Shangri-La manga review – bonutzuu’s manga archive

The word Shangri-La conjures different images in people’s minds. Some may think of a hidden paradise amid snowy mountains, and some may just think about the hotel chain. Some people may even remember a mediocre anime that aired on Animax a decade ago.

In an effort to combat climate change, the government of Japan decided to turn Tokyo and the surrounding area into a giant tropical forest, obviously after consultation with experts in the field of science and with solid evidence to prove that doing so will actually help. However, surprise, they’ve planted too many trees! Those privileged were moved into a magnificent city in the clouds, Atlas, while the others were left to live in slums surrounded by the forest that threatens to invade and crush into their city at any moments (because climate change made the plants turn into monsters rawr).

The story of Shangri-La centers around Houjou Kuniko, the leader of a rebel group called ‘Metal Age’, based in a slum called Duomo. She was held in a government-run prison as a hostage for 2 years, and at the start of the story, managed to escape and begin her rebellious activities against Atlas, who’s constantly trying to wipe Duomo off the map just because they think surface people smells. *Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite flashback intensifies*

Atlas is managed by a self-learning and independent AI called ZEUS. Whoever can access ZEUS’s mainframe will gain control over all of Atlas. In order to access this mainframe, one would need to gather all three ‘God’s Hands’ (based on the three Imperial Regalia of Japan: Yasakani no Magatama, Yata no Kagami, and Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi), then access this weird place designed based on the Potala Palace in order to gain acceptance by ZEUS.

The holder of one of God’s Hands is Mikuni, who is the next in line for the Emperor (of Atlas, I assume). However, she’s a cruel and childish girl under the care of a woman who clearly has emotional problems. She wishes to meet Kuniko, who’s apparently ‘the same’ as her.

And that’s the Shangri-La manga. Confused on why it sounds like a different tape than the anime? Yeah, me too.

I got a hold of this manga from a guy whose bookstore is going out of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s selling both first and second hand manga on Facebook at very low price. I was scrolling through and my eyes almost popped out when I saw Shangri-La as one of the ‘complete set’ manga he had in his shop. I seriously thought Shangri-La was an obscure anime and I could not find any details on the manga itself, so I’m really surprised the manga was already fully published in my country.

I remember that the year Shangri-La aired on Animax, I could only watch the first few episodes before having to evacuate due to a bad flood in Bangkok. After months of living in an apartment, I came back home, and the thing I was most happy about was that I could watch Animax again (yeah, I was eleven. No judging.) I turned on the TV and there it was, the last episode of Shangri-La.

The young me liked the premise and the character design a whole lot, although I didn’t really understand what was going on. I was just there for the visual experience. I heard from other people that it was a pretty mediocre anime. I read some spoilers and kind of agree. So I thought the manga would be the same.

I was kind of wrong.

Shangri-La’s manga adaptation is all the action and conflict minus the carbon trade jargon. It’s the same story overall, but this version is an over-the-top shonen action manga with sci-fi elements slapped on top.

Although it’s just four volumes, it’s more complicated than I thought to write about this manga, so I guess I’ll do it the same way the manga introduces itself: by introducing the four factions.

First, we have the Metal Age people of Duomo. Kuniko is their leader and the de facto most beloved girl in the city. Her mother is a sexy and beautiful trans woman Momoko, who accompanies her throughout the series. Momoko is written like the stereotypical trans woman. She’s beautiful, confident, fun, flirty, and dresses in very sexy clothes. In the first two volumes, some of her scenes were very awkwardly written, but improves as the manga goes on. She has a lot of great quotes, and I like how the plot focuses on her motherly bond with Kuniko. We don’t see much else of her, but given the length constraints, I felt that Momoko is probably the most explored character in the series.

Although Kuniko is a bit lazy like a regular teenager, she’s also spunky and playful and occasionally whiny, which makes her a fun protagonist. Kuniko wishes to protect Duomo by becoming the ‘Ruler’ of Atlas. Kuniko holds the ‘Ame no Murakumo’ sword, one of the God’s Hands, which is a boomerang twice her size. She’s invincible, but in a way that makes you feel happy that she’s coming to hand people their asses.

Next, we have the Atlas people: Sayoko and Mikuni. Sayoko is the psycho woman I mentioned earlier. She deeply loves and respects Mikuni, and will kill anyone who disrespects her beloved princess. Her ultimate goal is to see Mikuni ascend to throne. Mikuni holds the Yata no Kagami, which allows her to twist the neck of anyone that lies to her and send them to their horrible deaths. Mikuni was introduced as the antagonist, but I liked how she and Sayoko eventually warmed up to Momoko to fight the real villains.

Third, we have the government faction. This has two characters: Kusanagi and Ryoko. Ryoko wants the power Atlas to please her grandpa (for reasons that are spoilers), and so has been hunting down the three God’s Hands to take control of ZEUS. She’s an annoying antagonist but I felt bad for her.

Kusanagi is a character that seems to pop out of nowhere, but blends in unexpectedly well with the whole narrative. He’s a regular military officer in the government, able to use ‘Silent Kill’ which is a stealth ability that can pretty much take down anyone… except Kuniko. He was a spy planted in Duomo, and tried to kill Kuniko (ultimately becoming her punching bag), but after seeing what Mikuni does to other people and what Atlas did to the people of the surface, he started to question whether what he did was the right thing, and finally he saved Kuniko’s life while trying to find out for himself what he should be doing. If Shangri-La had a sequel, this guy would no doubt be the protagonist. He’s got the Gon (HxH) hairstyle and the cool shonen anime MC personality. His ability is also quite badass, but too bad his opponents were way out of his league.

And I almost forgot the last faction, the Akihabara faction represented by Ishida Karin. The manga has none of the carbon trade stuff, only mentioning that Karin hacked into ZEUS and participated in the final showdown. That works well enough in the manga’s context, since the story made no attempt to touch the climate change stuff.

Overall

Shangri-La manga is not a story about climate change advocacy. It’s just a fun action sci-fi manga about sexy girls wielding oversized weapons against each other, while blending sci-fi and mystical elements together. If you take the story apart, I’m sure you would find a lot of rushed development and unanswered questions, but it was an enjoyable read overall.