#kaisa — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/fi/251647/ Lauri Salovaara: Ero! | Seiska #Entertainment #ero #FI #Finland #Finnish #kaisa #LauriSalovaara #miljonääriprojekti #seiska #Suomi #viihde

Hong Kong’s court dismisses bid to liquidate property giant Country Garden https://www.allforgardening.com/1610350/hong-kongs-court-dismisses-bid-to-liquidate-property-giant-country-garden/ #china #CountryGarden #debts #evergrande #garden #HongKongCourt #kaisa #PROPERTY #shareholders #Vanke

Hong Kong’s court dismisses bid to liquidate property giant Country Garden https://www.allforgardening.com/1610350/hong-kongs-court-dismisses-bid-to-liquidate-property-giant-country-garden/ #china #CountryGarden #debts #evergrande #garden #HongKongCourt #kaisa #PROPERTY #shareholders #Vanke

If you are looking for costume ideas for Halloween, and you like libraries and librarians, hear me out.

#Hilda #Kaisa #library #librarian #animation #animation2d #Halloween

Johanna X Kaisa

For Alonso Lupercio

If you would like to support my work, feel free to support me on either
Patreon: www.patreon.com/eagc1995
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/X8X0WRTV

#Hilda #HildaFanArt #Johanna #Kaisa

Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”

Happy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.

In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.

While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.

As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.

Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.

The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida”  in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).

To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.

This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.

What the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.

All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.

© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen

Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”

Happy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.

In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.

While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.

As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.

Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.

The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida”  in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).

To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.

This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.

What the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.

All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.

© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen

Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”

Happy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.

In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.

While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.

As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.

Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.

The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida”  in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).

To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.

This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.

What the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.

All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.

© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen

Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”

Happy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.

In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.

While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.

As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.

Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.

The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida”  in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).

To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.

This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.

What the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.

All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.

© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen

Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”

Happy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.

In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.

While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.

As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.

Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.

The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida”  in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).

To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.

This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.

What the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.

All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.

© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen

Knowledge, research, zoologists, and beyond in fictional libraries of yore

When I originally wrote about Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror on this blog, I believed there was only episode focusing on libraries in this idolish anime fantasy series, a Love Live! Sunshine!! spinoff. I could not be more wrong, as I learned in the sixth episode. I’ll talk about the role of libraries in this series and connect it to other posts on this blog. This may also require some plot summary.

At the end of the second episode, “My Job”, there is a short library scene. During that scene, a scholar realizes that the animals are in danger, after looking at a book showing the effects of an evil virus, with the protagonist in danger. This is followed up in the sixth episode, “The Harmony of the Shy”. In that episode, the scholar is revealed to be a zoologist named Riko. She has a huge library and is researching the strange behavior of animals in Numazu. As such, she is drawn to unique/rare animals and life forms. She even travels to the Administrative Bureau, which has all the information on the town, and talks to Dia about the strange incidents affecting the animals (and the town by extension). After this, Riko declares she is leaving the town the next day, surprising them all. Late at night, Riko reads more books about the calamity which is affecting the town and the animals.

It is later revealed that she moved around a lot when she was little, and stopped trying to make friends. As such, after a bog she bonded with was returned to its owner, she didn’t want to deal with the sadness caused by separation, causing her to begin loving to read books about animals, then researching animals. All the while, she didn’t want to get involved with anyone or make any memories. Yohane (the anime’s protagonist and namesake) and Mari comfort her. Ultimately, Riko tells them she is going to stay in town for a “little longer”, saying she will help out, if her skills as a researcher can benefit those in the town.

I liked this aspect of the episode as is showed that the books and research she is doing is being put to a good use. More than that, considering that Riko likely organized the books herself, she is a bit of a defacto librarian. However, considering that librarianship itself involves those who work professional within a librarian, providing either instruction on information literacy or access to information, Riko is not that at all. Furthermore, not everyone who works in a library is a librarian, as there are pages, library associates, library assistances, branch managers, cataloging staff, and so on, all while librarians receive low wages, are not quiet places, and have an organizational system for the books. While you can argue that Riko is helping Yohane, Lailaps (Yohane’s wolf companion), and Mari find information, she is the researcher. She is not facilitating them to conduct “research for personal and professional use.” [1]

This series is not unique in showing characters research in the library. Characters in the series Adventure Time, Cleopatra in Space, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Stretch Armstrong, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Bravest Warriors, LoliRock, Trollhunters, and Hilda, and films like Solaris, to name a few, do the same, conducting research within libraries. In a few cases, like Adventure Time, the new She-Ra, Trollhunters, and Hilda, there are librarians, specifically Turtle Princess, George and Lance, Blinky, and Kaisa. This differs from Yohane the Parhelion, as that series has a librarian. There isn’t much more to say at this point, unless libraries have more of a role in episodes beyond the aforementioned ones.

The library reappears throughout the series, including in the episode “What’s a Girls’ Night?” when Riko is shown briefly in her library and isn’t sure about going to a girls’ night. It is even a place or refuge as made clear in the 12th episode, “Farewell, Lailaps”. In that episode, Yohane shelters in the library while her wolf gets better, with Riko, and a little girl comes in worrying about Sakura (a pig) who ran way. It finally appears in the series finale, “Once Again Today.” In that episode, the library becomes a shelter of sorts for people and their animals, with Riko worried about Yohane. Mari is there too and is trying to listen for Yohane. The associated game may have scenes in the library as well, but I can’t say for certain.

That’s all for now. Next week’s post will be on a witch, a vampire (cat), and a magical library in Morgana and Oz!

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Hargreaves, Abby. “Being a Librarian: Expectations vs. Reality,” Book Riot, Nov. 3, 2021; “What Librarians and Library Media Specialists Do,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, accessed Jul. 31, 2023. Yohane, Riko, and Mari are known as “Guilty Kiss” when singing in Love Live! Sunshine!!, and sing an insert song in the sixth episode.

#AdventureTime #animals #BravestWarriors #CleopatraInSpace #definitions #Hilda #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LGBTQ #LoliRock #LoveLiveSunshine #MorganaAndOz #pigs #research #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #SheRaFranchise #SolarisFilm #StretchArmstrong #Trollhunters #YohaneTheParhelionSunshineInTheMirror #yuri

Knowledge, research, zoologists, and beyond in fictional libraries of yore

When I originally wrote about Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror on this blog, I believed there was only episode focusing on libraries in this idolish anime fantasy series, a Love Live! Sunshine!! spinoff. I could not be more wrong, as I learned in the sixth episode. I’ll talk about the role of libraries in this series and connect it to other posts on this blog. This may also require some plot summary.

At the end of the second episode, “My Job”, there is a short library scene. During that scene, a scholar realizes that the animals are in danger, after looking at a book showing the effects of an evil virus, with the protagonist in danger. This is followed up in the sixth episode, “The Harmony of the Shy”. In that episode, the scholar is revealed to be a zoologist named Riko. She has a huge library and is researching the strange behavior of animals in Numazu. As such, she is drawn to unique/rare animals and life forms. She even travels to the Administrative Bureau, which has all the information on the town, and talks to Dia about the strange incidents affecting the animals (and the town by extension). After this, Riko declares she is leaving the town the next day, surprising them all. Late at night, Riko reads more books about the calamity which is affecting the town and the animals.

