Shangri-la by bedheadred

Sometime in the future, the Earth is ravaged by the effects of Global Warming. The flora fights back, violently overtaking civilization. In Japan, a perfect utopian society, Atlas, is built and shelters the chosen few, while the rest of society fend for themselves in the ruins of civilization. The global economy is based on carbon. The CO2 producing nations of the world owe large tax levies. Businessmen, hackers and terrorists alike battle for control of the global market and power.

The story revolves around a spirited young girl, Kuniko, who is heiress to a "terrorist" organization called Metal Age. Metal Age opposes the exclusionist principles of the Japanese government and wishes to protect all people by gaining access to the safety of Atlas. We follow Kuniko as she battles her personal demons and inspires her people to action. With strength and resolve beyond her years, her decisions change the world.

Shangri-la succeeds in creating unique characters. The most memorable characters in my mind are the three codgerly otaku, who deal in underground goods, and Momoko, a transsexual who acts as Kuniko's foster mother and confidant. They provide much needed comic relief to the anime. There are a myraid of supporting characters. Each character is adequately fleshed out with back story that explains their personal motivation.

Shangri-la is visually appealing. There are drastic color palette differences between the sterile Atlas, the encroaching jungle and the ruins of society. These differences really serve to accentuate the segregation of these three equally important pieces of the plot. The character design and wardrobe (a sailor type school uniform) for Kuniko emphasize her young age. Transsexual Momoko's wardrobe changed frequently and was as unique as her personality.

The audio for Shangri-la was uninspiring. The voice actors, although competent, are relatively unknowns. The OP by May'n called "Kimo Shinitamo Koto Nakare" really didn't create a mood for me. The audio wasn't bad, it just wasn't noteworthy.

With its tangled plots, Shangri-la misses the mark in making a comprehendible story line. Rouge computer programs; governmental power struggles; environmental issues; and personal and interpersonal struggles are all very interesting themes, but together they become a mess of overflowing ideas. What the author seeks to accomplish might have been fulfilled in a 50+ episode anime, but I really think simple is better in this scenario. Pick a plot and a subplot and weave your story.

I actually liked the complicated story line for the most part, what I disagree with is the supernatural element of it - it made no sense to me, and turned an otherwise solid sci-fi anime into something that suffers identity crisis. Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit, definitely not a waste of time like many others out there.

well I suppose it was a good thing that I was only able to watch one episode of it..and that for some reason every episode after was 'broken' or taken down for whatever reason.

anyone know where i can watch ths i mean was looking for stuff that had good quality in dub

Shinimagami, did you fiund the first episode interesting? If so then you're missing out on the rest if the show, it gets better from there, despite the slight mess of plot lines that Red mentioned.

Conan, no one will answer this question of yours openly here, it is considered advertising and the post will be deleted and the poster warned. These are the rules as it stands. Also, I've rarely been able to find any show out there in a quality comparable to what our guys and gals uploaded, heck I missed the last 4 episodes of Persona 4 as the site went down and I looked all over the place and I found them on several other sites but even at larger file sizes their quality was still lacking in comparison to what we had here. My advice would be to find who uploaded the show to the old site, get in touch w/ them over PM, and ask them for the direct links to their Vidbull or UploadC files, if they still have them. Or you can always try torrenting.