Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table is the third season of the Log Horizon anime series. It was produced by Studio Deen and was directed by Shinji Ishihara. The series aired in Japan from January 13-March 31, 2021. As of this writing, FUNimation Entertainment holds the North American license for Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table.

At the beginning of the first episode, a year has passed since the “Apocalypse,” and the season opens with the end of the Round Table Conference as it was designed and implemented in the first and second seasons of the anime. The demise of the Round Table Conference is brought about by Eins, the Guild Master for Honesty. His guild has faced issues from their fellow adventurers due to not having success on their research into Fairy Rings. Eins himself is facing increased scrutiny from other members of the Round Table with some of the actions he’s taken as a Guild Master. This leads to a contentious meeting of the conference, and Eins’ withdrawal of himself and Honesty from the Round Table. It’s quickly revealed that the Holy Empire Westeland has made Eins into a duke. He declares that he will found the Government of Akiba.

At the same this this is going on, Princess Rayneshia (also known as Lenessia) learns from her mother that she is in an arrangement engagement with the head of a noble family from the Holy Empire Westeland. When Lord Malves arrives from Westeland as a messenger, Rayneshia lets him know that she has an obligation to Akiba. Malves counters that Eins, who is now a duke, can fulfill that role. While Rayneshia is rebuffing the engagement, Shiroe meets with Eins. They agree to hold an election, where the people will determine whether they want Eins’ Government of Akiba or a restructured Round Table Conference, which would also include Rayneshia and other notable People of the Land.

The first five episodes of Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table focus on political machinations, which ultimately lead up to an election, which is a foreign concept to the People of the Land. It was quite amusing to watch Eins and Rayneshia campaigning. The actual election episode went a lot differently than I had expected, but I think the way it was handled worked well for the series. The political intrigue made for an interesting angle, and it also gave the adventurers another way to introduce a new concept into the world of the game.

We then get two episodes giving the audience the answer as to what happened to Krusty after he disappeared during Log Horizon 2. I enjoyed seeing Misa and Rieze putting on a puppet show in order to make sure that all of the characters they’re relaying Krusty’s message to understand what’s happening. I thought this was a creative way to provide framing for these two episodes. When the audience sees what happened, we don’t get the puppet show version. But that’s OK, because the audience doesn’t need the puppet show version to understand the ideas and concepts being presented.

Near the end of the season, the audience is introduced to Lelia and Litka Mofur, a pair of Wolf Fang Druid-Collector sisters. These sisters are older characters from the earlier days of the game, when players were sent on clunky quests, such as collecting dragon scales. Let’s just say the Mofur Sisters had developed a bad reputation for taking items from the adventurers are not taking better care of the items. The cave they were in was sealed off, and so the younger adventurers had no clue about their existence until they show up in the story. Over the remaining episodes, the sisters prove themselves and become important characters in their own right.

The final few episodes of the series focus on relationships, especially on Akatsuki and Minori’s interest in Shiroe. The audience is given a hint that perhaps Shiroe has developed feelings for Akatsuki right before the final battle that the younger adventurers have against a Genius that brings about despair. The more experienced players are sent into an “Instance” and have their levels dropped dramatically. But since the younger adventurers and Akatsuki (who had lowered her level in the teacher system to train the younger adventurers) were lower in level, they weren’t affected. Minori leads a raid party, and overall does a good job. However, since the Genius preys on the memories of the people that raid party members venerate, it looks like they will be defeated. However, Akatsuki has a more mature understanding of Shiroe and not an idealized version like Minori, so she is able to stand up to the Genius. In the end, it takes everyone, including the Mofur Sisters, to take down the Genius and free the other adventurers from the “Instance.” This was a nice climactic fight, and it also allowed the younger adventurers to grow as characters.

Right near the end of the last episode, Minori confesses to Shiroe that she loves him. But, Shiroe tells her that he thinks he’s in love with someone else, and from how he phrases things, it sounds an awful lot like the same thoughts he had in an earlier episode when he was with Akatsuki. It seems that the Akatsuki and Shiroe shippers may have some hope here. While I felt bad for Minori, I was glad that Shiroe shot her down. As Minori herself says, she’s just a child. It would have been awkward for an adult like Shiroe to return the feelings of a young girl like Minori. While Akatsuki may look young, she’s actually an adult like Shiroe.

