Log Horizon 2nd Season

Having finished the entire second season here are some of my opinions on how this season turned out. I have assumed anyone reading this has watched the first season. Story: 6 (Fair) The first half of this season focused in a lot more on the element of MMORPG raiding and immediately the pace of the show slowed down. With each episode covering usually two different scenarios within the world for our beloved characters to face. Overall I would say that if you're a big MMORPG player you'll connect with the characters more but if you're not then it will just leave you confused. By the secondhalf we were given with a valentines day filler episode and an enjoyable Kanami episode to give an idea of what's going elsewhere in the world. Then the kids' arc... similar to the last season there was an arc to develop the younger members of Log Horizon and that was done pretty well. But here it just felt like they didn't grow much but rather helped reinforce their own ideals and morals in addition to giving very little back story to their lives in the real world. Overall it didn't add much to the story, however the inclusion of a certain character and introduction of another certainly helped but left me clueless as to their purpose of being there. However after that arc the story seemed to pick up but then felt drawn out with the addition of what felt like filler episodes. And then the final two episodes..... Oddly these felt like some of the more enjoyable and entertaining episodes of the entire season with elements left over that pointed towards a direction the story would take. This was what annoyed me the most since I enjoyed them so much I wanted a third season. Looking back the same plot threads which were started were left unfinished (mainly because the anime has caught up to the source material therefore a third season is a long way off). The story followed a very heavily focused ''raid'' element and a few filler episodes. Overall enjoyable but with the filler episodes and poor pacing I give it a 6. Art: 7 (Good) I would give the art style a 7 because obviously there was a change in studio and possibly budget was an issue. In the end I got used to the changes. Animation was again not great but better in some places than others, the finale seemed to be where they did a better job at least. Sound: 7.5 (Very Good/Good) The OST for Log Horizon didn't change and since I enjoyed the first season OST as well, I didn't really have any gripes with it for the second season. Voice actors didn't change and the new seiyuu I felt fit their roles. Character: 7 (Good) There were quite a few introductions to new characters we had never really met aside from cameos and then some from the weird jungle of the anime rainforest. I enjoyed the new characters and they were extremely entertaining but the development of the characters were rather disappointing compared to last season. We're still left with a question of, 'What are they trying to do within the world.' We also got a little taste as to who the ''villains'' of Elder Tale are but their inclusion to the story was very minor. Enjoyment: 9 (Great) Even with the flaws of this season I still enjoyed it and being an MMOPG gamer I think it helped. I know many who would find this season to be a huge disappointment compared to the first season but considering what I suspect as being budget changes and a new studio I can see why. Comedic elements were still entertaining for me and the action and characters were still enjoyable. Overall: 8 (Very Good) With the inclusion of my own enjoyment I gave it an 8. A third season doesn't look likely to be soon because the LNs have now been caught up. I felt that maybe there wasn't enough material from the LNs to make a second season. Let's just hope they receive a better budget and have more material to work with for a third season. This is my first review I have done and any constructive criticism on how to better write my reviews would be welcomed.

