Log Horizon 2nd Season

TL;DR: A disappointing second season that feels like the director & script writers had no idea where Mamare Touno is planning to go with the story of Log Horizon, so just adapted enough to pad out the 25 episode run time & hope that the audience figures out how it all connects together themselves.There are some good episodes & it explores interesting ideas (or brings them up, at least), but ultimately they don't add up to 25 episodes worth of content. Don't bother unless they announce a third season, & even then you'll probably be better off looking for an abridged version on youtube than ... watching all of this.

There are times when one wonders if the scriptwriters for a show & the author of the source material being adapted ever talk to each other. When series, particularly longer series, feel like they're becoming increasingly unfocused as the source material begins to run out, you'd think that the script writer & author would work together to at least come up with a framework for where the story is going so the adaptation knows what to focus on without deviating too much from where the author plans to go with their story. Sadly, it seems in Log Horizon 2's case, either nobody knows where things are going, or nobody is communicating it. (note this review assumes you've seen LH1)

Remember how LH1 ended with a climactic battle against the goblin king's forces whilst also revealing a new, human threat in the form of Nureha, guild leader of Plant Hwyaden who seems as powerful a mage as Shiroe? Well it seems the author or script writers forgot, because none of that really matters in LH2. Instead, LH2 focuses on three events that all feel like they're setting the ground for something big, but they don't know what. First is a mysterious player killer in Akihabara, somehow able to get around the zone's rules against combat between players. Following on from that (although both events occur at the same time) Shiroe seeks to deal with the financial problems the round table are facing by leading an epic raid on an El Dorado mine where all the world's gold is alleged to come from. These things concluded, the characters finally get around preparing for the prospect of war by...sending the younger guild members on a fetch quest so they can make magic bags.

All these stories continue Log Horizons rather enjoyable combining of a fantasy adventure setting with MMO rules, & the interesting ways they come together. The first story arc occurs against a backdrop the sudden & destabalising event of all the flavour text for the games many items suddenly becoming real, resulting in, among other things, Crusty being sucked into apparent oblivion by his weapon. Other issues not raised in LH1 are explored, including the idea of mortality & what it's actually like for the adventurers to die & how different people are responding to their being trapped in this new world. We meet characters that we wouldn't expect, such as a Chinese farmbot & Shiroe's alt character Roe2, who also seem to have come to life. Friction between the People of the Land & adventurers continues & we also, finally, start getting a hint at why the players of Elder Tale were sucked into the game in the first place.

Unfortunately, LH2 tends to skip over the more interesting parts while doing very little to try & tie everything together. In LH1 you had a real sense of progression between the different story arcs. Things started with everyone just getting used to functioning in this new world, which led to the Akihabara adventurers trying to better organise themselves, which led to their becoming diplomatically involved with the nearby PotL kingdoms & so on. There's no such sense of one thing building into another in LH2. Each story just kind of happens & ends with no real apparent impact. We're told it's impactful, sure. But the point is we don't see it in the same way you could in LH1.

It doesn't help that LH2 is full of what can only be thought of as filler episodes. LH2 is adapting two less novels than LH1 did (3 & 5 respectively), & it really feels like they're trying to spread less content over the same number of episodes. One particularly egregious example comes in the El Dorado raid, which involves returning Silver Sword guild leader William giving an episode long speech that boils down to "I'm a sad loser irl, but in Elder Tale I feel important." The raid itself is actually quite enjoyable, as it's fun watching Shiroe & the adventurers reacting to a raid zone that has been designed specifically to be unbeatable. The ending is a massive anticlimax, though.

LH2 also has an annoying tendency to introduce interesting ideas only to ignore them. The aforementioned Chinese bot character just sorta shows up for a bit before wandering off. Kanami, the tits & fists former leader of the mythical Tea Party shows up completely at random, first in a story one of Plant Hwyaden's leaders is telling another which gets cut off with a convenient "I don't know what happened after this" just as his story (which is the most interesting thing to happen in LH2 up to this point) was in danger of running into two episodes.

Adventurer mortality, & how adventurers see images of their real life in the time between dying & resurrecting, is touched on on a couple of occasions, most notably in the form of the Odyssey Knights; adventurers who seek out death so they can briefly glimpse their past lives before returning. Unfortunately, all the Odyssey knights are really used for is to let Touya give a boyscout speech about the importance of living. What the characters actually have to say about the subject is equally disappointing, the writing not being nearly up to expressing the complexities of the ideas being discussed.

Conversely, LH2 is happy to waste a lot of time on things I have no interest in. The magic bag fetch quest takes up something like eight episodes, almost all of which is spent just watching the kids of Log Horizon wander about being happy as Izuma learns to be more confident in her musicianship. We apparently only have five minutes for the round table to discuss ideas like how to deal with adventurers who can't cope with being trapped in Elder Tale, but there's time for an entire valentine's day episode. Considering the apparent impending war that was teased at the end of LH1, everything in LH2 just feels like it's trying to fill time & hopes you don't notice that for most of the season nothing really happens to progress the story.

Speaking of romance, LH continues having some of the most awful relationship writing in anime. Nyanta, everyone's favourite middle aged furvert, continues to groom little red moeblob Serara, which the other characters seem to find hilarious & sweet but I find disturbing & painful to watch. That oh so funny not-love triangle between a NEET (Shiroe) a shutin (Atatsuki) & an under-aged girl (Minori) continues to rear its ugly head as well. Oh & in case you thought the flirting between Naotsugu & Marie was too normal, worry not; for now there is Tetora, an idol who takes a liking to Naotsugu. This is apparently hilarious because Tetora is actually a guy but Naotsugu is the only character who doesn't realise. I guess it had to be made weirder because the relationship between Rudy & Isuzu has greater prominence in LH2 & there can only be room for one "normal" relationship.

