Toshokan Sensou, or "Library Wars", has a plot that might make you raise an eyebrow or two. The show revolves around Iku Kasahara, a new recruit into the "Library Defense Force", and her imaginary "prince" that helped her as a high schooler. What is a "Library Defense Force"? Well think of it as a battle between the government trying to control media content and personal access to said content. The Library Defense force stands in between the government and this censorship.
Basically Kasahara is usually the one with high ideals protecting books and peoples rights towards them. Kasahara is usually seen around her roommate and friend Asako Shibasaki. Shibasaki was a great character in that she actually had sly wit to go with her amazing looks. Kasahara is defiantly more "tomboyish" compared to Shibasaki. Another key member of the task force is Atsushi Dōjō, Kasahara's commanding officer.
It's obvious from the start that Dojo is set up to be Kasahara's main interest professionally and personally. She immediately finds him to be mean due to his harsh training style and there is some comedic banter between the two of them in almost every episode. Over time the relationship thaws and Kasahara and Dojo gain mutual trust and feelings for each other. Other task force members include the "Mr. Perfect" Hikaru Tezuka, the "Nice Guy" Mikihisa Komaki, and the towering Ryūsuke Genda.
The group aspect works well and Komaki even has an OVA episode dedicated to him and his story. Speaking of story, sadly this is where I found myself disappointed. Blowing past the wacky premise I found myself wanting more episodes, more stories, more time with the Library Task Force crew. Perhaps that's selfish of me and the sign of a good show (wanting more of it that is...), but it felt like you were being handed cliff notes of a larger story. I understand that there is supplemental material in manga serializations and many light novel volumes to go with the animated series.
Of course I'm biased since I can't read kanji, so I have to go on what the series presents. Even with its short run the story does remain engaging and you grow to care about Kasahara and the crew. I particularly liked seeing her parents come to visit and Dojo actually making an attempt to help her. Other highlights include some decent firefights here and there along with some steady character development. Characters are fully flushed out and shown as you would expect them to be if you had the chance to actually meet them.
Much like Planetes, only reading the plot synopsis will leave you in the dark, possibly missing a great show. I went in admittedly expecting another Planetes (that's a good thing!) and came out happy. I'll hold off on the Tanabe/Kasahara comparisons for the moment. Library Wars is crisply animated with great characters and soundtrack, check it out.
Series Score: 4 out of 5
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