I was a little bummed that Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table is only 12 episodes long, since the previous seasons lasted for two cours. However, even with the smaller amount of episodes, it still felt as if a lot of progress was made in the overall story. The way the final episode ended, it’s clear that there is the intention to have another season of Log Horizon. We’ll just have to wait and see just how long it’s going to take.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Anime Spotlight: Log Horizon
• Anime Spotlight: Log Horizon 2

This episode begins exactly where the previous one ended. Ereinus keeps trying to get Akatsuki to falter, but because she doesn’t see Shiroe as on object of veneration, she doesn’t. She starts sharing various big and little things she knows about Shiroe, and declares during all of this that she’s in love with him. Minori hears this, and realizes that even though they both look at Shiroe, they each see him differently.

But, Akatsuki’s efforts aren’t enough to take down Ereinus. Lelia steps into the fray and starts attacking as well. At one point, Ereinus extracts memories from both of the Mofur sisters, and the younger adventurers get to see characters like Shiroe, Naotsugu, Krusty, etc. when they were beginners in the game. They realize that the Mofur sisters have been watching over the adventurers for a long time. But seeing these memories gives the younger adventurers the encouragement they need to feel like they can win. Since the Mofur sisters are trying to divert Ereinus’ attention, the younger adventurers begin the healing and taking a potion in order to continue the raid. With all of them working together, along with Akatsuki and the Mofur sisters, they bring Ereinus down and defeat the “Instance.”

There’s a celebration afterwards, where we learn that the Mofur sisters will be joining Log Horizon. But during the celebration, we see some of the characters reflecting over what’s happened recently. Isuzu is with Rudy, and she realizes that trying to set Minori up on the date and encouraging her to confess her feelings to Shiroe was something that she shouldn’t have done. She feels a lot of remorse, and Rudy is there to comfort her. He also has some incredibly wise things to say to her about her actions and her desire to try to make things right. I know I’ve said this before, but Rudy keeps amazing me with how much he’s matured as a character.

We also get an important scene between Shiroe and Minori. After giving Shiroe a report she’s written up about the raid, she says she feels like she failed as a raid leader. Shiroe disagrees with her on that, and from what I saw in the past two episodes, I would agree with Shiroe. He gives her the words of encouragement she needs to hear, including the idea that she has the power to make any wish she has come true. Well, Minori decides to take the opportunity and confess her love to Shiroe. Unfortunately for her, Shiroe doesn’t give the response she was hoping for. He says he believes he’s in love with someone else, and it’s very strongly hinted that he’s referring to Akatsuki. I was glad to see Shiroe turn Minori down. Like she herself says a little earlier in the scene, she’s still a child. Shiroe is a grown man, so a relationship between these two would have been quite awkward. There’s hope for a Shiroe and Akatsuki shipping, but at this point, they don’t realize that they have mutual feelings for each other.

After the ending credits, there’s a scene of Shiroe saying it’s time to go to Minami, and Akatsuki volunteers to accompany him. One of the last scenes is of Regan, who was eavesdropping nearby, asking to go along as well. And this is where the episode ends. There’s definitely a setup for another season here, so I guess we just wait and see to find out when the story of Log Horizon will continue.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 10 – “Labyrinth in Akiba”
• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 11 – “Despair Genius”

The episode begins with Akatsuki, Minori, and the other lower level members of Log Horizon fighting the raid monsters in the guild hall. They are joined be Serara and the other lower level members of the Crescent Moon alliance. Together, they are able to take down the monsters that are in the room they’re in. Once the fighting is done, Minori relays the information that she gathered between Rieze’s notebook and any messages from Shiroe that were to her by Lelia and Litka.

Between everyone who is present, they have just enough members for a raid party. Many of those assembled are frightened to do the raid in order to get to where Ereinus, the Despair Genius, is. Minori does her best to try to encourage the others, but she’s struggling to find the right words. Toya, however, jumps in and understands how to motivate the others. The majority of the members of this raid party were all captives of Hamelin, so Toya understands what he needs to say and do to motivate the others. Minori has already been acting like a leader this whole time, but she only declares herself the leader of the raid party after Akatsuki gives her encouragement.

It turns out the “date” between Shiroe and Minori was helpful, because it meant they had the raid supplies they needed in order to participate in this raid battle. Once the supplies are gathered and the teams set, the remainder of the episode focuses on these 24 characters and their raid. The only exceptions are a couple of scenes where Shiroe and some of the others are standing outside the guild building, waiting for Minori and the others to take down Ereinus and bring an end to the “Instance.”

