Toshokan Sensou (Library War) Episode 1 - My Prince Is In The Library Force
OP - Watashi no Machi, Ashita no Machi (Hitomi Takahashi) - pleasantly acoustic song, fuzzy show footage visuals. ’salright, I guess.
ED - changes (Base Ball Bear) - what do you reckon a Base Ball Bear does? Is it some kind of mascot? Anyway, another pleasantly acoustic song, this time with running and flying - I wonder why the ED gets a proper animation and not the OP?
In the near future Japan has passed a Media Improvement Law to crack down on undesirable media materials such as gossip (and, it appears, the Japanese equivalent of Maxim). However, because the Japanese government are apparently complete idiots, libraries are free from these restrictions and can hold whatever they like - presumably they import all their porn from overseas or something. Regardless, this mildly ridiculous conflict has escalated over 30 years into all-out war between the two factions, with the Media Improvement Agency apparently deeming children’s fantasy stories to be worthy of censorship and stealing from small babies and thus they are EVIL.
(can you tell that I might have had a slight bit of difficulty suspending my disbelief about the premise of Toshokan Sensou?)
Anyway - when she was in high school Iku Kasahara was saved from nasty Media Improvement agents accusing her of shoplifting by a mysterious member of one of the Library groups. Now she aspires to join the Library Force (although without really telling her parents what she’s doing) and is training for warfare under her grouchy, short instructor Atsushi. A skilled martial artist, Iku lacks concentration as is seen when she tackles a horny otaku that tries to stab her in the toilet and Atsushi has to bail her out; after a crisis of confidence, Iku’s force of character when foolishly trying to protect a little girl’s picture book obviously somehow endears her to Atsushi as she finds out she is being transferred to the front line Library Force from training.
I don’t mean to sound quite so snippy, as there’s an awful lot to like about Toshokan Sensou. The character designs, particularly their bold linework, are attractive; the main characters are likeable, interesting and not overly exaggerated; the animation is solid and the music is rather nice in places. I just have great difficulty in buying the idea that such a ridiculous situation would arise in a show that is played (aside from the rather well done SD sequences) entirely naturalistically. The Media Information Agency are cardboard cut-out villains stealing harmless books from children for no apparent reason, and the desperation of one sweaty geek to cut out a centrefold from a magazine feels laughable rather than a sign of how desperate the times are. If the Media Information Agency were suppressing interesting information (and I suppose they may well be) it might be a more intriguing setup, but books about snails are hardly going to give rise to sedition from the masses, are they?
I don’t think it helps that I really, REALLY don’t like shows that deal with the military. I have some kind of mental block about the armed forces in entertainment; I suppose I had better turn in my man card now, but guns bore me senseless and the mere sight of someone dressed in camo is enough to put me to sleep. As it is, this show doesn’t have the “Noitamina feel” to it - apart from the relatively muted characterisation I can’t see why this would attract anyone that doesn’t normally watch anime to it.
I am willing to give this show the benefit of the doubt as I think the characters are interesting (although if the relationship between Iku and Atsushi ends up turning into the usual screaming-harpy-woman-and-dense-man situation I will claw my own face off to escape the pain) and the production is solid, and I think there is more to be done with the premise than has been hinted here, but at the moment I’m a little wary of Toshokan Sensou.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
That summary is a little…. dissapointing. I was expecting a story about Japan being taken over by a completely totalitarian government or something (I’m a sucker for Orwellian themes).
I’ll give it a watch anyway when the subs come out.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
My problem is that, while a good pilot; it didn’t really feel like the whole Media Censorship thingy really needed to be there. It’s just there to give the romantic comedy some color (which while cute, isn’t anything I haven’t seen before).
It just feels like it was tacked on, what’ll make the show is if they can balance the two diametracally opposed concepts of media related public commentary and light romantic comedy.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:18 am
“As it is, this show doesn’t have the “Noitamina feel” to it - ”
There’s a strong possibility that “Nijuu Mensou no Musume” was actually originally planned to be the next Noitamina slot anime, and it definitely feels more like one than Toshokan Sensou.
I guess FujiTV might have changed their minds after looking at how badly Skull Man bombed, which was the last series by Bones on the channel and instead gave the slot to Toshokan Sensou…
April 14th, 2008 at 8:53 am
The author certainly knows what she’s getting into when she made the novels where this was based from, and its immense popularity is something that’s not to be undermined :)
Although I haven’t finished reading the rest of the novels, I have faith that the somewhat odd-and-quirky-looking mix of Media propaganda stuff and light comedy & romance will work out~! =3
April 27th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Hahahaha, it’s actually nice, i.e. refreshing, to see that my thoughts on this are so well portrayed in this review. Not that I particularly see a need for people to discredit the positive, albeit small, hype surrounding the series, I just thought that a solid, down-to-earth, and realistic look at the pilot and the potential that the series has to offer is always very welcome.
As for myself, I found the premise incredibly silly, and I honestly couldn’t suspend my disbelief to an adequate degree either. The presentation is nice, I will give them that, just as you had, but aside from that, I’ll have to see for myself how it all plays out.
On a somewhat related note, I find that a lot of anime portrayal of military is highly unrealistic or misconceived, and I’m led to believe that it might just be the culture that could be the cause of this (One of the biggest aspects being that Japan hasn’t had possession of any military entities besides the local police forces and the non-international JSDF).
May 12th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Great point! I actually think that it’s got a good premise, but agree that the way it’s handled in the show is awkward and clumsy. I found out the manga explains that the national government created the Media Improvement department and local prefecture governments established the Library Task Forces; in the anime it appears that both sides of the conflict were established by the Japanese government which really makes no sense. It is ridiculous the way the Media Improvement agents swagger into bookstores, acting like bullies, stealing manga and children’s books from little kids, and that the Library Task Forces take such an affront and step in to fight the government over a picture book about a snail.