A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd

Initially, I'd written a review halfway through the show, now that I've completed it, here's an updated version. Firstly, this is very much a slice of life show. If you're not a big fan of those, you may not want to watch this one. I enjoy slice of life, romance, comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, and other light-sided genre, so it appealed to me. This show also incorporates a fantasy element - a magic library. I won't go into a lot of detail, so as not to ruin the story, but this library (while only briefly and periodically mentioned) is a theme that is important to everycharacter in the show (but two, specifically). Your Main Character, Kakei, is seen having premonitions right from the get-go. He has this strange, but imperfected, ability - which he uses mostly to save people. The First girl he saves using it (Shirasaki) was distributing flyers to start a club with the unspecific goal of 'making people happy' at the time, and later invites him to join her and her friend. The club grows in size and popularity as the show continues, as does the back story and magic library information. The characters are pretty fun to watch, their interactions are light-hearted and fluffy, but there are some tensions here and there between some of the side characters and the main characters. There is also the typical 'harem-style' anime theme of 'who does the MC really love?!' going on between the main female characters. The show doesn't have any naughty bits exposed, but there are some brief nudity scenes and some suggestive humor, but it is mostly a clean, happy romantic-style slice of life with little drama. Perfectly suited for sitting back on the couch or bed and relax while watching. You don't have to think too hard to follow the story.

everything about this anime was fine, just fine. the story was fine, the characters were fine, the art was fine. truly mediocre and the genre of this mediocre anime is school/harem/magic/slice of life. story: kakei(the main character) reads books to not be scared of anything and his goal is to find the magic library. sounds somewhat interesting. nope it is not. art: average just average. sound: average. characters: typical harem.....their looks are average. also the MC is boring. enjoyment: average. i know i used that word a lot, but it perfectly describes this anime. never really laughed hard or smiled much or thought i cant wait tillnext episode. overall: do not recommend. its boring.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread) During high school, it's a time to really start thinking about one's future: pursuing higher education, finding a part-time job, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities are all in the realm of setting one up for a successful life later down the road. Along the way, friends are made and decisions are chosen. Sometimes, though, teenagers need that tiny extra "push" to get them going down the right path. Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai will most definitely "be telling this with a sigh" that the path they took was "the one less traveled by." **STORY** Daitoshokan follows the life of Kakei, a younghigh school boy who, one day, saves Shirasaki from a fatal accident. Their newfound friendship causes them to form a group known as the Library Club. What's unfortunate with Daitoshokan is in its handling of the major plot device at play. Known as the "Shepherd," it is designed to be an important aspect of the show. However, it is never perceived as such. The first half of the anime consists mainly of character introductions, which is perfectly reasonable. But the characters themselves are largely uninteresting, and coupled with the fact that the foreshadowing is handled so poorly causes the big reveal to be rather small. Even worse, it never elaborates much on the "Shepherds" either, making one not understand the full extent of their powers. When the second half of the season begins, it then fails to utilize this established plot device effectively. It is used quite sparingly, causing its use to hold no weight, drama, or emotional attachment. Simply put, this anime is exactly the same with or without the idea that is supposed to separate it from other shows. While Daitoshokan is considered a romance anime, it never tries to be. Instead, it's confused as to whether it wants to pursue a single, established relationship or have all the girls involved be potential suitors. In other words, it can't decide if it wants to be strictly romance or strictly harem. This causes a lot of the scenes to feel segmented; the continuity between differing events doesn't exist because the anime is always flip-flopping between both ideas, without coming to a clear solution. At its core, the anime is about doing something for yourself versus doing something for others. It's an important life lesson that is usually learned at an early age. And there are similar ways to describe it: "it's about giving, not receiving", "treat others as you would want to be treated." The problem is that the show never really attempts to demonstrate such an idealistic message. It may come about as dialogue, but the actions that Kakei and the others take never fully portrays their movements as such. It all feels worthless, that the events taking place are neither for a single person or for a group of people; they're just *there.