How to Make a Good Isekai: Log Horizon

A Major problem with most isekai anime is what the writers want to happen in the new world. Usually the bad shows have a story that could completely have happened in our universe, but they follow the Hollywood mentality that explosions are always cool, just replacing explosion with magic. The second type of isekai is the transported to another world where I have to defeat the demon lord. These are often mediocre, choosing to focus on action and adventure, while never actually fighting the demon lord ever. The two good types of isekai include those where the new world makes the main character question what they know about themselves, and those that use the new world to explain how the real world works. Log horizon falls in the latter category.

Log Horizon is about a popular MMO called Elder Tale and how one day, everyone playing got sucked into the world of Elder Tale. The show spends a lot of time going in-depth with its mechanics which, according to the old players, have changed drastically from the time it was a game: NPCs act like normal humans, menus become unnecessary for combat, and cooking reflects real-world cooking. The most engaging aspect of the story is how the players adapt to their new environment, and how their actions reflect on the real world.

Elder Tale's world started in anarchy. The only things that were completely prevented was combat inside safe zones. As such, the strong players and guilds terrorized the now-sentient NPCs and the weak players. This is the natural state of most of our own world: survival of the fittest, and our main character Shiroe doesn't like it. In the story, Shiroe is called the villan in glasses for his ability to come up with ruthless plans, but it's more accurate to call him a pioneer. The same way Christopher Columbus brought western culture to America, Shiroe leads the charge in bringing government to the game world. This comes to a head when he establishes the Round Table, an organization of various guilds gathered to determine laws and diplomacy.

What makes log horizon great is that most of the plot developments seem like a product of the strange situation in which the characters find themselves, but they all just so happen to parallel things people do in the real world. The idea is that no matter what the circumstances, people will always desire certain things such as security, freedom, and if possible, profit. There should be no reason a council would be the best form of government in a game world, but the council was not meant to address the game; it was meant to address the people.

Log Horizon does have some interesting characters; mostly being those who deal with politics or combat. Many of the side cast does end up staying tropes despite this, so some scenes feel like a drag in the second half of the series. The characterization does improve slightly in the second season, but by that point, Log Horizon starts falling into the traps most anime like it try to avoid. It focuses too much on the combat and loses its more thematic elements.

Log Horizon explores the deepest parts of human psychology by placing them in an alien environment, and watching them come to the exact same conclusions as they would normally. For this reason, it is one of my favorite shows. My advice is to watch the first season and only watch the second if you care more about the characters than the plot. If you like fantasy that feels more human than normal, check out Utawarerumono (another anime where only the first season is good).