What Happened to Log Horizon?

Despite its initial success as a sleeper hit way back in 2013, Log Horizon appears to have been on a consistent downward trend in quality ever since the start of season 2, even if I don't think any of its entries are outright bad. So let's take a deeper look into what happened to this anime to cause such a drop-off.

While many fans might point to the animation as the most notable difference between season 1 and what came after – and we'll definitely get to that later in this video – to me it's the delivery of plot and exposition that I find to be the much more important divergence, and this can be broken down into two main aspects: pacing and visual variety.

In regards to the first point, the pace at which exposition and plot information are delivered is noticeably different between each season. In season 1, exposition dumps usually aren't entirely continuous. Time is given within each conversation for tangential discussions, clarifications, or even just brief pauses and moments of silence that make up different aspects of natural conversation. Occasionally it even cuts away from the conversation entirely to something different just to divvy out the information at a slower pace, and so there's more time for the important information to be processed. On the other hand, exposition in seasons 2 and 3 are typically delivered in large chunks of mostly unbroken explanations, and so there's no time for that information to be fully digested before more, equally important information follows it.

The visual presentation of this information is also markedly different between seasons. In season 1, most exposition dumps are accompanied by a variety of visual aids to help viewers better understand what is being discussed. Whether it be a map overlay or a mental simulation of two characters' inner monologues interacting with each other, season 1 always seems to have just the right visual element to accompany whatever exposition or plot detail is being doled out. Even the framing and camera movement in such scenes go a long way in making sure that each piece of information is delivered in an effective and interesting fashion.

Meanwhile, seasons 2 and 3 have significantly fewer ways of conveying information that doesn't resort to just stating the information over mostly static medium shots and close-up shots. It might seem counterintuitive to think that more visual elements help viewers to digest the narrative information better, but I think it has less to do with the amount of visual information and more so the amount of visual variety. Staring at nothing but stills and panning shots for minutes on end lulls your brain into a less active state, making it harder to remember the important points from the barrage of exposition they throw at you during these moments. While there are a few examples of visual creativity here and there, this lack of variety has been a consistent problem ever since season 2 began.

For a solid example of how starkly different exposition is conveyed in this series, just compare the Round Table discussions in episode 12 of season 1 to pretty much any expository conversation in seasons 2 and 3. There's so much visual and linguistic variety in those early discussions that it almost feels like an entirely different show. Even the hefty World Fraction speech in episode 14 has a strong enough rhythm and visual accompaniment to make this insane amount of information easily digestible to the viewer, especially in comparison to the stagnant and overstuffed exposition dumps in later seasons.

That being said, season 3 in particular has its own set of specific problems, mainly in regards to how certain plot elements and the motivations surrounding them are set up. The introduction of Rayneshia's marriage proposal comes to mind as the first instance of something desperately needing to be restructured. Rayneshia's mother approaches her about a third of the way through the first episode and informs her that she'll be married off to a lord from Westlande, which is immediately followed by a scene where Rayneshia's maid tells her to do what she thinks is best for herself. However, the scene drags on for much longer than it needs to, and the music playing over it feels like something much suited for the resolution to a conflict rather than the start of one. And so, cinematically speaking, the anime is telling us the problem is being resolved here, even though it gets dragged out for another two episodes. It just feels kind of jarring to have these two scenes right next to each other when the problem has just been introduced, and had the latter scene been pushed back closer to the actual resolution, it would've felt much less confusing.

Then there's the more central conflict of this season: the dissolution of the Round Table and Eins' push for a stronger central government in Akiba. As explained by Eins himself, the main reasons for his actions are the lack of motivation for Adventurers to find purpose in this world they've become trapped in, and the Round Table's inability to solve this issue with the limited powers it has, thus forcing him to invest in a more powerful government in the form of a dukedom granted by nobles from Westlande.

The problem here is that, prior to this, the issue of Adventurer employment hasn't really been presented as something that needs significant attention. Among all the other conflicts that have popped up in the show so far, this particular issue is often swept to the side and given almost zero focus in terms of screen time or dedicated dialogue. As a result, it doesn't really carry any weight for the viewer, and certainly not enough to dissolve Akiba's main governing body over. Had this issue been woven into other conflicts in a way that feels significant and urgent, then I might have actually cared about it, but as it stands it feels like it comes out of nowhere in terms of plot relevance.

The issue is further compounded by some notable contrivances that artificially amplify the conflict. When asked for further funding on this project, Eins turns to Karashin, the master of one of the top merchant guilds, who proceeds to explain away why he can't give any assistance by basically saying that he's hiding most of his guild's disposable income in a shell company in a different kingdom, and the snide and seedy way he delivers this information feels kind of out of character for him. Yes he is shrewd and cunning in how he runs his guild, but here he's being deliberately antagonistic towards Eins in a manner that he's never displayed prior to this moment.

