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Crunchyroll to Stream Shangri-La Frontier, Skip and Loafer Anime (Updated)

Crunchyroll announced at its Japan Expo panel this weekend that it will stream the 2023 Shangri-La Frontier television anime and the Skip and Loafer television anime. It also confirmed that it will stream the second season of the Muv-Luv Alternative anime this October, after streaming the first last October. All three titles will be available to stream in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Kodansha Comics publishes Ryōsuke Fuji's manga adaptation of Katarina's Shangri-La Frontier web novel, and it describes the story:

Second year high school student Rakurō Hizutome is interested in one thing only: finding "shitty games" and beating the crap out of them. His gaming skills are second to none, and no game is too bad for him to enjoy. So when he's introduced to the new VR game Shangri-La Frontier, he does what he does best—min-maxes and skips the prologue to jump straight into the action. But can even an expert gamer like Rakurō discover all the secrets that Shangri-La Frontier hides...?

The cast, led by two members who are returning from a 2021 promotional video, includes:

• Yuma Uchida as Sunraku/Rakurō Hizutome
• Azumi Waki as Saiga 0/Rei Saiga
• Yōko Hikasa as Arthur Pencilgon/Towa Amane
• Makoto Koichi as Oicazzo/Kei Uomi
• Rina Hidaka as Emul
• Akio Ohtsuka as Viceash

Toshiyuki Kubooka (Harukana Receive, Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina) is directing the anime at C2C with assistant director Hiroki Ikeshita, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Black Clover, Dropkick on My Devil!, Hetalia The Beautiful World, In the Land of Leadale, Record of Ragnarok) is supervising and writing the series scripts. Ayumi Kurashima (DEVILMAN crybaby, Megalobox 2: Nomad) is serving as character designer and chief animation director. Monaca is composing the music.

Katarina debuted the novel series on the Shōsetsu-ka ni Narō ("Let's Be Novelists") website in May 2017. Kata also wrote an additional novel series in Weekly Shonen Magazine. The series follows the heroine Saiga 0, who is the top player of "Shangri-La Frontier."

Fuji launched the Shangri-La Frontier ~ Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su~ (Shangri-La Frontier ~ Crappy Game Hunter Challenges God-Tier Game) manga in Weekly Shonen Magazine in July 2020. Netmarble Nexus is also developing a game, and Netmarble is publishing it.

Seven Seas Entertainment is releasing Misaki Takamatsu's Skip and Loafer (Skip to Loafer) manga digitally and in print in English, and it describes the story:

Excellent student Iwakura Mitsumi has always dreamt about leaving her small town, going to a prestigious university, and making positive change in the world. But she's so focused on reaching her goals that she's not prepared for the very different (and overwhelming) city life that awaits her in a Tokyo high school. Luckily, she makes fast friends with Shima Sousuke, a handsome classmate who's as laid-back as she is over-prepared. Can this naive country girl make it big in Tokyo with Sousuke by her side?

The main cast includes:

Kotomi Deai (Natsume's Book of Friends) is directing the anime and overseeing the series scripts at P.A. Works. Manami Umeshita (Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3) is designing the characters and serving as animation director. Takatsugu Wakabayashi (Dragonar Academy) is composing the music.

Takamatsu launched the manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in August 2018. Kodansha published the manga's seventh compiled book volume on June 22. The manga ranked #7 in manga for male readers in the 2020 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook. It was nominated in the 13th Manga Taisho awards in 2020, and was also nominated in the Best General Manga category of Kodansha's 44th annual Manga Awards in 2020.

Update: Crunchyroll also confirmed it will stream the Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack season next January in the same regions as the other three titles.

Source: Crunchyroll (link 2, link 3, Kyle Cardine, Joseph Luster)