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「その手につかみとれ」 (Sono-te ni Tsukami Tore)
“Grab It In Your Hand”
As the Round Table Conference concludes, our heroes enjoy a brief respite as the next challenge begins heading their way.
Shiroe’s Adventurers of the Round Table
So within the first few minutes of this episode, Satelight made it clear that Shiroe would be victorious. Instead of keeping us in suspense they flashed forward a week to the Mari-nee and Henrietta takoyaki scene, where the lighter atmosphere of Akihabara made it clear that Shiroe had won. And you know what? I liked it. This was no Rinne no Lagrange ep12, where the lead in ruined the moment; no, we all pretty much knew Shiroe would win, it was just how he would do it that I wanted to see. Turns out he had it mostly wrapped up last time.
Money likes to get out there and play, and there’s nothing those in power like less than an idle, restless population. If anything can be said to be why the Round Table Conference was ratified, it’s these two arguments. Shiroe was right of course; PKing and many other problems (crimes, if you will) were occurring because it was so easy to make a living but there was very little to live for. What I especially liked was how this mirrored our own world. Is it any wonder that world leaders prefer their people to be employed and buying a bunch of junk? It keeps them busy and mostly content, which sharply decreases the frequency of government-overthrowing riots. Shiroe was smart enough to realize that people are people no matter what world they’re in, and that they needed laws to create the economy that would give them all a sense of purpose.
We’re Not In Earth-Akihabara Anymore
One of Shiroe’s points is important enough that I’m going to repeat it – they’re not inside Elder Tales. The fact that they can make food and steam engines and other items independent of the game’s command menus proves that though this world is certainly influenced by Elder Tales, it is NOT Elder Tales. That’s important because people will do all sorts of things in a game that they’d never do in a real world, even one that apparently has some game systems imposed on it.
Which is why I can do nothing but cheer for Shiroe demanding that People of the Land get the same rights as adventurers. Not because the People of the Land might go to war with the adventurer invaders – yes, invaders – among their midst, but because it’s the right thing to do. What struck me as funny was how it takes something like this, a human rights situation where both sides are actually understandable, to give a dual-sided view of issues like racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry.
Stay with me here. Maybe this is just me, but I have trouble understanding a bigot’s point of view. (I have a feeling that’s not just me.) While a few generations ago certain kinds of bigotry were widespread and even respectable, now I find it extremely hard to in any way empathize with someone who says a certain race, sex, or creed is somehow less. Yet here we have a situation that does exactly that to a degree. In a video game, would you not treat NPCs differently than players? Of course you would, they’re just a bunch of zeroes and ones! So the viewpoint that NPCs are less deserving of rights than players is understandable, even reasonable…up until you realize that this isn’t a game anymore, and the rules have changed. Adventurers may be stronger, faster, healthier, more intelligent, better dressed, and incapable of dying, but that doesn’t make them better. It just means they can lift more weight, run more quickly, don’t get sick as much, know more thanks to their Earth educations, get to wear cool-looking armor, and don’t have to fear death, and that’s not the same.
More Than Meets The Eye
It was a great moment when the guilds all agreed to join the Round Table Conference. The merchant guilds were no surprise – after all, businesses like laws that allow them to keep their profits and stimulate an economy where everyone has the money to buy their goods. It was when first D.D.D. and then the Black Sword Knights and the others joined in that I couldn’t help but cheer.
Speaking of the Black Sword Knights, Isaac. One thing Touno-sensei is good at is making characters with more complex motivations and personalities than they otherwise could have had. Isaac could have easily been an uber-intense raiding guild bully, and I’ve met enough of those in my MMORPG days to know it would have been an entirely reasonable thing to be. He’s not though. He’s ornery and contrary and a bit of an ass, but he knows what’s right for them all when he sees it, and he even came to help clean out the new Log Horizon guildhall when he most certainly didn’t have to. Care in the minor characters and antagonists is the sign of a really good writer. Touno-sensei is showing he is one of those.
A Happy Curry Family
Excited Shiroe is so moe!! Seriously, I couldn’t stop laughing at that whole curry bit. That was the celebration, the happy, silly, friendly time that shows just how well these characters get along. Them cleaning up their new guild hall and goofing around with their friends showed how they’re more than just guildmates – they’re a family, and a damn happy one too. And it’s curry night, woo!
