In addition to just being another one of those slow-ass episodes full of cake and gags that Log Horizon occasionally stumbles through, this episode also featured what felt like the show’s first potential narrative misstep, in the “woooo aliens did it” explanation for Elder Tale’s genesis. The show’s obviously built up enough trust that I’m hopeful it will turn out in an interesting way, but Roe 2’s initial explanation struck me as one of the least interesting ways this show could have resolved its underlying issues.

On the plus side, while I didn’t really like this episode, I’m quite happy with my explanation of why I didn’t like this episode. So here’s that full writeup! Notes below, as always…

“Stop playing around” on his mug. A nice opening shot. He can’t just treat this as a fun adventure world anymore

“Hello, world.” Your first program in a new programming language. Appropriate for Roe 2

“Your memories are still within me. We are also beings who came here from another world. My name is Roe 2. We call ourselves Navigators. From your perspective, we are sentience intelligences from another world. And at the same time, I’m also your little sister.”

Quickly returning to people mired in apathy

A new type of monster!

Talkin’ bout Camaysar, the marriage dude

Nazuna and whatshisface took him down after he transformed into a monster

“Is he an enemy?” “If they’re attacking the town, we have to fight.” Yep, things getting murkier

Apparently he felt the “most like a videogame enemy” of anyone since they’ve arrived. “It felt hollow”

Isaac dealing with that kid again

Iselus is the kid. I’m guessing he’s some noble from the People of the Land

Ah, it’s Lenessia’s brother

Kind of a pointless scene. We’re just setting track, but it’s not terribly interesting

“The genius of measures, Bagris” – someone who attacked the economy by improperly valuing items. “Monsters” are now attacking their society from strange lateral angles, integrating with their assumptions

The scientists and Kunie Clan worked together to defeat that boss

A “genius of poison” who poisoned foods before a festival

“Air glasses” as an actual skill lol

Minori’s got her bag, finally

More brief shots of people in despair

“This restaurant is another of our branches.” I love the little bits of banter about how they’re expanding across this world

Isaac also getting reports on the Geniuses, and on war prospects

“The wyvern attack was an after-effect of Minami power-leveling People of the Land.” Good to know!

“It’s been almost a year since the apocalypse. I’m sure there are many people who want to go home.” “Some people want it so badly it’s driving them insane”

“Lately, even if you don’t have the skill, you can do simple cooking.” Things are still shifting. The world is becoming more real

How has Akatsuki’s friggin’ monster head followed them everywhere

Slow conversation between Serara and Nyanta

Nyanta is comforted by Serara saying she’s happy she came to this world. People can adjust to this place, especially the young

I like how they’re intersecting Serara’s feelings of inadequacy with Nyanta’s very different concerns about people making it in this world

“I think I need to get better at being who I am” same

Tetra being Tetra

More repeated points about people not being able to adjust and war coming

Roe 2 was his second character, who he left on a test server

“The rumor was that the test server was on the moon, right?” Tossing off these answers

“Roe 2 is the person I’ve been looking for”

Shiroe talking about the improbability of Log Horizon’s premise

“In this world, physical laws and the game’s laws are all jumbled up”

“It’s like two different rule sets were just mixed together randomly.” Okay, this stuff is fascinating

“Roe 2 took over my unused second character – a body without a soul – and came to this world.” So she represents the “third party” that brought them here

The Navigators have two types – Observers and Harvesters. They were created to harvest “empathions”, what the Genius was talking about earlier

“We believe you to be sentient beings of a Rank 3 or higher. Minori and her friends proved that. Thus the resources of this world belong to you.” Classic scifi scenario – an alien race advanced beyond human understanding

“I recommend acquiring a method of communicating with the moon. If you wish to return, we can help you.”

Yep, the Harvesters are the weird monsters/Geniuses/etc

Shiroe and Akatsuki remember the moon