Weekly Review: Log Horizon

Plot / Story

No one can explain what happened. No one remembers how they got here. Players from around the globe find themselves in the world of Elder Tale, a popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). They aren’t themselves, but their avatar counterparts. This makes moving around rough to get used to for some like Shiroe, whose avatar is a few inches taller than he actually his in real life. Shiroe is a seasoned gamer and adventurer in Elder Tale, he is widely regarded as a superb strategist and many come to him for advice and help. The skills he possesses are also a curse, as he found many wanted to use him for self gain rather than friendship. It’s for this reason he has always avoided guilds, groups of players that fight together for a single purpose. That is, until he joined a group that called themselves the Debauchery Tea Party long ago. They were a group of adventurers that didn’t form a guild, they just wanted to travel and discover the world. Their name is legendary for some of their feats, they managed to do many quests that most could not. However, this is all in the past, what matters now is the present.

Shiroe discovers that his old friend and ally, also a member of the tea party long ago, is present in the game as well. His name is Naotsugu, the tank. The two decide to team up and try to discover what this world is and why they are here. They are also joined by another skilled player known as Akatsuki, a skillful assassin. Together, they venture out and discover that their menus they relied on for combat are no longer useful. They must activate skills themselves, making the learning curve for combat that much for difficult. After a while, they start discovering that the game works in mysterious ways. Players are able to do incredible things if they don’t rely on the menu. This is discovered whenever the group finds out that food keeps its taste if they cook it themselves, and not through the menus.

However, the world and its problems are much bigger than simple combat and cooking. The now independent world is thrown greatly off balance by the presence of the adventurers. Former NPCs, known as people of the land, clash with the adventurers. Shiroe takes it upon himself to take action. He knows the only way the adventurers are going to last is if they come together. He starts formulating his ever ending plans to unite the adventurers, protect the cities, and hopefully, have peace with the people of the land.

Sequels

There is a sequel to Log Horizon, it is simply the second season of the show. This season came to a relief for most as the second season focuses more on combat rather than its first season that focused on more political aspects. We once again join our favorite characters in their attempts to make this world that they were cast into home.

Overall

I would strongly encourage anyone and everyone to give this anime a shot. It is pretty amazing. The story is very compelling and it is different from almost anything out there. It is compared with Sword Art Online a lot, but frankly, the two aren’t even close to the same thing. The amount of detail Log Horizon goes into about the daily life of the adventures is incredible. You get to see how complex teamwork is in this world and what they have to do to be successful and survive. For sure give it a shot!