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Log Horizon - (I just ... It's Just ...)


Nero D. Ace

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Okay, I just wanna get something off my chest before I start off on this one.


 


Sword Art Online - The Animation was a disappointment to me. A HUGE friggin disappointment. When I'd first heard the premise, I was really excited about it. I mean - an MMO virtual world in which players get trapped for good, unable to log out, permadeath and the only way to get out is reaching the top most floor of the tower.


 


It was gold. It sounded like .Hack but better. In reality, it was so much worst and it primarily came down to a few HUGE problems the show had -


 


1) Incoherent Vision


When I was watching it, half the time, I didn't know if it was a love story, an epic story or a survival story. It got that muddled up. The show rapidly shifted between scenes that illustrated death of players in virtual worlds to shots of moe characters.


And later on, it shifted from the MMO feature entirely. I mean, yeah - they were still IN an MMO but they could have been in just another generic fantasy universe for all that mattered.


 


2) Pacing


Now the prime reason that *I* still watched the show after the first 8 episodes was the fight sequences because honestly, they were really fucking cool. I mean, REALLY FUCKING COOL.


tumblr_mu6ib4N7kA1sp5yuho1_500.gif


But they kinda effed up again because you had to sit through some pretty generic shit just to watch these 3 minute scenes.


 


3) The Main Character


This guy is bad-ass


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This guy is lame


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The ratio of lame:bad-ass is WAY TOO HIGH. I swear, there were some moments when I didn't know whether I was supposed to be impressed or baffled by his actions.


 


 


OKAY, NOW LET'S GET TO LOG HORIZON!


 


WHY!?


 


BECAUSE IT'S THE SHOW THAT SWORD ART ONLINE SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!!


 


tumblr_multtjrgvN1s6y5dyo1_400.gif


"Eat shit, SAO."


 


Seriously, I mean seriously, just hear me out here, okay? I'm gonna do a constrast thingy with this -


 


1) So there's only 3 episodes out so far but already you can see that they had a proper vision with this show. The characters are reasonably well defined, they aren't complete idiots and they actually act like they've been playing the game for a lot of years. All 3 main characters were veterans in the MMO long ago and left when they had finished it. They come back when an expansion is announced (which I think basically doubles the map size and make VR possible) and discover they can't log out ("OMFG! Wha I do?!").


They try to get their bearing on things and regroup with their old friends from the game to assess the situation. But wait, if players die in the game, do they die in real life too?


 


FUCK NO!


 


Right at the beginning of Episode 2, they clear that out. You die, you respawn. It's as simple as that.


And personally, I think it makes more of an impact than the permadeath from SAO. It makes the reason for Player Killings much more plausible rather than just "Gamers are violent and will kill if they can get away with it".


 


 


2) The pacing is done brilliantly. They do just enough exposition to keep you informed on current events while still moving the adventure along on a steady pace.


Also - ADVENTURE!


An MMO which is up to you to explore is an adventure and SAO just didn't give it a shit about that. They glossed over all the adventuring bits in flashbacks and in-between episodes so they could focus on more shots like these -


tumblr_mt68r3384B1r0ci05o1_500.gif


 


Log Horizon is all - EFF THAT CRAP!


Which isn't to say that it doesn't do character development. In fact, the character development happens DURING the adventure while covering new ground and exploring new areas,


NOT SITTING IN AN INN AND TALKING!


 


 


3) Oh man, the Main Character. Okay, confession time. He's THIS type of character-


tumblr_muyb78cVO31qgg9j8o1_400.gif


 


WAIT WAIT WAIT.


Hear me out here. Sure we've seen this type done to death already. The cool character who knows all there is to know until *plot device* happens. The master strategist. The all-knowe - you get my point.


 


I won't say that this show does something DRASTICALLY different with this type of character but think about it, it's an MMO setting. This is EXACTLY the kind of main character that you WANT. Someone who's unlocked all achievements, helps other people finish quests, explores new dungeons.


 


I mean, SAO was basically real life in a game form but Log Horizon is still a game to some extent and the characters realise that.


Enemies have agro patterns, Not every player is a sword-wielding knight. You need support classes and defense classes and tanks and buffs and MOAR MMO STUFF!!! I mean, just take a look at this combo -


 


MINOR BATTLE SPOILER FROM EPISODE 3 -



Debuff Enemy


tumblr_muyg94vGgU1s2s2dbo2_400.gif


 


Buff Ally


tumblr_muyg94vGgU1s2s2dbo5_400.gif


 


Assassinate!


tumblr_muyg94vGgU1s2s2dbo7_400.gif



 


So


Yeah


That's it


I'm done now


 


Go watch Log Horizon.


Seriously.


I mean


It MAY turn to shit later


but its good right now.


 


Okay, How's this?


As a final treat,


Just listen to this bad-ass J Rock OP.


 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb5srfa8YFc

Edited by Nero D. Ace
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Well, I can say for certain that you have convinced me. SAO was a huge disappointment, but thats mainly because they tried to rush through the main storyline to get to all the slice of life love scenes, but still decided to add in all the useless filler that were just minor flashbacks in the other books. So just by having a decent and continuous plot, it already beats SAO.


 


Even if it isn't all that its cracked up to be, I enjoy the premise enough to watch it after it has finished airing.