It is later revealed that she moved around a lot when she was little, and stopped trying to make friends. As such, after a bog she bonded with was returned to its owner, she didn’t want to deal with the sadness caused by separation, causing her to begin loving to read books about animals, then researching animals. All the while, she didn’t want to get involved with anyone or make any memories. Yohane (the anime’s protagonist and namesake) and Mari comfort her. Ultimately, Riko tells them she is going to stay in town for a “little longer”, saying she will help out, if her skills as a researcher can benefit those in the town.

I liked this aspect of the episode as is showed that the books and research she is doing is being put to a good use. More than that, considering that Riko likely organized the books herself, she is a bit of a defacto librarian. However, considering that librarianship itself involves those who work professional within a librarian, providing either instruction on information literacy or access to information, Riko is not that at all. Furthermore, not everyone who works in a library is a librarian, as there are pages, library associates, library assistances, branch managers, cataloging staff, and so on, all while librarians receive low wages, are not quiet places, and have an organizational system for the books. While you can argue that Riko is helping Yohane, Lailaps (Yohane’s wolf companion), and Mari find information, she is the researcher. She is not facilitating them to conduct “research for personal and professional use.” [1]

This series is not unique in showing characters research in the library. Characters in the series Adventure Time, Cleopatra in Space, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Stretch Armstrong, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Bravest Warriors, LoliRock, Trollhunters, and Hilda, and films like Solaris, to name a few, do the same, conducting research within libraries. In a few cases, like Adventure Time, the new She-Ra, Trollhunters, and Hilda, there are librarians, specifically Turtle Princess, George and Lance, Blinky, and Kaisa. This differs from Yohane the Parhelion, as that series has a librarian. There isn’t much more to say at this point, unless libraries have more of a role in episodes beyond the aforementioned ones.

The library reappears throughout the series, including in the episode “What’s a Girls’ Night?” when Riko is shown briefly in her library and isn’t sure about going to a girls’ night. It is even a place or refuge as made clear in the 12th episode, “Farewell, Lailaps”. In that episode, Yohane shelters in the library while her wolf gets better, with Riko, and a little girl comes in worrying about Sakura (a pig) who ran way. It finally appears in the series finale, “Once Again Today.” In that episode, the library becomes a shelter of sorts for people and their animals, with Riko worried about Yohane. Mari is there too and is trying to listen for Yohane. The associated game may have scenes in the library as well, but I can’t say for certain.

That’s all for now. Next week’s post will be on a witch, a vampire (cat), and a magical library in Morgana and Oz!

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Hargreaves, Abby. “Being a Librarian: Expectations vs. Reality,” Book Riot, Nov. 3, 2021; “What Librarians and Library Media Specialists Do,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, accessed Jul. 31, 2023. Yohane, Riko, and Mari are known as “Guilty Kiss” when singing in Love Live! Sunshine!!, and sing an insert song in the sixth episode.

#AdventureTime #animals #BravestWarriors #CleopatraInSpace #definitions #Hilda #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LGBTQ #LoliRock #LoveLiveSunshine #MorganaAndOz #pigs #research #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #SheRaFranchise #SolarisFilm #StretchArmstrong #Trollhunters #YohaneTheParhelionSunshineInTheMirror #yuri

Knowledge, research, zoologists, and beyond in fictional libraries of yore

When I originally wrote about Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror on this blog, I believed there was only episode focusing on libraries in this idolish anime fantasy series, a Love Live! Sunshine!! spinoff. I could not be more wrong, as I learned in the sixth episode. I’ll talk about the role of libraries in this series and connect it to other posts on this blog. This may also require some plot summary.

At the end of the second episode, “My Job”, there is a short library scene. During that scene, a scholar realizes that the animals are in danger, after looking at a book showing the effects of an evil virus, with the protagonist in danger. This is followed up in the sixth episode, “The Harmony of the Shy”. In that episode, the scholar is revealed to be a zoologist named Riko. She has a huge library and is researching the strange behavior of animals in Numazu. As such, she is drawn to unique/rare animals and life forms. She even travels to the Administrative Bureau, which has all the information on the town, and talks to Dia about the strange incidents affecting the animals (and the town by extension). After this, Riko declares she is leaving the town the next day, surprising them all. Late at night, Riko reads more books about the calamity which is affecting the town and the animals.

It is later revealed that she moved around a lot when she was little, and stopped trying to make friends. As such, after a bog she bonded with was returned to its owner, she didn’t want to deal with the sadness caused by separation, causing her to begin loving to read books about animals, then researching animals. All the while, she didn’t want to get involved with anyone or make any memories. Yohane (the anime’s protagonist and namesake) and Mari comfort her. Ultimately, Riko tells them she is going to stay in town for a “little longer”, saying she will help out, if her skills as a researcher can benefit those in the town.

I liked this aspect of the episode as is showed that the books and research she is doing is being put to a good use. More than that, considering that Riko likely organized the books herself, she is a bit of a defacto librarian. However, considering that librarianship itself involves those who work professional within a librarian, providing either instruction on information literacy or access to information, Riko is not that at all. Furthermore, not everyone who works in a library is a librarian, as there are pages, library associates, library assistances, branch managers, cataloging staff, and so on, all while librarians receive low wages, are not quiet places, and have an organizational system for the books. While you can argue that Riko is helping Yohane, Lailaps (Yohane’s wolf companion), and Mari find information, she is the researcher. She is not facilitating them to conduct “research for personal and professional use.” [1]

This series is not unique in showing characters research in the library. Characters in the series Adventure Time, Cleopatra in Space, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Stretch Armstrong, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Bravest Warriors, LoliRock, Trollhunters, and Hilda, and films like Solaris, to name a few, do the same, conducting research within libraries. In a few cases, like Adventure Time, the new She-Ra, Trollhunters, and Hilda, there are librarians, specifically Turtle Princess, George and Lance, Blinky, and Kaisa. This differs from Yohane the Parhelion, as that series has a librarian. There isn’t much more to say at this point, unless libraries have more of a role in episodes beyond the aforementioned ones.

The library reappears throughout the series, including in the episode “What’s a Girls’ Night?” when Riko is shown briefly in her library and isn’t sure about going to a girls’ night. It is even a place or refuge as made clear in the 12th episode, “Farewell, Lailaps”. In that episode, Yohane shelters in the library while her wolf gets better, with Riko, and a little girl comes in worrying about Sakura (a pig) who ran way. It finally appears in the series finale, “Once Again Today.” In that episode, the library becomes a shelter of sorts for people and their animals, with Riko worried about Yohane. Mari is there too and is trying to listen for Yohane. The associated game may have scenes in the library as well, but I can’t say for certain.

That’s all for now. Next week’s post will be on a witch, a vampire (cat), and a magical library in Morgana and Oz!

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Hargreaves, Abby. “Being a Librarian: Expectations vs. Reality,” Book Riot, Nov. 3, 2021; “What Librarians and Library Media Specialists Do,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, accessed Jul. 31, 2023. Yohane, Riko, and Mari are known as “Guilty Kiss” when singing in Love Live! Sunshine!!, and sing an insert song in the sixth episode.

#AdventureTime #animals #BravestWarriors #CleopatraInSpace #definitions #Hilda #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LGBTQ #LoliRock #LoveLiveSunshine #MorganaAndOz #pigs #research #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #SheRaFranchise #SolarisFilm #StretchArmstrong #Trollhunters #YohaneTheParhelionSunshineInTheMirror #yuri

Knowledge, research, zoologists, and beyond in fictional libraries of yore

When I originally wrote about Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror on this blog, I believed there was only episode focusing on libraries in this idolish anime fantasy series, a Love Live! Sunshine!! spinoff. I could not be more wrong, as I learned in the sixth episode. I’ll talk about the role of libraries in this series and connect it to other posts on this blog. This may also require some plot summary.

