In the end the same “spotty quality” issue that brought Season 1 down plagued Log Horizon Season 2 all the way through as well. Maybe it’s not an issue of “spotty quality” and more a case of “this is the only way the author knows how to write.” He likes to sandwich important revelations and developments between lots of unfunny comedy, boring fights and unnecessary character development. You either like that, or you don’t. Personally, I think I’m done with Log Horizon for now. When the author finally gets round to finishing the light novels I’ll read a summary of the ending or something and call it a day.
Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy Season 2, because I did. Or rather some portions of it. I liked the super-tough raid into the money dungeon. I wished the final battle against the moth genius could have been longer, but it was still a good final battle, all things considered. Also I thought I would hate Kanami when I eventually met her, but she’s fairly amusing. And they set up some good mysteries for the eventual next season: what’s on the moon, how did the scythe warp Crusty to where he ended up, what are all the things Kanami has discovered, what exactly are empathions and why are they being collected, etc etc.
Compared to that, all that fake “heartwarming” stuff involving Isaac and Iselus (like, who?) and pretty much every scene involving Roe 2 and the Whining Whelps was just torture to sit through. Log Horizon has too many characters, that’s one of its problems. Some series cope with that by keeping the focus firmly on the mains and only focusing on others as it pertains to them. Others try to get everyone equal time and end up leaving everyone unhappy. Guess which category Log Horizon falls into.
Anyway, there’s no need to write too much about Log Horizon Season 2 since its highlights and lowlights are pretty much the same as for the first season. They did address the issue I mentioned last time of people being a little too happy to be in the Elder Tale world. We find that there are some people who left family behind and who are dying to get back there, which makes lots of sense. Shiroe & Co. come up with the obvious remedy: send them back home, but the season ends before they even take the first real step towards making that happen. Bummer.
Furthermore I’m still a bit disappointed because all the interesting things I was hoping would happen didn’t really happen. For example I thought the Round Table would finally clash with Plant Hwyaden this time, but they barely acknowledged each other. I thought the show would finally explain Plant Hwyaden’s structure and plans, but instead it just introduced a bunch of new characters, gave them a few speaking lines and a pointless aborted plan and then shuffled them off to the side for the rest of the show.
Plus the implications of the buying/return of all facilities to the Yamato server aren’t really explained. We were told in the previous season that Plant Hwyaden is holding its adventurers hostage by owning the cathedral. Now that the cathedral is free for all, shouldn’t there be a major upheaval in their power dynamic? Or is that not how it works? The whole thing went completely unexplained. The show keeps throwing up new mysteries and characters and factions and clearing them all up very poorly, if at all.
And that’s the reason why I won’t bother with Season 3 or 4 or 5 or whatever until/unless the light novels are complete. It’s just going to be another frustrating 25 episodes of watching unimportant characters do unimportant things while the whole world with all its mysteries is sitting there waiting to be explored – and I don’t mean by Kanami and her ad hoc team. If you’re a huge fan of Log Horizon you’re going to watch Season 2 even without me tell you to. If you’re in the “Eh, it’s okay” camp like me, I won’t tell you not to watch it, just don’t expect too much from it and you’ll be fine.