Overall, Minori proves herself to be a competent leader. It’s a good thing that she’s been Shiroe’s student and has listened intently to things he’s told her over time. As we see from her thoughts, what she’s learned from Shiroe are helping her get through the raid. At first, it seems like things are going too easily, but that all changes once they encounter Ereinus.

At one point, when it looks hopeless, Litka release a monster that she calls a snake… but it looks more like a dinosaur that’s made out of scales. Personally, I thought it kind of looked like a white version of Reptar from Rugrats. It also sounded like “Mr. Lizard” (what Minori refers to this creature as) mooed like a cow. LOL! Mr. Lizard is helpful for a little while and is pretty cool, but sadly, Ereinus defeats him. Poor Mr. Lizard.

But then Ereinus does something. He starts demanding to know if the raid party has objects of veneration. As he senses each person’s object of veneration, memories of that person appear before them in crystals that shatter. With most of the raid party being kids, seeing this happen affects their emotions deeply, and causes them to slow down their thoughts and movements. Toya and Minori try to resist this, but both end up caught up in it. And poor Toya is grabbed by Ereinus and slammed onto the ground… and his HP is gone. It’s no wonder Ereinus is called the “Despair Genius.”

But just as things seem hopeless, Minori gets unexpected help from Akatsuki, who isn’t affected by Ereinus’ power. As she says at the end, Shiroe isn’t a hero. In her own words, “My lord is… my lord!” Since Akatsuki is older than the others, it makes sense that she doesn’t idolize him like the kids idolize their objects of veneration. However, the one thing nagging at me is one of the scenes in the opening credits, where we see Akatsuki with the memory of Shiroe in front of her, and it shatters. Will her will be broken as well, or was this shot in the opening credits to throw us off? Hmmm. It’ll be interesting to see how this raid battle continues next week.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 10 – “Labyrinth in Akiba”
• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 12 – “Song of the Nightingales”

The episode opens with Minori and the younger members of the Log Horizon guild trying to come up with a plan to find Shiroe and the others. But these characters, along with the audience, get a surprise… Akatsuki is still there! We learn that she had dropped her level down to 59 with the teacher system, and this piece of information becomes important later. But Akatsuki convinces the younger members not to act recklessly, and she starts taking charge.

Even though Akatsuki and Minori may be competitors for Shiroe’s affection, the two work well together in this situation. Through Minori’s thoughts, we see that even though she saw the shopping trip to buy raid supplies as a date with Shiroe, she was still paying attention to what Shiroe was telling her. At least she wasn’t so head over heels about her “date” with Shiroe that she wasn’t paying attention to the information he was giving her. I have to give Minori credit for that, since a lot of her girls her age wouldn’t have been keeping their mind on what was happening if they were in a similar situation.

Meanwhile, with the Adventurers who disappeared, it’s revealed that they are in a dungeon that is designed to look like Akiba. And as they battle the creatures (who are all at Raid level), they discover that their levels have all been dropped to 35. Because of this, they’re having a hard time with the weapons they have that are meant for users with higher levels. A couple of characters die and are reincarnated at the cathedral. These characters see that any damage done in the dungeon designed to look like Akiba doesn’t translate to the real Akiba. The theory is that the other Akiba is an “Instance,” which is a temporary space that’s created when multiple parties are about to coincide in the same dungeon. Of course, while the Adventurers who returned to the real Akiba figure this out, we get the actual explanation from Shiroe, who is among those still in the “Instance.” Unfortunately, with this “Instance,” it’s made this version of Akiba into a labyrinth. Shiroe and his group think they’ve made it to their guild hall, but when they open the door, it’s not their kitchen that they end up in. But at this point, Shiroe realizes that the enemy is utilizing the teacher system to drop the levels of Adventurers at certain ranks and higher down to Level 35.

But it should be noted that dying and being reincarnated back in the real Akiba isn’t an easy answer for the situation. The Adventurers that return still remain at Level 35, and there’s always a chance that the next time they fall asleep, they could end up back in the “Instance.” The “Instance” can’t come to an end until someone takes care of it in that space.

