Shangri-La Frontier – Season 1 Episode 19 Recap & Review

Episode 19

Wethermon starts moving again and picks up the sword on the ground. Because of that, Sunraku also grabs his daggers, already preparing for a fight. However, the samurai only walks up to Setsuna’s grave. Upon reaching it, the unique monster says goodbye and slowly crumbles away.

Even after that, the clear conditions still haven’t been met. The scenery suddenly changes, returning to a dark field full of red spider lilies. Setsuna appears and thanks the players for helping with Setsuna of the past’s wish. Katzo notices that’s a weird way to say it, and she explains she’s a remnant of Setsuna, produced by her feelings for Wethermon.

As she’s about to disappear, Setsuna says the players exist to throw this world open. If they want to learn the truth about it, they have to seek out Bahamut. The players try to ask questions, but she says they have to find the answers on their own.

As herself, not Setsuna, she thanks Pencilgon for coming to talk with her many times. The player controls herself not to cry and thanks the ghost, as she disappears. Then, Sunraku and Katzo mock her for crying, as if they thought she didn’t have any feelings.

Suddenly, the “mission clear” appears, and the game announces to all players that Pencilgon, Katzo, and Sunraku beat Wethermon. With the defeat of the unique monster, the world story will progress. Then, we see a lone computer inside a building going from 11% to 12% at the same time.

“The library” clan, specialists in studying the game lore, are in an uproar after that. They want to contact someone called the professor, probably their leader, and the players who beat Wethermon. Progressing the world story must mean something different than the regular story, so they might have some big changes in store.

Psyger-100 gets angry Pencilgon fooled them so she could go and defeat a unique monster. However, she’s still very excited to contact the three players and learn more about them. At the same time, Psyger-0 leaves, saying she has to help a friend.

When they leave the boss area, Pencilgon, Katzo, and Sunraku find some Ashura Kai players. They mess with Orcelott, making him even angrier. When he tries to attack them, the distress signal, an anti-PK measure, and summon Psyger-0. They still try to fight but Rei easily defeats them.

She awkwardly compliments Sunraku on defeating the unique monster. While thinks about what to say to her, Pencilgon suddenly asks the girl to kill her. She wants to have a clean slate after defeating Wethermon, but she won’t go down easy, so she proposes that Psyger-0 fights her.

Rei accepts and goes all out, even using a weapon that completely changes her armor to a black color. While they duel, Sunraku and Katzo narrate everything. Knowing Pencilgon is a hard opponent, Psyger-0 uses Chaos Void, an incredibly powerful move that shocks the other players.

The Episode Review

Seeing Wethermon crumble away as Setsuna’s song plays is very emotional. At times, I’ve doubted Shangri-La Frontier’s capability of creating a moving storyline, but now they’ve done it. It’s not the saddest thing ever, but it gets to you. And having Setsuna thank Pencilgon for talking to her all this time is the best conclusion to the arc.

Also, it’s great to see the lore expanding even more. As they have a clan that focuses on that and they want to talk to the protagonists, we’ll probably learn even more soon. If Shangri-La continues to have incredible fights like this and presents to us with a good story, it’ll be a great addition to recent shounen anime.

Last but not least, Rei is simply incredible. She could work easily as only a joke, but she also is a strong player who can rival Pencilgon. Her armor change is badass and it’ll be great when we get to see even more of her fighting (and being awkward around Sunraku).