First Impressions / Log Horizon

「ひび割れた翼」 (Hibiwareta Tsubasa)
“Shattered Wings”

Is murder really so bad, when you’re going to resurrect anyway?

Akatsuki’s Jealousy, Akatsuki’s [Lack of] Confidence

To deny one’s emotions, even when they’re ugly, is the height of foolishness—and so it is with characters as well. It’s fun to see stories starring unshakable characters, such as this season’s Nanatsu no Taizai. But for my money, I prefer heroes who have the same human foibles that we do, while still remaining admirable. Akatsuki’s jealousy is a great example of this. It’s completely understandable that she would be jealous of Minori, who seems to get along with and understand better—and is of more use to—her love (Shiroe) than she is. That this jealousy is strong enough for her to speak ill of Minori, and in the next breath to berate herself for those ugly feelings, is both understandable and admirable. She remains better than many, and a true adult despite her size.

The root of it all is Akatsuki’s lack of confidence. She thinks she needs to be of use to Shiroe, when that’s not necessarily true. She’s trapped in her own self-concept as an assassin, loyal to her lord, and a servant who cannot be of use to her lord is useless. But that’s not what she is! She’s Shiroe’s comrade, his friend, and perhaps more, and none of those require her to be of use to him. But she feels like she must, and her lack of confidence cripples her—and the fact that she really doesn’t seem to be able to do much for him doesn’t help matters. The accusations we aim at ourselves hurt all the more when there’s a measure of truth to them.

The part that makes the whole thing even more bitter? It’s likely that Shiroe really does need Akatsuki’s help, and plans to help her acquire the strength she desires soon (I’m willing to bet she’ll receive some gear from Nyanta’s Roderick purchase, though once again, use those spoiler tags people. I’ll find out when the anime tells me). It’s a lack of communication that has her twisted in knots … but an understandable one, given Shiroe and Akatsuki’s personalities, and the communication problems that they’ve long exhibited. All while she just misses Shiroe. Too many feels *sniffles*

Lenessia Culture Shock, Lenessia’s [Lack of] Confidence

Last week’s preview was a bit misleading. I came into the episode expecting this grand revelation that Lenessia didn’t understand the adventurers like I thought she did, and what’s more, she may not even be trying—she may have given up! Nope. What we had here was something familiar to us Earthlings, but unfamiliar to the People of the Land: culture shock. Lenessia now lives in an entirely different culture than she’s used to, and the tools she was equipped with to deal with her own society—high-class etiquette, for example—are useless here. She has culture shock, but to a people mostly limited to horse-levels of travel, she doesn’t even know what that is.

But as with Akatsuki, Lenessia is made admirable because she realizes that the adventurers aren’t a monolithic group, and that even if they belong to the same culture—in their case, Japanese gamers—they’re all different. Where she founders is in thinking so highly of them that she doesn’t feel she can call herself their friend. Which is once again, understandable but misguided. I’m not used to praising misunderstandings that aren’t for comedic effect (I miss you, Nozaki-kun et al), but here it is, twice in one episode.

Henrietta’s Abandoned Love

Henriette is easily one of my favorite characters—for her scary shiny glasses, making Akatsuki cosplay, teasing Marie about Naotsugu, and her scary fangirling about Akatsuki. And those are just the comedic parts! She’s also wicked smart as well.

Which saddens me, because she is still in fact nurturing something of a crush on Shiroe, one which she is determined to leave one-sided. And not without reason—she can see as plain as day that Akatsuki (and almost certainly Minori) love Shiroe as well, and she loves Akatsuki (not that way, you pervs), so to step in the middle and try to steal Shiroe doesn’t seem like something someone like Henrietta would do. She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, so while part of me wants to say “Go for it!”, I can’t see her doing it. But I don’t want her to give up either. It shows the weakness of the harem setup treated realistically—a lot of people are going to end up disappointed. And sorry, but this isn’t the kind of story where any reasonable person can hope for the harem end—I have too much respect for these characters to wish that upon them.

Looking Ahead – What’s a Little Murder To an Immortal?