And the family has grown. No surprise there once again, no surprise at all, but it was still a wonderful moment when Shiroe welcomed them to the guild. For my money though, it was the flashback to when Shiroe asked Naotsugu and Akatsuki to join the guild he was making that got the most warm and fuzzies. In their replies they revealed that they always considered themselves a guild, they just didn’t have a name yet, not until Shiroe was ready to give them one. Like there was even a snowball’s chance in hell they would say no, silly Shiro-bo.
Looking Ahead – The People of the Land
If I had tried to guess what would happen next, a possible war with the People of the Land wouldn’t have been on the list. I’d like to get a little more MMORPG-style action in here, but seeing Shiroe maneuver the united city of Akihabara so it isn’t overrun by the huge League of Freedom Towns Eastal (ohhh, so close!) should be interesting no matter how it’s done. Bring it on, and swimsuits too? Yatta!
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The Round Table is formed while the People of the Land start spying ahead of a possible war. It’s a happy curry family, yay! #loghorizon 10
Random thoughts:
- Soujirou is so the Round Table’s mascot, isn’t he? Also, kyaa~!
- Bonus: I liked how Shiroe stayed behind the scenes while all the other Round Table members took to the stage. That was a good idea, lest he go around looking like the tyrant he already is.
- Hair up & tight shirt Akatsuki HNG!!
- Looks like Mari-nee wants Shiroe to grow up big and strong like Naotsugu[‘s armor].
- Roundhouse kicks now? I missed this gag so much! Only 10 episodes in and I’m already nostalgic. Well played Log Horizon, well played.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the fantasy novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Don’t reject feedback rashly, Hard fantasy vs soft fantasy, What I’m thankful for, and On writing fast, writing well.
Full-length images: 20, 22, 27.
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At this point, I’m still not sure how I feel about Log Horizon, truth be told. I do enjoy how Shiroe just used a sneaky, underhanded method to bring some organization to Akihabara and now he finally has a guild that he can belong for help and fun (*cough* and curry *cough*). Now that the foundation has been laid out, I can’t wait to go back to the action and see what the world has to offer.
Random observation: Comparing Nazuna from this episode to the manga, I wished they had put more detail because the Nazuna from the manga looks better.
a bit forced on the dramatic scenes, I would say.
I know! I finally felt like I was starting like this show at the end of this story arc! Not sure how I will feel about a Player versus NPC war. Hopefully they will win me over
Still, they are hooking me with this whole MMORPG feeling they have. I think I’m starting to feel it now? Previously, I was just lukewarm towards it. Just hanging on, waiting for it to hit its stride.
Nice to have you back from your whatever Stilts.
For anyone that might have missed it, the author Mamare visited /a/ again and did another Q/A session. http://lh.oksub.me/wiki/Mamare_Touno_Q%26A_2013-12-07
Fair warning there are some spoilers in there but from my memory there wasn’t anything huge mainly just silly questions about future characters.
I read that, and yeah there were a few spoilers. Not anything suuuper big, but there was at least one future character development I wish I hadn’t read. Not that I didn’t see it coming though, lol
And thanks! The vacation was good. Now I can settle back in for a few days…before I head off to my next vacation! December is fun ^_^
It didn’t mean in the literal sense by the way. It just meant that particular character was the first one to demonstrate how the mechanic worked. (i.e. The Cathedral) You should look up the manga spinoffs. It shows a lot of different POV’s
Having fun with your reviews btw. Touno-sensei’s incorporation of Economics and Political Science into his work really is a big hook.
I was referring to Show Spoiler ▼
And thanks! I’ve been enjoying writing for you all, so glad you’re enjoying reading them ^^
There was a scene at volume 5, chapter 3, part 2 where:
Show Spoiler ▼
You have to love some of those silly questions:
>>Mamare-sensei, serious Why do Shiroe, Krusty and Henrietta adjust their glasses so much? Are the glasses buggy?
Really? C’mon people. Us glasses wearers advertently & inadvertently adjust our glasses so often that it becomes like blinking. Of course, gestures like Shiroe involve tons of practice – especially in the right lighting environment.
When I’m driving my motorcycle and riding my bicycle, my shades sometimes slips a bit from looking down at the side mirror, left and right. So, I have to adjust it from time to time.