At the end of the second episode, “My Job”, there is a short library scene. During that scene, a scholar realizes that the animals are in danger, after looking at a book showing the effects of an evil virus, with the protagonist in danger. This is followed up in the sixth episode, “The Harmony of the Shy”. In that episode, the scholar is revealed to be a zoologist named Riko. She has a huge library and is researching the strange behavior of animals in Numazu. As such, she is drawn to unique/rare animals and life forms. She even travels to the Administrative Bureau, which has all the information on the town, and talks to Dia about the strange incidents affecting the animals (and the town by extension). After this, Riko declares she is leaving the town the next day, surprising them all. Late at night, Riko reads more books about the calamity which is affecting the town and the animals.

It is later revealed that she moved around a lot when she was little, and stopped trying to make friends. As such, after a bog she bonded with was returned to its owner, she didn’t want to deal with the sadness caused by separation, causing her to begin loving to read books about animals, then researching animals. All the while, she didn’t want to get involved with anyone or make any memories. Yohane (the anime’s protagonist and namesake) and Mari comfort her. Ultimately, Riko tells them she is going to stay in town for a “little longer”, saying she will help out, if her skills as a researcher can benefit those in the town.

I liked this aspect of the episode as is showed that the books and research she is doing is being put to a good use. More than that, considering that Riko likely organized the books herself, she is a bit of a defacto librarian. However, considering that librarianship itself involves those who work professional within a librarian, providing either instruction on information literacy or access to information, Riko is not that at all. Furthermore, not everyone who works in a library is a librarian, as there are pages, library associates, library assistances, branch managers, cataloging staff, and so on, all while librarians receive low wages, are not quiet places, and have an organizational system for the books. While you can argue that Riko is helping Yohane, Lailaps (Yohane’s wolf companion), and Mari find information, she is the researcher. She is not facilitating them to conduct “research for personal and professional use.” [1]

This series is not unique in showing characters research in the library. Characters in the series Adventure Time, Cleopatra in Space, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Stretch Armstrong, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Bravest Warriors, LoliRock, Trollhunters, and Hilda, and films like Solaris, to name a few, do the same, conducting research within libraries. In a few cases, like Adventure Time, the new She-Ra, Trollhunters, and Hilda, there are librarians, specifically Turtle Princess, George and Lance, Blinky, and Kaisa. This differs from Yohane the Parhelion, as that series has a librarian. There isn’t much more to say at this point, unless libraries have more of a role in episodes beyond the aforementioned ones.

The library reappears throughout the series, including in the episode “What’s a Girls’ Night?” when Riko is shown briefly in her library and isn’t sure about going to a girls’ night. It is even a place or refuge as made clear in the 12th episode, “Farewell, Lailaps”. In that episode, Yohane shelters in the library while her wolf gets better, with Riko, and a little girl comes in worrying about Sakura (a pig) who ran way. It finally appears in the series finale, “Once Again Today.” In that episode, the library becomes a shelter of sorts for people and their animals, with Riko worried about Yohane. Mari is there too and is trying to listen for Yohane. The associated game may have scenes in the library as well, but I can’t say for certain.

That’s all for now. Next week’s post will be on a witch, a vampire (cat), and a magical library in Morgana and Oz!

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Hargreaves, Abby. “Being a Librarian: Expectations vs. Reality,” Book Riot, Nov. 3, 2021; “What Librarians and Library Media Specialists Do,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, accessed Jul. 31, 2023. Yohane, Riko, and Mari are known as “Guilty Kiss” when singing in Love Live! Sunshine!!, and sing an insert song in the sixth episode.

#AdventureTime #animals #BravestWarriors #CleopatraInSpace #definitions #Hilda #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LGBTQ #LoliRock #LoveLiveSunshine #MorganaAndOz #pigs #research #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #SheRaFranchise #SolarisFilm #StretchArmstrong #Trollhunters #YohaneTheParhelionSunshineInTheMirror #yuri

Knowledge, research, zoologists, and beyond in fictional libraries of yore

When I originally wrote about Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror on this blog, I believed there was only episode focusing on libraries in this idolish anime fantasy series, a Love Live! Sunshine!! spinoff. I could not be more wrong, as I learned in the sixth episode. I’ll talk about the role of libraries in this series and connect it to other posts on this blog. This may also require some plot summary.

At the end of the second episode, “My Job”, there is a short library scene. During that scene, a scholar realizes that the animals are in danger, after looking at a book showing the effects of an evil virus, with the protagonist in danger. This is followed up in the sixth episode, “The Harmony of the Shy”. In that episode, the scholar is revealed to be a zoologist named Riko. She has a huge library and is researching the strange behavior of animals in Numazu. As such, she is drawn to unique/rare animals and life forms. She even travels to the Administrative Bureau, which has all the information on the town, and talks to Dia about the strange incidents affecting the animals (and the town by extension). After this, Riko declares she is leaving the town the next day, surprising them all. Late at night, Riko reads more books about the calamity which is affecting the town and the animals.

It is later revealed that she moved around a lot when she was little, and stopped trying to make friends. As such, after a bog she bonded with was returned to its owner, she didn’t want to deal with the sadness caused by separation, causing her to begin loving to read books about animals, then researching animals. All the while, she didn’t want to get involved with anyone or make any memories. Yohane (the anime’s protagonist and namesake) and Mari comfort her. Ultimately, Riko tells them she is going to stay in town for a “little longer”, saying she will help out, if her skills as a researcher can benefit those in the town.

I liked this aspect of the episode as is showed that the books and research she is doing is being put to a good use. More than that, considering that Riko likely organized the books herself, she is a bit of a defacto librarian. However, considering that librarianship itself involves those who work professional within a librarian, providing either instruction on information literacy or access to information, Riko is not that at all. Furthermore, not everyone who works in a library is a librarian, as there are pages, library associates, library assistances, branch managers, cataloging staff, and so on, all while librarians receive low wages, are not quiet places, and have an organizational system for the books. While you can argue that Riko is helping Yohane, Lailaps (Yohane’s wolf companion), and Mari find information, she is the researcher. She is not facilitating them to conduct “research for personal and professional use.” [1]

This series is not unique in showing characters research in the library. Characters in the series Adventure Time, Cleopatra in Space, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Stretch Armstrong, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Bravest Warriors, LoliRock, Trollhunters, and Hilda, and films like Solaris, to name a few, do the same, conducting research within libraries. In a few cases, like Adventure Time, the new She-Ra, Trollhunters, and Hilda, there are librarians, specifically Turtle Princess, George and Lance, Blinky, and Kaisa. This differs from Yohane the Parhelion, as that series has a librarian. There isn’t much more to say at this point, unless libraries have more of a role in episodes beyond the aforementioned ones.

The library reappears throughout the series, including in the episode “What’s a Girls’ Night?” when Riko is shown briefly in her library and isn’t sure about going to a girls’ night. It is even a place or refuge as made clear in the 12th episode, “Farewell, Lailaps”. In that episode, Yohane shelters in the library while her wolf gets better, with Riko, and a little girl comes in worrying about Sakura (a pig) who ran way. It finally appears in the series finale, “Once Again Today.” In that episode, the library becomes a shelter of sorts for people and their animals, with Riko worried about Yohane. Mari is there too and is trying to listen for Yohane. The associated game may have scenes in the library as well, but I can’t say for certain.

That’s all for now. Next week’s post will be on a witch, a vampire (cat), and a magical library in Morgana and Oz!

