Shangri-La Frontier Vol. 3

シャングリラ・フロンティア [Shangri-La Frontier] #3

by Katarina, Ryosuke Fuji

Making it through a gang of lethal player-killers, Sunraku prepares for a ten-battle gauntlet as part of the "Invitation from Lagonia" unique quest. Meanwhile, his friend (and fellow fan of awful games) Pencilgon approaches him with an Help her defeat one of the Seven Colossi, a feat never achieved by anyone else in Shangri-La Frontier's thirty-million-strong player base! Now this band on the far outskirts of gaming fandom is about to carve their name into legend in the greatest RPG ever made!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy, Action, Graphic Novels, Comics

193 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2021

Reviews

[Christian Schultheiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katarina has finally formed the go to band of goofballs and now we get to witness the true friendship these gamers have developed together along with keeping that action moment train moving right along with it. I remember in the anime falling in love with the wethermon arc and with the build up of these last three volumes I’m pumped to be entering into this story arc finally. Also I can’t deny that the blacksmith bunny Bee might just be my favorite of the npcs thus far. 4.25/5

[Carlex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tres estrellas y media.

[Hugi.wa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je vais laisser une dernière chance a ce manga avec le quatrième tome... Même si le concept était intéressant et qu'une part de mystère règne depuis le tome 1, rien ne me force à continuer la série. Je trouve que c'est plat, le personnage principal s'en sort toujours... Certes, certains éléments sont intriguants, mais ce n'est pas suffisant.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's where it becomes really evident just how much the anime is padding out the story, because the two-and-maybe-a-third pages of Vash's song became three solid minutes of panning around as a huge yakuza-esque All For One-voiced rabbit blacksmithed a pair of blades.

Not saying that was a BAD part of the show, just that I already felt like the story was slogging a bit for where it could have been. Like, this volume covers up to episode 12 in the first season—already a full season by normal anime standards! So reading this felt a bit faster and made me somewhat aggravated, since the anime is better quality but SLOWER!

(I'm also out of habit of picking up physical copies of shows, since it's both expensive and takes up space for BOOKS, so a lot of anime I watch goes out of sight, out of mind, HOPEFULLY still on a streaming service somewhere should I crave a repeat viewing.)

Not sure whether I want to keep this series around, but I'm hanging onto the books for now in case my spouse (who is really into the series now) wants a read.

Also, for the record, tagged this as LGBTQ because Oikatso—by way of Sunraku outing him—introduced Emul to trans people (that "the most amazing girl I've ever met, even!" could be a man inside). There's also a nice side story at the end about how Kei created Oikatso by way of "a girl character would fit my playstyle the best by being small and slim" and not caring whether anyone else cared that he played as a girl. If only it were so easy to make those kinds of choices in real life!

Edit to add: Oh, this spells Emul's sister's name as "Beelach." Yuck! I'm used to the anime's "Bilac," which seems more natural, even if neither is a "normal" name.

Looking up that link, I also saw that the translation switches to Veelach? Even MORE yuck! Translation shenanigans or whatever, but I kind of wish translators would stick to one spelling, whichever they use.

[Denver C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

SOME WORLD AND CAST DEVELOPMENT CAN DO WONDERS.

With Volume 3 of Shangri-La Frontier, things take a turn for the better with some more than welcome development for our extended cast and the world of the VRMMORPG itself.

While there’s still plenty of action, in a departure from Volume 2 it’s accompanied by exploration of new areas, interactions between our protagonist and other characters beyond just ‘ooo can I cut that’ and ‘RUN AWAY,’ and overall some taming of the overly-speedy pacing up to this point.

For myself it marks an exciting change, as it makes me eager to see what comes next rather than wondering if I’ll need to DNF after another couple of volumes. It also leaves off in a MUCH better place this time around, rather than cutting off right in the middle of a high-tension fight. Lore cliffhangers make much better stopping points!

All-in-all, I’m looking forward to picking up Volume 4 in the near future and continuing the adventure!

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'avevo momentaneamente abbandonato ma non se lo merita proprio. Per quanto sia una serie vagamente assurda, mi piace e continuerò a seguirla. E a leggerla man mano che esce spero.

Dopo un po' di mesi è stato difficile rientrare nel mondo di questo fumetto. Mi ero dimenticata alcune cose e la mia poca familiarità con i videogiochi non ha aiutato di sicuro. Però, dopo la metà, son riuscita a rimettermi in carreggiata e ad apprezzare il tutto.

Voglio sapere di più sui coniglietti!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5
This volume fleshes out some of the characters and gives us a peek into more of the world of Shangri-La Frontier. The different lands and dungeons are fascinating and show both a strong knowledge of this type of game as well as the author's creativity. This volume also sets up a larger goal for Sunraku that includes his friends. I'm excited to see where it goes next.

[Raphael Petrault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Après lecture des 3 premiers tomes, j'apprécie la qualité graphique du titre. Toutefois l'ambiance générale du manga ; très référencé ; jeux en ligne ne me parle pas (je suis moyennement adepte des jeux vidéo). Mon fils de 12ans adore ce titre. Pour info un blockbuster sur France Inter est à écouter en podcast pour avoir la vision des artistes de ce manga.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lewis Carroll stories, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, are a sort of isekai progenitor stories. So, it would not be surprising for it to have a prominent presence in this story. It has white rabbits and vorpal blades as an important element of the overarching story.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and half stars out of 5, I guess watching the anime sort of ruined my enjoyment of the manga, since the anime is just tons better, I don't know how else to really say it but the manga to me is just flat, its not like terrible or anything, but I guess perhaps I should have read the manga first before watching the anime adaption.

[nza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the first 2 volumes but i feel like nothing new is happening in this one. I got bored.
I’m not even sure what is the goal with this series.

I will read one more and see if i will keep going.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still pretty good, but I kind of wish it was straight fantasy or a normal isekai instead of just being a dude playing vidya. I like the introduction of the combo system, and I hope Sunraku takes advantage of it, as the combos were my favorite part of SAO Aincrad lore.

[Mariána K · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're like me and you watch the anime before touching the manga then you'll be pretty familiar with all the notes from this volume. So far the manga is almost step by step identical to the anime. This particular volume is the beginning of the Wezaemon arc.

[Booksofswarley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
Toujours très sympa mais un peu en dessous des deux premiers tomes. Oui c'est un shonen mais j'attends que le protagoniste se retrouve se retrouve un peu en galère.

[Mike Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun rendering of the story.

[Marker · Rating 5 out of 5]

ya empieza lo emocionante, ahora sí Sunraku demostrará sus habilidades adquiridas en los juegos basura y brillará en la joya que es Shangri-la.

[M. Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shangri-La Frontier
Volume#03
Chapters: #16 - #25

Facing another Colossal/unique boss
New friends
Preparation for the quest

[triệu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vol 3 vẫn hay nhưng hơi chùng xuống so với 2 tập trước. Phần quest “Invitation from Langonia" khá dài và nhiều thông tin nên đọc hơi nặng một chút, thiếu mấy pha combat căng thẳng như vol 2. Nhưng bù lại thì bắt đầu thấy rõ hơn thế giới game này rộng và phức tạp tới đâu. Pencilgon xuất hiện lại thấy vui, kiểu nhân vật vừa ác vừa nguy hiểm. Tập này giống kiểu tạm nghỉ để setup cho arc lớn sắp tới. Không bùng nổ nhưng vẫn cuốn.