There's no way that that was not included because like that as a an additional mechanic is like you're not going to find out anymore about the storyline until you get marked.
Speaker 2:That part, and the other thing about it is that you can only run it solo. They did confirm into that one too Because that's the same thing that happened with Shinobi Is the fact that she literally ran into the Sky King by herself and clearly it had to put up a decent enough fight that he decided to mark her. So it was like, straight up that point of you have to do something that you would never do, that you're not really supposed to do in MMO. Mmo is all about mass multiplayer, joining parties, joining guilds. As soon as you start most MMOs, after you make it to a certain level, it's like you're forced to join a guild. You don't really have much of a choice type of thing into that. Versus Shangri-La Frontier does not force you to do that. You don't have to sign into a guild to be able to continue the story and things like that. You can still roll solo and it has its own perks and rewards for doing so, and this just happened to be one of them.
Speaker 3:It's like it recognizes the determination to be a solo player.
Speaker 2:Very true.
Speaker 3:At times it also does make you realize like, oh snap, I think I'm going to need some help for this, but I don't need help for this mission. Like it makes you make you realize like, oh snap, I think I'm going to need some help for this, but I don't need help for this mission.
Speaker 2:like it makes you make those choices strategically this is true, and then being able to think outside the box the amount of details into it they're in. Oh, I'm so sorry. My audio went out for just a second embryo embryos y'all remember that.
Speaker 4:Yo yo, yo yo embryo. You don't know what I'm talking about? No, it's from all that. It was um, yeah, yeah. Yeah, kale used to be a little baby inside the little embryo thing.
Speaker 3:It was a rapping baby oh my god, oh my god, oh my god a lot of core memory, huh. Yeah, why did you do that?
Speaker 4:Hey, I mean, there is something that I remember that I can't for the life of me, nobody else can remember it and I can't remember what it's from. I thought it was from a commercial or maybe a movie. If y'all know, I swear Everybody I ask about it they've been telling me like no, I don't know what you're talking about, it's a little thing. I remember it's like a little. I think it was like a little dinosaur or something like that. It used to say I'm burning hot, I'm steaming hot. Do y'all remember that?
Speaker 2:Wait, that sounds actually does sound familiar. Hold on a second. That sounds Actually does sound familiar. Hold on a second.
Speaker 3:Wait, hold on. I thought it sounds like Google it and you hear it now. It's a dinosaur.
Speaker 4:I think it was like A reptilian Type thing. It's I'm burning, I'm steaming hot, and I thought it was like From Power Rangers or something, but I can't recall. It might have been a commercial.
Speaker 3:I don't think it was a commercial. No, I think that was a show.
Speaker 4:It might have been.
Speaker 2:Let's see real quick. I'm burning hot, I'm steaming hot. I do remember hearing that. Are you sure it's not from a song?
Speaker 4:I don't believe it's from a song. It might be a song. I thought it was a show, a commercial Power Rangers or something.
Speaker 3:It sounds like something the villain was saying.
Speaker 4:It was like an evil. I don't want to know if it was evil or anti-hero character, but I remember they said I'm burning hot, I'm steaming hot, and then like a tag would happen.
Speaker 3:I feel like that was part of it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I can't remember what it's from, but nobody remembers it, and it made me so mad. I was like am I crazy? Am I crazy? I might actually be crazy.
Speaker 2:I mean, we know that part, but you, betty, I mean the truth, is we all kind that part? But you betty, I mean the truth, is we all kind of crazy? But you sitting here making arguments of stuff that don't need to be made arguments of Professor Tuck, by the way, I have to no you don't, I have to.
Speaker 4:You know why it gets the people going. It builds character.
Speaker 2:Alright, you guys. Let us know how y'all feel about that. Do y'all feel that he be doing the most Cause we do? It's the showmanship.
Speaker 4:So extra. I can't wait to go one on one Versus Talos too.
Speaker 2:And whatever.
Speaker 4:Jax Checkers, tic Tac Toe, it don't matter.
Speaker 2:Technically you go, technically you went against him as D&D, use your DM, you the player, you destroying his story.
Speaker 4:Nah nah nah. He destroyed his own story and then recreates it from the ashes. He is a menace.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh Anyway.
Speaker 4:He'll think you're fighting a rainbow, and then next thing you know, the rainbow then got dipped into some Hydrochloric acid and then turned into like a super rainbow from hell.
Speaker 2:So, jesus, he has scarred you for life, yes, Scarred my baby for life, robert oh my God.
Speaker 1:All done.
Speaker 2:Yeah all done, yeah, but for reals though do we have anything else for Strangler La Frontier? Because I mean, in the end there's just not much to really want to break down every single episode. I could spend hours detailing every episode but it wouldn't really, I don't think it would contribute to as far as our review.
