First Impressions / Log Horizon

「ひばりたちの羽ばたき」 (Hibari-tachi no Habataki)
“The Skylarks Take Flight”

If you hit on Souji, you’re gonna have a bad time.

What Was The Point?

That’s the question Minori and the others were wrestling with in the aftermath of the battle. It doesn’t feel like they were able to accomplish anything—the town still got trashed, the Odyssey Knights kept dying, and all they had to show for it was getting their wyvern skins a little early. I felt this was a good ending to the arc (and beginning of the next one), because it wrapped up these questions in a way that was satisfying without being too easy—exactly as Log Horizon should.

Tohya’s was done well. Convincing the Odyssey Knights to stop dying during the battle would have rang hollow—they haven’t taken this path to be swayed by a random kid. But Head Death Knight-san sure looked pensive when he and the others were leaving town. Sometimes there’s value in saying your piece, even if it leads to nowhere.

Better still was Isuzu’s song. That was the truly satisfying part of the episode (along with the return to Akihabara … warm’n fluffy all around!). Adding a forty-third song to the People of the Land’s limited repertoire is huuuuge. They might be dissatisfied with adventurers, and the Odyssey Knights in particular, but that song will endure. Isuzu’s music has gained a sort of immortality, and that’s something to be damn proud of.

Adventurer Problems, People of the Land Problems

Speaking of the People of the Land’s dissatisfaction, I wasn’t surprised when Rudy tried to hustle the others out of town. Now, I’m an American, so I have some experience being part of a powerful foreign group who barges into other people’s territory and starts meddling in the attempt to help. I understand Minori and the others’ inclination, but this isn’t their city, and the People of the Land aren’t so beaten down that they can’t repair it on their own—far from it. As outsiders, they would just make the rebuilding effort awkward in an attempt to assuage their own guilt. Better to just drop off the supplies they don’t need and skedaddle.

It does suck for the adventurers though, because they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place where People of the Land perceptions are concerned. I get the feeling that, no matter what the Odyssey Knights did—even if they had been intent on fighting outside the city, and on protecting the people as much as they could—they’d get shit for not being perfect, for not protecting the city completely. It reminds me of people wanting stuff from the government, and then complaining when they don’t get what they were unrealistically expecting. Fortunately, the adventurers don’t really have to give a shit.

The Genius of Omnisexuality and Mind Control

Two things are setting us up for the next arc. First, more mention of the unrest among Akiba’s growing lower class. Not much to say there yet, other’n Naotsugu is right that this one will probably be much worse than the first one, when the creation of tasty food, industry, and festivals was enough to distract people for a while. It’s really no surprise that some people can’t adapt. Plenty of people can’t adapt to real life, and a new world isn’t liable to change that. It’ll just change who is pissed off.

Perhaps bigger, or at least more central this episode, was the introduction of Camus—I mean Camaysar, the Genius of Marriage. We saw a glimpse of the geniuses during the Kanami arc episode, but now it looks like we’ll be getting more information on them, courtesy of Roe2’s letter.

But for the moment, I just enjoyed seeing Camaysar get punched. The show did a good job of arousing our suspicion when he was suddenly arm in arm with the women who rejected him earlier, so the mind control was no surprise. All I have to say is, messing with West Wind Brigade members? Not a good idea. But as scary as Souji can be, Souji’s harem is way scarier. Propose to Souji at your own peril!

Looking Ahead – West Wind Rumble

Next time it looks like the West Wind Brigade is going to rumble with Camaysar, and we’ll learn more about the geniuses (+ maybe Roe2?). I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the previous arc, but I’m looking forward to this last one for sure.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The newbie arc ends decently enough, and we begin the final arc with Shiroe, Souji, Souji’s harem, & the Geniuses #loghora s2e21

Random thoughts:

  • I liked how Tohya noticed Dariella’s nails, and then mentioned that he hasn’t chewed his own since he got to this world. That means not even when he and Minori were held captive. To the Odyssey Knights and Londark, this world is a frustrating hell, but to Tohya and others like him, it’s a gratefully accepted new life. A second chance.
  • Rudy, nobody is going to go to you for love advice, you silly wanko you.
  • This dude is like an evil, actually-effective-at-“romance” Rudy! Kill it. Kill it with fire.
  • Frustrated Shiroe. Good to see that from time to time.
  • I like this new cleric, Kurinon. She’s feisty!

My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now available in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel short story. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Your best work is behind you, Wasted work, Vemödalen, and My lost job, and the beginning of my travels.

Full-length images: 42, 43.

