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「イースタルからの招待状」 (Isutaru Kara no Joutaijou)
“An Invitation from Eastal”
A summer training camp means swimsuits and dungeon crawling for the newbies, while a messenger from Eastal leads to Shiroe & co fighting a political skirmish in suits and party dresses.
Marie-nee’s Summer Training Camp
Marie-nee, you’re the best kind of useless! I’m a big fan of relaxation as a way to actually increase productivity, so I for one heartily endorse Shiroe’s summer training camp idea, and not just because it led to swimsuits and hilarity. (Akatsuki wasn’t there and Marie-nee pulled her punches, but it was still funny!). This also promises to lead to a little more proper MMO-style adventuring next week, which like I said last time I’m looking forward to. I truly love the economic and political angles of this show, and I want them to stay in the forefront, but what can I say, I want to see MMORPG mechanics in an anime done right. Soon, soon!
Heading to Eastal
The possibility of war with the People of the Land has been raised, but Shiroe dismissed it as unlikely. The adventurers are (generally) far more powerful than the People of the Land for one, and they also die when they’re killed, unlike adventurers. Shiroe’s point is good though, in that there’s a lot they don’t know about the People of the Land. What if they can level up now? What if there were new NPCs in the expansion that now aren’t NPCs? But those are all secondary considerations, as the biggest one is still what Shiroe said – quests. The People of the Land hold the keys to some very powerful items, or at least they used to, but if they can’t provide those anymore – or won’t – then that could put newer players at a serious disadvantage. There’s also the question of where they get these quest rewards (assuming they still do). There are a lot of questions that need answering.
Which is why they had to accept the invitation from Eastal. One critique of Shiroe: his analysis of the two sides being “We could get information and make connections with the People of the Land” vs “we could get sucked into their politics” ignores another angle – insult. If they rejected the invitation from Eastal they would be insulting the People of the Land (unless Krusty could smooth that over, which I wouldn’t put past him), which could directly lead to war. Yes the adventurers would probably win, but they’d have to kill a lot of people to do it, which they don’t want to do. Onwards to Eastal, young adventurers!
The Scent of Romance Is In the Air
It ought to be no surprise that I love stories where there are multiple, non-intersecting couples (Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo) to most harem shows, and that’s yet another reason I’m enjoying Log Horizon. Some pairing updates: I love how Marie-nee always glomps Naotsugu for the flimsiest of reasons. Do I smell the scent of love? Ufufu~
Another is Serara x Nyanta, which is still going strong…from one direction. Which brings me to a quick argument – not all dense male love interests are bad. Nyanta shows absolutely no awareness of Serara’s crush on him, but with him it’s good rather than annoying like a certain other show. Why is that? Well, it serves his character – Nyanta is a gentleman, and also much older than Serara (we assume), which means it wouldn’t be good for anything to develop between them. It would be very awkward for Serara if he nipped her crush in the bud though, so the best thing for him to do is to ignore it and hope it peters out on its own. I’m not saying he necessarily realizes, by the way – he could be incapable of considering such a thing because she’s so young and he’s a gentleman, or he could have a blind spot to love. It works because we can pick our own reason, all of them enhance his character, and because they’re not the main couple, which means it doesn’t crop up enough to get annoying. Being dense can work, it just has to be used right.
The best relationship is still Shiroe x Akatsuki of course, but this episode raised an interesting possibility…what about Shiroe x Akatsuki x Henrietta? When the guys were making jokes about Shiroe having a pretty woman on each arm, neither Akatsuki or Henrietta said anything. I know Akatsuki probably doesn’t mind and Henrietta is too much of an adult to care about a bunch of guys joking around (especially when she’s focused on Akatsuki), but still…commence the 3P shipping!! It feels like Akatsuki might be in the middle of this one rather than Shiroe, but that’s okay with me – having her around to call him “Dark Shiroe-sama” and “Dark Kuroe-sama” is plenty entertaining for me!
Looking Ahead – Politics & Negotiation
Despite Shiroe’s fears they became involved in Eastal’s politics as soon as that messenger arrived. Now they’ve got to fight through the political morass, and it looks like Krusty is going to be leading the charge. It’s a delicate dance, trying to extract more information out of your opposite than they want to reveal without giving away as much of your own information as you might, but it can be lucrative if you can pull it off. Coming from the original author of Maoyuu and taking place in a much better adapted anime, I have a feeling these negotiations are going to be a treat to see.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – While the newbies are training at the beach, Shiroe & co are off to Eastal for politics, dancing & Akatsuki in a summer dress #loghorizon 11
Random thoughts:
- They really did make a boat with a steam engine. Science and engineering are way easier when you can skip hundreds of years of development in a single bound.
