"Bungaku Shoujo" Movie

When the teaser preview special for Bungaku Shoujo was released earlier this year I was a bit tepid in my enthusiasm for this project. It looked quite lovely and it featured several of my favorite seiyuu talents, so I made a point to give this a try when it finally became available. As someone without any knowledge of the original light novels, I found this film to be mostly directionless and confusing and in the end only a very average experience.

Bungaku Shoujo or Literature Girl is about a young girl, Touka Amano who eats books. Yes she literally eats books. She ... can’t eat normal food apparently. Of course it would have been really nice of the story to actually tell us WHY she eats books but unfortunately we have to divine that answer for ourselves. Perhaps I could have slit open a goat’s stomach or read the source materials in order to get the answer to that but honestly why should I have to? That’s the movie's job to provide me with those necessary answers. The only answer we are given is she’s a literature girl, as if that explains everything. And thus that is the main problem with the entire movie in general, it’s called Literature Girl but it’s really not even about her. Touka is basically a side character in her own movie.

Well the real story eventually reveals itself to be about a young writer, Konoha Inoue who after winning an important literary contest a couple years before and subsequently his novel became a national sensation. But do to a personal tragedy that followed this, he has vowed to never write again. Konoha lives as an ordinary high school student since his book was published under a pseudonym and he has remained anonymous. Rather far-fetched idea really as he has seemingly managed to keep this a secret from his family as well. Of course this completely ignores the fact that it is also incredibly unlikely that a middle school student is going to have the ability to write such a novel to begin with. But I digress.

The drama that unfolds does manage to be pretty compelling however. I did find myself engaged and interested in the story. While the major story arc is adequately resolved to many additional questions linger at the end. As mentioned before we learn really next to nothing about Touka herself. The only reason I think I understood it as much as I did was by additionally watching the preview OVA and the Memorie OVA. I would suggest anyone interested in this title to do the same to get the maximum amount of enjoyment from it. I am unclear as to whether this movie will get a follow up movie or perhaps even a TV/OVA series to further explain all of this but taking this film by itself as it currently stands, I would have to say as an adaptation it fails.

As mentioned the titular character, Touka is really left to be mostly a mystery. Personality wise I found her to be a likable character which a lot of potential if they had explored it. She felt like an odd mix-mash of Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato. But other than being likable she really doesn’t make that much of an impression. The male lead Inoue is typical for the genre. A soft spoken, effeminate nice guy. Though I did feel he was presented very well and made for an interesting character. The struggles he has in dealing with his own personal demons I think were mostly realistic and understandable. With one exception, the rest of the supporting cast is mostly just background. The only ones who really even stood out to me at all were the ones voiced by actors I happen to like.

Above all the characters would be Miu Asakura, who is at the center of all of the stories drama. She is both the films chief antagonist and protagonist, particularly over the last half of the movie. Miu by far has the biggest impact on the film and really steals the show for herself. When you consider she’s voiced by Aya Hirano, I suppose it’s not surprising she would have the most impactful role. While Miu makes for an extremely convincing psychopath, some of the reasons behind her mental break didn’t exactly add up to what she eventually became. This being said, she is the brightest spot in the show character wise.

The acting is clearly the best part of Bungaku Shoujo. I thought Aya Hirano was exceptional as the psychotic Miu and I think it might be the best pure acting performance of her career. Many other well known seiyuu stars such as Nana Mizuki and Aki Toyasaki appear but unfortunately their characters are mostly unimportant to the film. Musically this film is just average. Neither the films background music nor ED song was really that moving, despite the latter being performed by eufonius.

Artistically the film is good. The backgrounds are quite stunning and color palette is soft and pleasant. The one thing that did strike me was just how similar so many of the characters looked however. It’s almost like most of them had exactly the same face, just with different hair and eye colors. While it’s not hard to distinguish them from each other at all I just found it a bit unsettling to look at.

Overall this movie only rates as average with me. Sure I did actually enjoy the movie quite a bit despite all its warts. However the large number of important questions about the overall story and title character really detracts from it as a whole. Until such time more of this information is presented to us in future works, then I suspect only fans of the original works would really get much out of this film.

In this review I want to use Bungaku Shōjo’s style of associating stories with various tastes. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in my country there are vitamin C pills sold at the chemist’s. Those pills consist of sweet coat to prepare you for bad thing, bitter middle layer, where the actual medicine is located, and honeyed core to wash away the after-taste. Bungaku Shōjo has that kind of a story.

The first OVA has Japanese girl talking about some story written by the Russian classic author. I was impressed, not by the story, but by the whole concept. That cute and ... unusual scenario was standing out against a background of the latest anime shows, so I enthusiastically waited for the film. And here it came.

The plot revolves around Inoue Konoha, a high school student who once wrote a best-selling novel but doesn’t want to continue author career. He has a bookworm friend, Amano Tōko. She is a literature girl whose food is books, literally. Since I like books myself, I usually go berserk every time I see somebody ripping a page or something, but okay. Amano is very sympathetic character, so I easily forgave her.

The film begins like aforementioned coat of a pill: sweetly and light-heartedly like your typical romantic story. But then it throws the viewer into whirlpool of despair and psychological problems. It wasn’t the stuff I expected after watching that OVA, but I have to admit that Bungaku Shōjo works perfectly as drama. The plot is a bit rushed in the beginning and has some sharp angles but it is good at one certain thing: transmitting necessary feelings to the viewer. Bungaku Shōjo is a very atmospheric creation, and the music really helps here. Those piano-centred arrangements are definitely a good choice for a film of such kind.

