#ascendanceofabookworm — Public Fediverse posts

Recently added titles (July 2026)

Yamada checks his phone for messages from Nishi outside the Municipal Center and Library in an episode of the new season of You and I Are Polar Opposites

Building upon the titles listed for July/August, September, October,  November, and December 2021, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2022, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September,  October, November, and December of 2024, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of this year, and January, February, March, April, May, and June of this year, this post notes recent titles with libraries or librarians in popular culture which I’ve come across in the past month. Each of these has been watched or read during the past month. No films, animated series, or other entries with libraries (or librarians) to add for this past month, but I did come across some in webcomics and anime. There may be spoilers for these series, so be aware.

Animated series recently added to this page

None for this month.

Anime series recently added to this page

• I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day, “Friends” (s1 ep 3)
• I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day, “Accomplices” (s1 ep 4)
• Detective Conan aka Case Closed (s2 ep 22)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, “Dilemma of a Winter’s Night” (s2 ep 2)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, “New School Term” (s2 ep 4)

While Ascendance of a Bookworm continues into a second cour (with no more episodes with libraries or the protagonist Myne as a librarian), Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia (set in the 13th century) has the protagonist aiming to get back her book of Eucidlis from an arrogant imperialistic Mongolian princess, and Draw This, Then Die! has the protagonists cleaning the room of a manga book store on the second floor to become their club space, in the second episode of season 2 of You and I Are Polar Opposites, “Dilemma of a Winter’s Night”, Yamada meets Nishi in the middle of winter break as a pretext to see her. While he doesn’t confess his feelings, and nor does she, he wrongly thinks the library doesn’t have a “nice” atmosphere, even though it does. They choose between going to the study room where talking, food, and drink are forbidden, and a free space, with Yamada going with the latter.

Otherwise, in the episode, Nishi admits she comes to the library “quite a bit,” which Yamada finds commendable, and admits he can’t study at all, at home, as it is far too distracting. He admits that inviting her there was just a pretext by accident while she admits that she comes there every day, and has finished all her homework. He is shocked, she admits she wanted a pretext as well, and he stops himself from saying they should date, feeling it isn’t a right place. He ends up being quiet during their date-not-date while studying.

There’s another library scene in the episode “New School Term”. Even the description on Crunchyroll indicates this, saying, “Suzuki takes Yamada to the school library, with an ulterior motive in mind. Nishi is happy that Yamada came, but anxious that others might find out about their relationship.” Shenanigans ensue, while Nishi and Taira work as library for their student library duty. At one point, Taira even wants to process the book returns, while Nishi isn’t sure how to handle Yamada there, and Suzuki offers to help Yamada with reshelving books at another point. She also came to see Yamada. Funny enough, no one else comes into the library except them which seems strange (and they comment on this later, saying few people come there anymore), because this is the school library after all! I also like how Taira helps out Nishi and even gives Yamada a book recommendation, showing he is a true friend. I liked how Yamada and Suzuki enjoy reading books in the library, while showing the library duties, like checking in and out books in a way that seems relaxing, making it seems like something you do every day. There is a cute moment where Yamada and Nishi say each other’s full names.

Then there’s the awful news that Crunchyroll removed Black Lagoon, along with other series like Blood Blockade Battlefront and Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions, as has been reported elsewhere, without any warning. I have an account on that streaming service and the history (which shows what anime series I have watched) doesn’t even mention it at all! I mention this here because that series has a library scene as I noted in my post on here on July 2nd, in the episode “The Succession” (s1 ep 20), first saying that in the episode “Yukio is reading a book by Martin Heidegger as shown in the 20th episode (“Succession”) of the classic crime thriller anime Black Lagoon, which is replete with having girls with guns, particularly hothead Chinese-American Revy.” I went into further detail, saying:

…Yukio is reading a book by Martin Heidegger, as she tells her friend Maki, in the school library, calling the book philosophical and “very powerful.” In contrast, Maki says she likes skincare guides and modern horror books, with Yukio saying she remembered Maki saying she liked Anne Rice. They talk a bit more with Yukio saying she sometimes feels like she is caught inside of book worlds, and viewers see some of the library bookshelves. She says she doesn’t like Stephen King and Maki says she thought Yukio would like Edgar Allan Poe. She says she doesn’t like the ones that imagine the night, and she does not like the world as it makes her scared, that it is not romantic at all.

 

There is a second scene in the episode in the reading room where Yukio is thinking about the gang war between the Russian mafia and Japanese yakuza, and does not listen as much to what Maki tells her and decides to not tell her troubles. The reading room is shown briefly in the next episode, but not enough to mention it here. It is worth noting that Heidegger was directly involved with the Nazis from 1933 to 1945, and even banned from teaching after the war until 1949 (when the ban was lifted). He also never expressed remorse for being involved with the Nazis, which is funny because Hannah Arendt, who became known for her political theory against authoritarianism, including Nazism and fascism. I’m not sure why Heidegger was mentioned (in the manga as well), except to possibly indicate that Yukio was intellectual, nihilistic, and his existential philosophy was appealing. At the same time, I seriously doubt she was a Nazi as there was an earlier plot line in the series where the protagonists stole loot from a submarine filled by wannabe Nazis/neo-Nazis and killed a bunch of them, but rather a bit of a mob boss, if I have to guess. At the same time, during his life, Heidegger had intellectual contact with Japanese scholars like racist Hajime Tanabe (who later regretted defending claimed Japanese state and racial superiority) and pro-militarist Shūzō Kuki over the years, influencing his work, according to Reinhard May.

This all comes when I came across recently this video of an anime fan expressing anger it was removed (along with Crunchyroll locking their anime store behind a paywall effectively), along with this video on the fading, yet important, legacy of the series:

A late entry here is the third episode of I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day. In that episode, Sheena Totsuki goes to the library of her school-of-sorts/orphanage/training institute, to study. She had wanted to go with Mimi Kagari, but she is unable to so because Mimi left to fight enemies. While there she meets her school friends, Lizzy Seiran and Ali Maud who are a couple themselves, and she reveals what Mimi’s guardian (Fran) told her. Later in the episode, however, Mimi reveals her secret to Sheena, shocking her beyond belief. In the scene itself, you see the wonder of the library which is well-used by students, and seems like a place to relax (and study), with wooden tables, and all the books you’d like to read.

Sheena, and other girls at the school, studying in the school library. Note the ornate tables and books on the bookshelves. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena’s friends talk to her in the library. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena shushes her friends because they are in the library, while other patrons look over at her her. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena is reading a book when someone calls out to her. Sorry for the blurriness.

There was an additional library scene in the fourth episode of that same series, with flashbacks to Sheena thinking of Mimi, and a new scene of Mimi balancing books on her head, while Sheena is learning about resurrection magic, and is surprised by Airi and Seiran. One of my favorite parts (shown below) is when the bell rings and breaks Mimi’s concentration, annoying her, as she almost trying to show off a bit by balancing books on her head.