- Akatsuki sure does love to hang from the ceiling. I approve; I’d totally do the same thing if I were an Assassin!
- Where are all the high level players that are young, by the way? I know how MMORPGs work, some of the best equipped and highest level players are high school kids with too much free time on their hands. The young ones aren’t always going to be newbies.
- Standing on a rooftop, looking out over the city…look at that badass megane style right there. If those two get into politics together when they get out of this world, Japan (and the rest of the world) is totally fucked.
- “No, I’d like to have one more.” *Everyone stares at Shiroe* “Desuyone~” Hah!
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.
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Beach scenes too short. But I guess I could just loop the whole scene to get my fill of Serara.
Well if this was still only a game, the People of the Land need only call their requests/commands/demands a “quest”, slap on some rewards, and all the players will fall over themselves to comply.
The problem is the rare items that you could only get through specific quests. If the quests no longer exist, how can you get the rare items? Big questions with many possibilities and repercussions. One idea I had though is that now that they figured out that they can “make” things themselves, could they reproduce such rare items like the Magic Bags? I mean Shiroe figured out how to make Magically binding contractsShow Spoiler ▼
so what’s stopping them from making magical items? The Magic Bag seams to be a good one to experiment on making because of it’s simple design and abilities. It’d be awesome if we could even see some custom magic spells in the near futureShow Spoiler ▼
“But judging from the translated part of the LN, that probably won’t make it into the Anime 🙁 ”
They won’t. But Touno-sensei did say that, even there isn’t much talk of it, we shouldn’t count out the possibility of a 2nd season.
I would say depending on the item. If it’s made from “old world technology”, then there should be a limit now on the quantity, given that the world is now real and not a game where all monsters/quests respawns. But if it’s just things that natives made themselves, then surely the players can also make them.
That said, spoiler below for something that should happen in the next 2-3 episodes estimating the pace.
Show Spoiler ▼
Summer Dress Akatsuki! Cute!
Swimwear Minori! HNNNNNNG!
I’m satisfied with this episode.
interesting things this ep
-Akatsuki is officially a bat now
-Mariel got censored
-all the badass glasses wearing guys also wears badass cape’s
-Akatsuki being all dawwww towards Shiroe
I wanted to see bikini Marie-nee ;_;
If only there’s 10 more minutes in the show to let Serara try to get Nyanta’s attention with her swimsuit.
I don’t think Serara would try to go that route. Maybe she’d try to get him to say it’s cute, but not much past that. Doesn’t seem her style, nor Nyanta’s to respond as she might prefer.
I’ve been wondering about those overgrown ruins and wrecks since the first episode, but this episode seemed to be particularly blatant about them – cars covered in moss, etc.
While they noticed that buildings are for sale, not even Shiroe seems to have paid any attention to evidence that even the internal combustion engine might not be new to this world. Presumably they just glance over it as background art that’s always been in the game. But is it something that’s been imposed on this world along with menus and player characters? Is this a post-industrial world which suffered a collapse but has vague historical references to things like steam engines? Was there previous waves of immigration of player characters in the distant past?
The setting for the game perhaps, but the former ‘NPC’s having their own memories and thoughts does imply there is far more to the world than there used to be.
Wondered the same. Does the game world has some history dealing with a past disaster that the adventurers should know about?
Well the setting of Elder Tales is a post-apocalyptic Earth, I believe that’s been covered in the first episode. So officially internal combustion engines and steam engines aren’t new to the world. But technology had taken a dramatic shift from being science-based to becoming magitech some time after civilization rebuilt itself, so apparently no one remembers how to build a steam engine.
Yeah, the setting for Elder Tales was always a post-apocalyptic Earth that was scaled down. Even when it was a game that was the idea. It’s half-size due to being a game presumably, but it’s supposed to ‘be’ Earth.
According to Elder Tale’s canon, the current world, Serdessea/Theldesia, was created (or re-created as you’ll see) by the deities (didn’t say who, or what sort of deities) after we suicidal human blew our planet into pieces. Apparently they did something with the originally all-Human population as well =3
The writer/director for this episode did a good job, so much happened but it did not feel like it was rushing.