I've watched the entirety of both seasons of Log Horizon and found the first season very enjoyable. It wasn't without its faults, but I felt that it made much much better use of its premise than Sword Art Online had, and avoided many of the character pitfalls that plagued SAO. However, I have to say that season 2 was a MASSIVE disappointment. Story 6/10 There are several story arcs throughout the 2nd season of Log Horizon, but the lasting impression that they left was minimal. The story arcs for the vast majority of the season feel like they carry no importance at all but even worse, theyprogress at a snail-like pace. Episode after episode of filler were shoved through the season while the main story arcs seemed to be shelved for many episodes without mention before being returned to. However, the season does tackle one of the problems that I thought was glaringly missing from the first season: the attempt to return home. However, this particularly story arc feels rushed because it's so short in comparison to all the filler episodes that came before it. Another part of the story I had a massive problem with was when the show handed itself off entirely to the kids. This is my opinion, and some people may disagree, but I believe that the children in the show should be complementary characters at most. However, one story arc followed the children going on a quest by themselves for several episodes without any lookback at the others. Art 7/10 I thought the first season of Log Horizon didn't look like anything special but I thought it was still very solid artwork. Some of the monsters looked really good and the action was great. While all that still remains for the most part, for some reason, many of the faces look very different. Nyanta, Serara, and several others look quite different from season 1 or even the first half of season 2. It may not be enough to be a deterrent, but it is quite noticeable. Other than some characters looking off, the action was pretty solid, and the raid bosses looked great. Some of the copy & paste for the hordes of creeps looked meh but that's understandable. Sound 8/10 Not really much to say here. Music is fine and voicework is fine as well. Character 7/10 This is another part where I feel that season 2 falls short of season 1. It not only introduces many new characters, but also tries to retain every single character from season 1. This results in them really struggling to develop some of the characters meaningfully. One of the new characters, Tetra, doesn't really seem to have any characteristic besides obnoxiousness. Also, of the villains, only one gets really significant screen time and explanations as to her motives. The motives of the other antagonists are left unexplained and it just seems like the show is struggling because it has too many characters. Enjoyment 5/10 This was a personal thing, but I really loved Log Horizon season 1. I felt that it was everything SAO could and should have been. However, this 2nd season took a massive dip in quality. There were just too many story arcs that were unimportant and so many filler episodes just left me bored and uninterested. Also, there were way too many characters being introduced without proper development. Overall 5/10 Very very disappointing. There were some bright spots and the very early parts of the 2nd season really lived up to the 1st season's quality, but then it takes a massive dip and becomes a boring snoozefest of endless filler episodes.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) Something that Log Horizon 2nd Season does that is somewhat strange is bring us into another world. Not just a new world in the sense that the anime represents such a fiction, but a world within another. The people of Elder Tales experience this world and discover what anyone would: that perhaps their place among it isn't right. This feeling of not belonging is something that is found not only within our own lives but within the anime as well. Indeed, in more ways than one. STORY Log Horizon 2 begins pretty much where the first season leftoff. There are still problems to be solved within the world they inhabit, with the "Villain in Glasses" doing everything he can to alleviate their worries. This second season of Log Horizon moves away from the political subterfuge that the first season capitalized on for a somewhat simple reason: this is the continuation. The anime already has its setting, the characters, and a wide set of rules in place and therefore opted to focus on an actual narrative as opposed to using the politics as a vehicle for everything that was going on. