Katarina’s Shangri-La Frontier web novel is inspiring both a television anime and game project. A project PV was also revealed, showing the main cast and staff of the anime, which will debut in 2023. Though the game project hasn’t yet revealed a platform, it will be developed by Netmarble Nexus.
Toshiyuki Kubooka is directing the anime at C2C with assistant director Hiroki Ikeshita, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu is the supervisor and scriptwriter. Ayumi Kurashima is serving as character designer and chief animation director. MONACA is composing the music.
Shangri-La Frontier is a Japanese web novel series written by Katarina. Its serialization began on the novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō in May 2017. No printed version of the novel series has been published yet. A manga adaptation, illustrated by Ryosuke Fuji, has been serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine since July 2020.
The story focuses on Rakurō Hizutome, a young man who is interested in one thing only: finding “shitty games” (kusoge) and beating the crap out of them. His gaming skills are second to none, and no game is too bad for him to enjoy. So when he’s introduced to the new VR game Shangri-La Frontier, he does what he does best—min-maxes and skips the prologue to jump straight into the action.
▍Shangri-La Frontier Project PV
▍Shangri-La Frontier Anime Cast
■ Sunraku (Real Name: Rakurō Hizutome) – CV: Yūma Uchida
■ Saiga 0 (Real name: Rei Saiga) – CV: Azumi Waki
■ Arthur Pencilgon (Real name: Towa Amane) – CV: Yōko Hikasa
■ Oicazzo (Real name: Kei Uomi) – CV: Makoto Koichi
■ Emul – CV: Rina Hidaka
■ Viceash – CV: Akio Ohtsuka
▍Shangri-La Frontier Anime Staff & Production
Original Story by Katarina (serialized in Kodansha’s “Weekly Shonen Magazine”)
Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka
Series Composition/Screenplay: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Assistant Director: Hiroki Ikeshita
Character Design / Chief Animation Director: Ayumi Kurashima
Action and Effects Director: Tomofumi Sakai
Color Designer: Masato Takagi
Art Direction: INSPIRED Inc.
2D Works: Azusa Tamura
Director of Photography: Hikaru Yamamoto
Editing: Tsuyoshi Sadamatsu
Sound Director: Akiko Fujita
Music: MONACA
Animation Production: C2C