Library Wars - Completed Review

What is it?

The Japanese Government has passed censorship laws giving the power to a conservative arm to make library inspections and decide what books are suitable to the public. After a library's staff is massacred by a right-wing group, a new law is passed giving libraries the authority to arm themselves. Kasahara is an idealist and enthusiastic new recruit to the library Corps' armed division and she hopes to defend her ideals and find her childhood hero.

What's good about it?

Entertaining plot. Good action. A decent mix of unique characters.

What's bad about it?

While the setting makes for entertaining drama, I just couldn't buy into the it because it was too implausible. The logic just wasn't there. I just can't see where the public support for the bad guys(Media Enhancement Commitee) is coming from. The story informs us that even the MEC's soldiers are really just hired guns who don't really care about the ideals of the group, yet the Library Corps are constantly being attacked by the public and the media for not giving into them. The library Corps are basically defending free speech, yet they are usually blamed for the attacks on the libraries. I just don't understand why the public are so wishy-washy on such an obvious choice of policy. I also can't conceive of any government who's solution to censorship concerns is to allow two independent groups to wage battles against each other in the middle of their cities. That's endorsing a policy that's barely an improvement on mob rule.

Final Verdict

Besides the setting, library wars is a pretty entertaining series. The dialogue is a little weak at times, but the story moves fast enough and there's a decent amount of action. I just can't overload the implausibility of the whole situation however, and for that the rating must suffer. This is playing itself as a pseudo-realistic drama, so I have to be able to understand the reasoning behind things.

7.3/10


FYI- I should have my Kanokon review and my July anime ranking up within the week. I'm still working on my summer pickups but I've got some additions I can confirm as of now:

-Mugen no Juunin
-School rumble third term
-Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu
-Natsume Yuujinchou
-Sekirei

and possibly:

-Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo
-World Destruction
-Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora
-Koihime Musou

It's actually shaping up as a potentially great summer lineup, which would be welcome after a sub-par spring. (I'm especially giddy in anticipation of the new school rumble season. Yakumo!) In fact, if there are a lot of interesting series coming out, I may consider dropping some of the lesser spring ones I've been covering up until now. More details to follow. That's all for now. Bye-bee!