Although the premise/title of Toshokan Sensou sounded cheesy, I was quickly swayed by Usagijen’s TS pimping. I’m glad I did, and if you can get over the idea of people fighting over books, I think you will find a lot to like in TS.
Story
Toshokan Sensou follows Kasahara Iku in her quest to join the Library Task Force and find her flashback Prince. Ever since her Prince protected her from some pesky censor soldiers, Iku has set her sights on the LTF. Along the way, we get to meet all of Iku’s coworkers/comrades, and there are a bunch of military exercises masked as real battles. The story also brings up some interesting points about censorship and civil disobedience.
I think the premise of the story is the first thing that turns off most viewers. Ironically, this is actually brought up in one episode, as the characters comment on how strange it must seem to outsiders that there is a small-scale war being fought over books. When I take a moment to think about it, I can see how the fight over censorship makes sense; unfortunately, when I watch armed soldiers bust in to steal a gym bag full of fairy tales, I still recoil mentally.
Characters
The cast of TS is definitely the draw of the series, and I liked most of the main characters. In spite of the short series length, many of the characters were fleshed out nicely and given layers of complexity. I think the anime team did a really good job with Iku and Atsushi especially, but my favorite character was still Asako. There was just the right mix of silly and cool to make me fall in love with most of the LTF staff. However, I do have to criticize the weak antagonists. Satoshi was not as well done, and the MEC came off as rather dopey. This is likely due to time constraints, but there is a glaring disparity between the good guys and the bad guys.
Tilt
I absolutely loved the art style of Toshokan Sensou, and the production values were excellent and consistent. The thick lineart with vibrant colors was very unique, and all the urban warfare moments were really cool. Sure I lamented the absence of smoke grenades, but the squad teamwork was fun to watch. I also really enjoyed both the OP and ED, and I think both fit the show well.
Verdict
I enjoyed the anime, although I’m not sure if it had enough oomph to really make the series memorable. I got the impression that TS should have been constructed as a two-cour series (at least), because nothing much really happened in the first 12 episodes aside from some character development. Normally I don’t penalize series for this because of the current trend of releasing several one-cour chunks, but in this case the stopping point didn’t make much sense and when I look at how far the story and characters have come in 12 episodes, it leaves me a little unsatisfied. With that said, I did like Toshokan Sensou and I was able to make my peace with the story’s premise. I think the 12 episodes were done almost as well as they could be done, but this really should have been a longer series.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 4/5
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16 Comments
Shibasaki was by far the best character in the entire show, although Iku was pretty good too.
The production values were good as always for a Production IG show, and without the uglyass (literally) character designs of Real Drive.
I agree with you. The anime’s good, but I wouldn’t really recommend it to others, and I probably wouldn’t even remember it in a year’s time. Actually, I already forgot about it until now.
As you said, the premise is cheesy.
It must have been privately funded libraries (perhaps they’re all that way in Japan) that would equip their librarians with guns and military-style training. If these people were government (either national or local) supported, I don’t think the government would let them fight the way they did against another government agency (the one that wanted to censor material).
“uglyass (literally) character designs of Real Drive”
WOAH! What the hell are you talking about? RD doesn’t feature any ugly looking characters at all. Maybe chubbiness doesn’t work in Real Life but in this anime it works very well and the girls look just gorgeous.
That said, I’ll no longer protect you from this guy’s attacks. Your on your own now.
Bashing TS would be boring. It’s as inappropriate as making fun of a retard and blissmo summed it up nicely already.
“I think the 12 episodes were done almost as well as they could be done, but this really should have been a longer series.”
Hell yes much?
I think they did real good fleshing out what they managed in 12 eps, but I suppose I’ll admit I can see where a lot more fussy people will see shortcomings and slam it *grumbles*
I have actually been intrigued by the chubbier character designs, since you almost never see chubby main characters in anime. Is RD any good?
The TS premise is very hit or miss. I saw a lot of potential, but the story didn’t keep up with the character development at all.
