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)
Tensions escalate at the Conference as the Lords who represent the People of the Land scramble to decide what to do in the face of a mounting goblin force. Meanwhile, the teachers and students of the training camp have taken the fight to the goblins directly, drawing out small patrols and destroying them as they advance, hoping to slow the tide as it rolls over the land of Yamato.
With the famous Knights if Izumo missing in action, their strongholds and forts abandoned, the Lords decide to withhold the information from Shiroe and the others, hoping to entice them into volunteering troops without revealing their desperate position. While Shiroe nor Crusty can confirm that the Knights are missing, they do suspect that for one reason or another, the Knights will not be available to deal with the goblin threat, and enter a meeting with the intention of drawing out as much information as they can and holding back the potential offer of amassing forces for the People of the Land.
This all goes mostly how you’d expect from political games – the lords get indignant, the Akihabara Round Table responds that it’s unreasonable and disrespectful to assume their pets just willing to jump at any command or request given to them. It goes round and round for a few minutes before something changes the entire game plan on both sides – Princess Lenessia.
Believing in respect, honesty, and the desire to show she’s not just a stupid, lazy princess, Lenessia confesses to Crusty and the others that the Knights of Izumo are missing, and that The People of the Land don’t just want, but need the support of the Adventurers. Realizing that they’re free from bonds, oaths, or duties that would require them to assist, she asks to be escorted to Akihabara by Crusty to plead her case, and ask the Adventurers herself for assistance. When you want something from someone, you’d be amazed at how far a little respect and courtesy will get you.
In Summary:
The goblin threat is clearly mounting, and though we haven’t seen the full size of this army on display, the tensions between all the characters in the show lend a significant amount of weight to crisis. While the teachers and students from the training camp are continuing their hit-and-run tactics against the force, the numbers are still overwhelming. The tensions at the conference and the sly political games both sides initially intend to play also show that both sides are attempting to keep from showing their full strength and resources, keeping information to themselves so that they can position themselves better for the shaky tensions between The People and the Adventurers. But Princess Lenessia, who has been up to this point fairly lazy and presented as not really caring much about politics or what’s going on around her, recognizes very quickly the situation that The People find themselves in. Instead of squandering the opportunity and possibly destabilizing the negotiations up to this point, she offers to go and rally an army herself, which leaves everyone (especially Crusty) in absolute shock.
It’s subtle, but Crusty’s influence on the Princess finally comes out in this episode. The People of the land are somewhat bound to the lands they rule and serve, and their positions in the world, but Lenessia recognizes that they need not be. Even though Adventurers are free, and technically immortal (though there is that problem of memory loss that The People are not currently aware of) they are not infinite in number or of a single mind. But Lenessia breaks out of the mold that The People have been operating in for so long, and with that, shows that The People as much as the Adventuers are in control of their lives and their destiny, and that only through respect and honesty with one and other will either of them accomplish anything.
These are the kinds of episodes I was looking forward to seeing out of this show, and Lenessia’s visit to Akihabara will probably be a mix of great character interactions and some humorous “This is how the world works!?” moments from Lenessia. As long as they keep driving the story forward and don’t lose the momentum of the goblin threat, Log Horizon is going to continue to improve and draw me in with the story.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Intel Alienware laptop, Windows 7, 25” HP2509m screen at 1920×1080 resolution
