Shangri-La

Posted by Persocom on Dec 4, 2009 in Anime, Anime Review | 7 comments

Having recently watched through the entirety of Shangri-La for a second time, I decided it would be a better time than any to write up my own little review on it. Shangri-La is an science fiction anime based on a light novel written by Eiichi Ikegami with illustration done by Ken’ichi Yoshida. The character designs of the anime itself is by Range Murata, direction done by Makoto Bessho and it is produced by Gonzo. The anime started airing during this Spring, and I watched it weekly when it legally streamed on Crunchyroll. If you’re interested in watching it you can still watch it there. I’m going to try doing this review different than my previous ones. As usual this anime review will be as spoiler free as possible.

Shangri-La is set in a future Tokyo, one where it has been completely overtaken by a killer jungle and the citizens struggle their ways through daily life amidst “bomb showers” or suddenly erupting dangerous hail storms, caused by carbon emissions from Global Warming. This is a Tokyo that has been all but completely destroyed by the second great Kanto earthquake. There is a worldwide law in effect that taxes people for carbon dioxide emission, meaning that if someone burns something without permission they can be fined or worse. A huge building/city called Atlas towers above the skies of Tokyo. Atlas is promoted by the Japanese government and run by a group known as the Atlas Corporation. This corporation has been promising for years that everyone in Japan would get a place in Atlas when the construction is finished, but many are still unable to live there. This Atlas is an earthquake/typhoon-proof home to over 3 million people, the rich and privileged. The only way for the citizens of the jungle to live in Atlas at this time are by way of a lottery. There is much shady goings-on within the confines of Atlas.

18 year old Kuniko Hojo, the main character of this story, lives in a town called Duomo. Duomo is a run-down village surrounded by the ruins of Tokyo that are now covered in thick jungle. She lives with her grandma Nagiko, who is the leader of an anti-government group called Metal Age. Nagiko wants Kuniko to become the next leader of Metal Age, but Kuniko doesn’t want to. This story is about the struggle between Metal Age and Atlas, and the people who live in both. Sounds pretty simple right? Well, luckily Kuniko gets a fair deal of character development, and so do a handful of other characters throughout this 26 episode series.



I think Shangri-La has a very interesting storyline and the setting is interesting and somewhat realistic. There are definitely some fantasy elements going on as well, but I don’t think it takes away from the story, rather it adds to it. I found myself quite interested in the various main characters and their stories. We have the transsexuals Mi-ko and Momoko. Momoko acts as Kuniko’s benefactor and Mi-ko is her best friend. There is the pale Mikuni who holds strange power, who is watched over by a sado-masochist woman named Sayako. Karin is a young super hacker who messes with the carbon economy to get rich, and controls an incomparable computer program named MEDUSA. There are many real places from our world in Shangri-La, such as Ikebukuro, Akihabara, and the Tokyo Tower. The animation varies at times, so the overall quality isn’t always the best, but there are plenty of beautifully drawn scenes and action packed fighting scenes. Of course, with all the carbon politics some episodes are slower and less exciting, sometimes diving perhaps a little too far into the economy side of things. It does help one grasp the state that this world is in though. Some episodes are more focused on other characters besides Kuniko, but they all connect to each other and I really don’t see any episodes as filler in the end. The Akihabara parts are quite enjoyable, as we have a war otaku, camera otaku and anime otaku providing much comic relief, as well as playing an important role in the overall story.



Well, you may or may not enjoy Shangri-La as much as I did, or even have an interest in watching it, but I feel better having done my little review on it. I’m not used to doing anime reviews very often and I’m thinking about doing more in this style, so please leave me feedback, especially if you’ve read any of my older anime reviews. Even if you’re disinterested in this particular anime, I want to know how I did on my review. My main goals are to bring you information about a series that I’ve seen without giving any critical spoilers, and to give my personal opinion on it. I refuse to provide the wikipedia link in this case because it contains enough spoilers to ruin the entire story. I don’t think most people would appreciate being spoiled, at least I know I don’t, so I’m doing my best to not kill your enjoyment of a show when I write my reviews. I plan to do more in the very near future, but I want to know if I’m doing a good enough job here. I’ll end this post by leaving you with the opening song “Kimi Shinitamō Koto Nakare” by May’n. I quite like this song as well.

The Shangri-La official site is: http://www.anime-shangri-la.jp/

All screenshots in this post were taken from episode 1. The other images are original artwork by Range Murata.
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