Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra

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Alternative Titles

English: Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra

Synonyms: Tatakau Shisho, Tatakau Shisho to Koisuru Bakudan, Fighting Librarians

Japanese: 戦う司書 The Book of Bantorra

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 27

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 2, 2009 to Apr 2, 2010

Premiered: Fall 2009

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: Geneon Universal Entertainment, Sakura Create, Atelier Musa

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: David Production

Source: Light novel

Genres: Action, Fantasy, Seinen, Super Power

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 7.32¹ (scored by 12,179 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score. Please note that 'Not yet aired' titles are excluded.

Ranked: #2359²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1717

Members: 44,871

Favorites: 168

7.32

Ranked #2359Popularity #1717Members 44,871

Fall 2009TVDavid Production

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Episodes: /27

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Synopsis

In a world where dead people turn into books and are stored in the Bantorra Library where anyone who reads a book can learn their past, Bantorra Library is maintained by Armed Librarians who wield psychic powers and their enemy is a religious society known as Sindeki Kyoudan.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Tatakau Shisho Series

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Meseta, Hamyuts

Main

Park, Romi
Japanese

Maruchie, Noloty

Main

Tomatsu, Haruka
Japanese

Balory, Mattalast

Main

Ookawa, Tooru
Japanese

Finder, Mirepoch

Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Macmani, Volken

Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi
Japanese

Tonies, Colio

Supporting

Irino, Miyu
Japanese

Byacornise, Shiron

Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako
Japanese

Bishilie, Enrique

Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi
Japanese

Rondohoon, Zatoh

Supporting

Hamada, Kenji
Japanese

Coozancoona, Ruruta

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

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Staff

Kawase, Kouhei

Producer

Shinohara, Toshiya

Director

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

Yamauchi, Shigeyasu

Episode Director, Storyboard

Edit Opening Theme

#1: "Datengoku Sensen (堕天國宣戦)" by ALI PROJECT (eps 1-16)
#2: "Seisai no Ripieno (星彩のRipieno)" by Sasaki Sayaka (eps 17-27)

Edit Ending Theme

#1: "Light of Dawn" by Annabel (eps 1-16)
#2: "Dominant Space" by Yuuki Aira (eps 17-27)

More reviewsReviews

Mar 21, 2010

27 of 27 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Mimi_Taylor (All reviews)

164 people found this review helpful

Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra has had a very strong divide among opinions this past season. I have seen many people praise this show in the anime blogosphere, while forum activists on big sites such as ANN criticize it to death. I’m sure there are many people in the middle who just don’t know what to think or are uncertain to try it. I hope that my review will clear some of that uncertainty away.

Story

Now here is something original. After a person dies, their memories turn into a stone tablet called a "book" that leaves their body to be read more

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Jul 22, 2011

27 of 27 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

InfiniteRhapsody (All reviews)

50 people found this review helpful

Story [9]
-Bantorra has very complicated story and is really serious with few funny moments. Sometimes its just hard to connect the story, but if you pay attention you will see that almost everything is properly explained. The end of the anime really pays off if you survived other arcs first.
-it is recommended that you watch it whole at once, if you can, if not, try not to make long hiatuses with this anime, cause it will be easier to remember some important stuff such as minor details that come in handy.
-As for the story itself, it has really unique ideas.

Art [8]
-The art was what read more

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Sep 30, 2016

27 of 27 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

Nervin (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

When it comes to settings of fictional pieces, Armed Librarians: the Book of Bantorra has certainly an interesting one: deceased people who turn into books, and librarians that keep those stored in the huge library of Bantorra. Although it has an intriguing story to show, its narrative is lackluster, never really knowing on what it wants to focus on. Don't get the wrong impression, it has some good story arcs alongside some endearing characters.

The anime focusses on the books as well as the armed librarians, people with psychic powers, tasked with retrieving and maintaining the huge archives. As it will, it is not that simple: an organisation by the name of Sindeki Kyoudan thwarts the librarians because of opposing ideologies. The integrants of said organisation strive becoming the best and most valuable books by achieving maximum happiness, what basically boils down to doing whatever one pleases, including homicide. In essence, armed librarians exist to counter said party.

The whole anime is divided is several small arcs, ranging from background stories of the main cast, to people affected by the divide between the two powers. An example would be the "Meat", who are mindless humans turned into bombs. It shows audiences the various powers, the effects of books on the population, as well as exposing the reason of the library including some of the characters. However, when taking a closer look to the structure of the narrative, in addition to some of the arcs provided, it is quite messy.