My favorite part of this episode, because Mimi is really showing off here

Last but least is episode 50 of Detective Conan (also known as Case Closed), “The Library Murder Case” / “The Book Without Pages”.  I have been looking forward to watching this episode for a long time, but I finally got to watch it this month, at long last, an episode which fulfills so many stereotypes when it comes to fictional librarians and libraries. I’ll write a whole post on this, but to give the quick and short version of this, Conan Edogawa, a kid detective (wasn’t always a kid) works with his school friends of sorts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of a librarian, and soon suspect the library director. They learn that there are fake books in the children’s section where drugs were being stored, and this is why the director murdered that librarian. He even tries to kill all of them too, but they turn all the bookshelves into dominos so they fall on him, allowing the police to come in and arrest him, taking him away, while they find the body (which was on top of an elevator). It’s gory, but also feeds into many stereotypes, which, perhaps, is not at all a surprise for an episode that came out on March 1997. Some even put some parts of the episode as one of the top scariest moments in the series!

Comics recently added to this page

• The Burning Scheme, Issue 4
• Literary Link [issues 1 to 11]
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 12| Library Hours“
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 13| Routine“
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 14| Almost Everyone“
• Pinky Promise, “Episode 15“
• Pinky Promise, “Episode 16“

In the fourth issue of The Burning Scheme, the protagonists, Vera at Sierra Verde Preparatory School, go to the library together, for a group project, with one of them, Calliope, saying the other (Vera) is “pretty.” Vera doesn’t like this closeness and leaves shortly thereafter, to the disappointment of Calliope.

In the episode “CH 12 | Library Hours” of My Awkward Princess, Alice Evelyn and Luna Charlotte do library service together, with Luna annoying Alice, and Luna getting “tamed” by someone else when they give her a lollipop. At one point, Luna catches Alice when she falls, to her annoyance, saying Luna just wanted to touch her, when in reality she just wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt. And Alice thanks Luna. All this time she is giving instructions to the student vice-president who is relatively incompetent.

Otherwise, in the episode “|CH 13| Routine”, Alice is overworking herself in the library, feeling it will get better the next day and that there cannot be any distractions because the student council depends on her. She feels that she is almost perfect. One day, Luna is with her in the library, believes with Alice believing she should not slow down, and that she has keep working. She pushes it off, despite blood coming out of her nose, saying she isn’t her problem, telling her to stop distracting her, while Luna is deeply worried.

In the episode after this, “|CH 14| Almost Everyone,” Luna goes to the library to read, with Alice asking her why her section of the library isn’t organized yet, and starts bossing her around. Luna finds Alice, who she calls “puppy,” entertaining, and thinks back to when Alice thanked her for catching her, saying that doesn’t happen. Later, in the stairwell, Alice gives her cookies and tells her to show up the next day on time, making Luna blush because Alice gave her sweets (remembering that she likes them), and calls her “dangerous.”

The new version of Literary Link is finally out! That series focuses on libraries at its center, as noted in the series description: “Delinquent Faye Scott just wants to keep her head down and get through her latest sentencing — finish her community service and make it across the graduation stage as unscathed as possible — but her old enemies aren’t letting her go without a fight. However, a certain library volunteer might be the one to show Faye just the kindness she needs to change her life for the better.” I wrote a review about this series a while ago, saying:

Literary Link Review

I was going to add in some issues from Love and be Loved, but I had already added that into a posting I did on recently added titles in April, so I nixed that for this post:

Recently added titles (April 2026)

Lastly, there are two issues of Pinky Promise. In the first of these, the protagonist, Eva, tries to remind the school group to stay on task (picking books for their presentation), as they work together in the school library, and threatens to tell their teacher, Miss Cielo, that they are wasting time. Another classmate tells Hallie that Eva is too serious about school, asking her to convince Eva to not report them. Through it all, Eva is worried about Hallie and the group she is a part of, and when admiring her, she thinks back to a sexy dream she had, leading her to begin blushing. After her fellow classmate believes something may be wrong, Eva denies it, then gets up to find a book. Following this, Hallie gets up to follow Eva.

In the next of those issues, Eva thinks about her reaction and how embarrassing it was, while she starts to look for a book. Hallie comes behind her, startling her, when all she wants is to check in on her. Eva keeps blushing and denying that anything is up, saying she had been different since that morning, after Hallie spent the night at her place. She notices that Eva has been avoiding her, with Eva literally turning her head away, as she stands in front of a library bookshelf. She ends up admitting she can’t look her in the eyes because of a dream she had, where Hallie was touching and kissing her. Even after she says she is embarrassed and shouldn’t have dreamed about it, Hallie teases her about it, saying she is being “naughty,” with Eva saying it is only because she has been teasing her so much lately. Hallie gets close to her and says she is cute every time she teases her, something Eva thinks about later.

Films recently added to this page

None for this month.

Other entries recently added to this page

None for this month. However, there was the recent news that…

• HIDIVE will be streaming The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie on July 14th [English dub]
• The Apothecary Diaries Anime Film’s Trailer Reveals Title, Cast, December 11 Opening

The first of these has libraries as central to the series itself, with library scenes in 16 episodes (“I Was Stolen Away” (s1 ep1), “I Died” (s1 ep 2), “I Want To Hug You” (s1 ep 3), “I Have A Problem” (s1 ep 4), “We Split Up” (s1 ep 5), “I Melted It” (s1 ep 6), “We Swapped Places” (s1 ep 7), “I Had A Dream” (s1 ep 8), “Karta 9: I Hate Yamada” (s1 ep 9), “Bonus Dangers” (s1 OVA), “We’re Searching” (s2 ep 1), “I’m growing up” (s2 ep 2), “Yamada Likes…” (s2 ep 4), “We’re Overflowing” (s2 ep 7), “I Want to Be Closer to Yamada” (s2, ep 10), “I, We, Fell in Love” (s2 ep 13, series finale)), as it is a key meeting place of the male and female protagonists, Kyotaro and Anna Yamada respectfully. As for second series, there’s one library scene I briefly described in a post last year:

In terms of a place of knowledge, consider the 10th episode of the drama/mystery/romance entitled The Apothecary Diaries. In the latter half of the show’s 10th episode, entitled “Honey,” Gaoshun, an assistant of Jinshi, tells Maomao that he will search the court library for information about past events in the rear palace. Later, an assistant behind the information desk helps him. He finds a relevant book and he gives it to Maomao. In it, she learns about events in the past, and that a baby was delivered by Doctor Luomen (her dad!), moving this story in an interesting direction!

© 2024-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#AscendanceOfABookworm #BlackLagoon #BloodBlockadeBattlefront #books #CaseClosed #DetectiveConan #friendship #girlsLove #GrimgarAshesAndIllusions #IWantToLoveYouTillYourDyingDay #JaadugarAWitchInMongolia #libraryPatrons #lists #LiteraryLink #LoveAndBeLoved #MyAwkwardPrincess #orphans #PinkyPromise #reading #RecentlyAddedTitles #romance #shortBlogs #shushing #students #studying #sweets #TheApothecaryDiaries #TheBurningScheme #TheDangersInMyHeart #TheDangersInMyHeartTheMovie #YouAndIArePolarOpposites #yuri

Recently added titles (July 2026)

Yamada checks his phone for messages from Nishi outside the Municipal Center and Library in an episode of the new season of You and I Are Polar Opposites

Building upon the titles listed for July/August, September, October,  November, and December 2021, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2022, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September,  October, November, and December of 2024, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of this year, and January, February, March, April, May, and June of this year, this post notes recent titles with libraries or librarians in popular culture which I’ve come across in the past month. Each of these has been watched or read during the past month. No films, animated series, or other entries with libraries (or librarians) to add for this past month, but I did come across some in webcomics and anime. There may be spoilers for these series, so be aware.

