SHANGRI-LA

SHANGRI-LA

What starts as a scene reminiscent of "Blood in Blood Out", Shangri-La transforms into an Anime that perceives a future where gender does not define you and the questions of a society free for all drives.

Set in what some may consider a possible near future; Shrangri-La begs to ask how our world will function with Global Warming imminent. The rise and fall of government depends on the amount of Carbon that they create. The story focuses on a girl named Hojo Kuniko, a strong willed, inquisitive girl, trying to find her place. Hojo Kuniko soon finds herself wrapped into global conflicts between nations, governments, and hackers that will help define the person inside she may be looking for.

Storyline
The storyline found in Shangri-La may be a little too complicated for viewers under 14, but is fortunate to contain substance that many adult fans may be looking for. Global warming, carbon emissions, ruling governments, and issues of world order run rampant through this series with the idea of a single society looming about on the charters minds. Complex yet uncannily close to many people minds viewers may find Shngril-La's story eerily close to a future that could be. The idea of love is happily redefined in multiple ways all throughout this great story.

Music
Although not using a full orchestra, Shrangri-La does a great job of using music themes to help captivate emotion with its characters. Although not breaking new ground, the music stays strong and is very relevant to the happening on screen. Both the opening and closing Japanese Pop songs are very catchy and sometimes I have a hard time skipping either with each new episode.

Characters
The main character, a teenage girl named Hojo Kuniko, is beautiful, strong, and the next in line to rule Metal Age. All the characters are very dynamic and are written with a strong back story. Details are very important to the director and it seems as though he does not want to leave anything out. Anyone and everyone can find someone within this series that they feel embody a part of themselves.

Animation
With beautify art direction, Shangril-La successfully rises to the top of the list of detail, however is not breaking any new ground with style. It is much higher quality then a lot of the anime that is currently released for viewing.

Overall
Overall, if you are looking for an anime that contains complex story lines and follows a beautiful, strong protagonist, this anime is definitely worth taking a look at. If you are looking for a story that is pretty easy to follow, this may not be the right show for you. Either way, I definitely recommend this to any viewer looking for a tale that is socially relevant to today's society. This has promise to offer something more special than most animes today.

I started watching this anime because it included carbon regulations. As many of you may know carbon regulations are one of the main international topics, the idea is to shift the value of money from energy (oil) to carbon making it expensive to pollute. The foreseeable problem is that poor countries will not be able to support their development and that rich countries will keep polluting by buying the emission of the undeveloped. It is a very interesting and actual theme and could go a long way on a post-apocalyptic scenario.

Unfortunately this anime is not about carbon, actually it isn't about anything. You have several peculiar but shallow characters that randomly do their own stuff. The story goes around a young girl who maintains a very mature posture through out the anime and now and then gets hysterical like a 3 year old brat. She is the heir to an anti-government organization (you could call them terrorists/ freedom fighters or whatever), what they fail to explain is why the leadership of such organization is based on heritage and not on skills and why would they follow a 14 or so year old girl.
From this you can get an idea of the storyline which is random, sometimes the good guys have light-headed no effort wins against desperate situations and some times they randomly loose out of stuff that cannot even be considered bad luck. At episode 10 the plot would be undermined by several holes if in fact there were to be a plot whatsoever.

I can only find a good point in this anime and is a trans-gender support character called momoko. The character per se, like other characters in this anime, has absolutely no drive no soul no nothing, but it is nice to see a trans-gender introduced in an anime, I see it as a sign of tolerance and I hope it can help bring down prejudice by introducing other ways of life to a younger sector of the population.
May momoko be the seed of a new future.

The show overall has a good combination of character development, Storyline development and action sequences. The Show is set in a post apocalyptic future. Humans have been forced to give up much of their cities back to nature. in a effort to reverse global warming. The world economy, is no longer dominated by fossil fuels, but its dominated by carbon credits. The less gasses emitted by a country, the higher its worth.

Storyline

The storyline of this show is quite interesting and well developed. However for some people it might feel like it is moving somewhat slowly. It moves slowly with good reason however, Since there is far more to the storyline than just following the main character around. The intricate works of government and how it is all controlled by an unfamiliar system, makes the show very enjoyable.

Music and Animation

The music and animation of the show are in good sync throughout the show, and really enhance the plot development. Animation is somewhat unique. When i started watching the show, it was somewhat of a deterrent, however it eventually grew on me, and i like the animation far more now than when i started.

Characters

Characters in this show are well developed. Its a show that definitely requires attention to watch. While there are very clear character development sequences for each of the main characters on the show, there are many subtle comments that give insight into who the characters are and what their past is. Also What makes this show quite unique, is that there seems to be a lot more to each character that one would think.

Overall

Overall, this show is well worth watching. While the show does have quite a few action sequences. I would not consider it an action show, its a slow moving show with a large focus on storyline and character development. For its genre, this show is very well done. Now, the storyline is not as straight forward as most shows, and is not as black and white. Which is a large part of its appeal. The show will often raise more questions than answers. But with every episodes, the previous makes much more sense.

When I first watched the first episode I didn't even read the description. I was just desperate to find something to watch. And I got more than something to sustain my need for anime. While I would never have watched an anime about carbon pollution and a crumbling economy, I soon found myself waiting on edge for the next episode. Every Sunday night at 8 o' clock I rush to the computer and wait for what surprises come next.

Overall: The story is set in a future that taxes carbon emissions and the economy is all over the place. There has been major catastrophe in Japan and other parts of the world. The Japanese government has set up a plan to rebuild Japan, in the sky. They named the new city Atlas. The problem is they have not finished construction and only a selected few have been chosen to move there. Back down on Earth, global warming is causing vegetation to grow everywhere. The story mainly focuses on Kuniko (18) the heir to a group called the Metal-age. The Metal-age is an anti-government group. Kuniko believes she can keep her town safe from the government and life on the surface of earth.

Storyline: The story line of this anime is thrilling, sad and unexpected. While it is an anime dealing with war, there are funny parts but it also has its dark parts. It will always leave you on the edge of your seat not wanting to wait a whole other week for another episode. The plot line can get confusing but as with most good animes everything is explained in the end.

Music The creators us the music to great advantage during the show. The music always blends in where you hardly notice it, helping to effect the scene even more. While I dislike the opening and ending themes I think it has no effect to the show itself but everyone is open to their own opinions.

Characters All the characters are amazingly developed with wonderful back grounds and all different and interesting.

I started watching this anime just 1 week ago. i found it strongly interesting and the characters design are amazing. another excellent work from gonzo. At the start of the first episode we are introduced to the 1 of the main characters Hojo Kuniko.
The opening and ending songs are very nicely done and they fit the theme very well. in the latest episode we understand better about what's about to happen to Atlas and the people living on the "surface".

~continue this later

Okay so the story revolves around some 13 year old pink haired girl who happens to become the leader of an anti government/terrorist organization. If this doesn't make you stop and think for a second then I don't know what will. I actually enjoyed to story for a bit, wondering what will come next and hoping that it will become more interesting, but sadly it doesn't happen.

I don't want to seem negative or pessimistic about this anime but it's really hard to get interested when the characters are shallow and whiny, and the plot seems like it just comes in out of thin air. I will say though that the character choices where quite unique, ranging from transsexuals to the typical burly man soldier. Its these little twists that made the anime a bit more interesting and unique to watch than I would have thought.

Maybe its just me but when I see grown men taking orders from a 13 year old girl with a 1 inch skirt, it just amazes me people can take this anime seriously. Now that my mini rant is over lol I'll just say that it was an interesting watch but I cant get myself to finish this thing...

Thanks for reading!