Two major themes of Bungaku Shōjo are romance (of course) and books. Yeah, the books help us to express ourselves; thanks to them we can share our experience, dreams and emotions. I am somewhat an amateur writer myself and I enjoy writing short stories, so I appreciate Bungaku Shōjo for exploring the role of literature in our life.

However, there are some minor minuses in this film, like the fact that Amano is a book-eater has no real significance for the plot development. Looks like she is given that trait just to become more… mysterious and strange, I think. And I have already mentioned that the story of the film has some difficulties in it. Another thing is the art which is certainly not a masterpiece: trains look damn plastic, for example.

So, was Bungaku Shōjo good or not? In the beginning of my review I compared it with a vitamin C pill, and vitamins are nice for health, right? In fact, Bungaku Shōjo is the best romantic drama I’ve seen recently, and that is equal to 9 points in my eyes.

P.S. Night on the Galactic Railroad, a book by Miyazawa Kenji-shi, has a prominent role in the story of the film. I don’t know whether that intentional or not, but I like how Inoue Konoha, the protagonist, shares the same family name with Inoue Masaru-shi, a man known as “the father of Japanese railways”.

P.P.S. I really want Amano to try out my quantum mechanics textbook. Wonder what taste does that hell of a book have.

We can't change the fact that we have moments when our feelings do get over our heads and we start to get paranoid about our failures, pasts, and regrets. It's part of growing up and there are even times when our life seemed to be at the edge and we seemed to be waiting for the right time to heal. Bungaku Shoujo takes up a light atmosphere to somewhere deep inside ourselves that we never want to -- our jealousy, depression and our horrible memories.

It's a very deceiving move to watch an anime/movie of a person eating a piece of paper from a book. That ... was actually what made me want to watch this anime.

"Why was she eating the pages of the book? It's somewhat trivial, isn't it?"

But then again, I just thought of this eating a piece of a page is just a symbol of her way getting to know, understand and feel the information and story of each page. But then, the eating of the page isn't really the story.

I don't seem to understand the point of recommending Hyouka to Bungaku Shoujo. It may seem to be a club that helps solving problems but there's more to that. The movie gives more of a drama-traumatic effect that is very inconsistent to the easy going anime, Hyouka. I would recommend Bungaku Shoujo being similar to any dramatic anime such as Myself;Yourself or other dramatic animes but with Hyouka -- not so much for me.

Bungaku Shoujo is not a light romance. It's an anime that depicts the realism of humans' fears -- haunted childhood memory, lack of ability, and the lack of faith.

Story: 7
It may seem to be a girl from the Literature Club eating a piece of paper and with a guy as a side-kick but that's not even a minor part of the "real" story. Bungaku Shoujo goes beyond the past of Inoue Konoha. The guy who seemed to be so ordinary -- actually had a childhood past that haunts him until he grows up. The story flows on the escapism of one's childhood comes haunting him again -- feeling the relinquish of his life. But this story shows that even in the verge of our depression, there is still hope and people who are willing to support us. What makes the story much more amusing is that the romantic scene felt just right for this dramatic movie. In summary, the story is about our "hidden emotional" feelings.

Art: 9
I love the pastel colors. It's a really great color combination. Since the beginning, the colors of the animation until the end the dark colored backdrop with shimmering stars were spectacular. That art was eye-popping beautiful.

Sound: 10
The voice actors & actresses did a great job on dubbing the anime. You could feel the dramatic emotion behind the 2D animation. The OSTs, if you haven't heard -- go to Youtube, sounds like a lullaby or some charming instrumental songs. My favorite OST is Hontou no Saiwai. It's just pure heaven. If you are up on a mountain, listen to this and probably you'll even feel like you're flying.

Character: 7
Each character of Bungaku Shoujo exhibits a different personality. Touko Amano has the knowledge of a library being able to guide people in desperate need. It makes me even wonder if ever she's suffering and she just hides it behind her happy face. Inoue Konoha is a guy who looks like a person who feels burdened by the past. Miu Asakura, in the other hand, is a character that is suppressed by her own skills. The other characters in Bungaku Shoujo reflected on each of the characters and thus complimenting on the anime so well. The missing component of the movie would be the little information about the life of Touko Amano. I wanted to know more about her feelings and personality. I just hoped that the staff combined the 3 OVAs of "Bungaku Shoujo: Memoire" to the movie for the viewers to understand the characters' personality while watching the movie.

Enjoyment: 9
The movie, entitled as "Book Girl", shows us the story of the bright wonderful girl who creates such great imaginations and inspires people to know and understand their true feelings. The story goes beyond the "teaser" of the movie and that in itself is very surprising on how the story suddenly becomes an inspiration.

Over-all: 8
The movie holds a great lesson in life that people always seemed to mistaken. I learned that -- There's always someone who loves you and there'll always be someone who'll need you more than you need them.

The movie may look like too dramatic but then looking at ourselves and how we live day by day. Isn't that how we 'sometimes' feel? Feeling weak of how much a person can do so much more than you or a memory that just frightens you every time. This movie summarizes everything we've felt and to fit that within 1 hour and 40 minutes is amazing.

