TV-Series
Description
Rakurō Hizutome, known in the virtual world as Sunraku, is the main protagonist of the anime Shangri-La Frontier and the character through whose eyes most of the story is told. In everyday life he is a seventeen-year-old high school student who lives with his parents and a younger sister, attends the same school as several other central characters, and takes his studies seriously enough to maintain good grades. His most defining trait as a gamer is his reputation as the Trash Game Hunter, a title earned by devoting himself to clearing so-called trash games, the glitch-ridden, poorly balanced, and often unfair titles that most players avoid. Years of surviving broken mechanics, unreliable controls, and unreasonable difficulty gave him an unbreakable will, sharp observation, and a deep practical understanding of how game systems work, and these skills carry over completely when he decides to try a polished, popular full-dive VR game.
The decision to enter Shangri-La Frontier comes after Sunraku clears the massive trash game Faeria Chronicle Online and begins to feel a kind of burnout. At the suggestion of the owner of his favorite game store, he buys the acclaimed VR game as a change of pace. Once inside, his avatar becomes instantly recognizable: a muscular, lightly dressed fighter topped with a bird mask shaped like a shoebill's head. Rather than relying on heavy armor, his combat style is built around evasion, mobility, and reading opponents. He favors speed, stamina, and luck over raw attack power or defense, and he fights with twin short blades, a pair of swords that can combine into a greatsword, and a bow, allowing him to adapt between close-quarters and ranged combat. His skill set includes techniques such as creating an afterimage to distract enemies during battle. Because his avatar's raw status is not especially high, his effectiveness comes almost entirely from player skill, quick improvisation, and a willingness to learn through repeated failure.
Sunraku's personality blends intense curiosity with playful confidence. He is strongly drawn to the unknown and to high-difficulty challenges, and he actively seeks out situations that other players would avoid. Danger and disadvantage do not discourage him; instead, he treats them as sources of excitement and learning, and he frequently values the worth of a challenge over efficiency or safety. He is comfortable acting with failure as a real possibility and treats dying and retrying as a natural part of the experience. This mindset is central to who he is, because he plays not to prove superiority over others but to enjoy exploring and overcoming a well-designed world. In conversation he is sharp-witted and sometimes teasing, yet he is also friendly, principled, and caring, qualities that come through most clearly in his treatment of the people he meets in the game.
Sunraku's role in the story is that of its driving force and viewpoint figure. His discovery of hidden content early in the game, including an unexpected encounter with a hidden quest chain tied to one of the game's seven unique super-bosses known as the colossi, sets the course for much of the narrative. Within a short time he clears the first area's boss, pushes into dangerous new territory, and attracts the notice of some of the game's most accomplished players, many of whom he has already met through the trash game community. His exploits quickly make a name for him, and his unusual approach to the game becomes a subject of interest among the player population.
His relationships with other characters form a major part of his development. His closest companion is Emul, a member of the rabbit-like Vorpal Bunny tribe, an NPC who becomes his guide and trusted partner and brings out his more considerate side. Among players, he builds a spirited friendship with Arthur Pencilgon and Oikatzo, two powerful gamers whose constant banter and teasing reflect genuine mutual respect. He also develops a rivalry built on admiration with the top player Saiga-0, whose real identity is a shy classmate who has feelings for him, and he shares history with other players from his trash game days, including a classmate he knows through another online game. These connections gradually shift his experience of gaming from a solitary pursuit to a shared one, and through them he learns the value of teamwork, trust, and looking out for the people beside him.
Over the course of the story, Sunraku grows from a lone expert who treats games as personal endurance tests into a more rounded figure who balances his passion for challenge with responsibility toward his companions and his everyday life. His drive to clear the game's toughest content remains intact, but his victories become the results of collaboration as much as individual skill, and his confrontations with the colossi push both his abilities and his understanding of the game world to new levels. His journey is defined not by a desire to dominate other players but by a sincere love of the game itself, an outlook that sets the tone for the narrative and makes him the natural center of the story.
The decision to enter Shangri-La Frontier comes after Sunraku clears the massive trash game Faeria Chronicle Online and begins to feel a kind of burnout. At the suggestion of the owner of his favorite game store, he buys the acclaimed VR game as a change of pace. Once inside, his avatar becomes instantly recognizable: a muscular, lightly dressed fighter topped with a bird mask shaped like a shoebill's head. Rather than relying on heavy armor, his combat style is built around evasion, mobility, and reading opponents. He favors speed, stamina, and luck over raw attack power or defense, and he fights with twin short blades, a pair of swords that can combine into a greatsword, and a bow, allowing him to adapt between close-quarters and ranged combat. His skill set includes techniques such as creating an afterimage to distract enemies during battle. Because his avatar's raw status is not especially high, his effectiveness comes almost entirely from player skill, quick improvisation, and a willingness to learn through repeated failure.
Sunraku's personality blends intense curiosity with playful confidence. He is strongly drawn to the unknown and to high-difficulty challenges, and he actively seeks out situations that other players would avoid. Danger and disadvantage do not discourage him; instead, he treats them as sources of excitement and learning, and he frequently values the worth of a challenge over efficiency or safety. He is comfortable acting with failure as a real possibility and treats dying and retrying as a natural part of the experience. This mindset is central to who he is, because he plays not to prove superiority over others but to enjoy exploring and overcoming a well-designed world. In conversation he is sharp-witted and sometimes teasing, yet he is also friendly, principled, and caring, qualities that come through most clearly in his treatment of the people he meets in the game.
Sunraku's role in the story is that of its driving force and viewpoint figure. His discovery of hidden content early in the game, including an unexpected encounter with a hidden quest chain tied to one of the game's seven unique super-bosses known as the colossi, sets the course for much of the narrative. Within a short time he clears the first area's boss, pushes into dangerous new territory, and attracts the notice of some of the game's most accomplished players, many of whom he has already met through the trash game community. His exploits quickly make a name for him, and his unusual approach to the game becomes a subject of interest among the player population.
His relationships with other characters form a major part of his development. His closest companion is Emul, a member of the rabbit-like Vorpal Bunny tribe, an NPC who becomes his guide and trusted partner and brings out his more considerate side. Among players, he builds a spirited friendship with Arthur Pencilgon and Oikatzo, two powerful gamers whose constant banter and teasing reflect genuine mutual respect. He also develops a rivalry built on admiration with the top player Saiga-0, whose real identity is a shy classmate who has feelings for him, and he shares history with other players from his trash game days, including a classmate he knows through another online game. These connections gradually shift his experience of gaming from a solitary pursuit to a shared one, and through them he learns the value of teamwork, trust, and looking out for the people beside him.
Over the course of the story, Sunraku grows from a lone expert who treats games as personal endurance tests into a more rounded figure who balances his passion for challenge with responsibility toward his companions and his everyday life. His drive to clear the game's toughest content remains intact, but his victories become the results of collaboration as much as individual skill, and his confrontations with the colossi push both his abilities and his understanding of the game world to new levels. His journey is defined not by a desire to dominate other players but by a sincere love of the game itself, an outlook that sets the tone for the narrative and makes him the natural center of the story.