 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「2.14 甘いワナ」 (2. 14 Amai Wana)
“2.14 A Sweet Trap”
The Villain in Glasses’s one true weakness is revealed: cake.
The Curse(?) of the Coconia Fruit
Tetora immediately proves herself to be an excellent addition to the Log Horizon family by working her mischievous magic on Valentine’s Day. This was a largely fluffy episode, and from Shouryuu’s depression (and subsequent delight) to the return of the cake battle over Shiroe, the rabu-rabu antics were good fun. There’s not much to say, other than “What’s not to like?”
My favorite part was probably Akatsuki wingmanning for Marie by shutting the fruit-controlled Naotsugu from blurting out his love for pantsu. Or does that count as wingmanning for Naotsugu? And sure, maybe they’re overusing the Akatsuki-kicks-Naotsugu gag a bit—I mean, how did she even know what he was doing?—but I thought it was funny as hell, so screw logic! It’s overrated anyway.
The Big Questions: Krusty & Rudy
Woven through the otherwise light and fluffy episode were two scenes that hinted at something serious. For Krusy, it was Misa’s prosthetic arm that reminded us that he’s missing, with no leads on returning him (something which makes Lenessia’s scene sting all the more), while for Rudy it was how he disappeared for the whole day, and was purposefully shown going into an alley. I doubt these two are related in any way other than having piqued my interest, but they were shown for a reason. They’ll be important later.
Emotional Abuse 101
Log Horizon airs on an educational channel, right? Because the emotional abuse Intix ladled onto Nureha is potentially scarring in ways that simple violence or mention of sex could never manage. Intix just tore Nureha’s self-esteem to shreds, using her (and her courtesan sub-class) to control the Lander nobles in a bid to take control of the Yamato server, in exchange for allowing Nureha. It would appear that Intix is more the final villain than the tragically warped and abused Nureha, though she may be crazy enough at this point to take the role eventually. What I can’t get over is just how brutal Intix was. It’s good to see that they’re not censoring all of Log Horizon, because that got across the point of “Intix is a total bastard” quite well.
Looking Ahead – Enter Kanami
Next time, it looks like we’re getting to finally spend some time with Kanami & friends. Speaking of, I never addressed the elephant in the room … who does Shiroe like? My guess is the (rather obvious) “Shiroe has no idea himself, because he’s too preoccupied to even think about it,” but I don’t think it’s Kanami. While someone like her is definitely able to fluster him, in much the same was Marie can (though to a greater degree), that’s because people like her can blast right past Shiroe’s introvert defenses, making her exhausting to deal with. I want to see them interact because I think it would be a lot of fun, though I still think Akatsuki, Minori, or Henrietta are better fits for Shiroe. Especially Akatsuki. How could he say no to that face? Erh, and not get kicked in the face.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Shiroe’s cake trauma returns as the girls cook for their boys. Also, horrifying emotional abused. Wait, what? #loghora s2e13
Random thoughts:
- Even Touya and Rudy know that Tetora is a boy! Only Naotsugu and Marie seem oblivious. They really are perfect for each other.
- Am I the only one who thinks that Isuzu’s long braid is super cute? Especially in chibi form.
- Soujirou, die plz.
- Where’d she get all that fruit, anyway?
- “I love you all!” Rudy really is a big puppy. D’aaaww!
- Amid Intix’s abuse, she dropped something interesting hints, among them: Calling Shiroe a traitor, and referring to how Nureha used to stare at “us” with a creepy smile. That and their contract… Interesting. Very interesting.
I wrote a book! My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info) My personal site has also moved. Last four posts: Mind meld, Interview with Little Red Reviewer, Sneak Peek: Wage Slave Rebellion prologue, and Action Politics—a FREE short story.
Full-length images: 08, 16, 17, 31.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Sorry Marie but you’re only Naotsugu’s second love…
I need to sell Naotsugu on my love of commando. Although saying that would only get him trashed worse.
I have a pet theory about why the fruit didn’t work as intended.
The legend refers to “if you get the one you love to eat them,” but it doesn’t say a word about “in food or drink.”