"I may be getting too cheesy in my review but then that's how I thought this anime was trying to picture and I just had so much feels with the movie." (but then again I think I may be going too far. hehehe)

I first watched the Bungaku Shoujo movie sometime in September 2010, and I thought it was a confusing but still good movie. I rated it a 7/10.
After a while I found out that Yen Press had licensed the original novels (named Book Girl) and that the first 2 novels were released already. I finished the first novel a while ago and I'm currently reading the second one. I'm really loving the novels up until now. A few days ago I asked myself "If I love the novels this much, why didn't I enjoy the movie as much as the novels?"
That's why, after 8-9 months, I ... decided to re-watch the Bungaku Shoujo film and I can tell you that I enjoyed the movie a LOT more. It was way less confusing and it was fun to see and hear the characters you've met while reading the original source material.

Bungaku Shoujo The Movie adapts the fifth novel in the series. Don't be scared off by this; it also adapts the beginning of the first novel and apparently also the last novel's end. I can't confirm this though, since I haven't read it.

Bungaku Shoujo’s story and plot development is great. I won’t give you a summary, you can find that at the top of the page and I won’t discuss the story either since I don’t want to spoil you for this amazing movie. All I will tell you is that you will be surprised by its developments and that the references to original Japanese literary works work out great in this film. You will have to pay attention or you are bound to get confused.

The film’s art and animation is beautiful; the skies look realistic and are absolutely stunning, the backgrounds are vivid and they feel photorealistic. The character designs are simple, but they’re good enough to distinguish the characters and they fit their personalities perfectly. The overall animation quality is great; it’s fluent and doesn’t have any inconsistencies. The camera angles in tense situations are perfect, it really helps building the atmosphere. I can say that Production IG put a lot of effort into making Bungaku Shoujo pure eye candy.
But we definitely mustn’t forget the sound. Bungaku Shoujo features an all-star seiyuu cast with amazing performances, especially Aya Hirano. I’m no fanboy of hers, I think she’s a good seiyuu and that’s about it. I’ve only heard her in comedic/not-so-serious roles, but her voice acting in Bungaku Shoujo was exceptional. Voicing a complete nutjob is not easy, but Hirano managed to pull it off. It was amazing and totally refreshing since we don’t hear Hirano’s dramatic voice a lot.
But wait ‘till you hear the film’s score. The music pieces used were just… absolutely beautiful. They helped building the atmosphere at just the right moment. Whenever it was Touko acting silly, or Miu acting creepily, it was amazing. It just got to me.

Bungaku Shoujo has a great variety of characters. There are no stereotypes to be found, almost all of them are great original characters. You can actually sympathize with most of the characters and they’re all likable. Except for Miu then, but she is one of the best characters of this film. She is the focus of the movie and there’s definitely more to her than meets the eye. A large mystery surrounds her, and this movie is dedicated into shedding some light into her dark past.
Miu isn’t really a likable character but she does get the most character development which makes her the best character of this film. You may even be able to sympathize with her. That’s what I did, and I felt incredibly sorry for her throughout the film, even though I hated her for the most part.
Touko is a refreshing character. Even though the title of the film directs to her, she isn’t the main character of this film; Konoha and Miu are. But that doesn’t mean she’s not important. She helps Konoha out multiple times and she always pops up at the right moment. If we didn’t have Touko with her literary knowledge of almost every single book written to date, we wouldn’t have been able to find out Miu’s wish.
Konoha isn’t your typical male harem protagonist. Sure, he might be slightly dense at times, but he does a great job portraying the tragedy of him and Miu throughout the film.
I can honestly say that the characters of this film are beautiful and that they feel… realistic. And I know eating pages of a book isn’t realistic, but not a single action in this film felt… stupid or lame. I could completely understand what everyone did and why.

SUMMARY
I enjoyed Bungaku Shoujo The Movie the first time and I loved it the second time. If you want to fully enjoy the movie, you should read the first 2 light novels (called Book Girl in English) or watch the prequel OVA, 3 episodes in total. You will enjoy and like this movie a lot more if you do so.
Bungaku Shoujo’s presentation is great; amazing art and animation and outstanding voice work by an all-star seiyuu cast with a mind-boggling music score makes this one of the highest quality animated films I’ve watched. The story and characters are original and well thought out in which you can completely sympathize with the anime’s great cast of characters.
Bungaku Shoujo is a must-see for drama fans with a slice of mystery and romance.
STORY = 8
ART/ANIMATION = 9
MUSIC/VOICE ACTING/SFX = 10
CHARACTERS = 9
ENJOYMENT = 9
OVERALL SCORE = (STORYx2 + ART + SOUND + CHARx2 + ENJOYx3)/9 = 8,88889 = 9

Final score for Bungaku Shoujo = 9/10 (MUST WATCH.)

As I conjure up thoughts on what to write for this review, I tend to find myself with mind blocks left and right, probably the same as Miu. It definitely frustrates me and I can see why Miu felt so helpless in the movie. Well where shall I begin? It's about two childhood lovers who inspire and care for one another. One day, the girl decided to write a story for a competition, while she couldn't come up with a single idea, her beloved Konoha submitted his draft in secret and later won 1st place. This saddened the girl which lead to her attempted suicide ... and then from there on is where the movie really starts.