Generally speaking, murder is bad. I hope I’m not saying anything too audacious when I say that. But how bad is it when the victim can resurrect? It should probably be discouraged, but slavery, kidnapping, and rape become a lot worse than murder when murder is a minor inconvenience. Which makes me worry for Soujirou’s guildmate, because they’re treating this attempted murder as a big deal. Perhaps Evil Santa Samurai has figured out not only a way to stop the Royal Guards from showing up, but making death stick. All I know is use those spoiler tags, people.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Akatsuki’s & Lenessia’s troubles and misunderstandings are reasonable and understandable. The good writing continues #loghorizon s2e4

Random thoughts:

  • I like how it’s all the women who are making the girls cosplay. Not that I’m complaining!
  • Some of the pacing this episode was oddly slow—for example, during the Nyanta/Roderic conversation, or when Marie tripped. It felt like they were padding a little bit. Not bad, but a bit.
  • Stilts note: Expect the next two posts to be released on Monday. I’ll be out of town for the next two weekends. Thank you for your understanding.

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Flawed genius, Steal like an artist, Between novels, and From me to you. For book updates, please sign up for my mailing list.

Full-length images: 03, 05, 26.

 

Preview

81 Comments

    1. Is there is one thing, that would worth being trapped in a video game, it would be a lovely female “santa,” arriving with her lovely “reindeers,” to give the good children their presents; since the gamers just “invented” the Christmas holiday then we can assume they can “re-create” the story, instead of the traditional version. If only we had a certain Toad Sage ninja here then such a story can be easily published T_T.

      L002
      Reply

    1. I honestly don’t understand why this seems to keep being brought up over and over again. Yes, the designs are, IMHO, modestly different, but I would never go so far as to call them outright “ugly” or anything like that.

      Is it really such a problem for some people that it takes away from an otherwise enjoyable show?

      Ryan Ashfyre
      Reply

    3. Well its Studio Deen, they’re not a studio thats synonymous with quality. But to be fair Satelight’s animation for the series isn’t that great to begin with. On another note: this kind of change isn’t that bad compared to series like Gunslinger girl where its second season changed from being faithful to the manga design to conventional anime design.

      sithstormjedi
      Reply

    4. Let me step in before this spirals out of control.

      Yes, the art changed. It’s understandable that the change will be off-putting to some, and I understand that a number of people want to express that. It has also been mentioned every single episode, usually multiple times, and for those of us who read all the comments, it’s getting tiresome to keep reading it.

      Please don’t jump down Ryuuzaki’s throat, ’cause he isn’t the first who has mentioned this. I’d also love it if it stops getting mentioned (at least so much), because by this point, we all know.

      tl;dr – Don’t hate y’all.

      Stilts
      Reply

    6. It is a big deal. The off-putting eyes and often distorted faces are getting very distracting. Quite a few times a lost focus on the dialog because Lenessia’s dead eyes were just so… wrong. So yes it’s a big deal and it’s dragging this adaptation down compared to the first season. 2ch reaction is reflecting this as well.

      Spike
      Reply

      1. That’s the thing, plenty of people think its an overall improvement.

        “2ch reaction is reflecting this as well.”
        The loud voices on 2ch, 2chan, 4chan etc do not reflect the whole.

        Longhaul
        Reply

      2. 1) we rarely get sequels for worthwhile anime to begin with.
        2) the first season wasn’t exactly a bastion of consistently great animation.
        3) anime is not a medium known for tremendously high production quality.
        4) why try to ruin others’ enjoyment just because you’re too sensitive about it?

        ElGoopo
        Reply

      4. @spike:

        That’s a rather childish reaction. You gave your opinion, people disagreed. Maybe they weren’t the most polite in the world but neither are you. That IS discussion.

        What you are apparently looking for is a circle-jerk where everyone AGREES with you. And you’re not going to find that here.

        On the topic of the art in general:

        I don’t get what the issue is as long as they stay on their own models. Episode 2 had Naotsugu’s size jump around a LOT, but they seem to have gotten that under control so I’m fine with what we’ve got now. Sure, for consistency’s sake I wish we had the same studio. But it’s not like the difference in quality is that big. It’s mostly a (very minor) change in style.

