By Mamare Touno and Kazuhiro Hara. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On.

After two reasonably stand-alone novels, Log Horizon now has the first of the ever popular ‘2-volume arc’ books, as seen in SAO, Accel World, and Index has a few soon as well. This does allow for a leisurely pace throughout the book, with only a token cliffhanger at the end. But that’s fine, as this book is doing what Log Horizon does best, which is to showly explain how its world works and how the mechanics of gaming fit into “real” battles. Of course, as Shiroe finds out towards the end of this book, things may not be as simple as all that, particularly when it comes to death in this world.

I’ve said earlier that these books get into game mechanics far too much, and I admit at times I was getting a little bored at all the exposition. At the same time, however, the mechanics are far more important here than they are in SAO, where Kirito may as well just be genuinely using his sword as a sword. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, something that takes our newbie heroes (the twins from last book, Serara, and two new kids) the entire volume to really understand. I suspect a few gamers may be a bit frustrated by the “gosh, we need teamwork” lesson being drilled in here, but it’s cute, and serves the purpose of the actual book, which is to develop these five kids into deeper characters, particularly Minori. And we even get a mini-cliffhanger of our own with them, as Rudy seems to have a secret he’s been keeping from everyone.

As for Shiroe and company, instead of dungeon crawling they’re worrying about diplomacy. The other big function of this book is to set up the “people of the land”, which is to say the NPCs – as genuine characters with hopes, dreams, and desires, rather than “I’d love it if you could get that cat out of the tree for me” quest points. They have a history, one that is long and rather dark, as Shiroe finds out. And they have goals that may not mesh well with the adventurers, who they seems to regard as dangerous unknowns. Luckily, we meet Reinesia, the princess of one of the main capitols, who would much rather just lie against a table and be moody all day. I can identify with that. Her interaction with Crusty, who reminds me a lot of Heathcliff from SAO only hopefully without the evil, is one of teh funniest parts of the entire book.

There are also a few suggested romances, though I’m not sure if any of them will actually come off. Isuzu searches her feelings and realizes she likes Rudy as a big dog sort of guy. Akatsuki searches her feelings and comes up empty, though the more experienced reader can tell she’s in love with Shiroe and as yet unaware of it. In any case, romance may take a back seat in the next book, as evil creatures from the black lagoon are coming out from the sea all over the continent. Well, they’re in a game world, you can’t just turn off the bad guys. Log Horizon remains a well thought out series with relatable characters (so many introverts!), and is easy to recommend.

By Mamare Touno and Kazuhiro Hara. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On.

This second volume of Log Horizon improves on the first, doubling down on its world-building and showing us what it would be like to have to set up an entire governing body from scratch, particularly when there’s a limit to what penalties you can enact for immoral but not technically illegal behavior. Some folks, such as our heroes, regard abusing the rules of this new world for profit and ruthlessness to be no fun. Others are perfectly happy to enslave children to mass-produce what they need. And, despite the obvious black-and-white morality on display there, there’s a long argument that talks about what can actually be done given the resources and authority they have.

The young kids seen on the cover are the twins that Shiroe occasionally mentioned in the first book. He had happened across them when they were just starting out, and helped them slowly advance through some beginner quests. Now they’re trapped in slavery, sleeping on hard cement floors and going out to get ingredients for useful potions which are then sold to those who DON’T need them. That said, they did agree to join the Hamelin guild, even in trickery, so, unless Shiroe can buy the entire building and kick who he wants out (which is prohibitively expensive), there’s not a lot that he can do. Which frustrates him intensely. Shiroe’s brilliant tactics keep getting undercut by his own self-hatred, as he keeps justifying making this world a better place as his own selfishness, and framing everything in the worst way.

I hadn’t thought that one of the minor aspects of the first book – food is bland and tasteless, so unenjoyable – would wind up being the main plot point of the second book. Once Nyanta, the Obi-wan Kenobi of this series (though not dead yet), discovers how you can make tasty food, suddenly endless possibilities spiral outward. It’s up to Shiroe and the Crescent Moon Guild to corral those possibilities and make sure that they can be used as a negotiating tool. I really love the look we get at the Crescent Moon Guild here – Marielle proves to be an emotional center, and we see a lot more of her self-doubt here even as she tries to cover it up with her dazzling smile. Meanwhile, Henrietta proves to be even smarter than Shiroe when she’s not busy trying to molest Akatsuki.

I had one or two niggles – when discussing what the new government should make illegal, rape was mentioned only as ‘between those of the opposite sex’, which left a bad taste in my mouth, especially given the aforementioned molestation being used as a running gag with no actual concern about Akatsuki’s lack of consent. And again, for non-gamers there really is a lot of technical detail in this book that goes over my head sometime. The Round Table meeting also introduced a bunch of people all at once, and I hope that we’ll see more of them in future books, but I could barely match names to lines – only Soujiro Seta made an impression, and that’s because he got to be the cute bishie.

Overall, though, this novel expands on the possibilities of the first and gives us a lot more cast, along with introducing a few ‘regulars’ – I look forward to seeing how the twins do in Shiroe’s new guild. I also look forward to more of Naogetsu and Akatsuki, who had surprisingly little to do in this book. Definitely recommended.

By Mamare Touno and Kazuhiro Hara. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As I’ve said in a few Manga the Week of posts before this, the first I ever heard of Log Horizon was when I was researching Sword Art Online after reading that series, and TVTropes saying that the two series had a “fandom rivalry”. This is unsurprising, given that the two series essentially share a very similar plot – gamers suddenly find themselves trapped inside a game and have to find ways to deal with it. That said, once you get past that there’s a lot that’s different. In SAO you have “if you die in the game, you die in real life” lending an air of tension and menace to everything. Log Horizon, on the other hand, generates its tension from the opposite: even death merely has you regenerated at your start point, so there’s no point to anything at all.

Our hero is a quiet, thoughtful, introverted sort, who has those “mean eyes” that fans of Toradora! might recognize, and a tendency to see everything in a cynical way. He’s partnered with a big, outgoing guy who enjoys making perverted jokes as a way of breaking the ice (though, as we later see, he can’t take it when it’s dished out to him), and a quiet, even more introverted assassin who, once she’s in her proper body, proves that Ayanami Rei expies are still alive and well in the world of anime and manga. Much of the novel has them figuring out what the rules of this new-yet-familiar world are, realizing that a lot of combat techniques they did in their sleep seated at a computer are much harder when a genuine threat is speeding towards you, and trying to rescue a young girl trapped in a faraway city that has fallen into lawlessness as some people realize that since there’s no real consequence to death except that you get to loot their stuff, that that’s a great way to pass the time.

This is very much a novel for experienced MMORPG players, and has a lot more mechanics in it than SAO did. Given that I’m not a gamer, I found myself skimming the explanations at times. The characters fared much better – Shiroe and Akatsuki I especially liked, and I enjoy that the two suggested couples (though nothing’s likely to happen for at least 10 volumes is my guess) are both similar types – there’s no “opposites attract” cliche here. It’s actually refreshing seeing two introverts driving an action series at all, and that also came across very well. And the series’ worldbuilding is excellent, taking its time and showing us what you can and cannot do – the food problem is particularly frustrating for all involved.

I would say that I find Sword Art Online more exciting and gripping – Log Horizon has a certain dry tone that matches that of its hero. But it’s a very good start to a series, and I look forward to seeing how things go, and if “returning to the real world” even becomes a plot point at all – it’s mentioned very little here, with a lot of folks just assuming they’re trapped forever. In any case, between this, No Game No Life, DanMachi, and SAO, gamers certainly have their hands full of Yen On titles right now.