An idle mind is the devil’s playground, they say, or the otaku devil’s playground, in this case. One idle moment in the office was all it took for me to start searching for available Toshokan Sensou loot, find an online shop that sells them (hurray for Animate!), register (had to use my Chinese name because the shop is not gaijin-friendly), and with a few clicks, voila, order placed and set to be delivered to officemates who are currently in Japan for training! orz.

Lo and behold!

One officemate recently came back from Japan and kindly brought the stuff for me, so after a few weeks of waiting, the Holy Loot was finally in my hands!

I supposedly had this item cancelled in my order, but then Animate was so slow that my stuff already got delivered even before they got to reply to my cancellation request! x_X Oh well, since it’s already here, might as well delight in it, woohoo! It comes with a pack of chamomile tea pack too now all that’s left is a Doujou to complete this.

Bookmarks!! There’s no better way to keep yourself reminded of ToshoSen each time you read a book than this.

I even got fooled into buying this business card case lolz. But look, it comes with the “business cards” of the ToshoSen cast!! I get to pretend to be one of the Library Task Force members too with the blank Library Task Force “business card” that comes with this. BUt hm, no love for Genda, it seems. The poor big guy.

And finally… the cute cellphone straps/fasteners/whatever you wanna call these accessories!!! =D

and that’s it! Till the next ToshoSen loot report! On my way to the province for All Saint’s Day now… ta!Similar Posts:

• Toshokan Sensou DVDs: To Buy or Not to Buy? That is the Question.
• For the Love of Toshokan Sensou
• A Quickie Announcement Post on the Toshokan Sensou Novel Translation Project
• Library War Novel Collection, Complete At Last!
• Toshokan Sensou T-Shirts: The Ultimate Way of Flaunting Your TS Love

After more than a month, I finally caught a glimpse of ToshoSen author Hiro Arikawa’s interview in NHK’s Top Runner (this is actually the 3rd rerun already, the 1st and 2nd of which was way back September), thanks to the power of live Japanese TV streaming! Rawr! But one thing I realized after watching this is that my listening skill is still sucky, in the “I’m still likely to fail the JLPT1 listening section” sense. I don’t think I even got 50% of what they said >.> But since no one has bothered ripping this particular Top Runner episode (and I don’t think I’ve seen a detailed ‘report’ about it in Japanese blogs either), I’m pretty much left with no choice but to rely on the measly ‘notes’ I gathered as I was watching T__T;

By the time Top Runner started, I was still tweaking my PC so I can take snapshots of what I was streaming, hence I wasn’t paying much attention to the first few minutes of the interview. Though I did manage to catch a few things, with Arikawa-san sharing how she came up with the decision to become a novelist, something along the lines of the impact that novel has (details of which got lost in transmission because I wasn’t focusing, though I’m not really sure whether actually “focusing” would’ve made a difference orz).

The screenshot above gives away Hiro Arikawa’s gender without a question, and I can just wonder if people still don’t know that the great TS author is a woman. Arikawa-san is usually mistaken as a guy, as she said so herself, and true enough, that’s what I also thought when I first heard about ToshoSen, given its shounen-ish nature and all. People she know fondly address her as “Hiro-chan”, but when other people see her pen-name “Hiro” in kanji (浩), they usually mistake this to be Hiroshi (the same kanji read differently), a guy’s name.

Asked how she was able to conceive her masterpiece Toshokan Sensou (yes, it’s now legendary so go read it!), Arikawa-san narrates this story of how her hubby showed her the library plaque, from which the ToshoSen idea came about. Then she goes about explaining how the characters were borne out of her [creative] mind — the ‘camera’ through which she perceives how the character are going to act, and how the overall story is going to turn out. (And I sort of realized how much I fail in reading the Toshokan Sensou novels because they’re not quite “moving” the way they should inside my head, thanks to my limited Japanese knowledge orz)

Arikawa-sensei also mentioned about Tezuka, and how she finds him to be the most unpredictable character among the cast, whose most surprising ‘development’ (or sudden change in character?) was when his brother came into the picture (please please please if you’ve seen this episode of Top Runner, kindly help fill-in the details for me… 有川浩先生のインタビューを見たことある人、どうかご協力ください！).