Animated series recently added to this page

None for this month.

Anime series recently added to this page

• I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day, “Friends” (s1 ep 3)
• I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day, “Accomplices” (s1 ep 4)
• Detective Conan aka Case Closed (s2 ep 22)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, “Dilemma of a Winter’s Night” (s2 ep 2)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, “New School Term” (s2 ep 4)

While Ascendance of a Bookworm continues into a second cour (with no more episodes with libraries or the protagonist Myne as a librarian), Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia (set in the 13th century) has the protagonist aiming to get back her book of Eucidlis from an arrogant imperialistic Mongolian princess, and Draw This, Then Die! has the protagonists cleaning the room of a manga book store on the second floor to become their club space, in the second episode of season 2 of You and I Are Polar Opposites, “Dilemma of a Winter’s Night”, Yamada meets Nishi in the middle of winter break as a pretext to see her. While he doesn’t confess his feelings, and nor does she, he wrongly thinks the library doesn’t have a “nice” atmosphere, even though it does. They choose between going to the study room where talking, food, and drink are forbidden, and a free space, with Yamada going with the latter.

Otherwise, in the episode, Nishi admits she comes to the library “quite a bit,” which Yamada finds commendable, and admits he can’t study at all, at home, as it is far too distracting. He admits that inviting her there was just a pretext by accident while she admits that she comes there every day, and has finished all her homework. He is shocked, she admits she wanted a pretext as well, and he stops himself from saying they should date, feeling it isn’t a right place. He ends up being quiet during their date-not-date while studying.

There’s another library scene in the episode “New School Term”. Even the description on Crunchyroll indicates this, saying, “Suzuki takes Yamada to the school library, with an ulterior motive in mind. Nishi is happy that Yamada came, but anxious that others might find out about their relationship.” Shenanigans ensue, while Nishi and Taira work as library for their student library duty. At one point, Taira even wants to process the book returns, while Nishi isn’t sure how to handle Yamada there, and Suzuki offers to help Yamada with reshelving books at another point. She also came to see Yamada. Funny enough, no one else comes into the library except them which seems strange (and they comment on this later, saying few people come there anymore), because this is the school library after all! I also like how Taira helps out Nishi and even gives Yamada a book recommendation, showing he is a true friend. I liked how Yamada and Suzuki enjoy reading books in the library, while showing the library duties, like checking in and out books in a way that seems relaxing, making it seems like something you do every day. There is a cute moment where Yamada and Nishi say each other’s full names.

Then there’s the awful news that Crunchyroll removed Black Lagoon, along with other series like Blood Blockade Battlefront and Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions, as has been reported elsewhere, without any warning. I have an account on that streaming service and the history (which shows what anime series I have watched) doesn’t even mention it at all! I mention this here because that series has a library scene as I noted in my post on here on July 2nd, in the episode “The Succession” (s1 ep 20), first saying that in the episode “Yukio is reading a book by Martin Heidegger as shown in the 20th episode (“Succession”) of the classic crime thriller anime Black Lagoon, which is replete with having girls with guns, particularly hothead Chinese-American Revy.” I went into further detail, saying:

…Yukio is reading a book by Martin Heidegger, as she tells her friend Maki, in the school library, calling the book philosophical and “very powerful.” In contrast, Maki says she likes skincare guides and modern horror books, with Yukio saying she remembered Maki saying she liked Anne Rice. They talk a bit more with Yukio saying she sometimes feels like she is caught inside of book worlds, and viewers see some of the library bookshelves. She says she doesn’t like Stephen King and Maki says she thought Yukio would like Edgar Allan Poe. She says she doesn’t like the ones that imagine the night, and she does not like the world as it makes her scared, that it is not romantic at all.

 

There is a second scene in the episode in the reading room where Yukio is thinking about the gang war between the Russian mafia and Japanese yakuza, and does not listen as much to what Maki tells her and decides to not tell her troubles. The reading room is shown briefly in the next episode, but not enough to mention it here. It is worth noting that Heidegger was directly involved with the Nazis from 1933 to 1945, and even banned from teaching after the war until 1949 (when the ban was lifted). He also never expressed remorse for being involved with the Nazis, which is funny because Hannah Arendt, who became known for her political theory against authoritarianism, including Nazism and fascism. I’m not sure why Heidegger was mentioned (in the manga as well), except to possibly indicate that Yukio was intellectual, nihilistic, and his existential philosophy was appealing. At the same time, I seriously doubt she was a Nazi as there was an earlier plot line in the series where the protagonists stole loot from a submarine filled by wannabe Nazis/neo-Nazis and killed a bunch of them, but rather a bit of a mob boss, if I have to guess. At the same time, during his life, Heidegger had intellectual contact with Japanese scholars like racist Hajime Tanabe (who later regretted defending claimed Japanese state and racial superiority) and pro-militarist Shūzō Kuki over the years, influencing his work, according to Reinhard May.

This all comes when I came across recently this video of an anime fan expressing anger it was removed (along with Crunchyroll locking their anime store behind a paywall effectively), along with this video on the fading, yet important, legacy of the series:

A late entry here is the third episode of I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day. In that episode, Sheena Totsuki goes to the library of her school-of-sorts/orphanage/training institute, to study. She had wanted to go with Mimi Kagari, but she is unable to so because Mimi left to fight enemies. While there she meets her school friends, Lizzy Seiran and Ali Maud who are a couple themselves, and she reveals what Mimi’s guardian (Fran) told her. Later in the episode, however, Mimi reveals her secret to Sheena, shocking her beyond belief. In the scene itself, you see the wonder of the library which is well-used by students, and seems like a place to relax (and study), with wooden tables, and all the books you’d like to read.

Sheena, and other girls at the school, studying in the school library. Note the ornate tables and books on the bookshelves. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena’s friends talk to her in the library. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena shushes her friends because they are in the library, while other patrons look over at her her. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena is reading a book when someone calls out to her. Sorry for the blurriness.

There was an additional library scene in the fourth episode of that same series, with flashbacks to Sheena thinking of Mimi, and a new scene of Mimi balancing books on her head, while Sheena is learning about resurrection magic, and is surprised by Airi and Seiran. One of my favorite parts (shown below) is when the bell rings and breaks Mimi’s concentration, annoying her, as she almost trying to show off a bit by balancing books on her head.

My favorite part of this episode, because Mimi is really showing off here

Last but least is episode 50 of Detective Conan (also known as Case Closed), “The Library Murder Case” / “The Book Without Pages”.  I have been looking forward to watching this episode for a long time, but I finally got to watch it this month, at long last, an episode which fulfills so many stereotypes when it comes to fictional librarians and libraries. I’ll write a whole post on this, but to give the quick and short version of this, Conan Edogawa, a kid detective (wasn’t always a kid) works with his school friends of sorts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of a librarian, and soon suspect the library director. They learn that there are fake books in the children’s section where drugs were being stored, and this is why the director murdered that librarian. He even tries to kill all of them too, but they turn all the bookshelves into dominos so they fall on him, allowing the police to come in and arrest him, taking him away, while they find the body (which was on top of an elevator). It’s gory, but also feeds into many stereotypes, which, perhaps, is not at all a surprise for an episode that came out on March 1997. Some even put some parts of the episode as one of the top scariest moments in the series!