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. And this is because Log Horizon 2 refuses to do anything with any of the outcomes or plot lines that it follows and establishes. For example, it brings up the idea of item effects becoming true -- a rather neat development. But why this is the case or ways in which this affects what is happening around them are left unexplained. A more prominent example is the civil war that occurs between the People of the Land and the Adventurers. It sounds like an interesting route to take, but is never looked at seriously and even discarded by season's end. This rational can be found with nearly all of what Log Horizon 2 has to offer -- the "Geniuses," the Odyssey Knights, Roe 2, Kanami's events, training the People of the Land, death on the moon, etc. -- and only serves to make the plot seem incoherent in execution. In order to have some kind of order, Log Horizon 2 splits itself up into essentially four different arcs: the Akatsuki arc, the Money arc, the Kids arc, and the Moth arc. Furthermore, each is categorized into two (given) themes: the first two are about "rising once more" while the last two are about "running with friends." And for the most part, this kind of separation works in the show's favor. Akatsuki's arc showcases her struggle, her need to prove her worth not only to the people around her, not only to Shiroe, but also to herself. She gets beaten, learns from her mistakes, and even perishes at one point. But that doesn't deter her resolve; rather, it bolsters her fortitude and allows her to rise to a new level both in body and in spirit. The Money arc, in a similar fashion, follows Shiroe, Williams, and Williams' guild as they fought over and over, never giving up or in. They band together to beat the impossible, which acts as a nice segue into the anime's second half and second motif; the notion of camaraderie. The Kids arc demonstrates the need to understand and nurture relationships between both the people you love and those you may not even know. And the Moth arc clearly depicts the idea that one almost never has to deal with everything on his or her own. That is, there are people around you who are able and willing to provide the support you need; you just need to ask. Log Horizon 2 also manages to maintain a thematic presence between its respective arcs, too. And it's what was talked about in the introduction; not feeling like you belong. There are those times when it is difficult to understand the situation you are in or finding yourself questioning your own mindset, so you begin pondering what exactly the issue is. Log Horizon 2 does this for each of its partitions: Akatsuki wonders why she cannot be by Shiroe's side, Williams talks of finding solace in the gaming world, the kids witness a group of people who despise their position, and inkling feelings of wanting to return home loom large over many Adventurers. This kind of development is natural, especially in regards to that last point; literally being in a foreign land can cause any number of mixed emotions. But what each segment teaches is that it isn't so much worrying about belonging, but how you manage such a predicament in the first place. Which is what the previous themes aimed at doing; rising to the challenge and relying on the people around you. By following these two routes, belonging stops being an issue and starts being an afterthought. It doesn't happen instantaneously -- the Adventurers prove that finding one's place is a difficult process -- but when you do find that peace of mind, great happenings almost always await. ANIMATION Unfortunately for Log Horizon 2, the art and animation is severely lacking. The art for the show, despite the world being so open and free, is filled with rather boring locales. Muddy caves, plain cities, and leafy forests are normally seen, but nothing is extraordinary. The real detriment, though, is the show's often distracting lack of quality. There are numerous occasions where characters are either malformed or given disproportionate features, causing their designs to be lacking in detail and attention. The world within the anime lends itself well to interesting character designs, and therefore that is what's given here. Shiroe's signature white cloak, Akatsuki's ninja outfit, and Tetra's idol attire are easy examples of fun designs that fit the show's mood and provide the audience with the sense that these people really are just playing a video game. Actual animation, though, is mostly below average. Many of the fights are given still frames or reduced actions that do not come off as appealing. And since a lot of what goes on within the show is dialogue between the characters, where only mouth movements are found, it only helps to accentuate the lack of animation during the battles that occur. CHARACTERS Log Horizon 2 is an anime with a large cast, almost too large for its own good. It isn't able to adequately peer at every character individually and instead sets its sights on two. One makes sense and the other is interesting: Akatsuki and Isuzu, respectively. Akatsuki is a servant first and ninja second. As such, when she is left behind by her master, Shiroe, she feels conflicted. She cannot seem to understand why she has been delegated to such a role; that her place at Shiroe's side is almost unneeded. She feels completely weak, and when she is defeated in Akihabara it only helps to reaffirm this type of thinking. Yet, it's exactly what she required: within the dream-like world she meets up with the person she calls master. While there she learns that it isn't because she is weak that she was kept from fighting alongside him and the others, but because she is so strong, that only she could take up the task given to her, that Shiroe wanted her to remain at home. Upon reviving, she trains her heart out, and with the aide of those around her, she excels to new heights. She earns a special "Teaching," protects the town, and most of all, is confident now more than ever in the abilities that she always had. During the second half of Log Horizon 2, during the Kids arc, the show