Planet Hwyaden is a group that LH2 also completely fails to integrate into the story. Remember how Nureha seemed like she was going to become the antagonist of LH2? Well somewhere between that & the start of LH2 it seems something important got lost, because she is now the boot-licking bitch of some elf member of the guild, literally eating dirt off the floor. It strikes me that it would be quite an important piece of information to let us know how she went from one state to the other, but LH2 doesn't seem to think so.

Indeed quite what Planet Hwyaden are supposed to be doing in LH2 isn't clear. At first they seem to be built up as an example of how adventurers have responded to the challenge of organising themselves in different ways, taking a more authoritarian approach to governing than the more mercantile oligarchy, round table of guilds in Akihabara. But as the season continues & the supposed showdown between the two recedes into memory, it feels like they just become a stand in for whenever the show needs a bad guy. That is until the final arc pretty much completely abandons the idea of war between adventurers in favour of a new enemy, at which point one wonders why Plant Hwyaden were introduced at all.

Beyond that, I feel compelled to voice one personal gripe I have with LH, that being the continued degradation of Atatsuki as a character. It seems so long ago now that she started out in LH as a shy but pretty badass ninja. One of the things I didn't like about LH1 was how her development through the season felt like she was more & more being pushed into the role of the longing lover watching from the shadows. LH2 continues this with gusto, to the point that Shiroe can unironically say "you're starting to become quite the ninja" like it's not a massive insult. Between her & Nureha it's almost like the writers find the idea of powerful women as important characters too hard to comprehend.

It was perhaps a bit of a surprise to see LH2 come only a year after LH1 with the same number of episodes, given the comparative lack of source material to draw from. In addition to this, it kind of feels like LH2 either lacked the time & resources of LH1's production, or at least it doesn't seem to have been as well managed. Studio Deen don't have a Stirling reputation among anime fans, & while I can't say LH2 looks bad, it does feel a bit lackluster compared to LH1 (at least as I remember it), particularly towards the end where it feels they hadn't accounted for the action scenes that the story called for. Occasionally characters do go noticeably off model during combat or when viewed from an odd angle, which is always fun to spot. But given that LH is not as action focused as a lot of fantasy shows of it's ilk, one can forgive it for the the most part.

LH2, then, is another example of a second season that struggles to maintain the momentum of the first. Stuck trying to stretch less material over the same episode count as LH1, it feels like the writers just grabbed whatever they could out of the books with no real idea of how it all fits together in the grand scheme things. Had they been able to wait another year for more books to be written, or gone with a 13 episode length instead of 25, I think they could have told a more focused, concise story that felt like it was worth picking up after LH1. As it is, unless & until they announce a third season I see no reason for anyone to watch LH2. Even then, you'd be better off just reading the cliffnotes or watching an abridged version than sitting through all 25 episodes.

I've watched the entirety of both seasons of Log Horizon and found the first season very enjoyable. It wasn't without its faults, but I felt that it made much much better use of its premise than Sword Art Online had, and avoided many of the character pitfalls that plagued SAO. However, I have to say that season 2 was a MASSIVE disappointment.

Story 6/10

There are several story arcs throughout the 2nd season of Log Horizon, but the lasting impression that they left was minimal. The story arcs for the vast majority of the season feel like they carry no importance at all but even worse, they ... progress at a snail-like pace. Episode after episode of filler were shoved through the season while the main story arcs seemed to be shelved for many episodes without mention before being returned to.

However, the season does tackle one of the problems that I thought was glaringly missing from the first season: the attempt to return home. However, this particularly story arc feels rushed because it's so short in comparison to all the filler episodes that came before it.

Another part of the story I had a massive problem with was when the show handed itself off entirely to the kids. This is my opinion, and some people may disagree, but I believe that the children in the show should be complementary characters at most. However, one story arc followed the children going on a quest by themselves for several episodes without any lookback at the others.

Art 7/10

I thought the first season of Log Horizon didn't look like anything special but I thought it was still very solid artwork. Some of the monsters looked really good and the action was great. While all that still remains for the most part, for some reason, many of the faces look very different. Nyanta, Serara, and several others look quite different from season 1 or even the first half of season 2. It may not be enough to be a deterrent, but it is quite noticeable.

Other than some characters looking off, the action was pretty solid, and the raid bosses looked great. Some of the copy & paste for the hordes of creeps looked meh but that's understandable.

Sound 8/10

Not really much to say here. Music is fine and voicework is fine as well.

Character 7/10

This is another part where I feel that season 2 falls short of season 1. It not only introduces many new characters, but also tries to retain every single character from season 1. This results in them really struggling to develop some of the characters meaningfully. One of the new characters, Tetra, doesn't really seem to have any characteristic besides obnoxiousness.

Also, of the villains, only one gets really significant screen time and explanations as to her motives. The motives of the other antagonists are left unexplained and it just seems like the show is struggling because it has too many characters.

Enjoyment 5/10

This was a personal thing, but I really loved Log Horizon season 1. I felt that it was everything SAO could and should have been. However, this 2nd season took a massive dip in quality. There were just too many story arcs that were unimportant and so many filler episodes just left me bored and uninterested. Also, there were way too many characters being introduced without proper development.

Overall 5/10

Very very disappointing. There were some bright spots and the very early parts of the 2nd season really lived up to the 1st season's quality, but then it takes a massive dip and becomes a boring snoozefest of endless filler episodes.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Something that Log Horizon 2nd Season does that is somewhat strange is bring us into another world. Not just a new world in the sense that the anime represents such a fiction, but a world within another. The people of Elder Tales experience this world and discover what anyone would: that perhaps their place among it isn't right. This feeling of not belonging is something that is found not only within our own lives but within the anime as well. Indeed, in more ways than one.

STORY

Log Horizon 2 begins pretty much where the first season left ... off. There are still problems to be solved within the world they inhabit, with the "Villain in Glasses" doing everything he can to alleviate their worries.

This second season of Log Horizon moves away from the political subterfuge that the first season capitalized on for a somewhat simple reason: this is the continuation. The anime already has its setting, the characters, and a wide set of rules in place and therefore opted to focus on an actual narrative as opposed to using the politics as a vehicle for everything that was going on. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. And this is because Log Horizon 2 refuses to do anything with any of the outcomes or plot lines that it follows and establishes. For example, it brings up the idea of item effects becoming true -- a rather neat development. But why this is the case or ways in which this affects what is happening around them are left unexplained. A more prominent example is the civil war that occurs between the People of the Land and the Adventurers. It sounds like an interesting route to take, but is never looked at seriously and even discarded by season's end. This rational can be found with nearly all of what Log Horizon 2 has to offer -- the "Geniuses," the Odyssey Knights, Roe 2, Kanami's events, training the People of the Land, death on the moon, etc. -- and only serves to make the plot seem incoherent in execution.

In order to have some kind of order, Log Horizon 2 splits itself up into essentially four different arcs: the Akatsuki arc, the Money arc, the Kids arc, and the Moth arc. Furthermore, each is categorized into two (given) themes: the first two are about "rising once more" while the last two are about "running with friends." And for the most part, this kind of separation works in the show's favor. Akatsuki's arc showcases her struggle, her need to prove her worth not only to the people around her, not only to Shiroe, but also to herself. She gets beaten, learns from her mistakes, and even perishes at one point. But that doesn't deter her resolve; rather, it bolsters her fortitude and allows her to rise to a new level both in body and in spirit. The Money arc, in a similar fashion, follows Shiroe, Williams, and Williams' guild as they fought over and over, never giving up or in. They band together to beat the impossible, which acts as a nice segue into the anime's second half and second motif; the notion of camaraderie. The Kids arc demonstrates the need to understand and nurture relationships between both the people you love and those you may not even know. And the Moth arc clearly depicts the idea that one almost never has to deal with everything on his or her own. That is, there are people around you who are able and willing to provide the support you need; you just need to ask.

Log Horizon 2 also manages to maintain a thematic presence between its respective arcs, too. And it's what was talked about in the introduction; not feeling like you belong. There are those times when it is difficult to understand the situation you are in or finding yourself questioning your own mindset, so you begin pondering what exactly the issue is. Log Horizon 2 does this for each of its partitions: Akatsuki wonders why she cannot be by Shiroe's side, Williams talks of finding solace in the gaming world, the kids witness a group of people who despise their position, and inkling feelings of wanting to return home loom large over many Adventurers. This kind of development is natural, especially in regards to that last point; literally being in a foreign land can cause any number of mixed emotions. But what each segment teaches is that it isn't so much worrying about belonging, but how you manage such a predicament in the first place. Which is what the previous themes aimed at doing; rising to the challenge and relying on the people around you. By following these two routes, belonging stops being an issue and starts being an afterthought. It doesn't happen instantaneously -- the Adventurers prove that finding one's place is a difficult process -- but when you do find that peace of mind, great happenings almost always await.

ANIMATION

Unfortunately for Log Horizon 2, the art and animation is severely lacking.

The art for the show, despite the world being so open and free, is filled with rather boring locales. Muddy caves, plain cities, and leafy forests are normally seen, but nothing is extraordinary. The real detriment, though, is the show's often distracting lack of quality. There are numerous occasions where characters are either malformed or given disproportionate features, causing their designs to be lacking in detail and attention.

The world within the anime lends itself well to interesting character designs, and therefore that is what's given here. Shiroe's signature white cloak, Akatsuki's ninja outfit, and Tetra's idol attire are easy examples of fun designs that fit the show's mood and provide the audience with the sense that these people really are just playing a video game.

Actual animation, though, is mostly below average. Many of the fights are given still frames or reduced actions that do not come off as appealing. And since a lot of what goes on within the show is dialogue between the characters, where only mouth movements are found, it only helps to accentuate the lack of animation during the battles that occur.

CHARACTERS

Log Horizon 2 is an anime with a large cast, almost too large for its own good. It isn't able to adequately peer at every character individually and instead sets its sights on two. One makes sense and the other is interesting: Akatsuki and Isuzu, respectively.

Akatsuki is a servant first and ninja second. As such, when she is left behind by her master, Shiroe, she feels conflicted. She cannot seem to understand why she has been delegated to such a role; that her place at Shiroe's side is almost unneeded. She feels completely weak, and when she is defeated in Akihabara it only helps to reaffirm this type of thinking. Yet, it's exactly what she required: within the dream-like world she meets up with the person she calls master. While there she learns that it isn't because she is weak that she was kept from fighting alongside him and the others, but because she is so strong, that only she could take up the task given to her, that Shiroe wanted her to remain at home. Upon reviving, she trains her heart out, and with the aide of those around her, she excels to new heights. She earns a special "Teaching," protects the town, and most of all, is confident now more than ever in the abilities that she always had.

During the second half of Log Horizon 2, during the Kids arc, the show actually chooses Isuzu of all people to really focus on. Her class as a Bard isn't just coincidence; her characterization reveals that, in the real world, not only was her father a renowned musician but she had taken up the guitar as well to follow in his wake. But she laments of her father's lost fame and of her own inadequacies as a guitarist. She feels that what she has to offer isn't worth much of anything, especially if the person she always looked up to, someone better than her, was always pushed to the side. But as Rudy, her close friend, describes to her, it isn't about being good or bad at whatever you do that counts. As long as you try, that you give it everything you have without any regrets, is what truly matters. For his people are not capable of creating the tunes she can; she is to them as her father is to her. Meaning what she can do is not only worthwhile but unique, more so than she ever thought possible. And with this newfound vigor, she does what she can for the people around her, supporting them in the way that only she is capable of doing.