I don't want to make it this review as much as a summary but it seems like I already have. But to truly enjoy this story, you need to have at least a slight understanding of where each character is coming from and the sorrows they had to endure. Now imagine a person you treasured died and then 2 years later, you find them sitting in the hospital bed alive and speaking. What would you say, think, and feel? How about if this treasured person suicide BECAUSE of YOU, at least that's what the impression you're under and he/she comes up and starts hugging you like a best friend who you haven't seen in ages. I know how I would feel, I would feel dumbfounded because that's how I felt while watching that scene.

To truly appreciate this movie, you must be able to sympathize with these characters. I love how 'books' (which aren't real... UNFORTUNATELY) were used as a median to transmit feelings and thoughts. A lot of references were made to famous books and I just love how the characters in the story had their own interpretation of the characters in the book. It's literally stories within stories. If you were actively engaged in the movie, you would start to try to put the puzzles together. What did Campanella mean she wants to take the railway to a place for fun? How does that transmit to share her happiness with everybody? Is it because it's a process, kind of like a train and its destination and that she'll go to many places and wherever she goes, happiness will be spread?

There's also a brilliant theme that they touched upon in the movie where if you don't like yourself for which you are, then change. Become the person who you always wanted to be. Don't forget who you were and what you truly believed in. Inspiration is a beautiful thing when seized and Konoha received it twice in his lifetime, which lead to his productions of two best sellers (assuming his second book (called Literature Girl) is one too, which I think it is because this movie is amazing, wink, wink).

I've read in other reviews that people seem dumbfounded by the idea that this Literature Girl is eating books. Well, I can see what you mean but I guess the purpose in her eating the book is to add a supernatural air around her. It's to add depth into a character that is so lively, yet so knowledgeable. It also makes you believe in what she says about books because hey, she eats them for peat sakes.

Well now for the knitty gritty. How was the animation? Awesome. Blu-ray 1080p = win. The literature girl (blue hair one, sorry I suck with names) was so adorable. I love her facial expressions! I actually watched the 2 OVAs first and then the movie and I think it was the right choice. I was given a little taste of the story and the movie just blew me away. I can't wait for the 3rd and final OVA.

How was the sound? I don't really pay attention to 'sound' when I watch an anime. It is only until I download the soundtrack do I find how many amazing pieces are in the story. I am sure the sound does sound good though in this anime because it had a very calming feel to it and when things got intense, the feelings you get do transmit and only good sounds can help accomplish those feelings.

Overall? Win! I feel inspired, hey, I even wrote this review, which I don't do much (I think some can tell due to me summarizing/spoiling, hah, oh well). I personally don't like who I am right now, but I know I will one day. I would just like to finish up by saying that there really is new anime that are actually worth watching and may do the viewer some good because I sure feel inspirited!

P.S.
Why do you think she suicide attempted to suicide? Well I think it's because once she saw how Konoha became an author, she felt like she will no longer be needed. Pretty simple yet I don't think it's far from the truth, especially given to her circumstances and her personality that stemmed from the problems in her life.

A review was due for this.
I genuinely thought I wouldn't like this anime movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. This story was... unexpectedly relatable to me as a person and although I held dislike for it in the beginning, at the end, I couldn't help but like it.

Although I rated most of the things a little low, for story and overall, it gets a solid 9. I suppose my reasoning for giving the plot a high score is needed.

My review contains a bit of a spoiler but rest assured -- what matters most in this anime is the details and I cannot simply divulge it ... with just words. Like a performance, it needs to be experienced by yourself solely to appreciate it.

First and foremost, I urge you to give this a try.

Frankly, I hated the antagonist at the beginning. She was the epitome of the characters I might hate, along with the rest of the community. Right -- [spoiler] Miu was the kind of character that would try to break friendships for her own convenience, hurting others because she just could for the sake of being remembered, even for the wrong reasons.

'I can't imagine anything. I can't picture a beautiful world. There are only dirty things inside of me. There's no true happiness anywhere. The world is dark and ugly and I am too.'

But for the sickest reasons, I related to her. I understood wholly how it was like to be desperate for attention and the fear of losing someone because it makes us all heartbreakingly human. When driven by emotions, we all eventually go crazy and are willing to go through all lengths. Miu perfectly personified that through her deceit and actions and I love/hate her for it.

And the protagonist, Konaha, just happened to be caught in the crossfire and scarred, unable to write until someone who would help him heal from the experience came along. And then his friends who were willing to be placed in a negative light just so he could be free from the chains that bound him to Miu made my heart break a little. For umpteenth times in the anime, they tried and failed and tried again. They saw the pain and hurt he went through and tried to save him from it once more showed their utmost loyalty, even if they knew they would be discarded in the end. It was incredibly beautiful and twisted to love it.

This was so humanly realistic (except for Konoha's extremely sharp chin that puts UN-GO to shame) and it is something amazing that I think everyone should watch.

Be patient with it and let it build because like stories, its beauty cannot be fully appreciated unless you read it whole. Do not judge it by its cover and give it try and I'm almost certain you won't regret it.

Bungaku Shoujo is an animated feature adaptation of a light-novel series by Mizuki Nomura. It starts off feeling like a typical high school story with a peculiar female lead at its core, but actually accomplishes quite a bit with its deceptively simple plot. As the movie continues it builds on itself more and more, eventually resulting in a satisfying experience. Admittedly, you might need some patience and a tolerance for melodrama, but the movie provides a lot to enjoy, even for those completely unfamiliar with the light-novels (such as myself).

