Log Horizon

Log Horizon. The basic premise, as is evident in the synopsis, centres around a group of players who by some - as of yet - unexplained phenomenon, got stuck in an online massive multi player role playing game. I can imagine anyone familiar with Sword Art Online doing a double take at this point, obviously comparing the two anime, itching to see how one holds up against the other. SAO lovers and haters alike will travel down this line of thought. To be honest, I was and is one of the latter. Infact, I went into the series hoping to find all I missedin SAO after reading some assuring extracts that put this above Sword Art Online. And it did deliver. I should mention, however, that this anime is not everyone's cup of tea. If you're not the type to sit down and enjoy a dialogue heavy show such as this, the anime will most certainly come off as dry and boring. To be fair, if you're on the extreme end of dialogue-heavy fanaticism, the end-result won't vary. Log Horizon is the kind of anime that sits on the neutral ground - its dialogue heavy, but the concepts are not overly complex, thought provoking or riddled with worldly wise philosophies. That is not to say the show is not intelligent, but nonetheless, if you take the word of Log Horizon fans(a.k.a SAO haters) that judge the show as the intellectual's SAO, then you'll end up sorely let down. Because, at the end of the day, Log Horizon is still a kids show that shows no shame in shying away from the more ugly facets of the scenario, and the devious schemes that characters keep praising as something phenomenal are rather elementary. Not that its a bad thing, the anime itself doesn't go out of its way to show its characters as human super computers or anything. We just get a normal gamer guy with above average intelligence, and one who actually does his homework to get things done. Seeing he's surrounded by other normal people and AI, it might even be a good thing. The situations themselves doesn't call for anything more than some rudimentary marketing and administrative tactics and strategies. The story is in any case, fairly well executed and implemented; you won't find the characters doing utterly pointless actions or going on completely fruitless endeavours. Although, like they say, don't judge a book by its cover, because first arc of Log Horizon can mislead you on the show's main focus. Without spoiling too much, they first go on a rescue mission and the short arc serves as an exposition of sorts to give us a gist of the combat and gameplay mechanics, which while not a central theme, does get some focus later on in the series. Even so, combat is not heavy in Log Horizon. When there is action, it mostly relies on tactics and strategy. There is no one-man show where the mc's love overrides the game mechanics or anything. But, if you forget the two arcs where action is important - Log Horizon is about economics and politics at its core. One significant factor that differentiates Log Horizon from its thematic predecessors like SAO and .hack series is that death in the game does not equate to death in real life. That is, the players can respawn infinitely. It is not without consequence though, as there is something even more terrible than death that await the players who carelessly let their HP bars easily chip away to zero. Oops, I said too much. Maybe you should go watch the anime, because I won't be dropping any more spoilers. Now, onto the sound. The OST at first didn't at all sit well with me. It was sharply contrasting to the shows feel and theme. However, slowly but surely, I ended up loving it and started humming along. I can't honestly speak in-depth about the back-ground score...But they were certainly mood building, though I have my doubts about whether they went overboard with it. Some of the mood-building has gone to water and left me with a facepalm because the epic moments were made epic only because of the soundtracks. Without those, I wouldn't have batted an eye at the game winning strategies the characters employed and would have wrote them off as common sense. Meanwhile, the ending has already found a place in my favorites. Never skipped it, infact, I'm listening to it as I'm typing. The art was quite mediocre. Nothing to speak of. Its not too bad and its not too good. I felt that it didn't quite feel like a game for most part. But you really can't complain, for all we know, they may not even be stuck in a game per se. The character designs were pretty generic and all of anime's usual motifs are used. I particularly liked the mc's design. Characters of Log Horizon are not unique or spectacular in any sense. But they get their job done, and the mc is a wits above fists guy for once, and he's good at it. There is also the charismatic guy who gets all the praise, but luckily, we see him as a side character for the better part of the show. Not really surprising given Log Horizon takes a radically different route than most mainstream shounen shows by focusing on the action behind the scenes