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Hargreaves, Abby. “Being a Librarian: Expectations vs. Reality,” Book Riot, Nov. 3, 2021; “What Librarians and Library Media Specialists Do,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, accessed Jul. 31, 2023. Yohane, Riko, and Mari are known as “Guilty Kiss” when singing in Love Live! Sunshine!!, and sing an insert song in the sixth episode.

#AdventureTime #animals #BravestWarriors #CleopatraInSpace #definitions #Hilda #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LGBTQ #LoliRock #LoveLiveSunshine #MorganaAndOz #pigs #research #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #SheRaFranchise #SolarisFilm #StretchArmstrong #Trollhunters #YohaneTheParhelionSunshineInTheMirror #yuri

Recently added titles (October 2024)

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, and September 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. Note: There will be spoilers for the series I am discussing here.

Animated series recently added to this page

• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, “Whanaungatanga” (s1 ep 5)

In this episode, in one scene, a messy library is shown, said to be the “best in the world.” While the location of this library is not stated, it is messy and somewhere within the mansion of Lara Croft’s family (possibly in Australia maybe? It’s definitely not in the UK), with her friend Zip being tired after reading the text of some dry history books on the Zulus. She tells him that this place is important to her, pointing to where her mother taught her French, and other life events that happened there, saying the place is full of “too many memories” and there’s no room for her there. She learns that her friend Jonah remembers Charles Devereaux, the series villain, heard him talking about the Battle of Zhuolu, not Zulu, which was one of the founding battles of China she heard about as a kid.

Anime series recently added to this page

• Encouragement of Climb, “The Homework’s Unending!” (s2 ep 19)
• Encouragement of Climb, “Kokona’s Big Hanno Adventure” (s2 ep 20)
• I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (s1 ep 1)
• I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (s1 ep 2)
• I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (s1 ep 3)
• I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (s1 ep 4)
• No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! aka WataMote, “Since I’m Not Popular, I’ll Go See the Fireworks” (s1 ep 6)
• No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! aka WataMote, “Since I’m Not Popular, I’ll Put on Airs” (s1 ep 8)

In the first episode mentioned here, Aoi Takimura studies with her friends at the local public library during the summer to get her homework done before she hikes on a nearby mountain, which is starting to make her exhausted. The fact she has any summer homework is a crime. She shouldn’t have any!

In the second episode mentioned here, Kokona goes to a local park (Akebano Children’s Forest Park) to try out her new shoes her mother gave her to celebrate her birthday, where she goes into a library room, in a building that almost looks like it came out of a fairytale, and happily reads a book, in one scene. Later she tells her mom that she “read an old book” there.

I mentioned it before, but in the first episode of Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit, which is a sort of reboot/revival of Encouragement of Climb, Aoi visits a local library and reads about mountain climbing. One of the librarians, a student at the same high school she goes to, recognizes her. The protagonist later describes the library as a place she likes to go since she is nice and quiet.

As for WataMote, in the sixth episode, noted above, the socially anxious protagonist Tomoko Kuroki, goes to the library in hopes of asking a nerd to the fireworks during the summer break from school, but decides to ask a cute girl in the library to go to the fireworks. However, before she can say anything, she realizes the girl has friends, and stops herself. After the girl leaves with her friends, she says her only option is a huge nerd reading in the library. She sets a timer, hoping he will ask her to go the fireworks, then takes a fake call with someone saying they can’t go to the fireworks, and says something hoping to entice him, and sits back in her seat, declaring the stage is set. Instead, he leaves and never says a word to her. There’s also a brief library scene in the eighth episode involving the cousin of Tomoko, Ki-tan, who comes to visit during the summer. The latter only involves the library as a brief setting, but Ki-tan is shown reading in the library and Tomoko walks through it.

I mentioned library scenes in the manga, from which this animated series was based, specifically in chapters 46, 47, 48, 50, and 84 back in August. I came across another scene in chapter, specifically chapter 101, in which Akari Iguchi (who has a crush on Tomoko’s brother, Tomoki) goes to the library where she sees Koriyama Kotomi, who is serving as the librarian, and Tomoko gets Arkari o admit she likes Tomoki, while Koriyama admits she likes Tomoki and his sexual organs. Akari claims she only likes Tomoki for his personality, something that confuses Tomoko because he has a terrible personality (not saying hers is great though).

I began watching I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (fully known as this, plus the colon “It Seems Turning into a High-Born Baddie Makes the Prince All the More Lovestruck” or Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijō ni Naru hodo Ōji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru yō desu! in Japanese) on a whim, and in the first episode, shown above, the protagonist Alicia goes through the library to learn more about magic. She walks through the stacks so she can begin to master magic, to find the right book so she can begin self-training, but no book in the entire library is about magic, annoying her, so she decides to read a book on plants instead. She later is proud of herself for reading many books (probably 20-30) in one day. She goes to the library the next day so she can continue her reading. Her mother is even impressed. After a week, she has gained more energy. The next day she goes to the library again, and then leaves so she can do sword training.

In the next episode she goes to the library again and looks at a map, deciding to go to a far-off village, Lorea, so she can help. She decides to sneak out, knowing she won’t be able to go there with permission. She is shown reading in the library later on (set two years later), still learning more from the library’s collections. Some time later, she declares she will dedicate herself more to her studies to become the best villainess possible, so she returns to the library, hoping to find a grimoire this time. Her magical powers reveal hidden shelves of the library that she couldn’t see before, amazing her.

In the third episode, Alice goes to the reference room in the magic academy, which, of course, includes a library. Similarly, there is a library scene in the fourth episode as well, when the protagonist begins going to the magic academy, and is brought into the library by the prince in a transport spell without her permission, catching her completely off guard. She later says her conduct there is “completely unbecoming of a villainess” (whether that is true is up to the viewer).

Comics recently added to this page

• Diamond Dive, Issue 37
  
• Hilda and the Black Hound, page 41
• Humanoido, “Ep. 6 – I’ll Talk to You as a Friend“
• Kiniro Mosaic vol. 2 (p. 79-80)
• No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!, Chapter 101
• The Engagement of the Disgraced Witch and the Cross-Dressing Princess, Chapter 9, “Green Convictions”
• The Oracle, Issue 2

I have already have mentioned Hilda animated series many times and I decided to check out the original graphic novels by Luke Pearson. Internet Archive has the first five. This is the only one that has a scene in a library, and while a librarian is shown, it is very brief. I also read the other graphic novel, Hilda and the Mountain King, and it has no scenes in libraries.

As for Diamond Dive, you can’t read this unless you have logged in, as you can’t view mature content on the site otherwise. Anyway, in this issue, they go to a library-like setting so they an schedule a duel with Ms. Davies, between Karta Kloss and Bailey Montgomery.

As for The Oracle, Niko goes to the school library, reading a book on Grimoire half-truths, being interested in what it said. Then for chapter 9, entitled “The Convictions”, in The Engagement of the Disgraced Witch and the Cross-Dressing Princess, the protagonist, the cross-dressing princess, Ciel, is shown reading in the central library of the capital, about traditions and fairy tales about witches, along with a scholar from the city and woman she loves, according to the 20th to 27th pages of the comic scan I read.

Then there’s Humanoido. In this sixth issue, Ido Noh and another girl, Jisu, are studying in the library together, but she is pulled away because “something exciting” is going on. In this flashback, Jisu wonders whether Ido wants to hang out with her at all, because she is very silent, and says it is like she is “talking to a machine.” It is observations like that which get her branded as a robot (even though she is human) and cause a misunderstanding: an actual robotic boy, Se-i Ryu, thinks that Ido is like him, serving as the crux of the story.