Konoha Inoue is a high school student who joins the literature club at his school under ... odd circumstances, to say the least. After seeing the literature club president (and only other member), Tohko Amano, ripping paper out of a book and eating it, Konoha is forcibly recruited into the club. There he spends his time after school writing "snacks" for the club president. Outside of the club, Konoha has made friends with classmates Kazushi Akutagawa, and Nanase Kotobuki, whom has an obvious crush on him. Konoha is a rather talented writer and actually wrote a popular book under the pen name Miu Inoue. However, he has been hesitant to write ever since a tragic incident involving his childhood friend, and inspiration, Miu Asakura.

To be honest, Bungaku Soujo does not have a promising beginning. It starts off just like any other high school story (except Tohko eating paper) and shows signs of being a boring one. Konoha is not a particularly interesting lead (at least not at first), Nanase comes off as a typical girl-with-crush character, and Kazushi displays all the personality of a rock. There are many other characters, but their roles are minor and unmemorable. Tohako is a ray of light in this dismal package, constantly unique and refreshing. It is a blessing whenever she is on screen. However, she alone can't carry the movie, and the first 30 or so minutes of the movie are snooze-worthy.

The movie really picks up when Miu is introduced, bringing a lot of trouble with her. Her arrival reopens old wounds for Konoha pertaining to the traumatic event prior to the beginning of the movie, and simultaneously creates a rift between him and his new friends. This consequently makes Konoha a much more interesting lead, as he struggles between his guilt and attachment to the past, and the life he now has. Miu herself is a great character that breathes new life into the movie. Selfish, volatile, manipulative, and yet insecure and sympathetic; Miu is a highly disturbed individual and her presence really sets the intense tone of the movie's latter half of the movie. At the same time, Tohako and Konoha's relationship gets some great development as Tohako prepares to go to college and Konoha confides to her his problems. It is clear the two are close and have strong feelings regarding one another. The drama continues to build and build, until the emotional climax, making the movie as a whole a very gratifying experience. Even Nanase and Kazushi get good development as they are sucked into the drama.

On the technical-side, Bungaku Shoujo looks as great as one would expect a full length feature from a studio as prolific as Production I.G. The character designs are quite nice on the eyes and fit the characters personalities, this is especially true for Tohako and Miu. The backgrounds are equally a as beautiful, marvelously illustrating the city the story takes place in. That aside, other than the eye-popping climax and a few nightmarish sequences of Miu falling off the school roof, there is not much as visually daring here. More interesting is the music, which seems to progress in a similar manner as the plot. At the beginning it was very minimal, only playing on occasion and never really drawing any attention. As the movie progresses, the music becomes more present, nicely highlighting the growing tension. By the end, it is wonderfully capturing all the emotion conveyed. This is a really nifty approach, and really works well with the way the plot builds.

Bungaku Shoujo is slow to start, but once it grabs hold, it never lets go. The dullness of the first third of the movie is a bit discouraging, and holds the movie back a little. However, the pay-off is great. With some great character drama and wickedly effective pathos, the movie's later stages really aim to impress. So don't let its sluggish beginning bother you, by the ending credits, you will be glad you watched it.

There are very few things in my life that rarely leave me having to decipher, or solve. This anime is one of them, it feels too rushed and i would have like to of seen this in the standard 12 episode format. This anime isn't something that everyone will get, most people that watch this won't be able to hardly understand it all for that matter.

Story- The story is something that is alot more complex than i had originally thought going into this. To me there seemed like there was alot of symbolism in here, which some people have alot of trouble figuring out. To ... me the reason, or meaning behind touko eating books or stories was symbolism for her love. What i mean by this is that i think she always knew that her and inoue had a strong bond going beyond just being just friends. She would always gladly accept his "snacks", until she found out about miu. After that happened she no longer wanted anymore "snacks" from Inoue. To me it seemed like inoue and miu had more of a brother and sister kind of love, and not the romantic type. The ending going by what i think didn't seem out of place at all, although i can see how someone can interpret it as being out of place. Like much other anime on the last episode, or in this case the ending of the movie, if you stick around after the credits there is always something there. Im not going to ruin it, but i believe that inoue and touko are meant to be together.

Art- This anime had your pretty basic art style to it, nothing too flashy and nothing that feels awkward or out of place.

Sound- It seems to me that even if an anime is bad they atleast get the art and sound right. The music always seemed to fit the mood and it was never over the top or too mundane to notice.

Character- The cast of this anime are awesome. Miu in particular seems to me to be a bit more special than the others in the sense that she has a different personality than most anime characters. Can't exactly say why for fear of spoiling the story, but i will say that until the end of this amazing movie shes not exactly in the right state of mind.

Enjoyment- I really enjoyed this movie. It started off a bit weird, but as it went along things started to make more sense to me and i really started enjoying it after things sort-of kicked into gear.

Overall- Overall what i have to say is that if you like anime/movies that make you think, or if you like symbolism then you would like this anime. Even though they are nothing alike it sort-of reminds me of death note in the fact that you're always trying to decipher the story line and get the meaning out of it. If you like animes like that then this is definitely something you should watch. Only complaint is that i think it should be alot longer, like 12 24 min episodes like most anime and not just crammed into 1 hour and 40 mins.

At the end of the movie, I sat in my chair slack-jawed and thought “I was robbed.” Although other reviews will probably also labour this point I find it necessary that I do to. The reason I felt robbed was that I’m sure like many others I downloaded the film expecting the plot to be orientated around Amano Touko the “Bungaku Shoujo” herself. To my disappointment, it wasn’t. The fact that she ate books was, to put it bluntly, irrelevant. So be warned, if you haven’t seen this movie and are planning to download it because of the misleading trailer, you’re not going to get ... what you’re looking for.

