Dantalian no Shoka (The Mystic Archives of Dantalian)

Six months ago, Lord Hugh Anthony Disward, also known as Huey, lost his eccentric grandfather, Sir Wesley Disward, who was a renowned collector of rare books. His grandfather's will states that, in order to inherit his manor and everything inside it, he must take guardianship over the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian—an archive that contains forbidden knowledge—and also take care of a mysterious girl called Dalian.

As Huey settles into the manor, an old rival of his grandfather's arranges a meeting with him. Dalian, knowing the rival to be Wesley's killer, tags along and discovers that the murderer is in possession of a Phantom Book—a cursed tome that Wesley tried to seal away. When the book puts the two in danger, Huey discovers that the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian and Dalian are one and the same, and she entrusts Huey with the key to unlocking the knowledge stored within her. Together, Dalian and Huey seal the book away, and thus begins an unlikely partnership as they solve mysteries caused by other Phantom Books.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Dantalian no Shoka
Side story:	Dantalian no Shoka: Ibarahime

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Characters & Voice Actors

Dalian

Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Disward, Hugh Anthony

Main

Ono, Daisuke
Japanese

Flamberge

Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami
Japanese

Raziel

Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri
Japanese

Shoka no shoujo

Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Sauer Keynes, Camilla

Supporting

Noto, Mamiko
Japanese

Kamhout, Hal

Supporting

Katou, Masayuki
Japanese

Dickinson, Paula

Supporting

Takayama, Minami
Japanese

Nos

Supporting

Miyashita, Eiji
Japanese

Salut

Supporting

Fujimoto, Yuzuru
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Shiraishi, Naoko

Producer

Beniya, Yoshikazu

Producer

Uemura, Yutaka

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Iwanami, Yoshikazu

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Cras numquam scire" by Yucca feat. Daisuke Ono (eps 1-11)

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Ending Theme

	1: "yes, prisoner" by maRIONnetTe (eps 1-11)
	2: "Cras numquam scire" by Yucca feat. Daisuke Ono (eps 12)

Reviews

Jul 16, 2011

KiritoKun

Recommended

Updated to Final Episode.

I personally had this anime recommended to me by a friend, saying I might like it. (He had read the novels I believe.) So I came into this show knowing nothing at all since I had decided not to try to get any background on it to be unbiased about it.

I was reasonably surprised by how good I actually found it to be.

Story:
Personally I normally don't like dark atmosphere anime, yet this one does it in a way that I wanted to keep watching since it kept pulling me in to want to know more about the story and these Phantom ... Books.

Ok, after episode two I find myself mildly lost. At first I thought that the Phantom Books were going to be a tool of destruction in the hands of people who could not control them. But if I understood correctly Huey used two in the episode as weapons. Guess they can be used as tools in the right hands.

With that said, the story feels a little rushed since there isn't continuity between the two episodes, so it looks like theres an overall theme, but different scenarios that don't continue on. Hopefully this doesn't persist and they take sometime to explain some more concepts or the anime is going to suffer with confusing concepts and butchered story telling.

Well, they never slowed down one bit the entire anime, they just kept on chugging by without taking the time to explain concepts. They decided to go on an episodic route, which I had hoped they wouldn't, since a good linear story would probably have made more sense for this series. But I still liked each episode for what it put out, each being interesting and unique in its own way. The finale was especially well done, making up for some of the confusion along the way.

Art:
Very neat realistic backgrounds. Pretty well designed cars and items from the time period the anime is set in. The backgrounds never cease to amaze me in this anime, they are extrordinarly well done, it looks very realistic for an anime that's for sure. The character designs go well with the backgrounds and settings. Huey has a nice design, and so does Dalian. Not much else to say about it.

Sound:
The background music so far is very appropriate to the scenes it is used in. It doesn't seem out of place and just fits with the anime in general. With episode two I saw the opening, they did use it in episode one, but without the opening sequence. I think the opening is very appropriate for the anime, it goes with its theme of being a dark mysterious anime, which the opening reflects with its mellow somber tune. I stand by my perspective of episode one; the ending... IS strange, the music was creepy and the video is just really really creepy, I didn't particularly like it one bit. So for me the opening and background music is appealing, very appealing.

Character:
Huey's character seems likeable to me. Seems like the kind of person that has an interesting past to say the least. Also seems to be well rounded, such as his knowledge with books and firearms, and piloting experience as well. Dalian, was enigmatic to say the least. She seems to be the kind of character you will learn more about slowly as the plot progress, but from what I've seen so far she is somewhat reserved and was brought up in a somewhat pampered state. I mainly say this because of the manner she bosses Huey around and her posture she witholds the air of someone that had been pampered or sheltered.

Enjoyment:
I oddly enjoyed the first episode much to my surprise. At first I had thought that I might be a bit bored since this isn't typically a type of anime I would try. But I said what the heck and watched the first episode. This was a decision I do not regret since I am already hooked on the story, and want to know more about it. And I honestly enjoyed the comedy between Huey and Dalian in each episode since it is played out nicely and just works into character development well.

Overall, I am mighty pleased that I picked up this show since it looks quite promising, I'm hoping that it doesn't disappoint me somewhere along the way. If the story picks up and pieces together some loose plot holes I still think this anime will be a fantastic watch. Sadly it didn't fill up every plot hole along the way, with certain things remaining murky. This seemed like the kind of anime that needed another 12 episodes to round itself off into what it could be. Hopefully a season 2 comes out to explain the loose ends, and instead of being episode by episode they chain it together into something that flows better.

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Nov 18, 2011

Archaeon

Mixed Feelings

These days we take the written word for granted, but for the majority of human history this has not been the case. Over the millennia, those with the ability to communicate using these strange markings have been viewed with awe and suspicion in almost equal measure, and many believed that anything written was magical in some way. It's only logical then, that people would begin to think that certain works were holy writ handed down by a deity, held the secrets to immense power, or contained forbidden knowledge that would bring misfortune and death upon anyone who read them.

Eventually certain books were, for one ...

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Oct 2, 2011

nerdypants

Not Recommended

I had high hopes for this show, mostly because I love books, and it sounded like an interesting concept. However, that interesting concept was shunted into a villain-of-the-week formula that soon grew tiresome. While it is possible to do that formula well, these plots ranged from boring to inane. In addition to the stand-alone plots of the episodes was a feeble attempt at an overarching plot, which really failed spectacularly at tying anything together. The ending did little to actually end anything, or explain anything, or give even the least sense of closure.

Which brings me to the characters. This was by far the most negative ...

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Shoka no shoujo

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