Library Wars (anime) Introduction

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First words

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This is a nice short warmup that I wanted to start off with. It's nothing much, just a twelve episode show, but it's intriguing. It has ridicuous library superpowers, battling factions, and the love of books, which hits a soft spot with me.

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Resources

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Anime Boy -With VIP Subscription. Frankly, not worth it.
Zomg Anime -No subscription necessary! I reccomend this the most!
Anitube. -Personally, I haven't had much success, but you might be able to get it to work for you.
Sidereel -Not really a resource, but I plan to post backup reviews here, when I can. This might also be a good place to meet others who like the show!

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Setting

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Library Wars takes place in Japan in the year 2019, thirty years after the government-sponsred censorship and government-sponsored information liberation started attacking each other. Stores are often raided for banned books, yet the public is still open to acces information in the library network spanning the country. The streets re more violent, and confrontations between the two gang-lige groups increase daily, as the civilians become more and more involved. We, hoever, personally follow the story of Kasahara Iku, a new recruit who decided to join the military after she was saved from censor-nazis by a mysteriou, "prince charming" figure.
Get the eyerolling done now, because it's still good.

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Characters

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There's Kasahara Iku, a plucky new recruit who is drafted into the mega-elite Library Task Force, by her mean (but caring) drill instructor and superior, Lietutenant Doujou Atsushi. Although not the brightest bulb in the pack, and lacking a bit of discipline, Kasahara is athletic, motivated, and loyal enough to be the first female in the Task Force, which, by the way, is the group that does all the heavy missions and fights battles and stuff. Over books. And all this brings for ther PASHUNNN.

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Plot

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Okay, so the Eeeeeeeebil Media Conservative types start lobbying to censor a bunch of things to protect the future of Japanese children, and, well, the typical aggro-japanese protection routine. So the government allows this group to go around collecting books and stuff that might have corruptive information for people. The all the libraries in the country guild together, and form the Library Militia, another government-sponsored group, dedicated to human rights, freedom of speech, and the distribution of information to all people. You'd think this is just some socio-political movement, or just a new way to divide conservative and liberal, but in fact, people die over this stuff. The last thirty years were peppered with conflicts, and civilian deaths in the crossfires. People DIED. It rather makes you wonder how a government could actually pass two opposing factions, and allow it to grow to that size. What's more, both factions are military-supported! Granted, the Librarians tend to have more recruit and tran style stuff, and apparently the Media Conservatists like to rope people in wiht loands and kidnap orphans... Okay, perhaps not the alst one, but I could swear that's what that one guy said!

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Should Know
Not much, really. Perhaps a bit of info on the Dewey Decimal System? A bit on govermnent factions, human rights... Oh! And the knowlege that Japan is not America. Tadaaaaaaah~ It might also be helpful to know that Japan has isolated itself off from any kind of contact before, for hundreds of years. It was the only country to stay in the medieval age until the 1800's, so I suppose the idea of filter-feeding info is a pretty common theme...

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Predictions and Expectations

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There will be explosions.
There will be the reconsideration of your own rights, values, and appreciation for your librarians.
There will be PASHUNNN.
Planetes fans will, no doubt, see Tanabe in Kasahara, and Hachimaki in Doujou. The premise is the same. New kid jouns group, new kid hates superior, new kid gets crush on superior, superior is cold, but warms up, but acts shy and dfeensive, makes things worse, then things start warming up, then superior gets hurt, superior turns cold, and then the new kid's twu wuv saves him and they live happily ever BLEH. It also has a similar passion of live (Kind of like slice of life, but more extraordinary) vibe to it. The government and action scenes seem reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell. Don't forget Mobile Police Patlabor, with, again, the plucky, talented newcomer, love for the gritty job, and PASHUNN. You can even tie in Read or Die's "The libraries secretly control everything" plot, and, hey, it works! And if you want the crack, just turn to Prince of Tennis (But without the asteroids and black holes and sparkles and dinosaur killing).
The possible reason for all this? They're all animated by Production IG, with the exception of RoD (then again, that was a weird series.) I like to think this story was not intended as a stand alone series, but is more of a tribute, or parody, to all of the preceeding animes. Kind of like Lucky Star to Haruhi's Melancholy.

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Final Thoughts

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Well, this is the end of the beginning. The series is a short twelve seasons, which is a bit sad, because it could've really benefitted from a full 26, or even 24 episode season. The pacing seems to fast and too shallow, and it's sad, because there's a great world in this story that's worth exploring. It's a story of passion, war, and love in many forms. And despite its possible faults, it gives good animation, intriguing storytelling and six hours of enjoyment. If you watch like I do, it takes about two or three days to get through and process the episodes, but it's a fun 2-3 days.
By the way, there is no english dub, you'll have to settle for subtitles. But I wuld LOVE to see Travis Willingham do Doujou. Not only does he have a nice military vibe, bit it think it'd be a bit ironif, considering Doujou's... short stature...? (Oh the isembool Rangers would have a field day! Think of the Vic and Travis banter!)