Log Horizon 2 | Episode 12
Jun Kuga: Brilliant.
Once again Log Horizon manages to deliver a solution to a problem, which is completely understandable and logical, yet one nobody had considered or thought about.
If you are having trouble affording the upkeep on something, sure you can go and get money, or negotiate lower prices – but what better way than to dispose of your liability in the first place, and make it so it is no longer available for anyone to own? And whilst there, with infinite wealth, he does the same for every other zone and facility also. Ownership be damned, fairness is king – it brings the adventurers closer to the POTLs anyway.
Demikas has another adorable moment with his Mamikowife, Upashi. She’s still fantastic, and way too good for him, but all the same, am happy for him.
My senses were proven right again as it turned out that the wonderful and beautiful idol Tetra… is hiding a little package.
And finally… Akatsuki is adorable in her wait for her lord this week. The casual clothing she was wearing is particularly nice, but her reaction clinging to Shiroe was more adorable than normal.
Sly05: Yeah, that was a really clever solution to the problem and something I hadn’t considered. Shiroe is right that adventurers being the sole group able to purchase zones would lead to tensions with the PoTL in the future and this will go a long way to bringing the two groups closer together while preventing exploits (at least in Yamato). I do wonder if the series ever expands beyond the Japan region and we see what’s happening to players elsewhere in the world? It’s probably beyond the scope of this season (unfortunately), but I’m curious how the rest of the world is fairing.
Haha, you were right about Tetra. I probably wouldn’t have picked up on that unless others here didn’t voice their suspicions, but as soon as it was mentioned its clear that she acts a bit too ove-the-top girly. I got a laugh out of her continued attempts to pick on Naotsugu during his reunion with Marie. I still wonder if there are any other major characters playing opposite gender that we don’t know about yet? It is pretty common in online games (I play a female Hunter in Destiny myself).
Magewolf: I think Tetra is an actual trap not a male player with a new female body.
Sly05: Maybe you’re right and she’s transgendered. It might also be the changes to people playing opposite gender that was brought up a few episodes ago. We’ll have to see if we get any backstory on her.
bctaris: Given the attention to the issue of gender-swapped players back in episode 6, as part of the ways the world is conforming to the players’ presence, I think it’s much more likely she is (or was) a male playing as a female character. We saw the reaction of one or two characters in that previous episode who seemed shocked by the revelation, to indicate that there are more than just Tetra. (As you note, it’s not uncommon in the least. I’ve long played certain games with female characters, as well. ) The difference is if it’s gender-swapping for the fun of it because you like watching a woman–in my case–in the game role or the thrill of an alter ego, or if it is indeed an expression of true gender identity. Until we have that back story with Tetra we won’t know.
But the problem, as I mentioned at the time, is that the story’s not especially clear on all of this: are gender-swapped characters actually physically swapped from the beginning or was it always just an outward appearance thing that they had to continue to affect the same as, we’re led to believe, their voices, and that these affectations are becoming real and permanent. (In other words, Tetra won’t have to “act” for very much longer.)
Hitsugi Amachi: In addition to all that, we do see that Plant Hwyaden is lurking in the future. We are introduced to a whole group of them, including Intix who seems to dress like a maid but is really running things. Sure, Nureha, whom we met last season, is the guildmaster, but she seems to spend her time lazing around on pillows and dreaming (of Shiroe). Interesting note is that Tetra was recommended to Shiroe by a former DTP member, Kazuhiko, who seems now to have joined Plant Hwyaden. I wonder what that means in the future.
Looks like a fluff episode for next week, but this was the same style from last season: major story arc complete, put in an episode or two of fluff while building up the next major arc.
bctaris: Ingenious episode, once again. I don’t really see the show anymore as something like an onion, peeling layers back one by one, but as layering things in the other direction and basically evolving in directions, as Jun also suggests, that you don’t quite expect but which are entirely sensible and logical. What’s amazing about it is that these evolutionary branches can reach back to the very beginning. How the money issue evolved from the very first revelation about being able to buy what were once game zones, to this, is very interesting when you put all of its pieces together. (The contract trick, of transferring liability back to the server/world, was what Shiroe must have realized back at the Scales Festival, probably in reaction to the economic manipulation going on. But part of what informed it was that very uneven monetary conflict between the Adventurers and PotL.) But there was another thing that evolved over the latter part of this arc from much earlier events.
Shiroe suggested again, as he did way back in the first season after he killed him and returned to Akihabara in discontent, that his demonstrative killing of Demikas (and the whole rescue of Serara in the first place) was mostly about venting his own frustration and confusion with the new world. One of the ways he dealt with that at the time was to hold his cards closer to his vest than ever so that he wouldn’t open himself up to similar out-sized reactions like that, even as he opened up in other ways that benefited his security, like creating his guild and the Round Table. And so all of that leads now to this arc, where that strategy almost backfired on him, and he had to shift again, actually explaining his reasons more to people.
There is character development where a character just changes out of nowhere or in reaction to a random single event, and there is character development like Log Horizon does it, where each shift in a character is entirely predicated on a previous position, and on an entirely traceable and logical path. Nothing is spontaneous. Touno’s characters are developed just as I imagine an RPG adventure game of this magnitude would need to be; that’s really the whole idea.
Oh, and Akatsuki upgraded her armor just a bit, didn’t she? To reflect her new “maturity”.
GingaDaiuchuu: Pretty eventful episode, wrapping up both the raid and the big plot piece Shiroe walked into and returning the team home in time for the next big story to unfold.
But most importantly… they’ve walked right into a trap. Or at least Naotsugu has. More like it grabbed him…
