Recently in Book Club Category

The weekend of St. Patrick’s Day, I attended a local convention. It was awesome, I got my relaxation on, and I was really looking forward to coming back to this website with some newfound energy and pep. Of course, all my best-laid plans seem to go awry, and the following Monday I ended up on my back with a terrible fever. Since then, the mystery flu has torn its way through the Silver-Frederiksen household like a tornado, and my husband is currently suffering its ill-effects. Awesome. With less than a month to go before an upcoming convention (where I’m saddled with several important responsibilities), it’s not really how I wanted to be wasting away my time.

The upside, though, is that we’ve finally gotten to my favorite episode in this anime series. It might seem kind of depressing to be peaking in the middle of the show, but I don’t necessarily look at it like that. The show overall has much more story to tell, but this is the episode that hits me the hardest in the feels box. I think that those of you who have been watching along will really enjoy the new perspective that you’ll gain on Filicia after you get done with this episode.

Watch episode 7 HERE.

Episode 7: Chirping Crickets – Spirits Down the River

The people of Seize are preparing for a festival particular to Southern Helvetia. Kanata calls it Obon, and it involves the creation of paper lanterns which help guide the spirits of visiting ancestors back to the land of the dead. As the festival approaches, Filicia recalls her days as a young soldier. Her experience in direct combat with the enemy, as well as her unlikely survival and rescue, weigh heavily on her as the other girls talk about the spirits of the dead and prepare their lanterns. Filicia elects not to reveal her true preoccupation to Rio, but instead decides to find meaning in what some might claim is now a hopeless, meaningless life during the decline of human civilization.

Well, it's been an interesting last couple of weeks, that's for sure. Without going into too much detail about my personal life, my job has been extra-stressful. I took a class, which was rewarding but required a lot of work and really tested my social anxiety to its limits (I had to do some public speaking in front of a group). That, plus a presentation, plus some out-of-the-ordinary circumstances all added up to a really crappy time. My mind would race at work, and while I'd be concentrating on my job, I'd also be thinking about all the things I wanted to write here when I got home. Then I'd get home and end up being too exhausted to think clearly. It's been really frustrating and depressing. Also not the best of circumstances considering that I have to put together several hours of material on last year's anime and manga for a con coming up, and I'm so behind on watching it that the amount of work I have to do is incredibly intimidating.

But that's enough about me.

I've convinced my Sunday evening anime group to check this series out, and I'm glad; it's really a much better show than it might seem at first glance and I'm excited for more people to watch it.

Watch Episode 6 HERE.

Episode 6: Kanata's Day Off - Hairdressing

With her first paycheck, Kanata goes out for the day to buy gifts for her family (and perhaps also a treat for herself). She doesn't bother asking herself where a small platoon out in the middle of nowhere would get cash enough to pay her, which is just fine; as it turns out, her comrades run a bit of a side business bootlegging alcohol. They get into some hot water with a group of mobsters, but some clever play acting throws them off for the time being. In the meantime, Kanata spends some time in town, and gets involved in some drama involving a local orphan named Mishio and her guardian at the church, Yumina. Mishio's sadness is due to a lost box which belonged to her mother and her hopes of finding it at the local market. When MIshio ends up in a dangerous situation, it's Yumina's name she calls. Soon, Kanata and Yumina discover Mishio's true feelings, and both Mishio and Kanata learn about the value of found families.

I thought I'd get this out of the way now rather than waiting until the last minute. Hopefully this should give people enough time to decide whether they'd like to participate and to obtain the series in whatever way they are able.

The next selection I've chosen as the focus for the Anime Book Club is Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra, an action/mystery/fantasy series from 2009 that's recently been released on DVD in Region 1.

The series is 27 episodes, which includes a re-cap episode about half-way through. This is one case where I feel like the re-cap is actually worth one's time to watch, because there is so much going on in the series up to that point that a refresher is extremely welcome. I'll probably put the re-cap on its own week just for purposes of clarifying the story. Otherwise, I want to try and tackle the series two episodes per week, like we normally do for longer series like this.

The show is, by many accounts, pretty odd. Its main feature is its extremely creative world-building. In this story, when people die their souls become stone tablets known as books, which can then be "read" by anyone who feels the need to do so. They can then see the events of that person's life almost as if they were living them. The primary characters are "Librarians" who work at the Library of Bantorra, an archive of all the people who ever lived. The story also involves the conflict between the Librarians and adherents to a religion that tries to classify people into certain social strata. The characters are less-developed than I would normally like, but without spoiling anything about the plot, there's actually a valid story-related reason why that's the case.

The story is relayed in several shorter story arcs that focus on one or two specific characters at a time, and culminate in an arc that brings everything back together.

Unfortunately, this series is somewhat less-available than I would normally like for a series in the Book Club; as I mentioned, it's available on DVD (gotta love how Sentai over-emphasized the breasts on both of those DVD covers, as if to try and trick people into buying it for the sex appeal, of which there is little), as well as on The Anime Network's website; because it received a dub, though, it's only available in its entirety to subscribers of the service. There are, of course, other ways to obtain the series... but I don't generally encourage those except in a last-resort situation.

