Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
DaxtotheMax
If Ray Bradbury had an anime.
The concept is fun, pitting two sides against each other on the side of censorship or preservation, hence a "Library War". To think that books would cause a war, right? With shooting and bullets and guns and boot camp. Even with "war", it keeps a semi-light hearted tone, it's kind of hard to describe but to me "stringy" sounds good. It doesn't get gritty or bloody and it's not a rom-com, but it has slapstick moments, an in-betweener, I suppose.
It's been said before with a handful of anime (I know Kuroko's Basketball had this problem) but it applies here as well. Every episode starts with a recap of the synopsis (basically what I already told you) and then the OP and then a recap of the episode before it, which in this day and age we can just skip it but it…
Read at the sourceSun_Rodriguez
Looking for military-themed anime I found this one, and it caught my attention; It was anything but what I expected, and I'm glad it turned out just the way it was. The best way to compare this anime is with the famous book Fahrenheit 451, but Japan style and I must say it works. The story is entertaining, it has dramatic moments, some comedy, the characters are deep enough to understand why they act and think the way they do. So I recommend it, I just have to add that it is better to watch it for the anti-censorship plot than for the romance, since although the romance is there, it is the least important and is not as present as other themes.
As a bonus, I suggest that for it to feel like a satisfying conclusion, you'll really have to see the movie, a sequel that delivers what one as a v…
Read at the sourceAnimeEnjoyer420
Summary: Toshokan Sensou is an unfortunate case of a solid premise (what if libraries had their own militaries to fight off censorship?) wasted on uninspired material and a scattershot approach to genre that causes the tone of the series to careen wildly from one scene to the next. The pieces of a good show can sometimes be found here, but it's ultimately a disappointment that never capitalizes on the ideas that it has.
Positives:
+ Intriguing premise. Though it never really makes the most of it, the sight of people in military fatigues doing book readings for children at the local library before fighting off jackbooted government thugs trying to do Fahrenheit 451 to their Clifford the Big Red Dog books is admirably goofy and unique.
+ Some good side characters. In particular, Shibasaki…
Read at the source-Lupa-
I had a lot of hope for this anime, but after watching it I felt very disappointed. The premise of the story was very interesting and unusual, so it was a little amazing how they still managed to fit so many cliches and predictable moments into the plotline.
What I disliked the most about this anime was the main character, Kasahara. As the first female member of the pseudo-military library task force, she had the potential to be a really strong, interesting character. Instead she is incompetent, impulsive, naive, uneducated, disrespected, and frequently ends up in situations where she has to be rescued by her male counterparts. Around episode 11 or 12 her character starts to become more mature and capable, but that is when the anime ends. If they were going to write her character the way…
Read at the sourceAgent_Redacted
Library War is an anime that takes censorship to another level. Library Defense Force?! Lmao, I wonder how this anime will turn out to be with such a silly concept.
Turns out that it was fun. Library War threw away my low expectations for it like the most nonchalant way of disowning a child ever. It's... Subarashi. My Ferrero Rocher I recently bought from a store near my house tasted better because of this show. Literally changing it from the taste of an ice cube into the taste of happiness that I am still not infected by Coronavirus.
Aside from the fact that Library War's quality looks like something from the 90s. The story was pretty captivating. I really enjoyed this show. Though the biggest flaw of it is the fact that it felt very fast paced.
-But according to people, the movie w…
Read at the sourcemouthpiece
Yet another case where a show tries to lure you with its intriguing premise, only to offer you a more than simple presentation and a basic shoujo story. 90% of the people who decided to watch the show was because of the description.
“Many books are banned and libraries now have armies in order to protect them.”
Don’t you just want to find out what this is all about? Doesn’t it sound familiar to Fahrenheit 451? Isn’t it relevant to the recent Act Japan voted in order to censor several works of fiction? Isn’t this a social-political heavy story around law-given liberties?
And the answer is no, it isn’t; it is just an excuse to place the main characters in a situation where they need to team together for the same goal. The whole premise is handled very lightly, it is hardly exploited beyond…
Read at the sourceArakakiLaurant
Toshokan Sensou seems like the kind of anime you want to watch just because of the premise: the story of the first woman to join a military force specialized in fighting against censorship. Sounds incredible, right? Well, sadly it fails to justify the idiosyncratic politics that frames the whole setting, as well to present any meaningful insight of such complex themes. Does that mean the show sucks? Not exactly. While the simplistic nature of the setting can be underwhelming, it's a completely functional field for the true crop of the story grows: the characters.
