Shangri-La Frontier: Episode 19 Review

Never let it be said that Pencilgon doesn’t practice what she preaches.

The nineteenth episode of Shangri-La Frontier is out. Wethermon finally gets his eternal rest, and Setsuna says her final goodbye to Pencilgon, bringing their stories to a close. But the world won’t stay silent when one of the Seven Colossi have fallen, and various parties will want to meet with the victors… including some who are less than happy it happened.

Let’s follow up on the episode in my Recap and Review.

Recap

The episode opens with another look at the final clash between Sunraku and Wethermon, whereupon the protagonist managed to prevail and was praised by the undead samurai. Sunraku kills the mood by stating his words were a stupid pun, but Wethermon states Setsuna often said the same thing before picking up his blade. Sunraku gets ready to fight a fourth round, but Wethermon praises them again before heading toward the grave where Setsuna lies.

They allow him to do so as his body reaches its limit and silently observe his final moments as he collapses in front of the grave while stating he’ll be with Setsuna soon. Thus the samurai dies beneath the blooming cherry tree which dies now that he was defeated, returning the area to normal. Then Setsuna appears before them and thanks them for fulfilling her wish.

Or rather, the replica of the Setsuna in the past as we get lore dumped onto us. She explains that when the original Setsuna died her wish to see her love freed from his burden created her, a remnant of that wish that was a perfect replica. That also meant that she had to vanish now that her purpose was fulfilled, so she then tells them if they want to know the truth of the world, seek out “Bahamut”.

It’s lore, but none of them know of a monster by that name, and she tells them they should seek out the answer on their own. She then speaks on her own behalf, thanking Pencilgon for always coming to talk to her and telling her she loved her. Pencilgon tells her the same as she fades away into an eternal rest.

Just like that, the quest comes to an end. Pencilgon has to reassert that she was not crying while the other two joke that she found a soul. But she decides to let it go as thanks for the two of them helping her clear the quest and gets ready to deal out the loot. But, before they can, a world-wide announcement goes out that states they defeated the first Unique Monster along with their names and that the World Story will progress now.

That annoucement gets a guild called the Library moving in high-gear and trying to get someone called the Professor into the game. They didn’t know what the World Story was since it didn’t come up before, but they suspect it means big changes will be happening soon. They also decide to look into Wethermon since, until now, they didn’t have info on him due to the conditions of the quest being something the Ashura Kai kept secret and only knew about Siegwurm, Lycagon, Ctarnidd, and the Orchestra, meaning there are still two unaccounted for.

Psyger-100, meanwhile, feels a little salty that Pencilgon used them to take out her guild while she slew a Unique Monster, though she is really interested in getting to know more about Sunraku now. Meanwhile, Psyger-0 is more focused on if Pencilgon and Sunraku are close friends before she gets a message from the latter and leaves to go help him out. That turns out to be because the three have run into the remnants of Ashura Kai, who have beef with them.

Pencilgon blasts them for not going hard enough at being PK’ers, cowering in their base since the devs turned on them, and stated since they were too lazy to cut the fat, she did it for them with a punch to the gut. They try to attack them but, as an Anti-PK measure, if you get attacked by a PK’er you can send out a Distress Signal to someone on your friend list. And if that someone has the skill “Friend Warp” you can summon them right in front of you.

So, Psyger-0 gives the PK’ers an out by telling them they can leave or die. They choose the latter option and get immediately killed with the exception of their boss, who laments losing everything. Pencilgon tells him he can’t get everything he wants in an MMO and to try a single-player game instead before finishing him off herself, with Sunraku being a monster and recommending the Faeria Chronicle game he beat just prior to playing SLF.

Turns out that he had taken all of the Ashura Kai’s rare loot, so now that’s all Pencilgon’s. She puts it on the line and asks that Psyger-0 kill her. They point out that the penalty she would have to pay as a PK’er would clean her out, but she states that she’d be a bigger coward than the ones they just dealt with if she never took the risk, and she wants a clean slate.

