Luck & Logic

Episode 7

Imagine you're at a party being hosted by a new friend of yours. You're not that familiar with this friend, but you'd like to get closer. You scan the room, noting his wistful sister and womanizing father and ask, “So, where's your mom?” Not surprisingly, you could hear a pin drop.

This is just one moment in this week's episode of Luck & Logic, but it encapsulates so much. Nobody with half a brain, and certainly not genius Tamaki, would make a faux pas this awkward. It's obviously just written in to further the plot, and that's this episode in a nutshell. Nobody really acts like themselves or any real person would, and the result is a half-hearted, cliché, and easily resolved interpersonal plot.

The first bit of unreality occurs when Yoshichika's sister and father both independently come up with the same harebrained plan to trick his coworkers into showing up on his “birthday.” It's just the easiest method the writers could think up to get everybody to spend their day off in one place. (I have to say at least the character design is creative—all these day-off costumes are wild, and Athena's hat looks more like a boat.) But when Yoshichika's cringeworthy dad tries to get him to confess his love for one of his colleagues in front of everyone, Yoshichika denies his budding feelings for Athena, who takes it about as well as an angsty teen girl, rather than the thousand-year-old goddess she's supposed to be. It's not even worth going into their dumb lover's spat which nobody over the age of 16 would even have.

Outside of the boring central plot, the party devolves into a comedy of bad manners. Why would anyone act like this? It's not just Tamaki asking about the whereabouts of an obviously dead family memeber. Chloe is asked to make decorations and literally draws on the walls like a child. Nemesis corrupts Shiori with a graphic zombie video despite her protests. Artemis shoves a wad of fried chicken in Mana's mouth for an uncomfortable extended chewing scene which I'm certain is designed to be fan service, only I'm not sure what kind. Olga Breakchild invites himself over, “borrows” Yoshichika's clothes, acts aggressively, and ALSO draws on the wall. Dad gets blackout drunk, and I'm sure anyone who has ever dealt with an alcoholic family member isn't exactly going, “Haha, what a jokester!” Yoshichika innocuously exposes Athena's naked body because he's so innocent and pure and determined to apologize. “Don't pull anything that clichéd here too," Shiori says, and once again, Luck & Logic, acknowledging how clichéd you are doesn't make me roll my eyes any less!

That's the real purpose of this episode, probably—to show off plenty of skin. There's an extended bathing scene featuring the two central girls, Athena and Tamaki. Convenient flashes of light and steam hide the naughty bits, but there's still plenty of nude bonding and heaving bosoms. Honestly, their bathtime conversation is more revealing and personal than anything between Athena and Yoshichika, so consider me on Team Tamaki. But geez, without the battles to break it up, the character drama and dialogue is so poorly written, repetitive, and middle-school monotonous that it's hard to sit through.

Rating: D

Luck & Logic is currently streaming on Funimation.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.