Ok, it seems there’s a Japanese blogger who mentioned more details about this (本当に助かった！). Basically, Arikawa-san was talking about how certain characters in her story get out of control, like Tezuka, especially in the second volume where his family background was shown. Then this whole plot idea involving Tezuka’s brother sprung out of nowhere (since it wasn’t in her initial plans), and Arikawa even thought of telling Tezuka “Oh geez, couldn’t you have told me about this [family background] earlier?! I have my own problems too, you know!” (Whew, glad I managed to find that Japanese blog post!)

Then in the middle of the interview, a Doujou– I mean his seiyuu, Tomoaki Maeno, appears!! I went all “kyaa! Doujou教官!” the moment he entered the scene because it was totally unexpected! He reads some of Doujou’s lines from the novel while walking down the stairs of this library-like building(?) — the fateful place where Iku and Doujou first met, according to the caption. He was reading the portion of the first novel which shows us Doujou’s side of the ‘Iku’s heroic act / prince charming’ story, how Iku’s courage inspired him to stand up against the MBA even though he’s just a level 1 officer himself — the reason why he got interrogated by the old chaps in the Library Task Force (refer to episode 7 or 8).

Tomoaki Maeno was made to say something Doujou-esque from Toshokan Sensou, and of course, he decides to do the classic line 「アホか貴様ッ」(Aho ka kisama! - Are you stupid?!) that he often tells Iku Seeing him do it live was just amazing! Now according to Maeno, Doujou’s role proved to be a real challenge because he had to deliver his lines in a powerful (well modulated?) manner, to set the tone of the whole war/conflict mood of the series as well. I can only imagine the pressure he must’ve faced to deliver the lines of tsuntsun Doujou

According to Arikawa-sensei, the moment he heard Maeno’s voice from his audition tape, she immediately exclaimed “This is it!”, and decided that no one else is better suited to play Doujou’s role than him. Side comment: I find it great that Arikawa-sensei had a hand in the behind-the-scenes production of the ToshoSen series. Knowing well that the anime had the author’s approval = WIN. Much of what I said in my “objective” review of the series is based on what Arikawa-sensei said in this blog entry, where she takes much pride in all the adaptations of her work ^^

Later on in the interview, Arikawa-san shares that she develops her novels in such a way that it will live up to the expectations of her readers (Aww…), and I guess this is one of the primary reasons behind the popularity of her works It was also sweet knowing that Arikawa-san’s hubby (together with other friends) is like her pillar of support in terms of writing. She fondly calls her husband her “external hard-disk” because of how he keeps track of the writing ideas that pops our of her mind every now and then (Totally awww). What an ideal couple they are Her husband seems to be her constant source of inspiration in writing, considering that she bagged awards year after year after her big debut, which was after she got married ^^

The latter part of the show focused on Hiro Arikawa’s other works, including her most recent novel Hankyuu Densha, and some Q&A session which I don’t really think you guys would be interested in anymore (not that I have much of the details about it anyways ).

…so yeah, there goes my epic fail report on Hiro Arikawa’s Top Runner interview! Hurray! *facepalm* Well I hope you guys enjoyed reading nonetheless ^^;Similar Posts:

• A [Random] Belated Congratulations to Toshokan Sensou
• Would You Wear a Haiku?
• These Are My イケメン (Ikemen). ROOKIES Pimping Included.
• If Japanese Historical Figures Were Bishiefied…
• In Lieu of the Fall Preview #3: Skip Beat Seiyuu Cast (and Director) Interview

This news got past my TS radar, and was brought to my attention by fellow Toshokan Sensou evangelist fan haya5hi of Akiba-Station. Basically, Toshokan Sensou bags the stellar 星雲 (Seiun) award in the recently concluded Japan SF (sci-fi) convention Daicon7, an award whose awesomeness I won’t be able to fathom had I not read haya5hi’s post about it being a semi-illiterate and all lol. Congratulations to ToshoSen and of course, its author Hiro Arikawa, for bringing us this wonderful novel. I promise, I’ll get to reading ALL of it after I finish studying for JLPT1 also because I’m currently sidetracked with speed-reading the Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu novels >.>