Actually, it might not be that silly after all. Now that I think about it, our glasses don’t really have any complex mechanisms; however, we seem to adjust them more than… I don’t know, everything else in the world?
Well, I’d say it’s more of a habit. It’s something on our face. Adjusting it can be considered a way to feel more comfortable (it does relief the ears and nose bridge for a moment specially if the glasses are heavy :p). Hence it’s a convenient excuse for a pause :p.
Yay! My favourite character appeared :p!
Loved this episode. Many fun moments. Next episode should be fun as well :D.
Woo beach episode… but most of em are loli >.>
Finally..the 2nd arc
I really do like Shiroe. He’s like my ideal kind of protagonist, cunning, manipulative and a little bit ruthless but ultimately puts others above himself. And though he technically owns Akihabara now, he prefers to remain low-key. Its no wonder that the twins want to be under his wing, if I were ever trapped in an MMO I would gladly follow him to the death.
And I really like the small nuggets of characterization. It makes the world feel more alive. I easily dismissed Isaac a jerk and a bully an episode before, but it turns out he’s just a tsundere. He even cleaned out Shiro’s pad after all with cosplaying summons, how sweet was that?
I completely understand though how Log Horizon went ballistic over Nyanta’s curry. I LOVE curry. Mostly Indian curry but Japanese curry is great too. And curry made by Nakata Jouji is even better.
The characters here are well developed. Shiroe as a Main Character is refreshing for a change. He’s really cunning and fits the description of brains over brawn really well unlike most other MCs that would act before they think who would justify it by saying that it is the right thing to do. His patience from saving Tohru and Minori is a proof that he’d rather play it safe.
He’s really kind but also evil to the core which is for the better. He’s not some overly righteous person who’d forgive anyone like they’ve never done anything evil. He’s not someone who is separated by the words GOOD and EVIL, but rather he’s both GOOD and EVIL. His kindness saved the newbies from Hamelin and his wrath exiled Hemelin guild members from the city without anywhere else to go. He is as human as he can be, not some overly righteous and perfect MC or an irritatingly weak and useless MC like we’re all used to see these days.
Maybe it’s just me, but that scene at the end of the conference where all the leaders stood up around Shiroe and he was just sitting down with his back turned… I just have this image that he’s straight up rocking the Gendo Pose right then, with the steepling and glinting glasses. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go insane and shoot for Instrumentality or something.
sure, it’s not a game anymore, the rules have been changed, adventurer aren’t necessarily better than than NPC. but let’s face the truth: most likely, even after the round table, adventurers will keep perceiving NPCs as a mere of data. they won’t see them as entities. as “equals”. especially if things gonna get complicated (
this means war?)now the interesting question is how they’ll be able to interact. and it sure is intriguing seeing the NPC forming some sort of organized society (even hierarchy), even sending some “spies” and so. I recall some feelings of “Artificial intelligence” the movie (THO I believe they won’t go that far) and even the famous book/films “I, robot”. so I wonder how much it’s going to get complicated and be developed from the NPC and the adventurer perspective.
well, for now let Shiroe, log-horizon and Akihabara enjoy the fruits they achieved so far. they deserve it. knowing Shiroe, he must have a plan for some dozens scenarios or something.
random thoughts:
1. Akatsuki in Kimono? oh good god (: what’s next?a swimsuit? 😛
2. only I feel sorry for Serara?she keep thinking of Nyanta. but it would be too bizarre to leave Cresent Moon for log-horizon. poor girl…
3. a giant sequoia tree in the middle of the guild building?seriously Shiroe, with all those brilliant plans you couldn’t get rid of that?or it supposed to serve punching bag for Akatsuki? 😛
4. I really liked those statues in the background of the guild hall. it reflect the meaning of the guild hall and the round table. I guess it’s not the first time we gonna see it.
That statues have a historical reason, these are the “scrapped princess”. Soon we will know their importance.
Holy shit, you’re right, those really might be the “scrapped princesses”, it never occurs to me until now.
I’m sure some people will continue to think of them as such, just as some people continue to be bigots in the real world. What matters is the preponderance of the adventurer population and the laws they adopt. When those move and more people interact with the People of the Land, most adventurers will realize they’re people worthy of respect and basic rights as well.
I don’t think the people of the land are so much creating a society but actually becoming “living” inhabitants of the existing one.