Forgetting all preconceptions, this was a fantastic movie by itself. The intricate unraveling of the plot was nothing less than beautiful. The story starts off with a typical soft-spoken boy meets girl, girl drags boy in to join a club against boy’s own will (Erm… Haruhi anyone?) for the first 20 minutes. After which the story starts spiraling down into something much more tragic revolving around the boy and his past. I’m only able to give a synopsis pretty much exactly the same as MAL’s one without spoiling the story. I apologize for that. But just remember, “tragic” is the key word. I did find the story to be a bit overly melodramatic at times which was ever so slightly cringe-worthy but not so much that it stained my impression the anime.

The animation was superb, every scene was beautiful. It reminded me of “5 Centimeters per Second” and man, that’s one hell of a feat. As for the sound, the voice actors were great especially Miu. Oh my lord, it was the right choice to pick Aya Hirano for a yandere biatch. As for everyone else, you know when a particular voice just fits a particular character? Yeah, that was the case for all the characters here. I did find Inoue Konoha, our protagonist, to be bordering on melodrama all the time but I guess that’s a given for any serious anime of this genre.

Having read the plot summary of “Night on the Galactic Railroad” (a Japanese novel which is alluded throughout the movie) on Wikipedia after the film, I guess it would have been heck of a lot more enjoyable for Japanese viewers or those who were familiar with the story beforehand.

Reflecting back on it, was I really robbed? Yes. The misleading commercials and OVAs were the reasons I picked up this movie. But was I disappointed? Hell no. It was no masterpiece but the plot, the drama, the romance, the characters, the animation and the music were more than enough for emotional reimbursement.

So, I’d say, now that you are vaguely aware of the plot. Pick it up. Watch it. If you are a fan of the romance genre, you won’t be disappointed.


Just a tip: you might however want to read the plot summary of “Night on a Galactic Railroad” before you dip into this show.

Bungaku Shoujo (Literature Girl)

This movie for me has been a wonderful ride. At first I did not want to watch this movie as it seemed to be uninteresting. However, after careful consideration I decided to watch this movie. I am amazed by the storyline and the emotions that run through this movie adaption. The character designs are similar to Tsubasa Chronicle which made me jump on my seat even more. The voice actors were perfect for each character. An each character showed a side to them. I really liked this movie because I feel that what was in this movie is in each of us. ... I love to read books, not so much as Amano Touko, but I love books nonetheless. I like to create fanfiction and entertain people with my creation. This movie was a real inspiration for me and ills me to go and make my own choices and dream big. To not stop what I want to do, to not give up. I really enjoyed this movie, and I really hope that many hopefuls out there will surely enjoy this movie too.

When I found Bungaku Shoujo, or rather Literature Girl, I was expecting something completely different. Reading the synopsis really surprised me, and it wasn't anything I'd ever seen in an anime. Someone who ate books. Well, er, that's interesting, was my first thought.

Now I have far too many things to say about this anime, but I can't tell you that I was disappointed. The storyline was quite good at pulling at the heartstrings; though I do admit some actions taken I could not sympathize completely with, I still did enjoy this movie a lot. I do highly recommend you watch Bungaku Shoujo: Memoir first ... though, this movie will be way less enjoyable without it, in my opinion, as important details are revealed in the prequel, backstories and such you will no doubt require to fully savour this anime.
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Story: 8/10

I thought the story was quite good, actually. Though the title is a bit deceiving, as Tooko herself does not hold the biggest role or actually have a thorough examination of her character, I was not disappointed by this. It's very gripping despite the light hearted start, and I do admit I squealed quite few times during the interactions between Tooko and Inoue. Though I could not fully sympathize with Miu, (which surprised me since I'm a budding writer myself), I did understand the reasoning behind her actions for the most part. Even if they didn't seem like the most logical choice to me, it might've to her, in a desperate mindset.

Though it was a smidgen cheesy at times, it wasn't too much for me, thankfully.
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Art: 8/10

I have to say, the art for this anime really was quite breathtaking. I do admit that the expressions Inoue made sometimes really annoyed me, (I usually like that 'lips slightly parted with teeth showing thing' as I like to call it) and the shadowing on their faces was a bit odd at parts, but I don't have too many qualms for the art. I'm not an artist myself, so I can't criticize it too much. The skies drawn for this had to be my favourite though. They were just... beautiful. The sunsets, the starry skies, paired up with the music it was enough to send shivers down my spine, in a good way, of course. The pastel colours used for the backgrounds were quite pretty too.
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Sound: 10/10

I was extremely, extremely pleased by the OSTs for this anime. I'd have to say my favourite has to be Futari No Michi, it's simply... breathtaking. Sadness, that hint of hope, they all melt together to create such a lovely track. If you're looking for a sweet little instrumental to fall asleep to one night, I definitely recommend looking up one of the tracks from Bungaku Shoujo.