A little later in the episode, Shiroe and his group, along with William and his group, encounter one another. At the same time, Lelia and Litka, the level 65 Ancients, appear and are being chased. Their appearance seems to corroborate Shiroe’s hypothesis about the teacher system and the levels. During the confusion here, though, Rieze is able to hand Shiroe a notebook with observations that she and Wiiliam’s party have made during their time together concerning the current situation. Rieze also invokes a power that allows them to temporarily be able to take on the higher level raid monsters and win.

After Tetra casts Pacification on Lelia and Litka, they start crying and apologizing. But what’s surprising is that they recall Tetra and all of Tetra’s scales that they lost. They also talk about how much they enjoyed playing with the Adventurers. Shiroe realizes that Lelia and Litka were just lonely, and that the Adventurers abandoned these characters. He even admits that during the early days of the game, when Lelia and Litka were important characters, he only ever saw them as game characters. He never thought about them having emotions. While Tetra is surprised by Lelia and Litka’s revelation, there’s still hard feelings about all those lost scales.

Shiroe realizes that Lelia and Litka are likely their only link to Akatsuki, Minori, and the others, so he entrusts them to find them and deliver the notebook I was actually amazed that Tetra didn’t put up an argument about this, since their nickname is “The Useless Sisters.” But at the end of the episode, we see these useless sisters prove themselves by successfully finding and delivering the notebook to Akatsuki and Minori.

The episode seemed to be setting up the idea that this arc is going to see Akatsuki and the younger Adventurers becoming stronger and proving themselves, and the preview for the next episode appears to show that this will indeed be the case. I think this arc is going to serve as an important turning point for these particular Adventurers, and I think by the end of it, they will likely not only get physically stronger, but they may start maturing a little more emotionally as well. It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of this arc unfolds, as well as how exactly the experience is going to change the younger Adventurers.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 9 – “Adoration”
• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 11 – “Despair Genius”

The episode begins with the Mofur sisters telling Shiroe and the others about the Genius Ereinus and how they tried fighting him. Shiro feels their account gives him enough information to figure out his level, and will be bringing up Ereinus’ trek toward Akiba up to the Round Table Conference.

A lot of the episode focuses on Isuzu and her matchmaking. We primarily see her working with Minori, but we also get dialogue later that she’s also working with Serara. Early on, we see a scene between Isuzu and Rudy, where Isuzu is talking about how much she’s working with Minori to coordinate her outfit and encouraging her to ask Shiroe out on a date. It appears that Rudy wants to say something to her, but Isuzu doesn’t let him. If I had to guess what Rudy wanted to say, it was probably to discourage her from the matchmaking efforts she’s going to. I know I mentioned this earlier on this season, but it seems like Rudy has really matured compared to the first two seasons of Log Horizon. At this point, he almost seems to be the most mature of the younger group of characters… which is something I never thought I’d ever say about him.

Minori talks with Shiroe, and the discussion turns toward raids. She works up the courage to ask him to take her shopping so she can learn about how to buy items for a raid. He agrees to do this when he has some time. And he does find the time during the episode to take her on this trip and explain what to buy and why to buy them. From how this is ultimately depicted, I get the feeling that Shiroe just sees this as a moment to teach someone important information about how to shop for a raid, but that Minori feels as if there was more there than there really was. Near the end of the episode, we see a moment between Akatsuki and Minori that takes place after the trip, and they both say how they want to be of help to Shiroe. Akatsuki seems to be the more confident of the two of them during this conversation, but in the end, they acknowledge each other and their efforts to become better in order to help Shiroe. After this episode, I get the feeling that Akatsuki has the upper hand when it comes to potentially winning Shiroe’s affections, but that’s assuming that he’s even thinking about romance at all. From how the show is depicting Shiroe, a romantic relationship seems to be the farthest thing from his mind at this point in time.

This episode also sees the younger members of the cast, along with the Mofur sisters, getting some training to help prepare them to fight in a raid (since at this point, they’re all either at or above a level of 50, which is the minimum level one needs to participate in a raid). We get to see them with both Naotsugu and Tetora, and their teaching methods are very different. While Naotsugu goes the traditional route using “teacher mode,” Tetora just antagonizes some giants to start attacking the group. Tetora, meanwhile, uses a spell of protection to avoid having to fight the giants. Tetora mutters something about this not having to do with a grudge against the Mofur sisters, and my thought was, “Riiiight, Tetora.”

