Shangri-La

[RyougaZell]

First episode from a CR rip from Horrible Subs



From ANN

The story of a young woman fighting for her survival in a real "urban jungle." Only 18 years old, Kuniko Hojo finds herself at the heart of the battle for humanity's future when she discovers that the government which rules Atlas intends to continue marginalising the less-privileged masses outside the tower - by force, if necessary.

First episode hooked me. As I expected after seeing the art and the opening, I am definitely following this series this season.

The settings are fantastic. A post climatic disaster age with several issues, including monetary, elitism and guerrillas.

Kuniko is easily entering my list of favorite characters and just after one episode.

I do, however, hope any fansub group takes it. Crunchy Roll, yet again, only offers 480p. Bleh.

[Inazuma]

First ep was excellent. Action, with humor and some plot setup.

Try it.

[Nadouku]

What an energetic main character! The transition from pleasant life to warfare in a matter of seconds was something to be praised too. Kuniko's too much of a tomboy for these guys to handle and Momoko's part was pretty funny too.

[Ryllharu]

First episode hooked me.

Ditto.

It's like LAST EXILE, Real Drive, and Eureka 7 were all smashed together, mixed around, and formed into a delicious cake. I love Range Murata's character and conceptual designs.

Outstanding cast on this one too.

The evil lady, Ryoko, reminds me of the super evil bitch Delphine from LAST EXILE a little too much though. It's a great way to make a villainous character that I can loathe immediately, but at least make her look a little different. If you take the first image and split it out, she even looks like that evil little girl, Mikuni.

I recognized the two trannys voices, they usually play pretty manly characters, but I can't place them exactly. Either way, it put a huge smile on my face.

[Pandadice]

well, it wasn't exactly what i was expecting, and I'm not really sure what i thought of it. I was expecting more from the post-apocalyptic, dystopian setting. I was expecting something like Gin'iro no Kami no Agito, what with them both having cities turned to forests and junk.

but it was like.. they got going and some cities (the main one it took place in) i could see the dystopian atmosphere in. But then they show people using computers and there's talk of the internet, and there's all this political and economic structure set in place. and I was pretty put off with it all. and it's a shame, because this was my second most anticipated series of Spring.

I didn't even really particularly care for any of the characters.

well, it has just been one episode, so I probably shouldn't judge it too much right now. I'm definitely going to give it a chance, and I don't see myself dropping it yet.

[Ryllharu]

but it was like.. they got going and some cities (the main one it took place in) i could see the dystopian atmosphere in. But then they show people using computers and there's talk of the internet, and there's all this political and economic structure set in place. and I was pretty put off with it all. and it's a shame, because this was my second most anticipated series of Spring.

Since when is a perfect description of cyberpunk not dystopian? Because that is exactly what you just described.

EDIT:

I recognized the two trannys voices, they usually play pretty manly characters, but I can't place them exactly. Either way, it put a huge smile on my face.

After driving myself nuts for an hour, it went back and racked my brains.

Momoko: 99% certainty, is voiced by Jouji Nakata. It hasn't been that long since Geass, but Diethard's voice is distinctive. Toss in Alucard (Hellsing), Kirei Kotomine (Fate/Stay Night), Gaav (Slayers NEXT), and The Count (Gankutsuou). Having him play a really aggressive tranny is pretty funny.

Mi-ko: With 98% certainty, is voiced by Houchu Ohtsuka. It's not really uncommon for him to play roles like this, Jiraiya from Naruto, that pervert from Full Metal Panic TSR...

That's enough seiyuu sleuthing for one night.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't know what to think of this show. It wasn't really high on my list to watch, but the OP was nice. It's an interesting take on the environment and all though, and how it's just a system to leach off the weak.

I'll keep at this for a few more eps though, since Momoko is jut that awesome

[Board of Command]

So...is this series only shown on Crunchy Roll and/or other online streams? Like Druaga?

[RyougaZell]

So...is this series only shown on Crunchy Roll and/or other online streams? Like Druaga?

Unfortunately.

Here is a 720p version with ripped subs from CrunchyRoll
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=57720

[Kraco]

I think this won't be a series I'll keep following. A couple of things started to bother me, and I couldn't overcome them, making me struggle through the episode. Destroying tanks with a boomerang... Such things surely happen in anime, but it pisses me off if I'm not expecting such a thing, and I wasn't from this series, which looked like a series with an ecological and scientific message based on the description (not the one in RyougaZell's post). Add to that little girls fooling country leaders, the Atlas organization that treats its employees so badly it shouldn't have any in the first place (who the hell would want to work for this bunch of demons unless your annual salary equals to a lottery win, which I very much doubt?).

I don't know. There are times when some details just click the wrong way for you, and you can't forget them. That happened to me with this series, and that's it.

[Ryllharu]

I think this won't be a series I'll keep following. A couple of things started to bother me, and I couldn't overcome them, making me struggle through the episode. Destroying tanks with a boomerang... Such things surely happen in anime, but it pisses me off if I'm not expecting such a thing, and I wasn't from this series, which looked like a series with an ecological and scientific message based on the description (not the one in RyougaZell's post). Add to that little girls fooling country leaders, the Atlas organization that treats its employees so badly it shouldn't have any in the first place (who the hell would want to work for this bunch of demons unless your annual salary equals to a lottery win, which I very much doubt?).

I think this series has a lot of potential and I think you should give it another chance.

Gonzo was being pretty secretive about this series. Given all the weird shit that happened in Last Exile or Eureka 7 (what I got out of that single image they kept showing until they released a promo) nothing in this episode really went so far afield that it would bug me. Perhaps you were expecting something more slice of life from the description they had been providing? When I read about the environmental angle, I immediately thought back to Real Drive, so this was pretty much exactly what I ended up expecting.

As for the actually mechanics behind it, there was a hint in the episode. When Kuniko's grandma was lecturing her, they showed a glimpse of the content in the books. It was almost entirely about fabrication processes and other material properties. I imagine this is the major secret to the action in that scene. Momoko also lectured Kuniko about her technique as well (which I was glad to see Kuni make a remark when she hurt herself as a result), so that may go further into it. It largely seems that the tank slicing is entirely due to the very secretive nature of the Metal-age society that she belongs to.

The rest is just exaggeration pretty commonplace in cyberpunk series. The environmentalist message was a little bit heavy handed though for just the first episode. We did not see this in Real Drive until the very end. Cap and Trade already exists for acid rain, and a lot of the same sorts of things happened. Companies would pollute like hell and buy it off, other companies that didn't at all would screw those polluters over by demanding bidding wars for their credits in Sulfur Dioxide emissions. With all the big stink about carbon dioxide today, and how much more common it is in industry emissions, it's entirely plausible that such an absurd market would be created. I have no problem with environmentalism, but a Cap and Trade Market for Carbon would be a nightmare, and seeing it turn into this is not all that far fetched. It also screws over developing and third world countries who have neither the capital for 'greener' industry or the capital needed to bribe it away. They touched on both those issues with Kuniko's city and the girl manipulating the market and screwing that guy over.

As for little girls tricking world leaders, that just continues on the theme running in cyberpunk for years. Younger people are always more in tune with emergent tech than their elders, so I didn't really think it was that alarming that she is a leader in carbon trade. It wasn't that Karin was all that smart with the market, but she did program the best algorithm for analyzing it, which turns out to more or less just be the most powerful AI at the time. Kevin Mitnick was prominent hacker at his age, so it was just another thing exaggerated from reality.

Lastly, it is a common view that people will often rather suffer attacks on their personal liberties for protection, comfort, and the illusion of safety. Just look at Great Britain or the US. Happens all the time, every single day. If the option is to live in a sinking city like Kuniko and friends, or become a slave to that bitch, mistreated every day for the chance to live in ATLAS, there will be people who submit to it.

If it's not for you, that's unfortunate, but I think this series has a ton of potential to be an awesome cyberpunk series that isn't made by Production I.G.

They did kind of jump the gun by expositing all of those major messages in just the first episode, but I think they can flesh them out more thoroughly over time.

[Pandadice]

yeah, that's what I think about it too, it has a ton of potential, and I'll definitely watch more, but I dunno how much I'm going to like it.

[Sapphire]

*Random child in traditional garb
* Loli bitch who looks like CC/Yin?!
*"funky" traps who are fa-bu-lous (TTGL)
*Idiot world leaders
*Unemotional dominant female captain character and her metrosexual assistant
*Pink haired goddess with not that great of a personality (My HiMe)
*Idiot civilian who tries to get smart in the face of military, only to get owned (plot device)
*Everything suddenly stopped and starts vibrating, something amazing is gunna happen! (Scrapped Princess)

Things in this anime keep reminding me of a million other anime, all shows that I haven't seen for years and keep tugging at my mind. Except for the opening sequence, I felt like the first ep of this anime was just a bad amalgamation of every other action anime. D: It was a struggle to just finish this ep, the hot trap making out witht he men could not save me.

[digitalrurouni]

Worth a shot I guess. 720p rip? Perfect! Thanks for that.


What just happened? I dont get it. Ugh that main character was really annoying. Ah well will watch the second episode to see if I can understand this any better. And that girl who was negotiating the contract had a super annoying voice. Sounded like Index's voice tbh which also drives me up the wall.

[Ryllharu]

And that girl who was negotiating the contract had a super annoying voice. Sounded like Index's voice tbh which also drives me up the wall.

That would be because they are both voiced by Yuka Iguchi.

She wasn't as annoying in true tears, but she was more annoying in Kamen no Maid Guy and the third Zero no Tsukaima (she was the blue dragon/girl).

[Pandadice]

ep two is out
[HorribleSubs] Shangri-la - 02 [480p] mkv

download this now. I'm not really feeling a rush to watch it though :\

[Nadouku]

Ouch, what a painful way to die. The episode itself was fine since it was an expedition, and a little skirmish to boot. Kind of interesting how the MEDUSA system works better if it's scared.

[Ryllharu]

Kind of interesting how the MEDUSA system works better if it's scared.

I thought this was a perfect commentary on how the economic market today works. It's all based on perception, manipulation and fear, rather than a positive outlook or a belief in the success of a product or service. Karin and her two buddies used their massive capital (just like any hedge fund) to start hyperinflating some shit country's credit market, causing investors to surge in the demand and pile on, only to cut completely when it peaks, screwing over all those other investors when they create a false panic. While there isn't anything wrong with buying low and selling high, it is when you have such an enormous supply of capital that you can manipulate it like that for shits and giggles.

I thought the rest of the episode was rather bland.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm finding the show only interesting in a confusing sort of way. There hasn't been any clear cut directions laid out for the show yet, and all we know about the Metal Age is that they're...against carbon credit?

The credit manipulators and the transexual are the only things hooking me in.

[narutosharingan]

I enjoy the OP and ED. Which is a shame because the series really isn't resonating with me. I also don't really know where they are going with all of this, and some of the leader type people are just weird and mean. The common swords idea is interesting, but they haven't done much with it, and they seem to brush it off. It seems like there are a bunch of people doing their own thing, but nothing seems to connect, at least yet. I may watch another episode to be certain if I want to keep going.