The voice acting was superb, and Aya Hirano did a fabulous job with Miu's voice. You could really feel the emotions beneath all that psychopathic screaming, and she did a great job of conveying Miu's feeling on verbal level. (Does that even make sense? OTL, first review, trying my best) Seeing Kana Hanazawa play Tooko surprised me, since I'm used to her being an incredible tsundere, as her most memorable performance for me was as Sharon Rainsworth in Pandora Hearts. I was also half surprised to see Mamoru Miyano here, is it just me or is this guy EVERYWHERE? But nonetheless, I thought all the voice acting was perfect, so paired up with the beautiful soundtracks and they've earned themselves a ten from me.
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Character: 7/10

This had to have been the biggest disappointment for me regarding this movie: that Tooko was left with a lot of unanswered questions. I don't mean that she had a lot of questions that needed answers, but I mean we did, as the audience. There simply just wasn't enough exploring done for her character, despite the fact that this movie was named after her. The fact that she ate books seemed pretty irrelevant to me as well, as there was no explanation on how eating paper was proper sustenance for a teenager, or rather any healthy human being. (Talk about weird diets nowadays...)

Other than that I don't have too many issues with this movie. Inoue was your typical sweet feminine boy, and Miu was the one who blamed everything on others. I almost tried watching this movie before watching Memoir, which I realize would've been a BIG mistake, as I probably would've:
1) Been severely confused.
2) Hated Miu a lot more than I should have.
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Overall/Enjoyment: 8/10 - 8/10

I'll probably rewatch this movie in a couple years or so, I think. It sticks, so it's not something I would rewatch a week or so after seeing it. But overall, I really enjoyed this. It was sweet, gripping, and it had me gritting my teeth angrily at some points. I got quite immersed in this lovely one hour, forty treat, and I recommend it fully if you're looking for a heartclench-er laced with a smidgen of cheese, jealousy and young love.

As I was looking for my next anime to watch I came across a little anime done by I.G simply known as "Book Girl". So I said why not and watched this film. For my 3rd review, I'll be looking at quite possibly my favorite anime film "Bungaku Shoujo".

[SPOILER FREE REVIEW]

STORY: 8/10
*Before I begin Bungaku Shoujo has 4 OVA's that are not entirely necessary to watch but will give you more information on the characters. I do recommend seeing them before the film.*
The story follows Konoha Inoue as he leads a seemingly normal life as a member of the Literary Club with Club President ... Touko Amano. Touko's only source of food or drink is to eat stories from books. She is not able to eat food or drink anything. Konoha's only job is to write stories for her to eat. I loved the way the story grew from how it started. I'll admit that this film starts off slow but it definitely grabs your attention the further you get into it.

CHARACTERS: 9/10
The characters ended up carrying this show all the way to the finish line. You've got your main character Konoha, his friends Nanase and Kazushi, and the best of all Touko. The characters are what drove this movie. The way they all were there for each other and how they developed was very well done. They were easily the best part of this film.

ART: 9/10
Production I.G has done it again. The character designs were perfect for this film and the background animation was superb. The movie gave off a 5 cm Per Second vibe with its animation.

SOUND: 8/10
The soundtrack was put together by Masumi Itō who has previously worked on anime such as Requiem for the Phantom and Canaan. It is a very good soundtrack. It utilizes the piano very well for sure. As for the voice acting, well, they certainly picked a cast of star studded actors. You've got Miyu Irino (Jintan from Anohana) Kana Hanazawa (Kobato from Kobato.) Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya from TMoHS) Mamoru Miyano (Okabe from Steins;Gate) Daisuke Ono (Sabastian from Black Butler) Aki Toyosaki (Yui from K-ON!) Nana Mizuki (Fate Testarossa from Nanoha) Shizuka Ito (Wilhemlmina from Shana) They all do a wonderful job.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10
OVERALL: 9/10
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I can't give enjoyment a 10 because the film does start off slow. I would recommend this film to anyone I come across because I do believe it to be that good. It is not perfect but it is held very high in my heart as one of the best anime films I've seen. It definitely left me sitting back with just a feeling of "wow that was amazing" after finishing it. This film is severely underrated on this site and that disappoints me. More people should see this movie. For similar anime I recommend the ever beautiful film 5 Centimeters per Second (or anything else by Makoto Shinkai for that matter) or the "ef" series.

A fateful encounter. Do you cherish it? Do you despise it? These encounters can change your life forever. Though they may not last eternally. "Bungaku Shoujo" is a simple 1 hour 40 minutes movie about a male protagonist who used to be a famous author. However, because of an incident, he vowed never to write again. Until he met a girl who eats book pages as snacks.

The story is as messed up as a girl eating book pages as snacks. Aside from the mysteries that I was unable to understand because I watched this when my brain wasn't fully functioning. The story overall gives ... us a small life lesson "Don't lose faith." . Other than that, this story is just on the same level as all those romance & shoujo anime I've seen. Mediocre - Satisfactory.

This is from 2010 so I can't really blame the art. It's watchable but I do find the art style a little not to my liking.

The sound is fine. No comment.

I like drama. But sometimes I hate it. When an anime twists that and this so the drama could become hot. I find that retarded. But I like it at times. Unluckily, I come to hate the drama of this show. Leading to my dislike of the characters and some character's developments. Other than this, I have nothing else to comment.

I guess I enjoyed this movie.

I recommend this to everyone who likes romance, mystery, drama and school if you're bored and pretty much have nothing else to watch. This will either :

Make you bored even more so you can finally pick a show to watch.

OR

Give you small motivation so you can finally pick a show to watch.

I picked up Book Girl and The Suicidal Mime on a whim and was shocked at how quickly I fell in love with the story. So of course half way through the book I started to research any info I could find and ran across the fact that Production I.G. did a movie based on the series. After finishing the first light novel I decided to give the movie a spin.