Speaker 2:I mean, like, what little details I could put in during the the shark guy that during when, um, he was trying to get the attention of the king of the, the deep sea king winds up yeah, when he's like swimming in the air, he wants to do an exact same pose that piccolo does in like almost every single movie when piccolo tries to become a distraction, so that way the main character can build up their final attack. He winds up having like the exact same pose and I don't know that might have been an easter egg or not, but to me it was pretty recognizable. I was like hey, um, and then, just like piccolo, he winds up getting dumped. The kids are dumped on him to have to watch and he does a fantastic job keeping them alive for everyone to get his stuff done and then comes in clutch. At the end I was like, hey, it's the pickle of the story, that's what's up, which is sad that we're not going to see you again. I really hope that you become a continuing NPC.
Speaker 4:That stays with the story, but realistically it's okay there's so many monsters to fight and attack and so many mysteries to unravel, especially with the colossi, and the overall plot of the game like it's a lot, true? They?
Speaker 4:can go in any direction they want to too, and it reminds me honestly of, like, uh, the characters that I said the characters, the developers of overlord, because it was meant to be a video game, so there's so much detail inscribed into it to actually create the game that there's so much information that you could literally talk about it for years Now.
Speaker 2:I would say one thing as far as into Overlord but that won't be a little bit different into it, because he wound up getting trapped in the game per se and becoming his own world isn't that world just fully based on his own mindset now yes and no.
Speaker 4:Yes and no. It was like the original game, but there's nuances that are new, that isn't from the original game that he has to kind of figure out, so it seemingly had developed like a mind of its own. So yes and no. So some of the the core competencies of the original game are still there, so he finds it easier to navigate and whatnot.
Speaker 2:But there's still some surprises gotcha, gotcha, all right, but look at that. I mean, in fact, obviously we love this anime. It talks so much. It gives us really thinking about so much stuff. It's enjoyable. It's something that makes you think about different things as well, to start really trying to figure stuff out. I watched it in me, immediately wanted to go back and play my game again. I'm just like yo, all right, what game I'm picking up to play? I gotta prove my skills. I gotta get back into this real quick. I know I'm a dad, but I gotta get some skills. I gotta get back into my game and probably, like for real, I do.
Speaker 4:I miss it.
Speaker 2:Save you every time well, I'm too broke for that now because you got to pay monthly subscriptions for that now I'm just an old game.
Speaker 4:Now everything was it was games was 30. You got everything you're supposed to have with. The game is updated, just update.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're not wrong. The game of the year edition this that came out with the newest updates and new stuff to it. Yeah, but yeah, I missed it. Microwave transaction Gosh we did to ourselves. We did to ourselves. We did it to ourselves. People support I mean when I say we, maybe not you and me specifically, but as a gaming group as a whole. We was willing to put out more game, more money for more content, to be better than other people, and they took full advantage of it. Took full advantage of it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's true, and I do like the skins on Fortnite. I ain't gonna lie, I got to be all night.
Speaker 2:What I still have not played that one. Hey, considering the fact, I'm actually curious. You know one of the new games also that we're going to see in season three. It's pretty much going to be like a Call of Duty Fortnite-esque not Overwatch I'm not even going to say that game because unfortunately overwatch has really become dead with marvel rivals lately. Um, but I am excited to see how this is going to incorporate these new um because it's the first time that we're seeing a first-person shooter.
Speaker 2:We did get a tease of it, like during a moment when they uh were first talking about the ggc, the, about the game competition. There was little video segments that they would showcase next to the building on the screens of the building, and one of those video segments showed a first-person shooter going through, blasting enemies and stuff. So we actually did get a little snippet of what this animation team could do with a first-person shooter video game. So I am pretty excited because even just those little snippet videos that we saw, it actually looked really good to me. So I mean that honestly, this animation team is absolutely doing fantastic with this series.
Speaker 2:Please don't stop. Keep, keep it coming, keep coming. Just the same. I love how this has been. Love how the story is progressing. I love this world building. I love that we're getting a chance to see other games in anime format. I absolutely appreciate it. It is fantastic and so much, so, very enjoyable, so very much enjoyable. But otherwise I think it's pretty much about time to close this out. Unless anyone else has anything else, they want to go ahead and say no, I'm good, I'm about to take a nap.
Speaker 2:Mary Jane, you got anything else you wanted to add onto the series real quick no, I don't really have nothing else to add okay.
Speaker 2:Well, until next time, you guys stay nerdy, stay fresh. We'll be able to go ahead and keep you guys up to date on so many things that we do check us out, not just on our podcast, and thank y'all so much for listening, but we do have some great things coming right now still working on to a youtube series. We're becoming more present on tiktok, since that band keeps getting pushed back. They're not gonna get rid of t of TikTok. So we're becoming more present on TikTok. We're still working on our YouTube series. We have a lot of different projects coming out. So definitely check us out and, of course, check out our website. We have a lot of different shops, a lot of different 3D stuff. So until next time, stay nerdy, guys. Tatiazzo.
Speaker 4:Let's zone out.
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