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Log Horizon Season 2 Collection 2 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : July 24, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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log-horizon-2-2Title: Log Horizon Season 2 Collection 2 (on Blu-ray)

Director: Shinji Ishihara

Author: Toshizo Nemoto

Studio: Studio Deen

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: May 31st, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 325 Minutes / 13 Episode

Genre: Sci Fi, Fantasy, Adventure

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: A

Synopsis:

Having cleared the Abyssal Shaft, the members of the raiding party have returned to Akihabara to consider their next options.

First, though, there’s an unexpected lesson in history as the founder of the Debauchery Tea Party, the legendary Kanami, resurfaces with an extremely peculiar entourage and some even more stunning revelations about connections to the outside.

But the ramifications of this will have to wait. With new political situations brewing between the Guilds, Shiroe sets Isaac to the task of training Maihama’s knights while the younger members of Log Horizon are sent out on what should be a simple quest.

Collecting the materials required to make a magic bag, however, becomes much more difficult when ogres and nightshades get involved!

Fortunately, the junior team is about to get a jolt of fresh blood… in the form of a Vampire! The action escalates and the world gets even wilder in the second thundering collection of Log Horizon – 2!

Commentry:

Season 2 of Log Horizon is just as much fun as season 1 and in many ways becomes more complicated and intriguing. I was absorbed in the struggle to decide what they should do to protect themselves and maybe find a way home. With everything happening is was easy to get lost in the action, but the writing kept the series focused and on track. I was discussing Log Horizon with another anime fan and they commented that they did not like the series because it was slow and lacked the excitement of other series like Sword Art Online. I can see their point, but for me I think that is exactly what makes Log Horizon great.

The one thing that helped keep the series rolling was to include characters that had been eluded to earlier in the series. Meeting some of Shiroe’s former guild member is fun and opens the door to serious questions about the rest of the game and the servers that control and connect the players of the game.

Overall Grade: A

It is easy for me to grade Log Horizon season 2 part 2 an A because it took the series in another direction and continued to add factors that make it more than just good. Simply put, if you like trapped in the game series and haven’t seen Log Horizon then you are missing one of the best. Log Horizon will show you how how a great series should develop and continue to give the viewer something to think about and enjoy. Season 2 part 2 keeps the hits keep on coming and I have a feeling that season 3 will be even better!

Log Horizon Season 2 Collection 1 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : June 3, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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log-horizon-2-1Title: Log Horizon Season 2 Collection 1 (on Blu-ray)

Director: Shinji Ishihara

Author: Toshizo Nemoto

Studio: Studio Deen

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: May 31st, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 325 Minutes / 13 Episode

Genre: Sci Fi, Fantasy, Adventure

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: A

Synopsis:

It’s been six months since the event that trapped thousands of players in the online game world of Elder Tales and the situation is far from secure. The People of the Land are engaged in open warfare against the Goblin armies of Zantleaf. Minami spies are infiltrating the populace. And even with the support and guidance of the Round Table Alliance, the cost of sustaining the city of Akihabara is causing the entire infrastructure to teeter on the brink of collapse. With winter coming, Shiroe and his companions are forced to consider their options. Should they stay in Akihabara and attempt to weather the oncoming storm? Or should they gamble on missions to other portions of the world in search of new sources of valuable treasure? The launch of another series of raids will test old alliances while new ones are forged, as the adventure continues in the second season of LOG HORIZON!

Commentary:

Over the last few months I have heard more and more people talking about Log Horizon. That is a great thing because the things I am hearing is what I have already said in the past and that is the fact that Log Horizon is one of the best anime to examine what would need to happen if you and others were trapped in a game. Although Sword Art Online is entertaining and very pretty it doesn’t come close to Log Horizon in story and plot driven writing.

The second season of Log Horizon brings with it new challenges and rewards and these first 13 episodes manage to setup a complicated plot line that is both mysterious and deeply intriguing. I thought that wrapping up one large quest and opening the door to a even bigger threat in this first collection is a great way to keep us coming back for more.

Overall Grade: A

Wow, in reality I wasn’t sure if this series could get any better and with the coming of the second season I was proven wrong. The action and complex strategy that is taking place is farm more than I could imagine. The flash backs to their real lives when dead was brilliant and it gave a solid grounding into who these people really are. There was no holding back when the reality was approached and also added meaning to who they had become in the game. It is a solid reminder of our own failures as a society to truly accept and include all people rather than ridicule and shun people for their introverted personalities and awkward social skills. Owning an anime store I meet people like this on a daily basis and make it point to let them know that they are welcome in my store and many of them have become friends over the years and my little store has become a safe haven for them to actually have a social life that is off line.

Getting off my soap box and back to Log Horizon. There is some thing else that made this collection step up to a solid A rating and that was the way it rolled out the plot. There was a steady pacing and flow of the story line that made it easy to watch and to walk away from each episode feeling as though you were provided something important. It also ended with a great cliff hanger that setup the the second half of the season.

If , for any reason you reading this and not familiar with Log Horizon then you really need to start from the beginning and get caught up. You will be very pleased that you dove in.

 

Log Horizon Collection 2 (anime Review)

Posted by :Patches On : January 3, 2015
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Log Horizon collection 2Title: Log Horizon Collection 2 (on Blu-ray)

Director: Shinji Ishihara

Author: Toshizo Nemoto

Studio: Studio Deen

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: Jan. 27th, 2015

Format: Blu-ray / 300 Minutes / 12 Episode

Genre: Sci Fi, Fantasy, Adventure

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Even as Shiroe slowly learns the secrets behind the creation of the World Fraction spell, the origin of the Demi-humans, and how his own actions in the Real World have affected the world in which he now dwells, the seeds of thought he’s planted in the minds of others begin to bear fruit. Game strategy and tactics may have been intended for amusement, but their origins were pulled from actual war planning and stratagems. As others begin to accept and implement those theories on their own, the existing alliances and balance of power begin to shift.

Those changes can’t possibly come quickly enough, as the adventurers’ preoccupations have allowed the Goblins to unite and amass a giant army. Now the Goblins are on the march, and as the Estal Lords debate their course of action, Minori makes a dangerous gamble and initiates action on her own. In the midst of this MMORPG turned real, an unassuming princess may prove to be the key to ultimate victory.

Commentary:

As Log Horizon progresses so does its depth. In the first half of the first season it setup the premiss and gave us a working understanding of the world these characters live in. Now that things are somewhat set it looks like the plot thickens with another layer of underlying complexity. I found this new aspect to be rather refreshing. This is where many series fail to properly setup the story and end up falling flat. Log Horizon doesn’t loose focus and continues to give us the same structure we have become used to and at the same time show bits and pieces of the layer beneath it all.

If there is a weakness to the series it has to be the animation style. I’m not saying it doesn’t look good, I just find it to be a little too playful with the characters and if it had been a little darker in nature and styling I think the series would stand out even greater. On the other hand I find the writing to be outstanding. This series is about strategies and that is what games are really all about. We get every bit of the plot and strategy that goes into the story.

Overall Grade: A-

Log Horizon collection 2 managed to continue the story in a way that both gave support and depth to the plot. I am very interested in what comes next. I can see why the series found a fan base in Japan and believe that with the right connection here it will find the fan base in the U. S., or at least I hope so. Honestly I found it better than Sword Art Online, but there is a cult aspect around that series and the animation style is less playful which helps add to the mystic. I’m not trying to alienate SAO fans, but I think that if you are a gamer and also enjoy the concept of people being trapped in a game then I think you will find Log Horizon truer to the concept then maybe SAO or even .hack.

I am looking forward to season 2 (collections 3 and 4) to come out.

Log Horizon Collection 1 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : November 15, 2014
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Category: Reviews

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Log Horizon collection 1Title: Log Horizon collection 1

Director: Shinji Ishihara

Author: Toshizo Nemoto

Studio: Studio Deen

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: Nov. 25th, 2014

Format: Blu-ray / 325 Minutes / 13 Episode

Genre: Sci Fi, Fantasy, Adventure

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Elder Tales has become a global phenomenon, immersing millions of players in its online fantasy world. However, something goes wrong with the twelfth expansion pack. Eight-year veteran Shiroe and 30,000 other players suddenly find themselves trapped in the game’s no-longer-fictional universe!

Except it’s not even exactly the game they knew: things are in different places, the portals don’t work, and if a gamer was playing an avatar who wasn’t a physical match for their real self… well, let’s just say that everyone who’s been playing is going to have to make some serious adjustments to their new world view.

On top of that, the former Non-Player-Characters are now self-aware and working towards their own ends. This collision of the Elder Tale people and players with seemingly impossible skills, abilities, and knowledge promises to be cataclysmic. Get ready for heroes to rise and new legends to be forged as Shiroe and fellow players Naotsugu and Akatsuki discover what happens when sword and sorcery becomes real!

Commentary:

My first impression of Log Horizon was thinking “Oh, no not another gamer stuck in the game anime”. As I settled in and started watching the first episode I began to see something I really didn’t expect. I saw a series that take the gaming world and leans on the structure of the game more than giving us a bunch of teenagers who run around and battle things just because. Log Horizon takes the concept one step further and gives a feeling that the story is still in the game with a little more reality for the players.

I think that the concept is taking the right view and allowing the characters to develop as the also discover their new reality and what they can do in it. There is also the aspect that the ancillary game characters the are not players take on personas and are given life is a wonderful way to add depth to the show.  With each episode we get to see these characters grow and develop as they become more involved in the world around them. They also discover that they have limitations to what they can do and also what they can be, but this just adds to the richness of the series.

Overall Grade: A-

Log Horizon has caught my attention with this first collection. I manages to paint the picture of a rich world that may be a prison for these players, but it also represents itself as a fully realized environment that can be both dangerous and rewarding. The show forces these new inhabitants to look at this reality differently and end up understanding that they have more and greater abilities than they thought. My trepidation that it would just be a ripoff of the popularity that Sword Art Online has is not founded and in fact I see this series as being superior in many ways to Sword Art Online. Too bad that it may never get the chance for the broader distribution that  would get in front of more people. If you haven’t see Sword Art Online yet and are interested by the concept of players getting trapped in the game then I would start with Log Horizon it is, in my opinion, a better series.