Heaven Society - Week 2 (Log Horizon)

[Fred Castellum]

"tsk" what a bother...fine ill edit

Edit: done >_>

Thank you~

 

Do note the Strategist and the Guardian in the background.

[RainColt]

So i am a few episodes in and I really like it. I expected to be comparing to SAO because it is the only anime that I have seen that did the stuck in a virtual world thing but I can't because SAO and this both share a setting but they take very different approaches to it, i find that I am comparing this not to what SAO is but what it is not. SAO takes a dramatic life or death approach that gives real world cost to the players actions but this deosn't, it is an adventure to be enjoyed, SAO's players are thrown into a strange new world without friends but Log Horizon puts them into a world they know were they can meet up with strangers and only to find established camaraderie, SAO takes an action approach to combat and Log Horizon uses class based combat that gives each character a unique role to play in combat. The characters are not real people but sort of a classic anime cast which I'm not yet tired of, you've got your loner, your pervert, your cute quite small girl, your eccentric and I'm sure they will toss in a few others, I expect not to be surprised by the characters but I will enjoy watching them.

 

I really enjoy the combat in this in comparison to SAO, the combat in this is sort of like a show and tell magic act, they feed you information during the fight about what they are able to do and what limitations they have but they don't tell you flat out what you should be looking for and then after the fact they reveal how it was done, mind you I wont be able to follow the fight in real time because the commands are in Japanese and when they show you them during the combat exposition you cant really gather what you are looking at because it may as well be scribbling but the combat is fun strategy if not complex.

 

Also the ninja girl is adorable and I could just eat her up.

[Fred Castellum]

-snip-

Glad your enjoying the series!

 

I don't know how far you are but when the big battles start its pretty awesome. Coordinated and organized attacks...

[Fred Castellum]

Now for my review~

spoilers ahead~

 

My overall score for the series: 8.9/10 

 

Story: Like most people my initial impression was "is this going to be somewhat of a SAO clone?" and like most people I made the wrong assumptions. I highly enjoyed the series, it's not a action heavy anime but a dialogue heavy anime and its got the dialogue part down pretty darn well, the action though not having a whole lot was done very well and enjoyable to watch. The story starts off with viewers asking a lot of questions about how everyone ended up stuck in a virtual world much like SAO but it doesn't go into detail on how everyone is trapped in such a setting, heck even the players stuck there have no idea. Just about all the players trapped in the virtual world have more or less accepted the fact their trapped and started living their lives there. The anime takes the viewer on a journey full of questions, and it does quite a good job at answering "most" of them. Log Horizon is without doubt a shounen show that does a great job at beating whatever assumptions you've had about the genre, they don't overcome obstacles with the typical "power of friendship" and other crap you'd usually expect from a shounen show, instead they overcome obstacles by using strategy, smart thinking and good group cohesion. The show will have various moments that will get your brain thinking, covering economics, politics and general everyday life basics that are dealt with without a though in the real world. All in all Log Horizon was a truly exciting show to watch and I'm really looking forward to season 2 this fall. 

 

Characters: I really liked how each character had their own defined roles, they each know what they and others are capable of doing and so work together efficiently without overestimating ones own abilities(except for that dog Rundelhaus haha).

 

The main character of the show is Shiroe a college student that's about to graduate and a veteran of the game Log Horizon, he's the leader hidden in the back that's always calling the shots and making quick and decisive decisions, the "Strategist". He's well known due to the fact he use to be the strategist for a famous group of players called the Debauchery Tea Party who are known for beating nigh-impossible quests and raids in the game before everyone got stuck in the virtual world.  

 

Shiroe's good friend Naotsugu is the humorous and reliable character that likes to pop pervy jokes(unfortunately for Akatsuki). He's the only character in the series that has met Shiroe in real life. He knows his way around the game being a former member of the Debauchery Tea Party and sticks with Shiroe throughout the story. 

 

Next up we have Akatsuki who's a character your introduced to very early on the series, she appears as a male ninja that grabs Shiroe's attention in order to buy a gender changing potion after everyone ends up stuck in the MMO game world. She's the loyal, quiet and shortest character out of the group who does cute things unintentionally. She's around the same age as Shiroe and has had a crush on him ever since he helped her out with her "fake gender issue", unfortunately Shiroe isn't the best person around for romance and therefore doesn't know. She follows Shiroe around everywhere acting as his bodyguard and never fails to do what Shiroe asks her to. 

 

While Shiroe is the leader hidden in the back Crusty is the leader out in the front, he's picked to be the representative of the players trapped in the virtual world and does his job well. Being the leader of one of the largest combat guilds he's very skilled in combat and also has situational analyzing abilities similar to Shiroe.

 

Voice: The voice acting for all the characters in the series felt very spot on. Each character had corresponding voice actors who suit their personality well.  

 

Animation: The animation in Log Horizon was good but nothing that will blow you away, the animation quality per scene was gauged well. When something intense or suspenseful was happening the animation was noticeably good. The fight scenes were done very well and I would watch them again just to see the badassery.  

 

Music: As I started hearing the OP song I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it but it grew on me for sure. I found myself listening to the OP song and the ED song on youtube haha.... Overall the music in the anime was good, but it didn't strike me as amazing or incredible. 

 

Conclusion: I definitely enjoyed the series, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. I absolutely loved how they go over the social/political aspects as well as economical impact of things in the anime, it really gives you a firm realistic grip on things in a fantasy world. I'm definitely looking forward to season 2 this fall and will be buying the blu-rays and books when I can. Hopefully Yen-Press will translate the series so we get official english copies~! 

 

More Shiroe and Akatsuki please!

 

Sorry about the large image ^.^