Welcome to the eleventh week of the Fall 2013 season of Anime Knockout! Every week, we will review the new anime of the season, rate them, and kick the weakest show off of the queue.
Spoilers ahoy! So, if you don’t want to know what happens, come back after you’ve seen this week’s episodes!
For the Fall 2013 season, here is our chosen lineup:
Arpeggio of Blue Steel
Beyond the Boundary
Galilei Donna
Gingitsune: Messenger of the Gods
Golden Time
Kill la Kill
Log Horizon
MEGANEBU!
Nagi no Asukara
Samurai Flamenco
Strike the Blood
Walkure Romanze
Wanna be the Strongest in the World
Log Horizon
Briar’s Review:
The setting is just an excuse to have a fantasy post-apocalyptic world and magic and elves. Remember, this is the same person behind Maoyu. The world of Elder Tale is a modern Japan in ruins which have long been overgrown. A new society and ecosystem have taken root here, one that began without the Players and could continue without the Players. The Players are essentially colonists plopped down in a new world and left to fend for themselves. That this is a game is more of a narrative device to allow for this premise than the focus of the plot. However, we do get a quick line while Shiroe is scribing away at his desk about starting to look for a way out. They need more information.
It’s also interesting to see that the NPCs know as little about the Players as the Players know about them. The Round Table had to explain what guilds were to Sergiatte, where he realized that bestowing titles of nobility would end up causing strife among the Players. I also have a sense that Shiroe is trying to attend to immediate needs of himself and the other players first, before finding a way out of the game. Since he’s working inside the system, he probably doesn’t have any idea of where to begin. It’s not like there’s a dev around who can access commands not otherwise available to players.
The characters are enjoyable and competent. They’re all thinking, rational people (most of the time) who are doing their best to cope with their situation. There’s also a wide range of ages and personalities among them, which I like more than having all of the characters be kids of a very narrow age group. The running gags haven’t worn themselves into nuisances, because they used when they’re called for and not jammed in just to check off a box. Shiroe is coming to terms with being a leaders, instead of just an advisor. It seems obvious that he and Akatsuki will meet up after they get out the game. Thankfully, they’re not loading this story with a romance between the two. It’s not needed and would just get in the way.
The pacing of this series is a little sedate, but they have a full 24 episodes to work with, instead of 12. Some viewers might be a little frustrated with this, but this series makes sure to explain things and introduce the characters in such a way that we can recognize them when they show up again later. The backgrounds are sometimes lush, showing the ruins of modern Japan covered in plant growth. The models of the characters all stayed even, without wild shifts in quality because of a demanding episode stealing time and energy from the episode preceding it.
As a whole, I’ve enjoyed this series, but I’m also a big fan of Spice and Wolf. While Log Horizon doesn’t quite meet that bar, it’s using a fantastical situation to explore the mundane underpinnings of a working world. This sort of style is not for everyone. I’ll be watching this one through, even after it’s been knocked out of our review list.
Plot Score: 6/10
Character Score: 6/10
Production Score: 6/10
Briar’s Total Score: 6/10
AstralRuby’s Review:
I wonder if they’re even in a video game anymore. The NPCs are now like real people. Not a whole lot happened in this episode. The kids are starting their training camp. Shiroe, Akatsuki, and some of the others from the Round Table are attending a ball they were invited to by the Lord or King or something of the land/region. We aren’t seeing the teamwork and team dynamics I liked so much at the beginning.
This week, this episode didn’t make the cut with its total score. This was a good anime and I would probably recommend it to those that might like the MMORPG become real story. If they ask if it’s like Sword Art Online, my answer will be no. Number one reason being this in not a romance. Overall, I liked the characters and the relationships of the characters. We saw some old friends and some new friends. As the episodes progressed up until now, there was a lot less of playing the game, and a lot more of just living. The main characters became pioneers in a “new” world and are already diving into politics, which is not my favorite subject. I wished someone would check if they could log out, or at least wonder what is happening to their bodies in the real world. How much time has passed in the real world, or is it the same amount as in the game? How are they in the game like they are? Is it with headgear like SAO? At this point, before getting into the major unknowns of the game world, a little more about the real world should have been mentioned. They don’t need to go into detail about it, but something would be nice. The way the story is being told is good, though the pacing slowed down a little too much. Hopefully it picks up a little as it continues its run. For making it this far in the anime knockout, I can sincerely say good job to Log Horizon.