Show Spoiler ▼
Ya, shame for that. For what I know this anime is consider in league with the Pokémon anime. Having roughly the same time slots & the same target audiences. (Hopefully having the same rating too.)
Show Spoiler ▼
Yeah, showing Marielle in swimsuit is too much but James in bikini and with breasts is perfectly okay… =S
http://legacy-cdn.smosh.com/smosh-pit/092010/james.gif
Yeah…those was the times no? The times when male in girl clothes or form do not means some kind of perverted fantasy. & boobies that bounces don’t automatically means 16 & up.
Yeah, I was disappointed to see the change in Marie-nee’s beach wardrobe as well (not sure why that constitutes a “spoiler”). They haven’t left the beach yet so maybe there’s still hope in that regard. ^^
I would say that’s exactly why it constitutes a spoiler. It’s similar to how several posters mentioned Tohya’s wheelchair on this website, assuming the show had glossed over it, when really the show just chose to reveal it later, making those posters comments into spoilers.
Seems like it’s generally just best to not mention stuff not in the show until later or if it DID happen in the show, but wasn’t clearly explained. The adaptation seems to be moving a few minor things around. That said, I doubt undergarments are going to be mentioned much in this.
Hey, better safe than sorry, I’m one of those people that spoil the wheel chair part. Who would have thought the anime would delay that story point for at least 2 episodes.
@KaleRylan & LGM:
I understand what you both are saying, and for something which hasn’t been shown, but might be later I agree – especially if it’s significant. FIWIW, given the fact that the beach scene already happened don’t see how it’s a spoiler. Plus, it’s a change of clothing (and not something with meaning like a wedding dress), so what could someone conclude from that in terms of future story developments?
JMO, but I view this as no different than “I’m surprised they censored the onsen scene with so much steam.” It’s a fan service comment rather than anything related to the story. Still, it is probably best to be conservative about this sort of thing.
So mean. After seeing the Lenessia at the end of last weeks episode, I had hoped that she would finally interact with Shiroe and gang. Guess next week, then.
Wonder if, similar to Maoyuu’s dragon princess who was after Hero, she’ll develop romantic feelings for Shiroe.
Wrong glasses.
Besides, Just like Maoyuu, while Mamare likes to makes his MC has more than one love interest, he never make it too much.
Am I the only one that wants to see more cat people like Nyanta? ;_;
Nope. There are others 🙂
A village-full of Nyantas… Or a village-full of Seraras… Or a village-full of Akatsukis… whichever will do 😡
This show sure spun its wheels to start things out. Once it got going, it’s been a heck of an entertaining story.
Just a random thought, but with seeing some of the clothes and products that the players have made, just how far can they craft items, such as creating plastics, because I am wondering how Marielle’s sunglasses and jacket were made.
and the beach items.
I guess they may have existed as joke items in the game (lots of MMOs have summer events) but its seemed a bit weird to me. Not bad weird, just weird.
I sort of doubt we’re gonna get a concrete answer though.
The novels state that swimsuits existed in the game already.
In fact, because underwear didn’t exist, but swimsuits did, players wore swimsuits under their armor.
Until manual crafting became a thing anyways. Apparently high-level tailors’ most bought products are underwear xD
I was more talking about the beach balls and parasols. Since they would require plastic, as the OP mentioned. Like I said, they could have been event items. Or they may have figured out plastic. My guess is we’ll never know.
My guess is that they’re event items. Plastics are tricky, and if they haven’t put steam ships into full production I doubt they’d go to the trouble of making junk like plastic beach balls. It’s better to just assume on these things I feel, rather than take too much time worrying about ancillary junk.
Oh I agree. I mostly just said it in response to the comment about plastics. I just remember thinking during the episode “where’d they get a beach ball… meh.”
Seeing a lot of hints on this episode makes me want to see epi 12-25 in one go t.t
Damn Henrietta <3 <3 … Shiroe you lucky bastard lol
Michikata so lucky too… being escorted by a guy ;p
All the girls in Michitaka’s guild are in love with the steam ship xD
So can we finally agree LH isn’t the MMO anime people were waiting for? Its an anime about a group of players who were transported into a world that just like the game they were playing.
Thus the elusive MMO centric anime remains elusive
What exactly would be “the MMO anime people were waiting for?”. Though it seems pretty much set that this isn’t a simple case of people trapped in an MMO like SAO was.