 


PS: Your topics on these matters are brilliant, I thoroughly enjoy the piles of bashing other stuff mixed in with the sweeping proclamations of awesome. Keep it up!


Edited by lemmingllama
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Unlike Lemming, I hate the bashing (I'm one who avoids stepping on other people's toes. They like it, I don't, fine. Talk shit only when they piss you off.)


 


I'm a big fan of SAO, and were it not for the character building and emotional parts, I'd probably have never liked it.


 


And what's more is, what's fun about watching characters who have done this shit before? Atleast with .HACK// and SAO, everybody's like "Shit, what do we do now?" I mean yeah, SAO had it's shitty points (Like S2 for example) but nothing to really bash it for.


 


Just by looking up "Log Horizon" I'd take the crappy S2 of SAO any day.


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A) In the very first line, I said "Sword Art Online - The Animation was a disappointment to me."


It was my personal express opinion that the show is highly over-rated. It's not the worst anime ever but it certainly by no means deserves all the mindless praise it gets either.


 


B) I deliver bashing where bashing is due. If a developer/producer/director fail to deliver a product that is anything less than the highest quality that they could offer, you can be sure that I will be there jamming my foot up their ass. I expect the same thing to happen to me when I do the same.


Imagine a world where a bad product existed and only good reviews and ratings were allowed for it with all the bad critiques brushed aside. Imagine if you were the most honest to god citizen against piracy in the world and you had a chance between buying a Blu Ray set of Sword Art Online or something else. Now think if all of them had only good ratings viz. the good ratings allowed by the company. How would you be able to make an informed purchase.


Informed purchases are not only the right but also the duty of a good consumer.


 


C) I say that these characters have done this shit before which is to say they've finished the game with their friends and then quit. When they return, the world is highly different from what they remember and much larger on account of the expansion pack. Sure, they may have some knowledge but it IS a new world hence, the experience of adventure. Also, even in .Hack, you watched mostly veteran players go about their daily activities. I rather enjoyed Signs. The latest CGI movie and the Twilight thingamajig were the ones that annoyed me.


 


D) Defending SAO as a fan is fine with me. Lord knows I've done much of the same in my days. However, it does NOT change the fact that the production company lost their overall vision for the show really quick. I know because I was watching it on a week by week basis. I saw the first episode, got hyped, download a PDF of the light novel, read the descriptions of the episode and waited for Episode 2.


Episode 2 revealed that they weren't following the first book down to the letter but instead doing it in chronological order.


 


Even if it were a pure romance show, I wouldn't have minded it. The problem was that it could never decide what kind of show it wanted to be. Season 2 was basically the most prime Disney storyline ever, a grand quest in a new land to save a damsel and they fucked that up as well.


How? Again, by glossing over the interesting parts like the adventure and the character development in real-time in lieu of romance scenes with his fake sister, something which again, doesn't amount to anything.


 


 


I'm sorry, but SAO - all 26 episodes are bad. Individually or as batches of episodes, they MIGHT hold up but as a cohesive whole, they lack anything to keep it together.


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I saw the first episode, got hyped, download a PDF of the light novel, read the descriptions of the episode and waited for Episode 2.

 

I'm sorry, but SAO - all 26 episodes are bad. Individually or as batches of episodes, they MIGHT hold up but as a cohesive whole, they lack anything to keep it together.

 

I just want to point out the contradiction here. Individual episodes are really good, just that the whole wasn't due to the lack of overall plot. I still hold that if they entirely eliminated the Alfheim stuff and expanded the SAO arcs to be a 26 episode series, there might have been enough time to properly flesh out the characters and plot with the romance. In the end, it just make it rushed.

 

Either way, episode 1 was a 10/10 episode in my books, which is why I plan on checking out Log Horizon and will hope for it to actually be decent.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think SAO was stronger in terms of the human psyche which just made the atmosphere feel darker and heavier. Which is why I really liked the first few episodes of SAO.

I'm watching Log Horizon at the moment, and it uses a lot more gaming terms. And even with the Player Killings going on, because of the respawn system, it still has an up-beat feel to it. I think it'll be a fun anime to watch from start to end, but not amazingly good.

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  • 1 month later...

Log Horizon seems to be doing what Sword Art Online missed out on. Only problem is, Log Horizon is taking "too much" time on the build up and thus missing the part that Sword Art Online had, the action. If we had the build up that Log Horizon has with the action that Sword Art Online had, we'd easily have one of the best "stuck in an mmo" anime show or at least one to rival that of .hack//.

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Sorry I dont agree with the OP at all, Sword Art Online is superb in just about every way, art, character design, story, content, impact..it is beautiful and well done, a great example of what anime can be.


 


Log Horizon is also good, very very good, the best current show on the air. It is also showing how good an anime can be and doing it in its own way> There is no reason TWO shows cannot be about being trapped in a virtual world and do it well and in different ways. I love them both and am so glad we will get more of SAO soon. I am eager to see it.


 


I also work widely in virtual world creation as well as an anime production artist so i have a lot i think about and see in both realms and love the connection.


 


I agree with Koby-san that Log Horizon took too long to build up, but maybe they plan already a second season and that may explain this in part. It lost its impact around ep 15 or so, and is now starting back up with action but i think they just lost track of themselves a bit. It happens.


Edited by AdamEve
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