English Dub Review: Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table “Adoration”

Overview:

Akihabara is being targeted, so the inexperienced of the Log Horizon guild needs to train up. Meanwhile, Akatsuki has some competition in the love department when Minori goes on a shopping date with Shiroe.

Our Take:

This feels like the calm before the storm episode, I think this will be the last slow, slice of life bit we get for the rest of the season. There are only three episodes left and a battle is coming, based on the preparation everyone is doing in this episode. Naotsugu and Akatsuki are working on training the newbies, and while a bit romantic the shopping trip between Minori and Shiroe had a built-in lesson preparedness.

We might get one more episode of preparing but that seems unlikely given how this episode ends. I think the next two episodes will be battling this threat and then the final episode will be an epilogue of sorts. This makes me sad cause I wanted to see Krusty reunited with everyone but I guess that will have to wait till a fourth season if we get one. There were five years between season two and three so we might be waiting a while.

That’s just some predictions but let’s talk a bit more about this episode. One of the things that impressed me was a trope that did not appear. That was a form of the jealousy trope, when Minori went out with Shiroe I half expected Akatsuki to be following and spying on them. Or at the very least be jealous and upset in the scene she shared with Minori but instead, she just asked for help on using the “teaching” option to help train. Just another reason why Akatsuki is in fact… best girl.

The trip with Minori and Shiroe wasn’t as romantic as it was built up to be. Sure Minori saw it that way but Shiroe is your typical dense anime protagonist. It mostly turned into a lesson preparing for raids and things of that sort. Getting enough items for the party and checking the affinities of raid bosses. A lot more MMORPG jargon was used in this episode than past episodes which are fine but it kind of takes you out of it for a moment cause you forgot they were technically in a game.

I am typically not a big fan of the action in Log Horizon and more look forward to political maneuvering and things like that but this upcoming battle has an air of intensity to it. I am excited to see the battle but it is bittersweet cause I will miss these more character-driven episodes.