I mean an anime about an MMO or where players are actually trapped in an MMO like SAO.
This isn’t it: it’s an anime “about players who are TRANSPORTED to a world like their MMO”, so it’s not the MMO but an entirely real world. Not a bunch of codes but real as in with real world physics. Where the people native to that world are real, with real thoughts and feelings and not just a bunch of NPCs.
In short, it’s a fantasy anime. Not a Sci-Fi like SAO or .Hack.
You’re trying really hard to define ‘MMO Anime’ as a very specific genre for some reason. So it’s not an MMO anime if the explanation and result of being trapped are fantasy-based rather than sci-fi based?
I would say this is very much an MMO anime, with a different plot, much like you can have two mysteries that are done in a very different fashion.
Heck, they still pop up the MMO status screen every time we see a new place or character. And the major conflicts are still decided by MMO features, such as the ability to receive quest rewards.
The Moondoggie – Dude, what were you getting at here? This is like saying Love Hina isn’t a harem manga/anime because not all of the female characters like the MC.
& really, like what KaleRylan posted –
Warning, heavy, HEAVY spoilers here:
Show Spoiler ▼
Just to make it clear, anyone who is anime-only better not see the spoiler, I use this story plot to proof a point but it was quite the most surprising reveal for the novel & I hate to spoil it for the anime-only folks.
Show Spoiler ▼
Oh so it’s really like that. See? That proves that it isn’t a game anymore THUS it isn’t an MMO anymore but a real-life fantasy land that is powered NOT by science and programs and codes, but real magic.
An MMO is a game, a video game, a product of science, hence it’s sci-fi. It’s loses it’s status as an MMO if it becomes anything else other than a game(ie. it becomes real life).
Show Spoiler ▼
It was a game, now it isn’t. Even Shiroe would say “when this was game…” when explaining changes that happened between game!ET and real!ET.
And so LH drops the MMO cape and goes full fantasy. Its not a game anymore.
You’re missing the point.
No one is trying so hard to differentiate the two except for you. An MMO anime that is revealed to be a fantasy anime is still an MMO anime to the rest of us.
You’re the only one who seems to feel the need to say that now that it’s a fantasy, it can’t be an MMO anime anymore. And frankly, I don’t get why it matters. Why do you insist that now that it has a fantasy explanation it’s not a ‘game’ anime anymore?
Like I said in my first post: does an ‘MMO anime’ have to be sci-fi? Is that your rule?
@Kyle
An MMO has to be Sci-Fi, it’s a game. Please show me an MMO run by magic.
People keep calling it an MMO Fantasy anime, I just feel like correcting them. Is it really hard for people to be correct and prefer to be wrong all the time?
SAO is an MMO.
Dot Hack is an MMO.
Heck even Accel World was an MMO.
What are they? Sci-fi.
Well, I disagree with your definition, but honestly don’t care that much. You may call it as you please.
I skimmed this thread because of all the spoiler tags, but a few points:
* I don’t really think of SAO as sci-fi. The technology = sci-fi, magic = fantasy dichotomy is a fallacy. SAO does have sci-fi trappings – it does try to explain some of the things that go behind the game, like how all the gamers are actually trapped and how they’re moved to hospitals and junk like that – but a lot of the story is functionally fantasy because they handwave like a motherfucker, make things up as they go along (ex: Kirito’s money, skills, & Yui in the 2nd arc), and frankly aren’t interested in explaining how Kirito and others are able to get away with a bunch of the shit they get up to. So I guess I should say it’s only partially sci-fi – it’s fantasy with sci-fi under trimmings.
* Likewise, this is what I’d call hard fantasy more than anything else. It certainly likes to explain things about the game, the world, and their systems, but the central unanswered questions point strongly towards fantasy. It’s rule magic if anything, but still magic. It’s fantasy strutting around in the best traditions of sci-fi, basically.
* As for the MMO anime that we’ve all been waiting for, I would expect to keep waiting. As a writer it’s hard to imagine wanting to do a straight dungeon crawl MMORPG story because it would basically amount to transposing experiences from my own MMO past onto the page, and that’s boring when so many people have their own experiences. That’s why authors always try to wrap something else in there, which is how we get stories like these.
* Who cares if this isn’t the kind of MMO story we’ve been waiting for? It’s good, and that’s all I care about. I think you’d agree with that actually, Moondoggie, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
The most striking scene to me was the scene with hunter NPC and his kid at the start… I get the feeling something big’s about to go down!
