Log Horizon Season 2 – Thoughts on episodes 1-12

I jumped straight into the next season because, why not? It turns out season 2 of Log Horizon has many of the same issues that stopped season 1 from being a top-tier show. Mainly a tendency to focus on side characters doing things the viewer doesn’t care about and which are only marginally important to the rest of the show as a whole. All the while when something far more interesting is going on with Shiroe and his main party.

This time the problem was a long arc focusing on Akatsuki’s crisis of confidence and her attempts to deal with a “serial killer” on the loose in Akihabara. This would have been okay if it lasted for only an episode or two, but episode after episode after episode of Akatsuki angsting about her own inabilities and her (forced, unconvincing) feelings for Shiroe grew tiresome very quickly. The resulting “girl power!” showdown that was supposed to give the female eye candy of the show something to do might have been interesting if the guys weren’t also having a far more epic and monumental showdown right around the same time. If you want to give characters a day in the limelight, make sure the spotlight is on them, don’t make them a sideshow distraction from ‘the real thing.’

log-horizon-season-2-imageSo anyway, that was pretty boring. The whole first half of season 2 has been pretty boring, actually. The best part was the revelation of how much it cost to maintain all those buildings and the resulting plan to find the source of the gold. I enjoy Log Horizon best when it’s focusing on things like basic economics and less when it’s doing generic MMORPG battles, though the battles against the raid monsters were pretty intense. The shock resolution of the whole gold arc is also interesting and unusual and I look forward to finding out the implications.

First, though, it appears I’m going to have to sit through a Valentine’s Day episode… ugh… I’ve been watching anime for almost 20 years at this point and I have never, I repeat never seen a good Valentine’s Day episode. In fact, I’m very tempted to just skip episode 13 and go straight to 14. Why are they doing lovey-dovey hijinks when Rusty has gone missing, his aide has lost an arm and the West is up to shady shenanigans that need attention pronto? It’s this tendency to wander and insert fanservice and slice of life elements at the most inappropriate times that keeps Log Horizon from being the 5-star show it could have been.

Still I just have to suffer through episode 13 and then I’ll be treated to all the action and intrigue and world-building I could ever ask for, riiiiight? Don’t worry, I’m not holding my breath, but the rest of the show should at least be decent. I’ll get round to finishing it one day.

Log Horizon anime review – Spotty quality but enjoyable overall

I finished Sword Art Online and went around looking for something similar. Not that I enjoyed SAO all that much, but the general idea of an overpowered protagonist stuck in another world is one that I still like so I’m still looking out for shows along those lines. Log Horizon came with good recommendations and less of the positive/negative hysteria that accompanies SAO, so I decided to give it a try.

Blurb: Thirty thousand Japanese gamers suddenly find themselves transported into the virtual game world of an MMORPG called Elder Tale. In the midst of the event, a socially awkward gamer named Shiroe, along with his friends, Naotsugu and Akatsuki, decide to team up so that they may face this world, which unfortunately has now become their reality, along with the challenges and obstacles ahead of them.

The good parts of Log Horizon

log-horizon-volume-1-coverThe main character Shiroe and most of his friends and companions are all level 90 by the time the show starts. The way the game world is set up also means they’re essentially immortal, so they’re usually never in any real danger. Shiroe is also portrayed (somewhat falsely IMO) as a super-strategic genius but he can also do his share in battle, making him the right combination of brains and brawn to satisfy any viewer looking for a character who is overpowered either physically or mentally.

Log Horizon also puts more focus on economic issues, quality of life issues and power balances/relations than most “trapped in a game” shows tend to do. This makes it pretty good for people who care about world building and immersion, though I imagine the light novels would be better for this than the show.

The show also spends some time exploring the lives and politics of the non-player characters (NPCs), the guys you would normally ignore in town and villages in videogames, who only exist to sell you stuff/give you quests/die miserably when the bad guys attack. Turns out they’re “human” just like everyone else with families and tastes and complex political relationships, etc etc. It’s an interesting world to explore. The show is actually a good commercial for the light novels, ‘cos I’m slightly curious now.

Shiroe as a super-strategist is more of an informed attribute than anything that really stands out in the show, but he has his impressive moments. His strategy for getting Akihabara under control and establishing law and order was really quite clever. His use of his scribe skills to change the fate of a particular character was seriously over the top in both a good and bad way but hey, you asked for an overpowered main character and you got one.

The bad parts of Log Horizon
I say No No No
I say No No No

Shiroe stays out of focus in a lot of episodes, especially in the second half of the show. Instead an inordinate amount of time is spent chronicling the escapades of a bunch of level 25 adventurers, which just pisses me off. There are THOUSANDS of shows out there about complete newbies trying to get stronger. I want to watch people who have gone through the grind and are already strong enough. It’s really, really boring to watch those mewling little brats (especially Minori, she is so annoying) squabbling and scrabbling about. Someone should just put them all in a sack and drown them.