And of course, now all my novel pimpings won’t be in vain because of fans with much more BURNING PASSION than I am who generously translated the novel. Credits to the ToshoSen novel translation project staff for the great work. I urge you to gogogo read it. The Chinese ones out there (or at least those who can understand Chinese) can go grab the Chinese version of the novel, volume 1 of which has been recently published (thanks to jinya for the heads up on this one).Similar Posts:

• It’s Raining Toshokan Sensou Goodies!
• For the Love of Toshokan Sensou
• A Quickie Announcement Post on the Toshokan Sensou Novel Translation Project
• And The Library War Pimping Continues…!
• Library War Novel Collection, Complete At Last!

While I’m still in a Toshokan Sensou novel reading slump mode, it looks like a group of enthusiastic TS fans finally decided to join forces and translate the awesome novels for other fans and cynics to see. Thanks to AniSuki member Kakulukiam for the heads up, otherwise I wouldn’t have known about this project which started out a month ago. Now you guys can read it and see the true Library War for yourself~ :3

Meanwhile, I’ll be continuing reading Skip Beat till the latest chapter, hopefully churn out a manga pimping post about it real soon, and work on our Fall anime preview. Then review the Toshokan Sensou Love & War vol.2 by next next week, if I don’t get lazy

On a completely unrelated note, I sighed at the sight of yet another Toshokan Sensou sick pic (of Shibasaki), while searching for images in moe.imouto.org T__T Sick fags and their bondage fetishes! >ESimilar Posts:

• For the Love of Toshokan Sensou
• A [Random] Belated Congratulations to Toshokan Sensou
• The REAL Skip Beat Seiyuu Cast
• And The Library War Pimping Continues…!
• You Want an Objective Toshokan Sensou Review? Look No Further!

It feels like years since I last posted about Library War, and I guess I owe the fans out there some good ol’ dose of more TS pimpin’ I know this will raise the eyebrows of the likes of blissmo, among other non-TS fans, but oh well~

You might be wondering why I haven’t posted any Toshokan Sensou deep frying posts in months. Well, there’s actually a pretty good reason behind this, and it goes beyond my usual alibi of being busy and not having enough time. I stopped reading the Toshokan Sensou novels, for a month or so now *hears gasps* It’s all because of the upcoming grueling JLPT1 exam, which I’ll be taking this coming December. Since this is less than 4 months away, I figured it’d be best to get my lazy arse off to actually study the required grammar patterns and kanji vocabs for the exam, because well, time waits for no one

Seeing Caitlin studying so hard for JLPT inspired me to do the same, to make the most out of the coming months. Perhaps once I finish up studying the grammar stuff (hopefully by the end of August), I’ll start reading Toshokan Sensou again, in the hopes of torturing myself with complex kanjis and vocabularies, in the second phase of my JLPT1 study plan. I’m gonna have to practice both reading and writing so I can learn the kanjis by heart So yeah, wish me luck, pray for me, or whatever.

Now that we’ve established the fact that I won’t be able to finish reading the Toshokan Sensou novels in yearsss, I guess it would just be appropriate to point you to the right (alternative?) direction if you want to find out more about the novels as early as NOW, especially the post-anime events that was no longer covered due to whatever constraints. More than a month ago, an active Japanese MAL-er by the name of dtshyk posted the summary of the last novel volume, with a semi-translation of it even, in the MAL Kanto Library Task Force forum. Whether you’re a Toshokan Sensou fan, enthusiast, or even a hater, I suggest you check it out and see how the real story ended, and what role Satoshi really had in the series.

I actually invited dtshyk to be a guest writer in our blog and babble about the anime-novel changes months ago, to spark up a discussion or two in this blog. He is the expert after all, unlike me, the semi-n00b weeaboo who needs help in churning out these posts for a novel as difficult as Toshokan Sensou. But since my request came too sudden (I just popped out of nowhere and got all excited the moment I found out he read the entire series lol), and I was quite insensitive not to have noticed how much he already had in his hands with being active in the MAL forums and clubs, it’s no surprise that my request was declined. So yeah, I’m afraid I’m continuing on my own from this point on, and will still be posting the deep fryings, but at a much slower rate. Hopefully, the mangas that will get released in the coming months will aid me in understanding the novel, and in writing my posts too ^-^

Speaking of the Toshokan Sensou manga, there’s this random LOL 2-page special published in the August issue of Dengeki Daioh (the magazine where it’s being serialized), featuring The Library Defenders of Justice and other randomness

Presenting, the Toshokan Sentai! Defenders of justice who fight against the forces of evil MBA!