        KaleRylan
        Reply

    7. You all above cannot tell me that this is actually “fine.” That’s not even a character design change, it’s just a crappy art inconsitency! The people working on this didn’t “just” tamper with the character designs to make them look worse, they’re just plain being sloppy.

      And yes, it hinders our ability to enjoy the show. It breaks immersion. When the above image came up on the screen I actually said “What the hell!” because of how off-model it is. Season 1 never did that to me.

      Wanderer
      Reply

    8. oh god, look at the hate i recieved. anyway, i ignored the changes in art or other people’s rant about in the past episodes till they shown the flashback where shiroe was talking to minori, then i felt that “woah, hey the art really is diff back then”. i just really cant hold it when my favorite loli suddenly gained some height boost.

      Ryuuzaki
      Reply

    9. I’m just grateful we have a 25 episode second season. The sales weren’t amazing for Season 1, and while there were numerous things in play that got this show a second season, I saw a drop in quality coming. However it’s not too bad, its watchable and we get more Light novels adapted to anime. I’m happy with what we’ve got.

      Lyfe
      Reply

    1. Really? Because that’s exactly what I expected. Akatsuki has been angsting since the last third of the first season. And Lenessia runs on a certain amount of whining and angst (mostly whining).

      They’re not cheerful people.

      P.S. and if you’re making a lesbian joke (it’s the internet, it’s hard to tell) then that was unlikely too.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

  4. Murdering an ‘immortal’ might not be a big deal, but that does not mean getting killed is a pleasant experience (no matter what channel you are being broadcast on).

    I cant help but laugh when the ED sequence is an inappropriate followup to the final scene of an episode.

    Longhaul
    Reply

    2. I think the issue isn’t the murder, it’s the murder in town (though could be both). A huge part of the social system they’ve built is based on the fact that intense physical violence is utterly prohibited in the city. Effectively, within the city boundaries they have an invincible army. Finding out that it’s not invincible could be very troubling to the Round Table.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

    3. @Kale
      That’s the part that struck me the most too, the fact the murder (if it is indeed a murder, the preview seems to hint otherwise) took place in town which is a verified no PvP environment. One of two options present IMO depending on if the perpetrator here is a Person of the Land or not. If the guy is a Lander, it implies that this group (or at the minimum him) is not affected by any of the systems in place designed to curtail specific Adventurer actions. If the guy is an Adventurer, it implies that there is a bug or exploit available to navigate around these barriers.

      Either way it hints at another groundbreaking revelation we get to see Shiroe deduce his way around (if the concept of souls and turning of Landers in Adventurers wasn’t enough already).

      Pancakes
      Reply

  5. Don’t quote me on this since I might remember it wrong, but I believe that in the LN it was explained that Adventurers receive the actual physical pain from their injures. Short word, being killed hurts. Half observation, Half spoiler on the killer but Show Spoiler ▼

    Reaper
    Reply

    2. Didn’t read the spoiler, but I do remember hearing that fighting hurts. That’s what Shrine Priests suddenly became so popular—their barriers not only mitigate damage, but pain, which is suddenly a big deal. Also, that’s another reason a lot of adventurers stopped fighting all the time or altogether.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. There are all sorts of awful ways to die in this world. That’s why a large percentage of adventurers stopped fighting, remember from season one? All of the people who ran to join crafting guilds?

        That’s because dying is a horrible experience in this world, immortal or not. And depending on how you die, it can leave a pretty big mental scar.

        If you can experience someone stabbing you in the chest with a giant sword, the pain that goes with it, *bleeding to death and dying in the street*, the unpleasant “afterlife” where you re-enact crappy scenes from your life, and then respawn without any ill side effects whatsoever, you’re not normal.

        *Really* not normal. Normal people would probably need a lot of therapy.