Nobody got their target to actually eat the raw fruit. They cooked or prepared them. I wonder how that changes the flavor text?
LOL at flavor text being applied all to literally…
Second LOL at Naotsugu and Marie being only ones falling into Tetora-trap.
Even Rudy managed to add 2 to 2!
…also, Intix, go burn in hell. I might not like Nureha, but no one deserves what you did to her.
Intix knew Nureha on Earth or is a very good judge of character.
Good judge of character? Perhaps, though her actual judgment – having just pushed an emotionally fractured woman (whose character is a fox, keep in mind) into a corner – leaves quite a bit to be desired.
and what’s a bigger nightmare than an irl bully that chases you online
An accurate judge of character, perhaps. I can’t help thinking it won’t end well, though.
I’m with Stilts. Given the fact that combat is largely a secondary element of this show, I have a feeling that the downfall of these ‘villains’ could lie in that scene as opposed to Shiroe and company defeating them in battle. Intix’s methods eventually leading to Nureha turning on them all, or even their whole council falling apart as they see the light emanating from the round table domains.
Wait wait? So there’s more? YESSSSSSS!
PS. I could watch Log Horizon ‘fluffy’ antics all day every day and be more than satisfied.
Didn’t know Log Horizon was 2-cour? Surprise! 😀
looks like they going to mix which switching between 2 arcs again.
Poor Nyanta, realizing the danger to Log Horizon any long term MMO player has seen with e-girlfriends.
Souji, you lucky bastard…
http://images.randomc.net/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2013%20-%2014.jpg
I hope he ends up in a ditch.
I love fluffy episodes like this.
Our Cat’s future wife gets the best present award. I’m sure he’s still only mature gentleman mentor right now but give her several years to be a full woman…
Izusu’s braid is wonderful.
Soujirou how are you going to service them all? Soujirou is going for all time harem master award!
Kanami’s Valentine demands LOL.
Oh the trouble if Shiro said I love Akatsuki, Minori, and Henrietta!
Misa’s new arm is first stage tecno magic. Still many, many years till God of War development (=Giant mechanical magical flying robots) would not be surprised to see the ground limited giant robots start showing up.
Side note if Minori is a shrine maiden she should have a primary god and others gods. This is a fantasy game gods and demi gods should show up in some way. (No Game No Life reminded me)
Driving even the unflappable gentlemen Nyanta to break in cold sweats…
Valentine’s, what a terrifying day lol.
Nice to see they addressed some nagging issues.
Mainly though I’m interested in the security around Akiba, so the combat guilds now take turns patrolling the city borders huh. Wonder if they post permanent guards at the walls or something? That would be hell for the people who called themselves “adventurers” and take it to heart, I’m sure XD.
The revelation at the end about our supposed main-antagonist, ouch that’s some heavy psychological abuse.
Looking back I’m amazed at how accurate Shiroe’s assessment of Nureha back in the season 1 final. So she is someone who covered herself with a web of lies, literally with her disguise magic and figuratively.
Though what’s underneath it is not quite what I expected, on the one hand I want the sinfully seductive manipulator back but on the other hand this scared, desperate woman who clings at the hope of someone accepting her true self is an intriguing side too. Too bad it looks like the series won’t get into that anytime soon.
I’m half dreading Kanami’s entrance into the series proper, personally I think those sorts of inspirational larger than life characters works better if they’re not the focus of the story. Hell, the way they talked about her I thought she wasn’t even online and transported into Elder’s Tale too ~__~
Oh well, I am interested about China and the rest of the world though so bring on the next episode I say!
On Kanami, I think she (not sure if this has been mentioned or if I was spoiled on it, so I’ll spoiler tag):
I believe she moved to Europe or somewhere, so she moved her character or re-rolled on the local server. I don’t think she moved to China though, so maybe she’s moving through the different “servers”? Doesn’t seem to be any reason she couldn’t do that, since it’s a full world now.
I think you got spoiled.
I am looking forward to the audience reaction her group will create.
http://images.randomc.net/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2013%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
Did she get a visual upgrade from season 1?