What both Akatsuki and Isuzu demonstrate, besides their respective developments, is something that many of the characters experience throughout the entirety of the season. And that is the notion of self-esteem. Having the confidence to do what needs to be done -- to get up when fallen, to rely on your friends, to do what is right -- doesn't always come naturally. For many people, it's a difficult feeling that isn't inherent and must instead be "taught" to those that don't have a lot of it to begin with. This occurs with the former two ladies. But there are also those who lose it after having acquired it -- Shiroe experiences such a dilemma near the end where he doesn't fully believe in the path he has chosen. Touya holds his ground against the suicidal knights, Nureha stands up for herself, and Demiqas swallows his pride to help the very man who humiliated him. Having the confidence to perform certain deeds can be difficult to obtain, but once it is found, and as the characters of the anime portray, it brings with it its own brand of goodness.

SOUND

The OP for Log Horizon 2 remains the same, which is a wise decision. It's catchy, it's fun, and it's the database; it is literally Log Horizon's signature sound. The ED is fine, utilizing cute singing, a simple beat, and dainty piano playing. It can be quite catchy itself, especially with the ending "la's" that are used.

The rest of the soundtrack remains more or less the same from the first season as well. It contains uplifting battle tones with hard guitar, drums, and choirs -- the "Main Theme" is both the best track for this example and the best track that the show has to offer. It also uses mysterious tunes during explanatory moments, slow guitar playing during sadder ones, and flutes during the nonchalant times. It's a nice OST that captures the mood of the anime quite well.

As far as voice-acting is concerned, those involved give around average performances. A special shout-out goes to Yukiyo Fujii as Tetora for her cracking voice while speaking.

ENJOYMENT

I found myself not quite enjoying what this one was doing, mostly because it transitioned away from the politics and tried too hard to bring in as many different elements as it could. On top of this, many of the battles weren't very impressive to see despite them garnering so much focus. Furthermore, while the Kids arc was nicely executed, it was still quite boring to watch unfold.

The only characters that I had a fun time watching were Leonardo (the turtle) and Tetora (the idol). The former was just a really cool dude while the latter was always having fun, looking to bring a smile to both me and everyone else in the world. Leonardo hardly got any screen time, unfortunately; he was placed in the same spot as Nyanta -- really cool but underutilized. And Tetora couldn't always be around to bring about the laughs.

Log Horizon 2nd Season attempts to continue what its predecessor started. Unfortunately, due to an awkward story, shoddy animation, and boring segments throughout, this tale seems to still be questioning its own sense of belonging.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, thematically strong but coherently weak

Animation: Bad, low quality art style, good character designs, below average actual animation

Characters: Good, Akatsuki, Isuzu, and the rest find the confidence to fight

Sound: Good, great OP, good ED, good soundtrack, average VA work

Enjoyment: Bad, lame fights, boring arcs, and only a few likable characters

Final Score: 5/10

At the point of reading this review for the second season of Log Horizon, I'm going to go ahead and assume that you've already completed the first season of this anime series. Do note too that this review is written with no knowledge of the Light Novels. Some spoilers may be in the following review. You have been warned.

Log Horizon Season 2, like its predecessor, has a storyline that has been re-used many times over in anime, and the setting of the anime is not a unique one, everyone is stuck in a game world due to several circumstances and are left trying to find ... a way out. Unlike other similar anime, however, the adventurers in this story are not desperate to find their way out of the game (at least, not all of them are,) and for the most part, are content with remaining the in the game world and managing their time and the situations faced in the game world itself instead. The story touches upon many interesting concepts in a game world; the politics of a fantasy world, and how one man leads his organisation to maintain peace and prosperity in his "town", and deals with the various issues facing the world. From mysterious effects coming alive to the dissatisfaction of the NPCs native to the Log Horizon world, there are indeed many issues that the show explored briefly which led me to be interested in continuing to watch the series. However, the major flaw within this series also lies in this area, while the concepts touched on were interesting, they were explored way too briefly.

There was way too much uninteresting dialogues or even monologues among the characters about how they felt and what needs to be done, or how they should work together to become stronger, etc etc and the development was drawn out far too much to keep the viewer hooked to the show. Sure, there were some decent fight scenes throughout, but these were kept to a minimum, and most of the episodes were about discussion of feelings, how they feel absolutely worthless in real life and how being a gamer and never giving up gave their life meaning (seriously?) and so on.

Throughout the plot, there was also various references to the threat of the Minami town (another player-controlled town) and that of another player-guild, Plant Hwyaden that was positioned to becoming the main antangonist of the story. However, much of that was left largely unexplained, and most of the confrontations between the protaganists and this guild was left to the user's imagination (the reasoning behind them, who they were, what they wanted to achieve, etc ). A war was constantly referred to, but there was no real indication that the war was about to begin anytime soon. Strange phenomenon occurred and a war is approaching is pretty much ubiquitous every episode, but fillers continue to drag the plot along mindlessly, with valentine festivals and stupid quests to make a magic bag, which bored me greatly. I ended up skipping through some of the more unbearable parts (will leave u to discover which). Towards the final two episodes, the plot began to pick up the pace, like the first season, but I knew two episodes could not be enough to give a satisfactory ending. Regardless, the interesting concepts explored were enough to make me want to finish the season (i had time), but it would probably be dropped were i any busier. To conclude, you would probably be better off watching an abridged version (or manually skipping fillers to the interesting parts.)

Art:
Nothing to mention much here, decent art overall.

Sound: Hated the opening song, but some like it , so meh. Ending is cute though. OSTs were normal, nothing worth mentioning.

Characters: Interesting, but too little was done to develop them. Ironically, the one they focused a lot on, the bard and her musical past, was incredibly boring.