        As for the pain, it’s like being in a serious car accident. That was covered last season. (May have only been in the books, but it’s old news.)

        s_w
        Reply

  6. I think the murder IS a big deal because unlike other adventurers who will turn into particles and be resurrected when they die, this one has blood in it and she doesn’t seem to be turning into particles. Entering Death Gun territory here.

    wiwiwaka
    Reply

    1. I haven’t read the LN, but I wonder if because the murderer is a Person of the Land, somehow that enables them to actually kill an Adventurer and bypass their immortality? Or maybe it has something to do with his weapon?

      That would be an interesting twist, I would think.

      Ryan Ashfyre
      Reply

      3. @Scruffy: I made it a point of saying it in my previous comment, but it bears repeating. I haven’t read the LN and anything I suggested in my previous comment was nothing more then a guess on my part.

        Given the clues present however, I think we can agree it’s not all that hard to speculate what may have happened.

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

    2. The blood itself is not a clue unless the anime has decided to make it a clue, but that’s hard to say. The LN (of which I only read the first volume, so I have NO clue how it relates to this) made clear from the very beginning that they do actually feel pain and see blood. The reason there was no blood in the anime was just a design censorship choice.

      So this could simply mean that this studio is more okay with the blood or it could mean that they chose to put blood here for the reason you suggest (it’s a ‘real’ murder) but I’m not sure.

      Personally, I really hope it’s not a real death. One of the things I like about this is the ways the story finds to deal with the weird rules of being in a game. Like the fact that at the beginning it made them all apathetic and murderous because they didn’t care about each other since ‘they couldn’t die.’ And it was Shiroe that realized the psychological damage that was being done and how to stop them.

      Making it into a death game like SAO for me actually removes some of the complex emotions that they’ve been able to touch on, like the landers’ feelings of inadequacy in the face of immortal warriors.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

    3. About the not turning into particles thing, I think it’s just because not enough time has passed to get to that stage of dying yet. Especially since Kyouko’s a high level player (level 90), which I think means her body has a bigger time window for a resurrection spell to work on her.

      Monimonika
      Reply

  7. Well the Akatsuki and Leynessia character building arc has started it seems.

    I’m more excited seeing Souji fight again.

    Sometimes I wonder if some of the Adventurers actually talked about Earth’s history to Leynessia. I’d be excited to talk about it tbh.

    Netto
    Reply

    1. Where would you even start when describing Earth history (which I think is an overly broad subject)? What parts would you include or exclude? Would the massive info dump really help Lenessia’s understanding of the particular Adventurers (as in, modern gamers) she interacts with?

      Sure, for players it would be great to learn more about the huge subject of Elder Tale’s world history including all the other continents. However, the difference would be that players would already have base knowledge (gameplay, flavor text, and direct experience) to build upon, while Lenessia has never experienced the non-Elder Tale world and has no base knowledge of it other than maybe having a crumbling structure pointed out as being similar to what’s in the other world.

      Monimonika
      Reply

      1. I would start with the most familiar of times for them, probably feudal Europe or Japan. Build upon that, the religious wars which eventually lead to the Enlightenment and hence the dissolution of traditional social hierarchical ideals and the birth of liberalism and egalitarian beliefs.

        Netto
        Reply

  8. What I think the problem is with the “murder” is that he didn’t finish the job. If he’d killed her she would have just poofed away and respawned.

    The preview mentions she was “wounded”, not killed.

    This guy hurt her enough to bring her health down to a sliver and leave her incapacitated without actually killing her.

    When someone is wounded in battle they’re either quickly healed up so they don’t have to worry about prolonged pain or the monster finishes the job quickly. there ws no healer here and he didn’t finish the job so she was left there to suffer until someone found her.

    qwert
    Reply

    2. That’s a good point. And the preview did mention that Soujirou was pissed that his friend was wounded, not killed. If you’re going to resurrect anyway, murder may not be that big of a deal … but leaving someone wracked in pain on the ground over night, unable to move or call for help, is tantamount to torture. That would be worse than a quick death & rez.