* **ANIMATION** Daitoshokan continues its trend, having a tough time in the art and animation department. The art style is wholly uninspired. It is boring, generic, lacking detail, plain, unadventurous, pretty much any adjective that places it in a negative light. The environments refrain from being enticing, and while the characters involved switch between "realistic" and "comical" in drawing, it does not save it from being hard to watch. The character designs follow the same format as the art. That is to say, they are unappealing to say the least. The uniforms for the cast are forgettable, everyone's faces are eerily similar, and the only major difference between characters is their hair and bust size. As for actual animation, it's average at best with a minimal amount of it existing. Character movements vary in complexity, but usually with one character moving on-screen at a time. To add salt to the wound, other avoidance techniques are incorporated, such as having dialogue with no one on screen or having the camera zoom out to a large degree. **CHARACTERS** The downward spiral continues; the cast of Daitoshokan completely fall flat, with zero qualities to separate them from other shows, let alone each other. As the main character, Kakei is as generic as they come. Nice, calm, and trustworthy, he enjoys reading to talking any day of the week. Initially hesitant about joining the Library Club, the time he spends with his friends within it cause him to view life in a different way. He starts off being rather reclusive, but by the end, he's willing to help the people who have allowed him to break from his shell. He's as one-dimensional as protagonists go, with his sudden shift from being single to open-minded lost somewhere among the comedy, poor dialogue, and fan-service thrown his (and our) way. As the leader of the "Happy Project," Shirasaki is a clumsy yet affable girl. Her determination to make life filled with joy should be lauded. She is quick to be jealous, easily teased, and cute when she doesn't mean to be. The first to have feelings for Kakei, she is not the best at expressing such emotions. Nevertheless, she makes a good effort, making her the main romantic interest in the series. Outside of this, though, she does nothing else. She doesn't contribute to the narrative nor does she provide any insight that wasn't previously made available. She is, more or less, an object. Senri is arguably the most complex character within the show, but that isn't saying too much. Holding an elegant beauty, her voice is angelic, making her the center of attention even when she doesn't want to be. Her rigorous training and unfortunate past made her become an isolated person. Her development sees her going in the opposite direction as Kakei. That is, instead of doing something for everyone, she starts to do things for herself, proving that there should always be some room for "me time." However, she somewhat rescinds on her new thought process, making it seem as if the realizations she had were for naught. Kodachi is the resident jerk, looking to disrupt the flow of the Library Club. With a large bust and an even larger attitude, her sarcastic remarks and constant joking make her difficult to deal with. Her past and person are shrouded in mystery...with that mystery being discovered within the first episode or two. She is the shining example when it comes to the highly misused "Shepherd" idea. If anything, she provided the most laughs to the show, making it at least somewhat tolerable. The "kid" of the bunch, Kana is outgoing and not afraid to swing both ways. She normally refuses to wear her emotions on her sleeve, making her incapable of acting like her true self. She shares a love of books, just as Kakei does, giving her the opportunity to connect more easily with another person. Her past, while sad, provides the reasoning as to why she goes about doing what she does. Unfortunately, after her little and literal episode, she is relegated to the side, becoming another member of the unnecessary harem. The last character to mention, since this process is beating a dead horse, is my personal favorite: Tamamo. The classic "tsundere," she holds a trademark fan, both to conceal her embarrassment and to smack about the characters when needed. Among everyone, she tries the hardest (and fails the most) at getting Kakei to notice her properly. What's interesting is just how much she is tossed to the side. Her introduction early on, and sparingly over the course of the season, make it almost seem as if she isn't even a part of the cast at all. Surprisingly, she contributes even less than Shirasaki. Tamamo is just a trope to be filled. A last, lousy attempt to get viewers invested in the characters. **SOUND** The OP has, like everything before it, a generic beat, making it quite unmemorable. The only good part attributed to the song is the rising and falling note effect, similar to swiping one's hand back-and-forth along the keys of a piano. Other than that, it's not worth hearing. The ED is slightly better, with its very slow drumming and vocals. The vocalist is given the opportunity to demonstrate their chops a bit more, too. It's whimsical in nature due to the jingling bells and background singers. The soundtrack contains appropriate pieces that fit the mood at hand. Melancholy piano playing and bass/guitar arrangements for more tense situations. Nothing to phone home about when all is said and done. The voice acting for the anime is average, with no notable performances to be had. **ENJOYMENT** I'd be the first one to tell you that romance is great and should be seen by everyone. This show does have these small moments, where the girls hug or otherwise get nervous when around Kakei. It can be cute and funny, depending on the girl involved, allowing for a reprieve that the show desperately needed. The rest of the anime is mired in disconnected drama, strange sub-plots, and misshaped character backgrounds. Furthermore, the club's cat, Gizaemon, should never have been included. They try to use him for comedic relief, but it never got a laugh out of me. They never even explain his amazing ability to understand and communicate with speech, but I think at this point, it doesn't even matter. As it stands, Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai does not do anything right, or even okay. When it comes to harems and supernatural abilities, other anime out there do it so much better. It's a wonder how this one got green-lit in the first place. **SUMMARY** Story: Terrible, inconsequential plot, romance trying to be a harem, lackluster theme Animation: Bad, boring art style, generic character designs, slightly below average actual animation Characters: Bad, low amount of development all-around Sound: Bad, bad OP, okay ED, bad soundtrack, average VA work Enjoyment: Bad, get that cat out of here Final Score: 2/10

before i start talking about the story i need to clear out something: out of my own experience am sure most of you guys will get the wrong idea of the show when you'll see the anime's cover up there. because the first impression i got of the show when i saw it was another romcom harem that will end up as every harem series. not like it's not true but, there's still a genres tag missing that makes the anime more entertaining. and it is the Supernatural tag. as most of you may know, the story is set in a prestigious high school academy withover 50000 students. and out of all this huge number, it follows our first main protagonist Kakei Kyoutarou a loner who enjoys reading books as his favorite passion. however, he has a supernatural ability that lets him see the future of some people around him, and also that dragged him out of his peaceful book reading life. the nice aspect about the story here is the mystery theme that follows the events of his daily harem life, since our 6 club members get some weird mails from someone called a shepherd, mentioning something about their fate and life. while getting into the story this shepherd secret will have a big impact in kakei's life, or rather his "fate" and that will make stuff a little bet complicated since it has a relation with his past self. now the one and only thing that didn't look right to me was rushing the events and especially in the last episode where everything will get settled down in the last minute rather than the whole episode. but the ending coveres this matter. (i'm trying as hard as i could not to split any spoiler while writing~~) now to the art and animation. i would like to say the art is unique but the only thing that makes it looks special is the different eyelashes color, and also that beautiful eyes design. as for the character design matter, it doesn't really stand out, most of them resembles some other ones in different series (at least for me) but it is still well done though....and cute. there are some little details that bothered me while watching the show too, like that over brightness in the whole scenes, everything is too bright! or the background drawing that looks kinda old, it just doesn't match with the characters. but i guess all that is because the animation it self was not made to be realistic. it will be nice if it did~~ for the characters part, it was deceiving. when expecting some different turns of events that will make the show stands out of his harem genre, in the end it's always the same way. 5 or 6 girls of differents types surrounding the main protagonist, who can't make a goddamn decision and choose one heroine. and of course his one and only unpopular friend who helps in bringing the comedy mood. yeah, it's just you're cliche sets of characters that lack development. the worst is it felt like the whole 12 episode were forming a circle because everything in the end got back to the way it was from the beginning, in other word."initialization" of course it's not only about bad things. there's also that interesting change in the protagonist throughout the series, while trying to choose between his old loner self that only looks for peace, and someone who sacrifices himself to save people and guarantee their happiness. and the reason behind this change has a relation with the shepherd and magic thing again (no spoil desu) and also because of his new friends that changed the world around him. anyhow, the characters aspect was good enough for a series like this. it had some surprising plot twist sometimes (discovering his sister was....) and didn't ruin the show at all. it was just ....normal. to be honest, the main reason i choose to watch Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai was because of kakei voice actor. did anyone watch "is this a zombie" ? if yea then remember the voice of aikawa ayumu, he is the same as this one. the BGM was nice and fitting, but not to the point that ill download it and listen to it, it's not memorable after all. it felt the same way as the visual novel adaptation. same for the OP and END. when looking back at the whole show with his different aspect it surprises me that it's the least popular one in it's season not to mention the score it was given in myanimelist 7.08. it's kinda disappointing since it deserves more than this. personally i didn't expect a romcom harem show to be this enjoyable at all, even though the adaptation was a little bit faster than it should compared to the visual novel. but yea, adapting 5 different route in 12 episodes is not that easy. overall i recommend Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai to any romcom harem fan as it feature different aspects in a limited number of episodes. to end up this review am giving it a score of 7.8 out of 10. story 8- animation and arts 8 - sounds 7 -character -7 enjoyment 9. (this is the first time am posting an anime review^^ so i hope helped some of you make a decision after reading this)