Having only read the fist light novel I can tell you this much. The movie it’s self has only a tiny small nod here and there at the first novel so if you think going ... into it that it’s based on the Suicidal Mime I will let you know now you are wrong.

With that being said I enjoyed the movie. I do feel I spoiled story aspects and character development that defiantly occurs later on passed the first novel but it can’t be helped given that the series has 20 novels worth of potential material. But if you plan to read the novels I’d suggest putting off the movie until you are several novels in.

That is not to say you won’t be able to understand the movie without reading the original novels. On the contrary the movie is easy to follow and highly enjoyable. But it comes off with that feeling that if you read the original novels you’d be able to appreciate and care for the characters more then the allotted hour and forty minutes can provide for you.

-- Bungaku Shoujo - Literature Girl --

This movie is about a boy and a girl. His name is Konoha Inoue and her name is Touko Amano. She is the Literature Girl and he was a writer.

The Literature Girl eats books. She does, because she loves reading books so much she wants to taste them. She can't eat anything normal.

Konoha was a writer. He stopped writing, because his childhood friend, Miu Asakura, got into a accident 2 years ago. He's blaming himself so much that he promised to write never again. But than he meat the Literature Girl.

Touko loves Konoha's ... story's and want to help him across his trauma so he can write again!
________________________________________

The protagonist of this movie is Konoha.
I recommend to watch the OVA first, called: 'Bungaku Shoujo Memoire', because you get to know Touko a bit better after that. It's only 3 episodes long. (20 minutes x 3)

Really ward to watch!! I cried really much, because it reminds me of myself^^

wow, what a movie...
This has to be the hardest piece of work to write a review on. For some it would be easy: why can't that psycho die already.
I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone who gets really involved with the characters or wants to watch a good romance. You'll hate it a lot. Even if you are someone who likes yandere characters for fun, this movie will still make you mad. I think it has a lot of to do with how the characters are paired. Imagine putting Menma and Yuno together with a boy who plainly lacks testosterone.
First of all, no ... normal person who wants to write an appealing love story would ever attempt to put those three types of people together. Having said that, I do admit that a story such as bungaku shoujo is not meant to be an appealing love story. Normally you would expect cherry blossoms trees in high school shoujo dramas, but in this you have magnolia trees. That's the first place where I realized this story won't follow the norms. I researched a little on this tree's meaning in the Japanese culture, and not to my surprise, it is associated with healing. I guess that can be assumed to be the central theme to this movie.
It's a beautiful theme, so if you can get over the wrong pairing of personalities, three forth of the story will be appreciated. I would have rated this movie higher if it weren't for the senseless ending. It was too sudden for the psycho to turn into a kindergarten teacher and the loyal puppy to wag its tail at someone else. It didn't make sense to me at all. Those types of people don't have revelations and reliefs that quickly.
But again, the majority half of the movie is very well told with a good pace. The characters themselves are pretty good too, especially the literature girl, and there is a good amount of mystery that will keep you interested.
If you are looking for something that looks normal and feels normal but just a tiny bit not quite right, give bungaku shoujo a try.
You might end up appreciate its (for the most part) beautiful narration. Production I.G. has adapted some seriously unique and beautiful novels. I still would classify this movie as one of them despite how much I regretted having seen it.

About halfway through the movie, I was PRAYING that the unhealthy codependency of Miu and Inuoe would be resolved. During the rooftop scene, I was losing my mind. I was like, "PLEASE don't portray this as romantic!" I'm glad that Miu's issues were resolved, and Inuoe found happiness elsewhere. Their relationship was so unhealthy, and I'm so glad that this wasn't portrayed as adorable dependency. Maybe I'm a sucker for a good and healthy relationship, but I was very happy with the ending. I gave 7/10 because it was REALLY drawn out and the art was meh. But the story itself was pretty good!

Reading all of those reviews, I've come to realise this movie is hated by many people, although it's loved my many many more, and that terribly saddens me as this is one of my all time faves.

If you came here looking for a movie about romance and the obstacles of finding your true love, you've come to the wrong place. This movie focuses on the burdens and twists of life, on the relationship of imperfect people and on loyalty.

The story gets a complete 10 from me, although I may say this just because I'm still riding on that high I get after seeing something ... beautiful. The story is about this girl who eats books instead of food, a literature girl, and her favourite author, a boy traumatized by his childhood friend from when she tried to commit suicide.

Characters, they get a ten too. The characters are relatable and realistic, sometimes pitiful and sometimes completely detestable. One thing I loved about this whole thing was the fact that the characters seemed to have feelings, Real life, twisted and dark feelings (I'm talking about you, Miu). I especialy ADORED the fact that the male lead, when his childhood love broke down, didn't say something like 'Well shit, I don't like her anymore anyways' and went running after his new love. He stuck with his childhood friend even when she got all terrible and jealous. He was just there for her, although she wasn't his love interest, thing that doesn't happen too often in animes. He was even ready to go with her into the galaxy, like Giovanni couldn't do to Campabela (that probably isn't the name) (SOB)

I must say I understand why people hate Miu. She's weak. But, eh, aren't we all?

I truly enjoyed watching this. If you want drama and depressing stuff, you came to the right place. Well, I'm still riding the high so everything I've said could've been exaggerated, but the movie must've done SOMETHING right to get a person so excited, right? ;)