Not really a spoiler but, but better save than sorry:
She rerolled her character. When she was with Shiroe and the DTP she was a swashbuckler, now she is a monk.
@RedRocket
Yes… this is why my Fighter has an int of 17… xD
Opps did not put in spoiler tags. Defining a term in a spoiler. Sorry.
Fixed it for ya
Well seems like Nureha is not the conniving evil villain we thought she was…more like she’s gonna be pushed into becoming an evil conniving villain with yandere tendencies. You know with Log Horizon also establishing that things seem to be moving towards becoming real I wonder if there will come a point where adventurers simply seize to respawn.
Detecting Naotsugu’s misdeeds must have been Akatsuki’s first overskill for sure.
Kudos to whichever excellent person that got Ms Ohara onboard to play Indicus! While we might know her better for her more soothing roles, she clearly shows once again that, yes, she can play the nasty ones and be good at it too >=3
Also a note about our evil maid’s name. It should be Indicus, not Intix, as her name comes from the water rail (in particular, the Brown-cheeked Rail Rallus indicus). The Tea Party used to call her Kuina, which is the Japanese name for the water rail.
For inhabitants of the Americas like me you might not have a clue what a water rail is. I find out it a wet land bird. 🙂
That’s why Google is such a pal =D
http://images.randomc.net/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2013%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
Her attitude, voice and character art really reminds me of someone..
*checks seiyuu*
Oh hey…….its Yatohgami Tohka (Date A Live)!
I wonder if Kanami is also a glutton when it comes to food..
“I wonder if Kanami is also a glutton when it comes to food..”
Captain Obvious is that you?
Cruuuusssty man really gone to unknown place all alone with girls hand…
At least use to heart’s content you are missed
NHK forbided to show Marie in a swimsuit in S1 but dat Kanamis outfit…
Yeeeeeeah, censorship is silly sometimes. It’s barely different, and is seeing a little extra skin really worse than Intix’s emotional abuse? Yeesh
I’m wondering if it is possible that Tetora is a boy character? Meaning not the player in the real world is a boy in real life but in the Log Horozon world.
She really does not seem to have a girls figure at all
I think the figure is almost pre puberty almost where there is not difference. But I’ve never seen a MMO image from dozens of games where someone that petite is not a girl body. Probably because most games would not dare to put a young twink body in a game plus that a small market even in the gay community from what I have read.
Of course in most MMO’s you can’t take off your clothes all the way and even if the game malefactions game character bodies are normaly Barbie dolls underneath, that is nothing but flat skin. One it costs money to draw something you will never show and two you don’t want a malefaction in drawing clothes to cause a stink. Yes I have seen a clothing lack error in a game and yes there was nothing there.
Of course here everyone has a real body it seams but those details are impolite to discuss openly in Japan let alone on a family channel. I also assume sanitation showed up in all the buildings other wise running chamber pots and dealing with that would have been a major pain. Of course it could have been medieval realistic so the cooking discovery help major in a unmentioned area as indoor plumbing I’m sure was priority number one for the crafting guilds.
I suppose that i’m just thinking to much about it.
Its all about having fun with a silly little trope. She is a fun character to watch. I hope some enjoyable things come out of it
Most MMO’s…yes, but take Scarlet Blade for example, and there’s your nudity. XD
http://images.randomc.net/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
I think we can count this as another Overskill, our beloved Aka developed (and used) almost unconsciously.
Somebody should create a montage clips of every time Naotsugu got kicked by Akatsuki. That would be hilarious.
I can believe Tohya guessing that Tetora is a boy, even if I don’t understand how. But how does Rudy know? Wouldn’t that take both a solid understanding of the true nature of Adventurers + the cynical nature of our world “there are no girls in online gaming”?
Rudy is a dog so he probably smelled it 😉
Seriously Tetra could have told Rudy or Rudy just picked up what is natural in the conversation and voice tone. Although this is a European for the most part themed game feudal Japan did have roles for cross dressers so that is a slight possibility he knew that way.