First, we have Iku pimping the renewal of Dengeki Daioh as well as Toshokan Sensou: Spitfire! (the shounen version) volume 1, released last July. Doujou (in the 2nd panel) complains about the latter news being totally unrelated to the magazine renewal celebration And in the 3rd panel, voila! Iku’s vivid imagination of the Kanto Library Force as the Toshokan Sentai (Library Corps Squadron), with matching BGM too (hence Doujou’s complaint with the visual and audio imagery) XDD Iku is singing a sentai-esque theme song over there

Meet the sparkly ikemen bishies of the Library Corps, the T4!

Doujou and Iku gets into their usual lover’s quarrel heated bantering brought about by Iku’s false adverisement, then Shibasaki steps into their little fight and gives her very own imagery version of the Library Corps — Iku and the sparkling T4, a parody of Hana Yori Dango with Tsukushi Makino and the F4. ROFLMAO xDDD And, this random special ‘chapter’ ends with the MBA confiscating the copies of the ‘banned’ Spitfire! manga and Iku chasing after them

That’s all folks! Hope I can finally come up with a more prim and proper Toshokan Sensou post next time, probably once I get hold of volume 1 of the DVD, and volume 2 of the Love and War manga. This series sure is milking a LOT of money out of me Similar Posts:

• Kyou Kara Maou! DVD Box Set and Season III DVD Update
• Kaze no Stigma Ignition 05 Teaser - Black vs White Kazuma
• Huggable Ayano Pillow Cover, Especially Catered for Sukebes
• Toshokan Sensou DVDs: To Buy or Not to Buy? That is the Question.
• Shugo Chara Volume 5 “Teaser”

Well well, it seems that Cospa has decided to fool TS fans into buying give us more TS goodies, some shirts and a tote bag which basically scream “I LOVE TOSHOKAN SENSOU!!” When I heard about this from Yu Ominae of AnimeSuki since the official TS site never mentioned anything about it, I went “Holy Mackerel!” 8O, pleasantly shocked and surprised by the news. And of course the next thing I did was to find out where I can order this, despite it being a unisex shirt (aka not really a cute fashionable shirt). Preorder seems to have ended in other shops, but luckily, Amazon JP still have them in stock And hurray for friends and officemates in Japan who can bring these stuff for me!!

I’d love to wear this shirt in public (particularly the moss green one), since it actually looks cool and not the flashy otaku kind, but then again these shirts don’t suit me… unless I can do some workaround and mix-and-match it with something else. Guys won’t have any problem wearing these shirts, it’s like these are actually made for them! Unfair! T__T

On the other hand, I’m still having second thoughts about buying this tote bag. I mean, all the cotton tote bags I have are free, and now this one costs like, 1500 yen?! I’ll be more inclined to buy this if it had the same design as the tote bag freebie for the TS DVD pre-order from Tsutaya, but right now this tote bag just looks meh (and that’s a good thing!) I might just change my mind if I see actual pics and see that it’s the sturdy kind of bag, which I doubt since this is well, a cotton tote bag

And, there are also these Shibasaki eyeglasses being sold in the market, so Shibasaki fans and wannabes can buy them or something In times like these, I’m thankful I’m not in Japan, or else I probably would’ve bought these glasses on impulse when I see them being sold in shops

That’s all for the current Toshokan Sensou goodies report! Raving fangurl bunny, now signing off! Similar Posts:

• A Quickie Announcement Post on the Toshokan Sensou Novel Translation Project
• For the Love of Toshokan Sensou
• Toshokan Sensou Game!
• Toshokan Sensou DVDs: To Buy or Not to Buy? That is the Question.
• And The Library War Pimping Continues…!

