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「英雄か群衆か」 (Eiyū ka gunshū ka)
“Hero or Mob”
Wasn’t expecting to enjoy that as much as I did.
When details on Luck and Logic first came around, I wrote it off as dismissable. The premise seemed like an overly convoluted explanation for flashy powers, the costume designs looked gaudy, and above all else, it seemed like nothing more than bloated marketing to push sales for the physical card game. While I stand by a few of these critiques, they all fade into the background for a surprisingly enticing and entertaining first episode.
While this is the part where I usually explain the basic premise of Luck and Logic, I’m instead recommending that (if you’re intending on giving it a watch) you forgo any research and head in blind. Upon my viewing, I knew little to nothing about Luck and Logic aside from the subjects of my predisposed gripes, and I think it fed into one of the strongest features of the narrative.
Impressive Exposition
Luck and Logic’s debut does a fantastic job with world-building. Aside from a brief bit of narration describing the concept of “logic” in this world (ultimately irrelevant to the plot of at least this first episode), the entirety of the exposition is cleverly hidden beneath details of the story. I don’t want to give much away, but a lot of the fun I had was trying to piece together the nature of this world, and the history of its characters. Brief hints, name-drops, and flashbacks are cleverly employed to feed the viewer morsels of the lore (what is the source of these powers, what happened in the past with our main cast, and so on). This first episode never resorts to a lengthy, humdrum of narration and explanation, instead opting to seamlessly blend exposition with narrative—letting the audience use their mind to figure out exactly what’s going on here, mentally stimulating the viewer and keeping them intrigued to find out more. This is a tremendous testament to the skill of the writers—this is not so usually achieved.
Now whether this was intentional or just a result of my ignorance of the lore is irrelevant—the effect of exposition which provides neither too much or too little remains.
Furthermore, the episode doesn’t answer all the questions that you will no doubt have (again, if you go in blind like myself). Through common sense, you can piece most of the basics together, but this first episode still leaves the greater details up in the air (like what convenants are, the history with ‘logic’ users, and so forth)—left for subsequent episodes to take care of. It provides all that is needed and leaves the more interesting stuff for the plot going forward—exactly what a first episode should do.
I apologize that my writing here is intentionally vague—it’s best that those who want to watch know as little as possible going in.
Strong Presentation
Another amazing quality of Luck and Logic is its production value. My goodness is this show pretty. The animation is beautifully done, the color palette is pleasing to the eye, and character designs are unexpectedly elegant. The only time this show ever looks a little off is whenever characters suit up for battle, as garishly complicated costumes and jarring CG take center stage. Even these things, though, aren’t nearly as bad as one might previously expect, and are likely unavoidable with a show which draws its source material from a Japanese card game.
The tone in general is surprisingly subdued and unobtrusive. The pacing is in no hurry to get anywhere, and the music perfectly complements the solemn expressions of the visuals (again, outside of the action). I’d even go so far as to say that Luck and Logic sports some of the best aesthetics of the winter season thus far.
The Verdict
While I’m raving on what pleasantly surprised me, there were certainly noteworthy missteps this episode made. In particular, a few scenes and events seem a little out of place and arbitrary, and it occasionally became pretty obvious what this show was ultimately conceived to promote.
However, these hiccups are ultimately insignificant when placed next to everything this first episode did right in introducing a season. It made great strides in establishing at least the protagonist and function of the world while leaving out enough to be addressed in greater detail later on. While its concluding events left me somewhat doubtful as to whether this show will be one for me in the long run (I smell harem), as an introduction to a completely new show, this episode did everything I’d want out of a series premiere. Plus it’s damn good to look at. Luck and Logic definitely deserves to be considered on its own merits—outside of the card game—as having the potential for a legitimately competent show. If I didn’t already know, I might’ve never figured that Luck and Logic was based on a trading card game (something which later episodes will probably make very clear). Give it a watch and find out if it might be something for you—its quality demands at least that.
OP Sequence
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OP: 「STORY」 by (Kensho Ono)
Too much Tales of Zestiria vibes – the fusion of two characters, the calm mature female with the long hair, the contract,.. I really don’t like it if they immediately adapt ideas from other stories and I had the feeling they did that here.
