As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a huge fan of books. I’m a veritable bibliophile. So when I first heard about an anime about militant librarians protecting the freedom of expression from an oppressive government I just had to check it out.

The world of Library War is Japan in the year 2019. To combat growing government censorship of media and expression the libraries have militarized to protect the art and media of all Japan. The Media Betterment Act gave the government the authority to repress freedom of expression while the libraries act under the Freedom of Libraries Law.

In the year 1999 the Hino Library was attacked by a mob supporting the Media Betterment Committee and killed 12 people loyal to the ideals of the Freedom of Libraries Law. This act, known as the Hino Nightmare, was the impetus for the libraries to take up arms and defend themselves. Continue reading “Review: Library War”

If Shirow Masamune and Production IG continue to release their high quality animes, then I hope their love affair never ends. The latest project between these two anime icons abandons the contemporary setting of Ghost Hound and leaps more than 50 years into the future. Masamune-san hasn’t created as dark and cyber-punked a world as in Ghost in the Shell but RD Sennou Chosashitsu (Real Drive) still has plenty of plenty of flashy technology and the story is grounded in Masamune-san’s image of the future of the Internet.

So far the story is mostly about Minamo – a teen aged high school girl – and Haru – an old man who recently awoke from a 50 year coma. While the setup does seem a bit lecherous the relationship between Minamo and Haru is strictly platonic. Minamo has come to help take care of Haru as part of an internship at the request of Haru’s assistant, Holon.

Haru was once one of the best free divers in the world who was working with his friend and partner Eichiro Kushima studying undersea aberrations. During one of the dives something goes wrong. Haru remarks that the sea is burning and all hell breaks loose. Continue reading “Real Drive: The Sea is Burning”