far more than the frontline adventures. I have noticed the characters getting blamed for reacting too calmly towards their predicament and this is one of those criticisms I don't understand. If you came across such a criticism, take my word - that is baseless. Completely baseless. One character I was thoroughly disappointed with was the loli assassin, Akatsuki. I actually had high hopes for her. But much to my dismay, her potential as a character was left untapped in terms of both execution and elucidation. I certainly won't condemn her character for development as she seemed to be wallowing in sadness because of her inability to be of sufficient use, and even more her because of her being unable to empathize with the mc towards the end. She still has a lot of potential for development, especially in the light of next season coming shortly. No, my problem is with her lack of chemistry with the mc. The same slap-stick jokes with the show's resident pervert can get old really easily, and the whole cosplay facade she uses to interact with Shiroe doesn't help either. Heck, Shiroe himself thinks her antics are nothing more than cosplaying when her personal monologues shows that she is invested in Shiroe on a more than superficial level. If there was some backstory for such an introverted personality, then I could have let it slip. But sadly, nothing of that sort came up. I'm hoping that the next season will take some time to flesh out her character, seeing she's the main female lead. Rest of the characters were great for the duration of the show and we can hope that they will play more important roles in the upcoming sequel. Some of the secondary cast got a lot more development than the main cast, both a positive and negative point in my books. Another weakness in its character department comes from overuse of certain gags. Shiroe adjusting his glasses when thinking making everyone go 'Ooohh the villain in glasses', Henrietta's obsession with dressing up lolis, Naotsugu's openly showing perverted tendencies only to get interrupted halfway by wrathful Akatsuki etc being only some of the examples. While this is not uncommon or ineffective, too much of these can be frustrating. As I mentioned at the beginning, this anime is not for everyone. For those who like dialogue heavy anime that is not dark or depressing, with some light slapstick comedy thrown in for good measure - this is exactly what you're looking for. As a last note, I must warn anyone who has been pushed onto taking up this anime by SAO haters - Granted, its different from SAO and does decidedly better than SAO on the story department, particularly the pacing. But its not the masterpiece that many of them paint it to be. Log Horizon is a little above the average shounen, however, its still an anime with flaws that cannot be overlooked. My own overall score is a result of the kind of entertainment I derived and not at all reflecting of the show's quality from an objective standpoint.

A demographic of people love to dabble in the virtual world of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMO) to achieve escapism from stress and other struggles that plague their nature. Recently, there has been somewhat of a resurgence of interest for anime fans to watch shows that detail the life of gamers who play these sorts of games, with Sword Art Online being at the forefront of it. These shows detail whether the virtual world could become more real to us than what we initially thought of as real from when we were born should be the central theme for these shows to explore and bringa fresh new take on it. It’s just too bad that none of these shows in question ever bothered to in the first place and become generic as a result. A year later, we have Log Horizon, an MMO-inspired anime with the same scenario as Sword Art Online above, with only a few minor iterations here and there. Before I begin, this won’t be a piece where I start to compare or contrast Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, as many people, unfortunately, seem to be inclined to do so. Whether I think Sword Art Online was good or bad should not be a factor in how I feel about Log Horizon. Judging a show by its own merits without any outside influence of another show should be the number one key in critiquing any work. With that said, does Log Horizon hold out on its own? One thing to realize about the plot is the tone of the setting and how it feels very lighthearted despite the dire situation that all of the characters are in. As far as the characters know, they have no way of getting out of the game. Many have criticized this aspect as being somewhat unrealistic in how real people would react to something of this magnitude. It might be an understandable critique to offer at first. However, as the show goes on, it feels fitting based on how the characters think about how they live and survive in the virtual environment. For however long they’ve been trapped in the game for years, at least based on their confusing logic, that virtual