Think of it this way: in pretty much all of these games there’s a ruling class of some sort backed by retainers and an army and they follow the script of “lo, hero, help us with this task”. What happens if you suddenly free them from the script, give them independent wills, and then present them with a group of incredibly powerful people unifying under separate rule, developing advanced technology they don’t have, and establishing a form of government in direct opposition to the style they represent?
Many a war has started over far more petty threats to power than those three. It’ll be interesting to see if they go there and how Shiroe navigates that.
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
Just like Touno-sensei said during his recent /a/ visit: Next week’s a beach episode, yay!
So Shiroe finally put his plans into action and Akihabara players had finally realized they’re not on Earth anymore. I like the things implied by that fact and I got plenty of things to think about because of it.
Well that’s that for this arc. New arc is up by the next episode.
Log Horizon really has grown to be one of my more highly-regarded shows in this mediocre anime season, and this episode once again reminded me why. A good amount of worldbuilding, interesting, multifaceted characters that grow on you and intelligent writing make for a show that I gladly tune into every week. That scene in the guild hall especially made me realize how well the characters work together.
Interested to see where the show goes now, anyway. Because despite their best efforts, I think a confrontation between the former ‘welcome to corneria’ people and the unruly players is inevitable. Looking at the OP, though, I’m guessing the princess will join his side, at least.
I eagerly await the moment when someone throws the idea of RAILROAD to replace off-line city linking gates…
The series, while very different in both idea and execution to Outbreak Company, is a study of modern humans interacting with fantasy world. And both series while differing in almost everything, seek deeper meaning and answers to underlying questions. And this is about the best we can expect of SF/fantasy crossover!
If you find modern vs fantasy stuff intriguing try to seek out “Gate – Thus the JSDF Fought There!”
Gate is novel/manga about how Japan going to war with a fantasy-themed empire from the B.C. eras. Where the JSDF has to deal with the fantasy world, various major powers of earth & even the Japanese themselves. Pretty awesome, sadly still no anime in sight.
Definitely interested! Does Baka-tsuki or anywhere else have a translaation project?
Ahh, sigh, Baka-tsuki does have a novel translation project for it. Its just that no one doing it right now. The novel originally have 10 volumes, but the 2nd publishing of it combined them into 5 volumes. Some Chinese translator did translate almost all of volume 1 though.
The manga are now around 30 chapters, covering around the 2nd volume of the novel.
Show Spoiler ▼
Sadly, the manga is monthly on every 30th. So seriously, this series is going to take a looonng time to finish unless they translate the dang novel.
I think you’re mixed up about something here. Gate is a 5 volume long actual novel series. Later they started releasing a manga adaptation for free on their site. Then came a light novel adaptation which has been adapting each of the novels into two light novels I believe it is. There are also side story novels written after but the main story is just the 5 novels.
Rather than a sci-fi/fantasy crossover, I would refer to this as hard fantasy. Sure it may spring from technology, but almost none of that shows up in the day-to-day life of the anime, so it’s more direct fantasy to me. It’s not a stark line though.
Or you can see it as a blurring between the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres. What you call Hard Fantasy is more like Sci-Fi in a Fantasy setting. Similar to how things like Star Wars is more like Fantasy in a Sci-Fi setting with technology acting more like magic and being unexplained.
True, but that’s a more complex and hard-to-use-in-conversation idea than the one I purport. It largely gets the idea across, though : )
issue with Railroad would be zones it would go through would be populated with monsters. Not safe at all.
2 words:
Armored Train
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_train
steampunk FTW!
what are you going to do about the tracks when the monster tear them up.
It would be safer and faster to go by Water or if possible by air.
Given that all of the player cities are on or very near the ocean (since they’re set in Japanese cities, which are usually ports) water seems like a great way to get between them. It’s funny that the game Elder Tales doesn’t seem to have had boats.
I hope they’ll mention some form of public transit soon, whether boats or airships or trains. That would be awesome.
Airships seem more plausible. Hot air balloons shouldn’t be too hard, and using magic to help navigate should be possible with a lot of practice :p.
@x: I am in no way trying to argue or disagree with what you just said, really. I just wanted to comment that I find it hilarious that fantasy logic makes something insane like airships more plausible than building a boat.
That is all.
