Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 17



Haha, look who’s back! It’s taken 12 episodes, but finally our little Volken has returned. And he surely brought a whole lot of intrigue to the story.

it’s series like this who are sneaky: they put a lot of hidden meanings into their first episode, stuffing tons of plot twists in it that only make sense a complete season afterwards. I love series like that that play around with their continuity. In this episode, we learn that Hamy does have one fear: Vend Ruga.

The thing is, however: this episode showed the message that Volken ran into again: “Vend Ruga is Alive. He is living inside Olivia Litlet”. Based on that message, Hamyuts destroyed that ship, and made Volken hellbent on stopping her. Olivia Litlet however turns out to be the same person that Winkeny chose to have her memories erased and play the part as Mokkania’s mother. So it wasn’t just coincidence, but rather the church’s way of playing with Hamy. And it’s true: Hamy did not know who Olivia Litlet was, so basically she let Vend Ruga escape many different times.

and again, it just shows how complex the plans of the Church are: they knew Hamy’s weaknesses very well: first it was thunderstorms, now it also turns out that they knew about the person she hated. They then took Volken, who was a man of justice, and got him to rebel against her. In the meantime, they hid Vend Ruga, for whatever reason, inside a body who was then taken over by yet another body (talk about busy) to provide the perfect cover for her. On top of that, Yucklyuck is an artifact which can harness the powers of multiple people. My guess is that the Church is ultimately trying to harness Vend Ruga’s super awesome mega powers, whatever they may be, in order to get in Hamy’s way, whatever that also may be. I believe that that tree plays a major part in it.

Now, what was up with this episode? Did Volken act in the way that the Church hoped he would? I mean, at this point we can be sure that Hamy knows about Olivia Litlet: she’s got her sensory threads for that and I’m pretty sure that she was spying on him. At this point, I have no idea: on one hand we have Hamy the masochist, on the other we have Hamy who for the first time actually does something out of desperation. I know that she likes Volken, but at the same time it’s also a huge mystery of what that Vend Ruga means to her.

Oh, and this episode also showed a new OP and ED. I approve of shows swapping their OPs and EDs, even to worse ones: it signifies change and evolution. Both OP and ED are a bit of a step down, though.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

17 thoughts on “Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 17

  1. the OP wasn’t all that bad, I actually like animation in this newer version better. the song however…………. it not bad but could be better

    anyway another good episode, still hoping we get more inside on how Volken justice ideology work. cannot wait for next episode

  2. I’m not sure Hamy likes Volken. It’s probably that he follows the ideals of the previous Acting Director, whom I presume Hamy killed (after he tried to have her assasinated). She probably views this as a continuation of that old conflict.

    I really liked the scene, where Hamy made other Librarians clap at the Volken’s speech (which basically denounces her). That was such a powerful display of her power and personal strike against him.

  3. I’m not sure whether Volken exactly follows the ideals of the previous acting Director. I mean, what that guy preferred was balance and order. Volken however is all about justice. I’m not sure whether that could have come from just the previous acting director.

  4. I agree that he isn’t following them exactly, since he is younger and not in the position of authority, so naturally he is more idealistic.

    There is a flashback in the episode, where the old Acting Director tought Volken that all lives must be celebrated and saved. And than present day Volken learns that Hamy blew up a ship full of innocent people. No wonder he rebels.

    It appears the old Acting Director had to make compromises with his ideals, but I think he still belived in them. Perhaps from his position those were kill a thousand, save a million choices. I’m expecting Volken to be confronted with his mentor’s less moral deeds later.

  5. This was a good episode. Looks like this series might actually be coming together into a grander story. Lol that is one convoluted plot by the Church to take out Harmutz. Let’s see if it gets anywhere.

  6. That scene of Volken right after breaking connection with Mirepoc…..he looked just like Ueki

  7. That scene of Volken right after breaking connection with Mirepoc…..he looked just like Ueki

  8. I’d say Volken is just plain naive, I mean I thought that his reason for denouning Hamy would’ve been something like her strange connection with the church or something else more grave. Instead his reason was that she attacked a ship, without knowing the details other than she attacked the ship.

    Its plain to see that Volken doesn’t know anything, I doubt he would EVER agree to what seems to be concessions between the Church and the Library that seem to be more bent on keeping some sort of balance (the Church being the necessary “evil”). I have to say though I found Volken boring with the first episode and I still find him well boring even now. Whenever the show focused on a character they managed to make them quite an interesting tale precisely because they have conflict that they have to face, Volken on the otherhand is just way too plain and really doesn’t question anything other than upholding life and being far too idealistic. I’d love to see the show actualy make Volken interesting, which would be a challenge given how difficult it can be to stomach such a plain character.

    Ironically Renas/Olivia turned out to be more interesting than Volken, and they had even less screen time XD

  9. But Volken is not in a position to see the bigger picture.
    Just imagine a normal policeman who is tasked to protect people just found out his boss killed a lot of innocent people. He would do the same.

  10. I like guys like Volken in shows like this, someone ought to be inflexible in his sense of justice and truth when all around him seems otherwise. In fact, it’s because his sense of justice and the manner which he upholds his convictions that make him stand out, despite the fact that he’s not even among the stronger Armed Librarians. However, whether or not he’s being indirectly manipulated by the Church remains to be seen in the next episodes. There’s just one thing I didn’t understand… that book that Lascall gave Volken, who was the owner? Olivia? But isn’t Olivia alive?…
    didn’t quite understand that final part where Volken is talking to Olivia.

  11. it’s pretty obvious that Enlike knows about Vend Ruga so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.

    I love how the story is unfolding like a puzzle, it’s that sense of mystery that really keeps you impatiently waiting every week :]

  12. I’m not sure how anything can be a “step down” from ALI PROJECT. I honestly had to mute the OP for the past 15 episodes.

  13. Volken is close to the truth, he knows hamy killed a ship full of innocents, in order to assassinate a woman who actually led a rebellion against the church… I think Volken will begin piecing things together shortly.

  14. The new OP isn’t all that interesting, but at least its not Ali Project.

    Volken was the character that got me hooked in the beginning, now that’s he’s back, I’m hoping he won’t disappoint.

  15. i quite like volken he has a strong will but, i haven’t watch this episode actually but i after read this i really want to watch this XD

    the 1st opening is not really bad but i still don’t like it somehow

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