Of course, she’s a fighter. So she’s not going down without a fight and makes it a challenge to the person in the game with the highest attack power, which she accepts by activating her Unique Weapon: [Antimony]. Since her sister told her how Pencilgon would run at the drop of the hat you needed to kill her in a single strike, she intends to go all-in and do just that. Then she throws on a ton of buffs while Pencilgon activates her own with the weapon that she took off her fallen leader.

They exchange blows and it ends with Pencilgon losing an arm. But she’s not done as she picks up the weapon with her other hand and then, using both the limb and weapon, tries and land a hit. It doesn’t work, and Psyger-0 nukes her with an attack called [Chaos Void] as the episode ends.

The SLF Mini has Emul going over the equivalent of Urban Legends, which was basically Sunraku only for her to be humiliated on-air and bully her brother. Then the carrots get wiped up by a monster that Sunraku is fighting. She decides to head out to deal with it herself, leaping through the background.

Review

That’s that done. Wethermon and Setsuna have been laid to rest, the Ashura Kai have been purged, and Pencilgon has decided to end her stint as a PK’er fighting the strongest player in the game.

Let’s discuss.

So, following the last episode, Wethermon showcases that he has more emotions as he responds to Sunraku’s mood-killing quip that his wife often said his puns were lame. But then he praises them as descendants of the pioneers before heading to the grave as his body can no longer hold itself together. The music during this sequence was almost enough to make me shed a tear because you get the feeling that this guy, who had been on an eternal vigil, has finally been allowed to lay himself to rest.

Then, adding to the bittersweet mood, you find out that Setsuna’s regrets gave rise to what amounts to a perfect AI copy of her that was bound by duty to see him laid to rest. With that done, she’s also going to vanish. But before she does she expresses how grateful she is to Pencilgon for coming to see her constantly and even expressing love for her.

At this point the author could have pulled a surprise Isekai twist, and I would 100% believe it. This is supposed to be a game, but the AI have so much autonomy and responsiveness that they border on being real. I can’t fault Pencilgon for getting attached to Setsuna.

Of course, an announcement goes out over the system that the first Unique Monster has been beaten and by who. Among the reactions we focus on are those of a new clan known as the Library, who are interested in the lore of the setting and reveal the names of all the known Unique Monsters. There’s also a character known as the Professor that would want to know about the situation given the promise of the World Story advancing means the content of the game will change.

Then we go to the clan led by Rei’s sister, who does feel a bit salty about being used by Pencilgon to clean her house while they dealt with the Unique Monster. But she’s still eager to meet with Sunraku since he got Lycagon’s attention, so its pretty clear she’s getting to the point she’ll start taking action to make that happen soon. Unbeknownst to her, her little sister gets a request for a save from that very person and heads off to help.

Rei’s just happy to be able to help Sunraku (the SLF Minis make it very clear how happy), and she wipes the remnants of the Ashura Kai out. Don’t let those after-credit scenes fool you, she’s a top player in SLF and earned all that gear and title she has. And that’s part of why Pencilgon wants to fight her.

You see, Pencilgon might be a PK’er, but she has standards. Cowering and picking on weaklings, being too afraid to lose everything to go after a challenge, and then running when the battle seems lost? No wonder they couldn’t beat Wethermon.

Pencilgon practices what she preaches, having wanted to take on Psyger-0 since she first met them outside of that town… how many episodes ago? She knows that due to her PK status she’ll be fined for her crimes. Her loot will be cashed out to pay for it and other assorted penalties.

But the chance to go against the player with the highest ATK in the game was too good to pass up as her final kill as a PK’er. She even uses her own dismembered arm as a weapon, getting nuked in the process. But they make it clear that Psyger-0 did not hold back and I respect that.

Anyway, we’ll be moving into post-Wethermon territory in the next episode. Looking forward to seeing how that goes along with the loot they obtained for the win.