Both airships and steamboats are possible but I think roaming wyvern or dragon would be an immense threat to an airship while steamboat can easily be armored and armed with large caliber guns (with steam engine done there is not much in the way of gunpowder).
Anyway, all of those steampunk machines can easily become very powerful asset if Akihabara comes to blows with “People of the land”, and as easily become a powerful economic assets if the more peaceful trading and cooperation route is taken.
And then it turns into Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.
I have no idea why I like this series as much as I do. I tend to hate all “game-world” type anime – Sword Art, Hack/Sign, etc – but this one has a certain simplistic charm about it. That and Akatsuki.
I don’t know about you, but for me the reasons I like this series more then Sword Art & Hack/Sign are –
1. Its smart, the MC actually provide solutions to problems that make sense. & when they win fights they win because they’re smarter or stronger, not because of plot armor. Moreover, every little bit of info the show provides will always somehow matters later.
2. It actually felt like a game, a MMORPG to be exact. Those parts that felt like tutorials for the game that some people hated? I love them.
3. It’s easy to watch, there’s no horrible tragedy, heart breaking drama, & especially not the so-forced-its-awkward kinds. There’s tragedy & drama yes, but nothing unbearable or stupid like in SAO.
& before anyone ask me, I watched SAO until the part that Show Spoiler ▼
Ya that’s too much for me. Its just too impossible & horrible for me that people can get that insane & murderous for almost no good reason.
Bit of an aside to explain my comment: I’m a space nut; I studied space studies in university.
I like the show for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is the world-building that’s being done. I know a lot of people have complained a lot that they never talk about going home, but honestly I like it.
I think the ‘trapped in a game’ thing is almost a cheat to let the writer tell a kind of ‘colony building’ story. And I am okay with that. I love that stuff.
Also, to LGM: I semi-agree about SAO, but I would like to say one thing. It’s made fairly clear in SAO that PKing is very rare and the one time it got really out of hand, the rest of the players banded together and put an end to it. So it IS fairly realistic. It’s not that everyone goes crazy, it’s that a small number went crazy. And that’s how humans work.
If anything there’s more PKing in the Log Horizon situation as far as we can tell, but it’s mostly because they know that the people don’t die. Very different thing.
Point no.3 is probably my main reason. Like you said, it’s easy to watch. No melodrama, no angst (so far), no characters doing thing that make you facepalm or wince. It’s just something you can sit back and watch without losing any HP, so to speak.
So let me get this straight, you dropped SAO because you found it unbelievable that after a year in a death trap a handful of people would be murderous enough to kill, and find loopholes to do so in situations they normally couldn’t.
But for Log Horizon you find it perfectly normal that by day two of being dropped into the world of Elder Tales, scores of people went from law abiding citizens to slavers, rapists, and sadistic killers. All without any of them sparing any concern for figuring out what happened, despite having a glaring clue, namely that the change happened the moment the latest expansion went live on the first server.
Is that about correct?
In a war the Adventurers won´t have the upper hand like Issac might belive, they have numbers and motivation to stand up against the invaders. There also the fact that the new residents of this world know next to nothing about, their culture, skills and rulling body, for all they know they might even be able to use some type of magic simillar to that of the Adventurers.
The fact you cannot die don´t make an army invencible, it just means a clever guy can kick your ass as many times he wants.
Ho ho, if you’re a anime-only fan then congrats, you just notice something important that the anime purposely “forget” to mention.
“…for all they know they might even be able to use some type of magic simillar to that of the Adventurers.”
Here is some mild spoilers:
Show Spoiler ▼
So yeah, not as one-sided as you would have expected.
You´re correct LGM-san, I haven´t read the novels but I plan to do it as soon as I find a englist transltion. Thanks for the clarification, I figured the home team must have or two aces under their sleeves.
In regards to Sword Art Online you’re just a tiny bit confused on that point. Try watching finishing that story arc. It’s actually quite brilliant and has an unexpected twist. To be blunt; you’re spoiler tag is completely incorrect (no offense)
baka tsuki has volumes 2, 3, and 4 fully translated and a little over half of vol 5. this episode was the end of volume 2, next episode is the start of vol 3.
A war between the adventurers and landers would be seriously one-sided. It wouldn’t even be close. You’re talking about an army of superhuman immortals here. These guys are stronger and faster than most lander soldiers, and with a lot more combat experience if you think about it. Guarding towns and cities is a very different thing than actively going out into the wilderness and fighting monsters.