But I agree that if you overlook this the episode itself was good. Though the last part with sharing rooms to tighten the bonds was pretty dumb :S
>] “Too much Tales of Zestiria vibes – the fusion of two characters, the calm mature female with the long hair, the contract,.. I really don’t like it if they immediately adapt ideas from other stories and I had the feeling they did that here.”
Ah, so Zestiria is going to be the martyr to take out against this show, is it? Oh, alright…
First of all, and with all respect, there is no anime that doesn’t “borrow” ideas from some other material these days in some form or another, and anyone who goes into a new show expecting otherwise is fooling themselves. You are setting yourself up for disappointment thinking like that.
Secondly, I haven’t the faintest idea why you seem to have a problem with Athena as a “calm mature female with long hair” other than that there’s a similar character in Zestiria. Wut, you would’ve preferred her to be a short-haired tsundere with an attitude? Goodness knows we don’t have enough of those already… >___>
I love the fact that the MC isn’t your typical newbie who has tons of hidden potential. He has done this before and probably is much more experienced then we are let on.
I agree, its refreshing to have a strong male MC who is not a bitch, not some shy high schooler, not some brooding `I hate the world` kind of guy. Hes COMPETANT doesnt whine and does what he needs to do. Fuck that `Hidden Potential` shit, that just means 24 of the 26 episodes of getting Shit on by everyone while acting like a little bitch cause hes weak or something, while all the supporting characters are doing all the cool shit. I instantly drop shows like that nowdays i.e the baluga rakuga -something ouro shit show. . . I was going to turn it off in the first five minutes as it was showing the mc as a little kid being a weakling. . .it fast fowarded ten years, and hes STILL weak. fuck that, dropped instantly.
That show aside, this season is seemingly going to be good (which is rare for winter seasons) with a lot of decent competent male MCs leading the way. well except the show I mentioned earlier and Big Order, that first episode smelled of pretentiousness, didnt really establish what was going on besides the fact that their world sucks, mc is a whiny bitch and discount Yuno is trying to kill the MC in his dreams or something idk, I had to look the shit up on wiki to figure out wth was going on. . .and when I have to do that, you`ve failed as a writer director first episodes/chapters are NOT supposed to be confusing as hell, that only works in movies (Memento is a good example of using in medias res plus other confusing elements) the only thing close in anime was berzerk, but that was just in medias res without confusing bullshit to cover the fact that the writing, and characters most likely suck (or the writers are not confident in their work). Other than those two shows and the shit shows that appear every season that arent worth mentioning, (especially those 7 minute shorts…ok) this season has gotten me more excited for anime than I have been for the past few years. . . hope they dont disappoint.
Part 1 of 3 passed
Even if i do not understand these Logic at all and what surrounds them, this Show looks promosing. Pacing, Emotions and Action seems “All Green!”
Fun Fact: The director of the cult classic Last Exile (and its critically panned sequel) is helping this series.
The lack of fan service in this episode surprised me; I’ve seen a few pictures of the TCG-related material and they range from tasteful to downright repulsive. I also smell harem shenanigans on horizon, but if the show handles it sensitively, I don’t think I’ll mind. (Heck, Last Exile was a harem that existed before the word became near-universally despised- correct me if I’m wrong, but I recall almost every major female in the show having a thing for Claus. I still love it, though.)
More than anything, this premiere, with its competence and underlying sincerity, reminds of 2014’s Buddy Complex- and that was a show I really liked. At the very least, that’s a good sign.
* helming
Gah
Yeah LAst exile was the Shit, Alex was a Fuckinn` BOSS Claus was meh, I could understand lavi and the mean short haired ace pilot bitch falling for him but the rest of the women. . .and sophia wtf. . .that came out of the fking blue. I and most other people werent really innudated with harem b.s. as we are now so most of us were like `yeah that`s random` and wrote that part off as a misstep or something.