I wonder how many guys wouldn´t want to marry Akatsuki after seeming her in that dress?.
But they will never have her hand in marriage, because she only belongs to Dark Kuroe.
Ufufufu!
I am all for the 3P ship!
Man it’s a shame they had to cut some of the risky fan service but I understand why it had to be done. However taking out the capes and that one special moe Akatsuki moment made no sense to me.
“They really did make a boat with a steam engine. Science and engineering are way easier when you can skip hundreds of years of development in a single bound.”
What’s going to be interesting, should the author decide to focus on this, is how technology will diverge in Elder Tales vs. Real World. Just because adventurers have modern real-world background, doesn’t mean they can accomplish the same things. The infrastructure is too different between the worlds. In Elder Tales, their infrastructure is the game menu that allow them to make basic items through some sort of magic. And power source comes from said magic like summoning a beat to provide heat. In real life, it’s about using things like electricity, gasoline, and variety of widgets and other things made by factories.
Instead of building cars to travel between cities, for example, it’s possible they can make some magic-based launching pad that shoot you out of a cannon to another city by having wizards provide the necessary guidance and acceleration/deceleration. The possibilities can be endless, assuming the players don’t try to pigeonhole their way of thinking.
Or they don’t return to their old lives on Earth before they have time to get really inventive.
@Stilts: What? Not a single word about Minori and Touya’s newest companion? His fluent English makes him very surprisingly entertaining character. Is he a half or something?
Blondie? He’s funny, but until he’s more than a punchline I didn’t see a reason to talk about him. Plus I write too much anyway, lol
Without going into details, so I don’t spoil anything to anyone, I strongly suggest to start writing about him as soon as possible.
Ahaha, well I’m sure I’ll talk about him next time, since he’s going down into that dungeon with everyone. And implying such things is spoilers enough, at least Show Spoiler ▼
Prepair for Henrietta bard action!
Definitely something missing in the shadows here as eluded to by the hunter (x hunter) scene at the start. Eastal too did not randomly invite Akihabara’s council just for information. The giving of nobility titles is not something done out of the goodness of one’s heart, it’s designed as a means of integrating another into the dominant political system (see Charlemagne). The elephant in the room remains the scarcely touched expansion to Elder Tales and the main story quest at the center of it. I expect that Eastal’s invitation has something to do with this as foreshadowed by the introductory scene.
Technology, however, becomes the wrench in this system. A steamship is going to seriously upset the balance of power as it heralds the possibility of technologically based weapons. What need do lower level players or even People of the Land have for MP and HP when you can simply shoot your enemy in the head with a musket? There’s so much potential here my hands are rubbing themselves with excitement XD
I don’t think firearms would make that much of a difference in this world. The problem is the people capable of producing them (presumably) don’t need them. Adventurers are super-powerful, immortal beings who generally are capable of projectile attacks naturally, rendering guns unnecessary.
Guns are better than swords in real life because real swords can’t shoot fire or cut buildings in half.
Now, if the People of the Land got guns it would probably be a bigger deal, but it’s not clear whether they’ve developed imagination or not. They seem to be ‘real’ now, but still operate as they were intended, i.e. people in a fantasy world.
The problem is we don’t know what happens if someone should die by means outside the game system. We know what happens when you die in game-based combat, the adventurer gets resurrected at the Cathedral. As the food and steamship show the game mechanics are now simply one system via which to operate, not the sole system.
Of course Log Horizon may not answer the above question at all, but it’s still interesting to ponder imo as except for what originally was found in Elder Tales we have very little understanding of the limits/natural laws operating in this new world.
You’re right basically, and I’m not trying to be mean by saying this, but I just sort of disagree.
Not because your point isn’t valid, I just don’t think it’s where they’re going. Remember, their attacks actually have to be used outside the menus already because it’s just too confusing to use the menus during battle. So they’re already a little ‘outside the system’ when fighting.
How to get further out I’m not even sure of. Because stabbing someone with a knife wouldn’t work. Natural phenomena wouldn’t work. Those are all covered by the system. IF you could produce a weapon type not covered by the system (guns) and then kill a player, would it kill them for real? I guess it’s possible I just doubt it. That’s a really specific hole to have in the system.
Again, not trying to fight. I see what you’re getting at. Just giving my thoughts in response.
