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Log Horizon 2
Episode 8

by Nick Creamer,

The Akihabara murder case came to an end this week, as Akatsuki faced down the killer in a daring full raid operation across the city. There was no multitasking this time - aside from a couple cuts to Lenessia's own contribution to the fight, this was basically the Akatsuki Character Resolution solo hour. And it was a fair enough execution of that - though I'd hoped for more of an aesthetically dramatic finale, the episode definitely succeeded in pulling all of this narrative's pieces together.

We started this week by introducing the plan Rieze devised to handle the killer. In order to avoid activating his player proximity-based buffs, Akatsuki and Marielle kite him across all of Akihabara, leading him through many scattered groups of adventurers who all stack their own damage onto his total. This clever solution is pretty classic Log Horizon, and a demonstration of one of the show's major strengths - though it generally doesn't possess the aesthetic flair to make its fights viscerally engaging, its plotting and worldbuilding is careful enough that it can craft solutions that make tangible narrative sense. It's always nice to see a solution that makes intelligent use of all the variables the show's introduced.

Unfortunately, that lack of aesthetic flair really did cause some damage this week. Log Horizon is rarely a show that possesses particularly strong animation or energetic direction, but it generally doesn't need those things to accomplish its goals. This week, virtually the entire episode's runtime was one extended fight scene, and thus the seams of its production really started to show. Outside of one nicely animated cut in Akatsuki's very first encounter (she executes a very fluidly animated slide under and past her attacker), the fights here were largely limited to still frames and speed lines, making for a somewhat unsatisfying dramatic resolution. This of all episodes should have been one to deliver visually, and the fact that it didn't rise to a level much greater than that of a standard dialogue-heavy one was definitely a disappointment.

That said, if this arc has succeeded in anything, it's been in developing Akatsuki's character, and this episode was a field day for Akatsuki fans. Akatsuki received basically every powerup imaginable this week - from a stable confidence based in all she's learned the last few weeks, to a new sword with her own personalized flavor text, to her long-sought Teaching, the ability to use her speed-movement power to create shadow clones in battle. I really liked the way this episode resolved the meaning of the Teachings - it turns out that Teachings are simply the application of existing game skills to challenges they weren't traditionally applied. This definition allows for a tremendous amount of fluidity in skill definition (even just the example of using a shield spell as a stepping stone was a great idea), and opens up all kinds of future narrative possibilities. And that wasn't the only narrative door this episode opened - with Lenessia finally resolving to lower the shields on Akihabara, the stage is clearly set for some dire conflicts to come.

Overall, I'd say this episode was a fair arc resolution that was really more a victim of expectations than anything else. The aesthetically engaging episodes two and three weeks ago just set too high of a bar, and simply coasting through this arc's finale on still frames and plot beats made for a kind of unsatisfying conclusion. In the end, my favorite moment of this episode might actually have been the very last - though Akatsuki's character arc has somewhat dragged at times, seeing her comfortably bantering with Shiroe was a wonderful change of pace from her usual stammering. If that conversation is a sign of a more well-rounded and engaging relationship to come, I'll happily consider this arc a win.

Rating: B

Log Horizon 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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


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