world becomes their world, and they get used to it by then. It also helps the show’s credit that they don’t ever show us the real world at all and keep it a mystery as to how things will make the situation from the characters’ perspective feel more apparent to the audience. While this might be one of the more significant points of the show, the story itself, in how it is paced and told, isn’t nail-bitingly intuitive or well thought out. The premise isn’t that complicated, to begin with, as we’ve been shown before, but Log Horizon seems to think that if they throw in multiple subplots into the mix to make it sound complex, it’ll succeed. Unfortunately, those sub-plots I’d mentioned don’t amount to anything special in the long run and aren’t even that memorable because of it. Not only that, but that lack of memorability stems from the fact that all of these political and social constructs that Log Horizon’s world possesses aren’t written clear enough, other than the fact that they’re there to establish some basis for our protagonists to go somewhere. These aspects come into perspective with how many characters there are to follow in Log Horizon, but I’ll get to that later. The problems with world-building might be more apparent after knowing that the original creator, Mamare Touno, was responsible for creating Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, which also had the same problems in its adaptation. These sorts of issues are prevalent in adaptations on this type of scale, but that can’t be an excuse. Though the massive cast of characters might seem like a huge negative, the way I put it, that shouldn’t mean that all of them are mediocre. The main cast of prominent characters throughout the show is exceptionally likable and hilarious to watch due to their numerous escapades with each other. It helps tremendously how they all have unique characteristics that improve the nature of every one of them, rather than making them all generic and uninteresting. The same thing can’t be said for the side characters. With our main cast being Shiroe, Nyanta-nyan, Akatsuki, and Naotsugu, there’s this decent sense of chemistry between these four characters that are ultimately lacking for our side/supporting cast. Their archetypes mainly consist of a trait that tries to make them distinct, such as Henrietta having an obsession with cute things like Akatsuki, and Serara, who has a habit of wanting to clean things to calm down. At first, it’s humorous, but after a while, it becomes redundant, and it doesn’t make them any more meaningful. In an action anime centered around the MMO systems, it would make sense to make the anime feel like you’re really in an MMO game from the gritty details of cool-downs, being a tank, healing your party members equally, and conjuring status effects at the right time. I, myself, am one of these people who enjoy these types of games, and, to me, Log Horizon is probably the only one that gets it right. Usually, something like this would steer off into brainless shounen show cliches, and there are a few here and there. Amazingly, Log Horizon gets the idea of taking its time for the characters to strategize their movements and actions rather than just blindly fighting off monsters without any thought in the world. That might make it seem too slow or methodical to enjoy watching, but in reality, they do an excellent job of pacing these fight scenes and keeping the action flowing seamlessly to give us a clear picture of what’s going on. The art style can be construed as good, just not excellent in quality. The character designs themselves are plain and ordinary enough for me to consider them a triumphant success in artistic merit. Still, we expect that, and for what it’s worth, it handles it decently to where they don’t seem to cut any visible corners in the later episodes. As I’ve mentioned about the action being fast and flawlessly executed, the animation is a big part of why those are the case. The fluid character movements feel nice and kinetic to the cast spells and look pretty good as a result. Voice talents range from relatively unknown voice actors to the familiar ones we’ve grown fans of, giving their artistic liberties to full effect with Log Horizon. Emiri Kato as Akatsuki is devilishly cute, and her being a fellow MMO fan sort of gives her performance an exciting spin. Even though Henrietta wasn’t that special as a character, Ayahi Takabaki manages to pull off the mature woman voice well and gives her voice some new territory for her to explore for her vocal talents rather than a more boyish female character. Takuma Terashima proves himself worthy of being the main protagonist of a show, and I hope to see him do more shortly. Not to mention, I could listen to Jouji Nakata say anything with the word “nyaa” at the end of his sentences and never get tired of it. For some of us fans of the MMO genre, Log Horizon should be the one show to be doing it right, and while it handles the actual MMO aspects brilliantly, the real narrative and storytelling sets itself down from being great. I appreciate the amount of depth it tries to convey that wants us to feel attached to the world, yet I can’t help but wonder if that could’ve been done to better effect had it made the narrative more tightly constructive and less cluttered. The saying, “Too many cooks spoil the broth,” sums up Log Horizon perfectly. Only when the eventual sequel comes out will we know if the journey will be worthwhile enough to experience its next climax. Grade: B-