Ultimately, Toshokan Sensou is a coming of age. Kasahara Iku must not only overcome her immaturity towards her professional stance, but also with matters of the heart - as well a little plot involving her parents disapproval of h…
Read at the sourceephemerry
Toshokan Sensou, or Library Wars, its English name on Crunchyroll, is beautiful monotony. As many of you already know, Production I.G. is known for animating very pretty things.
• I.G. collaborated with GAINAX for the End of Evangelion and other very successful projects. You may be thinking, well duh, Luna. Get to the point! The point is: The actual director of this series, Takayuki Hamana, apart from the studio, hasn't worked on much.
• This isn't always something that ruins a series. I mean, he did direct Beast Player Erin… which was a very concrete world-building series, but dry on all other aspects, like on character building.
• Library Wars suffers from the same issues, where the technical aspects are solid, but the characters, aside from the main two, don't get enough screen tim…
Read at the sourcemrsLEE
At first the story and plot seems a bit ridiculous. I mean, it’s not every day you encounter a story about library war. However, as you watch it, you will surely understand the weight of the plot and what message it’s trying to give to the viewer. It shows how important it is for us to be informed and gain knowledge from books, magazines, internet, newspapers, tv shows, movies, and anime/manga. Without it, all of us would be kept in the dark of what really is happening to the world. But more importantly, it shows that we should fight for it. Having rules doesn’t necessarily that it is the right thing to follow. Considering human beings by nature has a very different way of perceiving things. But what’s important is to fight for what you believe in which what the story is trying to tell us.…
Read at the sourcePyrokenesist
This anime is quite unique, but not bad my any stretch. The storyline is most likely to most unique thing about it, followed by the characters. The art and sound are pretty typical.
Story: Something that could definitely happen in America, probably already started happening, but on a much more technological level. The seizing of Historical documents that portray the government unfavorably, because if you don't know your history, it's bound to repeat itself? Yes. A government military is created to hopefully stop this
Art: Pretty Typical, much like Nodame Cantabile, or Lovely Complex, not incredibly round eyes or flashy colors, but enough to get the story across.
Sound: Decent. All there is to say.
Character: Characters exceed above all. The character, the main being...a tomboy? Eh, not…
Read at the sourceBishounen_Hunter
Hello Everyone! If you are a little sick and tired of the regular run-of-the-mill, clichéd anime shows out there, then boy do I have a gem of an anime to recommend to you guys! Toshokan Sensou or Library Wars is the perfect solution to break up that anime monotony. It's an intelligently written, 12 episode series that's got a small cast so you don’t have to wrack your brains trying to remember 42 million characters. It's got comedy, action, romance and even some political intrigue! It's done by Studio IG, the same people who animated the Ghost in the Shell series. So visually it's very nice, I recommend watching it in HD if you can. Eventho it's about a war don't expect heavy duty blood and gore, like I said this show is more comedy and romance with it's moments of high action and gunfire.…
Read at the sourceAnimeTroll1088
Story: The premise of the story is really strange when you first read the summary. Libraries in the year 2019 have become militarized battle zones between the pro censorship group / against censorship group. You may first think this is really unrealistic but in the 21st century censorship is still a big problem around the globe. Books/movies/and other forms of media are deliberately censored/ blacklisted by governments. Aside from that the show is a cliched romantic comedy. Since it is a 12 episode series it felt kinda rushed as well but it is expected. If you think about it, this series would most likely be banned in many countries lol. Armed resistance against censorship.......... not very far from reality.
Art: I loved the chibi artwork. It was very cute xP. Although the animation was…
Read at the sourceInushinde
To really enjoy this series, there are two hurdles that must be passed:
1. Disbelief of the fact that these people are fighting to the death over books
2. The extremely dull and lifeless opening
With that small disclaimer aside, Toshokan Sensou is an anime series that follows the beaten path in many regards, but does it so well that the lack of originality can be forgiven. Nothing is done here that hasn't been done before, and not every single element works, but it's certainly satisfactory as a brisk watch. Some series try to wow with deep drama, complex plots, and dizzying relationship webs. Others opt for the simpler route of entertaining action, linear plots, and a few interesting characters mixed with good humor to spice things up. Toshokan Sensou borrows a lot from the second categ…
Read at the sourceNoblesseOblige3
Toshokon Sensou is a show about a war that takes place in the future between an army that enforces censorship on all forms of media and a force who ensure the safety of all books and media by creating a special task force to keep them safe.