No worries, a little too stupid to get into an argument over such a moot point anyways 😛
I bring guns up as a possibility (no matter how low) because it’s still unclear where the technology trope is going to head. It wouldn’t be a part of the world building here unless it served a purpose plot-wise.
For the record, in the first novel it was stated that people who died from hunger were resurrected at the cathedral.
“people who died from hunger were resurrected at the cathedral”
That would be really horrible. Reminds me of those machines in Chrono Trigger: “but you’re still hungry”
For the record, there’s no reason to make a musket when you know about rifles. Like with many inventions making a rifle isn’t all that much more difficult than making a musket, you just have to know the trick, and even I know that. There will be someone among all the adventurers who either already knows how to do it already or is clever enough to reproduce it in short order.
And that dying by starvation? That’s horrific. Reminds me of The Prestige. The agony…
Where are all the high level players that are young, by the way? I know how MMORPGs work, some of the best equipped and highest level players are high school kids with too much free time on their hands. The young ones aren’t always going to be newbies.
If I remember correctly, Elder Tale has been around for 8 years. Most likely the high level players that around now have been active when they’re young with much free time. And when they’re getting older, real life catch up and couldn’t log-in as often as before. Like Naotsugu or Nyanta?
Shouryuu and Hien from Crescent Moon Alliance look like high school boys though.
I thought I read somewhere the game was supposed to be 20 years old. I thought that seemed ridiculous, but I’d have to go double-check.
Either way, I think you’re right. And I believe there’s a side-story somewhere (manga maybe? I can’t remember) that says something explicitly about Shouryuu being younger than the other ‘main’ characters.
Elder Tales is 20 years old, Shiroe has been playing it for 8 years
Show Spoiler ▼
Young players (like Minori and Tohya) would be joining all the time, and ones that joined even a few months before them could have been max level by now. Good point on Shouryuu and Hien though, they may very well be those people.
As for the game being 20 years old, Everquest is 14 years old and still going. 20 is a stretch, but not as much of a stretch as it might at first appear.
Seems like getting to max level in this is supposed to be really hard. They haven’t said it straight out, but I just get the feeling from various things that it takes a while.
Especially if just getting to 91 takes weeks.
Well yes, weeks, Show Spoiler ▼
@Stilts: From the preview, I don’t think you need to worry about not getting your MMORPG fix. Plenty of that coming up next EP and probably for a few more.
More than anything, the one thought I have after watching this episode is that Log Horizon is now in full stride. All the things that make the show work, and work well, are present, and yet no single aspect excessively dominates the others. In terms of both balance and execution, IMO Log Horizon is “in the zone”. A lot, arguably all, of these elements existed in earlier episodes, but what struck me while watching this latest one is how everything came together.
– Balance. Where do I start? There’s plenty of MMORPG (or even just RPG in this case) action coming up PLUS the political challenges/adapting to the world issues. Something for everyone rather than one or the other. In addition, the show hasn’t forgotten about character development – particularly with the twins. I liked Minori’s short flashback to her life in the real world. Little things like that add a lot of depth and realism to the characters. Finally, at least for me, there were a lot of funny moments – from Marie-nee’s childish antics to Akatsuki-Henrietta’s “skit” or even just chibi Akatsuki hanging down from the ceiling in the background. I have to admit, while I like a lot of the characters, I can’t help but like Akatsuki the best. She really is a great character IMO.
– Execution. IMO, the show is doing a great job here as well. Akatsuki hanging from the ceiling or Marie-nee throwing a tantrum and glomping Naotsugu are nothing new. We’ve seen those things a bunch of times before. Yet, I still find them funny rather than “getting old.” That’s a sign of good execution – not the act itself, but how it’s done. Pacing has been very good lately as well IMO. I’d describe the storytelling as “flowing” rather than “rushed” or “staccato”. It’s a shame more adaptations don’t get a 2-cour run from the start because, as Log Horizon demonstrates, the extra air time pays off. In terms of adaptation, while there are a few minor differences, on the whole I think the anime is very faithful to the original story and does a fine job of capturing the essence of the tale. Adaptation, not alteration. Kudos to the director for a job well done.
– My one complaint is that I was disappointed that the anime ditched (so far) Marie-nee wearing a bikini (LN). Was looking forward to seeing that. XD
Of what’s been translated so far, this is my my favorite arc (“The End of the Game”). For non-LN readers, if you think the show is good now, it gets even better. Waiting a week for each new episode to be released is going to be tough.