      Stilts
      Reply

  9. Whoa, Lenessia sure wears that santa uniform well. Dem legs, man.

    Uh, anyway, I liked how the struggles portrayed by the characters in this episode felt quite real. While this ep was basically about two characters struggling with their feelings, it lacked the grand melodrama some anime put out and instead turned it into something quite familiar and understandable. Akatsuki’s harsh criticizing of herself and single-minded focus on one issue, combined with her general feeling of loneliness, are quite relatable for pretty much anyone. Add to that the fact that her jealousy causes her ugly sides to spill out occasionally, and I find that eps like these do a good job of fleshing out her character. More and more we knows what makes her tick, and it just wants to make you give her a hug. And Lenessia’s development hasn’t concluded yet either, as she’s still struggling with her low opinion of herself and the wall she’s basically built between her and the adventurers. Interesting stuff, that, and I wouldn’t mind if they kept interspersing this development with Shiroe’s raid antics.

    Gotta love all the shipteasing too, for that matter. A lot of the couples in the show are at the level of ‘about to make it official’, really. Marie X Naoetsugu is pretty much at the point of ‘everyone can see it’ now, the seemingly unflappable Krusty clearly misses Lenessia and I can imagine Shiroe will get a warm welcome as well when he comes back. Only Henrietta is going to be left out in the cold in that regard, but I can appreciate her mature handling of her feelings. Wish more (non-romance)shows had this variety in couples, really.

    Oh, and Marie tripping looked incredibly fake. No need to get lazy, Deen.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

    1. Agreed. I always prefer mass-OTPs to harems (Kyoukaisen, Sakurasou, you know, all my favorites that I constantly trot out), but if they’re going to play with harem a bit, I prefer it to be treated realistically along with the mass-OTPs. Log Horizon gets both right.

      Stilts
      Reply

  10. >What’s a Little Murder To an Immortal?

    This is NHK censorship at work. Show Spoiler ▼

    Stilts edit: Please put any major differences between what happened in the LN in spoiler tags.

    noir
    Reply

    1. Holy crap the spoilers.

      We know nothing about this scene so far in the anime: There was basically a scream and a camera pan and that’s it.

      You do not just come in and outline the LN stuff in excruciating detail like this. How many times does the reviewer have to beg people to not post spoilers?

      Someone please edit this to have spoiler tags. And then you can delete mine or edit to nothing or leave it if you like.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

      1. I just point out the different in the LN and Anime that so many people have already pointed out in the first season here. Beside I don’t put any spoiler there..I made sure to say nothing that would happen in the future.

        noir
        Reply

      2. No, the attack scene was a cliffhanger we weren’t shown yet. We have no idea HOW it looks in the anime. We will find out NEXT episode. If you wanted to explain this after next episode it MIGHT not be a spoiler (although you still have to be careful about that because the anime doesn’t perfectly follow the book order and a lot of people accidentally spoiled Tohru’s paralysis thinking that the anime wasn’t going to reveal it later).

        But to explain a scene in excruciating detail when we haven’t seen it yet and what we have seen was VERY OBVIOUSLY meant to be fast and hidden and confusing is most definitely a spoiler. Generally, unless you’re putting something basic as all get out from the LNs, you either just shouldn’t, or you should put it in tags.

        KaleRylan
        Reply

      3. Oh you meant that…its true that I assume that NHK is going to skip that scene cos its not really fit for children. My bad then..take that out from my post and the point still stand. Humm I should have choose another example scene.

        Either someone spoiler that part or delete the whole line of post I don’t mind.

        noir
        Reply

      4. None of what he said is a spoiler, if you had watched the episode, the scene is over and done with. He was merely highlighting the differences between the source material and the adaptation for what was already shown. Stop overreacting just for the sake of it.

        As you can see, the source material featured a lot more dismemberment and raw brutality, most of the original incidents of PK’ing were fueled more by sadism than any potential gain that killing another player would give them.

        Giorno Giovanna
        Reply

      5. Again, we do not know what happened to her in the anime. All we know is she was attacked. We will find out what happened next episode. This is on purpose. It is called a cliffhanger. It is meant to be a mystery.