So I gave Toshokan Sensou a full mark of 10/10 in my MAL (and once again I hear cynics go “WHUTT?!”). Objectively speaking, there’s a plenty of good reasons why I came up with this score, and I’ll just let this graph speak for ‘em:

Don’t we just love graphs?

…Or should I say, objective rating be damned! Because our (TS fans) BURNING LOVE for this show can’t be measured with such cheap quantitative measures!! In this time of adversity, we the TS fans hold on firmly to our love, and will never admit defeat to cynics. We go all out in defending a show we fangurl about! RAWR

But seriously, no review can ever be objective. It’s always a subjective matter, and hence you can’t simply let a numerical rating represent how you feel about a show, in the same way as others shouldn’t judge a show through these ratings alone. This article which otou-san linked in his comment to Kabitzin’s post was really insightful, and all the more reinforces the right mindset of reviewing and judging a show. I am glad that the negative reviews I’ve seen of Toshokan Sensou was objective enough to have included both the good and bad points in the series, and it’s thanks to these people that my urge to defend The Library War was awakened, and hence, this post.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that we actually need both these negative and positive forces in the blogosphere, to broaden perspectives on just about everything. The interaction between these anti- and pro- factions will always bring in a new light on things, because the varying insights of these factions is what brought them to such opposing ends of the spectrum to begin with. There are things which the cynics can’t see, and the zealous TS fans can, and vice versa. So I speak here on behalf of the fans and lovers of this show, and why I think it was an awesome anime, not just because of the fangurl stuff.

Love amidst all the bashing, that’s what this is.

One thing I noticed in this whole Toshokan Sensou ripple in the blogosphere, is that the very reason why many people loved this show, is what made other people hate it (yes I’m using the word ‘hate’ loosely here) — that is, how the library war premise became a backdrop for love and other slice-of-life elements of the show. This is what the anime focused on, and somewhat neglected the rest. Admittedly, the neglected aspects became easily forgivable for us fangurls because this show answered many of our prayers. It’s not all the time that you get to see a KICKASS anime couple (a male and a female tsundere to boot), whose development is just how we wanted it to be, and so much more.

But still, there’s more to it than that. Fangirls and other fans alike, didn’t just love this show for the rabu rabu stuff while ignoring the books and political stuff. Fangurls might babble nothing else but “IKU x DOUJOU <33”, but there’s no way we could’ve loved these characters if not for these books and politics stuff.

We might not have given our smart-ass Toshokan Sensou political and logical analysis but we know for a fact that the whole Library War setup, no matter how ridiculous it might seem to others, shaped the characters in ways unimaginable. We could not have loved Iku and her passion for books and her kick-ass-ness, if none of the war conflicts were present; we could not have seen Doujou in both tsuntsun and deredere light if it wasn’t for this premise, either. That goes the same for the rest of the characters in the show, who were shaped by their principles, but ultimately by this sandbox world of reality they were in, which allowed us to witness who they are, how they fight, and what they fight for. Through these “half-baked” aspects, the characters were fleshed out, they sprung to life and hit really close to home (to those who grew and loved them), and from then on became characters who are not simply in Toshokan Sensou, but engraved in our hearts and minds.

It’s also because of the aforementioned reasons that you can’t just ask for a Library War with no war and/or no books, because all these aspects, no matter how half-baked, are part of Toshokan Sensou, and we identify this show with them. And as I’ve said, all of these helped shape the characters. In simple terms: Library War - Library War = nil, and it’s a LIE! So obviously, complaints and demands like “this show would’ve been better off without the war and the silly premise”, or “they should’ve made this a love comedy show instead”, is certainly impossible. Go watch some other shoujo animes out there for your romance and love comedy fix, and see if you’ll be able to see something as enjoyable and unique as the antics of Iku x Doujou.

We all know that 12 episodes is not enough for Toshokan Sensou, the staff knows that as well, and they must’ve been through a hell of a time deciding on how to best adapt the novel into this crammed-up short anime series, retaining enough to make people enjoy it and love it, and to make them interested enough to look up the novels if they weren’t satisfied with the half-baked aspects of the anime. For all we know, the staff people must have been under a lot of stress throughout the entire process of brainstorming that they decided to add the silly fight scenes and other RiReRoRu stuff. I know I’m just making up silly excuses here but whatever.