Lastly, I received the second volume of the Kiniro Mosaic [also known as Kin-iro Mosaic and Kinmoza] manga and the first volume of the Lycoris Recoil manga this month in the mail this month. Unsurprisingly, the latter didn’t have any library scenes (it did have some archivy themes which I’ll post about later on Wading Through the Cultural Stacks at some point). However, the Kiniro Mosaic manga volume did have library scenes, without librarians. In the past, I’ve noted the anime adaptation (which I was familiar with first and even wrote about in a review of the series Blu-ray for Pop Culture Maniacs, and even noted that it “depicts British-ness more positively than R.O.D. the TV which depicts the British Library as the series antagonists as they try to seize all the world’s knowledge for themselves”) on this blog, firstly noting library scenes in the episodes “Present For You” and “The Girl on My Mind”, with the latter featuring an unnamed and uncredited librarian who doesn’t have her hair in a hair bun, but in a pony tail. Otherwise, I mentioned the anime briefly on this blog in April 2023, April of this year, and September of this year, and then in July of this year I noted that the series had various episodes (“Aya Nervous in the Rain”, “Present For You”, “The Girl on My Mind”) which “feature characters studying in the library”, described said episodes, and the role of the library to the show’s characters during those episodes.

This volume has two panels of a scene in the library with Alice helping Karen study English, since Alice is very good at it, with Shino pointing this out. Karen and Shino end up bonding as their scores on the tests are the same. Later, Alice can’t reach the dictionary and Karen offers to help her. Following this, Aya tries to do the same, declares she can “do it herself,” to which Youko offers a stool, but Aya is embarrassed nonetheless. She really brings the yuri to this manga.

Films recently added to this page

• The Truman Show (1998) [updated]

I’ve had this entry for a while and have mentioned this series multiple times, first in August 2020, then in December 2020 (small mention), June 2024 (I noted that those who created Truman Burbank’s reality had “enough foresight to have the school library stocked with books. The idea was to create an illusion that the world he was in was “real,” and that there was no reason to ever leave”), and September 2024 (short description). My current entry for the series is as follows:

Truman Burbank and the woman he loves, Sylvia, meet in a library, in a pivotal scene of the film. At the urging of Sylvia, they escape it and are able to have a romantic time together, before she gets turned over to those trying to ensure that Truman doesn’t learn the truth about his world.

I wrote much more in my August 2020 post, my longest treatment of this scene to date, saying the following:

…I thought back and I remembered the library scene in The Truman Show, so I recently re-watched it and was pleased. The scene in this film only gets a short mention in Martin Raish’s bibliography of movies about librarians, who describes it simply as having a scene where “Truman and the lovely dark haired young woman meet in the campus library.” He adds that this was “filmed in the Fort Walton Beach Campus Library, a facility shared by the Okaloosa-Walton College and The University of West Florida” adding that a real librarian served as a consultant and as an extra, portraying the librarian, but “her scene was cut from the final version of the film.” But there is much more than this. In the film itself, this library setting is a key part of Truman’s life. While he is studying for finals, he sees Sylvia, who had been taken away from him, so they could set him up with Meryl, recognizing her bracelet. They only spend a brief time in the library, but they don’t employ any stereotypes here, which is promising to say the least.

 

From there, they run away to the beach, kiss, and “they” find Sylvia and take her away, with the “father” saying they are going to Fiji. So, he keeps the memory, keeping her sweater, although he doesn’t realize yet that his whole life is staged, and continues to have a sense of adventure. So, this isn’t exactly “love in the library” but it still is a relatively positive scene of libraries, having all the signs and notices that a usual library would have!

I have tentative plans to write a longer post on this subject in the future. We will see what happens.

Other entries recently added to this page

• Hilda and the Great Parade
• Hilda and the Nowhere Space
• Hilda and the Ghost Ship
• Hilda’s World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond
• I’m in Love with the Villainess Vol. 2 (2021) [updated]

Recently I bought the first five novels of the tie-in novel series to the Hilda animate series, with novels by Stephen Davies. I foolishly thought that that these were graphic novels, but they are actually just children’s media. Of the five novels, only three of them, the ones listed above, feature the librarian, Kaisa, while the other two (Hilda and the Hidden People and Hilda and the Time Worm), do not.

The three novels I have listed above have scenes with Kaisa. I have written about her extensively on this blog for over sixty posts, including her brief role in season 3, Kaisa Day (on December 14), in connection to reference librarianship, the defense Kaisa made in favor of not returning a book, her role in season 2, how she is experiencing burnout, and other posts about her in January 2021 and September 2020. The latter post was her first mention on this blog. I plan to write a post about these novels in an upcoming post on this blog, which will appear at some point.

As for Hilda’s World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond, it mentions the library on multiple pages, but especially pages 40-43, with even a profile of the librarian, Kaisa!

Then there’s I’m in Love with the Villainess Vol. 2 (2021). I had previously noted this in some posts before, but I hadn’t added it properly to this list, so its finally being added. Otherwise, there were also library scenes in volume 7 of the I’m in Love with the Villainess manga, and I updated the term I had for that “I’m in Love with the Villainess aka Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijō aka Wataoshi (2020-Present) [Manga]” to “I’m in Love with the Villainess Vol. 7 (2024) [Manga]” to be more accurate.

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#BluRays #books #China #EncouragementOfClimb #EncouragementOfClimbNextSummit #Hilda #HildaAndTheGhostShip #HildaAndTheGreatParade #HildaAndTheNowhereSpace #HildaSWorld #homework #ILlBecomeAVillainessWhoGoesDownInHistory #IMInLoveWithTheVillainess #ItSYouGuysFaultIMNotPopular #Kaisa #KinIroMosaic #LibrariansInTheMoviesAnAnnotatedFilmography #lists #NoMatterHowILookAtIt #RODTheTV #RecentlyAddedTitles #shortBlogs #studying #TheEngagementOfTheDisgracedWitchAndTheCrossDressingPrincess #TheTrumanShow #TombRaiderTheLegendOfLaraCroft #WataMote

Josee, a sea of books, and reading to library patrons

When I began watching Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, a 98-minute romantic comedy film, I had no idea how central libraries, and librarians, would be to the story. I knew already that there was a librarian in the film, but I wasn’t sure how vital her role would be the story. In this post, I’ll relate scenes in the film to other fictional examples and other topics.

More than 30 minutes into the film, Josee (voiced by Kaya Kiyohara), a physically disabled girl who uses a wheelchair, goes to the public library with her caretaker, Tsuneo Suzukawa (voiced by Taishi Nakagawa). She is amazed by the sea of books. She finds some books by Françoise Sagan, an author she likes, and the librarian, Kana Kishimoto (voiced by Lynn), happily asks if she is a fan, with Josee quietly admitting what book she likes. Not long after, Kana also asks if Tsuneo is her boyfriend, causing her to blush, as she is embarrassed, as the librarian sees the romantic sparks between Tsuneo and Josee. They check out the books. Interestingly, the librarian, Kana, is 24, just like Jose’s, and they quickly become friends, waving to one another.

Before moving onto the rest of the film, one aspect that struck me was how personable Kana’s character was. Compared to many of the other librarians I have profiled on here, either those of Asian descent, or those with the common hair bun, she is a good representation of a library worker in Osaka. In some ways, I see a parallel to Isomura, a library curator in Let’s Make a Mug Too!, who is just as helpful to the protagonists. The difference is that she is much more than an information provider, but is atypical, in her character type, because she becomes friends with the protagonist and ventures outside the library, making her an important part of the film.

