"Libraries oppose any type of censorship.
When libraries are imperiled,
librarians will join together
to secure their freedom."
An awesome manga combining my favourites: books, libraries, freedom of speech, action, romance, unique characters and a lot of humour.
In a near future, the Media Betterment Committee is set to remove all harmful books and magazines out of circulation. They don't need any detailed excuse for it. They do as they please. Here comes in the Library. The librarians believe in the freedom of speech and expression so they fight against any kind of censorship with all means necessary. They even use guns when they have no other choice. They are also allowed to exempt some books that were deemed bad by the Media Betterment Committee and take copies to the Library so people can read them as they please. But they have a limited budget so they must be careful what they salvage and keep.
The Library has two types of personnel, one are the librarians and the other is the Library Defense Unit which is trained in combat and they primarily serve as soldiers on the front lines.
Amidst the male trainees for the LDU is a one tomboy girl Kasahara Iku who is the first woman ever to succeed getting into the LDU. She has very good athletic abilities but very poor educational ones. Nonetheless, she is one of the best trainees who isn't even scared of fighting with her Instructor Dojo on a regular basis.
She got into the LDU because of an event which changed her life. She was trying to purchase a book she waited years for to come out when the members of the MBC rushed into the bookstore and tried to seize her book along with many others. She was trying to protect the book even under the threat of being marked as a thief but she was losing the battle. Then, a member of the LDU came in and declared these books under the protection of the Library. He returned the book to her and consoled her. That was the moment when Kasahara decided that she wants to be just like her Prince. Working hard to save the books. And here she is now, on the path to make it happen. And even though everyone knows her story of the Prince no one seems to know who he is... or do they?
Through many ups and downs, hilarious moments and some scary ones, Kasahara is doing her best to succeed in her mission. Becoming a member of the Elite Task Force where she can be the same as her Prince, a protector.
Oh my, this is such a refreshing manga. I wish I had it in my local bookstore so I could purchase it but unfortunately this manga hasn't been translated in Croatian and isn't soled anywhere near (if you have an extra edition with English or Spanish translation, please contact me).
I love the unique characters with all their flaws, they make all the funny moments seem hilarious and I found myself laughing out loud many times in this Volume, I do hope that will stay true for the rest of the manga. Dojo is a piece of art, that man can be so stable and capable while on the other hand so easily provoked and stubborn. He is a person that I would love to meet. Komaki, so far, hasn't said or did much but I have a feeling we will see a lot more of him soon. Kasahara is a typical tomboy girl who seems oblivious to everything and naive beyond measure which makes her a perfect character to make fun of. Shibasaki is a feminine woman and she knows it, and uses it. Tezuka is an arrogant ass and I hope his ass will soon be handed to him, hard.
All in all, a must read for any and all manga lovers.
Concerning the anime, anime follows the story so far. In manga, we do see more situations and in some there are slight differences (as in the bear incident in training where the bear in anime was an Instructor disguised as a bear whereas in manga the bear was only the bushes slightly shaped as one) but none of those differences take out anything important from the story in anime. Both are awesome :)