We also see a brief scene of Rayneshia and a small group of people trying to come up with a plan to rescue Krusty. Nothing definite is decided in this scene, but at least it was good to get this scene to reinforce to the audience that a mission to save Krusty is in the works.

The episode ends with the younger members of Log Horizon waking up and finding that all of the adults and the Mofur sisters have disappeared. After Toya comments about the weird color of the sky outside, Minori quickly surmises that Akiba is under attack by Genius Ereinus. The preview for the next episode shows that Minori’s guess is correct, and that the episode is going to focus on this attack. I have a feeling that this attack is going to be an important moment for the younger members of the cast, and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 8 – “The Oldest Ancients”
• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 10 – “Labyrinth in Akiba”

It’s kind of interesting that even though the title of the episode is “The Oldest Ancients,” the characters referenced here don’t become important until later in the episode. Instead, there’s an emphasis on relationships between characters early on.

The main relationships focused on in this episode have the characters who are interested in Shiroe. Tetra comes out with the Kanami puppet and asks Naotsugu if Kanami was really Shiroe’s girlfriend when he was with the Debauchery Tea Party. The answer comes from both Naotsugu and Nyanta. While Naotsugu replies that they weren’t an item, Nyanta adds that he believes that Shiroe had been in love with Kanami. Surprisingly, Akatsuki takes this news rather well. Later, while out on a trip for supplies, Akatsuki suggests that the two of them get red bean buns. The scene of these two eating the buns together was interesting. In Shiroe’s thoughts, we hear him think about how comfortable he feels just sitting next to Akatsuki and eating the red bean buns, and how the pause in conversation doesn’t bother him as much as it used to. While a part of me really wants to believe that this scene makes a Shiroe and Akatsuki ship more possible than it had been, the fact remains that this could simply mean that Shiroe has just become more comfortable around people in general. Only time will tell on this point, though.

We also see Minori trying to help Shiroe out while he’s going through various requests from the villagers, all while trying to build up the new Round Table. Shiroe looks at her at one point and thinks that Minori has gotten stronger since he rescued her and the others from Hamelin. The only other thing we see in regards to Minori are some of the other younger members of Log Horizon coming up with ideas to help Minori get closer to Shiroe. Isuzu brings up the idea of a shopping trip together, and from what we see in the preview for the next episode, it looks like this shopping trip between the two will happen. We can’t forget that Isuzu’s interest in Rudy is mentioned, although she tries to brush it off. Again, from the preview, it looks like there will be some kind of focus on these two characters as well.

And then there’s Rayneshia. She has volunteered to go pick up Krusty (and I’m assuming Kanami and her group as well, although that part is never mentioned in the dialogue), and is trying to figure out how to accommodate this around her responsibilities in Akiba. Shiroe suggests using a boat she has at her disposal to take a cruise for a vacation, since she’s been working so hard… and that she can pick up Krusty while she’s on her cruise. She approves of this idea. What we find out is that after Rayneshia rejected the arranged marriage, the relationship with Minami is a little strained, so in Shiroe’s mind, it would be better for Rayneshia to be gone for a little while so work can be done to repair the relationship with Minami.

OK, now we’ll finally touch on the characters that are referenced in the episode’s title. There’s a party of the younger Log Horizon members out hunting, which consists of Rudy, Isuzu, and Toya. Serara from the Crescent Moon Alliance has also joined them. They encounter the two ancients referenced in the title, a pair of Wolf Fang Druid-Collector sisters named Litaka Mofur and Lelia Mofur. They are down on their luck, and the hunting party shares their food. The sisters stealthily follow the party back to Akiba, and when they’re discovered, they ask for assistance. Once the group realizes that they’re ancients, they decide to ask Shiroe for advice. Minori asks Shiroe if he’s had a pet and then asks if he likes dogs, he says dogs are fine, but not wolves. The characters who have played the game longer are accurately guessing what Minori is referring to. She decides to try to couch this as wanting to bring friends over, and the older members of Log Horizon are overjoyed to hear they’ve made friends and want to invite them over. Of course, this leads to an awkward situation when the sisters show up.