Even positive depictions of librarians are often stuck inside the library and are never shown outside the walls of the institution. Some exceptions include Kaisa in Hilda, many of the student librarians in anime. Whether you see the film as having “little fresh” when it comes to disability, criticize it for being primarily through the perspective of her caretaker, praise it for its perspective on disability, Kana remains a key part of the film, something which reviewers appear to miss, for the most part, except to note that she doesn’t exist in the manga. [1] However, the review in Anime Feminist, by Zeldaru notes that when Josee goes to the library she has the “opportunity to become part of a fully public community” and she is able to see, for the first time, people coming together “with a similar purpose”, resulting in her befriending Kana, allowing her to “pursue her burgeoning interest in art”!

The fact that Kana is welcoming of Josee indicates the openness of the library to all patrons, including those which are physically disabled. Kana also helps Josee realize her feelings for Tsuneo after Josee said that she didn’t need him. She even encourages Josee to read The Little Mermaid to children in the library, but she is nervous, and kids leave. Although the reading doesn’t go well, Kana encourages her to display her art online and she is nervous and embarrassed by that. She later tells Tsuneo about her reading to the children and how she did it badly. She says she wants to try harder and be an illustrator.

This isn’t all that Kana does in the film. She helps Josee work with Kana to write a love story so as to convince Tsuneo to stay with his dream. Not long after, Josee is reading a story to those in the library, which she wrote to cheer up Tseuno. The story is her personal adaptation of a Little Mermaid, which had references to what happened in her relationship with her caretaker. It is something that gets him out of his funk and he claps at the end,after crying during the story. After everyone claps, and blushes at the praise, and smiles. This gives the caretaker the motivation to begin physical therapy so he can walk again. She watches him day after day as he gets better.

Although some have said that this story is “uncomfortably close” to the story where a disabled person teaches an able-bodied person an “important lesson”, I tend to side with what Anime Feminist says about it, that she is trying to inspire Tsuneo “and those around her,” assembling the community she built, even organizing a picture book reading time for her book with help of Kana. This reveals her “devotion to art and to community” and it is a difference between her first reading at the library as Josee is more “confident in her work and herself and everyone is enraptured, highlighting her growth.” [2]

Later on, Tsuneo asks Kana about Josee but she isn’t at the library and hasn’t seen her. They later reunite in the end and kiss. In a scene during the credits, the librarian tearfully embraces Josee. She appears to help her by teaching her computer skills. It is also shown that the book Josee made is used by the librarian to read to children. As a result, Kana has a more fully rounded characterization than is the case for other characters. As the film’s director, Kotaro Tamura, stated, Kana was added to the film to give character development for Josee:

…I figured out the themes that would be appropriate for a feature-length film…I thought that Josee’s only way to connect with society is through Tsuneo. That’s where Josee in this film starts off at as well. But because she starts to go out more because of Tsuneo, she makes a friend named Kana. Though it’s not a huge leap, she’s able to become a bit more sociable.

However, I would argue that Kana is much more of a character than that, through facilitating reading like the librarians in the Witches Crest Library in Somali and the Forest Spirit but not as directly as Amity Blight in The Owl House, to give two examples. As an aside, Kana’s voice actress, Lynn, is very talented, known for leading roles in Keijo!!!!!!!!, Fuuka, Engage Kiss, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, along with other roles in Märchen Mädchen, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood, Kandagawa Jet Girls, Manaria Friends, The Aquatope on White Sand, and Oshi no Ko, to name a few.

In the future, I would like to compare this film to the original short story by Tanabe or 2003 Japanese live-action film of the same name, noting how libraries are portrayed. With that, this post comes to a close. Until next time. As always, comments are welcome.

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Osmond, Andrew. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish fails to make a splash with a rote teen romance,” BFI, Aug. 11, 2021; Clarke, Cath. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo,” The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2021; Cassidy, Tom. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” Common Sense Media, Jul. 29, 2022; joyousmenma93, “Firechick’s Manga Reviews: Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish,” Livejournal, Sept. 22, 2022.

[2] Zeldaru. “Overcoming Barriers: Mobility limitation; ‘inspirational’ disability; and Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish,” Anime Feminist, Aug. 26, 2022.

#AmityBlight #AnimeFeminist #atypicalLibrarians #disabledPatrons #femaleLibrarians #Hilda #informationProvider #Isomura #JapaneseLibrarians #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LibrariansOfColor #libraryPatrons #MärchenMädchen #MsVampire #reading #SomaliAndTheForestSpirit #students #TheOwlHouse #voiceActors #wheelchairs

Josee, a sea of books, and reading to library patrons

When I began watching Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, a 98-minute romantic comedy film, I had no idea how central libraries, and librarians, would be to the story. I knew already that there was a librarian in the film, but I wasn’t sure how vital her role would be the story. In this post, I’ll relate scenes in the film to other fictional examples and other topics.

More than 30 minutes into the film, Josee (voiced by Kaya Kiyohara), a physically disabled girl who uses a wheelchair, goes to the public library with her caretaker, Tsuneo Suzukawa (voiced by Taishi Nakagawa). She is amazed by the sea of books. She finds some books by Françoise Sagan, an author she likes, and the librarian, Kana Kishimoto (voiced by Lynn), happily asks if she is a fan, with Josee quietly admitting what book she likes. Not long after, Kana also asks if Tsuneo is her boyfriend, causing her to blush, as she is embarrassed, as the librarian sees the romantic sparks between Tsuneo and Josee. They check out the books. Interestingly, the librarian, Kana, is 24, just like Jose’s, and they quickly become friends, waving to one another.

Before moving onto the rest of the film, one aspect that struck me was how personable Kana’s character was. Compared to many of the other librarians I have profiled on here, either those of Asian descent, or those with the common hair bun, she is a good representation of a library worker in Osaka. In some ways, I see a parallel to Isomura, a library curator in Let’s Make a Mug Too!, who is just as helpful to the protagonists. The difference is that she is much more than an information provider, but is atypical, in her character type, because she becomes friends with the protagonist and ventures outside the library, making her an important part of the film.

Even positive depictions of librarians are often stuck inside the library and are never shown outside the walls of the institution. Some exceptions include Kaisa in Hilda, many of the student librarians in anime. Whether you see the film as having “little fresh” when it comes to disability, criticize it for being primarily through the perspective of her caretaker, praise it for its perspective on disability, Kana remains a key part of the film, something which reviewers appear to miss, for the most part, except to note that she doesn’t exist in the manga. [1] However, the review in Anime Feminist, by Zeldaru notes that when Josee goes to the library she has the “opportunity to become part of a fully public community” and she is able to see, for the first time, people coming together “with a similar purpose”, resulting in her befriending Kana, allowing her to “pursue her burgeoning interest in art”!

The fact that Kana is welcoming of Josee indicates the openness of the library to all patrons, including those which are physically disabled. Kana also helps Josee realize her feelings for Tsuneo after Josee said that she didn’t need him. She even encourages Josee to read The Little Mermaid to children in the library, but she is nervous, and kids leave. Although the reading doesn’t go well, Kana encourages her to display her art online and she is nervous and embarrassed by that. She later tells Tsuneo about her reading to the children and how she did it badly. She says she wants to try harder and be an illustrator.

