Director: Makoto Bessho,
Starring: Mikako Takahashi, Lindsay Seidel, Yui Ariga, Apphia Yu, Yuka Iguchi, Jad Saxton, Daisuke Hirakawa, Todd Haberkorn,
Running Time: 300 minutes
Certificate: 15
The second collection of SHANGRI-LA picks up directly where the last set left off. Now with all the characters introduced, the plot truly gets underway with our protagonist Kuniko becoming leader of the rebellion. With such a young leader in such a dangerous position, the writers do well to intertwine her naivety and insecurity, along with enough power and confidence to justify her position. It’s a delicate balance that easily could have tipped the wrong way.
However, not only does the show pick up the pace and explore the rather generic poor vs. rich establishment, it also ventures into a rather complex plot involving specially bred children. This is when the show becomes truly fascinating, but it also takes far too long to get there. This hurts the show as the originality fails to arrive until it’s almost too late, and when it does appear, there’s a lot going on. Fortunately the majority of arcs have a satisfactory conclusion, but with the tale of the dragon like Medusa launching an assault on investments (makes sense when you see it), and nuclear bombs being used to destroy nature that’s getting out of control, you’ll wish they had explored these avenues sooner.
The second half of the season also becomes a lot darker, which is a huge benefit to the show. It did a good job at creating multi-layered characters that are easy to care for, so deaths and betrayals are often unexpected and hit hard. These darker moments range from a rather horrific end to one series regular, to stunning shots draped in silence after the falling of a huge bomb. These events are made even more enjoyable thanks to the majority of well presented characters such as the charmingly caring transsexual Miko and the hardnosed guard Takahito. Once the story shifts towards the three girls, they are also shown as each having an individual personality that simply delights in both their positive and negative characteristics. Unfortunately though, there are other characters who fall flat, such as the other transsexual character, Momoko, who becomes somewhat of a continuing joke.
Although the animation is nothing to write home about, it does present some memorable visuals. It also comes alive when engaging in action sequences. The opening episodes take place in the sky, where a number of creative vessels collide in battle. These scenes take advantage of animation’s flexibility and throw off the oppressive shackles of real life. Contrastingly, too much of the series is plotted on the ground with slower and more dialogue heavy moments. SHANGRI-LA is a show with great potential, but as it has come to its conclusion it’s a shame more wasn’t done. It certainly picked up in the latter episodes and was worth the journey overall, but some patience may be required.
SHANGRI-LA is released on DVD on 16th December via MVM.
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