This makes it especially annoying when an entire arc is devoted to watching these kids try to defend an NPC town against a bunch of monsters that the level 90 characters could (and eventually do) take out in a few hits. The level 90 guys are presumably standing by because they’re “out of MP”, even though they could just fly back to Akihabara to buy out their entire stock of potions and return in less than time it takes one weakling to kill a single monster.

log-horizonSpeaking of that arc, it’s also painful to see them ignore perfectly valid strategies that were used earlier in the show in favor of just standing around chatting. You have a huge wave of monsters coming. Why not let Naotsugu (level 90) run into their middle, use Anchor Howl so they can’t target anyone but him, have all the healers just focus their healing spells on him and then pick off all the monsters at leisure with the weaker guys? It’s a strategy that was used twice earlier in the show to devastating effect, yet the one time it would actually make a difference it’s ignored in order to manufacture unnecessary drama with the kids! Sooooo annoying.

Other characters the show spent too much time on: Princess Lenessia and Crusty. Enough already, just get married and get off my show. Naotsugu with his constant perverted remarks was also another big drawback, though he thankfully gets a lot less screentime once the focus of the show shifts away from combat. Thank goodness. The Minori-Shiroe-Akatsuki love triangle wasn’t interesting either. There are lots of other love triangle shows out there if that’s what I wanted.

Lastly I’m a little bothered that the show didn’t give any thought at all to what is going on in the “real world” while the gamers are trapped in Elder Tale. Unlike in SAO it seems they have been bodily transported so there’s no need to worry about starving to death. But at the same time you’re telling me nobody has any family to worry about or work to go to or bedridden old grandpa they’re caring for? They all get stuck in the new world and they’re like COOOOL and that’s that? In a show as thoughtful as Log Horizon it’s a pretty glaring oversight, but it might be addressed in season two so I’ll give them a pass for now.

Overall

As I said in the title, the quality of Log Horizon is a bit spotty. When they let Shiroe do what he’s best at – solving problems, inventing clever solutions and exploring the mysteries of the Elder Tale world – it’s a highly enjoyable and engrossing show. Unfortunately that only takes up about 70% of the show and the rest is devoted to dumb love triangles, boring fights, annoying characters and time-wasting forced drama. I’m interested enough in the world that I’m going to watch Season 2, but honestly it could be a much better show. Still worth a try or a buy, just prepare for a bit of frustration and many filler-like episodes.

Also dropped: Soul Eater, Rokka no Yuusha, Ping Pong

Continuing from the last post, some more things I dropped recently:

Soul Eater: Not my cup of tea. I think I’ve outgrown shounen action shows or something, because the violent action in the first few minutes didn’t thrill me in the least, and then the attempts at… humor? with Maka’s dad or whoever just made me roll my eyes. I turned it off before the halfway mark. I’m not going to bother reading the manga or any summaries either. Tsugi!

Rokka no Yuusha: Meh. Not interested. I made through the whole of episode 1, which is more than I can say for the other two shows in this post, but that’s about it. The fast pace of the first episode was good – demon revives instantly, party starts to come together, all good, but the dense rash main character and the coy (but really strong, honest!) princess didn’t interest me enough to make me want to continue. One episode is enough.

ping-pong-episode-1Ping Pong: The main character’s voice and attitude turned me off completely. I know he’s supposed to sound bored and lifeless, and I’m sure hundred of voice actors were auditioned and several takes were made in order to get him to sound like a dead fish, but he just rubs me the wrong way 100%. I’ve heard good things about Ping Pong so I might read the manga where I don’t have to deal with any annoying voices and the super slow pacing. The anime, though, is not for me.

Dropped: Giant Killing, Joukamachi no Dandelion, Non non Biyori

Regular readers of the AnimeFangirl blog should be used to the system where I try one episode of a series and then drop it like a hot potato. Being an avid anime watcher for almost 20 years ensures you develop a nose for shows that won’t work out and can quit without wasting too much time. As a bonus this also frees you up to cope with your ever-growing backlog -_-;; The latest shows on the chopping block:

Giant Killing: I like sports shows/manga about the sport at the professional level, but something about this lazy rogue ‘unconventional’ coach rubbed me the wrong way. The art and the voices were low-tier as well, but I am vaguely interested in this rags-to-riches story so I might read the manga sometime. Things take so long to develop in the anime and so much time is spent just talking and arguing that I’m bailing out now.

non-non-biyori-screenshot2Non non Biyori: Cute show. Lovely environments. Really makes you want to up and move to a village in the Japanese countryside, it’s so beautiful. So much so in fact that it actually feels like pro-countryside propaganda, to be honest. But the bigger problem is that there are tons of “cute girls doing cute stuff” slice of life shows out there and Non non Biyori doesn’t have anything special going for it besides the gorgeous scenery gimmick. It’s also really, really slow even by slice of life show standards. It was a nice watch, but one episode is enough.

