Log Horizon Episode 21
Nork22: So the Goblin King is holed up in Seventh Fall. The Round Table members decided it’s best not to kill off the Goblin King yet otherwise the Goblin Army will just run around causing a bigger ruckus. A mysterious lady starts telling the children a story about some adventurers saving one of the PotL. It’s identical to what happen a month ago when Shiroe revived Rudy. Who is this mysterious lady? Is she one of the ancient races of Alvs once though long lost? Who knows as she mysterious disappears into the darkness after finish her story to the children. Then Shiroe meets up with Regan again and they talk about the happenings of Yamato. Up North the adventurers up there made life even worse. To the West the Demon Festival of Suzaku Gate has begun. It’s that region’s own version of the Rise of the Goblin King event. All the while, other Adventurers are beginning to trash talk about Shiroe thinking that he is the Shadow Leader that really runs the Round Table (which is true to a point). And Lenessia is made a consular at Akihabara. The better part of the job is 3 meals and naps everyday.
Looks like everything is calming down for the moment. There are hints of romance, but I like how things are being foreshadowed as well outside the region of Akihabara. This is where unfortunately the source materials won’t be able to support another 2 cour at the moment. So I wonder what will happen in the next 4 episodes.
cx217: So the Adventurers of Akibihara and the People of the Land of the League have signed treaties that allows each to treat the others as equals. That, along with Rudy (As an aside, I was surprised when Tetsuya Kakihara said the line in English.), are the final proof that in the world they have to live in, Adventurers and People of the Land are equal individuals.
GingaDaiuchuu: Not as spectacular an episode as the previous one, but that was obvious given the subject matter. For what it is, it’s another interesting bit of seeing the results and setting up for the next part, and for that it’s still quite good. Hopefully it’s got a strong final chunk planned out, because there’s a lot of good material that could come from this.
Buckeye: After the last few episodes were pretty intense, this one is more laid back now that the adventurers have defended their home turf from the invaders, so it’s time they dance away. This episode is a transition into something else as a new threat is coming, but it’s not something they need to worry about right away. But it seems like there are some people who are starting to lose their trust with Shiroe, and it will be interesting to see how all of that plays out. …
cxt217: Not sure about losing trust. Based on what we have seen, the Adventurers who know Shiroe still think highly of him, even if they are taken aback by how he acts. The Adventurers who know of Shiroe by name are the ones who are grumbling, but they never had much reason to trust him to begin with (Generally unknown before the Round Table was formed, poorly regarded after the Round Table was formed.). It appears what is happening is that people are actually talking about it, much to Minori’s distress.
bctaris: I wonder how intentional it was in the animation with how [that mysterious lady] disappeared, vanishing in a pixellated pattern. An animation cue that she just used some kind of portal, or something else. An Alv, or someone connected to Minami?
And that word came up again in regard to the Izumo Knights: precursor. It makes me wonder, again, if they were indeed something like our Elder Tales players here, from an earlier game/world. Might be a wild goose chase, but it’s intriguing.
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EmperorBrandon:
Dang, formal dress Isuzu with her hair down in the next-ep preview is so beautiful. Looking forward to that.
Everyone’s looking great, really. Particularly like Marielle’s look too.
Sly05: I had a hard time figuring out who all the female characters were at the ball as many of them look quite different done up.
EmperorBrandon: Lenessia is worried about the formalities of her new role as ambassador, but of course Crusty is good at reassuring her there, and teasing her again after doing so. 
Poor Minori keeps hearing people badmouthing Shiroe. Does kind of feel like a love triangle is coming with both her and Akatsuki having him in their sights. Whether it does or not, they’re both oh so adorable. Akatsuki had some great scenes of cuteness this episode.
Hitsugi Amachi: Kind of odd in the midst of everything else, there is this love triangle. Does look like it will get some attention next episode.
It’s funny that all Lanessia wants in life is three hots and a cot. She’s lucky she was born a princess, or else she’d not likely ever get her wish.
bctaris: I don’t see as much of a ‘love triangle’ with Minori. A schoolgirl crush, maybe, nothing that actually interferes (even comically). She looks up to Shiroe too much as a mentor, and I think the adoration from that is misinterpreted. With Serara’s much deeper crush I don’t see much reason in the story to have two young girls in love with older players (no pun intended). (Not that ages are very significant here. Putting aside concepts of player age and character age not being equivalent: oldest players are guessed, based on how long ET has been around, in their older 20s, maybe? The kids all young to mid-teens.) Of course, come to think of it, almost none of the female characters have very stable romantic inclinations: even Izusu, looking at someone of contemporary age, has the whole dog issue; and of course there’s Henrietta. The airhead Marielle is the only one portrayed with some sense of maturity, eyeing Naotsugu.
Maybe another small criticism of Touno is that his female characters are all a little too predictably love-sick schoolgirls, while most of his male characters are shown as stoic and disinterested; all of it playing too much to anime/manga tropes instead of more sophisticated character development.
Hitsugi Amachi: And when they’re not, they tend to be stoical and heroic like men (thinking of Big Sister Maid in Maoyu and elements of Akatsuki here, who is normally rather reserved in her behavior). While I like his work, his strongest suits do seem to be plot and world building while his character creation and development is lacking somewhat.
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EmperorBrandon: Not as protracted this time, but there’s some lengthy Regan-induced exposition here too. Getting some ominous hints about stuff going in the different regions and cities further away from the group of adventurers we’re focused on. Interesting to hear of that, and wondering where they will go with the limited time left in this final stretch of episodes.
Hitsugi Amachi: If there were another cour, then I could see this being the start of a large plot arc, but with so little time left I have to wonder whether this will just be a teaser, for which you’ll have to read the novels in order to see it played out.
Sly05: Yes, it does not seem like there are enough episodes left to start another major plot, especially as the next episode looks like it will focus on romance. I guess we’ll see. I would be up for a second season at some point as I ended up enjoying this far more than I initially thought I would.
cxt217: I am really not sure how the series is going to handle the next 3-5 episodes (Assuming the total episode count is 24 to 26.). Normally, a series would be getting into the end game by now, but that is not how the last arc feels, judging by the preview for the next episode. They really could have ended the season (Since it appears there are pitches for a second season going on.) right here. As it is, I get the distinctly unsettling feeling that we have a cliffhanger ending coming…
…Which might mean the second season has been greenlit, perhaps?
Note that Log Horizon has averaged about 5 episodes per volume of the light novels. There are 7 volumes in print right now (Latest one came out in December, 2013.). Even under the best of circumstances, there might be about 1 or 1.5 cour worth of story before they run out of material for a new season.
bctaris: … I’m willing to wait, even for just a single cour. And I wouldn’t even mind a cliffhanger on this one. Any case, something’s going to have to be left open-ended, probably in regards to whatever’s happening in the world at large.
