Shiroe discovers that he has to become the change he wants to see in the world.
Creative Staff
Story: Mamare Touno
Art: Kazuhiro Hara
Translation/Adaptation: Taylor Engel
What They Say
Even though peace has seemingly been restored to Akiba, unrest churns beneath its surface. Learning that two of his students–the twins Touya and Minori–have been bound to an unscrupulous guild, Shiroe makes his bid to bring order to the lawless streets. Are his band of handpicked veterans up to the task…?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Log Horizon’s author, Mamare Touno, comments at the end of this volume that volumes 1 and 2 were originally a single continuous book, which explains why this volume feels very much like the second half of the first. It’s well into this second volume when we finally hit upon what this series was named for, the Log Horizon guild.
A populace trapped in a world where money can’t buy you anything of worth, and where death is no longer a threat, the gamers grow bored. That boredom turns ugly when forces team up to exploit the youngsters and less powerful. While the anime adaptation glosses over the threat of sexual assault, the novel does mention that harassment is a problem. (And this is the Japanese server, imagine the horror the American one would be.) The rescue of Serara in volume one was all about pulling her out of a situation like that. Shiroe returns to Akiba a hero to the Crescent Moon Guild, but he’s still disgusted with the city as a whole and a bit disgusted at himself.
Nyanta holds the secret to solving one of the Elder Tale world’s problems, he knows how to cook and make real food. Suddenly there is something of value that improves living conditions, and a new economy is born. However Shiroe isn’t content to stop there, he has two young companions being held in slavery by another guild. Rescuing them would be easy, but wouldn’t solve the problem at the heart of the matter. A devious plan is hatched to bring democracy and law to the city of Akiba, by force if necessary.
Touno’s attention to detail makes this story resonate. The economics and politics of a game world suddenly becoming real, and the dropping of a whole society into that mess, is never hand-waved away. At the beginning of the novel, there’s a clever back and forth between the easy-going good times of Shiroe’s group and the complete misery of Minori and Touya’s. The twin’s section ends up becoming far more effective than in the anime, with the mental and physical abuse they’re suffering more immediate and frustrating to take in. It makes you wish Shiroe would hurry his plan up, but you understand why he has to wait in order to make it work.
When Shiroe and his friends finally do execute their plan it has all the excitement and impact you would expect. The climax of this volume really is the best part of the whole. Shiroe isn’t a hero, and he’s far from perfect as a human being. His actions may frame him as someone manipulating a volatile situation, but the end result was entirely worth it.
While the story here is solid and entertaining, compared to the first volume the writing here feels kludgy and less polished. It’s amateur online roots are showing here more than they had in volume one. How much of that could have been mitigated by the translator is hard to figure. Some of the sentence structure meanders all over the place and it takes a while to get to the point. I also noticed one homophone typo, which must be maddening for editors to find and fix. (There’s also a typo in a character name on the back cover, likely left over from before localization was finalized.) The differences in the translation choices for organizations and other things from the anime is sure to cause existing fans a moment of annoyance. How much these issues will impede your enjoyment of the work is likely dependent on the reader’s own tastes, or the last piece of literature you read prior to this.
The extras continue to be excellent, as does the presentation. The inside cover hides a glossy color fold-out with a lovely party illustration on one side and a map of Akiba on the reverse. The back is full of profiles for all the members of the Round Table. There’s also the author’s afterword where he continues to belittle his sister while noting that at the time of the original release date his family didn’t know he’d been published. Lucky for him, because if his sister saw what he was writing she’d probably kill him.
In Summary
The conflict heads from the field to the city, and this is a battle that can’t be fought with swords and magic. Out of chaos order must grow, and Shiroe has to overcome his introverted nature to mold the city into the sort of place that he wants to live. Selfish as he seems to himself, his actions become altruistic to those that stand beside him. If you haven’t been spoiled on how Shiroe accomplishes bringing order to Akiba then you’re in for a treat. Some clunky writing mars an otherwise fantastic continuation to the beginning of this tale of a game world made real. The characters often come off as actors rather than real people, and I find myself waiting for their cartoony facades to fall. However, I’m still fascinated by the attention to detail the author includes and how each new revelation realistically effects all of the gamers trapped in their new home.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: A –
Text/Translation Grade: B +
Age Rating:
Released By:
Release Date:
MSRP: