The Shangri-La Frontier series is making a name for itself in the Isekai universe. This little gem of writing, references and drawing offers an immersion in the world of video games. To the original fiction, its authors add an encyclopedia on gaming cleverly slipped through the adventures of our heroes. After an exciting fifth volume closing the first story arc, the series takes us to new shores.
The end is just the beginning
Sunraku, the legendary king of video games, has built his reputation by overcoming dung. Under this term are dozens of games that are impossible to finish because of their design errors. But this relentless defeated them and is now attacking Shangri-La Frontier, a Mr.Mr.O.A.P.G praised by the entire gaming community and referred to as G.O.Has.T video games. For Sunraku, finishing this game should only be a formality. And that's where he gets it wrong. The game is hard because it is well designed. Progress is earned and stimulates his interest. With two friends, he decides to burn the steps and face Wezaemon, one of the seven supremes, the most powerful creatures in the game. Their victory opens the doors to glory and also to the "truth about this world". Determined to unlock the secrets of the game, our team embarks on new quests. 
Shangri-La Frontier: how to expand your world
This series cultivates a permanent dialogue between its fictional universe and the real world. This volume 6 is the perfect example. Indeed, after their victory, our heroes could rest on their laurels. But the game while rewarding them for their successes, frustrates them by giving them unlockable items only on the condition of carrying out new quests. Thus is created a new cycle of search for objects allowing them to finally obtain the mastery of legendary weapons. But this mechanism is also at work in the real "video-game" real world. One of the drivers of the player's progress and attachment to the game lies in the balance between rewards and frustration. Each fight must bring a bonus and promise others in case of solving new puzzles. This balance also animates the entire creative process of manga. The closing of a story arc must also sow the seeds to another chapter. 
New quests for a wider world
This 6th volume brings a triple expansion of the world. The first lies in the evolution of our heroes from allies of circumstance to members of a fixed clan. The time of the ronins is coming to an end. The second expansion is stylistic with the discovery of new, darker territories of the world. The creators are indeed eyeing the atmosphere of The Witcher and Sleepy Hollow by involving a whole galaxy of dark, macabre monsters. The third enlargement concerns the very dimension of Shangri-La Frontier. Fans of the game Baldur's Gate will identify perfectly with the heroes of the manga who discover after each quest new areas to explore. With always these same mysteries present since volume one: that of the real size of the world of Shangri-La and that of its construction. Is its dimension fixed since the launch of the game or is it enriched by new sectors according to updates, events? 
Shangri-La Frontier : and here are the designers
This sixth volume continues the reflection begun at the very end of the previous volume. We finally discover who are the creators of the game, their personality, their opposition. In a humorous tone, the manga questions the notion of open world, of freedom of the player. It's all scripts, new opportunities are all planned and guided. Players actually follow the rails of a predefined scenario whose plot is hidden in the meanders of the code. But what happens when players find flaws in this scheme? This is the whole meaning of the victory of our main characters against Wezaemon. As Morpheus explains to Neo in The Matrix, agents remain limited by their configuration. Here, Sunraku and his friends play by the rules, cheat intelligently, and intrude into the intervals of freedom allowed by the very notion of the open world. They become sources of new opportunities and headaches for designers. Volume 6 opens with grace and intelligence a new story arc of the Shangri-La Frontier universe. Constantly reinventing itself, the series became a major title for Glénat editions.