Enjoyment: Given that you can endure the drag of the plot, it is fairly enjoyable.

Overall Score: 6/10

The second season of Log Horizon brought more enjoyment to me than the last season. Sure, there were episodes that didn't contribute all that much to the storyline, and there is much less character development than I would have liked, but the character struggles are realistic and well placed. Very few times have I seen an anime that is as genuine as this one; most of the characters have something to fight for (which isn't the case for many anime).

The following may contain spoilers!

"it’s natural to want all of humanity to be happy, but that, in the end, is the beginning of sorrow". This ... powerful line illustrates one of the major thoughts brought up throughout the course of the episodes. Unlike the first season, where everybody seems to be content with the new world, season 2 introduces the dissatisfaction from many players about living in the world. The desire to return to the old world is contrasted with the desire to stay with the new friends made in the game world. In terms of new ideas, the second season does a fantastic job of introducing them at well placed intervals. 8/10

The story lags when the low level characters are sent to level up; for whatever reason, there is a focus on them that indicates their importance later on in Log Horizon. However, their importance was not revealed in this season, even with their participation in the final battle. The main story arcs (Akatsuki's teachings, the gold raid, and the radio tower raid) are fun to watch and somewhat advance the plot, but don't give a clear direction for the anime. The final battle leaves much to be desired, as the viewer may be left wondering what the past 25 episodes were even for. Story: 6/10

The art in this season is the same as the art in the first season, and is nothing spectacular (but also not bad). Art: 7/10

The soundtrack to the second season was quite powerful in some parts, and managed to give me chills on some occasions. Better than most anime soundtracks and appropriately timed, sound: 8/10

Character development is lacking. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem with Log Horizon: the character development. Firstly, how can one be attached to the characters if they aren't developed? Secondly, it is hard to see how one can be concerned for the characters when they cannot be killed. The battles are not as intense as say, Sword Art Online simply due to the fact that nobody cares if the characters die. They simply come back as if nothing happened. This is made worse by the fact that the characters are poorly developed, and thus makes the players actually seem like NPCs. Characters: 5/10

I enjoyed the second season of Log Horizon. However, the season is lacking in both story and character, both of which are vital parts of a good anime. My enjoyment peaked when Shiroe acted indecisively during the tower raid and Henriette slapped him; that's exactly what I wanted to do at that point. There was a level of satisfaction that was fulfilled in that moment, and that certainly gave me more reason to give a higher score to this season. Enjoyment: 6/10

Overall, this season is better than the first; however, it still lacks in important areas. If there is a season 3, the story and character development must improve else I may just end up falling asleep in the 10-13 episode range. Glad that Akatsuki did better than the middle school girl with Shiroe. Overall: 6/10

I marathon-ed through Log Horizon Season 1 and 2 in two days. Just saying.

I see that many people share my view on the second season as well. It was a poor representation of what was supposed to be a sequel of a top-notch anime. Instead they delivered too many plot holes, endless filler episodes that had little or nothing to do with the main storyline and deprecated the value of the shining star that was season 1.

Don't get me wrong - season 2 had amazing episodes as well. But a few great episodes doesn't come as awesome as the first season. The atrocious thing about ... season 2 is that I had hoped that many of the questions I had from season 1 would be answered to some degree. It appears that I was wrong, and not only I didn't get an answer but it left me with more cliff-hangers and did an open ending. And now I have to wonder if there is season 3 coming. Why should I wonder? From the 50 episodes they made, I feel half are wasted on pointless filler and annoying plot twists.

If this is the end to the anime and season 3 isn't coming, then I have to say that they pissed on the anime and left it to rot in the sun.

I take back anything I ever said about this writer actually being any good at writing. He just had a lucky strike with the first season, and even that has shitty writing on micro level, which amazing direction covered for perfectly. Reading those LNs enlightened me about that.

Second season should have been where the shit finally hits the fan, and where we learn and explore all about what's REALLY going on, quicken up the pacing, resolve character relationships, and then go a bit beyond and have an epic thematic wrap up. Instead we get what's essentially a bunch of fillers because author is too ... big of a sissy to let go of his new cash cow. Where we should have at least gotten cool fights we got epic studio Deen budget of $10 per episode. Which also meant instead of cute characters we know and love, we got some deformed monsters take their place. Alright not quite THAT bad, but at places it felt like it. Not all of second season was horrible, but too much of it was for me, and the worst part is that it just kept spiraling downwards just further betraying my hopeful expectations. First season introduces best OTP Crusty and Lenessia, and then second season just entirely sidelines them. Oh, and why not return to the most unlikable character no one cares about, Demikas, and dedicate third of the season to his character development for no damn reason whatsoever.

So it might sound like a 1/10 raging review, somewhat in contrast with the grade I picked. This is mostly due to this still being Log Horizon world and cast from a loved show. There were some interesting developments like all the moon stuff, even though I would have preferred it see explored deeper and faster. Some of the raiding and action was fun as well, despite actual mechanics of the fights not even being near what first season offered in terms of clear stakes and well explained mechanics. Environments were their usual post apocalyptic overgrown prettiness I love so much. Also Tetra. At least until she devolved to a broken record of single joke character like so many others (I'm looking at you Naotsugu!)

#TeamMinorin!

Food-centered.

About 50% of the show time can be described as: "and they decided to have a meal...". Should one pay enough attention to the content, it will become clear that this can't be a mere coincidence. Maniacs kept the studio staff in a cellar with no food so they couldn't think of nothing else? Doubtful. More likely that, though unofficially, this was funded by people with not the least influence in japan food industry.

You like watching ads? Cooked with a pathetic pretense of a "plot"? Spiced with unsoundly repetitive and totally unoriginal "humor"? Served to a hub-controlled zombie "characters"? Then this one awaits you! :)

There ... are still a few good episodes though, or moments in between, mostly in second part. Arguably worth the trouble.