The show follows Kasahara Iku as she joins this Task Force, you will see her in her happiest times and her struggles with various people as well as finding love.
Art/Animation
Some people might not like the art because it does use a thicker black border but personally i like it and it added nicely, the characters were all designed well, the hairstyles and facial expressions were nice (i particulary liked Tezuka's (the younger brothers) character) The backgrounds are not anything brilliant but they fit nicely and are pleasing.
The animation is smooth t…
Read at the sourceNoofar
Library War is an enticing anime of how people fight for their rights of freedom to read, watch and so on. It is an amazing display of how one must fight to obtain what they want?! The main character starts off at the low-level as a trainee then little by little she gains experience, love and encouragement!? You will fall in love with the anime as it has a good amount of comedy even though it is not that much and the amount of romance is all under but you will realize how one needs to protect themselves to achieve what they deserve.
The main character (the girl) is a perfect role model for women to intercept in the man's world!? I think some women will understand where i am coming from!?
The art is good, the character development is very well paced for this anime as it is not that long!…
Read at the sourcefreesia64
I just happened to hear about this anime by chance from another website. The premise was interesting so I decided to give it a try and was totally amazed. The storyline, characters, artwork, and sound are engrossing and completely draw you in. While the characters themselves may not be completely unique, their interactions with one another and the realistic emotional outbursts are i think rare among most anime.
Most people don't really mention this but I also consider this a full romance. The relationship between the main characters develops more naturally over time. They are not sappy or fake but there was a lovely tenderness and protectiveness towards one another that was great and heartfelt. And in this anime you definitely get a somewhat satisfying ending vs. most animes that leave t…
Read at the sourceIlyaoh
This was probably one of the best decision to watch back in 2008.
The story is about a special trained military force for the "Library", to protect good, fun and important books. It sounds intresting, but not good enough.
The characters and the art help you through the series, in which the story develops nicely. The characters are done great, their backgrounds, relations and personalities, they really look like humans which just got animated, through their personalities that is.
The art is okay, sometimes they could've drawn more realistic, some female characters look too much on their male co-characters. But that's probably meant to be that way, since, when you get to know a softer side, you get to see how beautiful she actually is.
But all-in-all, Toshokan Sensou (Library War) is an…
Read at the sourcemel-hime
Toshokan Sensou is one of my very favorite series. The only thing that bothered me about it was that it was too good for only 12 episodes. I really wanted more.
The story is interesting. Though not something genuinely unheard of, the way it portrays the humanity and realness of the events has turned it into something great. I found it realistic, funny, but sad also at times. What proved to me that it was a great series were the funny moments between the characters. Especially Doujo and Kasahara were just too amazing.
I also liked that it had a very nice and sweet romance fragrance embedded which started off with admiration and devotion.
I watched it twice until now... which says something. Usually, I don't watch things twice. I really enjoyed this show and hope that through a miracle, I wi…
Read at the sourceformosan
I tried really hard to hate this anime. I watched the first episode and I was absolutely geared up to hate the whole thing and bring all my negative emotional baggage down on it.
I failed. I fell in love with this anime.
It deals with a war very unlike Western wars, and with laws very unlike Western laws. In the real world war is incredibly lawless and ugly, and law enforcement is terrible. But this anime deals with an extremely civilized war with very strict rules of engagement, very limited weapons, and scrupulous regard for human life, so it's not like watching documentary footage of real wars. The war is also in effect a limited civil war, so it's not like any war story I can recall ever having seen before.
This anime is short but extremely complete. The visuals are gorgeous. The ch…
Read at the sourceArchaeon
Toshokan Sensou (or The Library Wars), is another one of those odd anime that I seem to end up reviewing. The show has a nice premise which is reminiscent of Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 all rolled into one.
The anime is based on a series of four light novels by Arikawa Hiro (entitled Toshokan Sensou, Nairan, Kiki, and Kakumei respectively), which were published from 2006 to 2007. The novels were later serialized in two mangas. The first manga was made by Yumi Kiiro, and published in Lala magazine from September 2007. The second was made by Furudori Yayoi, and was published Dengeki Daioh magazine from November 2007. The twelve episode anime was made by Production IG, and released in April 2008 on Fuji TV's Noitamina (which is animation written backwards) timeslot.
Story
T…
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