actually chooses Isuzu of all people to really focus on. Her class as a Bard isn't just coincidence; her characterization reveals that, in the real world, not only was her father a renowned musician but she had taken up the guitar as well to follow in his wake. But she laments of her father's lost fame and of her own inadequacies as a guitarist. She feels that what she has to offer isn't worth much of anything, especially if the person she always looked up to, someone better than her, was always pushed to the side. But as Rudy, her close friend, describes to her, it isn't about being good or bad at whatever you do that counts. As long as you try, that you give it everything you have without any regrets, is what truly matters. For his people are not capable of creating the tunes she can; she is to them as her father is to her. Meaning what she can do is not only worthwhile but unique, more so than she ever thought possible. And with this newfound vigor, she does what she can for the people around her, supporting them in the way that only she is capable of doing. What both Akatsuki and Isuzu demonstrate, besides their respective developments, is something that many of the characters experience throughout the entirety of the season. And that is the notion of self-esteem. Having the confidence to do what needs to be done -- to get up when fallen, to rely on your friends, to do what is right -- doesn't always come naturally. For many people, it's a difficult feeling that isn't inherent and must instead be "taught" to those that don't have a lot of it to begin with. This occurs with the former two ladies. But there are also those who lose it after having acquired it -- Shiroe experiences such a dilemma near the end where he doesn't fully believe in the path he has chosen. Touya holds his ground against the suicidal knights, Nureha stands up for herself, and Demiqas swallows his pride to help the very man who humiliated him. Having the confidence to perform certain deeds can be difficult to obtain, but once it is found, and as the characters of the anime portray, it brings with it its own brand of goodness. SOUND The OP for Log Horizon 2 remains the same, which is a wise decision. It's catchy, it's fun, and it's the database; it is literally Log Horizon's signature sound. The ED is fine, utilizing cute singing, a simple beat, and dainty piano playing. It can be quite catchy itself, especially with the ending "la's" that are used. The rest of the soundtrack remains more or less the same from the first season as well. It contains uplifting battle tones with hard guitar, drums, and choirs -- the "Main Theme" is both the best track for this example and the best track that the show has to offer. It also uses mysterious tunes during explanatory moments, slow guitar playing during sadder ones, and flutes during the nonchalant times. It's a nice OST that captures the mood of the anime quite well. As far as voice-acting is concerned, those involved give around average performances. A special shout-out goes to Yukiyo Fujii as Tetora for her cracking voice while speaking. ENJOYMENT I found myself not quite enjoying what this one was doing, mostly because it transitioned away from the politics and tried too hard to bring in as many different elements as it could. On top of this, many of the battles weren't very impressive to see despite them garnering so much focus. Furthermore, while the Kids arc was nicely executed, it was still quite boring to watch unfold. The only characters that I had a fun time watching were Leonardo (the turtle) and Tetora (the idol). The former was just a really cool dude while the latter was always having fun, looking to bring a smile to both me and everyone else in the world. Leonardo hardly got any screen time, unfortunately; he was placed in the same spot as Nyanta -- really cool but underutilized. And Tetora couldn't always be around to bring about the laughs. Log Horizon 2nd Season attempts to continue what its predecessor started. Unfortunately, due to an awkward story, shoddy animation, and boring segments throughout, this tale seems to still be questioning its own sense of belonging. SUMMARY Story: Fine, thematically strong but coherently weak Animation: Bad, low quality art style, good character designs, below average actual animation Characters: Good, Akatsuki, Isuzu, and the rest find the confidence to fight Sound: Good, great OP, good ED, good soundtrack, average VA work Enjoyment: Bad, lame fights, boring arcs, and only a few likable characters Final Score: 5/10

Story: Is Log Horizon 2 filler? Now, let's stop right there. The very fact that I even considered leading off a review with this question doesn't bode well. But, to answer that question: No, Log Horizon 2 is not filler, but it feels like filler. Everything in the show is canon, covering 4 light novels and even going into some material that hasn't been officially released yet. Season 1 adapted 5 LNs, so we're already looking at slightly less source material. Within these 4 LNs + extras of material, Log Horizon 2 decides to adapt 1 of them to only 1 episode, so we're left with3 LNs + extras for 24 episodes. So it should come to no surprise that the first point of contention is the dreadful pacing of the show. The plot moves extremely slow; there were multiple times that I got bored because I wanted the show to move a