The number difference between the standing armies really doesn’t matter in this setting because of the fact that adventurers resurrect. Sure, if a sizable group of adventurers gets surrounded by an army of landers they’ll probably die, but you can bet there would be a lot of casualties on the lander side as well. On the other hand, in a few hours the adventurers would be all ready to fight again, while the lander army would be decimated just after a few such battles.
Lastly, don’t forget the voice chat features that all adventurers have. You are seriously underestimating how powerful a realtime command and control system is in a battle, especially if it’s down to the squad level.
@hx37
While I agree with you completely that the Players have tremendous advantages over the People of the Land (“POTL”) such as HL skills, instant, real-time communication (something which definitely should not be overlooked), and “immortality”, I don’t think it would be as one sided as you suggest. Sure, a 1:1 ratio battle is a joke. Players wouldn’t break a sweat. 10:1 – perhaps a bit challenging, even dangerous for low-mid level players, but still manageable. But what about battles with ratios of 100:1, 500:1, or more?
In terms of combat, the People of the Land (“POTL”) is essentially a collection of giant mobs scattered about here and there. And just like any other RPG mob, with enough numbers even low level “cannon fodder” types can be dangerous to Players of any level. IIRC Shiroe said something about that same concept during the “ratman” fights. If the population of the POTL is in the millions rather than thousands, that’s one hell of a mob.
IMO, Players face some other potential problems as well under that scenario. One is Player unity. Sure Akihabara is fairly united after Shiroe was able to “convince” (threaten LOL) the major guilds to form the Round Table Council, but at least in a couple other towns, the resident Players are far from united. Disagreements among groups/guilds/cities are counterproductive, and potentially damaging to the overall cause.
In fact, I can easily envision PKing during battles. Not only is there mass confusion (“Oops, my sword just happened to stab you in the back… eight times. Sorry about that~ *rapidly stuffs killed player’s items into bag of holding*), but Players will be weakened after constant combat. If not during battles, then certainly after them. Even “almighty” level 90 Players won’t be nearly as strong after being mobbed repeatedly. Here’s a chance for an unscrupulous player to PK a Player they normally would not be able to defeat and grab some very choice items.
Of course the same goes for untimely ambush by some monster(s). Normally, no problem, but since you just spent hours on the battlefield… Sure you’ll just re-spawn in the chapel, and you can gain back any lost XP. Perhaps you won’t even lose any items. However, AFAIK, Players do feel pain, and losing your head again – literally, can’t be good for your mental well-being. There’s a mental aspect as well as physical in all of this.
I’m not suggesting in any way that the Players are the underdog in a war against the POTL. I just don’t think it is an easy victory and thus a minor threat. Even if victory is assured, IMO Players stand to gain much less from a war against the POTL compared to what they would gain from a peaceful, mutually beneficial relationship.
I actually don’t disagree with you in terms of how stupid a war between the POTL and adventurers would be. A peaceful coexistence would be beneficial to both sides and should be a top priority of the Round Table Council.
My response to your points, (which are valid), would be that I never envisioned an all out war with EVERY POTL out there. If my memory serves Japan is divided into 4 nations in this setting, and you can bet they are not all singing kumbaya together. So realistically the adventurers of Akiba just have to deal with that league of free cities which just showed up this episode. Considering that Akiba holds half the population of all adventurers in Japan, and the other side is (maybe?) only a quarter, that evens out the numbers difference quite a bit.
Lastly, the POTL are now established as real people, which means that you can count about 40-60% of the population out from any sort of combat. Women, children, and the elderly usually make up about that portion of any population. While you can arm them and send them out to die, I’m pretty sure even a goblin could slaughter a squad of these people in a couple of minutes.
Do we know for sure that the People of the Land don’t revive at all? Usually an NPC will just reappear after a certain amount of time. Has this changed now that they’re real people? Maybe nobody noticed since they don’t pay much attention to them.
Even if they don’t – the OP shows huge swarms of monsters…they sit around in various level zones right now, but could they be controlled in some way?
Re=Gun the Scholar will explain that in the current Eastals arc. Who “revives” and who does not. And the statue thing in the RTC (Round Table Council). He will probably appear next week or next two weeks.
