Toshokan Sensou (Library War) is the adaption to the light Japanese novel by author Hiro Arikawa of the same name (though there are several subsequent novels that are in the same series) which is based on the Statement on Intellectual Freedom in Libraries Law that went into effect in Japan in 1954 (later amended in 1979).
Background premise: In the year 1989, the Japanese government passes the Media Cleansing Act which allows the Media Cleansing Committee to cease and censor any type of media that it deems a bad influence on society. In response using the Freedom of Library Act as its basis, the libraries of Japan take up arms to protect against the extreme censorship that is employed by the Media Cleansing Committee. The Library Defense Force (after an incident called the Hino Nightmare where the librarians and opposers of the MCC were killed by MCC-supporters) organized itself to be able to defend the libraries from raids performed by the Media Cleansing committee. Aside from the regular librarian duties, ranked Defense officers are trained for the libraries' defense as well as being allowed to buy any book they want, censored or not. By the year 2019 (the time the show takes place) both the Media Cleansing Committee (and its supporters) and the Libraries are at war with each other, using military tactics and machinery against the other. Of course, the war isn't spilled out onto the streets. They're confined to the library bases or any such place considered to be a future library base.
Synopsis: In 2019, Iku Kasahara joins the Library Forces in Kanto after being inspired by a ranking officer in the Kanto Library Defense Force member who saves a book that was targeted for censorship by Media Cleansing agents that she wanted to buy. Follow Iku Kasahara as she is recruited into the Library Defense Force's elite, the Task Force, and her development with the people around her.
Review: Toshokan Sensou isn't all work and no play. It carries a mature idea and carries it well, even with some humerous comedy shown through the relationships between its characters.
First, the characters. You have Iku Kasahara, the twenty-two year old girl who was inspired to join the Library Defense Force after her "prince" a book that she wanted to buy but was targeted by the Media Cleansing Committee. Viewers will recognize Iku's seiyuu (voice actor) as Marina Inoue, famous for her roles as Yoko (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann).
Then you have Atsushi Dojou
who is the 27 year old Library Officer Second Class member of the Library Defense Task Force. He's in charge of Iku's training and expects a lot from her, pushing her since her recklesness reminds himself of his younger self. Atsushi's seiyuu is Tomoaki Maeno.
Atsushi's friend and fellow Second Class member of the Task Force is Mikihisa Komaki. His light hair and fair complexion fits his voice. He is also 27 years old, usually seen smiling or laughing. He is also a logician, working out the Task Force's strategies when defending against the MCC. Mikihisa acts a confidant to both Atsushi and Iku, helping them with their relationship issues with each other on the personal and the professional level. His seiyuu is the famous Akira Ishida who played Athrun Zala (Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny), Chrono (Chrono Crusade), and Eyes Rutherford (Spiral).
One of the two main female characters is Asako Shibasaki, Librarian First Class. She
works as an informant for the Task Force, and aspires to have a network so large that she can be future commander. She's very good at gathering information and a very intelligent woman. As Iku's roommate, she deals with Iku's frustrations over Atsushi and Iku's failings at some of the more basic librarian tasks (book retrieval). Asako's seiyuu is Miyuki Sawashiro.
Hikaru Tezuka is Iku's fellow rookie into the Kanto Library Force's Task Force as well as a Librarian First Class. His older brother is a part of a research group called the Future Library Project, able to pull some strings within the government. He doesn't deal with personal things very well (reading books to little kids) but does care for others as shown when he cares for his ill-mother who fell sick. He is more capable than Iku, being good at clerical work, is knowledgable about the library force's history, and typical combat. He has a problem with heights but later improves just as he acknowledges that Iku can improve as well. He's very skilled with rifles, acting as a sniper twice in the series.
Ryusuke Genda is the "big guy" of the group, Librarian Supervisor 3rd Class and is the 43 year old captain of the Kanto Library Task Force. Iku sees him as a strong figure, even thinking he could take on fighting a bear. He is skilled in military command, tactics, and even politics, as he leaves the Media Cleansing Committee magazines and books so they wouldn't be empty handed in a raid where the Library Task Force was charged in retrieving media. He was the ultimate decider in recruiting Iku into the Task Force, along with the recommendations of Atsushi Dojou and Mikihisa Komaki.
With the main characters and develop through the 12 episodes, onto more of this anime review. The anime has a wonderful OP sung by Hitomi Takahashi called Atashi no machi, Ashita no Machi. It's a pretty mellow song, not too upbeat or too sad that it draws away from the series. It complements it. The OP sequences show the hardhips that Iku goes through along with the hardships that the Library Forces go through in trying to protect the freedom of information and expression.
Following, Toshokan Sensou doesn't have the usual black or colored splash with just a title and title call. The title for each episode is hidden beneath a brick wall which is shot at that the bricks fall, revealing a white splash page with the title in black. The series usually recaps the premise of the story, telling how long the conflict of Media Censorship has been going on, using all the different character's seiyuu to narrate.
The series is not just action. It's also drama, comedy, and romance. I mean, you can't discount the romance when you have Iku, who is fantasizing about the "prince" who helped her save and buy the book that she wanted from the Media Cleansing Agents. Further, Atsushi sees a lot in Iku, going so far to call her an idiot and reprimand her for her recklessness in the field but then praises her and tries to protect her from harm.
The action usually deals with raids, defending and retrieving media, and the one race around the suburbs running from the Media Cleansing Committee after getting a book considered the Book of Prophecy, which is in reality Fahrenheit 451.
The Task Force defends against the Media Cleansing Committee as it tries to transport books and other media from an information museum that is closing.
Iku rolls once she dives after repelling from a rooftop to retrieve books that the Media Cleansing agents were raiding the Kanto Library in an attempt to get the books.
And then you reach the comedy. One form of creating humerous situations in anime is to deviate from the art that is done so wonderfully in Toshokan Sensou. They make the characters more simplified in appearace, without too many details.
The anime does a nice job of incorporating these aspects of comedy and romance into the action anime. It doesn't feel out of place at all. It acts as a bit of a buffer against the hardships that the Library Forces face against the public and the Media Cleansing Committee. In fact, one source of hilarity is that Iku never tells her parents that when she joined the Library, she joined the Library Task Force which is inherently a very dangerous job. So when her parents come to visit her at her job, it is really funny to see how Iku deals with her parents, and everyone's efforts to help Iku with the facade of a safe job as a librarian.
Which leads me to go on about the character development in this series. Iku and Atsushi develop quite nicely together, both their job as Task Force members and their personal relationships. Iku slowly but surely changes from a girl who is reckless, to someone who is admired for her work as a Task Force member and mature enough to know how to act. Atsushi praises Iku more and more throughout the series, even when he rewrites all of his notes for her use to pass a test to gain Chief Librarian rank.
Each episode ends with a great ED. It's called "changes" by Base Ball Bear. The ED sequence shows Iku running through a field filled with chamomile (a symbol of the Library Defense Force) as dawn approaches. Scenes from the next episode are previewed in the sequence as Iku runs, something different from most anime EDs where next episode previews are shown after the ED.
Toshokan Sensou is an enjoyable series to watch. It not only takes something a little original (I mean, you don't get much media where librarians are armed with rifles do you?) and condenses it to 12 episodes that are filled with action, comedy, and a little bit of romance. It makes it easy to watch and the ending isn't one to disappoint.
The anime was produced by Production I.G. and directed by Takayuki Hamana. The art and direction of the anime was done superbly to bring out the wonderful story told by Hiro Arikawa's light novel series which was awarded the Seiun Awards by the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention.
Grade:
Overall: B+
Story: A
Animation: B
Art: B
Music: B
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