"Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the novel, Lost Horizon, written by British writer James Hilton in 1933. In it, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Himalaya. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. The story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in the Buddhist religion." – Wikipedia.
Noein’s image of Shangri-La tries to explain the mysteries of this utopian place. It’s indeed a perfect world, with no problems what so ever. Although the thoughts behind it are horrifyingly realistic.
Once again, we see that Noein is excellent in creating the physical settings of the anime. This goes for Shangri-La, but even more for La’Cryma and the current timespace. Especially the latter one sticks to your mind. Why? Because the creators make such effective use of the tools given to them. For example, the Aeral Tramway to the mountain lookout. This gives a nice overview of the city, which actually makes sense (instead of the usual copy-and-paste-city-views usually seen in movies) and I’m actually able to recognize some of the places encountered in the anime. The fact that certain locations are just unique and keep on returning only contributes to this fact.
Anyway, about the episode. A LOT got revealed this time. We finally get to see Haruka’s father as he is in the current timepace, including the troubles he suffers from. The researchers come in contact with Toby and Karasu, thus learning a few things. A certain unwanted guest makes an appearance, and some critical information is shown about Shangri-La. Another pleasant-looking surprise is that the Ouroboros may be something much bigger than we originally thought of. It’s always been there, and I took it a bit for granted. But it seems that it’ll get a gret role in the end.
I can’t say that I didn’t love this episode. Therefore I won’t. Everything flowed so brilliantly, the music was awesome as ever, there was just one tiny fight, which was better then most anime can accomplish, and the cliffhanger just makes me thirsty for more. (Now that I think of it… the cliffhanger showed in episode 14 hasn’t been mentioned at all…)
I”m a little late to this party — but despite the greatness you’ve mentioned I confess I’m getting a bit tired of the repetitive name screaming: KARASU!!! HARUKA! KARASU?!
Back and forth, forth & back. Takes me back to the glory days of Akira where the protagonist and antagonist screamed each other’s names continually throughout the film:
Step 1. TETSUO!!! KANEDA!!!
Step 2. cue action scene.
Step 3. Repeat step 1.