There are certain degrees to which MMROPG series are adapted these days. While not an original concept, Log Horizon has been unanimously compared to another popular series known as Sword Art Online. It’s almost unavoidable considering both series are based off a light novel and relates to character in an MMORPG setting – an open world based off a video game. But really, that’s all there is to it and the similarities ends there. Log Horizon isn’t a rip off of SAO, .//hack franchise, or anything else relating to the MMOROPG theme. It’s a show that shines in its own way that makes its pointin the horizons. Log Horizon is an anime adapted series based off the light novel of the same name written by Mamare Touno. The setting takes place in a virtual world known as ‘Elder Tale’. Log Horizon follows the story of a young man known as Shiroe who has earned a reputation in the community. His nickname “Shiroe the Strategist” fits his title exactly as such because of his analytical skills and abilities of intellect. Together with his companions, they take on this world that blurs between the lines of fiction and reality. As a MMORPG series, Log Horizon adapts many of its concepts relating to the fantasy realm. Nothing in Elder Tale is real but they have their own mechanics. These include but is not limited to various classes players can adapt their roles in, monster categories, economic/politic aesthetics, and world concepts. In fact, the world that Log Horizon is based on is colored with all sorts of fantasy attributes; goblins, murlocs, gryphons to just name a few. More importantly is the fact that the world itself also has its own rules such as penalties, death/respawns, pking, etc. On many chances, Log Horizon follows a suit of narrative through which mechanics are explained thoroughly to give viewers insights. These narratives often goes over background information and how exactly certain notions function. Log Horizon presents this flawlessly because it both tell and shows its mechanics firsthand. It brings out its best when the show follows the concepts of actual MMORPG mechanics. As a former MMORPG player, I am pleased to see this such concepts being explored. More so, Log Horizon also focuses on world building with its construction of its fictional universe. It aims to inform, presents it, and delivers. Series based off of MMORPG often incorporates a large cast of characters. Log Horizon is no stranger to a large cast. Most prominently however are our main protagonists of the guild – Log Horizon. Shiroe, Naotsugu, Akatsuki, Nyanta, Minori, Tohya, and Isuzu makes up this group of players and together stands as a unity to face their world. Even from the first episode, there’s a sudden degree of chemistry between each member that can attract viewers to see how it develops. On a technical level, each character has their own personalities and more importantly, a class and level. This is important as each class has a skill of its own as well as a sub-class that is imperative for a guild to survive. For example, Akatsuki’s class is ‘assassin’ with a sub-class of ‘tracker’. Both of these functions well in stealth missions where infiltration and gathering information is significant to ensure a guild’s success. Log Horizon demonstrates this well on various degrees by testing the limits of these classes for both its advantages and flaws. The series functions well in terms of storytelling on most parts. Every episode offers something new to the audience with its game mechanics whether it’s combat, politics, or even culinary. While the series does have its concept of survival, it doesn’t just focus on that exclusively. Rather, its formula consists of various degrees of concepts that connects the story as a whole. It focuses on an internal level of struggle and warfare that sets Log Horizon as a unique series. Furthermore, it also engineers the overall theme of the plot and doesn’t go overboard with its comedy, drama, or even romance. Of course, there is also action offered which brings the show to life with its sequences. What makes it more entertaining and attractive is the way characters engage in combat with their skills based off their classes. Even players in a party such as healers play prominent roles and no one is left in the dust. There is also no player that plays the role of an overpowered protagonist or break through impossible circumstances through deus ex machina. The concepts and mechanics are explained beforehand and applies when the time calls for it. Even though Log