Awesome to see this series back again after its recap last week. I mean, at this point I 97% confident that this is going to turn into my favourite series of the season. Nothing that appeared in the winter-season, even the best stuff, has come close to this series so far. Most of these series are going to need weeks to get fully going, while this show has already a season’s worth of build-up inside of it.
And seriously, it surpassed itself yet again with this episode. The arcs right now are shorter than they were at the beginning of the series, but damn: this episode was good on so many levels. It successfully developed not just Mirepoc, but also the red-haired woman, it added depth for Cigal, but what surprised me even more was Lascal Othello’s son, and DEATH. So much for a major villain. And seriously, that son was a very nice touch. He only appeared… what? One minute? And yet he gave so much extra depth to this Lascal Othello guy: it shows that he’s not just another bad guy who needs to be defeated, no. He’s just a normal person who assumed the role of a legend, and therefore abandoned his family even though he once lived a normal life (including marriage).
And remember the book of Hiza that Winkeny took in the Mokkania arc? The reason why Hamy wasn’t that faced with it was because it really didn’t have anything to do with the main storyline. Instead, this was the red-haired girl’s plan, in an attempt to get more information on the actress, who had a lot of links with Lascal Othello, and Hiza was the one who investigated her case. Talk about tying everything together!
But that wasn’t even the best part of this episode. That honour goes to the plot twists related to the main plot. I mean, it was hinted before, but now we actually see this in much more detail: the church is collecting books of both Armed Librarians, and also its own members. They’re looking for the perfect book, or at least the books of talented and people who have a passion for what they do. Now, might this actually have something to do with Hamy? What if she possesses this “perfect” book that the church has been looking for? That they don’t really see her as a threat, but rather because they want to have her book?
But seriously, wtf?! The church and the Armed Librarians are working together in order to kill the people who seek Lascal Othello? How the hell does that work? What would be the point of that? That was one heck of a creative plot twist, and I have no idea how the creators are planning to write themselves out of that one. Armed Librarians is really a series in which everyone has something to hide, but damn, I didn’t expect Barori to hide a secret that big.
Also, someone refresh my memory. Yor… wasn’t that that thingie that Volken ran off with?
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Another excellent episode. The idea that Church is trying to kill Meseta for her book is certainly very intriguing.
The armed librarians definitly have some dark secrets. I’m currently very interested in the rebellion they supressed. Many characters have backgrounds tied to that war, like Mokkania and Meseta herself.
It was shown that an entire country for some reason rebelled, and armed librarians fought against them. The country had a traitor armed librarian, the same who cooperated with Church in the Lascall buisness. Could it be he had enough dark secrets and revealed them to that country. And they were so serious in nature that it lead to the war.
Volken ran off with Yluckluck or something like that, had that little bunny on it. Yor was always in Lascall’s hands, though we notice that Lascall wasn’t even really that man, he was more of a vessel or something.
Also, they implied that the boy wasn’t even related to Lascall. That transparent faced emperor said his power was to alter/manipulate perception, meaning he probably just used the boy to lead Mirepoc there to strengthen her resolve and so she kills the fake Lascall and Alme and then stops pursuing him.
Fhotonia getting his hands dirty was pretty surprising to me as well, considering it makes all his talk about saving everyone two-faced.
psgels, you think this is even better than AOI BUNGAKU? Seriously? Or did you mean the new season with “winter”, because Bantorra runs until March?
i think you are missing the central tenet of this show, this is a show where librarians guard a library built by one of the gods, as the actress dies, she asks what is God? a very loaded and difficult question. What if the church and librarians combine to hide the truth about the god bantorra, what if all that is the foundations of the book system which keeps people’s faith is a lie. That the god bantorra is not who is his? that the gods do not exist the way people beleive them to, wouldnt that shake the balance of the entire world, wouldnt that be enough for a nation to rise up? I am like you more intrigued by that line what is God?
What about that character that appeared at the end of the episode with Yor, could she/he be the real Lascall, or just another pseudo-Lascall?
Or maybe Lascall is not a real character, but the main secret behind the world of the Armed Librarians?
I’m clueless…
If someone has read the light novels, o-shiete kudasai….
By the way, who is Olivia – the name that was carved in that ship that the Armed Librarians destroyed in the first episode? Meseta seemed to be very uneasy about that name when she sensed with her threads…. more mystery – it will probably show up in future episodes.
I already posted last episode that I do think Hamy’s relation with the church is odd, in that I don’t necessarily see it as ‘anatagonistic’ entirely. I mean the church’s higher ups, The Guardian Of Paradise, seems to be only interested in reading interesting stories and Hamy, the undefeatable and almost unbeatable fighter, would be the one to have one of the most interesting stories. Especially when one considers how exciting its been with her. It wouldn’t be odd that THEY want her book, while at the same time coloring it to be even better.
Like PhantomX said, Volken ran off with Ylucklucku (can’t remember the name) which looked kind of like a small rabbit statue. Yor was always with Lascal Othello, and it also seemed to me that the Governor manipulated the “son”‘s memory. What I’d like to know is why the Governor allowed “Lascal” to be killed.
But wow, the revelation at the end was surprising. And was Mirepoc from the academy in which the country’s rebellion occurred? I’m getting quite confused @_@
What I meant was, is Mirepoc from the country where Hamy and Mokkania killed off a large number of their military forces ^^;
@Mr.C
Olivia was mentioned again at the end if ep4 when Volken leaves. He mentions something about some “Venda Ruga” being alive in some “Olivia Litlet”
this arc probably my least favorite arc so far, but however the overall buildup to the main storyline still interesting “if there were one”
man I hope the show end with everything solve, not like Pandora heart
Mr. C:
Lascall is not human and he is “Yor”. The old guy Lascall was dead but he changed into a little girl.
And the story of Olivia will be told in Volken’s arc. It will be the next arc.
Socrates:
You are on the right track!
At least the illusionary son convinced Mirepoc that Lascal was just a normal guy, so Matt and the governor didn’t have to kill her for getting in too deep. Since the governor only mentioned the aim of killing the traitor (cute red-head), I’m sure that was Lascal come back at the end.