[Anime Reviews]

Toshokan Sensou end: B-list anime done well

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Toshokan Sensou]

This is one occasion where I make a distinction between ‘A-list’ and ‘B-list’ titles - in practice, it’s a difference between checking torrents lists and online DVD stores for the latest bunch of episodes daily or catching up when I have a day or two going spare. If I hadn’t watched Toshokan Sensou I doubt I’d regret my decision, but watch it I did and I have to say I enjoyed it too: it is a definite B-list show for me but at least it’s a good example of one.

I don’t think Toshokan Sensou ever had the ambition of being a rival for the Frontiers, Code Geasses and Clannads in the schedules: the animation quality is solid without being showy, its everyday storytelling aims fit neatly into a manageable twelves episodes and its balance of comedy and social commentary prevent it straying too close to the poles of laugh-out-loud slapstick or hard speculative fiction. I can say I merely liked it and mean it as a compliment - its sights are set lower than the studios’ flagship titles but it achieves the modest aims it sets for itself.

[6 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Toshokan Sensou halfway thoughts: fight for your right to…read?!

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Toshokan Sensou]

Toshokan Sensou, or to go by its neat translated title of Library Wars, is simultaneously lightweight fun, and thought provoking and serious. As I outlined in my last post regarding the Macross franchise, you don’t have to forgo brightness and humour to make a serious point; get the balance right and you can have it both ways. TS is doing what Macross often does, albeit on a smaller scale: it deals with heavy-going issues but presents enough laughs to make them easier to swallow. Actually, Eureka Seven takes the same approach but more on that later on this week.

When the setting for an armed confrontation is as incongruous as this, it has to be good

So, TS is either Serious Business or simple fun, depending on how you want to take it. I don’t think either aspect gets in the way of the other either - I’ve yet to see any humour that’s misplaced or experience the social commentary bogging down the entertainment value. All in all then it does what it sets out to do very effectively, even if it doesn’t stand out as an A-list title. In many ways it borrows much of its appeal from Full Metal Panic! in terms of military action and educational hijinks, and that ever-present Geek Chic (I’d copyright that term if it weren’t already well-known enough to be listed on Wikipedia) stemming from the library setting, which reminds me very strongly of the R.O.D. OAV and TV series. Good stuff all round then.

[8 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Spring 2008 first impressions #4: Real Drive and Toshokan Sensou

Posted by Martin  [Tags: First Impressions and Retrospectives, Real Drive, Toshokan Sensou]

It’s halfway through the season and people are already starting to look to the next one…and I’m still finishing my First Impressions for spring. Heh. The final two candidates for my ever-growing watch list are Real Drive and Toshokan Sensou.

*Cough*

In other news I’m thinking about changing my blog’s theme to revitalise my enthusiasm…Frozen Twilight 1.0 is beginning to look a bit drab.

[11 Comments]