Log Horizon Episode #07 Anime Review

What They Say:
One day, while playing the online game Elder Tales, 30,000 players suddenly find themselves trapped in another world. There, eight-year veteran gamer Shiroe also gets left behind. The trapped players are still alive, but they remain in combat with the monsters. The players don’t understand what has happened to them, and they flee to Akiba, the largest city in Tokyo, where they are thrown into chaos. Once proud of his loner lifestyle, Shiroe forms a guild called Log Horizon with his old friend Naotsugu, female assassin Akatsuki and others.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
So it seems that I was destined to either become maddened by this show or accept that maybe I had been wrong about a lot of my initial assumptions. Considering I don’t want to go crazy over a cartoon, I’ve decided that I was wrong.

Wrong about what? Well, remember way back when I said that I was incredibly annoyed that cooks could make food that tasted real, and the series was making a really big sticking point about that? Turns out, they not only actually succeed at making it important, but manage to do so while both being cute AND advancing the plot of the series.

This episode revolves around the beginning stages of a long, masterful plan crafted by Shiro. What the ultimate end goal is remains unclear, though we do know rescuing those oppressed and abused by Hamlin is part of that. Nyanta has shared his secrets of cooking with the guild members of Crescent Moon, and with Shiro, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki, Crescent Moon launches a food tent serving the-oh-so-incredible-and-rare food that tastes real to the citizens of Akihabara for a premium, raking in over 40,000 gold in a single day. While it’s nowhere close to the 5,000,000 that Shiro needs for his plan, it’s a step in the right direction and the business not only has to turn hungry customers away but also keep everyone busy gathering ingredients, cook, and shipping the cooked goods.

So, as it turns out, food IS important, and the show deserves a lot of credit for making something so innocuous not only seem important, but actually succeed in doing so. Shiro begins setting the stages for the next phase of his plan as he begins scouting potential building locations for the Log Horizon Guild Hall, and meets with other guild masters as well. Why he’s doing this, and what role they’ll play in his plan is something I’m excited to see play out over the next several episodes.

In Summary:
Log Horizon has surprised me as a show with regards to what is becoming the core plot point of the series (or at the least, the first season). What initially appeared to be the setup for a roaming adventure show has turned into something much more sentimental and I think that’s for the better. Shiro and the rest of the characters we’ve been introduced to in the Crescent Moon Guild all have a strong sense of belonging and ownership to Akihabara, their home city. There are clearly other problems in the other major cities as we saw when Shiro and co. when on their rescue mission, but Akihabara is home. And seeing the people downtrodden and desparate, Shrio seeks to make the city, his home, a better place for everyone. And there’s something very endearing about that in a setting like the one this show has. We’re not off slaying dragons or saving the world from some cataclysmic event (at least, not yet). We’re helping the people of our home city get back on their feet, find hope, and to find a place. As Shiro remarks, “I can’t find a place for myself, until I make one for others. That’s what I’ve come to realize.” That’s a pretty deep and very human insight to make, which is something I think a lot of the “trapped inside a video game/the internet” can fail to deliver on – the human element.

While I hope it doesn’t become a serious trend for the show, the incredibly adorable outfits Crescent Moon uses for their burger stand are pretty damn cute, and this episode has a good mixture of some very serious and emotional moments for characters, but also provides plenty of laughs and “awwwwwwwwws” as well. My faith in this series is slowly becoming restored, and that’s in large part because they’ve made it more clear what direction they’re heading now, and so many of the early episodes or revelations they made are actually beginning to have weight in the world.

Next time: “Villain in Glasses”!

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Intel Alienware laptop, Windows 7, 25” HP2509m screen at 1920×1080 resolution

Daniel Briscoe

Daniel got into anime when he was young by watching the Sci-Fi channel and their ‘Saturday Anime’ block. After renting every video at his local Blockbuster five hundred times, the Toonami block on Cartoon Network invigorated his fandom even more. Daniel has been attending, covering conventions, and writing reviews for the past 9 years.

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