The thing is, the staff knew well that the episodes allotted for this series is too short, so whether they like it or not, they had to omit a large chunk of the novels. But then, they couldn’t just take away all the military warfare whatnots in the show either, because they still are essential to Toshokan Sensou. This show never intended to become the next blockbuster jack-of-all-trades anime, the people behind this show knew well that it could never delve into the other aspects given the limited time they had. This anime wanted to instill the love for books, fighting for what we believe is right, holding on to our principles no matter what, and more importantly, the anime aimed to give life to the novel characters, to give it justice, despite the crammed-up 12 episodes. And it managed to do just that. It showed us enough premise to get to know the characters, and love them for who they are. And for that, it rightfully deserves a perfect 10. This show was worth every energy I poured for pimping and following it, worth just about every cent I spend on its goodies (damn you TS!)

Viva la Revolucion! Viva Toshokan Sensou! Similar Posts:

• For the Love of Toshokan Sensou
• A Quickie Announcement Post on the Toshokan Sensou Novel Translation Project
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• And The Library War Pimping Continues…!

So the last episode has aired and thanks to veoh I managed to watch it in the office! w00t! But then it’s low resolution so it kinda sucks. Must rewatch later!

Curse this episode for making my eyes all red and swollen. I was crying throughout the episode’s run It’s that BAWWful. First off, after what happened last time (which was no longer shown to us, not that I really care — I’ll get around reading that part in the novel, someday), Genda ended up in a coma, and Doujou turned into a lifeless doll due to trauma and whatever it was that occurred with the crazy woman last time.

I know for a fact that Doujou is not gonna die, as I’ve already told issa and biankita. But man, seeing Doujou like this was almost unbearable to watch. I can feel Iku’s pain throughout this episode And unlike most sissy heroines, she channeled this sadness towards something positive: she worked harder than ever, practiced all by herself (as though reminiscing the good times with Doujou :’( ) so that when Doujou wakes up he’ll be real proud of her.

To top it off, after the great holocaust in episode 11, the media people were pinning the blame on the Library, believing that such a tragic event would not have occurred had they remained obedient and non-resistant to the censorship movement. They’re on the MBA side, meh. Chief Inamine was forced to resign because of this, which makes our Library dudes sad puppies, but understands his decision well.

Iku visited Doujou in the hospital twice a day everyday after the great Library x MBA conflict, hoping for the day he’ll regain his consciousness, so she can be with the Prince she so loves. Komaki entrusts her with a few of Doujou’s favorite books which she read for him during each visit. The protagonist in one of these stories reminded Iku so much of Doujou, and that made her miss him more.

On one of these visits, she gets caught by some paparazzi Media people who’ve been dying to get the Library’s statement regarding the recent incident. They bombarded her with questions, similar to a previous scene omitted from the anime (which I still have to elaborate on more), but this time around there’s a lot more reason for Iku to be agitated about these nosy and insensitive reporters: they stepped on Doujou’s precious book!! Just when Iku was gonna go all RAEGGG mode, she remembers the great advice from her prince, to not let emotions get the better of her. With this, she was able to calm down, and gave out an exemplary speech in defense of the Library and the principles they fight for. To roughly sum up what Iku said: Just because a rule has been passed about censorship doesn’t mean it’s right; the ones who should be ashamed of themselves are those who simply accept this [unlawful] rule without even questioning whether it’s right or wrong. Then goes her speech about the chamomile and what it symbolizes - strength in the midst of distress, which simply means that amidst the crisis the Library is facing, they won’t give up and continue on with this fight!!

