Log Horizon

Watched the first episode and I decided that this is essentially SAO meets Ixion Saga DT. The comedic scenes are quite absurd. A must watch, I must say.

From what I've heard, it's going to focus to a considerable degree on the game mechanics, economics, and politics of the "new" world with lots of talking, so it seems more like "Spice and Wolf, MMO edition". Sounds like fun to me! If nothing else, it definitely has OP of the season so far (but we'll see come Thursday):

DATABASE, DATABASE! I SAID WOW WOW WOW WOW!

edited 7th Oct '13 5:53:22 AM by darksidevoid

The full version of the OP is even more awesome.

It's written by the author of Maoyuu so yeah.

Sasuga Maoyuu author, I knew my faith in you weren't wrong. Maoyuu was a pretty awesome ride, and this will be as well.

This is from the Spice and Wolf guy? Sweet. I liked the first episode and now I'm definitely down for the rest.

Maouyuu. The Spice and Wolf author is doing something else, about alchemists and the church.

This is from the Maouyuu guy? Sweet. I liked the first episode and now I'm definitely down for the rest.

Just to add to the conversation, here's what Asuki mainstay and Japanese local Aohige had to say about it, after buying two volumes:

Honestly, I like the charachters better than Maoyuu(abiet in very limited time) so far. While the Queen was great, most of the other major Maoyuu characters were kinda eh. Hero(and the genderflipped version) was dull(probably at least party intentional in the first case). The Head Maid and NagatoFemale Mage were also interesting, but didn't get enough screen time.

This time, I like all the main trio so far. Aka is cute and hilarious. Naotsugu is entertaining without going to far and Shiroe is what Negi should have grown into.

Seems pretty good for a first episode, the setting leaves me skeptical since I save a special bitterness for SAO. But for now there are definitely some perks from SAO, one of them being how colourful the characters seem so far, I also like the fact that the Protagonist is more of a Mage than a fighter, it allows him to stand out from other fantasy settings, he also seems to have a backstory so I'm looking forward to some of that. But from what I'm hearing about the Light Novel, we'll be getting a focus on Politics and Economics which I REALLY like so I am really looking forward to that. Also, isn't that opening a symphony of awesome or is it just me?

I'm willing to wager that, unless they did some sort of art-shift, stealing the squirrels' wallets is probably better for network TV than skinning them. It probably won't change too much setting-wise.

And I must say, from the description of where it's going, I quite like the setting. It's pretty unique (The MMO thing is more of a contributing factor than the setting itself, in my eyes. Compare SAO to Dot Hack—one is about how totes elite a guy is at an MMORPG, whereas the other is about...I don't know. Yuri, or whatever (I only ever saw Sign)).

Well, ep. 2 was enjoyable. I'm glad it's so much like an actual MMORPG, what with the prime importance of healers and the use of CC and so on. It's quite interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the full implications of the beginning of this episode play out.

I almost feel like this is a Spiritual Antithesis to Sword Art Online. You know, SAO (or at least the first part) was "Oh god we're stuck in a MMORPG!" whereas this is "Cool, we're stuck in a MMORPG!"

Okay, maybe this is an exaggeration, but I hope you see my point.

There's a small hope that this will be what I wished SAO would be, there's the potential for good psychological drama and social commentary in the setting itself, but something just feels off about the series even if its hitting mostly the right notes.

It might be the characters and how I don't get the feeling that they're really people with internal lives. They're just acting the way they do to move the plot along, which feels like an issue with the writing.

Still, not a negative experience thus far, worth keeping an eye on.

Episode 2. In which Aka wins.

First thing they do is reveal what happens if you die. Well, we already knew.

Probably the best answer to "Please call me (something less formal)."

"I'm willing to give them money. If they can beat us."

Yeah, the PKers had more people waiting to ambush them. So that's where she was.

I kinda like the skill using and stuff. Makes it feel like a game, rather than just having MMO as a backdrop.

By the way, the previous fight makes Aka's knee in Nao's face much funnier, since he can stand it due to being a tank class.

So, apparently, when you take the game aspect out of the game, it ceases to have a meaning. Whodathunk? And as they say, it doesn't justify PK, but makes it a lot more understandable. To keep from going insane. But really, it's an expansion, so there's got to be new content to explore. And you know, just exploring is interesting in itself. Though it depends on where on the Bartle scale you fit.

"If you do that, girls won't like you." And then he shows how much he cares about that. I like him.

I kinda wonder why he'd even entertain the thought that him butting into guild business would somehow be rejected after he basically was offered the position of Temporary Guild Leader. It really makes a lot more sense for a guild to hire someone to run a mission. And of course, the other two knew what he was going to say before he was going to say it.

Llama horses? They look rather small.

Those two really don't enjoy the food...

Those griffons made Aka a lot more interesting to watch. And if I was riding one of those high up in the air, I'd rather not sit princess style. And I'd also grab his stomach. He really shouldn't be surprised.

I really like the group dynamic here. Especially between Shiro and Aka.

I kinda agree with them not really having internal lives. But it also emphasises the setting and their situation, so it fits perfectly. Though, what's missing is any thoughts about the real world. At all.

edited 12th Oct '13 4:36:56 PM by AnotherDuck

Okay, some LN commentary post-Episode 2 from Aohige, as usual, just for context:

edited 12th Oct '13 5:12:07 PM by MyssaRei

Oh, and to add above, it wasn't mentioned the other reason why Shiroe thought Marielle's expedition would fail: aside from Marielle, her secretary, and Shouryuu (the guy with them during the whiteboard scene),no one else in the guild is level 90, and what's more they're not a raid guild. Marielle and Henriette are also support classes (Cleric and bard), and obviously can't tank stuff well.

edited 12th Oct '13 5:29:01 PM by MyssaRei

That's still as many level 90s as his group has, though, plus they have a healer. Feels like it would have been better to let them borrow Naotsugu. Or borrow Marielle for his own expedition

I think the fact that Shiroe and his friends are unaligned gives them much more flexibility, especially since Marielle is a guildmaster, and as such has responsibilities connected to that post.

Aohige mentioned that the anime was underplaying just how bad it was in Serara's location. "Not a good place to be a woman," I believe.

I basically found the above stuff as saying that Darker and Edgier is better with no real reason other than it was in the original. So I can't really say which is actually better, only that I think it works as it is.

Does make me wonder how this ended up airing on NHK E, though

Note nowhere did I mention that the original was better because of the elements left out. The post was for post-episode comparison's sake, as many of us here are not LN readers.

And there ARE some cases where an adapted work is considerably better than original. *chuunibyou anyone?*

Wait, I thought the girl getting sexually abused was heavily implied.