Joukamachi no Dandelion: Too many characters. Too much going on. Too many ‘wacky’ incidents. The main character is annoying. The premise is all kinds of messed up and yet not very interesting at the same time. The royal family lives in a normal neighborhood? There’s nothing normal about their lives with all those cameras and magical powers and flying! So why not just let them live in a palace already? And the whole ‘game to decide the next king’ gimmick is stupid. In fact it’s just a dumb show all around. I don’t think I even finished the first episode. Next!

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar anime review – Pretty nice

I’ve watched my fair share of “hero taken to a fantasy world” kind of shows and generally enjoy the genre, but it does tend to get kind of stale after the 10th “Hero of the World” iteration. I heard Hai to Gensou no Grimgar was a different, grittier take on the trope, all about what would really happen if a bunch of regular people were thrown into another world and had to survive without all the modern amenities and protections we’re used to, so I gave it a try. And you know, it was actually pretty good.

BlurbGrimgar of Fantasy and Ash (灰と幻想のグリムガル Hai to Gensō no Gurimugaru?) is a Japanese light novel series written by Ao Jūmonji and illustrated by Eiri Shirai. The story follows a group of people who suddenly find themselves in a fantasy world with no memories from before their arrival, and chronicles their struggles to survive and make a life for themselves. (source:Wikipedia)

First, before you get scared off, Grimgar is not that dark a series. The darkest take on the trope I’ve ever seen is Now and Then, Here and There (recommended watching if you’re feeling too happy and just want to be pissed off), and Grimgar never gets quite as unhappy as that. Nevertheless it does chronicle the likely struggles of a bunch of regular teenagers who have never even killed a chicken before and who now have to fend for themselves in the wilds of a new world by killing sentient, highly intelligent monsters and living off the proceeds.

Positives

hai to gensou no grimgar volume 1 coverI liked that Grimgar wasn’t that dark and still contained plenty of fantasy staples like magic and skills and a super-talented main character who overcomes great odds etc etc. I’m cool with that kind of thing, especially since nothing comes easy to the party so it feels like they deserve everything they eventually get. The show also ends on a highly positive note and is very well-wrapped up so unlike most light novel adaptations you don’t feel like you have to go out and get the books to get the full experience, even though the show does make you interested enough to want to do so.

Other positives: the watercolor-like backgrounds are lovely and a nice, mellow change from the often-garish colors of other fantasy series. The action sequences are not as good as the better ones from Sword Art Online or even Yes It’s Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, but it’s still clear and easy to follow even when things get hectic. The fights keep you on edge a bit because the rookies are so raw that anything can and frequently does happen in that world. It’s also nice that the characters have to deal with everyday stuff like buying food and getting clean underwear. It’s good for people who like slice-of-life and immersion into fantasy worlds.

Negatives

Now for the stuff that wasn’t so good. The voice-acting isn’t very impressive. It’s a strike against those who insist on how wonderful Japanese VAs always are. The MC’s voice was too deep and too impassive, Manato’s voice was too screechy and piercing, Ranta always sounded like he was trying too hard, the other characters weren’t very memorable. I don’t remember anything about the music either. The fanservice episodes and excessive discussions of bust-sizes and other vulgar topics was also something I could have done without. The long sequences where people just stand around while some annoying high-pitched singer warbles about nothing important weren’t necessary to the show either, IMO.

hai to gensou no grimgar manatoThose minor nitpicks aside, the main negative of Hai to Gensou no Grimgar (for me) is that far too much time is spent talking about stuff that doesn’t really interest the viewer. Especially at inappropriate times like in the middle of dungeons (they pay for that at least once, but they don’t learn their lesson). I’m like “Can’t this wait till you get back home where it’s nice and safe?”

But really, they just like to talk. Talk talk talk about their feelings. Tell me how you feel. I feel this, we feel this, feel feel feel. I get it, I get, but you really don’t need to spend 10 minutes in one episode talking about your depression, then 5 minutes in another episodes going on about the same thing, and then again in another ep, and on and on. It could be faster paced, is what I’m saying.

But there’s no perfect series, and I think Grimgar did pretty well keeping a balance between being upbeat and being realistic. It’s a great watch for anyone who likes fantasy, other worlds, tragedy, slice of life or straight up action. Or a fun combination of all these like Hai to Gensou no Grimgar.