Good comment. On your note about the jokes / character interactions not getting old, I think that’s also because the large cast prevents them from being done with too much frequency. Compare Akatsuki punishing Naotsugu for his perverted comments to Ichika’s harem going all yandere on him – ignoring the fact that Naotsugu deserves it while Ichika deserves to be killed for reasons other than why the girls are usually going yandere, the latter happens multiple times an episode whereas Akatsuki only punished Naotsugu once an episode, and it doesn’t happen every week. That keeps things from getting annoying.
@Stilts: Thanks for the reply, and good point about the frequency of the jokes. In fact, your example of Akatsuki punishing Naotsugu for his perverted comments isn’t only useful for comparing with running jokes in other shows, but IMO is a perfect example of my point about good execution/comedic direction. For me, early on in the show the Akatsuki knee-to-the-face gag was just about to the point where it started to “get old”. Right at that point, the show lowered the frequency and/or changed the routine up a bit.
Whether that’s due to simply following he source material or not, it’s still up to the director (and script writers) ultimately to do so. They could have spammed the same joke if they wanted. Instead, for whatever reason, they didn’t, and as a result, IMO, the joke remains funny rather than become stale. Comedic timing I how I would describe all this, and IMO that falls under direction/execution. Of course there’s much more to proper direction than just that, but it is a good example why I think the director is doing a laudable job with this show.
Where are all the high level players that are young, by the way?
Everyone took the form of their toons so, other than behaviour, you probably can’t make a case for everyone’s actual age. Also, it’s a 30K person sample from an expansion launch, most likely with an Midnight rollover; several people in my guild would book vacation around those (and members of high end guilds would pretty much all do so because an entire raid group was going to be capped and geared in 24->48H), while many teens/kids would be in bed because their parents want them up for school tomorrow. So, you’re likely going to skew older given that most demographics place the average MMO player age at 26-27.
Besides that, Elder Tale is also a rather old MMO. With all these new games with fancy gimmicks and the like coming out all the time, most younger players will bandwagon the hottest game on the block instead of sticking with some musty old game that’s been around for nearly a decade. Only the older players who’ve stuck with Elder Tale for years, and younger players who just happened to either be trying out the game for a little at the time of the Apocalypse, or who truly like the old-school feel of the game would have been online at the time.
@Dave: That’s not actually true. The anime doesn’t make it clear except for that scene in the first episode where Shiroe and Naotsugu mention that they ‘look how they expected’ but their features DID change.
The LNs mention straight out when Shiroe meets Nyanta that, within the boundaries of their characters, they look like their real selves. Again, they mention this about a Cat person, and how his facial lines mimic his real face, meaning the more human characters (like Shiroe, who is not actually a human, though his race just has a symbol on their tongue apparently) look pretty much spot-on barring height and possible build differences.
What is a “toon”?
A character. It’s MMO slang. I have no idea where it came from as it popped during the time I wasn’t paying attention to MMOs. If you make a new character you’re ‘rolling a new toon.’
Yay for slang.
That light ball turning from yellow to blue when hearing about venturing into the dungeon haha!.
Hand over Akatsuki and Minori peacefully and no one will get hurt.
I think Henrietta would not tolerate for that.
Just give me more Lenessia :p.
Minori is slowly winning me over ^^;. She look so disappointed when talking about Shiroe missing their training trip T_T. Her reaction to Marielle’s antics feel as if she is holding back as much as she can from reprimanding Marielle XD.
I never expected them to go this far with the censors for a beach scene ^^;.
Rundelhaus seem less annoying than I expected him to be.
Michitaka seem to be the guy who gets the short end of the stick ^^;.
The Shiroe nicknames seem to be reaching new heights (or is that new lows? XD). From Haraguro-Megane to Makuro-Shiroe to Makuro-Kuroe, as well as the jealous stares he gets from those envious of him having many ladies with him (though he is nothing compared with Soujirou :p), his reputation seem to be getting darker and darker. Henrietta seem to be slowly developing into an interesting co-conspirator with Shiroe (along with Akatsuki).
Crusty and Shiroe look like really good partners. With Crusty handling the public face of the council and Shiroe handling the hidden side of things.
Next episode should be interesting. More Minori and gang. Hopefully at least one major scene with Lenessia 😉 (I want more Lenesia!!! XD).
Did I heard it right? The original material author is same as maoyuu?
That explains much of the politics and economics focus – and adaptation quality is much better this time.
