Tag: Log Horizon

Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table

Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table

Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table anime series cover art
Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table

Season Overview

Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table (Log Horizon: Entaku Houkai / ログ・ホライズン 円卓崩壊) is the third season of the series. I’m not really sure why they opted to add a subtitle on this time considering neither of the first two seasons had one.

And, what’s even more strange about this season having a subtitle is that the subtitle makes the season sound more interesting than it really is. It implies that something bad has happened to the Round Table Conference. Were they defeated? Did a civil war break out?

The answer is that nothing so drastic occurred. Instead, the big focus of this season is that the Round Table Conference was temporarily disbanded so that they could hold an election to form a New Round Table Conference that’s almost exactly the same as the old one.

Now, the election portion of the season didn’t actually last that long. It was only one or two episodes in length. But it really came at a bad time for US viewers. Our elections had just recently ended when this aired, and watching an election in an anime was the last thing I wanted to do.

Aside from that, though, the season was pretty standard as far as what you’d expect from Log Horizon. There’s still raid boss fighting, political intrigue, mysteries about the state of the world, and way too many characters that I don’t care about.

Unfortunately, this season of Log Horizon isn’t a case of a series improving upon itself and eliminating its flaws. Just as some of the good things about the first two seasons make their return, so too do the bad things about those seasons.

Better Than Season 2?

I’ve never kept the fact that I dislike the second season of Log Horizon a secret. I think it’s bad; not even average. And the big reason for why I think that is because the second season shifts the focus away from the characters and events viewers want to see.

Does anyone really care about the group of kids in Log Horizon? I’d much rather watch the main group fight against raid bosses. To me, that’s the appeal of this series. If I wanted to watch some kids playing around, I’d watch a slice of life anime that does it better.

You may have guessed, but I think Destruction of the Round Table is actually somehow worse than season 2. Basically, I have every season of Log Horizon rated one point lower than the previous one. It’s just a series that gets worse as it goes on.

Krusty vs. Elias from the anime series Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table
Krusty vs. Elias

So, what makes this season worse than the previous one? First, there’s that whole election arc I mentioned. Not only did it come at a bad time, but it also had no real effect on the story. Essentially, the election was just a charade to make the people of the land feel like they had a say in the government.

Then, there was also a whole “China arc” that followed Krusty as he adventured through the Chinese server after being teleported there. Krusty has never really been an interesting character, so an arc all about him with none of the other main characters isn’t very exciting.

And, finally, there’s the return of the children from season 2. Granted, they’re not the main focus of this season. But they still have a significant amount of screen time, especially Minori. This season includes Minori’s romance arc. It should come as no surprise that I wasn’t interested in that.

Log Horizon has Lost its Appeal

To me, the main issue with Log Horizon is that it’s an antiquated concept. A generic isekai series that takes place in an MMORPG world just isn’t very appealing today. When anime originally came out, sure. But now? Definitely not.

I guess you could make the argument that Sword Art Online is pretty much the same thing as Log Horizon, and yet that still appeals to a lot of people today. But, and this feels weird to write, I’d say that SAO is actually better than Log Horizon.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the basic concept of both series is worn out by this point. But at least with SAO, we get great OPs and EDs, pretty visuals (it looks really nice), and pure entertainment. Yes, SAO’s storytelling is garbage. But it’s still fun to watch for the most part.

Akatsuki from the anime series Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table
Akatsuki

Log Horizon doesn’t have great OPs and EDs. I know that Database by Man with a Mission is a meme at this point, but honestly, that song was never that good. And this season doesn’t even use it as the OP. I would have at least respected them for sticking with it for a third season.

As for the state of the visuals, I think they speak for themselves. The visuals of Log Horizon are bland. The art is fairly standard and there’s no crazy animation like you get from SAO. And, because this series really goes into the nitty-gritty details of MMORPGs, it loses sight of what makes a series like this fun to watch.

Give me a flashy boss fight. I don’t want to see these characters fighting a raid boss by spamming healing potions and slowly grinding its HP down with effects. That may be how it’s actually done in MMORPGs, but that doesn’t mean it’s interesting to watch in anime format.

Conclusion

Overall, Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table gets a 3/10 from me. This is one of those series that I never wanted to watch whenever a new episode would release. It was difficult to get through, and I may not watch the next season if there is one.

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Log Horizon

Log Horizon

Log Horizon anime cover art featuring Shiroe and other characters
Log Horizon Cover Art

Overview

Log Horizon is another anime about some online game players who get trapped inside the game they were playing; think Sword Art Online or Overlord. So that’s something that’s already counting against this anime since this genre isn’t exactly known for being good.

Unlike in SAO, it appears that if a player dies in the game that doesn’t mean they die in real life. However, that’s not to say that dying in the game is a good thing, rather it’s something that should be avoided when possible and this is explored more in the second season.

Speaking of the second season, yes, there are two seasons of this anime and each is 25 episodes if I’m not mistaken. Unfortunately, the second season was worse than the first one, so don’t get your hopes up. While the first season follows our main cast, the second season mainly follows a group of children who are pretty boring.

For the characters section, we won’t discuss those kids because of how non-important they are.

Characters

Shiroe is the protagonist of Log Horizon. He’s a max-level Enchanter and the founder of the Log Horizon guild. Shiroe is also the founder of a league of guild masters in the Akihabara region. Through his leadership, the Akihabara region becomes one of the most peaceful and successful following the “Apocalypse.”

Akatsuki is an Assassin who is another of the founding members of Log Horizon. She knew Shiroe before the Apocalypse but was playing the game as a male character at the time. Akatsuki is also really into role-playing apparently.

Next is Naotsugu, a Guardian and Shiroe’s friend from before the Apocalypse. Because of his class, he is basically a wall for the group, distracting enemies from the other party members and tanking damage as his teammates damage the enemies.

The final character I’ll mention is Nyanta. As you might guess from his name, he’s a cat-person. Like Naotsugu, he was a former friend and party member of Shiroe. His class is Swashbuckler and he uses dual swords when fighting. He also acts as a mentor to the secondary group of children who take over the spotlight in season two.

The Assassin Akatsuki using an attack from the Log Horizon anime
Akatsuki

Conclusion

If I had to give a rating to both seasons as a whole then I would rate Log Horizon a 5/10, but individually season one is probably a 5, and season two is a 4.

The first season sets up the world and involves more interesting characters, but it didn’t really do anything to set itself apart from other MMO-style Isekai anime. Season two, on the other hand, tries to explain more about what makes this world different from other similar anime, but it mainly follows characters who nobody cares about.

If Isekai (another world) anime are your thing, then maybe Log Horizon is for you, but for the most part, I would only suggest watching the first season. However, the OP song is probably the most well-known part of this anime so if anything you should probably watch the OP linked below. The song was so popular, in fact, that they used it for the second season as well.

My review of the third season, Destruction of the Round Table, is available now.