Toshokan Sensou

I'm about to move which will consume some time in my life so I thought I'd better get a blog post in.  I'm still writing posts about older series.  Today I picked Toshokan Sensou, or Library War, if you prefer that name.


Toshokan Sensou has a really unique premise, and you know how much I like a unique premise.  This one is unique enough to be almost not believable.  How's that for unique?  In the world of this series, government censorship of the written word and media in general has reached an amazing level.  This is way beyond your average book-burning fanatics.   The Media Enhancement Law (MEL) is in effect, strictly regulating what people can read and watch and listen to.  The Media Enhancement Law Commission is an armed force which works to enforce the law.  In response, the libraries have developed a Library Defense Force (LDF).  Yes, the libraries have their own armies.  They use these forces to protect both the literary works themselves and the people who wish to read them.  See?  Unique concept.


This story follows a young woman named Kasahara Iku, who is a member of the of the Library Defense Force.  Kasahara joined the force because when she was young an LDF member rescued a book for her from the MEL guys.  She doesn't clearly remember the person but idolizes the "prince" of her memories, and wants to help other people read what they want, like the "prince' helped her.  Her immediate superior in the LDF is Dojo Atsushi, who also happens to be shorter than she is  - a fact that they occasionally use for amusement value as the series goes along.
 
This series is a love story and a story about fighting for what you believe in.  The love story is between Kasahara and Dojo, who of course turns out to be the "prince" who rescued her book years ago.  A little predictable there, but this series is fun to watch.  It's entertaining and quirky and serious and occasionally worrisome.  But the good guys don't die, which is always one of the most important things for me in deciding how much I like a series.  The characters are all believable and interesting.  The plot line is mostly about skirmishes between the MEL and the LDF, but there is enough subplot between and among the characters to keep things interesting.  The animation and character style is great.


Overall, this short series (13 episodes) is really fun to watch and I place it firmly on the "yes, watch this series" list.