But thanks to this situation, the audience is given background on the sisters, and we find out that the newer players of the game don’t know about them because the cavern they lived in was sealed off. The sisters had a reputation for being annoying, especially for some of the clunky quests that the early players of the game had to accomplish and how these characters would mess things up. But it turns out the sisters have come to Akiba to deliver a warning about a Genius that is on its way. Even though there is resentment against these characters from some of the players about these sisters, the younger members of Log Horizon still ask Shiroe to let them stay with them. He agrees, using a phrase we hear at least two or three times in the episode: “The past is the past.”

Even though this episode focused more on exposition, it was still enjoyable. To me, the best part was the scene of Akatsuki and Shiroe eating the red bean buns. Between that scene and the earlier scene of Tetra asking about Kanami and Shiroe, Akatsuki seemed to show that she’s started maturing a little more when it comes to Shiroe. When it comes to other aspects and relationships, though, I think we’ll still see the quirks we’re used to from her that have endeared her to the audience.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 7 – “Not A Curse”
• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 9 – “Adoration”

The English cast has been announced for the Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table anime:

• Mike Yager is Shiroe
• Jād Saxton is Akatsuki
• Andrew Love is Naotsugu
• Jovan Jackson is Nyan-ta
• Mike Vance is Eins
• Elise Moore is Elissa
• Sara Secora is Frederica
• Shelley Calene-Black is Henrietta
• George Manley is Isaac
• Dani Chambers is Kalua
• John Gremillion is Karashin
• Emily Neves is Rayneshia
• AmaLee is Liancis
• Maggie Flecknoe is Marielle
• Jack Ivy is Michitaka
• Luci Christian is Minori
• Krystal LaPorte is Misa
• David Matranga is Roderick
• Stephanie Young is Sarariya
• Ty Mahany is Smash
• Justin Briner is Sojiro
• Patrick McAlister is Tapioka
• Chelsea McCurdy is Tetora
• Stephen Fu is Yunoki

Stephen Hoff and Afshar Kharat are directing the dub.

Source: ANN

This episode tells the second part of Misa and Rieze’s puppet show. At the beginning, Kanami finds Krusty, who has fallen into Sirius Grotto. Youren makes an appearance, and begins a battle with Krusty. We do get a brief backstory moment for Krusty, and we get to see him as a young child. We learn why he always appears to be detached from people, as well as why he tries not to “rock the boat,” so to speak. But during the battle with Youren, he utilizes something that Shiroe figured out back in the first season to his advantage. But with this move, Krusty finally recalls what happened to him when he was whisked away to the Chinese server, and it turns out that Youren’s mother had a major hand in how Krusty ended up in the shape he was in when he was taken to the temple. I liked how during this sequence, Krusty went from not wanting to attract attention and shaking things up to making major changes through the “contract” that was made with Youren’s mother in order to get the upper hand.

A corrupted Elias Hackblade also makes an appearance, and gets into a fight with Leonardo. Leonardo tries to get through to him, but it takes speaking through fighting instead of words to see a difference. His motivation of being frustrated with his fairy curse drove him to be manipulated by Youren, but after her defeat, Leonardo mentions that he broke the cure… Elias got his HP under 25%. I also appreciated Leonardo explaining that what he had wasn’t a curse, because Elias had decided to never kill his enemy. How does Leonardo know this? From reading through Elias’ backstory that came with the game. To be honest, the title “Not A Curse” could also apply to Krusty as well as to Elias (who it was obviously a reference to). Both of these characters broke past their respective curses and can now move forward.

When Shiroe realizes what Krusty was trying to communicate, he takes on the “Villain with Glasses” look (the black shadow over his face) and starts laughing. I think Shiroe is plotting something, but what exactly it is, I don’t know yet. And Rayneshia’s reaction when she realizes what Krusty is up to was priceless.

This episode didn’t rely as much on the puppet show motif as the first one did, although we did get a couple of amusing scenes of Akatsuki during the puppet show portions. But with this episode, it was more important to convey information through watching the story unfolding rather than with the puppets. But I was happy to finally learn what has happened to Krusty during his absence from Akihabara.

From the preview for the next episode, though, it appears that whatever Shiroe is planning will be staying on the backburner for now. The preview indicates that we will be introduced to two new characters who have been shown in the opening credits. It’s hinted that they have some kind of connection with Shiroe, so it will be interesting to learn more about who they are and their connection with Shiroe.

Additional posts about Log Horizon:

• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 6 – “Immortal in Ethereal Utopia”
• Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table: Episode 8 – “The Oldest Ancients”