Iku’s speech was so overwhelming that she gained fans from all over the world (or Japan, whatever), sending her letters of encouragement, as well as chamomile flowers. In this time of happiness, she runs to Doujou, who is, was, and has always been, her prince. She knew this well even before, but was just too stubborn to admit it. Now that she realized her feelings, she confesses her love, not to the prince who saved her before, but to Doujou who’s right in front of her eyes. Iku adds, “I was acting all high and mighty when I gave out my speech in front of TV, but I can’t [live without you, Doujou], so please… [come back]“, confessing her utter weakness and helplessness without Doujou by her side (I’m still crying as I type this… :cry:)

At that moment, Doujou reaches out his hand and pats her on the head, like he always does… bewildered as to why she’s crying. Now that Iku’s most beloved has come back, Iku wipes away her tears and hugs her dear prince. We see the epilogue as the ending song plays in the background, with Iku narrating her letter to her parents, about Doujo and Genda’s recovery, the continued support they gain from people around the globe, Tezuka’s brother ceasing meddling with them, and all that. As the episode draws to a close, we see Iku in her usual training like the first episode, but this time around, she doesn’t just stumble and fall… she falls in Doujou’s arms

Ending thoughts

This episode was made of Pure (B)AWWsomeness. And as if it wasn’t obvious, I loved how this series ended. LOVED IT. Yes it was pretty much a baffling episode since we didn’t get to see what the heck happened in the fire accident last time, not to mention Genda was also silly for his heroic act of defending the MIGHTY SUIT without helmets or such protection in episode 11. Then there’s also the useless “villain” in the person of Tezuka’s brother, whom we thought will provide more excitement for the series. He turned out like Lex Luthor in the Superman Returns movie, an anticlimactic lame villain. I could probably say more about the ridiculous stuff about the entire series, imitate the cynics who persevered through the series despite being so consistent with their bashing as well. But for those who love Toshokan Sensou for what it is, there’s only one thing to say: Who gives a damn about these cynics, right?!

Despite all the flaws you can mention about the plot and premise and whatever aspects of the show, you can’t deny that the characters were fleshed out well. I loved the development of the characters, especially crybaby Iku and tsundere Doujou. I loved almost all the characters in this series, the main ones who I briefly introduced in my first TS pimping, that is, all of them became endearing characters whose antics I will never get tired of.

I demand a second season! If only to show more Tezuka x Asako, and Genda x reporter-san X3

The anime has ended, but the manga has not. So Toshokan Sensou fans still have something to look forward to

To all those whose interest I piqued when I first pimped it and got fooled into watching this ridiculous show enjoyed this series to the end, thank you for sitting through this great series amidst the illogical stuff. Not like fangurls and fanboys care about such trivial details, right?Similar Posts:

• Inside Information on Toshokan Sensou: A ‘Deep Frying’ Prequel Part 1
• Inside Information on Toshokan Sensou: A ‘Deep Frying’ Prequel Part 2
• The Missing Library War Files #1
• A Toshokan Sensou (10) Post Before I Take My Leave
• Toshokan Sensou Author Hiro Arikawa’s “Top Runner” Interview

Ok, let’s make this quick so I can finish this up before my office break ends. I downloaded this episode right when I woke up this morning just so I can watch it before our beach trip. Or else I’m gonna have to wait 3 days before I can do so! (With the speed of this post, I’m starting to think that I really work best under pressure lol)

From the super fangurl episode 9, Toshokan Sensou moves to a more serious drama this time around. This is one of the rare few animes which can change its mood from funny quirky -> serious & dramatic -> sweet -> comedy really effectively. I laugh at the comedic parts, weep like a baby with the drama, giggle like a fangurl with the sweet stuff, it evokes quite a lot of emotions in a span of minutes, which leaves me like feeling like a lunatic!

We’re introduced to the Ibaraki Library, a “peace-loving” library against war of any sorts, and hence places utmost importance to the Operations group people as opposed to the GAR Defense force. With the Ibaraki Library’s present need for reinforcements to protect this precious antique clothing (I couldn’t quite understand what it exactly was), the Kanto Library Task Force was then tasked to train their inexperienced Library militia.

DIE BITCHES!!!!

Iku, being the first ever girl to have entered the Task Force, was surprisingly bullied to no end by the Operations Division bitches, while the Defense people supposedly on Iku’s side just stood and did nothing amidst this situation. They even told Iku to stop causing a riot and take away their “place” in the Library T__T Have you no pride?!

