Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra

I really don't find a lot of old anime which are "hidden gems" that actually end up being hidden gems. Book of Batorra is certainly on that short list of shows that end up being good.
What can I say, I really had no expectations for a random anime I've never heard about released in 2009. It's a 7/10 only because of its age and because it had a pretty bad concluding arc, but honestly, I'd rate everything up to the cerulean war to be an 8/10+. Let's go on the short list of bad things. The animation sucks. The age shows. There is basically no ... good fight scene, and in the fights that happen, none are a very satisfying back and forth, but rather many techniques to conserve animating fight choreography is used, such as weird camera angles, a close up of the punch and then the "hit effect" with the enemy getting knocked back, etc etc. Characters look fine for sure, and the backgrounds, sometimes are actually good. But the fights, yeah, nothing to write home about. Like I said before, the concluding kind of was something that DBZ would do, with a psuedo genki dama in play. Overall, a pretty garbage arc, but I won't spoil it other than that, but essentially, random powers are thrown into the mix in order for the good guys to win, that's basically all I can say.
Everything else is very good. I really liked the story. When I think of old magic show plots, they tend to be very linear, something like Orphen, Shakagan no Shana or Zero no Tsukaima. What can I say, Bantorra does a great job from transitioning small, worldbuilding arcs that flesh out both the character and give a great introduction into the world before big plot events happen. This flawless transition allows you to experience the climax arcs with characters you understand and good worldbuilding. Everything makes a lot of sense. And it's really these individual arcs that I love. Colio Tonies's arc...wow. It's just a perfect way to introduce the books into the story while also having characterizing the main cast of characters. The way that the books are used in a lot of these plot arcs are super interesting. Books are a major part of the plot from the beginning to end, and there are so many different ways they can be used. All the way from using as a drug, brainwashing, erasing memories, influencing the future, and the book eating powers, they're all interesting ways to use something that seemingly is just a catalyst for memories. I really love the Colio Tonies arc, Renas Enlike arc, Volken arc, and the Mokkania arc for how interesting their stories are, as well as how books get used. I'd say that these arcs really show a different perspective on things and how books are used to peoples' benefit. The other arcs, whether it be just boring plot or perhaps fast pacing, one way or the other, didn't click as well as those ones. That being said, there were no real weak arcs still, and all of these individual character arcs are all well made
I'm going to re-iterate, but it's just so satisfying seeing some arcs focused on individual missions and characters, and that transitioning to more large world-focused events. Sure, perhaps the cerulean arc wasn't the best, and the concluding arc just sucked, but at least the Volken and meat arc was very well done.
Like I said before, characters are well made just because there's a lot of time put into their characterization through the use of individual missions. These individual missions also are interesting in themself due either because of the plot details at hand, or you're just invested in that character and you want to know what happens next and how they overcome or do not overcome some adversity. Hamyuts, for all the time she's given, is sort of an enigma all the way to the end of the story, and even then, well, let's just say she wasn't the most well written character. That being said, whatever, she wasn't bad. I'm still kind of confused how she's considered the strongest in the world. What does she have? Super strength and stone pellets?? I was just so confused even to the end of the story at how Mokkania, who by the way, beat her even when she had a relic of the past, Enlike, who was magic and super regeneration and strength, and even Volken are considered not her match. Kind of weird.
Other things to note is that since this is a 10 volume novel being adapted into a 27 episode series, 26 if we're being honest since one of them is a recap episode, there are pacing issues. This is much more evident in the second half of the show. Some individual mission arcs just don't feel right, with a lot of exposition and plot happening at a quick pace, like Minth's arc, but oh well, what do you expect? The finale arc, I suspect is also crammed as well, not that a piece of garbage final arc becoming a less piece of garbage final arc really matters that much. If the plot details are the same, it's bad all the same. There are a few plot twists, some interesting, and some less interesting. I don't really think that it was even necessary for plot twists to happen, but whatever. It doesn't really add or subtract from the good story. This would have still been a good story without any plot twists.
A disappointing ending, pacing issues, and bad fight animations warrant a drop in score, but overall, I'm overwhelmingly satisfied with this show.

I just create an account to tell about how this anime was fair good until the last 4-5 chapters.

No sense at all, I´m not telling that I didn´t understand the end, no, the problem is the end is bad, very bad, and the creators should feel bad about it.

I recommend the Anime?
Im not sure, I enjoy lot of the plots, but I was expecting that the plot was consistent, but there is no sense, there is a lot of intrigue, drama and story, and then in the last 5-6 chapters they turn all around and start with other different story, a lot of the plots ... suddenly are useless, new characters appears with no explanation (except 2 mins of "this is it, open your mouth, eat it and shut the fuck up"), characters appears to have new "powers", gods become useless, I don´t know.

this is not as bad as the new Evangelion films, but pretty close.

I've decided to drop The Book of Bantorra after watching five episodes. I had to force myself to watch 5 episodes.
Story. What story? Where? Oh yeah. There are some books which are actually remnants of dead people's lives. Kuroshitsuji? Tsubasa Chronicle (not the main story, of course)? I just had a problem with seeing why these books are so important that there exists an elite class within the society that protects them from some funky organization with an idiotic name and random beasts roaming around the library itself. Maybe there's some enlightement after the 5th episode, but I really don't care. Why am I not ... curious enough to find out?
There is not a single thing by which this anime stands out. It doesn't even suck enough for me to be curious about how much more it can suck. The art is ok. The characters are a bit less than ok, but not too bad. Mirepoc, Volken and Matt seemed fairly interesting, but not enough.
As you probably noticed, the two words I would use to describe this anime is "not enough".