Story:
The story format is episodic. This means that while there is a lot of diversity in tone and feeling, inevitably episodes will be hit or miss depending on their chosen subject. Some episodes really caught my interest while in others I was constantly hitting the pause button so I could go do some important stuff like watch cat videos on my Internetz.
Everything in this show has to do with books. Magical books that have some weird superpowers. This is a nice concept and I would have been very pleased to see it delivered with more gothic subtlety and psychological horror stuff. Instead, most of the time the writers are pulling shit out of their asses that looks like it was googled on the spot and then put in the blender. I have to give them credit, though, for presenting this random hodgepodge of ideas and names as though it was actually true.
I guess the worst thing about this show is that it is so ridiculously over the top and crams so much corny stuff when a more subtle approach would have worked wonders for it.
Characters:
Dalian: is a tsundere loligoth who loves reading and being snotty to others. She also has a magical lock on her chest, which makes for a pedo-creepy, sexual sequence that I guess the creators thought looked really cool but is actually pretty dumb. Anyway, Dalian is the keeper (one of the keepers? I don't know, I'm confused) of a mystical library of magic books. I must say, the most that can be said for her is that she is not as annoying as she first appears to be. But she is pretty annoying. Weak, too. She can neither fight nor cast any spells. To reduce the annoyance factor I suggest putting the magical lock on her mouth. Nothing interesting comes out of it anyway.
Huey McDuck: (demons in hell, who had the brilliant idea of naming this guy? I’ll just call him McDuck) is the generic male lead who does all the legwork. Aside from getting beaten up, shot at and drinking tea—which are all activities I enjoy watching characters do—there is nothing interesting about him. He is such a basic, unshaped mould of a character that he feels as bland as raw flour.
Random episodic characters: to make up for the lameness of the main pair there are a bunch of interesting side characters making random appearances. I just realised that the episodes I liked the most focused on these other characters, like the guy burning the books and his sidekick in a straightjacket. Or the perky cosplaying heiress. Once again we have a show where the side characters are much more interesting than the leads. I suspect this is some kind of trolling trend in Japan. Along with frozen highschoolgirl panties or whatever.
Animation:
This has the sort of glossy animation that's become popular recently. To save money, the studio used filtered photographs for backgrounds. It has a slightly jarring feel to it but nothing as eye-gouging as badly done CG.
The thing that bugged me most about the animation was the style used at “magic” moments. Often, the visuals are totally inappropriate to the mood and setting. Enough with the stupid energy bolts and Technicolor seizure graphics! This ain't Power Rangers, dammit! Instead of going for dark, gothic and discreet they ruin the atmosphere and buildup with that wacky stuff. Hey, should I be expecting Ichigo to pop up with his new Bankai?
Sound:
The soundtrack is quite competently put together. It has a sort of melancholy choir vibe going for it and a kind of music box tune. The people working on this knew where to put it to good use, that's for sure.
OP: a quite pretty and atmospheric ballad that ties in nicely with the graphics. In fact, it makes you believe you're about to watch a much better show. Ha! Joke’s on you!
ED: some weird live-action sequence. I don't really like live-action in my anime so I never bothered to watch it to the end. I doubt it was something stellar though.
Overview:
It was a semi-chore to sit through this easily forgettable show. The best time to view it is when you're home and you are so bored out of your skull you have nothing better to do. Maybe some lazy Sunday afternoon. Not even loligoth fetishists would vote for this.