Comics recently added to this page

• The Burning Scheme, Issue 4
• Literary Link [issues 1 to 11]
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 12| Library Hours“
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 13| Routine“
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 14| Almost Everyone“
• Pinky Promise, “Episode 15“
• Pinky Promise, “Episode 16“

In the fourth issue of The Burning Scheme, the protagonists, Vera at Sierra Verde Preparatory School, go to the library together, for a group project, with one of them, Calliope, saying the other (Vera) is “pretty.” Vera doesn’t like this closeness and leaves shortly thereafter, to the disappointment of Calliope.

In the episode “CH 12 | Library Hours” of My Awkward Princess, Alice Evelyn and Luna Charlotte do library service together, with Luna annoying Alice, and Luna getting “tamed” by someone else when they give her a lollipop. At one point, Luna catches Alice when she falls, to her annoyance, saying Luna just wanted to touch her, when in reality she just wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt. And Alice thanks Luna. All this time she is giving instructions to the student vice-president who is relatively incompetent.

Otherwise, in the episode “|CH 13| Routine”, Alice is overworking herself in the library, feeling it will get better the next day and that there cannot be any distractions because the student council depends on her. She feels that she is almost perfect. One day, Luna is with her in the library, believes with Alice believing she should not slow down, and that she has keep working. She pushes it off, despite blood coming out of her nose, saying she isn’t her problem, telling her to stop distracting her, while Luna is deeply worried.

In the episode after this, “|CH 14| Almost Everyone,” Luna goes to the library to read, with Alice asking her why her section of the library isn’t organized yet, and starts bossing her around. Luna finds Alice, who she calls “puppy,” entertaining, and thinks back to when Alice thanked her for catching her, saying that doesn’t happen. Later, in the stairwell, Alice gives her cookies and tells her to show up the next day on time, making Luna blush because Alice gave her sweets (remembering that she likes them), and calls her “dangerous.”

The new version of Literary Link is finally out! That series focuses on libraries at its center, as noted in the series description: “Delinquent Faye Scott just wants to keep her head down and get through her latest sentencing — finish her community service and make it across the graduation stage as unscathed as possible — but her old enemies aren’t letting her go without a fight. However, a certain library volunteer might be the one to show Faye just the kindness she needs to change her life for the better.” I wrote a review about this series a while ago, saying:

Literary Link Review

I was going to add in some issues from Love and be Loved, but I had already added that into a posting I did on recently added titles in April, so I nixed that for this post:

Recently added titles (April 2026)

Lastly, there are two issues of Pinky Promise. In the first of these, the protagonist, Eva, tries to remind the school group to stay on task (picking books for their presentation), as they work together in the school library, and threatens to tell their teacher, Miss Cielo, that they are wasting time. Another classmate tells Hallie that Eva is too serious about school, asking her to convince Eva to not report them. Through it all, Eva is worried about Hallie and the group she is a part of, and when admiring her, she thinks back to a sexy dream she had, leading her to begin blushing. After her fellow classmate believes something may be wrong, Eva denies it, then gets up to find a book. Following this, Hallie gets up to follow Eva.

In the next of those issues, Eva thinks about her reaction and how embarrassing it was, while she starts to look for a book. Hallie comes behind her, startling her, when all she wants is to check in on her. Eva keeps blushing and denying that anything is up, saying she had been different since that morning, after Hallie spent the night at her place. She notices that Eva has been avoiding her, with Eva literally turning her head away, as she stands in front of a library bookshelf. She ends up admitting she can’t look her in the eyes because of a dream she had, where Hallie was touching and kissing her. Even after she says she is embarrassed and shouldn’t have dreamed about it, Hallie teases her about it, saying she is being “naughty,” with Eva saying it is only because she has been teasing her so much lately. Hallie gets close to her and says she is cute every time she teases her, something Eva thinks about later.

Films recently added to this page

None for this month.

Other entries recently added to this page

None for this month. However, there was the recent news that…

• HIDIVE will be streaming The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie on July 14th [English dub]
• The Apothecary Diaries Anime Film’s Trailer Reveals Title, Cast, December 11 Opening

The first of these has libraries as central to the series itself, with library scenes in 16 episodes (“I Was Stolen Away” (s1 ep1), “I Died” (s1 ep 2), “I Want To Hug You” (s1 ep 3), “I Have A Problem” (s1 ep 4), “We Split Up” (s1 ep 5), “I Melted It” (s1 ep 6), “We Swapped Places” (s1 ep 7), “I Had A Dream” (s1 ep 8), “Karta 9: I Hate Yamada” (s1 ep 9), “Bonus Dangers” (s1 OVA), “We’re Searching” (s2 ep 1), “I’m growing up” (s2 ep 2), “Yamada Likes…” (s2 ep 4), “We’re Overflowing” (s2 ep 7), “I Want to Be Closer to Yamada” (s2, ep 10), “I, We, Fell in Love” (s2 ep 13, series finale)), as it is a key meeting place of the male and female protagonists, Kyotaro and Anna Yamada respectfully. As for second series, there’s one library scene I briefly described in a post last year:

In terms of a place of knowledge, consider the 10th episode of the drama/mystery/romance entitled The Apothecary Diaries. In the latter half of the show’s 10th episode, entitled “Honey,” Gaoshun, an assistant of Jinshi, tells Maomao that he will search the court library for information about past events in the rear palace. Later, an assistant behind the information desk helps him. He finds a relevant book and he gives it to Maomao. In it, she learns about events in the past, and that a baby was delivered by Doctor Luomen (her dad!), moving this story in an interesting direction!

© 2024-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#AscendanceOfABookworm #BlackLagoon #BloodBlockadeBattlefront #books #CaseClosed #DetectiveConan #friendship #girlsLove #GrimgarAshesAndIllusions #IWantToLoveYouTillYourDyingDay #JaadugarAWitchInMongolia #libraryPatrons #lists #LiteraryLink #LoveAndBeLoved #MyAwkwardPrincess #orphans #PinkyPromise #reading #RecentlyAddedTitles #romance #shortBlogs #shushing #students #studying #sweets #TheApothecaryDiaries #TheBurningScheme #TheDangersInMyHeart #TheDangersInMyHeartTheMovie #YouAndIArePolarOpposites #yuri

Recently added titles (July 2026)

Yamada checks his phone for messages from Nishi outside the Municipal Center and Library in an episode of the new season of You and I Are Polar Opposites

Building upon the titles listed for July/August, September, October,  November, and December 2021, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2022, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September,  October, November, and December of 2024, and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of this year, and January, February, March, April, May, and June of this year, this post notes recent titles with libraries or librarians in popular culture which I’ve come across in the past month. Each of these has been watched or read during the past month. No films, animated series, or other entries with libraries (or librarians) to add for this past month, but I did come across some in webcomics and anime. There may be spoilers for these series, so be aware.