Yes, that’s correct. I’ve been mentioning that for weeks, and I even noted it in the preview. It was the very first thing I said.
Akatsuki in a dress is too much for my health
beach scene was a bit lacking … as expected of NHK
oh well akatsuki made up for it ^____^
but !!!!!!!!!!!!!
i want more takamiya misa !!!!!!!!!!!
since akatsuki’s already taken and Lenessia’s probably going to be taken so ….
I’m going for misa-san !!!!!!!!!!!
I think they overcompensated for the beach scene ^^;.
Yeah more Misa would be nice XD. There are many interesting characters that don’t seem to get much attention. Hope there will be opportunities to see more of them.
who is misa?
@x
yeah i hope some character would be shown often (especially misa-san!!!)Show Spoiler ▼
heck they always show those PK’ers
@Kale
i don’t know if it’s already a spoiler so i’ll just put a spoiler tag
Show Spoiler ▼
so if my previous post is a spoiler then I’m sorry
@KaleRylan
Misa in the middle: https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
I don’t think they’ve named Misa yet in the show except in the credits. Is she just Krusty’s aide or something more? Love her voice though 😀
thanks for answering. I wouldn’t say a name is a spoiler.
So they really started making steamships!
I wonder if I get to see hot ironclad battle?
Somebody pointed out an animation error in this episode that I wouldn’t have noticed.
Remember the scene where Shiroe is on horseback,
while Henrietta is sitting at the front of the wagon?
At one point, the wagon’s interior is shown to be quite empty. http://bit.ly/1gzAifS
At another point, the wagon suddenly has a curtain partition with an attendant in it.
Totally agree that multiple couples story work better than a harem show. People have varied tastes in everything from food to dude/chick. Unless the lad/lady is a real bloody catch, which tends not to be the situation in most harem or reverse-harem shows, there is no reason why all the hot people will want to hump the exact same dull and dense person.
Toradora and Ouran are the two series that I am okay with the harem situation as both Ryuji and Haruhi are very charming protagonists, so it is pretty reasonable why many people would fall for them. I am a girl, and I will catfight the crap out of any girl to get a guy like Ryuji.
On a more episode-related note, Naotsugu isn’t exactly my favourite character, but damn, he will be so bloody cute with Marie-nee. Good coupling could improve any character (or show for that matter)!!!
For the record, Toradora is in no way a harem show. A love interest or three a harem does not make – it’s a romance, that’s clear.
But you’re right, Ryuuji is pretty much amazing.
I just hope, they find the right Balance between Ingame Politics and Action…
No need to worry, it will be perfectly fine. 🙂
I just notice that the beach ball has Shiroe’s face drawn in it. Not that it matters.
Naotsugu….your my HERO…teaching the newbie about op-{takes round house kick to the face} “Sorry Akatsuki…..I know better). Yes its back….the sneak attack from my fav. uber ninja.
SO it seems that we are now getting into the the MEAT and POTATOES of this series but with only one more eps. to go(prays to the GOD UZUME for more seasons). It has me reeled in just like Kyokaisen-jo no Horaizon and how that series progressed. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT. I really hope they start to explain how/why the 30000+ people got trapped. What I mean by that is, how was it done. In SAO it was explained. I want to know nore about these People of the Land and I can what to see more MMORPG fighting….WOOT dungeon time(now its the newbies turn to test their metal and IMO i think that Serara is going to be like Shiroe for the low-lvl players. Whats in that little book – Shiroe?.https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%20Preview%2002.jpg
{random thought I remember when raiding was fun with my guild}.https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
@Stilts – “Standing on a rooftop, looking out over the city…look at that badass megane style right there. If those two get into politics together when they get out of this world, Japan (and the rest of the world) is totally fucked.”
Be mindful of Henrietta – subtle devious can be dangerous https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
After thoughts
Priceless https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
Damnit I want a ceiling ninja
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
Good news: Log Horizon have 25 episodes.
Bad news? Show Spoiler ▼
Oh the bitter sweetness (+1)
That’s still good enough for me….More Shiroe-tactics, more bo**-(Knee in the face/round-house kicks) more ceiling uber ninja, more “Errol Flynn” were-cat, more Marie craziness, more newbie adventure……more more more….LOL
Well, perhaps the Spectators, do not want them to Leave. Let them Stay in this World. I bet the most Fans, are MMO’s fans or Players themselves