But even then, Tetra’s body should actually be all-woman. So I would understand if Rudy came to the conclusion that she’s a tomboy, not a boy. Tetra’s not cross-dressing (like that guy in West Wind), Tetra’s a nekama.
Perhaps Rudy thinks Tetora is a boy acting girly, whereas Tohya thinks (correctly, in this case) that that’s a girl who was originally a boy back on Earth. Either that or, being that Rudy is an adventurer now, and spends all his time around adventurers, they may have explained some of that to him. Not all of it perhaps, but some.
I think Stilts has it. Tetra while outwardly girly has a fairly non-accentuated figure, co can pass off as just a guy acting like a girl instead of an outright girl
I’m told reliably that that scene was still fairly heavily censored compared to the original.
Not much was taken away from Indicus’ abuse; in fact her crushing the valentine fruit is an anime-original addition that worked splendidly.
The part that was left out, for good or for now:
is the one where Nureha is haunted, literally, by apparitions. Depending on who you ask, those are either memories of the people she had encountered back in the old world, or the souls of those she had denied resurrection by blacklisting them from Minami’s Cathedral.
What I was told wasthat Indicus’ abuse against Nureha was not simply emotional, but heavily sexual as well. Essentially, she was doing everything she could to completely break Nureha, in the most evil “I’m a horrific scumbag, please find a way to kill me forever” kind of way possible.
I don’t know where that came from but I can say with confidence that whoever that told you that either exaggerated the facts, read the section in question with pre-conceived ideas and “subconsciously read what s/he wants to read”, or were fed with wrong info him/herself. Indicus does enjoy demeaning Nureha, but she only uses her as a tool to control Plant Hwayden and Minami. Put in another way, Nureha is Minami’s Rayneshia and Indicus is her Krusty or Shiroe (or Elissa), in a scenario that may have played out if the two Bespectacled Scoundrels are as unscrupulous and power-hungry as their western counterpart.
Hey, in the OP for this season it seems to showcase the Debauchery Tea Party splitting up and going its separate ways, but one character seems to stand firm. If I’m not mistaken that character seems to be Intix. I wonder if Intix is the one who busted up the Tea Party and then realized that she loves to be the bad guy and is going out of her way to be one.
Also, while Intix may be the bad guy, she’s not the ultimate one. Remember, there’s still the character(s) who caused adventurers to be one with the world. I highly doubt it was a good person that did it. They usually aren’t the types to be doing that.
Perhaps it’s psychological? Asuming the character in that bit in the OP is her, perhaps it represents her view of how things happened: everyone she was close to suddenly splitting apart and leaving her alone.
I have a theory about what is happening to Rudy, granted since the knowledge i am basing this on is in spoiler territory
Rudy is a son from a noble family in the nation of Ninetails dominion which is not only under the territory that Nureha/Indicus has control over right now, but is also heavily influenced by the politics of Westlande, the nation to which Nureha has strong ties to. Considering this, and the fact that Nureha obviously knew about Rudy’s recent transformation. Perhaps Nureha is using her connections in to Westlande and by extention Ninetails Dominion in some way to pressure him
Am I the only one who thinks it would be cool to full-dive into VR to experience the other sex`s body? For reasearch purposes and… stuff.
Since there was no new episode this week, have the second cour PV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxcUXecaXPU
I’m actually curious about something. Since Kanami is in china while the main crew is in japan. Can they just use the ocepete, stock up enough food and just sail off? From what I know the two countries are on different servers according to touno, and I am curious whether a physical boundary would exist in game to actually prevent inter server travel by physical means. Also if it possible, what will happen to the characters, as far as I know Kanagi and samurai are Jpn server versions of other classes, will they change to character designs to match the server? (If so I will laugh at tohya the samurai pirate)
According to Mamare’s reply (on Twitter iirc), localised classes remain as they are even when crossing servers. You can thus have a Samurai in Europe and a Paladin in Southeast Asia, etc etc.
The problem is that communications are limited to within each server, as explained in S1. And also, why should they make an official expedition just for the sake of getting an individual to Japan? The Ocepete is after all not anyone’s private cruiser.