Animated series recently added to this page

None for this month.

Anime series recently added to this page

• I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day, “Friends” (s1 ep 3)
• I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day, “Accomplices” (s1 ep 4)
• Detective Conan aka Case Closed (s2 ep 22)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, “Dilemma of a Winter’s Night” (s2 ep 2)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, “New School Term” (s2 ep 4)

While Ascendance of a Bookworm continues into a second cour (with no more episodes with libraries or the protagonist Myne as a librarian), Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia (set in the 13th century) has the protagonist aiming to get back her book of Eucidlis from an arrogant imperialistic Mongolian princess, and Draw This, Then Die! has the protagonists cleaning the room of a manga book store on the second floor to become their club space, in the second episode of season 2 of You and I Are Polar Opposites, “Dilemma of a Winter’s Night”, Yamada meets Nishi in the middle of winter break as a pretext to see her. While he doesn’t confess his feelings, and nor does she, he wrongly thinks the library doesn’t have a “nice” atmosphere, even though it does. They choose between going to the study room where talking, food, and drink are forbidden, and a free space, with Yamada going with the latter.

Otherwise, in the episode, Nishi admits she comes to the library “quite a bit,” which Yamada finds commendable, and admits he can’t study at all, at home, as it is far too distracting. He admits that inviting her there was just a pretext by accident while she admits that she comes there every day, and has finished all her homework. He is shocked, she admits she wanted a pretext as well, and he stops himself from saying they should date, feeling it isn’t a right place. He ends up being quiet during their date-not-date while studying.

There’s another library scene in the episode “New School Term”. Even the description on Crunchyroll indicates this, saying, “Suzuki takes Yamada to the school library, with an ulterior motive in mind. Nishi is happy that Yamada came, but anxious that others might find out about their relationship.” Shenanigans ensue, while Nishi and Taira work as library for their student library duty. At one point, Taira even wants to process the book returns, while Nishi isn’t sure how to handle Yamada there, and Suzuki offers to help Yamada with reshelving books at another point. She also came to see Yamada. Funny enough, no one else comes into the library except them which seems strange (and they comment on this later, saying few people come there anymore), because this is the school library after all! I also like how Taira helps out Nishi and even gives Yamada a book recommendation, showing he is a true friend. I liked how Yamada and Suzuki enjoy reading books in the library, while showing the library duties, like checking in and out books in a way that seems relaxing, making it seems like something you do every day. There is a cute moment where Yamada and Nishi say each other’s full names.

Then there’s the awful news that Crunchyroll removed Black Lagoon, along with other series like Blood Blockade Battlefront and Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions, as has been reported elsewhere, without any warning. I have an account on that streaming service and the history (which shows what anime series I have watched) doesn’t even mention it at all! I mention this here because that series has a library scene as I noted in my post on here on July 2nd, in the episode “The Succession” (s1 ep 20), first saying that in the episode “Yukio is reading a book by Martin Heidegger as shown in the 20th episode (“Succession”) of the classic crime thriller anime Black Lagoon, which is replete with having girls with guns, particularly hothead Chinese-American Revy.” I went into further detail, saying:

…Yukio is reading a book by Martin Heidegger, as she tells her friend Maki, in the school library, calling the book philosophical and “very powerful.” In contrast, Maki says she likes skincare guides and modern horror books, with Yukio saying she remembered Maki saying she liked Anne Rice. They talk a bit more with Yukio saying she sometimes feels like she is caught inside of book worlds, and viewers see some of the library bookshelves. She says she doesn’t like Stephen King and Maki says she thought Yukio would like Edgar Allan Poe. She says she doesn’t like the ones that imagine the night, and she does not like the world as it makes her scared, that it is not romantic at all.

 

There is a second scene in the episode in the reading room where Yukio is thinking about the gang war between the Russian mafia and Japanese yakuza, and does not listen as much to what Maki tells her and decides to not tell her troubles. The reading room is shown briefly in the next episode, but not enough to mention it here. It is worth noting that Heidegger was directly involved with the Nazis from 1933 to 1945, and even banned from teaching after the war until 1949 (when the ban was lifted). He also never expressed remorse for being involved with the Nazis, which is funny because Hannah Arendt, who became known for her political theory against authoritarianism, including Nazism and fascism. I’m not sure why Heidegger was mentioned (in the manga as well), except to possibly indicate that Yukio was intellectual, nihilistic, and his existential philosophy was appealing. At the same time, I seriously doubt she was a Nazi as there was an earlier plot line in the series where the protagonists stole loot from a submarine filled by wannabe Nazis/neo-Nazis and killed a bunch of them, but rather a bit of a mob boss, if I have to guess. At the same time, during his life, Heidegger had intellectual contact with Japanese scholars like racist Hajime Tanabe (who later regretted defending claimed Japanese state and racial superiority) and pro-militarist Shūzō Kuki over the years, influencing his work, according to Reinhard May.

This all comes when I came across recently this video of an anime fan expressing anger it was removed (along with Crunchyroll locking their anime store behind a paywall effectively), along with this video on the fading, yet important, legacy of the series:

A late entry here is the third episode of I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day. In that episode, Sheena Totsuki goes to the library of her school-of-sorts/orphanage/training institute, to study. She had wanted to go with Mimi Kagari, but she is unable to so because Mimi left to fight enemies. While there she meets her school friends, Lizzy Seiran and Ali Maud who are a couple themselves, and she reveals what Mimi’s guardian (Fran) told her. Later in the episode, however, Mimi reveals her secret to Sheena, shocking her beyond belief. In the scene itself, you see the wonder of the library which is well-used by students, and seems like a place to relax (and study), with wooden tables, and all the books you’d like to read.

Sheena, and other girls at the school, studying in the school library. Note the ornate tables and books on the bookshelves. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena’s friends talk to her in the library. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena shushes her friends because they are in the library, while other patrons look over at her her. Sorry for the blurriness.Sheena is reading a book when someone calls out to her. Sorry for the blurriness.

There was an additional library scene in the fourth episode of that same series, with flashbacks to Sheena thinking of Mimi, and a new scene of Mimi balancing books on her head, while Sheena is learning about resurrection magic, and is surprised by Airi and Seiran. One of my favorite parts (shown below) is when the bell rings and breaks Mimi’s concentration, annoying her, as she almost trying to show off a bit by balancing books on her head.

My favorite part of this episode, because Mimi is really showing off here

Last but least is episode 50 of Detective Conan (also known as Case Closed), “The Library Murder Case” / “The Book Without Pages”.  I have been looking forward to watching this episode for a long time, but I finally got to watch it this month, at long last, an episode which fulfills so many stereotypes when it comes to fictional librarians and libraries. I’ll write a whole post on this, but to give the quick and short version of this, Conan Edogawa, a kid detective (wasn’t always a kid) works with his school friends of sorts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of a librarian, and soon suspect the library director. They learn that there are fake books in the children’s section where drugs were being stored, and this is why the director murdered that librarian. He even tries to kill all of them too, but they turn all the bookshelves into dominos so they fall on him, allowing the police to come in and arrest him, taking him away, while they find the body (which was on top of an elevator). It’s gory, but also feeds into many stereotypes, which, perhaps, is not at all a surprise for an episode that came out on March 1997. Some even put some parts of the episode as one of the top scariest moments in the series!