Ruddie or Rundlehaus Code died in the OP Song. Isuzu was with him and crying/shouting.
Show Spoiler ▼
There’s 1m People of the Land in Japan. That’s probably 400k or so under the League. Take half and another half and we’re at 100k possible combatants, vs 15k Adventurers in Akiba. The Adventurers would win.
Ungas123: You’re really letting your spoilers get a bit too specific in general. Pretty much your whole post should be in tags, not just the last part (which I didn’t read).
As for the war as a whole, it’s an interesting situation. First off, there are some important facts we don’t have. For one, we know there are 15K players in Akiba city, but how many of them are level 90? Because players like Minori and Tohya aren’t going to be able to fight hundreds of Landers alone and if there are more like them than the adventurers are kind of screwed.
Beyond that, I like the war arc idea. Because like a lot of things in this show, it’s not really anyone’s fault. The players didn’t KNOW that the Landers were ‘real’ now. They rightly assumed they were dumb code. That doesn’t excuse enslaving/raping/hurting them, since even if they are code that’s crazy (like kids that torture animals or something) but still. And the landers quite rightly just thing some adventurers are flipping crazy for treating them like dirt. It’s just a well-done situation.
Did not expect the People of the Land to become an antagonist, but it does offer some opportunities. Being in a world influenced by Elder’s World rather than Elder’s World itself implies that either a) Shiroe and friends are being tested for some reason by others with a measure of control over “reality” or b) Elder’s World revised is literally now “the world”, only with those who were originally logged in Elder’s World players being kept around by God or the Alien Space Bats who made it so.
Log Horizon is now starting to remind me of S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire series and Island in the Sea of Time trilogy, especially in the world building. We don’t know how much has changed or stayed the same, thus the initial phase will be discovery. Since a steam engine was so quickly developed, how long before gunpowder and combustion engines become reality? How long before boats can be built, railways constructed, and not only the other parts of the Japanese server being connected but the OTHER servers as well? How will government be handled, city (states) be represented, war handled? How will economics transform with the guild bank limited in its deposit capabilities? And most importantly what happens when you die outside of the game mechanics? There are some big things out there left unanswered now that technology as we know it is possible, and as Shiroe has mentioned ethics is suddenly going to become VERY important.
Now time to go back to playing some Europa Universalis, all this world building has made me envious.
@Stilts: I’d like to get a little more MMORPG-style action in here, but seeing Shiroe maneuver the united city of Akihabara so it isn’t overrun by the huge League of Freedom Towns Eastal (ohhh, so close!) should be interesting no matter how it’s done.
To each his/her own. Personally, this is exactly why recently I’m enjoying the show more. I can understand why hard-core MMORPG fans would agree with your comment, but IMO the author’s decision to go this route makes for a better, more unique story in the long run. It also gives the series greater appeal outside of the core audience. JMO, but 18/24 EPs worth of dungeon crawl/raid isn’t all that appealing. At some point, I might as well play WOW or Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (the latter is quite tempting).
I finally broke down and read the LN a couple of weeks ago because I was curious about this exact issue. Which direction was the story headed? FWIW, I definitely recommend the LN to anyone who likes the show though obviously they should delay reading until after the show is over unless one don’t mind being spoiled (or has more discipline than me and can stop when you catch up to the show LOL). Anyway, my point is that even though I’m “spoiled” in terms of the anime, reading the LN actually made me enjoy the show more. A primary reason for that is because rather than become (remain?) strictly MMORPG centric, the MMORPG elements are balanced and integrated into a broader story.
Having the “People of the Land” turn out to be “human” rather than some rigid, unthinking/scripted entity fits in nicely with the theme that the situation is NOT exactly the same as a game. The players can’t just rampage around doing whatever they want without repercussion. This plot line also allows for additional and more unpredictable developments compared to just continuous dungeon crawl/raid. Finally, at least for me, it makes the world seem more realistic, and that in turn makes it easier for me to become immersed in the story.
tl:dr = I like where the story is headed, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the next episode.
You misunderstand; I’d like to see more of both, not see the kind of events you favor supplanted by episode after episode of dungeon crawling. I’ll be thoroughly happy if it stays as is though, because you’re absolutely right, it makes for a more unique and interesting story in the long run.