Thats one of those shows where the MC was BORING as FUCK but the REST of the cast, from the allies to the enemies, to the world in which they lived in the mythology behind it and the MUSIC and designs of the ships and characters were just so amazing that I just overlooked Claus (imo he was just a badly made character)
The sequel was just stupid and I dropped in like 3-4 eps in. A sequel really wasnt needed. All the lose ends were tied up in the first season.
I dont usually like harem shows, 99.9% of them I just hate, usually if a harem show is going to be good YOU BETTER HAVE a badass MC that is pretty deserving of all the attention he gets. if hes some whiny kid that for SOME REASON women are all over him…ugh gtfo.
My only concerns is the hints dropped surrounding the protagonist are painting a personality/character-type I know I’m gonna abhor. On the other hand, the fact that he’s already done this work before is refreshing. He’s a veteran. He’s experienced and knows what the heck he’s doing unlike some fresh newbie imbued with the powers of the chosen one.
Had to give props to the MC for not being stubbornly obtuse for 15 minutes or so before finally accept his fate. He knows shits and handles the battle gracefully. I also appreciate how he flatly refuses the introductory stuff for sleep. Aside from that, this was a pretty entertaining premiere. With the promise of over the top battles and explosions with next to no substance, it pretty much fullfils my seasonal needs for empty calories.
Not much more to say other than I liked it and it seems fun. I also don’t get the harem vibe, more OTP with Athena, maybe a triangle with tsundere-squadleader-chan. I feel like the rest will be how the two-person units work together and the overall interaction as a squad.
Well. That was a thing.
Not sure I approve of him being so ridiculously more powerful than the girls. It kind of relegates them to near uselessness.
I dunno if it’s power or experience, since he still needed them to finish off the bull. They’re noobs to the bigger stuff, he knows what he’s doing, maybe?
We didn’t see him have a weapon, I mean all he did was shield and reflect some of the damage, so I wouldn’t go so far to say he’s powerful (and he does have experience so it makes sense that he knows what he’s doing), he’s their defense.
Calling it in now, he’s a Strategic Tank with maybe one OHKO desperation move. He goes in, takes all the hits and calls all the shots.
Then you weren`t paying attention. I guess that`s a `Thing` to.
We did however see him using a sword(?) to cut one those things down in the prologue.
Ditto, Jiggles—I didn’t go in expecting a lot, and in fact was reluctant to start the episode. But I ended up enjoying it. I especially liked how the main character is a TANK whose main weapon is a SHIELD rather than the usual sword-wielding unstoppable knight guy. Hopefully that means that he’ll always have to work together with the others, since his offensive capabilities will be limited. Or at least that he’ll usually work with them for the same. At least it’s a change.
Well, he mentioned her name is Athena. And she is a Warrior Goddess, She use a Shield and a Spear. I bet the other Girls there, have also Goddess names
It would be nice to see a main character with a shield done right for a change (*cough*Absolute Duo*cough*).
I seem to like it if the MC doesn’t have to stumble and bumble his way into experience. This guy knows what he’s doing and that’s a plus to me.
Too much is happening Too quickly.
Now I don’t about pacing but for me too much happened so quickly in short breath of the episode.
Artwork is great but what good is the artwork if the characters don’t draw your attention. I was left bemused by the events as we hardly know anything about the main and his connection or what happened.
The Jokes weren’t that funny and the whole “bad guy” appearing is even more confusing as who the hell is he and what does he have to do with the anything.
Give it one or two episode before I drop it. I hope they slow it down and explain it before rushing again.
If someone blogs this show there needs to be a running tally of every time someone says Logic… pretty sure if you turned it into a drinking game someone would die.
yeah that was kind of funny, I guess they do that to sell the card game lol
I could feel the semantic satiation setting in as the episode went on.
ep 02:
While watching this episode, something came into my mind. Their “Trance” is more like the one in “Tales of Zestiria”. Since them this “Combine an Human and Spiritual lifeforms” into 1 form, it resurfaced again. While i said again? You know the Valkyrie Profile 2 game? there at the final battle even 3 Spiritual lifeforms combine in 1 Human body and the Human appearance changed.. this is my first memory of this kind of combining
see, no spoilers here.