Comics recently added to this page

• The Burning Scheme, Issue 4
• Literary Link [issues 1 to 11]
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 12| Library Hours“
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 13| Routine“
• My Awkward Princess, “|CH 14| Almost Everyone“
• Pinky Promise, “Episode 15“
• Pinky Promise, “Episode 16“

In the fourth issue of The Burning Scheme, the protagonists, Vera at Sierra Verde Preparatory School, go to the library together, for a group project, with one of them, Calliope, saying the other (Vera) is “pretty.” Vera doesn’t like this closeness and leaves shortly thereafter, to the disappointment of Calliope.

In the episode “CH 12 | Library Hours” of My Awkward Princess, Alice Evelyn and Luna Charlotte do library service together, with Luna annoying Alice, and Luna getting “tamed” by someone else when they give her a lollipop. At one point, Luna catches Alice when she falls, to her annoyance, saying Luna just wanted to touch her, when in reality she just wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt. And Alice thanks Luna. All this time she is giving instructions to the student vice-president who is relatively incompetent.

Otherwise, in the episode “|CH 13| Routine”, Alice is overworking herself in the library, feeling it will get better the next day and that there cannot be any distractions because the student council depends on her. She feels that she is almost perfect. One day, Luna is with her in the library, believes with Alice believing she should not slow down, and that she has keep working. She pushes it off, despite blood coming out of her nose, saying she isn’t her problem, telling her to stop distracting her, while Luna is deeply worried.

In the episode after this, “|CH 14| Almost Everyone,” Luna goes to the library to read, with Alice asking her why her section of the library isn’t organized yet, and starts bossing her around. Luna finds Alice, who she calls “puppy,” entertaining, and thinks back to when Alice thanked her for catching her, saying that doesn’t happen. Later, in the stairwell, Alice gives her cookies and tells her to show up the next day on time, making Luna blush because Alice gave her sweets (remembering that she likes them), and calls her “dangerous.”

The new version of Literary Link is finally out! That series focuses on libraries at its center, as noted in the series description: “Delinquent Faye Scott just wants to keep her head down and get through her latest sentencing — finish her community service and make it across the graduation stage as unscathed as possible — but her old enemies aren’t letting her go without a fight. However, a certain library volunteer might be the one to show Faye just the kindness she needs to change her life for the better.” I wrote a review about this series a while ago, saying:

Literary Link Review

I was going to add in some issues from Love and be Loved, but I had already added that into a posting I did on recently added titles in April, so I nixed that for this post:

Recently added titles (April 2026)

Lastly, there are two issues of Pinky Promise. In the first of these, the protagonist, Eva, tries to remind the school group to stay on task (picking books for their presentation), as they work together in the school library, and threatens to tell their teacher, Miss Cielo, that they are wasting time. Another classmate tells Hallie that Eva is too serious about school, asking her to convince Eva to not report them. Through it all, Eva is worried about Hallie and the group she is a part of, and when admiring her, she thinks back to a sexy dream she had, leading her to begin blushing. After her fellow classmate believes something may be wrong, Eva denies it, then gets up to find a book. Following this, Hallie gets up to follow Eva.

In the next of those issues, Eva thinks about her reaction and how embarrassing it was, while she starts to look for a book. Hallie comes behind her, startling her, when all she wants is to check in on her. Eva keeps blushing and denying that anything is up, saying she had been different since that morning, after Hallie spent the night at her place. She notices that Eva has been avoiding her, with Eva literally turning her head away, as she stands in front of a library bookshelf. She ends up admitting she can’t look her in the eyes because of a dream she had, where Hallie was touching and kissing her. Even after she says she is embarrassed and shouldn’t have dreamed about it, Hallie teases her about it, saying she is being “naughty,” with Eva saying it is only because she has been teasing her so much lately. Hallie gets close to her and says she is cute every time she teases her, something Eva thinks about later.

Films recently added to this page

None for this month.

Other entries recently added to this page

None for this month. However, there was the recent news that…

• HIDIVE will be streaming The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie on July 14th [English dub]
• The Apothecary Diaries Anime Film’s Trailer Reveals Title, Cast, December 11 Opening

The first of these has libraries as central to the series itself, with library scenes in 16 episodes (“I Was Stolen Away” (s1 ep1), “I Died” (s1 ep 2), “I Want To Hug You” (s1 ep 3), “I Have A Problem” (s1 ep 4), “We Split Up” (s1 ep 5), “I Melted It” (s1 ep 6), “We Swapped Places” (s1 ep 7), “I Had A Dream” (s1 ep 8), “Karta 9: I Hate Yamada” (s1 ep 9), “Bonus Dangers” (s1 OVA), “We’re Searching” (s2 ep 1), “I’m growing up” (s2 ep 2), “Yamada Likes…” (s2 ep 4), “We’re Overflowing” (s2 ep 7), “I Want to Be Closer to Yamada” (s2, ep 10), “I, We, Fell in Love” (s2 ep 13, series finale)), as it is a key meeting place of the male and female protagonists, Kyotaro and Anna Yamada respectfully. As for second series, there’s one library scene I briefly described in a post last year:

In terms of a place of knowledge, consider the 10th episode of the drama/mystery/romance entitled The Apothecary Diaries. In the latter half of the show’s 10th episode, entitled “Honey,” Gaoshun, an assistant of Jinshi, tells Maomao that he will search the court library for information about past events in the rear palace. Later, an assistant behind the information desk helps him. He finds a relevant book and he gives it to Maomao. In it, she learns about events in the past, and that a baby was delivered by Doctor Luomen (her dad!), moving this story in an interesting direction!

© 2024-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#AscendanceOfABookworm #BlackLagoon #BloodBlockadeBattlefront #books #CaseClosed #DetectiveConan #friendship #girlsLove #GrimgarAshesAndIllusions #IWantToLoveYouTillYourDyingDay #JaadugarAWitchInMongolia #libraryPatrons #lists #LiteraryLink #LoveAndBeLoved #MyAwkwardPrincess #orphans #PinkyPromise #reading #RecentlyAddedTitles #romance #shortBlogs #shushing #students #studying #sweets #TheApothecaryDiaries #TheBurningScheme #TheDangersInMyHeart #TheDangersInMyHeartTheMovie #YouAndIArePolarOpposites #yuri

Princess Syalis’ sleep quest, spells, and forbidden library knowledge in “Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle”

Princess Syalis reads a Grimoire in the forbidden room off the underground demon library, and is annoyed

I’ve written about sleeping on this blog throughout this past year, whether in regards to Rin Shima in Laid Back-Camp, who sleeps at the information desk when she was in school, one of the few characters who is a librarian which I have seen doing this, while comfortably wearing a hair bun. Another example is the unnamed librarian in We Bare Bears, who lets patrons sleep overnight at the library, perhaps because she saw them working so steadily, so she let them stay there and rest in peace. Otherwise, there’s Shirusu Mochizuki who wakes up a sleeping patron in a weird first-person series, while claiming that naps disturb the other patrons and to not sleep in the library. Rin does the same in another episode, to her friend, Nadeshiko. Even more blatant is Dantalion in As Miss Beelzebub Likes, a part-rabbit librarian of the Pandemonium Library. He remains overly dedicated to his job that he reads but doesn’t eat at times, loving the smell of paper and ink. At the same time, he is very knowledgeable about what is in the library’s stacks, filled with millions of books, and is hundreds of years old, and works alongside over 10 possible library assistants. Others, such as Myne in Ascendance of a Bookworm, may fall asleep during their librarian duties as well, while Yomiko Readman almost sleeps on the huge pile of books she has in her apartment, in R.O.D. the TV.