I will admit that this is a bit of a controversial choice on my part. I really enjoyed the show and was fascinated by its storytelling, but for everyone who agrees with me there are probably two or three more that label it "convoluted" (check out any comment thread on the series if you don't believe me). My hope is that, by watching it again and doing some analysis at the same time, I'll be better able to argue my case for the show, and maybe a few others will also enjoy it.

I'll update later on regarding the date we'll start this series. It will depend both on when we finish Sora no Woto and my personal schedule at that time (I might have some convention stuff going on so I might take a break before diving right into another series).

Woohoo, I'm actually on time this week! I think I'm slowly crawling out of my Winter depressive slump and I'm feeling much more productive than I have in several weeks. I actually got some sunlight yesterday while out with some friends and I think that really helped quite a bit with my mood an energy level. Now I'm cloistering myself inside my office once again to go full-otaku and watch some anime... in reasonable amounts with ample breaks in-between sessions.

This week the characters also take a trip outside their comfort zone to explore the mysterious wilderness surrounding the city. We get a closer look at the beauty and desolation of their world while also glimpsing some more clues as to the type of technology that existed prior to the time period in the series. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean "doom and gloom" as far as the show's tone is concerned - the characters also manage to have some fun in the process.

Watch Episode 5 HERE.

Episode 5: Mountain Hiking - The Ends of the Earth

One very hot day, Claus, a dispatch rider and Major in the army, brings the soldiers mail from their loved-ones. That's not all, however - he also brings them a maintenance mission that Felicia attempts to spin into a "field trip" for the younger troops. Kanata, Noel and Kureha are to travel along the border of "No Man's Land" and check on some surveillance units, while also lugging around huge backpacks. They find the first unit without problems, but after a detour during which they cool off in a river, they find their packs ransacked and have to go it without their full resources. The going gets tougher as the sun begins to set, but they eventually make their way to their destination, where they're met by Filicia, who explains the significance of the field trip and rewards them with an evening in a hot spring that's been hosting many generations of soldiers.

Things are beginning to calm down here at home, though rather than be timely with this entry I've for some reason decided that it's more important to start clearing out some of my personal blog backlog. I have a problem with beginning entries on subjects that I believe will be interesting to people, and then struggling partway through trying to write competently and reflect the really profound thoughts I think I'm having. I get frustrated, put it aside, and then consider it a lost cause. I'm guessing that it's more than just me who struggles with this; the common wisdom is just to plop-dump whatever you can onto the page and worry about profundity later on, but it's hard for me not to self-edit as I go. And that, folks, is how you develop crippling writer's block.

Anyway, I hope people are enjoying the show so far. Four episodes in and I'm recalling all the reasons why I liked the series the first time around, although I have to mention that there's at least one pretty lackluster episode coming up that I'm not looking forward to having to watch again.

Episode 4 is HERE.

Episode 4: Rainy Season Sky - Quartz Rainbow

Kanata and Noel travel together into town to buy supplies for the fort. They stop at a local shop, and Kanata admires a glass figurine of a dolphin. An encounter in town emphasizes the distance between some of the townspeople and the soldiers who represent war and conflict. As part of their errands, they travel to the glass factory outside of town. Noel needs a second lens to repair the targeting system of their tank, and the Meister at the factory is attempting to duplicate the original lens, with limited success. They discuss the nature of technology and the people who use it. Kanata learns that sometimes the most effective way to accomplish something is to let it flow naturally rather than trying to force it.

Apologies for the unexpected skipped week in there. To make a long story short, one of my cats began to have unexplained seizures last weekend, and the rest of last week was made extremely stressful because of that and the fact that I also came down with a virus at the same time. Now the cat's condition is under control (we still don't know exactly what's causing his problem, but he's on seizure-control medication for the time being and so he's comfortable), I can get back to things of somewhat lesser importance, like anime. This isn't to say that I put anime at a low priority; I've been really bummed about not watching this series on schedule, and I actually thought about plowing ahead several times, despite knowing that whatever mess I plopped onto the page wouldn't really be worth reading considering my state of mind. Now that I'm gearing up for the next episode, I realize how much more settled I feel than at the same point last week (I had multiple nights of little-to-no sleep, ugh!).

That's enough talking, though! I don't want to dwell on unhappy stuff. I do want to say "thank you" to those who offered kind words last week, though.

Watch episode 3 HERE.

Episode 3: A Day with the Squad - Rio Runs

The base is running low on all sorts of supplies, so while the others go to retrieve the various things they need, Kanata and Rio stay at the base to practice their music. Kanata seems hopelessly stuck in the beginner stages of musicianship. While on a break, she collapses with a fever. Rio attempts to take care of her, but eventually has to go outside her comfort zone and contact the priestess at the local church to come help. While Kanata is lost in her fever dream, she remembers herself as a child and once again sees the mysterious blonde woman playing the trumpet, the sound of her song ringing out through the rain. When Kanata awakens to Rio humming the same song, Rio takes her to the hangar and powers up the troops' tank, which plays the same tune. Kanata and Rio bond over this and strengthen their relationship as officers.