Plus stories like this are Touno-sensei’s strength, whereas I’m not sure battles would suit him as well. Better to stick with what he can do better than most anyone else rather than venture heavily into the well-charted territory of continuous MMORPG combat.
Well, good news then, you’re going to get little more of both. A bit of spoilers here:
Show Spoiler ▼
Looks like there is new term for family in the world of Elder Tails, it’s called Guild
Every player have been lost in a foreign land when the Apocalypse happen. They’re separated from their real life family. They have no clue how to go back home. They don’t know how long they will be in the game.
Some people could live alone. Mind their own business. Going solo for everything. But eventually, their inner self will tell them that they need someone by their side. Someone that they could protect. Someone that will protect them. They need a family.
So excited for next arc!! Ruddie and Slacker Princess already make their entrance into this episode too!
Lol’d hard at this!
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
Please,for God’s sake,don’t end it at the 13th EP! > <
No worries, this show is 2-cour. We still have 15 more episodes to go.
Wait… So Shiroe’s answer to the adventurers’ lack of purpose is to introduce a consumption-based economy so that they can buy things with their gold?? 😀
Well, what works, works. Satisfaction of Gluttony does helps in giving purposes to most people. & if that not enough, starting a business at the very least would pass the time.
Like what a certain shopkeeper always said; Capitalism Ho!
OK, you know what? This whole adventurers vs people of the land comments is getting quite out of hand, so SPOILERS!
Show Spoiler ▼
OK, those aren’t spoilers per se, they more like points of reasons why war is unlikely. But since those reasons came from me who seen the novels so spoiler tag just in case.
Logs of Haremzone soon, no?
And while I don’t want to argue about the proper way to treat former NPC’s until we get to know more about them, arguments like “adventurers are superior in every aspect, but they’re no better” don’t hold much weight. What makes one species better than the other then? To what extent NPC’s are sentient? Is the gap between them and adventurers smaller than that between humans and monkeys/dolphins? I can guess what kind of answer lies ahead, but at the moment it’s more about problems the mistreatment of NPC’s might cause than anything else.
1. No Haremzone. That I can assure you.
2. Show Spoiler ▼
1. That’s good to hear, I don’t think I would be happy to see Shiroe being as dense as Naotsugu’s armor.
2. Practical relationship based on give and take approach makes sense and is a development that’s easy to buy. The notion of equality between species with fundamentally different abilities backed by..pretty much nothing that Stilts was selling… No, just no.
@Conrad
Well, many of the males in this story tend to appear to be at least a bit dense in that department, even if it never pushes it to the extreme like in some other animes this season :p. Show Spoiler ▼
This episode gave me a whole lot of good feelings. Watching family do family things on top of evil villains playing the role of hero is pushing all of the right buttons with me. I have a feeling a certain druid/housewife will be joining the ranks of Log Horizen very soon.
Most of the main members of Log Horizon are shown in the OP, and from those shown there are still two more characters yet to join the guild.
Excellent transitional episode, they handled the aftermath of the round-table meeting really well with that time-skip and then they setup the stage for the next arc of the story where things are IMO going to get pretty serious and darker with the People of the Land showing they are actually way more than mindless NPCs (particularly a certain scene in the OP seems kinda strange, with one female character crying over the dead body of another male character -particularly the lv.20 blonde guy who showed up this ep – so are dying rules going to change or what ?, it’s quite a peculiar scene, it could be meant for dramatic effect but who knows).
Either way, Log Horizon is really becoming better and better with every episode and i’m enjoying it now more than i did SAO or Hack series, hope it keeps this quality till the end and not screw things up like SAO.
I also have to point two things i really liked, i really loved the scene with all the guild leaders agreeing to join the round table, it was really very well done and had a nice pay-off of all the planning the MC did in all the past episodes, also how the MC moved to the side-lines after the conference was over and let the other handle the public talking, that’s IMO a very smart move on so many levels.
I LOVE CURRY!
… so easy to make a living but there was very little to live for. … Is it any wonder that world leaders prefer their people to be employed and buying a bunch of junk?
Interesting that Shiroe wants to go that way. Then there’s the craft guild with the Newcomen steam engine. Industrial Revolution, dark Satanic mills and all, here we come! I wonder if they’ll build railroads. There are abandoned cars all over the place in Akihabara. Will someone start repairing those?