Luck & Logic

Episode 11

Is it just me, or has Luck & Logic undergone a storytelling shift over the last couple episodes? When it first began, I was so bombarded by the in-world terms like “Paradox Zone” and nonstop action that I had no idea what was going on, much less how to address every half-baked event in my reviews. As the episodes have continued, however, I tend to look back on them and think, “Really? That's all that happened?” This episode felt like filler, the calm before the storm that carefully ensured nothing of consequence could occur before the actual conclusion.

It's clear from this penultimate episode's leisurely pace that this could have easily been an 11-episode show if it had continued at its early sprint. The situation is allegedly dire, but not so urgent that we can't afford to watch every single Logicalist transformation sequence. As luck would have it, the characters' ALCA branch is the very last bastion for humanity, but there's plenty of time to watch our five favorite girls battle escaped Foreigners one by one. Heck, Yukari's battle with Sandman is basically comic relief. While the fights of this episode are admittedly very good-looking, I can't help but feel the whole sequence is one Benny Hill theme away from being a rodeo roundup. There's never any doubt of everyone's success. When Nemesis observes the situation totally unconcerned, she's less of a quirky pessimist than a viewer avatar. Yawn. Stop worrying. Everyone will be fine.

“All the other foreigners have been brought down by teamwork,” HQ notices, but they still have no choice but to send Yoshichika out to face Olga alone, because he's the Main Character. It's a reference characters bring up a lot this episode—when there's no logical reason for something to happen, they simply blame the plot. After Yoshichika determines Olga's weakness—that he is only able to attack or defend at any given time—Olga quickly evolves, and Chloe (our repeat-offender fourth-wall-breaker) asks, “Is he allowed to do that?” When Yoshichika fails to die, Olga chides him for “always playing the stereotypical leading man.” In the evacuation shelter, Yoshichika's little sister reminds him of her super cliché order that he “prove what a stereotypical main character he is.” But as I've said before, being aware of the cliché isn't the same as subverting it. In this case, it takes away the tension because it acknowledges that Yoshichika is the main character, and therefore he cannot lose.

Of course, the solution to all this was hinted at in the very beginning. Yoshichika and Athena will have to Over Trance, just like our hero did way back in the past. It didn't kill him then, it's not going to kill him now, and nothing of note is going to happen anyway before we get to the last episode. When the little boy in the evacuation shelter offers his Luck + Logic game visor to Yoshichika, it's just another reminder of how artificial this structure is. In this universe, Luck & Logic itself exists both as a means of defense and a game that people (like episode-one Yoshichika) play in their free time. This completely cuts the tension. That said, this episode was easy on the eyes, and I love Yoshichika and Olga's new parallel Over Trance outfits, because costume design is something this show has never skimped on. The battles make this filler episode tolerable, so they're bound to make the inevitably cliché happy ending watchable too.

Rating: C+

Luck & Logic is currently streaming on Funimation.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.