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Sep 13, 2011 9:17 AM

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Aug 2008
2085
One only needs to look at the animation style to know they're inside a book. Pretty obvious stuffs.

And lol at OP. Ugly version of Nausicaa.
Sep 13, 2011 8:10 PM

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Jul 2010
718
Huey: Dalian, why are they here? Are they running away from the barrier around the printing workshop?
Dalian: No, the insects are not that clever.

Holy crap, so Dalian can say no? That right there makes the episode good enough for me. XD
Sep 14, 2011 2:24 AM

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Oct 2010
9900
I find this episode to be intriguing with its art and was not sure if I was watching exactly the same anime for some time until I figured it out eventually near the end. I did find it weak in the storyline. I mean spending a whole episode to show the world of a book and the problem of insect eating the story of a book. Well first of all those must be mythical insect because I know of only insect that eat paper. I find Dalian in the following,

to be cute and funny. Simply because her art is different and of her expression.

I would have to say that Ira,

is most charming and cute there with her blush. The light makes it nicer in that part.

Interesting notions:
  • Dalian mentions at the beginning of the episode that they are approaching the Michaux fortress. This is probably referring to Henri Michaux, a Belgian / French writer and artist. In case you thought Dantalian’s artwork became a masterpiece in this episode, it didn’t: all the pictures in this post are pieces by Michaux. Also, note the bug-like objects in Michaux’s art.

  • The book Huey read mentions Abdul Alhazad, who is probably Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab, author of the Necronomicon in the Cthulhu Mythos.

  • Continuing the Arabic theme, we have Suleiman, the Arabic name of King Solomon, who hosts a court of…

  • Djinn. In particular we have three types: Marid, associated with the sea, Ifrit, particularly strong Djinn, and the Shaitan, unbelieving and hideous Djinn similar to the devil. It also mentions the Cabicaj, but I couldn’t find anything about them.
Overall it was the worst I would think. They should have spent half the episode one book and the other on another one. It would be more varied. Maybe more later.

BTW Image Stitches in the spoiler
and that tower looks just plain creepy.
Yumekichi11Sep 16, 2011 12:54 AM

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Sep 14, 2011 8:06 PM

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May 2010
8126
Entertaining
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Sep 15, 2011 8:12 AM

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Aug 2008
2035
The art for this episode was awful. Just awful. Please don't ever do this again. I think the worst part was when they drew the bugs' faces up close. Did anyone catch how ridiculously stupid and silly the bugs' faces were?

Dalian's "No" made the episode for me.

Thanks, person who gave me this on another site a long time ago, lol.
Sep 17, 2011 7:12 PM

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Oct 2010
201
I didn't think of Nausica specifically, but I felt like we had suddenly stepped into a Miyazaki story the moment Ira the Sage was introduced.

Lots of naysayers here. I liked this episode.
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Sep 17, 2011 7:40 PM

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Nov 2007
3362
that was a boring episode, and the animation sucked.

major meh.

seemed like pointless filler.
Sep 20, 2011 9:59 AM

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Aug 2010
176
Gainax..............
Sep 23, 2011 10:49 PM

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Apr 2009
4301
Iilia said:
Dalian: No, the insects are not that clever.

Holy crap, so Dalian can say no? That right there makes the episode good enough for me. XD


It was the first time I heard her say "No" as well.

The animation surprised me at first but it made sense at the end.
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Sep 26, 2011 1:41 PM

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Sep 2010
1133
Kinda weird, but it was not all that bad. I still don't think this series is going anywhere with Gainax doing like this, especially a better introduction of the other two yomihime. I think this series calls for more episodes, and maybe some other studio too. I just don't like Gainax's way of adaptation, though I'm starting to enjoy it a bit.
About the art from this series overall: I think Gainax fails hard at the animation of this show because it happens too often that objects only exist of 2D layers, that's not really the problem, but they also did care too less for the placing of them. It sometimes just look like paper figures in a cardboard box and changing the viewpoint from it, pretty lame if you ask me, especially when they have enough budget and the drawings themselves are pretty good. A missed chance.
Sep 27, 2011 10:43 AM

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Aug 2009
2555
This was a very nice episode, I digged the art style.
Oct 17, 2011 10:16 PM

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Jul 2010
2370
isnt it about time they went to the main plot, if there was one?


Oct 19, 2011 3:15 AM

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Jun 2011
1028
I thought I watch the wrong anime when I watch this one.

"Ira the Eyebrow" =) laughed at this part
Oct 26, 2011 6:50 PM
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Jan 2009
2
This thread is depressing.

Osamu Kobayashi's contribution to the art was unique and beautiful. This episode has the highest quality direction in the entire series, and far from making the episode pointless, the ending reveals it as a great metaphor about the importance of storytelling.
One of the best episodes, if not the best.
Nov 4, 2011 7:17 PM

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Jul 2009
139
The art style of this episode reminded me somewhat of Kemono no Souja Erin.
Dec 20, 2011 5:48 PM

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Mar 2008
768
Glorified filler episode with a pointless art shift.
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Apr 10, 2012 2:56 AM

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May 2008
5090
That was kinda weird. The draawing totally changed and i went what. But then they said they went into the book and i went what? when did they enter the book? it had no explanation leading to it. And i kinda got confused oh well. so you can take books out of a book thats nice.

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May 10, 2012 6:34 PM

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May 2010
1453
Chrad said:
This thread is depressing.