Doujou: “I know [you won't do that], I’ve been looking at you for so long” *melts*

Poor Iku couldn’t do anything but stay silent, weep during her sleep while remembering Doujou’s advice, and just vents out her frustration with a Wall-o-PUNCH! But Doujou comes right in time (doesn’t he always?) to save our little heroine, and they share a once-in-a-lifetime tender raburabu moment with Doujou comforting Iku

Iku-chan D:

The bitches continue on with their Iku bullying, going as far as calling up Iku’s mom to inform her of what her daughter has been up to. It turned into quite a vicious encounter at first, with Iku’s mom slapping her daughter and forcefully dragging her out of the Library, then Iku slaps her back (I WA SHOKKU 8O) With Doujou’s advice, Iku-papa comes to the Library and convinces Iku-mama to approve of Iku’s decision, and be proud of her! The conversation went a little shaky at first, but the mother and daughter was able to patch things up after coming into terms with their feelings for each other. Iku-mama just became overprotective of her daughter after she had a “rock climbing” accident, where she got a major bump (and baldness) on the head

look familiar?

With all these resolved, Iku’s out-of-character-ness ends and we see her fight the bitches head on, giving them the GLARE of DEATH. All’s well that ends well, as the bitches start treating Iku like their queen after all the bullying. And as the episode ends, we see the MBA patrol car heading towards Ibaraki, who are most likely planning to take the MIGHTY SUIT!

raburabu <3 (for some reason Tezuka and Shibasaki reminds me of Alto and Sheryl Nome, respectively o.O)

On a side note, Shibasaki x Tezuka’s relationship seem to be going smooth~ Tezuka is just too dense to figure out the flirt cues of Shibasaki. She told him “You still owe me that treat” and he took it literally, when she actually meant “Take care and get back safely” Similar Posts:

• The Missing Library War Files #1
• Inside Information on Toshokan Sensou: A ‘Deep Frying’ Prequel Part 2
• Preview to the Missing Library War Files #3
• Inside Information on Toshokan Sensou: A ‘Deep Frying’ Prequel Part 1
• It’s Raining Toshokan Sensou Goodies!

If you’re wondering why it’s taking me soo damn long to finish my deep frying for episode 3, it’s because of the usual reason of juggling with work, slowww-paced novel reading, bumming, etc. I also blame the anime for omitting a whole STORY CHUNK, with LOTS of censorship-related meaty stuff too. Here’s a quick preview of what to expect in that next deep-frying installment:

• Details regarding the case the police were investigating on in episode 3, about a series of murders committed by a high school kid, suspected to have been influenced by horror books, deemed to be unfit for high school kids, yet something he was able to borrow in the Library.
• Iku in a pinch after getting caught off guard by the press who bombards her with questions about the murder case, and all that. Then Doujou comes to the rescue!!
• The Tezuka x Iku looonggg convo in the cafe, where she supposedly rejected him. This happened wayy before the serious mission too.
• Violent protest of two [rebel] kids against the plans of the School Administrative Board to ban more books deemed to be unfit for kids (they did some fireworks prank). Issues about censorship and how it completely disregards the sentiments of these children who simply want to enjoy reading, were also discussed.
• Genda’s principles on the right way of fighting, how to properly exercise one’s freedom of speech and win in a fight without resorting to violence, which includes using wits, gathering as many people on your side (making questionnaires and surveys work for your benefit), etc.
• Moar discussions regarding the book banning in this presscon attended by School Admin people and Librarians, and the two kids who voiced out their sentiment regarding the book censorship decision of their school.
• Iku’s heroic(?) deed in this event, which was featured in the Library Magazine (the article which Iku’s dad read in episode 5)
• The Inamine kidnapping incident, which I still haven’t read orz.

And here are some random awesome “quotes” I found, and felt like translating: “What do these censors expect children to learn by dictating for them which books have [and do not have] value?” “Why can’t adults allow children to read books simply because they find it amusing? Don’t adults read for that purpose as well?”

I seem to be easily amused by these bookish stuff in the novel, so it’s total WIN for me Similar Posts:

• Bokura no - 02 “Zearth”
• The Missing Library War Files #1
• Bokura no - 05 “Weakness”
• Library War: Satirical Allusion to Cynics?
• Deep Frying Minami-ke 02 Birth Order at School and Love Notes