First of all, some of the plots introduced are carefully executed, just to be resolved in a matter of episodes with arguably weak conclusions that do not live up to the quality of the build-up episode(s). Other problem is the sparse introduction of plot lines, just to be left aside to suddenly pop up again much later. A non linear narrative is not an issue on its own, yet when done with little to no coherence, it just leaves confusion in the viewer on the reason of such approach. Finally, the conclusion of the series is rather underwhelming, where it simply culminates into a cluster of battles with a rather poor explanation on the existence and reasons of some of the mysteries surrounding the lore of that world.

As for the characters of Armed Librarians, it is as a whole rather generic and uninteresting to the exception of a few, despite having a large cast of characters. The cast can be easily described by their personalities: the one blinded in self justice, a strict person, the incredibly person, a battle hungry killing machine, a lady-killer, you name it. The main problem is that most characters are either left unexplored or are too one-dimensional to feel any interest in them.

Naturally, there are some exceptions; for instance there is long hair Enrique whose struggle with his destiny as a "Meat" has interesting consequences to his character, as well as providing development as a person. Volken is another example, although it offers interesting points to the main plot, as a character he is wasted. Then there is the strongest librarian of all, the killing machine Hamyuts Meseta, who receives some fleshing out explaining her nature, albeit being a bit uninspired; but hey, it can be very entertaining watching a woman kick ass as she does, and that with a simple sling.

The animation was overall well executed with fluent battle scenes in addition to some great backgrounds. Character designs are not too generic providing a nice change to the usual ones, although in some occasions some discrepancies could be found when viewed from different angles. As for the soundtrack used, it is as whole matching with the anime, yet not outstanding. The same could be said about the voice actors, although in some cases they managed to convey ones personality in a great manner.

Armed Librarians: the Book of Bantorra was overall an enjoyable watch, with intriguing small arcs, where sadly the structure of the narrative as well as the somewhat aimlessly story were the main reasons for a lesser experience. It offered some interesting characters, alongside a nice setting. Although personally it is not a great anime, it surely is entertaining enough, and thus recommended to anyone with some spare time, and not swayed by the messy narrative.

Thank you reading.

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Aug 13, 2010

27 of 27 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

MikeOnHighway61 (All reviews)

14 people found this review helpful

A big breasted well tanned mature beauty wearing a half opened shirt posing in a quite lascivious manner with a pearl white grin on her face. Yeah, right, you watch this show because of the deep characters and the exciting and intelligent story, don't ya?

-> Exactly.

- The Story:
The Book of Bantorra features a whole new world full of superpowers and complex rules and organisations surrounding the endless battle for happiness and salvation at Heaven's door. And the best thing is: it does not tell you a thing. This show is NOT something you can just watch without paying attention. If you want to take a dive into the Armed Librarians' world you have to stay focused and think about what you see. The anime gives you the puzzle, but it demands you to place it yourself. Doing that, Book of Bantorra, unlike Serial Experiments Lain or other complex works, never really leaves you in the dark, but gives you just the information you need to deduce for yourself. Every single story arc is presented in a very intriguing manner, introducing multilayered characters and creative scenarios, dealing with the dark secrets the world of Bantorra contains.

- The Atmosphere:
If you are willing to follow the show's lead, take all the info you get and try to figure out all the untold stuff, you will find yourself drawn in by the group called "The Armed Librarians" and its many interesting members. You will get to know characters who seemed unlikeable at first, understand their motives and soon you will get emotionally attached to them (although it really takes time in some cases). The tension that is created here is pretty high, because the show features a certain degree of realistic and merciless violence towards the show's characters. In most cases, death is abrupt and unpredictable, so you're always reminded of the fact that your heroes and heroines may be able to use super powers but are not immortal.

- The Design:
As I hinted at the beginning, some of the characters' designs are quite questionable. Looking at the show's main character, Hamyuts Meseta, I'd say her design may be quite deterrend for people looking for a serious anime instead of some breast bouncing ecchi show, because she NEVER buttons her shirt and there are more than a few shots on her decollete etc. BUT, despite having a body Shirley Yeager would be envious of, Hamyuts Meseta is a very intense character and her design (and those of other female characters here), which seems to originate from some puberty dream, only contrasts her complex character and history. As for the rest of the crew, there are some other strange costume designs like brash colored uniforms or medieval-esque fantasy magician coats, but, after watching a couple of episodes you will get used to the shows strange design style.

- The Final Conclusion:
There are many many popular anime series out there, scoring their 10/10 points every now and then, only containing a fraction of Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra's ingenuity and dramatic resourcefulness, deep characters and wonderful scenarios. This is one of the many very underrated and unfortunately unpopular anime series here on MAL, probably due to its complexity and challenging narration style which does not feed you chewed for cake.

Update:
I've been thinking a lot about how the show ended, because I had my problems with the way they did it. Don't want to spoiler anything, but I have to add that there are a few plot lines forgotten along the way, while the ending itself felt a little inappropriate in terms of style. That's why I'll downgrade Tatakau Shisho to 9/10.

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Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra

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