All of these examples stand against rules in libraries banning sleeping, which can be used against homeless people if they unevenly/unfairly enforced. This all goes out the window when it comes to Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, an anime based on an ongoing manga written by Kagiji Kumanomata, which mixes the slice-of-life, fantasy comedy, and adventure genres, into one. In one episode, the protagonist, Princess Syalis (her full name is Aurora Sya Lis Goodereste) travels to the forbidden library in hopes that it will provide what she needs for a good night sleep, as she remains a hostage-in-name-only in the Demon Castle, where her antics make her the defacto castle ruler, in some ways. It differs from other series where the library is shown to be a place of studying, work, and even fun. [1] There will be some summaries of the show’s third episode.

In the episode, entitled “The Princess and Forbidden Knowledge,” of the aforementioned series, Syalis reads a Grimoire, a book which contains fruits of human wisdom, but can cause people to lose their sanity or gain magic knowledge. She believed that if she reads one of these sealed books, she might be able to fall asleep. As a result, she secretly travels to the Demon Castle Underground Library, hoping to find such a book, and makes her way past the guards (Bigwig Penguin and Jester Soldier). At first, her quest is not successful, as she reads many boring, dull Grimoires, which reduce her hit points/health to almost nothing. After this, something miraculous happens, she begins rolling down the stairs, going through a wild process which unlocks all the parts needed to unlock a forbidden magical book, sitting in its own secluded, secret library room. She finds herself in a pile of books and is able to easily to take off the chains around the aforementioned Grimoire, which releases Alazif, the spirit of the Grimoire.

Although Alazif attempts to convince Syalis to destroy all the demons, she refuses. She remains annoyed until she learns about a sleep spell. She wields the power and it so effective that it envelops the entire castle, with no one able to resist the magic, not even the demon king. This backfires as the spell doesn’t work on the spellcaster (her), causing her to be wide awake while everyone else is asleep. She falls asleep on a book in the library, with the book as a pillow of sorts. shocking Alazif. This library has no active librarians, so there’s no one, like the librarians Sanae Dekomori smears as slacking off for “not shelving books,” in  Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, for Syalis to criticize. [2]

Later, Syalis gets a book from the library, thanks to Alazif, outlining pressure points that humans have. In the sequence that follows, she asks people around the castle to touch her in a specific place (which they interpret as sexual), but she is only asking them to touch her pressure points. She is able to pull the Demon King into her prison room, and he believes that what she wants is sexual, remembering what he once read in a book. Once it is clear that it was just a way to get her to sleep, he, and the rest of the demons, are embarrassed.

Apart from the fact that the underground library and secret annex do not have libraries, the books are unique in more ways than one. For one, the books have built-in restrictions, as reading them would cause you to die. This is almost like the books in the library collection of the University of Southern Denmark which contained “large concentrations of arsenic on their covers.” Other libraries had volumes, but those books have long been destroyed. Additional researchers uncovered rare book collections and libraries which “often carry volumes that feature poisons on their pages.” [3]

In terms of the restrictions on books, I can’t think of any other examples where they are books which have chains on them apart from those in What If…?, as Jennifer Snoek-Brown describes: “…a few books hang from chains along the ceiling,” calling it “visually intriguing but very impractical.” She also pointed to chained-up books from the restricted section as shown in the film Doctor Strange, part of the never-ending cash cow, Marvel Cinematic Universe, which began in 2008. The latter is a series of films which have been criticized as equivalent of theme park rides, corporation products, despicable, ruining the industry, and is said to mainly cater to White adults. [4]

In addition, I’ve previously written on this blog about the so-called “restricted library” in That Awkward Magic!!, although the latter is a magic archives rather than a magic library. Similarly, the librarian in Hilda, named Kaisa, is a witch, can enter magic passageways and go to the Committee of Three, deep within the library. In the same point I pointed to restricted books in Equestria Girls, and the books only accessible to priests in Ascendance of a Bookworm. Then, in Merlin’s Story, the librarian on staff said that the school’s historical documents were not open to the public. It is further implied that the information inside the PYRAMID Academy library’s Ancient Egypt Room (part of the special collections), as shown in Cleopatra in Space, is restricted, perhaps to only academy professors, not students. At the same time, only certain students, like Callie, who heads the Ancient Egypt club at this intergalactic high school, may have access.

Last but not least, there’s the closed stacks in Riddle Story of Devil, authorized books in Soylent Green, and implied restrictions on a book that Somali (and the Golem) wants to read, in an episode of Somali and the Forest Spirit, as it has information about humans. In that case of that series, the librarian, Praline, is aggressive in her questioning of the patrons, going against guidance about reference interviews. Later, they can’t even use the book to get through the library’s catacombs, as witches get called when the alarm goes off, since Somali and Golem are labeled as “intruders.” After their harrowing escape, they reach their destination, but the witches appear and soon surround them, telling them to surrender, declaring this is a “restricted area.” Such limits on the information being shared are not unique.

Syalis asks Alazif for a book on pressure points

This series is unlike any others I’ve seen, in part, because of the arrogance and privilege of Syalis. While this was clear from the subbed version, it came through even more through the dubbed version, with Kira Buckland voicing Syalis. She voiced Umi Sonoda in Love Live! School Idol Project, Beatrice (Hetaro Pearlbaton and Lucas) in Re:Zero, Luculia in Violet Evergarden, Sophia Ascart in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, and Makeru Yadano in Komi Can’t Communicate, to name a few. In terms of Syalis, her name probably is not a reference to the Cialis (also known as Tadalafil) medication.

However, the absurdity of this plot says a lot about libraries. For one, it says that this library is not very accessible. How can her information need (to find a book that makes her sleepy) be fulfilled if there are no librarians present? In some ways, Alazif helps her, but she does not appear to have knowledge of the library collections. A librarian would surely have been helpful. On the other hand, Syalis is capable by herself and can easily solve quests to ensure she gets a good night rest, with or without help. In the case of this episode, the librarian, more likely than not, would have been a demon and would have reported her.

In terms of libraries in real-life, some libraries in Wisconsin (Eau Claire) have taken measures against sleeping in libraries, while others have encouraged sleepy storytimes (Dickinson County, Michigan). Others have considered taking measures to stop sleeping outside libraries, or banned it when the library is closed. Additional libraries have installed sleep pods, like ones at McKeldin Library at University of Maryland, College Park, from what I remember. [5] The latter would definitely be something that Syalis would enjoy, for sure.

