Log Horizon is based upon the light novel series and the first season has 25 episodes. Upon the release of the twelfth expansion pack of the globally popular MMORPG Elder Tale, a group of players find themselves suddenly transported to this virtual game world. They are unable to log out, wearing their in-game avatars and have no idea of what has happened. Before too long, they come to realize that this is their new home and order is slowly established.
The series follows Shiroe, a player of the Enchanter class. Even during the game, he was famous for being a brilliant strategist. Having already reached the level cap of 90 beforehand, he is one of the more powerful characters in this world. However, he is socially awkward and through what little retelling of his backstory early on reveals that he had encountered issues with guilds. Nevertheless, he forms a party with other players he had met before. Naotsugu is of the Guardian class, specializing in drawing enemy aggro and tanking attacks. He's introduced as the guy with the perverted personality and is the comedic relief of the group.
Akatsuki is of the Assassin class, having high attack and specializing in stealth and detecting abilities. She has the appearance of a young girl and has a funny relationship with Naotsugu in which she always knees him before he gets a chance to say something perverted. Log Horizon has a solid start as the rules of the world they're in are established through deductions and experimentation by Shiroe. In the new world, if players are killed, they just revive like in the game, which leads to players taking on bigger risks. It is also this lack of consequences that we start to see the lawless nature of this world. It is an interesting take as the social order is determined, with naturally the stronger players taking advantage to rule and overpower others.
While PvP is not allowed in towns, it is completely possible outside. Towns start to become depressing places as players are scared and oppressed by the larger builds. It is this atmosphere that eventually urges Shiroe, who until now was passive and tried to keep out of everything, to start taking action. He meets players he had formerly met (whether they were once part of the same build in Elder Tale or had partied up some time ago), gathering a significant amount of power himself. It takes around half the season before we finally get to see one of Shiroe's more complex plans come to the forefront. Up until that point, you could feel the plot building up as the series teases through Shiroe's vague orders. Once his plan is executed, it does bring a sense of satisfaction since it wasn't just some cheap excuse.
Shiroe's aim to make their new home a better place not just for him and his party but for everyone is a noble effort. As expected, he faces some struggles an a big part of the season is how he deals with these problems. For example, he needs to get other guilds to cooperate with him but with no laws in this world and the threat of dying being out of the question, how can Shiroe find a way to force them to agree to his terms? The answer might surprise you and there's a reason why characters in the series view Shiroe as more evil than good at times since he an be manipulative.
With the NPCs gaining sentience and having their own government and way of living, it is inevitable that they would clash with the players. Log Horizon explores this aspect such as when the NPCs, known as the People of the Land, try to find out more information about the players, known as Adventurers. It is also interesting to see their perspective such as why suddenly Adventurers aren't as easy to pay money to do random tasks (aka quests).
As the players' understanding of the mechanics of this world grows, so does their technology. They start to introduce machinery from their own world that gives them a superior advantage to everything else. It's no wonder that the People of the Land see them as such high threats due to their quick advancement in technology. This also makes it hard for them to reveal too many of their own secrets and worries, and start to become manipulative to retain their advantage.
As the season goes on, the focus starts to shift away from Shiroe and more towards Akihabara as a whole and how they progress. Two important characters are introduced and then take center stage being Krusty, the leader of a raid guild, and Lenessia. It's refreshing for a series to not have all girls fall for the hero. Shiroe ends up being the hero behind the scenes. As his role is a strategist, he doesn't take the spotlight much at all and it is a shame that he doesn't get much of the credit. Rather, as his plans succeed, rumors start swirling and twisting the truth, giving him more of an evil reputation among population which is a shame and something you feel might bite him eventually.
After a few tense episodes, the final part of the first season feels like a breather arc. No major conflict happens and the atmosphere was a lot more lighthearted, with plenty of gags and relationship building. It's not a bad change of events, just a bit underwhelming for a season finale.
Overall, While Log Horizon has a familiar premise of the characters being trapped in a game world, the way it approaches the subject is different. It explores some interesting mechanics and strays towards more of a political dynamic at times. However, it does often fall back to overused gags and some characters feel like they were quickly regulated to the background, never realizing their potential.
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