Library Wars Volume 9

“The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.” – Joseph Joubert.

In this ninth volume of the manga adaptation of Hiro Arikawa’s light novels, things have certainly picked up somewhat. The plots have improved and are dealt with impeccably by artist Kiiro Yumi.

The story continues to follow Iku Kasahara of the “Library Defence Force” and her princely instructor Dojo, carrying on with an overhanging tale about trying to track down a groper in one of the libraries. While at first the premise sounds like something devised to allow the creators to go on a bit of a fan-service binge, it is actually dealt with quite well and with a minimum of anything inappropriate.

Later stories in the book see Iku and her friends undergoing an exam for promotion to sergeant (she is a corporal at this point) which includes a practical element of reading books to children. The final section starts off a story about an actor who gets angry following a magazine interview after the LDF’s enemy, the “Media Betterment Committee,” censors the word “Barber,” leading to a new plan to fight back against their opponents.

As said earlier, this volume is certainly one of the better ones in the Library Wars canon, and it got me thinking about the issues of censorship, public libraries, and so on, which one suspects is what the author was trying to do. With all the recent concern in the UK newspapers about supposed media censorship and the Leveson Inquiry, you would think that this is the sort of thing that they would like.

Having said that, people’s attitudes towards this sort of thing are fickle. Suppose the scenario in Library Wars was to happen in Britain today and the government clamped down on books and the press in such a way. The public would possibly fight to defend libraries and free speech, not to mention attacking censorship, but if you told them that they were defending newspapers, the public would be a lot more hesitant. Most people would be thinking: “Right; politicians or journalists, who do I hate more?”

But, returning to the book, Volume 9 is pleasing overall and the latest plots seem to be giving it a good boost in terms of creativity in this reviewer’s opinion. A very decent edition.