Plot Score: 5/10
Character Score: 5/10
Production Score: 6/10
AstralRuby’s Total Score: 5.3/10
Week 11 Total Score: 5.6/10
Season Total Score for Log Horizon: 6.1/10
Golden Time
Briar’s Review:
Kaga’s Borderline Personality Disorder is in full gear in this episode. She forbids Banri from getting a part-time job, because she wouldn’t get to see him as much. She even offers to pay for him on the beach trip. She knows how crazy she looks when she doesn’t hold back on her neediness, but she can barely control herself. Everything is about her and her fear of abandonment. After a few job offers through friends, Banri and Yana score jobs as waiters at a birthday party. This isn’t any ordinary birthday party. It’s not even the party with the magician and the pony. Banri lies to Kaga, saying that he’s working on a report and won’t be able to answer immediately as she likes for a while. While running around in a maid costume and slinging drinks, he finds out that Nana and Linda are also waitressing at this event. During this time, Kaga starts calling Banri. She has the photo of Linda and Banri. This is a bad, bad sign. If Kaga’s fear gets the better of her, she’ll paint Banri black and he’ll become a villain in her mind.
Plot Score: 7/10
Character Score: 7/10
Production Score: 7/10
Briar’s Total Score: 7/10
AstralRuby’s Review:
Banri still hasn’t talked to Linda about his leftover feelings for her, and Kaga is getting anxious or worried about what he’s doing and if she’s going to lose him to anyone. Banri looked for a job and ended up getting one with his friend, Mitsou, through Nana and they all worked as cosplaying waiters at a masquerade party, where Linda is working too. Since Kaga didn’t want Banri to work, he is keeping this one-night-only job a secret from her. The character development has slowed down a lot, and this episode felt a little filler-like too, maybe because the beginning of the series had a faster pace to it, but I am unsure. Things got bumped back down to average this episode.
Plot Score: 5/10
Character Score: 5/10
Production Score: 6/10
AstralRuby’s Total Score: 5.3/10
Week 11 Total Score: 6.1/10
Season Total Score for Golden Time: 6.3/10
Samurai Flamenco
Briar’s Review:
What the hell happened to this show? If I was a kid that grew up on this stuff, I would be laughing my ass off right now with goofy nostalgia. Unfortunately, I never liked the Super Sentai type shows as a kid. I thought they were annoying as hell. As it is, I’m losing focus on this and want to see the show as it began. The dive in production values threw me off for a little while, making me think that we had a show within a show going on. The modeling for faces and animation is really off in this episode. Even the shading is weakened, making things look very flat. Though, I have to give the episode credit for coming up for the cheesy theme song for the Flamengers playing the background. In a way, I’m glad that we’re at the end of the season. I really don’t want to sit through more of this, which is really too bad. This series had a really strong start.
Plot Score: 5/10
Character Score: 5/10
Production Score: 6/10
Briar’s Total Score: 5.3/10
AstralRuby’s Review:
Um, I think Hazama still has a gash of his torso from the last episode, shouldn’t that be taken care of first? Apparently there’s a real monster alien thing called From Beyond and Red Ax has this whole produced set up to counter it, including, the Flamengers. However, they all started out as the Red Ranger, so that needed to change. Apparently this project has been going on for at least 10 years, but then why are they called the Flamengers and Flamen Colors? Flamenco-anything started with Hazama within the last year. It’s not making much sense at the moment. It appears the Flamenco Girls have been replaced with this squad. At the very end Hazama realized he had a ton of missed calls and is going to have to face his boss now. The Flamengers weren’t really introduced that much, we saw them each and now they each have a color and at least one attack in battle. This anime suffered what too many do and that is going off into some weird unexplained area that it didn’t need to.
Trivia: Flamen Black has the same voice actor (KENN) as Akihito from Beyond the Boundary (Kyoukai no Kanata), so he showed up twice in this season‘s anime.
Plot Score: 5/10
Character Score: 5/10
Production Score: 7/10
AstralRuby’s Total Score: 5.6/10
Week 11 Total Score: 5.4/10
Season Total Score for Samurai Flamenco: 7.0/10
Ratings (Points out of 10)
| Series Name | Week 11 Score | Running Season Score |
| Golden Time | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| Log Horizon | 5.6 | 6.1 |
| Samurai Flamenco | 5.4 | 7.0 |
This week, Log Horizon finished with the lowest score. It will not return for Week 12. It’s time to Log Out, Shiroe.
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