Anime Hajime Review: Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai

Series Synopsis

There's a rumor going around the prestigious Shiomi Academy. Looking out for the students and their happiness is a mysterious, and some might even say omnipresent guardian known as the Shepard.

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Preferring to be off by himself, Kyotaro Kakei (voiced by Junji Majima) is the sole active member of Shiomi Academy’s Library Club; an arrangement he prefers since it has given him a quiet place to read. Although tending to stay out of people’s business, Kyotaro has always had a keen intuition, almost to the point of predicting the future. One day, he foresees a sudden train derailment that will result in the death of one of his fellow students.

Sure enough, an accident does occur, but Kyotaro’s actions saved the life of Tsugumi Shirasaki (voiced by Madoka Yonezawa). Later that day, Tsugumi heads over to the library to thank Kyotaro and asks him to join her project that will make people happy. Normally, such a thing wouldn’t interest Kyotaro, but he takes up the challenge after receiving a message from the Shepard.

His once peaceful reading room now gone, Kyotaro becomes a central figure in Tsugumi’s mission to better Shiomi Academy. Along the way, their group continues to grow larger and larger, and their
reputation quickly grows.

However, the ever gazing eye of the Shepard looms over them; silently guiding the Library Club to its fate.

Series Positives

For those of you keeping track at home, this is the second anime I have looked at that involves a library in some significant way; but this one's a lot better.

I’m really glad that Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai is good because it reminded me that harem anime based on adult visual novels doesn’t always mean crap. I didn’t have high expectations, especially once I learned of the source material, but what I got was something that was surprisingly a lot of fun.

The core of what makes this a good show, and what makes any good harem anime, is a strong lead character. It's clear why Kyotaro would be able to get a lot of admirers. He’s kind, thoughtful, and is always there to help out his friends whenever they need him the most. In lesser harem stories, the main character gets all the affection simply because they are the main character; little to no effort is put into making them interesting. Yet it's more enjoyable when the lead is likable.

Everything this show gets right is because of this and it appears that some thought and effort was put in to making it so.

Progression

When this series starts it’s more or less your typical affair. It’s good for what it is, but it was hard to imagine it going anywhere. Daitoshokan goes through all the motions; accidental fondling, rampant misunderstandings, pseudo sexual arm twisting, your standard stuff really. The only thing a little out of the ordinary was the mystery behind the Shepard’s identity, which doesn’t last long since it’s revealed at the end of the first episode.

Initially I thought this was a huge mistake since we were given the answer to a question that could easily carry a series. I soon realized that I was focusing on the wrong question. It wasn’t who the Shepard is, but what does the Shepard do? That answer doesn’t come until much later and there’s actually a lot more going on than what we were initially lead to believe.

I’m not entirely sure when it happened, perhaps when we learned more about the Shepard, but by the time this series ended I was in fully invested mode. I can't recall the last time a harem anime had me hooked. The last few episodes I was on the on the edge of my seat. It was tense, happy, a little sad, and all around solid. It's one of many great moments that make up this show.

I remember one scene that was particularly well done. Without going into too much detail, the situation involves the possibility of Kyotaro going away. When Tsugumi realizes that’s what’s happening, she gets scared. The fear expressed was a unnerving because of how dead on accurate it was. 

The only reason this scene was a good as it was, was because of the effort the show spend building the foundation for it. Had it only happened, like it would have in other harem shows, it would have been just been another throw away freak out scene without any weight or memorability.  

This show does have sexual moments and doesn’t shy away from them. But there's a story with characters and that was always first and foremost; which goes into my next point.

Well Balanced

There are two aspects to what I am talking about.

The first is the balance between funny and serious. This show is cute humor and there were many times it got a strong laugh out of me. With that, there were also moments which had me either feeling down or tense. These two tones usually worked together and didn’t ruin the atmosphere set by the other; with the exception of one instance that was extremely heavy handed, vague, and I hope what I think happened didn’t.

The second, and to me the more important, were the sexual moments.

Daitoshokan’s eroge routes are plain as day and it would have been so easy to make that the sole focus of the series. There are times, especially in the beginning, that are a little much, but I know of way worse. In reality, the show only goes as far as wet t-shirts, skimpy clothes, and boob physics; there are no awkward and unnecessary panty shots.

However, it wasn't because Daitoshokan didn’t go extreme that made it balanced. Sexy was never the focus, a story that was engaging and characters that were interesting were. Everything else was what it should always be; bonus.

The kind of content in this show is similar to what was in Majikoi; which if you don't remember, I didn't care for. The difference, if you took away the pretty girls and big boobs from Majikoi, you’re not left with anything. Daitoshokan doesn’t have that problem.

Anime can get stupidly ridiculous with eroticism and that in itself is not the problem. It’s a gimmick and should stay as such. That’s why it’s refreshing when something like Daitoshokan, that has this kind of stuff, comes along, but it doesn’t over power the things that are most important.

Series Negatives

This is a show that should be watched in one sitting. It flows much better if you go episode by episode. The same is not true if you need to take break in order to go to bed because you need to get up in the mourning since you’re an adult and you really shouldn’t be watching anime at 2:00 A.M.

The transition from episode to episode does have a tendency to underplay or not fully deliver on a last minute reveal. Things like a love confession, past revelation…a sudden kiss, they're big important events when they happen, but in the next episode they’re simply things that occurred.

Magic

I did not think that there was going to be mysticism in this show, but there was.

The existence of these other worldly powers, I don’t have a problem with; quite the opposite in fact. It’s another thing that adds depth to the story and characters. For something that came out of nowhere, it turned out to be one of the more interesting parts of the series.

The problem is that it came out of nowhere.

There were always hints that something odd was going on, but magic? Okay I guess. The introduction of this could literally have happened anywhere so it’s almost impossible to say if it showed up too early or too late. Regardless, there was no lead in, no warning, simply “here you go, deal with it”.

Again, thankfully it worked out and actually had a reason to be part of the story.

Final Thoughts

I said it before, but I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai. Then through most of the first episode I thought that it was probably going to okay; nothing special. However, it turned out to be something really good.

For a harem anime, it’s maybe one of my favorites because it’s a perfect example that shows that this kind of anime can work if used correctly. The story is interesting, the characters are fun, and it’s funny, sad, and well balanced. It manages to have sexy but it doesn’t go overboard to the point where it becomes overtly ridiculous.

This one genuinely surprised me and is totally worth a look.

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