This isn’t all that Kana does in the film. She helps Josee work with Kana to write a love story so as to convince Tsuneo to stay with his dream. Not long after, Josee is reading a story to those in the library, which she wrote to cheer up Tseuno. The story is her personal adaptation of a Little Mermaid, which had references to what happened in her relationship with her caretaker. It is something that gets him out of his funk and he claps at the end,after crying during the story. After everyone claps, and blushes at the praise, and smiles. This gives the caretaker the motivation to begin physical therapy so he can walk again. She watches him day after day as he gets better.

Although some have said that this story is “uncomfortably close” to the story where a disabled person teaches an able-bodied person an “important lesson”, I tend to side with what Anime Feminist says about it, that she is trying to inspire Tsuneo “and those around her,” assembling the community she built, even organizing a picture book reading time for her book with help of Kana. This reveals her “devotion to art and to community” and it is a difference between her first reading at the library as Josee is more “confident in her work and herself and everyone is enraptured, highlighting her growth.” [2]

Later on, Tsuneo asks Kana about Josee but she isn’t at the library and hasn’t seen her. They later reunite in the end and kiss. In a scene during the credits, the librarian tearfully embraces Josee. She appears to help her by teaching her computer skills. It is also shown that the book Josee made is used by the librarian to read to children. As a result, Kana has a more fully rounded characterization than is the case for other characters. As the film’s director, Kotaro Tamura, stated, Kana was added to the film to give character development for Josee:

…I figured out the themes that would be appropriate for a feature-length film…I thought that Josee’s only way to connect with society is through Tsuneo. That’s where Josee in this film starts off at as well. But because she starts to go out more because of Tsuneo, she makes a friend named Kana. Though it’s not a huge leap, she’s able to become a bit more sociable.

However, I would argue that Kana is much more of a character than that, through facilitating reading like the librarians in the Witches Crest Library in Somali and the Forest Spirit but not as directly as Amity Blight in The Owl House, to give two examples. As an aside, Kana’s voice actress, Lynn, is very talented, known for leading roles in Keijo!!!!!!!!, Fuuka, Engage Kiss, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, along with other roles in Märchen Mädchen, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood, Kandagawa Jet Girls, Manaria Friends, The Aquatope on White Sand, and Oshi no Ko, to name a few.

In the future, I would like to compare this film to the original short story by Tanabe or 2003 Japanese live-action film of the same name, noting how libraries are portrayed. With that, this post comes to a close. Until next time. As always, comments are welcome.

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Osmond, Andrew. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish fails to make a splash with a rote teen romance,” BFI, Aug. 11, 2021; Clarke, Cath. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo,” The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2021; Cassidy, Tom. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” Common Sense Media, Jul. 29, 2022; joyousmenma93, “Firechick’s Manga Reviews: Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish,” Livejournal, Sept. 22, 2022.

[2] Zeldaru. “Overcoming Barriers: Mobility limitation; ‘inspirational’ disability; and Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish,” Anime Feminist, Aug. 26, 2022.

#AmityBlight #AnimeFeminist #atypicalLibrarians #disabledPatrons #femaleLibrarians #Hilda #informationProvider #Isomura #JapaneseLibrarians #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LibrariansOfColor #libraryPatrons #MärchenMädchen #MsVampire #reading #SomaliAndTheForestSpirit #students #TheOwlHouse #voiceActors #wheelchairs

Josee, a sea of books, and reading to library patrons

When I began watching Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, a 98-minute romantic comedy film, I had no idea how central libraries, and librarians, would be to the story. I knew already that there was a librarian in the film, but I wasn’t sure how vital her role would be the story. In this post, I’ll relate scenes in the film to other fictional examples and other topics.

More than 30 minutes into the film, Josee (voiced by Kaya Kiyohara), a physically disabled girl who uses a wheelchair, goes to the public library with her caretaker, Tsuneo Suzukawa (voiced by Taishi Nakagawa). She is amazed by the sea of books. She finds some books by Françoise Sagan, an author she likes, and the librarian, Kana Kishimoto (voiced by Lynn), happily asks if she is a fan, with Josee quietly admitting what book she likes. Not long after, Kana also asks if Tsuneo is her boyfriend, causing her to blush, as she is embarrassed, as the librarian sees the romantic sparks between Tsuneo and Josee. They check out the books. Interestingly, the librarian, Kana, is 24, just like Jose’s, and they quickly become friends, waving to one another.

Before moving onto the rest of the film, one aspect that struck me was how personable Kana’s character was. Compared to many of the other librarians I have profiled on here, either those of Asian descent, or those with the common hair bun, she is a good representation of a library worker in Osaka. In some ways, I see a parallel to Isomura, a library curator in Let’s Make a Mug Too!, who is just as helpful to the protagonists. The difference is that she is much more than an information provider, but is atypical, in her character type, because she becomes friends with the protagonist and ventures outside the library, making her an important part of the film.

Even positive depictions of librarians are often stuck inside the library and are never shown outside the walls of the institution. Some exceptions include Kaisa in Hilda, many of the student librarians in anime. Whether you see the film as having “little fresh” when it comes to disability, criticize it for being primarily through the perspective of her caretaker, praise it for its perspective on disability, Kana remains a key part of the film, something which reviewers appear to miss, for the most part, except to note that she doesn’t exist in the manga. [1] However, the review in Anime Feminist, by Zeldaru notes that when Josee goes to the library she has the “opportunity to become part of a fully public community” and she is able to see, for the first time, people coming together “with a similar purpose”, resulting in her befriending Kana, allowing her to “pursue her burgeoning interest in art”!

The fact that Kana is welcoming of Josee indicates the openness of the library to all patrons, including those which are physically disabled. Kana also helps Josee realize her feelings for Tsuneo after Josee said that she didn’t need him. She even encourages Josee to read The Little Mermaid to children in the library, but she is nervous, and kids leave. Although the reading doesn’t go well, Kana encourages her to display her art online and she is nervous and embarrassed by that. She later tells Tsuneo about her reading to the children and how she did it badly. She says she wants to try harder and be an illustrator.

This isn’t all that Kana does in the film. She helps Josee work with Kana to write a love story so as to convince Tsuneo to stay with his dream. Not long after, Josee is reading a story to those in the library, which she wrote to cheer up Tseuno. The story is her personal adaptation of a Little Mermaid, which had references to what happened in her relationship with her caretaker. It is something that gets him out of his funk and he claps at the end,after crying during the story. After everyone claps, and blushes at the praise, and smiles. This gives the caretaker the motivation to begin physical therapy so he can walk again. She watches him day after day as he gets better.

Although some have said that this story is “uncomfortably close” to the story where a disabled person teaches an able-bodied person an “important lesson”, I tend to side with what Anime Feminist says about it, that she is trying to inspire Tsuneo “and those around her,” assembling the community she built, even organizing a picture book reading time for her book with help of Kana. This reveals her “devotion to art and to community” and it is a difference between her first reading at the library as Josee is more “confident in her work and herself and everyone is enraptured, highlighting her growth.” [2]

Later on, Tsuneo asks Kana about Josee but she isn’t at the library and hasn’t seen her. They later reunite in the end and kiss. In a scene during the credits, the librarian tearfully embraces Josee. She appears to help her by teaching her computer skills. It is also shown that the book Josee made is used by the librarian to read to children. As a result, Kana has a more fully rounded characterization than is the case for other characters. As the film’s director, Kotaro Tamura, stated, Kana was added to the film to give character development for Josee:

…I figured out the themes that would be appropriate for a feature-length film…I thought that Josee’s only way to connect with society is through Tsuneo. That’s where Josee in this film starts off at as well. But because she starts to go out more because of Tsuneo, she makes a friend named Kana. Though it’s not a huge leap, she’s able to become a bit more sociable.