Horizon is the main guild that is explored throughout the series, it doesn’t just focus on them. Supporting characters also get their spotlights with their own classes, levels, and secrets. There’s a degree of connection that the audience can relate to. There’s no random fan service or the typical cliche of the accidental bath walk-ins that sets no relations. As a fan of MMORPG games, I appreciate its presentation that focuses supporting characters and not just its core players. Even NPCs (non-playable player) gets its exploration that is intuitive. And as a MMORPG based off setting world, it doesn’t forget to add the idea of PKers – player killers. It’s a common sight to see and offers a threat for players to face beyond just the world and its creatures. As fantastic as it sounds, Log Horizon is by no means a perfect series. Fantasy wise, the world of Elder Tale adapts itself well but hard to take it at heart. It quirks into silliness with its high dosage of comedy that makes it hard to take the show seriously on occasions. Demonstrated by its cartoonish designs, most of the characters lacks any features of impressive design. Akatsuki is also advertised as a young girl with a cute face but dangerous nature which is ironic since her age contrasts greatly with her appearance. Her devotion to Shiroe, or rather in her words “protecting her lord” can get repetitive and lacks substance. Essentially, Akatsuki suffers from developments and characterization. And from some flashbacks are shown, most of the main characters’ backgrounds are only briefly touched and vaguely touched upon. It leaves viewers in the dark as to how our characters became the players are they are in Log Horizon. Finally, the connection between the players in the game and their real life counterparts is completely omitted leaving viewers in the dark on their origins. Despite some of these drawbacks, Log Horizon still offers impressive features to take notice of. From minute one, the show focuses on its theme and doesn’t venture far off of it. The world of Elder Tale also presents location that is credible such as the natural mountains, the ruined cities (that resembles past civilization), fresh breathing beaches, and dampening caverns. There’s a sense of reality that the audience might relate to if they have played MMORPG games in the past. It adapts itself based on these themes where Log Horizon and should be endeared. The artwork of Log Horizon strikes as a make or break situation. By credibility, it works out very well with adapting its fantasy style of Elder Tale. Satelite studios previously were involved with other fantasy series such as Guin Saga, Arata Kangatari, and Fairy Tail. Here, they make the show believable with its artwork designs at the surface level. On other hand, character designs sometimes becomes distracting and hard to take seriously with their designs. Akatsuki is perhaps the character that stands out the most with her appearance as an assassin but nothing else strikes more than her as that. This same applies to Shiroe with his geeky like appearance that acts as the brainiac of the group. They just seems to be there with its blend background. However, Nyanta is one character to take notice of because of its feline features that really defines the fantasy atmosphere to what Log Horizon is. Soundtrack wise, Log Horizon strikes as an outstanding feature. Beginning with the OP song, the show defines itself with the theme of “Database” that blurs between lines of fiction and reality. Most characters’ voices fits their roles well with some that defines their characters more than others such as Nyanta. The OST also performs at a level that matches scenes whether it strikes as important, emotional, cinematic, or comical. The ED song also reflects a more innocent theme with Akatsuki as its main mascot. As a former MMORPG player, I appreciate the way Log Horizon presented itself. Rather than just going with a concept of the typical virtual war trope or saving the world, Log Horizon sets its basis on a foundation of mechanics that is presented in an exquisite way. Not only is it accurate to the basis of an MMORPG setting but the characters themselves drives the story with their adequate roles. Log Horizon also likes to focus on various degrees of politics and economics to explore its insight on a more intellectual level. It also adapts world building concepts that becomes a focus to drive the story forward. It explores territory an MMORPG exactly as it should be and doesn’t lose track. On some technical note, it can take some time to get used to the artwork. Comedy can also strike as a hit or miss depending on your preferences. Still, the end game is that Log Horizon is an unique series. It’s not a clone of Sword Art Online or does it leave audience confused. In fact, you’ll likely be forming your own theories as each episode progresses relating to its world and characters. It’s appreciable that Log Horizon can adapts so many concepts into the show as an industrial revolution of success.

