Toshokan Sensou : It's like Lovely Complex meets R.O.D. ... And it's AWESOME that way!

Kimi + Boku = Library War Love?

Instead of part 3 of Spring 2008 First Impressions which I promised once I got to Toshokan Sensou (which I obviously have), I'm holding that back for a while and branching out to give this awesome show the love it deserves in an individual post of its own!


I do want to do my own small part pimping out this show but usagijen has done a mighty fine job so far and Impz has joined the bandwagon and provided a much needed summary (Omni too, as usual) for the Japanese impaired like me :P Sad to say I understood almost next to nothing of the dialogue when I watched the first episode of the highly anticipated 1st episode of Toshokan Sensou, courtesy of Nico Nico Douga. I did manage to get the gist of the character interactions and I just had to snicker whenever "seigi no mikata" (allies of justice) was spouted out, but the whole 'Library Wars' aspect totally flew past my head (where are the subs???) so I won't be judging the setup as much as I would usually and just go with my gut instinct that any show called LIBRARY WAR has got to be awesome :P (Nerds rule!)

The lulz of watching Toshokan Sensou on NicoDouga

And even if the concept may require a high degree of belief suspension... Who cares, it's way more awesome than fanservice aliens from outer space =P And the first episode did a good job meeting my expectations, but was still short of surpassing it (perhaps if I actually understood what went on, it would have -_-"). What I do know is that I'm already loving the characters and there's a definite chemistry in their interactions, and I'm actually looking forward to the possibility of light romance (Iku's Prince Charming subplot is so Utena XD) mixed with all the military hoo-hah over books (god, I can't get enough of this concept!). Inoue Marina wasn't what I expected to hear from Iku, but she works (LOL at all the "KANA" comments on NicoNico, though not as lulz as the "DAN-KUN" coment when Ishida Akira's character spoke) and it's a pleasant surprise to hear Sawashiro Miyuki at work here as well as in Kure-nai. Maeno Tomoaki seems to be a newcomer but does a good job with Doujou, who is giving the S.A. guys a run for their money as my favourite male character this season =P

Production I.G. at the helm invariably means that the production quality is top notch, and much deserve praise has been lumped to the art in the show (though I'm no expert on the use of darker outlines, it's hard to disagree that the show looks pretty damned good) and the humour is well complimented by the SD-ish segments. Like the OP and definitely love the ED just because it's by Base Ball Bear :P I'm now ridiculously tempted to fork out cash and buy the novels whenever I visit a bookshop here... but the hardcover ones are almost 1000yen each and I wouldn't be able to comprehend much anyways so I'll wait a while and hope to see one in the second hand bookstore some time later(it's a hassle having to look up almost every other word in a sentence... But it's a hassle I now have to get used to *sigh*). I know it's not too smart to be ridiculously pumped about a series based on just one episode, but I just have this feeling that Toshokan Sensou is going to be one of my top favourites this year *fingers crossed*

*stops gushing* (Here's another positive review for the record :P)

There's one more series this season I think I'll be doing a separate post on while I lump everything else I've watched/will watch into a final(?) First Impressions post. The virtual manwhore voucher still stands for anyone that's willing to take a shot at guessing what it'll be... Oh, that might have just given it away =P