Rounding off the disappointment that comes with this arc is its eventual resolution, one that could have been satisfying, but ends up mostly falling flat. Shiroe and Eins decide that they should allow everyone in Akiba to vote on whether they want to stick with the Round Table or allow Eins to create a formal dukedom, with the caveat that you only need to be in Akiba on election day in order to cast a vote. While Eins initially appears to have a massive lead with the People of the Land, who outnumber Adventurers by about 3:1, Shiroe clinches a victory by opening the transport gate at the last second to bus in Adventurers from Susukino, and then further secures his favor with the People of the Land by announcing that the Sage of Mirror Lake and the Kunie Clan will provide guidance for how the Round Table should govern Akiba.

As a result of this surprise turnaround, Eins withdraws from the election entirely, and while his reasoning for doing so – avoiding conflict with other kingdoms now that the gates are open – does make sense, it feels like more of a technicality and isn't quite as gratifying as him actually losing the election. However, it's the aftermath of the election that really irks me – mainly in that there isn't one. Aside from Eins leaving Akiba, we don't see any significant changes to how Akiba is being run. No scenes where Shiroe is consulting with the Kunie Clan or the Sage. No plans being rolled out for how to deal with the problem that led to this election in the first place. The narrative just moves right into Krusty's zany adventures on the China server, leaving this whole thing feeling kinda pointless.

This is part of a bigger issue that isn't necessarily the worst problem with Log Horizon, but is definitely something that consistently worsens with time. As of the end of season 3, Log Horizon has continued to amass a series of overarching conflicts that seem to have no resolution in sight whatsoever. Plant Hwyaden is still a pressing enemy that needs to be addressed. Krusty still hasn't returned from the China server. Geniuses continue to create issues for Akiba. They still can't establish communication with the Moon. Many adventurers still lack motivation to do anything. They still don't know how to return to the real world. More and more conflicts are continuously added to the ongoing story without being resolved, creating the impression that the story is just spinning its wheels. The smaller, arc-based conflicts like the dissolution of the Round Table and the Akiba raid are still nice, but their self-contained nature means that their resolution has little consequence for the issues that were already in place, and so the story starts to stagnate.

Now it's not like this season is completely bad. On the contrary, I found the Akiba Raid in the second half of the season to be fairly engaging for the most part. It feels a bit more character-focused and so there's not too much exposition to be crammed down our throats, digs back into the manipulation of game mechanics with how Eirenus manipulates the Teacher System (which was completely missing from the election arc by the way), and the climax reaches an emotional high note that I haven't felt since the gamer speech in season 2. This mostly feels like a return to what Log Horizon felt like in the beginning and might've even been a great finale for this entry.

But it ain't perfect. The introduction of the Mofur sisters still brings in that unparsable exposition drop, though it's thankfully much less necessary to this particular arc. A certain middle schooler seems doomed to undergo the same character arc of becoming a better leader who isn't dependent on Shiroe for the third time in a row, and it doesn't really resolve this by the end so you can add that to the pile of unresolved conflicts. In other words, all the narrative problems that have been plaguing this series since the start of season 2 are still well and present.

And that's to say nothing of the production quality, which has taken a bit of a nosedive. However, to say that animation quality has decreased across the board would be a huge oversimplification of what's actually happening here. For example, seasons 2 and 3 have far and away more sakuga and well-crafted action cuts than season 1. Of course, most Log Horizon fans would tell you that action is not one of the main appeals of the series, and therein lies part of the problem. Allocating more resources to action animation isn't necessarily wrong, but when that isn't the main appeal of your series and the non-action animation ends up suffering heavily as a result, then it might not be the best course of action, even more so considering that Log Horizon wasn't an amazing-looking show to begin with.

The go-to answer for why all this occurred is the studio switch, with the project moving from Satelight to Studio Deen. While it's easy to point fingers and call it a day, I do feel an obligation to be more specific about it, as Deen is very much capable of making great anime depending on the staff involved. In regards to Log Horizon, while the core writers and storyboard artists stayed relatively the same, it was with the animation staff and individual episode directors that the change was obvious. That's not to say that it is directly the fault of these new artists. The core issue could be pretty much anything from lack of cohesion amongst the creative staff to simply not having a healthy schedule, which seems to be an unnervingly common occurrence amongst other anime from this season, and I think it's something that's definitely worth taking a deeper look at rather than just unilaterally blaming a studio for all of the aforementioned shortcomings. My personal theory is that the issues are attributable to the change in episode directors, as they would be the ones who are more hands-on with the creative decisions in each individual episode, but again this is simple speculation on my part.

In any case, while I don't think the later seasons of Log Horizon are an overall bad experience, they still fall noticeably short of season 1, and considering that this will probably be the last we ever see of the series in anime form since all of the story save for one mostly-unfinished light novel has been adapted, it's kind of sad to think that this series will never get a chance to fully redeem itself. It is very disappointing, but at least we got to enjoy the ride while the fun lasted.