Log Horizon 2

Episode 1-3

Log Horizon is the steady bet. It's probably not going to wow you - its stories are slow-building, its characters aren't incredibly vivid, and its aesthetics are generally just serviceable. But it also won't disappoint you. It'll keep chugging along, exploring its MMO world and assembling new conflicts, gathering characters all along the way. Log Horizon is in this for the long haul.

These first three episodes haven't been the most exciting, but that's not entirely their own fault. Log Horizon has been busy establishing and reestablishing, demonstrating all the old character dynamics while setting up new conflicts. Season two's first episode was very heavy on the reintroductions, with little vignettes dedicated to showing off all the various character dynamics from last season. Shiroe and the round table, Akatsuki and minori, Rudy and Isuzu, etc - Log Horizon is a packed show, and even if this early material wasn't exactly graceful, it certainly got the establishing job done.

That's actually one of this show's staple techniques - discarding grace in favor of extremely stable foundations. Log Horizon's angle on the “trapped in an MMO” premise is a good one - instead of aping a show like Sword Art Online, which is fairly loose in its worldbuilding, Log Horizon takes the physical mechanics of its world extremely seriously. Worldbuilding is almost the point of Log Horizon - its conflicts generally don't build out of individual character dramas, but instead out of trying to find practical solutions to the problems this world offers, or discover new information about how the world works. In the case of this season, the big problem is “how do we keep funding Akihabara when the banks don't actually work as producers of capital.” It's a clever, well thought-out application of Log Horizon's crossing of MMO practices and real-world necessities, and the solution is equally compelling. In order to control the money flow, Shiroe will attempt to follow the trail back from the monsters that drop gold to whatever underlying system furnishes them with it.

Which brings us to season two's first big conflict - Shiroe and William Massachusetts (A+ naming, Log Horizon) leading a raid group into the heart of their new world. Here again, the conflict is laid out in very clear and direct terms. Just like season one took the time to establish party combat dynamics through minori and her group, season two's third episode was essentially one continuous block of exposition, with Shiroe and his fellow raid members laying out exactly how endgame raid content is approached. It's actually great seeing a show take so much time to ground these videogame conflicts - by actually teaching the audience how these games are played, the viewer gets to legitimately understand the stakes and style of drama presented, and enjoy the “game” as it is meant to be enjoyed.

As a former World of Warcraft veteran, I appreciate that Log Horizon doesn't simply present boss fights as “really tough battles,” and instead correctly explains them as information wars. You will lose and lose badly, but what you gain in each fight is experience - eventually, your knowledge of the boss's options will turn the tide. This most recent episode did a great job on that front, and scenes like the final battle against the giant bird-boss (which was apparently just a reskinned early boss - a very nice touch, that) were a lot of fun. The greater purpose doesn't exactly excuse scenes of characters monologuing exposition of things they all already know to each other, but it's at least not pointless exposition.

Big conflict aside, Log Horizon 2 is generally chugging along in all the ways the original did. Various characters all have their own minor arcs, with some better than others. I like that the show is finally giving Akatsuki something to do, and actually find new character Tetra pretty endearing, but I could take or leave the dramatics of big angry Demi-Demi. New conflicts will rise, I'm sure, and new heroes will emerge. Log Horizon will continue to do what it has always done - be a solid, reliable, never-ostentatious slice of animated entertainment.

Rating: B

Log Horizon 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.