Although there are no fan fics for the manga, or anime adaptation, which use the “libraries” tag on AO3, there is one mentioning the aforementioned episode and the Demon Cleric. In this fic, the Demon Cleric thinks of sleeping in the library,which is said to have a quiet ambiance. It was further noted that “thousands of books were shelved on either side of the walls. Also, long tables and chairs were placed there for visitors to read books quietly with no noises disturbing them.” It was added that this library, like others, made it feel like the knowledge was seeping through you, and was vast. However, he wanted to avoid other people seeing him sleep there. Ultimately he and Syalis end up sleeping together and they kiss! It would have been interesting to see the anime, or manga, take this direction.

The manga, which is over 20 volumes, had various chapters set in the library. The first of these is the tenth chapter, which was adapted in the aforementioned “The Princess and Forbidden Knowledge” episode. In the chapter, Syalis, finds a forbidden grimoire, which includes “all the fruits of human wisdom,” after she reads books she deems boring. After she meets Alazif, in a secret room of the demon underground library and gets a sleeping spell, which doesn’t work on her. The second is in the 20th chapter, which Syalis goes to the aforementioned secret room, and asks Alazif for advice on sleeping better, and she gets a flower, known as Mangolasia, which induces a deep sleep. Then, in the 27th chapter, Syalis reads the forbidden grimoire, and learns about a mysterious device known as a kotatsu. Then there’s the 40th chapter, when Syalis learns about Valentine’s Day chocolates from Alazif, while she is in the demon underground library. She is told that people should give her chocolates because she is a girl.

That’s all for this post! Next week I’ll be writing about name changes and romance in the public library of Alter Ego. As a relevant reminder, I will be writing about sleeping in libraries in four other blogposts this year, often as secondary topics in posts about libraries as places of knowledge, refuge, studying, reading, and romance. [6]

Hope you all sleep soundly, as soundly as Princess Syalis!

Syalis falls asleep on a Grimoire, in the library, following her failure to make herself sleep with a sleeping spell

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] I’m referring to the first two episodes of I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness. In the first episode, “Naughty Encounter, the protagonist, Allen Crawford, helps Charlotte Evans (a disgraced noble lady framed for crimes), and tells her that she can do whatever she wants, even spending time reading in the library. He is shown doing his work in the library, which is crossing out huge passages in to-be-published academic literature, which he loves to do. In the second episode, “Naughty Way to Release Stress,” Allen, reviews his progress to make Charlotte do “naughty” things (eat cakes), and tries thinks of ways for her to experience what she hasn’t before. The next morning, Allen wakes up, after doing an all-nighter, and is excited by the list of “naughty” things he has come up with for her.

[2] In the 11th episode of that series, entitled “One-Winged Fallen Angel,” Sanae Dekomori complains that the librarians are slacking off and not shelving books, and says the teacher is being carefree. Yūta Togashi is distracted, as he is thinking about Rikka Takanashi. Later, in talking with Yuta, Sanae admits she was scouted by the drama club, and asks if he regrets what happened to Rikka.

[3] Holck, Jakob Povl and Kaare Lund Rasmussen. “How we discovered three poisonous books in our university library,” The Conversation, Jun. 27, 2018; Zawacki, Alexander J. “How a Library Handles a Rare and Deadly Book of Wallpaper Samples,” Atlas Obscura, Jan. 23, 2018; “These green books are poisonous—and one may be on a shelf near you,” Art Conservation, University of Delaware Art & Sciences, accessed Oct. 19, 2023.

[4] Shevenock, Sarah and Alyssa Meyers, “Is Gen Z Too Cool for Marvel? Just 9% of Marvel Fans Identify as Part of the Generation,” Morning Consult Pro, Dec. 6, 2021; Bell, BreAnna. “Martin Scorsese Compares Marvel Movies to Theme Parks: ‘That’s Not Cinema’,” Variety, Oct. 4, 2019; Scorsese, Marin. “I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain,” New York Times (opinion), Nov. 4, 2019; Dalton, Ben. “Martin Scorsese talks “theme park films”, Netflix trade-off, de-ageing concerns,” Screen Daily, Oct. 13, 2019; Lattanzio, Ryan. “Martin Scorsese Defends Marvel Comments in New York Times Op-Ed: These Films Have No Mystery or Risk,” IndieWire, Nov. 4, 2019; Fleming Jr., Mike. “Turns Out The Most Despicable Thing About Francis Coppola’s Superhero Movie Comments Was The Faulty Translation,” Deadline, Oct. 29, 2019; Lattanzio, Ryan. “Denis Villeneuve Says ‘Cut and Paste’ Marvel Movies Have ‘Turned Us Into Zombies’,” IndieWire, Sept. 16, 2021; Crow, David. “Roland Emmerich: Marvel and Star Wars Are ‘Ruining Our Industry’,” Den of Geek, Feb. 2, 2022; Faughnder, Ryan. “What’s up with the MCU? A new book chronicles Marvel Studios’ reign and stumbles,” LA Times, Oct. 10, 2023.

[5] Loroff, Alex. “Eau Claire library looks to hire full-time security monitor,” WLAX/WEUX, Oct. 19, 2023; “Sleepy Storytimes at the Dickinson County Library,” The Daily News, Oct. 16, 2023; “New Hanover Co. considering changes to stop people from sleeping outside of downtown library,” WCET, Jan. 19, 2023; Cohen, Nancy Eve. “Once a haven for people sleeping outside, after fire, Pittsfield library bans loitering,” New England Public Media, Nov. 28, 2022; Yeung, Lien. “BCIT installs new sleep pods in library,” CBC News, Aug. 2, 2016; O’Connell, Elizabeth. “Sleeping area could come to Main Library,” The Daily Wildcat, Dec. 6, 2016.

[6] They are: “Fictional libraries as places of refuge and knowledge” (May 28, 2024); “The fictional library and the value of studying redux” (Jul. 31, 2024); “The dangers in “my” library?: Box cutters, food consumption, books, and romance, oh my!” (Aug. 21, 2024); and “Are libraries just “for reading”?: Neptune’s declaration and the reality of libraries” (Oct. 29, 2024).

#AlterEgo #arsenic #AsMissBeelzebubLikes #AscendanceOfABookworm #Beatrice #books #booksThatKill #chainedBooks #chocolate #CleopatraInSpace #demons #dubbing #EquestriaGirls #fanFiction #femaleLibrarians #flowers #hitPoints #IMGivingTheDisgracedNobleLadyIRescuedACrashCourseInNaughtiness #JapaneseLibrarians #JapanesePatrons #JapaneseWomen #Kaisa #kissing #LaidBackCamp #libraryPatrons #LoveChunibyoOtherDelusions #LoveLiveSchoolIdolProject #Makuranodanshi #mentalHealth #MerlinSStory #MyNextLifeAsAVillainess #Myne #overwork #pressurePoints #RODTheTV #ReZero #referenceInterviews #restrictions #RiddleStoryOfTheDevil #sexualAttraction #sleeping #SleepyPrincessInTheDemonCastle #SomaliAndTheForestSpirit #SoylentGreen #spirits #studyRoom #studying #subtitles #teachers #ThatAwkwardMagic #VioletEvergarden #vocationalAwe #WeBareBears #WhatIf #YomikoReadman