        Explaining exactly what happened to her in the scene when we are not meant to know yet what happened to her in the scene is a spoiler.

        And it’s generally accepted around here that if you’re going to explain anything, especially something as potentially spoiler as the cliffhanger ending of an episode in excruciating detail from the LNs, just put it in spoiler tags for politeness.

        KaleRylan
        Reply

      7. From what I see, There wasn’t any spoiler there. The scene mention is already done in the anime, Its very very tame compare to LN but the scene is done.

        IF you have actually read his post you would know he was describing how different/brutal the scene in the LN. All he mention was how she was attacked. He even let out the result of the scene and make it the same as the anime.

        Reader30891
        Reply

      8. On the spoiler (or not): it’s a borerline case. Next episode we’ll probably learn why it was such a big deal, which may have been clear how it was presented in the LN but wasn’t here. So explaining the whole thing from an LN perspective basically “gives the answer” to an anime-only viewer, which is tantamount to spoiling. But it’s understandable that you didn’t think of that since the scene has passed and you saw people misunderstanding.

        Added tags in case.

        Stilts
        Reply

      9. Actually I was just explaining why death is not a minor inconvenience in that world using an example.
        I just happen to grab the nearest example, one that was recently on my mind.
        I wasn’t even explaining why that specific event was a big deal or not.

        And it was your comment that shocked and spur me write the whole thing stilts. 😀
        I never realize the perspective of an anime-only viewer on that subject was that different, assuming that he already know about the censorship. (It was mentioned a lot in S1)

        I should have add spoiler tags just to be sure.

        noir
        Reply

  11. Now this is how you properly handle romance. Henrietta’s quiet musings on her minor infatuation are one of the most realistic and pragmatic portrayals seen in a good long while; for all those fears last season of Log Horizon turning into some Shiroe-focused harem adventure I think the actions this episode can help to alleviate them, the author clearly knows exactly what they are doing here.

    Akatsuki’s struggle is especially interesting as it too shows a lot of good writing. For this point I’d argue that Akatsuki is not so much lacking confidence as fearing that she is no longer useful; for Akatsuki validation came from Shiroe, without Shiroe appearing to place confidence in her (by giving her important tasks) she feels she is useless. It’s why Akatsuki is floating around trying to find about the teachings and acquire them as she believes until she can prove her strength to Shiroe he will continue to leave her on the sidelines; confidence in herself is what she loses when her source of validation vanishes. If you ever needed evidence of how the main currency of girls is attention this is a pretty good piece of it.

    The irony in all of this though is how Akatsuki is completely wrong, Shiroe has not lost faith nor trust in her and likely has given her the equally important task of princess protection (Shiroe likely fears assassination to drive a wedge between the People of the Land and the Adventurers). The problem is that Shiroe cannot explain these things very well as he cannot see the problem for it has not been directly stated to him. Shiroe’s and Akatsuki’s relationship currently is the quintessential “talking past one another” problem, Shiroe cannot see the problem and Akatsuki cannot openly state the problem as both are effectively novices in the game of socialization.

    Oh how I get giddy for well constructed characters 😛

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. Well said.

      I agree with all of this. I love that this isn’t YET ANOTHER LN with a zero-thought harem plot that takes away from an otherwise good story. And yes, Shiroe’s situation with Akatsuki is interesting cause it highlights one of SHiroe’s very real flaws: he’s bad at understanding people.

      At face value this is a really common flaw in fiction; everyone and their mother’s protagonist is a ‘lone wolf’ or whatever. But Shiroe is interesting because he’s not really a loner. He’s fine with being with people, talking with people, working with people, he just doesn’t get their emotions so he has a tendency to do things in a way that causes emotional issues among others, whether it’s akatsuki’s lack of confidence here or all of akiba’s belief that he’s a secret tyrant last season.

