Recap: A summer training camp is organized for lower level players. Meanwhile, representatives from the Round Table meet with those from the Landers.

Iro’s Thoughts:
And a new arc begins! It seems that we’ll be running an A plot and B plot for this arc, with the show cutting between Shiroe and some of the other guild masters at the conference in Eastal and everyone else at the noob training camp. It’s a good opportunity to both get viewers involved in the politics of the world and to stick in some RPG action. I’m sure that after the last few episodes (which were nothing but talking), some watchers were getting bored. Plus, since the noobs are the ones fighting, it’s an easy way to infodump on us without anything getting too egregious. They’re still learning, so when we’re learning along with them, large blocks of exposition are easier to swallow.

Alas, after seeing Shiroe and his friends have such great synergy with their teamwork, the kids look incredibly incompetent by comparison. It’s justified by their inexperience, but it’s also nearly infuriating to watch them do things we know as an audience to be stupid. On the bright side, we finally get to see some of the other classes in action, notably the Sorcerer and Bard. I’m not sure if every class is supposed to be ridiculously overpowered or something, but it certainly seems that way so far. I particularly enjoy how Log Horizon places emphasis on support classes and teamwork, unlike SAO, which seemed to be in love with the lone wolf ideal.

Rudy and Isuzu are the standout new characters here. Oftentimes it’s hard to take “glimmerous fop” characters seriously, but Rudy’s just so damn enthusiastic about being a pretty idiot that he ends up funny. Well, at least until his antics cause everybody to fuck up; then it’s a little annoying. Isuzu hasn’t had much characterization other than standing around and being pretty (on that note, how many anime characters have freckles? Like none), but the short interlude where she’s just strumming her guitar was one of my favorite bits in episode 12. On the Lander front of new characters, Lenessia seems like she’s going to be somewhat important, seeing as how she’s been featured prominently in cryptic episode fade-outs and such. I’m curious if she’s going to end up as Krusty’s love interest or something, which would create an interesting political situation if nothing else. As per usual, I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop.