Audience reviews
17 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Cecylb
DISCLAIMER: my review will not contain any direct spoilers, however, I will discuss the story composition as well as share my opinion on the ending.
When I started watching it, I, as well as many others, thought that I found a hidden gem - the setting is pretty interesting, the characters are good (though I'd argue that whoever came up with names didn't do a very good job), the animation is good and the story does a great job at keeping you curious. While watching, I had a feeling this will be a strong 8-9/10 show. But alas...
While Hamyuts Meseta is the main figure of the show, she's not really the main character. The story is divided into subplots with various POVs, each one is providing important details about the main storyline. The setting is pretty dark, being centered around the co…
Read at the sourcePixelB
I really don't find a lot of old anime which are "hidden gems" that actually end up being hidden gems. Book of Batorra is certainly on that short list of shows that end up being good.
What can I say, I really had no expectations for a random anime I've never heard about released in 2009. It's a 7/10 only because of its age and because it had a pretty bad concluding arc, but honestly, I'd rate everything up to the cerulean war to be an 8/10+. Let's go on the short list of bad things. The animation sucks. The age shows. There is basically no good fight scene, and in the fights that happen, none are a very satisfying back and forth, but rather many techniques to conserve animating fight choreography is used, such as weird camera angles, a close up of the punch and then the "hit effect" with t…
Read at the sourceburonix
I just create an account to tell about how this anime was fair good until the last 4-5 chapters.
No sense at all, I´m not telling that I didn´t understand the end, no, the problem is the end is bad, very bad, and the creators should feel bad about it.
I recommend the Anime?
Im not sure, I enjoy lot of the plots, but I was expecting that the plot was consistent, but there is no sense, there is a lot of intrigue, drama and story, and then in the last 5-6 chapters they turn all around and start with other different story, a lot of the plots suddenly are useless, new characters appears with no explanation (except 2 mins of "this is it, open your mouth, eat it and shut the fuck up"), characters appears to have new "powers", gods become useless, I don´t know.
this is not as bad as the new Eva…
Read at the sourceChinomi-san
The first episode came with a whirlwind of world-building which was a little fast a lot at once. The gist of it from what I could grasp was that there was a very important island in which the Bantorra Library stood, holding all the books of people who had passed away. Apparently every person who dies has the essence of their life somehow manifest into a stone tablet, which is a “book” that can be read by people who simply touch it with their bare skin. These books must be protected because they’re sacred, and the ones that are about certain important people might have secrets that should be guarded.
Of course, the people responsible with maintaining the library and keeping out intruders are none other than the armed librarians, who train well do their jobs and possess incredible strength…
Read at the sourceRaggadish
I cant believe have underrated and unknown "The Book of Bantorra" is. So underlie so, that I decided to write a review, that may give this show a bit of the attention it deserves. In the category's of action and sienen this show is up there with Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon in greatness. It contains the same dark elements and a blurred line between good and evil, as the shows mentioned. But it also have its unique story and elements, which was refreshing after watched a lot of top classed shounens lately. So lets get down to the main reasons I truly enjoyed the ride of "The Book of Bantorra".
Story: 9/10
The synopisis doesn't even begin to cover the story line. Yes, we have whats called armed librarians and the members of the Shindeki Church, which are enemies. But its so much more…
Read at the sourceNervin
When it comes to settings of fictional pieces, Armed Librarians: the Book of Bantorra has certainly an interesting one: deceased people who turn into books, and librarians that keep those stored in the huge library of Bantorra. Although it has an intriguing story to show, its narrative is lackluster, never really knowing on what it wants to focus on. Don't get the wrong impression, it has some good story arcs alongside some endearing characters.
The anime focusses on the books as well as the armed librarians, people with psychic powers, tasked with retrieving and maintaining the huge archives. As it will, it is not that simple: an organisation by the name of Sindeki Kyoudan thwarts the librarians because of opposing ideologies. The integrants of said organisation strive becoming the best…
Read at the sourceReJaKted
CONTAINS A FEW SPOILERS
‘Tatakau Shisho to Koisuru Bakudan’ is the anime adaptation of a novel series by author Yamagat Ishio and artist Maeshima Shigeki and it ran from late 2009 till early 2010. Its English name is ‘Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra’. This is one hell of a show.
I was recommended this anime by a certain someone, who had suggested ‘Yumekui Merry’, after checking out its review. By the name alone, I was intrigued. Librarians? Armed librarians? Oh, boy.
Along with the name I was also giving a video snippet from the show. This, along with the fact that upon Googling I had discovered that the studio was David Productions (of JoJo fame), made me look forward to Tatakau Shisho all the more.
And, after the first few bumpy episodes, my expectations had been somewhat met.…
Read at the sourceJoby05
Summary: This anime is nuts. You think you're in for a fairly shallow action seinen and boy would you be... well kinda right but mostly wrong. As you watch what seems to be a fairly straight forward anime there are hints and small indicators that the show is going somewhere big. The further on you get, the more mysteries are revealed and by the end the show has gone somewhere so big and absurd that you're not really sure what happened. One thing I will say is that although I very much so enjoyed this anime, I thought the end kind of "jumped the shark" and I was left asking many questions like "What just happened, how did that happen, why are they here... who is that again?".
I strongly suggest anyone who is interested in a deeper more thought provoking experience watch this (and pay atte…
Read at the sourceShioxus
When constructing a building, a strong base is important. Once a solid base is in place, you can then proceed to add the scaffolding, walls, roof, furniture, etc. However, if the base is weak, the structure will crumble.