bit faster and get to the point. Log Horizon was never a fast paced show to begin with, but there were several episodes (especially in the 3rd arc) where it felt like virtually nothing happened. In fact, I might go so far as to say the first 21.5 episodes of Log Horizon 2 were a waste of time. We get 3 entire arcs during those episodes but we never actually see the results of those arcs. The plot feels contrived to the point of searching for something for the characters to do rather than them actually moving toward an obtainable goal. The last couple episodes sort of introduce an interesting goal, but by then it's too late. However, these episodes are actually good. Had we gotten a whole season of this it would have been much better. But why don't we get any results? Because those arcs existed for the sake of character development. Log Horizon 2 develops Shiroe, Akatsuki, and the kids a little bit, but it takes way too long to do so. Log Horizon's strong suit was never its characters; it was the world and its MMO aspects that made the show interesting. So the fact that we spend so much time on one of the less interesting parts of Log Horizon hurts the show immensely. While it spends so much time developing the cast, it also introduces a bunch of interesting ideas to the world. But Log Horizon 2 never goes anywhere with these cool ideas. They're shrugged off in favor of character development. Any expansion of these ideas would have been great. Now I want to talk about the 3rd arc in particular. We follow the Log Horizon kids (colloquially called the Noob Squad) as they go on a quest. It's so boring and unrelatable that I wanted to drop the show, and I almost never drop shows. The Noob Squad is far and away the worst characters in the cast, and getting a second arc (they had a short one in S1) devoted to them is just too much. The slice of life "comedy" parts of this arc in particular are more cringe worthy than anything else. Characters: Again, Log Horizon 2 tries its best to develop its characters. We learn about them a little more and maybe change a little bit, but it doesn't really add anything to the show. Again, Log Horizon's strength was never its characters. Perhaps the biggest fault in terms of the cast is its sheer size. With 41 characters listed on MAL, it's unsurprising that the viewer might forget about some of the minor ones, especially when it comes to stuff like guild affiliation. Now, a large cast is not necessarily a bad thing. Legend of the Galactic Heroes doesn't get bashed for its huge cast. But Log Horizon doesn't always know what to do with all its characters, so many of them fall by the wayside. Shiroe is still the best character in the show, but his screen time is limited compared to the first season. It's really disappointing because Shiroe was the one who most drove the plot forward in the first season. Plus we only get a fraction of the glasses pushes. Oh, remember Nyanta? Everyone's favorite cat swashbuckler chef shows up for an episode or two just to remind us he exists. Instead we get Tetra, who serves almost no purpose besides comic relief. Sound: Log Horizon 2's OST uses many of the same tracks from the first season, and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with that. The songs are good; they usually fit the mood fine and there's nothing really to complain about there. Log Horizon's OP, Database, also returns for another go. Database is a good song, but I don't think we needed 50 episodes of it. Log Horizon 2's OP also shamelessly spoils some stuff from the series again. The ED isn't bad, but the transition into the ED is awful. There are a few episodes that end on a somber or intense note, and then the super happy ED pops in just before the episode actually ends and destroys the mood. The voice acting is fine. The kids' voices can get annoying though. Art/Animation: Log Horizon switches animation studios for its second season, going to the infamous Studio Deen. The first thing you'll notice is that characters look slightly different. It's most noticeable on characters with long hair such as Marielle. The designs are more faithful to the original source material, but I personally found the slight redesigns in the first season to be aesthetically pleasing. The animation itself is bad to the point of distraction. Characters' faces never quite look right. Tons of shortcuts were taken and it's completely noticeable and frustrating. Enjoyment: Now, I could throw all this aside if the show manages to be fun to watch. For me, it wasn't. When my first thought week by week is "Let's get this over with" then that's a terrible sign. The show has a bunch of slice of life moments that are supposed to be funny or heartwarming or something, but they're tiresome and cringe worthy. The action scenes are all right, but they're few and far between and also take a few animation shortcuts that don't make them as fun as they could be. The plot isn't particularly engaging until the very end, but those last few episodes aren't enough to redeem the boredom that's before it. There are a few moments I genuinely enjoyed, but by and large it felt like a drag. 2/10 Yes, this is a harsh score. But if I can't take much of any enjoyment from the show and it doesn't really succeed in any area, it's tough to give it points at all.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes