Log Horizon, In an online world within our world, several thousand players got stuck as their avatar within Elder Tale, as the newest expansion pack was released. The series mainly follows Shiroe, the devil in glasses, and his merry followers who struggle with all the problems that occur as the online world slowly becomes real and larger than life. As a seasoned strategist and highly-ranked player, he ends up taking control as the world keeps throwing new curveballs his way. Luckily he has a strong supporting cast and is well-versed in the art of “plans within plans”.
There are many a tale in our world about adventures in other worlds. So what makes this series worth watching? It has a lot of char, political intrigues, and a huge selection of colorful characters. What really sets it apart is the sense of mystery and the well-thought-out pacing. The biggest folly of many such shows is they either focus too much on the dialogue or flood the viewer with action. The style and character designs are often all over the place and the use of conspicuous CGI can throw some people off. Unlike some series, the characters here are dressed in a practical way and the artist doesn’t stack gear upon gear. Mind you, they look great. They just don’t fall under the category of costume porn. The intro song is also very decent to the point of becoming an earworm.
One of the major plot points within the series is the mystery behind the event that occurred. How will they deal with their new life in a world where they have player powers, yet the NPCs don’t?
And how will they get home, if it’s possible at all?
More than anything it conveys a most human outlook on the nature of mankind and its ability to adapt. A very noticeable thing I just have to mention is the lack of a truly violent tsundere character, accidental perverts, and panty-shots. Sure they have some jokes about it, however, it’s quite tame and family-friendly in that department.
The Log Horizon anime is apparently based on an ongoing light novel series that got adapted into 25 episodes of animated awesome. I can truly say that I enjoyed this series a lot and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes mystery and world-building. Now if I only could get hold of more. Yes, it is highly addictive, and binge-watching is a quite real and possible outcome.
For anyone interested, it’s possible to see it on Crunchyroll and it should be available for most of the world.
Njål Sand is a Norwegian Cosplayer with opinions on video games, and a passionate for creating content on YouTube about living in Norway, and gaming!