Log Horizon 2

Episode 4

After a full episode of battle-system exposition and raiding, this week brought the focus back to Akihabara, where the pace of life is a little slower. We checked in with Lenessia and her adventurer friends, and spent a great deal of time exploring Akatsuki's current feelings. At one point in this episode, Serara describes Lenessia's outfit as “cute and fluffy,” and that's about as good a description of this episode as you could get. This was Log Horizon at its most slice-of-life, complete with cakes, mild emotional problems, and a whole lot of friends being friendly together.

The opening of this episode pretty much set the tone, as we started off with Henrietta, Marie, and the general Akihabara gang putting Lenessia and Akatsuki in goofy Christmas outfits. This transitioned directly into everybody eating cakes and gossiping about what's going on with Krusty and Shiroe - “eating snacks and talking about what other people are doing” was kind of a constant refrain in this episode. The mildness of this episode frankly wasted a lot of what's interesting in these characters; though Lenessia was one of my favorite characters in the first season, she only really comes to life when she's being aggravated by Krusty or forced to actually engage with a conflict, and so watching her just eat snacks and fret about not feeling like she's truly friends with the adventurers isn't really that engaging. She's grown past the laziness that made her initially endearing, but has yet to really grow into someone who brings a scene to life purely through her own personality.

From there, the episode transitioned into what would be its central focus - elaborating Akatsuki's feelings of uselessness and self-doubt. She compares herself to the princess, wondering if Shiroe might have paid more attention to her if she had Lenessia's strength. She obsessively watches raiders train, hoping to catch some glimpse of what separates herself from them. She curses minori, and then hates herself for the ugliness of that instinct. It's all very reasonable, understandable stuff, even if this episode overplays it. Shiroe isn't the type to fully explain his actions, particularly when they're based in emotions, and so Akatsuki has no way of understanding his implicit trust in her. All she sees are the things that distance herself from him, and so she interprets his every action (like assigning her the critical task of keeping Lenessia safe) as a rejection.

All this emotional turmoil is fine, but Log Horizon's tendency to outright explain everything ends up backfiring a bit here. Full exposition is a necessary concession when you're attempting to explain a complicated raid situation, but when you're having characters like Henrietta outright say “I think what Akatsuki wants is confidence,” especially in an episode that's already largely dedicated to articulating that fact, the show's steering starts to feel a little overbearing. The episode has similar problems on Lenessia's side - directly following a scene where Lenessia says “the etiquette I've learned doesn't work here, and I can't even say if I'm happy. I can't consider them my friends,” her maid ponders to herself “maybe she can't be honest with herself because she's been expected to be a perfect lady since she was little.” Obviously Log Horizon isn't the most subtle show even at the best of times, but it should have a little more confidence in its audience!

Overall, this episode was just another indication of what I emphasized last week - Log Horizon is a show wholly concerned with the long game. Individual episodes will drag, and sometimes an episode's larger contributions will amount to “push two characters one step forward on their arcs, hint at mysterious conflicts C and D,” but the overall engine will always keep chugging away. Log Horizon is not above taking a quick stop for a little tea and cake.

Rating: C+

Log Horizon 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.