      Also, the harem aspect is interesting because Shiroe DOES have a number of women interested in him but it’s not handled like a ‘harem.’ Instead it’s handled rather realistically. We’ve got Akatsuki, the ‘real’ love interest. Plus Minami, who is SOMETHING, and we can be fairly sure will drop some form of a bomb on the plot whenever she does start effecting it again. Henrietta, who has a crush. Minori, who’s very attracted to him, but it’s unclear how far she’d ever even try to take it, and he clearly has no interest beyond platonic in her. And then the villain, who’s got some weird interest in him.

      That’s five women with more than normal platonic interest in him, which is more than enough for a harem, but it’s all handled very realistically and it’s the kind of relationships that CAN happen at the same time in real life. Heck, I’ve got a bit of it right now. It’s just handled in a very believable way.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

      3. Kanami seems more likely to gather her own harem than getting herself romantically involved with Shiroe if you ask me. Oh well, I guess we just have to wait for her official appearance later this season to find out for sure.

        Glacierfairy
        Reply

  13. …treating this attempted murder as a big deal

    Couple of things (and I agree with what you mentioned):
    – She was attacked in a fight-free zone; it shouldn’t have happened,
      and the “game” regulators didn’t interfere;
    – Was that weapon the one from the shop (just thought of that); and
    – If it was, is there something special about being killed with that weapon.

    The only things that’s buggin’ me about Akatsuki x Shiroe is the lack of communication.
    Heck, even Denki-gai no Honya-san is doing a better job of establishing
    their character’s interest  in each other than Log Horizon, IMHO.
    (Although I do understand that Log Horizon isn’t a romance.)

    Looks like next episode will have more action, though!

    mac65
    Reply

    1. On the romance though I think that’s the point. It’s not (knowingly) reciprocated yet. Akatsuki is infatuated with Shiroe but through a combination of her constant RPing and lack of confidence and other stuff hasn’t pushed it with him. As for Shiroe it’s unclear he has any romantic interest in her at all. He’s blushed a few times so presumably he thinks she’s cute, but that doesn’t mean much.

      So it’s not really that it’s a relationship with poor communication/writing, it’s a relatively well written (IMO) situation where two people have such bad communication that there is no relationship.

      We can assume they may have something later but at this stage they really have nothing.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

  16. while the murder might seem like “its only little PK”
    -the pain is probably real for the victims now after Apocalypse…

    other than that a lot of character building for akatsuki and Lenessia, and even Henrietta…
    dat one sided crush… I know dat feeling all too well…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  19. just a thought but is shiroe having the round table research duping? he doesn’t seem to care about game balance to collect his money and the getting the raid only items was trusted to production guilds.

    Aoyuku
    Reply

  20. Why I can’t seem to post anymore here? Randomc likes so much my posts that it literally (h)ate them 🙁

    Anyway what happened to Minori this week? She looks horribad. Deen, stop deenizing, will you!?!

    Solaris
    Reply

  22. Finally caught up so many will miss this so will save longer version for next time.

    Lenessia and the Adventurers is sort of like trying to live with the high elfs as a human in The Lord of the Rings. 6ft 4 inch Gladreal, a 20 on the human scale of beauty can seam like a young maiden (roughly 12 or so) in personality, so very approachable some times, but you can’t forget she’s an extremely powerful enchanter who’s way over 7000 years old, older than the human race in LOR think about knowing someone mentioned in Genesis before the Adam and Eve story. (her life in the Undying Lands before she came to Middle Earth was before time started to be measured in human years, hard to find a estimation the one I found she’s roughly over 10,000 perhaps my thousands more)

    I sure Lenessia is having a lot of trouble with knowing Shiro and Crusty are hundreds of years old to her and that almost everyone she is dealing with is way older than her and will look the same when she dies of old age. Also more powerful than any person she grew up with. Add on top normal cultural shock

    RedRocket
    Reply

  23. So not to bring up the eye topic again, but I rewatched this episode and paid specific attention to how the female character eyes were drawn. What surprised me was how many of them actually have unique styles to the coloring, for example Akatsuki’s iris have a vertical gradient.

    Lenessia’s does actually have a distinction between her iris and pupil, but the colors are so close and the border so blurred that I am not surprised how many people see it as being ‘lifeless’ or ‘doll like’.

    Longhaul
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *