Oh god, no. They couldn’t… they didn’t. This show just… is unbelievable at times. What a plot twist, and what a powerful way to execute it!
This episode really showed me. I’ve noticed that one of the most often voiced criticisms is that some of the characters are too naive, especially regarding Volken, but Noloty has this naivety as well. And this episode showed that the creators intended naivety to be main themes of this series. It’s not like Volken and Noloty are just characters whose archetypes appear in a ton of other series. Just look at their context in the series: they aren’t both naive, they’re naive in their own way with a religious adherance to one particular virtue.
For Volken, it’s that he wanted to spread justice. Noloty wanted to spread kindness. And these two actually had the beliefs and conviction in order to do it: they were so convinced of their own ideals that they were able to make decisions that any sane and mature person, as Mattoalast and Hamy, could never have taken. And THAT’s what sets them apart from most other leads. The first two arcs were exactly for that: to build up their beliefs. Then, right before their deaths, their beliefs get completely shattered and proven wrong, and yet in Volken’s case he remained pure, and I expect that to be the case for Noloty as well.
Because holy crap. I did not expect Noloty to get killed off so soon? I mean, we were all like “yay! another Noloty episode”, and instead we end up reading her book! It’s not confirmed, but I highly suspect that it’s Noloty’s kindness that eventually got her.
This only leaves us with one of the three main naive characters alive: Mirepoc. Unlike Noloty and Volken, she doesn’t have strong beliefs, and is very much in doubts, and she lacks the conviction to really go with her own ideals because she’s constantly surrounded by Hamy and Mattoalast, and in the past also Volken, because her ability is just so damn handy. She’s different to them, because it feels like she’s in the middle of everything: her power is supposed to be dependable, rather than aggressive, which might help her escape the fate of Volken and Noloty.
Also, the major climax has begun. And holy crap is it epic. it’s very common for these kinds of series to involve the entire world in it. The lazy way out is of course to threaten to make the main bad guy so powerful that he’s going to end up destroying the world if not stopped. It’s a lot more layered here, though. Every country, even democracies (whoa, democracies in a fantasy-series: that’s rare!), suddenly decides to declare war on the Library of Bantorra. Just what did Kachua (The Governor of Paradise) do in order to accomplish that?
Also: something tells me that Hamy only told a part of the truth in the last episode. I mean, she obviously has much more secrets, but one particular thing that she failed to mention is that it seems that the war between the Armed Librarians and the Church, while it started out as a simple mock war, has turned into a full blown war. In fact, I’m betting my hat that this had to be done because Hamy became the Acting Director.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
They killed Noloty! Those bastards!
Everything certainly went to waywards for the library rather quickly. From the episode, it seems like everyone wants a piece of “heaven”. Can’t wait to see how this series ends.
Im lovin this. the fact that they use the deaths of some of our Fav characters as means to increase its AWESOMENESS is a bit sad, nevertheless this anime is still Awesome
Everytime I think “How can this series get better? It’s already amazing!” It just proves me wrong and gets even better.
Such an underrated masterpiece.
Volken, Noloty ;_;
Awesome episode.
The touch of Lascall bringing Noloty’s book to Enlike was also nice imo, what with all the lore around Lascall.
I agree as well about the democracy, so true. Normally all countries are ruled by some guy with some “badass” power of fire/water/some other retarded thing. Sounds good. Also liked the bit where Noloty doesn’t die because of the poison because she has a vaccine. I mean, thank god some creators remember that when fighting a biological disease the logical course of action is something other than run off and beat stuff up.
Was the book Noloty’s? I thought it might have been the evil kid’s. Since most or all (I forget) of the scenes involved the two of them, or at least what the kid could have witnessed. The scene where she drank the poison was awfully badass though. Although I’m pretty sure it was a bad idea, vaccine or no.
Yeah its Noloty’s, good proof of that is the beginning of the episode itself with the spar between her and Enlike (that and her goodbye, along with several things only she could know, Lascall giving the book to her “loved” one, and finally most conclusive is the bells rung for her). My guess though is that one wish probably involves the kid.
NOLOTY, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Damn I’m sad. Honestly she’s the one person I was really hoping would survive to the end.
My god, this series just gets better and better – it will be a shame to see it go. It’s really gearing up for a big climax, so I hope it is good.
That one wish was her regret at not banging Enlike when she had the chance. heheh.
But yeah Bantorra, great show. The way its delivers its plot twists are something to be admired in terms of story telling.
incidentally, if you watch closely the cloth of Rascall when she talks to the Governor of Paradise, you can see spots of blood on her sleeve of the hand that holds the dagger. I think she killed him for whatever reason.
NOLOTY!!
I love shows that can kill off characters with ease, but I’m truly sad to see Noloty go.
I have a feeling Dragon pneumonia will make a return and claim the life of an Armed Librarian, given how Noloty explains how Armed Librarians are generally immune for bio-weapons or normal sicknesses I think the church will be using that again (seeing as how its definitely the only thing so far that DOES affect the Armed Librarians, Hamy being the best was affected by it badly).
@Adam
Yes, the book is most probably Noloty’s book.
Don’t forget that Lascall only give a deceased person’s book to their “lover,” especially if he/she had unspoken feelings… (see episode 13)
SPOILER 1
– A very old Librarian will also follow Noloty to the grave
THE SERIES PATTERN
Bastards like Hamyuts don’t die in this series, only good guys die. The motto of the story is “Black is mightier still”
THE NATURE OF BANTORRA’S LIBRARY
You might have noticed, the library has 6 levels.
Lv.6 is open to the public
Lv.5 is where Mokkania lived
…
Lv.2 is where the Tree is
Lv.1 is where Bantorra resides, but it cannot be reached by material means
AND THE SUCCESSOR IS…
You might have noticed that scene where Hamyuts is feeding the Red Book to the Tree (by the way the Tree is a Person) and Yuri+Yukizona are with her. The reason for that is that Yukizona (the guy who has chronic lung disease) is the next candidate for Acting Director, and the secret about Heaven belongs only to Acting Directors and their Henchmen (e.g Matt and Yuri). Mokkania was also a candidate, but he died.
HAMYUTS’ SECRET ORIGINS
Our dear Hamy and her childhood brown friend Chacoli (AKA Violet Sinner) were created for a single purpose… which will eventually be revealed later in the series, that is if the director follows the Light Novel closely.
The author of the novels, Yamagata-san, likes to kill off good characters, that is why Colio, Volken, Noloty and (?) have a short life-span. I mean, even our good-natured lead golem was easily killed.
Evil guys like Hamy on the other hand, are immortal – they just don’t die.
That’s Yamagata-san for you.
@Machi
Don’t think the Dragon pneumonia will ever be used again, the Library already found a cure and healed all those who got infected (Hamy, Matt and Meripoc) … they sure got a vaccine too by now … kinda pointless to use it again then.
———————————
Now to the episode … OH MY … That’s quite epic really, and although i expected Noloty to be killed like Volken i didn’t expect it this fast .. damn it … and now we got the entire world attacking Bantorra island .. so many things happen in a very short time in this series .. the pace is really frantic (in a good way .. there isn’t a wasted moment) .. but on a side note … i don’t like how Matt and the other cow-girl are fighting by jumping around and dodging hundreds of bullets in the process .. is doesn’t feel in line with how smart the fighting tactics have been in the series.
Anyway … So it turns out like i thought in my analysis in the comments on the previous Ep … the war between the church and the library of Bantorra is really multi-layered …. it’s a war infront of the public to hide the fact that the church and the library are closely affiliated and related … but in fact underneath that affiliation is another “secret war” going on …. but for real this time (and the Governor guy just checkmated the library in that war) … can’t wait to find out how this old geezer did it.
Oh and by the way … pause in the preview on 23:54 … guess what … we finally get to see his FACE … think this will be some shocking revelation (it has been constantly hidden since Ep1 for a reason i guess) .. how come nobody mentioned this !!!?
It pains me too see how this gem is so underappreciated. So far this series is among the best of 2009 and 2010.
Damn, I knew I should have paid better attention in the previous episodes.
Actually.. If I remember right from scanning over one of the novels.. I’ll also speculate some.
Ireia Kitty does in a direct assault that almost destroys the library. Something akin to dragon pneumonia is used I think.
Dragon pneumonia mixed with the poison the kid have would be a grand catalyst.
It all boils down to it’s a battle between the two gods for paradise, which is the tree itself. The Governor of Paradise is elected to fight against the acting director of the library to satisfy the needs of Bantorra.
The loser in the war will be fed to the tree and the cycle begins again.
It is all a game of check and counter check. Photonia is probably the new governor of paradise to face off against Hanmyuts who he was weary of.
It’s all to please Bantorra. The dragon pneumonia plague ahd Shyoris produced some grand books that pleased Bantorra.
if Enlike dies, his book will be filled with countless others and tell a grand epic.
=D was enlike staring at noloty’s ass in the beginning
Strange. Am I the only one really glad to have that annoying Noloty go?
I can’t stand those delusional characters that want to spread kindness into the world of predators.
I also didn’t like excessive fanservice that was totally out of place here, and a very bad animation compared to the rest of the series. Glad that she died.
But ultimately for me this was the worst episode in the series so far.
Too much of Noloty’s annoying ideals were shown.
The most charecter i love is Noloty. DAM.
why did the creater make her die. Soooo…. SAD