I'm sure you've heard this analogy before, so you figure I must be talking about how the core of the anime, the story concept/idea, couldn't support everything the show did right. That is not the point I'm trying to make here. In all actuality, the idea behind this show is quite interesting. The problem was that the creators made a very solid base, and added it in last, on top of everything else, and crushed the whole damn thing.
The story revolves around the idea that when a human dies, their memories are stored in stone tablets called "books". So far so good. And ther…
Read at the source-ShadowClaw-
The Book Of Bantorra out of all the series I have watched this is probably one of the least well known and underrated show I have seen. I am writing this review in order to establish 2 things mostly. One to help it gain some recognition and Two to establish as why people should give this a try without going into too much spoiler territory so il try to keep it spoiler free as I can.
The Plot of this story focuses on a world where when people die they have their memories and depending your interpretation there soul in stone books and there is a group called the Armed librarians whose job is to ensure the protection of these books and ‘’Heaven’’ by placing them in this giant library called Bantorra Library against those who would use the book for nefarious purposes in particular the group’s…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
About all I can say of resuming my watch of Book of Bantorra from over four years ago is "meh". Having an influential crime fighting group against an evil syndicate (in this case, a fanatic cult) is nothing new in anime for me and my indifference further rises with the majority of the characters in this series lacking any fleshing out beyond being two-dimensional archetypes you would expect out of action titles like this. It does have some unique ideas that allow it to keep your engagement such as the title's concept of people's souls being stored in stone tablets, both Armed Librarians and the Shindeki Church having varying magical abilities, the title's historical setting and some shady developments with Hamyuts despite being the leader of the Armed Librarians. The fourth mentioned detai…
Read at the sourceGabornsmith
This show has to be seen all the way through to properly judge it. It's a mystery that gives many pieces but doesn't show the whole puzzle until the end. I had a hard time getting interested in most of the episodes, hence the somewhat low score, because of how the heroes and villains were so hard to tell apart. Some of the heroes would do evil things for reasons you didn't know but none of the other characters in the show questioned while the villains seemed in the right. If you are in the middle of the show and question finishing it or have heard bad things from people that didn't I recommend watching until the end because, unlike Lost, every question and inconsistency in the show is resolved in spectacular fashion. This is one of a very few shows I've seen that I couldn't predict and was…
Read at the sourceramimanify
For starters I watched Book of Bantorra with nothing on my mind, I wanted to take a time off of Anime with deep sophisticated insights and hidden meanings, but here I was hit again with a mind expanding experience that is the Book of Bantorra.
Story:
the story takes place in a world where an institute called the Bantorra library gathers books of deceased humans, the books are a vivid imagery of people's lives, that is to say if you would look into a book of a deceased person you would be able to view his entire life in a dreamy like experience, as in reading a book, hence the name.
But only to say so is to diminish the wonder that is the story of this show, episode following episode certain key elements are being revealed, and certain subplots are being added to the major picture that is…
Read at the sourceInfiniteRhapsody
Story [9]
-Bantorra has very complicated story and is really serious with few funny moments. Sometimes its just hard to connect the story, but if you pay attention you will see that almost everything is properly explained. The end of the anime really pays off if you survived other arcs first.
-it is recommended that you watch it whole at once, if you can, if not, try not to make long hiatuses with this anime, cause it will be easier to remember some important stuff such as minor details that come in handy.
-As for the story itself, it has really unique ideas.
Art [8]
-The art was what mostly made me to watch this. There are no chibi faces and moments and no big eyed shoujo girls with sparkles all around, thank god.
-it has pretty cool looking guys
-also cute and serious looking girls
-A…
Read at the sourceSamuraiMo
Oke so this is my first time doing this so anyway here it goes
This anime ya how should I describe it....
It's really original and good but at the same time the story lacks something but it's still good the beginning starts right away with what action but than after in the middle a little bite of the series it gets quite and than around the 19th episode's the story fire's up again
You would say Hamyuts Meseta is the main character but she isn't really the main since the story kinda is really based more on everybody that is involved in the armed librarians stuff.. but hamyu takes 50% of the whole story and everybody wants to kill here :P
But really this anime is original and has a good story, still don't know what it lacks so I still give this anime a overall of 8/10
Read at the sourceMikeOnHighway61
A big breasted well tanned mature beauty wearing a half opened shirt posing in a quite lascivious manner with a pearl white grin on her face. Yeah, right, you watch this show because of the deep characters and the exciting and intelligent story, don't ya?
-> Exactly.
- The Story:
The Book of Bantorra features a whole new world full of superpowers and complex rules and organisations surrounding the endless battle for happiness and salvation at Heaven's door. And the best thing is: it does not tell you a thing. This show is NOT something you can just watch without paying attention. If you want to take a dive into the Armed Librarians' world you have to stay focused and think about what you see. The anime gives you the puzzle, but it demands you to place it yourself. Doing that, Book of Ban…
Read at the sourceMimi_Taylor
Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra has had a very strong divide among opinions this past season. I have seen many people praise this show in the anime blogosphere, while forum activists on big sites such as ANN criticize it to death. I’m sure there are many people in the middle who just don’t know what to think or are uncertain to try it. I hope that my review will clear some of that uncertainty away.
Story
Now here is something original. After a person dies, their memories turn into a stone tablet called a "book" that leaves their body to be collected. When someone comes along and touches that person’s book, they can see vivid imagery of their past as if they were really there to witness it. These are very special books and must be kept safe at all costs, and that is what the Bantor…
Read at the source