After our adventures in "compare and contrast" last week, we're back on track to tackle episode two of this series. After looking at the Crunchyroll page for the show, it appears as if one of the special episodes is available online (Episode 13), so I'll consider that part of the main book club series. I believe there's still another bonus episode that takes place partway through the series, but I'm too lazy to look into it right now. Either way, it's not available to stream even if it does actually exist, so it'll be covered as a supplement later on.

After the first episode of the show, I recall being pleasantly surprised. After this episode, I recall feeling more and more intrigued. While it's definitely subtle, there's certainly a building-up of tension that comes from not quite knowing the context of the drama.

Watch Episode 2 HERE.

Episode 2: First Battle - A Chair Story

After her disastrous attempt at a morning fanfare, Kanata joins the other soldiers for breakfast. Through Rio, she's introduced to Felicia, their commanding officer, Noel ,the tank mechanic and pilot, and Kureha, the gunner. Kureha grudgingly accepts the task of showing their newcomer around the base. When they get to the battle hangar, it becomes clear how disappointingly under-equipped the platoon is; they can't even get the parts they need to repair their tank. Later that evening, Noel returns to the barracks to report a ghost sighting that Kanata and Kureha are sent to investigate. They discover some interesting evidence about the building's past, including an old textbook and a decrepit piano. Soon the soldiers find out that their "ghost" is nothing more than an owl, which they take back to live with the platoon. The next day, Kanata awakes to find that there's a table setting and a matching chair for her at the table.

Well, it's not really 1.5 weeks into the book club, but I got curious about the alternate cut of episode 1 that was included on the DVD release of the series, so I thought maybe I'd write a little bit about that and also respond to a few of the comments left on the episode 1 discussion entry last week.

The biggest difference that I can tell exists between the two versions of the episode is a distinct change in the use of the soundtrack early on. Within the first few minutes, there's a montage of Kanata's journey to Seize, as well as a few scenes that take place in the Clock Tower Fortress. In the original cut of the episode, the series theme song plays during the montage, while in the alternate cut, the series theme (and its accompanying imagery, which originally began in the second episode) are played before the action, with a much quieter, more somber instrumental theme played during the montage. This probably seems like a pretty minor change, but it does affect the mood a bit.

Having just begun writing this entry, I now realize that I never did post a "wrap-up" for The Skull Man like I had intended. I have it half written, so maybe I'll whip the rest of it up after I'm done with this. But for right now, it's time to move on to something shiny and bright and new, a relatively upbeat, slightly mysterious tale of the future, and the young girls who form a rather unorthodox military brigade within this unfamiliar world.

It's been a while since I've watched the series (which makes it decent fodder for this book club column; I remember enough to make comments, but have forgotten enough that I could arrive at new insights), but what I do remember is that the first episode has a really excellent insert song that I'm looking forward to seeing. It comes up on my mp3 player every once-in-a-while and I think it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Just the soundtrack in general is really excellent, if you can find it.

Anyway, you can watch the first episode at Crunchyroll HERE.

Just as an FYI, I believe that there are two DVD-only episodes in this series, so rather than include them in context, I'll leave them for the end so that those who don't have access to the discs can ignore them if they'd like. Also, the DVD boxed set apparently has two separate cuts of the first episode. I don't know what's different between them at this point, but if I find out I'll add to this post.

Episode 1 - The Sound that Fills the Air - The City of Dawn

When Kanata was a young girl, she lost her parents. Her comfort came in the form of a mysterious bugler, a beautiful woman who helped soothe her loss. As a new military recruit, Kanata travels to the small mountain enclave of Seiza to learn how to play the bugle. When she arrives, she becomes caught up in a local festival, and ends up at the home of Rio, a member of the city's military force. Kanata inadvertently loses one of Rio's possessions, so during the somber ritual that marks the end of the festival of the Fire Maidens, Kanata goes looking for it. After falling into the water below and having no other recourse, Kanata blows faintly on her bugle to signal the townsfolk up above. The next morning she awakens in the Clocktower Fortress, and Rio brings her to the tower to signal the coming dawn. It's here that Kanata demonstrates all the work she has ahead of her - her bugle skills are undeveloped, to put it mildly.

I'm fighting off a bit of a migraine at the moment, so I'll keep things brief. I'll post a wrap-up sometime this coming weekend. Remember, Sora no Woto begins after the new year, on January 6th! Maybe it'll be a little bit more accessible than this series; I feel like The Skull Man has some really good points, but there are a lot of things that make it inappropriate for casual viewing (like the gigantic cast and the multiple plot threads).

Watch Episode 13 HERE.

Episode 13: Black Fable

Hayato, as the Skull Man, reaches the room in which Maya is imprisoned, and discovers that Masaki has been transformed inside of her cocoon. Masaki reveals that the Gago project, spoken of mostly in passing, was a plan to create a new version of the human race for its own good. The leader of Brain Gear makes his move, and appears to suffer for it, until he reappears much more powerful. Hayato defeats Masaki, but discovers that it's too late for Maya to make it out alive. Shinjou and Kiriko make it out of town with the children from the orphanage. After that, Hayato's fate and/or whereabouts become a mystery, with Tachigi speculating on what may have transpired.