I can only say, I enjoy RD quite a lot. Whether it’s good, is something you have decide yourself. Its pace might be a bit slower than average but I would say that’s because it’s explorative in contrast to narrative. So instead explaining things in boring, long-winded monologues (or one of these odd dialogues which are obviously just meant to explain things to the viewer), we get to know its world through actual stories which may seem fillerish, if you only look at its plot and not what clues it gives and concepts it introduces. The art is beautiful especially colour-wise and the animation is also very good. It has occasionally some action scenes but overall it’s not action-based. Whether you like RD may also heavily depend on whether you like Minamo or not because she’s the one who carries this show emotionally.
You could read psgels’ reviews:
http://psgels.blogsome.com/category/current-series/rd-sennou-chousashitsu/
Or just start watching. If you’re not sold on it by the third episode, it’s probably not what you’re looking for and you can safely ignore it. Unfortunately, the subs seem to be stalling currently which has certainly nothing to do with the quality of it.
I was just thinking about how psgels is the only one I know who blogs RD (as well as several other obscure series). Thanks for providing a cutoff episode, so that I know when to give up. Chubby girls and geezers? I think I might have to check this out…
The long-winded monologue explanation of the story’s universe is really one of the laziest storytelling methods around. It really should only be used when the series length is so short that better methods cannot be used. I always think back to the episode in Fate Stay Night where the entire episode was a lecture on rules and history =/.
I know of at least another blog which also covers RD:
http://hanners-anime.blogspot.com/search/label/drive
Your wordprez is chewing on my you are Al again…
Akismet, you will be the end of me.
Thanks for the additional link. I am starting to get kinda pumped up for this show, especially after the shocking revelation that dogs can browse the web in the future! I still have a slot open so if I play catch-up, maybe this can fill my fourth blogging slot without tying up blogging cap space for next season…
It was an enjoyable ride, which was sadly cut-short before people could savor it to its very depths. I do hope the DVD extra episodes will make up for this, even a little.
Hooray for Usagijen’s pimpin! I like how other bloggers do the work for me by finding the hidden gems… so maybe thats reverse pimpin!
I sort of wish the thick-line design would be kept for all scenes. I know it probably wouldn’t be best for the serious parts, but I got the impression from the beginning episodes that it was the style that they were gonna keep. Its sort of like, “Okay, lets bring in the viewers with this funky line art, and then like, not use it… cause ink is expensive! *ba dum psh*” Its not a big deal, but everybody knows I love everything thick and juicy.
I agree with Chris, the RD designs are pretty hawt! How could you not like women with meat on their bones?
I’m actually glad someone is man enough to put out designs like that. I mean, everyone has their fetish, you know? =3
@ usagijen: YAYNESS! DVD extra episodes?! I’m in! Lets hope its not as disappointing like that extra Spice and Wolf episode…
Hahah Chris, I was just really put off by the character designs in RD. They were good from the waist up, but why did all the women/girls have to have such ridiculously disproportionately shaped hips? I don’t even think Kim Kardashian is thus shaped. It was just too goofy for me and seriously detracted from my enjoyment of the show.
http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080724150618cxs8.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080724150808clz3.jpg
Look I have no real problem with obese people, I just find character designs which hit the limit of what’s anatomically possible to be very distracting.
Do you think Kim Kardashian is chubby? The character designs are certainly not absolutely realistic but I’d say they are no further off than your average anorexic anime school girl with gigantic boobies. In female bodies fat will mostly stick to the hips and thighs. This is actually fine as long as there are no fat rolls or cellulitis. Cellulitis will always look bad no matter whether you’re slim or fat.
Last but not least, there are clearly differences with respect to the average body shape among different parts of the world due to cultural preferences etc. Let’s just say, you’ll hardly find a women with a Brazilian rear in flat-ass Japan.
I’m not a big fan of the character designs in say Seikerei either. Whenever you get to a point where it’s just too unrealistic, it starts to detract from my enjoyment of the show. I much rather like more normal looking people, or at most ‘hollywood’ shaped people.