Osamu Kobayashi's contribution to the art was unique and beautiful. This episode has the highest quality direction in the entire series, and far from making the episode pointless, the ending reveals it as a great metaphor about the importance of storytelling.
One of the best episodes, if not the best.


Thank you. Not only was it obviously intentional, but it was executed with style. The way they perfectly shifted their character designs to seamlessly fit into the new art style while retaining the same personality was impressive, and some of those scenes were really well drawn (for example, that castle). I find it interesting how they did just key frames in some sequences too. Sure, you can claim they were trying to save budget, but the effect was to make it feel old-school and it worked really well. It actually made me nostalgic and now I want to watch something from the 70's.
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Aug 17, 2012 3:32 AM

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Aug 2010
2112
I liked the art in the episode much more than the story, but that has never been the strong point of this show. 3/5.
Jan 30, 2013 10:24 PM
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Mar 2009
2460
So apparently they now have the power to go INTO books? What the shit? And the bookworms manifested in the story themselves as bugs that eat the denizens? Lolwut.

I got to say, this episode kind of sucked. And again, why the fuck do characters in a story know about Dalian and the Phantom Books?
Feb 4, 2013 3:16 PM

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Jun 2012
6493
Kind of felt like I was watching a studio Ghibli film.
Jul 20, 2014 1:29 AM

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Apr 2010
1213
Major what the hell episode. Didn't enjoy it, not even one bit.
Sep 18, 2014 9:18 AM

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Aug 2013
5420
Meh.
This episode was OK
But art style was disgusting.
Dub = fake crap. Always.
Jan 24, 2015 9:53 PM

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Feb 2012
445
Great episode, with good direction and beautiful visuals. I wish there would be a whole show looking like this.

I also start to hate the MAL userbase with a burning passion as they always start to bitch and whine whenever something doesn't follow the usual tropes and styles 100%. I'll never get how people can be so full of themselves that creativity feels like an insult to them.
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Jun 2, 2015 12:54 PM

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Jun 2010
1396
HawthorneKitty said:
I ಠ_ಠ'd for like forever.


Me too, but I still liked the art It's own way. Boring story but watchable.
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May 30, 2016 7:09 PM

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Jul 2013
41
Chrad said:
This thread is depressing.

Osamu Kobayashi's contribution to the art was unique and beautiful. This episode has the highest quality direction in the entire series, and far from making the episode pointless, the ending reveals it as a great metaphor about the importance of storytelling.
One of the best episodes, if not the best.


THIS.
The series is forgettable. But this episode was so beatiful it showed how talented the creators are.
I don't know how people can be so spoiled to see it as "disgusting" or "orrible", quoting few words. Not only the art was great, but also all the writing and the directory behind it were exceptionally qualitative.
May 7, 2017 9:15 PM

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Aug 2015
984
I liked the artistic change in this episode, better than the regular art.

Wonder if they literally entered the books Inception-style to fumigate them or it the episode was just a metaphor for fumigation, but it was a more interesting concept for an episode than some previous episodes.
Jun 22, 2017 9:11 PM
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Mar 2016
41
I don't mind seeing weird art styles and stuff like in anime directed by Yuasa or Shinbo.
However, Dantalian no Shoka is not supposed to be one of those fedora tipper anime.
I didn't want it to be Kino no Tabi-tier kino. I wanted it to be a cliché-filled chuuni LN adaptation with a cute girl as its protagonist, no different from Index or Chaika. That's why this episode disappointed me so much. This anime isn't even deep or anything. It's just Book-shishi. This kind of artstyle doesn't fit with this anime's theme and plot.
zenketsuzenryokuJun 22, 2017 9:21 PM
Jun 17, 2020 5:03 AM

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Aug 2012
480
Finally this drab series has an intresting episode. Problem is now I wish the whole show was like this episode...oh well.
Apr 20, 2021 6:57 AM
Shalltear

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Apr 2018
34441
It was a bit boring to be honest but I like how they changed the style to fit the book!
May 9, 2022 2:25 PM

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Sep 2018
2282
I liked the art style in this one, it was much better than "let's put this blobby video game filter over everything, there now it looks like a painting" style of the rest of the show.

Story wise though, this show seems very very confused as to what it wants to be and each proceeding episode seems to highlight that fact more and more.

BlaizeV said:
Finally this drab series has an intresting episode. Problem is now I wish the whole show was like this episode...oh well.


The story was not much different from other episodes, the only difference was the art style and the silly premise of going into a book to... fix termites damage?...
but then again most of the episodes have plotlines that get silly towards the end.
KristiwazhereMay 9, 2022 2:34 PM
Jan 15, 2023 3:47 AM

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Aug 2018
8349
best episode yet. the Kemono no Souja Erin artstyle at first I had me thinking it was one of those low budget episodes but the next second I realized they were inside a book. The art and direction in this was brilliant. But once again, as usual with this frustrating show; this story was too big to fit into just one episode.

Also it must be said the commentary on this episode is full of dumb-dumbs who can't appreciate art. Y'all really should just stick to your naruto and your trashy romcom girlfriend simulators.

epidemia78Jan 15, 2023 3:59 AM
Apr 22, 3:00 PM

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Dec 2022
5312
Huey and Dalian can manifest themselves in fiction books too? Interesting switch in direction and artstyle for this episode.


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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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