Log Horizon: Season 1 Part 2 (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	More…-Textless Opening (1:28) More…-Textless Closing (1:37) Trailer-x 4 for other anime
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	291:51 (Case: 300)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Shinji Ishihira
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Takume Terashima / Mike Yager Tomoaki Maeno / Andrew Love Emiri Katou / Jad Sexton Yumi Hara / Maggie Flecknoe Ayahi Takagaki / Shelley Calene-Black Misaki Kuno / Hilary Haag Jouji Nakata / Jovan Jackson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	Yasuharu Takanashi

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     With the release of an expansion pack, thousands of gamers playing Elder Tales have found themselves transported into the game to a post-apocalyptic world where ruined cities are covered in foliage and the hulks of cars lie beside roads upon which no traffic moves. The gamers are termed Adventurers but some things do not operate the same way in this world as in the game. For example, the NPCs (Non-Playing Characters), the People of the Land, who exist in the game only to provide information, in this world have backstories, ideas and aspirations of their own. In an attempt to find out more about how the world operates, and to come to some agreement with the NPCs, representatives of the Round Table Council of the city of Akihabara including Shiroe (voiced by Takume Terashima / Mike Yager), Krusty (Takahiro Sakurai / Jay Hickman) and Akatsuki (Emiri Katou / Jad Sexton) travel to a conference with the powerful confederation of NPC cities, the Eastal Lords where they meet Lord Sergiatte (Shinpachi Tsuji / Marty Fleck) and his lazy and spoiled granddaughter Princess Lenessia (Mariya Ise / Emily Neves).

     While there Shiroe receives a visitor who provides more information about the world such as the creation of the race of Demi-humans such as Goblins. He also learns about the magic spells which can reset the world; one such spell created the Apocalypse which transported the gamers into this world. Shiroe becomes aware that while Adventurers are automatically resurrected when they are killed, each time they die they lose some of their memories so that, in extreme cases, the gamers could lose their memories of the real world. In a parallel plotline, a group of the youngest and lowest level Adventurers attend a training camp run by Naotsugi (Tomoaki Maeno / Andrew Love) and Nyanta (Jouji Nakata / Jovan Jackson) where they are formed into teams and sent into dungeons to gain experience. One such group includes the twins Minori (Nao Tamura / Luci Christian) and Tohya (Daiki Yamashita / Greg Ayres) plus Serara (Misaki Kuno / Hilary Haag), Isuzu (Eriko Matsui / Meg McDonald) and the rather full of himself Rundelhaus (Tetsuya Kakihara / Tyler Galindo).

     When the Goblin King unleashes his armies, the safety of both Adventurers and the NRCs is at risk. However, the Lords of Eastal are still wary of the Adventurers and cannot agree whether to ask the Round Table council for help when their cities are threatened until Lenessia shows a surprising streak of resolve and independence. Elsewhere, Minori’s team take matters into their own hands to save some NPC cities.

     Log Horizon continues to create an extensive RP world, adding even more characters and exposition about the world that on occasion is extensive and long-winded. The political manoeuvrings and world building remain a focus but with the arrival of the Goblin armies the action is increased with colourful and lively battles using spells and a variety of weapons. In the first group of episodes Shiroe was a rather stilted and cerebral hero. People who are always right can be off-putting, but this set brings to the fore some more lively and developing characters such as Minori, Rundelhaus (call me Rudy) and especially the delightful Lenessia. This group of episodes also adds some love interests, which get quite silly and cutesy at times, but they end with the introduction of another powerful Adventurer magician from the city of Minami in the Westelande Region of western Japan who may be a match for Shiroe and who has an idea about how the gamers can return to their real existence.

     Log Horizon is now into its second season and up to 50 episodes. This release, Log Horizon: Season 1, Part 2, contains episodes 14 – 25 that aired on Japanese TV between January and March 2014.

Video

     Log Horizon: Season 1, Part 2 is presented in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a nice looking anime. The lines are strong and there is a lot of variety in the backgrounds with green, ruined cities, ornate guild halls or dark forests. The colours are generally bright and rich, with some vibrant blues, reds, yellows, plus nice greys in some sequences while the blacks in the dungeons are solid and shadow detail fine.

     The English subtitles are a clear yellow font unless more than one person is speaking when subtitles in a white font appear simultaneously on the screen. The subtitles are not burnt in when the Japanese dub is selected so they can be removed for Japanese speakers. I noticed no errors, except the fact that we frequently get both “Shiroe” and “Shiro” in the subtitles, often in the space of two sentences!

     The layer change on disc 1 was not noticeable while on disc 2 at 83:11 it resulted in a slight pause at the end of a scene.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is a choice between the original Japanese or an English dub, both Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps. I listened to some of the episodes alternatively as the audio and subtitles can be changed on the go with the remote.

     Both tracks are surround encoded and have similar effects, although the Japanese seems slightly sharper. Dialogue is clear and the rears used sparingly for music and ambient effects while there are louder booms and thumps during the action scenes. The sub-woofer added some depth to the action.

     The English voice cast were quite good although I still prefer the Japanese.

     The music by Yasuharu Takanashi is varied and effective.

     This is anime so lip synchronisation is approximate in either audio track.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     These extras are on the second disc.

Textless Opening (1:29)

     The opening song without text. However, I should note that the opening of episodes play without text anyway.

Textless Closing (1:30)

     As with the opening, there is no credit text with the closing song. After each episode finishes there is a silent credit crawl.

Trailers

     Trailers for Silver Spoon: Season 1 (0:43), Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (1:51), HAL (1:24) and One Piece Film: Z (1:49).

     Our Region 4 release of Log Horizon: Season 1, Part 2 is the same as is available in other regions. Buy local.

     Log Horizon: Season 1, Part 2 continues with the political machinations and world building as Shiroe tries to understand their world while adding battles with Goblins and love interests.

     The video is very good, the audio fine. The extras are the same as available in the US.

     Log Horizon: Series 2, Part 1 has been released by Madman and will be reviewed shortly on this site.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall