I finally watched the first episode of Toshokan Sensou, a.k.a. Library War. It looks like my spring viewing will be Kaiba, Allison and Lillia, Real Drive and maybe Kurenai, ((I had some problems with the first episode of Kurenai, but so many people have declared it to be one of the best this season that I probably will give it a second chance.)) with Soul Eater and perhaps Wagaya no Oinari-sama for essential fluff.
But not Toshokan Sensou. I could tolerate the absurd premise — the brain police (i.e., “committees of Media Improvement Act”) raid bookstores and confiscate such dangerous literature as books of fairy tales, while a branch of the military defends libraries — if the anime has compensating virtues. And it is a Production I.G. series broadcast in the Noitanima timeslot, so I would expect the show to be better than average. However, the protagonist is a hot-headed fool, too thoughtless to be sympathetic. Toward the end of the episode she rashly attempts to halt a bookstore raid by invoking her authority as a “Private First Class Librarian,” unaware that she needs to be at least a lieutenant to do so. At that point I quit watching. Toshokan Sensou may be intended to be part comedy, but Kasahara is too dumb and annoying to be funny.
I also feel totally baffled about the whole “evil fairy tale censorship”, but I wonder, if you say that Kasahara is idiot and annoying, why didn’t you drop Soul Eater too? I mean, I find the male characters of Soul Eater 1000% more stupid and irritating than her. Also, the plot doesn’t make a lot more of sense.
I really liked this episode 😀
Iku is hotheaded, rash, impulsive, etc. But that shouldn’t keep you from watching this show. While each and everyone of us are prone to being biased against certain character archetypes, Iku was made to have these negative characteristics for a reason. This anime will not overlook Iku’s dumbness and actually turn it for quite a development, so I’m hoping you’ll be able to stick around till that turning point comes 🙁 Don’t let Iku annoy you too much and enjoy this! hopefully x__x