Log Horizon is the newest "stuck in a video game world" anime. Many people claimed before it began that it would be just like the extremely popular and hyped up "Sword Art Online." However, the first episode is enough to dispel any kind of belief that these two shows have anything in common. Take away the video-game-style fantasy setting, and comparing these two shows is like comparing an action/romance anime to a slice of life anime. Log Horizon follows more of the slice of life route taking a laid-back and slower pace than many other fantasy anime where people are fighting for survival. In the beginning,the players of a video game called "Elder Tale" are transported into the game world when a new expansion is released. While surprised and worried at first, they cope with this major problem and decide to adjust to their world rather than try to find the exit immediately. Since people do not actually die when they are killed, there's really not much to worry about. The only main problem is that food and water have no taste, that fighting in the actual world is vastly different from fighting from behind a computer screen, and that some guilds are now taking advantage of new players caught up in the confusion. Our main protagonist, Shiroe, is a genius strategist and is at the highest possible level in Elder Tale (as are many elite players). Along with the perverted tank (a person in an RPG who takes hits and protects his allies) Naotsugu and the female assassin Akatsuki, they begin to unravel the mysteries of this world and discover what has changed now in Elder Tale. From saving friends to making hamburgers to protecting entire villages from being pillaged, they are experiencing a whole new world than the one they became so accustomed to playing. But, in my opinion, it's just kind of boring. The story's slow pacing drags on parts I wish had not lasted so long, the characters hardly develop at all aside from a group of novice players, and the show ends announcing a season 2 after an anticlimactic finale. Before I say any more negatives, I should highlight on one aspect this show does well: the NPCs (non-playable characters). This refers to the people known as "People of the Land" in the Elder Tales game. The anime does an excellent job of showing the differences between the "adventurers" (people transported into the game world) and the NPCs and how the NPCs are really an entirely different species than the adventurers. This becomes a major plot point in the second half of the series, which was very nice even though that part did drag a little. It's just something I've never seen done before, nor have I ever really considered before (aside from wondering why people in Pokemon and other games never do anything but say one line and stand still their entire lives occasionally giving you random stuff). The character cast is very large, but hardly anyone gets much screen time. Shiroe is about the only character you can expect to see in even two-thirds of the total episodes doing anything remotely important to the plot. Naotsugu is just kind of there doing nothing, Akatsuki occasionally has some cute moments and does a little spying, and Nyanta's just that guy who ends every sentence the same annoying way. I actually found myself enjoying watching the group of novice players learning to fight together better than I enjoyed watching the main characters and other experienced supporting characters. Aside from Shiroe's planning, the main cast offers hardly anything of interest. The animation is noticeably cheap. Some scenes look great while others are just a mess. The character designs are especially poorly animated most of the time as the animators seemed to prefer to save their budget for the scenes that emphasize the beauty of the fantasy game world instead. Even without the poor animation, I did not care much for the character designs. The facial designs were too sharp with shadows sharply defining the boundaries between different parts of the face. Some of the outfits were interesting, like Akatsuki's and Shiroe's, but most seemed very boring considering the wide variety that should be offered in an MMORPG. The sound is one of the better aspects of the show. It may not be done by Yuki Kajiura like in SAO, but it still fits the fantasy world very well and especially fits the moments when Shiroe is scheming. It mostly consists of different string instruments and a few rock tracks during the action scenes (though there's not too many of those). I did not enjoy Log Horizon as much as I was expecting. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I still stand by it. It's just an average show in almost every way (except the way it portrays NPCs) and is fairly forgettable. Not as much happens over the course of 25 episodes as you might think would happen and the characters really needed some better development (and no, forcing a small amount of romance with 3 episodes to go is not development).

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