 

Preview

25 Comments

  8. Rudy is smarter than his goofy persona suggests… He knew exactly what kind of tension can rise between Landers and Adventurers in wake of such big battle and collateral damage…
    Good news is that Isuzu seems finally to break through her artistic inadequacy feelings. After all she introduced first new hit since, like, ever! Again Rudy is there to help her, including handkerchief 🙂
    Tohya noticing Nureha’s nail-biting habit is another nice thing. One wonders how he felt when crippled in our world…
    I am dying of curiosity about the contents of Roe2’s letter.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    As for the Geniuses, we probably will be seeing more of them, and while the one dedicated to Marriage was just hilarious (don’t hit on harem leads… it deserves immortalizing in Evil Overlord’s list!), it seems more are on their way and possibly more dangerous…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  9. Well, what the Kids succeeded was in given Hope, and thats thanks to Isuzu’s song. Hope can be a Anchor to life on, perhaps even for these Knights. It will need time to grown a beautiful Plant

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  10. Well, if i think for the Afterlife of Log Horizon (well, when they found a way out, for these that want return to the old world and for these that want to stay)

    Well, if they shutdown the Server with force, for some players it will be the same like these Knights, just the opposite side. You can not make everyone happy. Well i am about to drift off

    Tohya, perhaps Log Horizon experiences will help him to understand that his Sister love and trust in the real World is not out of pity, because he sits in the Wheelchair. Why i am think that? Well in Log Horizon he was proud of walking on his feets again, not being broken. Perhaps this Game was a good choice for overcome his mental instability. Sure some kind such games can be addicted, but right used it can also helping peoples. Just Imagine the peoples unable to move after an incident and are not ready to accept that. Something like in SAO the “Heart-feeling part” with this Girl bedridden. So do not throw this technology into the Hell pit.

    This Arc also helped Serana to grown a little mature, to see the truth behind her crush to Nayanta-san. Perhaps she began to ask her own emotions and how Nayanta-san feels. When do “Kids” get a gist themselves, in how others think about them? So show mercy in their younger Age, if they seems selfish for our mature eyes. They do not know this better, give them some guidance. But this will need time, so have some patience

    Yes, Log Horizon seems like a wonderful world, where they use the VR World, to teach about life in the RL world. For players that flees from reality, to begin or gain courage to face reality

    Log Horizon is not only good in the Story, it is good in the whole summary of its essence. Thats why i love this Show. it is more then on the first Look. entertainment for young, mature (Shiro-san and “Ninja-girl”) and old (Nayanta-san class) ones

    i better stop, or this will turn out in a bigger Wall of text

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

    1. offtopic question:

      Lately i saw Carnival Phantasm, and there this Male Cat in the Bar.. is he the same Seiju as Nayanta?

      But, well Carnival Phantasm is in short the essence of Fate animes.. the best Episode for me was 1. The Race, 2. Berserker goes shopping and 3. Rin-san and the “Video Recorder” 🙂

      btw, no one noticed the forgotten “Assassin” animation on the OP? it goes on on all Specials Episodes..

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

    2. If it a server it on a Alian spaceship or something and hundreds or thousands of years ahead of ours in technology to use artificial Intelligence and handle all these AI’s all running at one time. After all these players were sucked into their computer that works like the ones we are writing on so we dealing with some science fiction future technology so I don’t even know how the players will be able to deal with technology that ahead of ours.

      Unfortunately for the Oddisy Knights they have suffered so much memory loss that they will not be able to be the same people they were before.

      RedRocket
      Reply

  11. And thus the series moves to LN material that’s not officially released. Interesting to see how that will work. At least it can’t be worse than Kanami’s “arc”.

    Rudy offering the handkerchief to Isuzu so naturally was beautiful, that might have been my favorite scene this episode. His expression when Isuzu blowed her nose was great too.

    This dude is like an evil, actually-competent-at-romance Rudy! Kill it. Kill it with fire.

    I have to question your morals if mind control counts as competency in romance =P
    Agreed on killing it with fire part though. Release the sorcerers!

    Erimaki
    Reply

    1. The light novel chapters are on the authors website, so they have been officially released, just not in book format. Certainly I would suggest learning the language if you want to be up to date. I have no clue if any groups translate it.

      Lyfe
      Reply

  13. I think this episode very nicely tied together this arc and gave me some feels. Some major world events were shown just in a slow way.

    A new song that will end up sang everywhere. Isuzu unfortunately your not going to be getting superstar royalties this is middle ages I doubt the People of the Land have gotten around to copywriter. I don’t think that this will ever cross Isuzu’s mind though.

    Of course as a NHK Education show we are going to get lots of the teens after all the show is being bought for them. Will be a delay as we will be out of material unless they start adapting all the side stories including the now cannon fan fiction. Me I’d be in for some DDD stories but as that is a step down from the world influencing type of story I can see many not as in to it.

    RedRocket
    Reply

    1. Realistically we won’t see a Season 3 until at least 2016. Fall 2015 may be possible if they do a reduced episode count. It’s a case of not enough material. I just want something confirmed, then I’ll happily wait a year or more.

      Lyfe
      Reply

  14. https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
    Now Roe2 just reminds me of Mary Poppins with that umbrella.
    https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
    [And cue the happy ending music here.]
    https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
    Finally we see a guy make “that.”
    https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
    Did Rudy expect that his handkerchief would come back to him clean?
    https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
    Where’s that magic bag?

    random viewer
    Reply

  15. Ep 22:

    Looks like this Episode begin to introduce us to the first steps into the Final Arc
    Many talk, but some secrets were revealed so, you should watch it, if you want to know about the background of this World

    i give it a 6/10 because it has many talking

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

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