Saturday, May 17, 2014

Log Horizon (Season 1)


By: Robert Murphy

Words cannot express how deeply I enjoyed my first MMO/anime experience in Sword Art Online and to my surprise I found myself stumbling across another show much in the same style called Log Horizon that made me love this style of anime even more. The story takes place in the massively successful MMORPG called Elder Tale and in the wake of the upcoming game expansion thousands of players gear up to play it once more along with many new players as well. As soon as players log into the game though they find themselves in their virtual avatar selves, more realistic than ever before and they find it is impossible to exit the game and that they’re now trapped within the virtual world in an event the players call the Apocalypse. Our story follows Shiroe, a veteran player of the game and a brilliant tactician who is quite well known among the players of the game, alongside him are his friend Naotsugu, another veteran player that has known Shiroe through many hours of playing the game and Akatsuki who joins Shiroe early on and befriends him as well as Naotsugu. Together, they all face the new troubles that Elder Tale his for them and how to live and survive in this new reality that they have to be a part of.


Where I find so much love with Log Horizon is with the immersive MMORPG angle to the show, where SAO focused on the action, Log Horizon focuses on the world and how the adventurers must now be a part of it. The characters in the show get to do this though because unlike SAO you don’t die permanently if you’re defeated in battle this time around. No, players respawn at the in game cathedral much like they did before they were trapped here, the adventurers find lives and purpose in Log Horizon and the looming fear of death doesn’t pose any concern, at first. A fantastic part of the story came early on when the adventurers find out that the in game food taste horrible when made using the food crafting system like they’d always done. When they end up finding a way around this, it was a fantastic part to the story because it started making you realize that this show is in it for the long hall. The prospect of escaping their situation doesn’t come up as often as you might think in fact it frankly never does because they just aren’t told what’s happening to them and how they came to be trapped in the game in the first place unlike SOA where they players are told how they can escape and that takes up all the focus. I preferred this method because it leaves much more to be done with Log Horizon’s story and world.


Speaking of the world in Log Horizon, every aspect to it was extremely well done especially the way the show explains how players spells, magic and abilities work. We see such a detailed explanation of everything each player can do without it being boring or dull, we learn what players abilities are and what they can do such as swashbuckling and much much more. Alongside of this though and perhaps the most interesting part of the show is the NPC’s that the adventurers refer to as the People of the Land, these people use to be nameless quest givers that players cared very little about but who are now more alive than ever. It’s a role reversal of sorts for the adventurers who in real life are normal humans with no power but now they’re living in a world where they have supernatural abilities and the NPC’s are the meek ones and they know it. These people have their own rules, their own leaders and now their own lives and the adventurers are the unknown and frightening ones and the interactions that arise between them now are much more complex than they were before.


Log Horizon is also a show that is very much about the massive community of people and players that are around, everyone works together now and uses their skills like they’d never done before. The massive amount of characters and people you come to meet are just another great aspect to be admired about Log Horizon especially when you see them all and how strong they each are as characters. There was not a single character that I hated in the show and the fact that there are just so many that you see throughout the first season of the show is something truly impressive and makes for a rich experience.


Log Horizon was such a deeply impressive show for me that took the MMORPG style anime to a whole new level by making it feel just like a real game with thousands of players to see and to love. Each character has real depth to them and use the in game skills they have acquired to make them an essential part of the story in one way or another. Even when the main characters are off doing something crucial at a summit with the People of the Land’s nobles, they’re working hard to improve their craft and make Elder Tale a nice place to live in. In the back of my mind I do wonder if they’re going to bring up how they will all get home but for now the story was just too rich and enjoyable. The first season has just concluded not too long ago and I hope and am eager for the next because there is just so much more that can be done here with Log Horizon.


Good:

- Focuses less on death and is able to enjoy the MMORPG experience

- Rich and ever expanding story

- Strong characters all around and so many to fall in love with

- Tells more about the skills and abilities used by the characters, explaining the mechanics behind things in Elder Tale was something I really enjoyed


Bad:

- I’m racking my brain about this but I really can’t say much negative for the show


Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

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