Log Horizon is an anime that has been completely overshadowed by the massive popularity of Sword Art Online. The first season was an admirable attempt at creating something worthwhile, but the second season fails to impress.

Story: Log Horizon Season 1 was an intriguing geo-political chess match inside the framework of a cliche "trapped in the game" story. Log Horizon Season 2 abandons that premise in favor of more action and side character development, which undermines what the series had going for it. Particularly grating are the horrendously long and redundant external monologues where characters spout off meaningless exposition about "friendship" and "struggle," as though these ... things weren't evident from what's happening. One instance of this takes up nearly an entire episode! Log Horizon has lost whatever magic it had.

Art: Solid animations, character design, and background.

Sound: Serviceable (with the ridiculous intro song from the first season).

Character: The core of Shiroe, Akatsuki, and Noatsugu is entertaining, while the majority of the side characters are obnoxious. The "young group" of characters: Minori, Touya, Serara, Isuzu, and Rudy, are a significant reason why season two falls below the first. They get roughly half of the 25 episodes dedicated to them, and their arcs were a slog to get through. The reason for this comes down to the sense that anything they do will ultimately prove to be pointless. Their romantic interests with people decades older than them will obviously amount to nothing, and their "achievements" include not dying or getting in the way. They were not nearly this bad in the first season - likely because they stuck close to the main cast (in fact, I remember enjoying them far more than Akatsuki).

Enjoyment: My goodwill from the first season gave out around episode 18, and from then onward I forced myself to finish the rest of it. Something about season 2 was so draining, even while binge watching. I cannot imagine watching it week-by-week, that must have been torture. The "payoff" at the end of the season isn't much without a third season, which, even in late 2017, seems far away (or not happening at all). Part of me wishes I had continued to put off watching this, if only to preserve the satisfaction of the first season.

My score for sound is for the music, and the sound FX.
The voice acting was B... almost C class for most of the characters, even if they were important. (Like big sis, amazing character, but she had probably the worst voice actor in the entire anime).

This anime has one of THE BEST plots to exist for being in another world.
But it is almost completely ruined with the massive side story of the kids.
I don't mind the kids, never have until now. But they focus FAR too much on them in this season while giving us the tip of whats going on in the main overall ... story. Not to mention, they're heinously one dimensional, and come to revelations of THE most simple things in existance like the importance of music.
There is no reason for them to focus THAT much effort into such a miniscule thing. And the singer had the worst singing voice ive ever heard in anime.
(Isuzu).

Isuzu and Rudy honestly had one of the best side stories until then.
The owner and dog relationship development they had was impossibly adorable and great. But once they focused like HALF OF SEASON 2 on her music? Jesus christ did it just kill the vibe of the anime.
I'm reawatching it because I can't remember finishing this season at all, and I'm beginning to realize why that may be true. Not to mention why there is no season 3. I have been hoping and waiting for a season 3 for years, and I now know why that is.

The story is develoiping at an astonishingly slow rate, there are WAY too many side stories that absolutely no one will ever care about, and then when Toya was arguing with the knight who wanted to go home.
The knight actually made WAY more sense than him.
Yes, it's crazy that they're killing themselves over and over. (which by the way completely negates them making death and losing memories such a big deal). But Toya's argument after saying it was crazy was completely selfish and absolutely incorrect for that conversation. The knight made perfect sense (besides the fact he kept killing himself). He wanted to get home to his fiance who at this point he didn't even know whether or not she was still there waiting for him. He had a life before all of this that he wanted to get back to, people he cared about, people who loved him and were probably worried sick or thought he was dead. While Toya is feeling sorry for himself because he finally has legs again, he's standing up for his own selfish wants in this world. He wasn't standing up for anything else.
And the fact they wrote in for his friend characters to support his argument was also... so... stupid.

I have read that the kid characters had more actual development than the anime in the light novels, but that makes me not want to ever read the light novels because I truly do not care about the kids at all beyond being shown here and there. Not given the largest chunk of a 25 episode season.
The world is on the verge of breaking out into a war, there are other characters traveling from the other servers, there are issues with the people of the land, and so much more, but they focus SO MUCH of the anime on the kids coming to simple and small realizations.

The raids, the MAIN CAST, the MAIN PLOT, the music, and etc, are amazng.
But the heinous amount of side story and side character development is hideous.

Also, the problems with the opinion of the adventurers by the people of the land is so forced. It's literally like they wanted to insert racism of some kind into the anime without actually fleshing it out organically.

The adventurers are immortals who save their lives over and over and over, while providing other services that the people can't deal with themselves either.... and they still look down on the adventurers?
These characters are LITERAL GODS to the people of the land, but they scoff at them at every turn? That makes zero sense.

If our own world was suddenly filled with god like people who couldn't die and could complete tasks for us as trade for land and such? We'd think very highly of them. We could even find a way together to semi-surpass our own mortality in various ways. I know IRL we have racial problems left and right, but I know for a fact we'd NEVER have issues with a race of literal gods that helped us all the time. I know im rambling, but it just sucks to see the anime try to force conflict where it just shouldn't exist instead of focusing on whats important.

By the way. I actually love the heck out of this anime. It's amazing... they just waste soooooooooooooo much time with things that no one cares about outside of a very small few.

Disappointing not as good as first season.its as if the writers had no idea how to take the story further and they were trying to drag the story to 25 episodes.

The story as so many sub plots which actually makes no sense what so ever or any connection between them. it felt more like waste of time. the first season was really good and interesting but second was boring from very beginning.

The second season had its best moments but not as good as the first one. I've watched the entirety of both seasons of Log Horizon and found the first season very enjoyable.

Medicare at best with slow progressing story. This can't even be compare to Season1 at all since it had a huge impact and filled with a lot of events. Season2 just try to showcase friendship and BS that is obviously there to fill the time and try to produce a 25eps when I really think this can be cut to 18 maybe less. There are literately eps where you need to watch 2~4mins and that is what meaningful to the story. They made a calculating/ thoughtful story and fights into Friendship feast and unrealistic events in game world.

Spoiler

Lets talk about the finale raid and ... how stupid it was. I just want to know how does a low level players can do damage to 90lvl monsters? Why would you put low level characters in that raid? I remember them showing that in Season1 when they met the Chif Cat and the little girl when she tried to heal and her healing was little to none. So now with a lvl 58~59, they can heal lvl90 people and what is worse in a Raid where they stated before that normal monsters deal more damage than before? That and TON of other chat events in this season Took my immersion away. Eps turn into girls chatting and nothing happening at all. A full eps is for the girl to practice and then do Shonen crap on us in the Akihabara fight. A full eps was done just to show the Elf Guild Master encourage and REPEAT himself over and over. JUST cut it, I rather watch a 12 meaningful eps than an extended version of girls talk/encouragement talk/TALK TALK TALK/Valentine filler eps..for double the content. Quantity doesnt mean Quality and this season/anime proved that point.

It was painful to finish, and I honesty didn't want to say so. Focusing on stupid love fight between a middle school and a grown girl with middle school body is so annoying. Talking about friendship that can be done at least once and be done with, getting a lot of eps to show that is annoying. Making little girl skill in organising a Raid group of lvl90 when her experience doesnt pass lvl58 is annoying. This season was annoying to watch and takes you out of the immersion when the story breaks rules(game's rules) when they sit them before in previous season is annoying.

All in all, this season made the story boring and the game setting even more boring than ever. Keep that up if there is a season3 because this is worth 5 At best when Season1 worth 8~9 with their game rules/story.

The first half of the season was really really slow and it seemed filled with fillers and boring stuff. The second half was completely packed in and seemed t be extremely rushed. I almost felt like dropping the series midway through.

This season did not have it's ups and down, but was rather filled with explanations and was pretty much boring. They have kept the opportunity for a third season open, but I feel it would be dragging things out too much.

As for characters, not mentioning names(to avoid spoilers), some of them change personalities that is their basic nature with(Like, are you kidding me!). And then ... there are concepts which have been explained but in a very rough and unsystematic manner.

Though everything, it wasn't much and was filled with positivity and somehow lost it's focus and importance on what the series was really about.

I mostly enjoyed watching it, but it was such a disappointment compared to season 1. I don't know anything about what actually happened in production, but it feels like all of the writers quit before season 2 and were never properly replaced. There are a handful of particularly interesting and thought-provoking events and themes, but for the most part the plot is all over the place, often feeling contrived and nonsensical. Moreover, I was constantly feeling that plot events were undermining important overall themes set up in season 1.

It seems like they were just constantly running out of ideas, so they had to constantly change ... the rules and throw crazy events at the characters. I very much wish that they had focused more on politics, interpersonal relationships, character growth, and realistic sorts of conflict rather than insane and unpredictable outside forces. A number of super interesting potential problems/conflicts were actually explicitly mentioned briefly, but then not properly explored. The biggest strength of season 1 in my opinion was how it set up a very interesting scenario and then let things play out in a fairly realistic/believable manner, without subjecting the viewer to too many deus ex machina surprises. In many episodes of season 1, I had fun imagining what I would do in the situation, thinking about all of the various factors involved. In season 2, it felt more like uncontrollable events kept being thrown at largely unchanging characters, which isn't nearly as fun.

I loved the characters from season 1, and while I don't particularly dislike how a lot of time was spent on certain characters in season 2, I feel that a lot of time was wasted on unimportant and uninteresting things when we could've instead been exploring more of the characters, many of whom ended up largely forgotten. The characters at the end of season 1 remained largely unchanged by the end of season 2 -- there wasn't much character growth.

I do think that from a narrower perspective, execution was OK. When characters did appear, season 2 remained pretty faithful to them; I didn't often feel that characters were being twisted. The settings and dialogue were usually OK. Individual episodes were usually interesting enough to keep my attention.

Overall, I have to say that I think it was decent. It's probably comparable in quality to popular shounen anime. I'm mainly just struck by massive disappointment compared to season 1, which was monumentally better. I really wish that some new continuation could be made from season 1, but that's probably not going to happen.

First season was better.

The story isn't as good as season one. I've never seen a flashforward that worked well, and this one killed any tension in the first half of the show. Additionally, a significant portion of the show is dedicated to worrying about love interests that is rarely reciprocated. Developing relationships is fine. If there isn't a confession/rejection, then it is wasted time. Time that could be spent doing more with the story. Season one accomplished a lot while world building and introducing characters. This season coasted off of the earlier hard work. Lastly, there was a little dissonance between the source material and ... the anime. It comes off as a little jumpy or awkward conversation between characters near the end.

Art is about the same. Studio Deen took over for Satelight and I see no discernible change.

Sound was incredibly lazy. The opening was reused from season one. Also the bard Isuzu, sang the ending from season one as her performance plug in music. That's not ok. I need to see some originality from a aspiring musician. For all the talk about creating new music for the world of Elder Tale, it's awfully hypocritical to reuse songs. Side note: Do you know who's famous for playing music while watching a city burn? Emperor Nero. That's not someone I would want to be associated with, Isuzu.

Character's don't really change or grow from season one. Akatsuki has the biggest change, but that's basically her becoming less of a loner. Several characters experienced moments of doubt and renewed resolve but this effectively changed nothing. As backstories are concerned, we learned part of Tohya's. It's not lengthy, but it explains some aspects of his character. Oh. We get to see a little bit of Kanami. That's a plus i guess.

My enjoyment fell off a bit. The first half felt slow and Shiroe and the gang didn't accomplish near as much as they did in season one. The half hearted romances also brought it down. Sadly, I thought the last episode was really good. It felt more exciting than the rest of the show did. And then there were credits. Bummer.

Hopefully, it'll get a third season and find it's former glory. Maybe some new music too.

In my opinion this second season did not improve in any areas compared to season one, but instead it either remained the same or even got worse. I will give my thoughts on each component of the show as well as my rating for it. If I have any spoilers, I will write them between *'s.

First of all, the story. The story in this season is worse than season one. Yeah its moving forward and its exploring the world, but its done in a way that feels more like cramming in information than exploring and discovering their new world. The theme of this season according ... to what I saw is "adaptability and creativity during the unexpected", as we *see that when silver sword adapts to the new dungeon, the kids party adapts to the world while traveling alone, as well as shiroe coming to terms with their situation and coming up with creative solutions several times throughout the show*. It is a very generic theme imo, and even so it is one that the story does not execute well. Things keep happening just for the sake of keeping the story going, and that becomes more and more apparent as you go on with the show. The story gives a really basic theme and lesson, and on top of that there are no real satisfying fights or events or problems that would keep my interest engaged. I came out of this season looking to take a break of this series instead of wanting to watch season 3, and on top of that I know that if I take a break I will probably completely lose interest in the series. Mind you, the story is not bad by any means, its just really generic and plain, and thus fails to keep my interest. Overall, the story is 5/10.

For the art, I will keep it short. The art is at the same level as it was during season 1. It did not get any better or worse. The art itself is good and easy to watch. I was hoping to see some improvements from season one, but its not that necessary. Overall, 7/10 for the art.

The soundtrack/ost, I will keep short too. The soundtracks in this show are generally fine. It is not bad by any means, and sometimes helps set the scene, but at times it also disrupts the scene. I occasionally noticed the soundtrack being too intense/loud during a scene. For example when there is a dramatic scene, the music in the background would sometimes be extra dramatic which kinda took me out of the scene. Overall, 6/10 for the sound.

Finally, the characters. The characters are as mediocre as the story. I was hoping to see more character growth from season one, and I got that, just in a really bad way. *We see characters like William Massachusetts, the kids part, and Demikas grow, but at no point is that growth really relevant to either the story or the main characters*. On top of that, not only are the main characters pretty invisible throughout the show, but they show no growth whatsoever. You see these main characters, the members of log horizon, pretty often, but they never really do anything meaningful. They are just there. Honestly, the only characters that showed growth that was somehow nice to see is the kids party. If not for them, the characters would be horrible in this season. Overall, 4/10 for the characters.

Overall, the show is not too bad, but if you are expecting some engaging story or deep characters, that is nowhere near this season. This season is just for people to turn of their brain, not think, and just pass time. In that sense, it is not bad. That is what I will rate it for, and so overall it is a 6/10 for me. However, if you are looking for an engaging story or deep characters, this would be more like a 2 or 3.

The first part of the season was amazing and exciting, it was the usual shiroe making his Over powered 200IQ plays,but then came the kids arch and they try the whole character development and more screen time for the kids, but it was just too much. It got really annoying and very boring in my opinion. It felt like shiroe wasn't even the main character anymore, in fact throughout the whole series it just felt like they're trying to fade him out.

Im gonna give this a 7 it would be an 8 if it weren't for the kids arch.

While watching this i sometimes really got bored. I'm tired to seeing the same battle mechanics over and over again. The tank team taunts the beast and everyone else attacks healers heal ofc its literally same thing since season 1. In all fights we see that even in the children's adventure arc. Is it that hard to think of anything else I'm really tired of it. We saw things about the universe that we absolutely don't give a f. We didn't see any good politics as we did in season 1. NPC-human interaction was the only thing ok in the whole season actually. There are ... bad guys without clear motivation. It was such a disappointment. 5/10.

Im Not mad, just a little disapointed. Its hard to say if the issues with this season is in the Original Material or Studio Deen.
Log horizon season 2 forgoes quite a bit of the worldbuilding and fills it with cheap jokes and drama("romance", cause why woudnt half the city be in love with the antisocial nerd) for the first half. Wich wasnt a problem in the first season to the extend it happend since it didnt considerably slow the story).
The second half is taken up by secondary characters for a big part, wich is nice for those characters, but doesnt help the pace.
The enjoyabilty ... of the story also drops considerably while the studio drops the ball on paceing and animation quality.
Eh this review is a bit jumbled together, but I aint feeling like rewriting it.
Story:____6(pace and cohesion, the story itself aint bad)
Art:______5(Deeeeeeeeeeeeeen)
Sound:___ 8(I like the songs.)
Character:_7(They are decently fleshed out considering the sheer amount)
Enjoyment:7(was sadly a lot more of a slog then the first season)
Overall :__ 7

2nd season of the anime drops its art animation quality. This says alot.

Focuses more and more on the younger characters in the show, making the main character starting to look more and more like a stage prop.
The plot devices moves on to introducing new characters while developing an interesting conflict that is going to be seen probably in the next season, or maybe never.

What I disliked was that the main characters of the 1st season received visible downgrades on all aspects besides of their art - they become dumber, more bad at things, more lines where they most of the time don't know what ... are they talking about - aka the story itself was rushed.

One big problem is that the main story is dragged and has lots of fillers this season, more than probably the last season and you won't be able to stand to watch them all.

They really tried to expand the story, but they overdid the fillers, while the main story's great points where most of the time neglected.

The fanservice this season was really bad. The romance was better in the secondary plots than in the main plot. The character developing plots where rushed, artificial, overall bad and bait as it were plot devices for fillers which had nothing to do with the main story.

They had lots of concepts they tried to touch, but because of many problems they didn't quite succeeded, but they managed to pull through some of the main story well.