However, I would argue that Kana is much more of a character than that, through facilitating reading like the librarians in the Witches Crest Library in Somali and the Forest Spirit but not as directly as Amity Blight in The Owl House, to give two examples. As an aside, Kana’s voice actress, Lynn, is very talented, known for leading roles in Keijo!!!!!!!!, Fuuka, Engage Kiss, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, along with other roles in Märchen Mädchen, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood, Kandagawa Jet Girls, Manaria Friends, The Aquatope on White Sand, and Oshi no Ko, to name a few.

In the future, I would like to compare this film to the original short story by Tanabe or 2003 Japanese live-action film of the same name, noting how libraries are portrayed. With that, this post comes to a close. Until next time. As always, comments are welcome.

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Osmond, Andrew. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish fails to make a splash with a rote teen romance,” BFI, Aug. 11, 2021; Clarke, Cath. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo,” The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2021; Cassidy, Tom. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” Common Sense Media, Jul. 29, 2022; joyousmenma93, “Firechick’s Manga Reviews: Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish,” Livejournal, Sept. 22, 2022.

[2] Zeldaru. “Overcoming Barriers: Mobility limitation; ‘inspirational’ disability; and Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish,” Anime Feminist, Aug. 26, 2022.

#AmityBlight #AnimeFeminist #atypicalLibrarians #disabledPatrons #femaleLibrarians #Hilda #informationProvider #Isomura #JapaneseLibrarians #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LibrariansOfColor #libraryPatrons #MärchenMädchen #MsVampire #reading #SomaliAndTheForestSpirit #students #TheOwlHouse #voiceActors #wheelchairs

Josee, a sea of books, and reading to library patrons

When I began watching Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, a 98-minute romantic comedy film, I had no idea how central libraries, and librarians, would be to the story. I knew already that there was a librarian in the film, but I wasn’t sure how vital her role would be the story. In this post, I’ll relate scenes in the film to other fictional examples and other topics.

More than 30 minutes into the film, Josee (voiced by Kaya Kiyohara), a physically disabled girl who uses a wheelchair, goes to the public library with her caretaker, Tsuneo Suzukawa (voiced by Taishi Nakagawa). She is amazed by the sea of books. She finds some books by Françoise Sagan, an author she likes, and the librarian, Kana Kishimoto (voiced by Lynn), happily asks if she is a fan, with Josee quietly admitting what book she likes. Not long after, Kana also asks if Tsuneo is her boyfriend, causing her to blush, as she is embarrassed, as the librarian sees the romantic sparks between Tsuneo and Josee. They check out the books. Interestingly, the librarian, Kana, is 24, just like Jose’s, and they quickly become friends, waving to one another.

Before moving onto the rest of the film, one aspect that struck me was how personable Kana’s character was. Compared to many of the other librarians I have profiled on here, either those of Asian descent, or those with the common hair bun, she is a good representation of a library worker in Osaka. In some ways, I see a parallel to Isomura, a library curator in Let’s Make a Mug Too!, who is just as helpful to the protagonists. The difference is that she is much more than an information provider, but is atypical, in her character type, because she becomes friends with the protagonist and ventures outside the library, making her an important part of the film.

Even positive depictions of librarians are often stuck inside the library and are never shown outside the walls of the institution. Some exceptions include Kaisa in Hilda, many of the student librarians in anime. Whether you see the film as having “little fresh” when it comes to disability, criticize it for being primarily through the perspective of her caretaker, praise it for its perspective on disability, Kana remains a key part of the film, something which reviewers appear to miss, for the most part, except to note that she doesn’t exist in the manga. [1] However, the review in Anime Feminist, by Zeldaru notes that when Josee goes to the library she has the “opportunity to become part of a fully public community” and she is able to see, for the first time, people coming together “with a similar purpose”, resulting in her befriending Kana, allowing her to “pursue her burgeoning interest in art”!

The fact that Kana is welcoming of Josee indicates the openness of the library to all patrons, including those which are physically disabled. Kana also helps Josee realize her feelings for Tsuneo after Josee said that she didn’t need him. She even encourages Josee to read The Little Mermaid to children in the library, but she is nervous, and kids leave. Although the reading doesn’t go well, Kana encourages her to display her art online and she is nervous and embarrassed by that. She later tells Tsuneo about her reading to the children and how she did it badly. She says she wants to try harder and be an illustrator.

This isn’t all that Kana does in the film. She helps Josee work with Kana to write a love story so as to convince Tsuneo to stay with his dream. Not long after, Josee is reading a story to those in the library, which she wrote to cheer up Tseuno. The story is her personal adaptation of a Little Mermaid, which had references to what happened in her relationship with her caretaker. It is something that gets him out of his funk and he claps at the end,after crying during the story. After everyone claps, and blushes at the praise, and smiles. This gives the caretaker the motivation to begin physical therapy so he can walk again. She watches him day after day as he gets better.

Although some have said that this story is “uncomfortably close” to the story where a disabled person teaches an able-bodied person an “important lesson”, I tend to side with what Anime Feminist says about it, that she is trying to inspire Tsuneo “and those around her,” assembling the community she built, even organizing a picture book reading time for her book with help of Kana. This reveals her “devotion to art and to community” and it is a difference between her first reading at the library as Josee is more “confident in her work and herself and everyone is enraptured, highlighting her growth.” [2]

Later on, Tsuneo asks Kana about Josee but she isn’t at the library and hasn’t seen her. They later reunite in the end and kiss. In a scene during the credits, the librarian tearfully embraces Josee. She appears to help her by teaching her computer skills. It is also shown that the book Josee made is used by the librarian to read to children. As a result, Kana has a more fully rounded characterization than is the case for other characters. As the film’s director, Kotaro Tamura, stated, Kana was added to the film to give character development for Josee:

…I figured out the themes that would be appropriate for a feature-length film…I thought that Josee’s only way to connect with society is through Tsuneo. That’s where Josee in this film starts off at as well. But because she starts to go out more because of Tsuneo, she makes a friend named Kana. Though it’s not a huge leap, she’s able to become a bit more sociable.

However, I would argue that Kana is much more of a character than that, through facilitating reading like the librarians in the Witches Crest Library in Somali and the Forest Spirit but not as directly as Amity Blight in The Owl House, to give two examples. As an aside, Kana’s voice actress, Lynn, is very talented, known for leading roles in Keijo!!!!!!!!, Fuuka, Engage Kiss, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, along with other roles in Märchen Mädchen, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood, Kandagawa Jet Girls, Manaria Friends, The Aquatope on White Sand, and Oshi no Ko, to name a few.

In the future, I would like to compare this film to the original short story by Tanabe or 2003 Japanese live-action film of the same name, noting how libraries are portrayed. With that, this post comes to a close. Until next time. As always, comments are welcome.

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Osmond, Andrew. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish fails to make a splash with a rote teen romance,” BFI, Aug. 11, 2021; Clarke, Cath. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo,” The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2021; Cassidy, Tom. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” Common Sense Media, Jul. 29, 2022; joyousmenma93, “Firechick’s Manga Reviews: Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish,” Livejournal, Sept. 22, 2022.

[2] Zeldaru. “Overcoming Barriers: Mobility limitation; ‘inspirational’ disability; and Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish,” Anime Feminist, Aug. 26, 2022.

#AmityBlight #AnimeFeminist #atypicalLibrarians #disabledPatrons #femaleLibrarians #Hilda #informationProvider #Isomura #JapaneseLibrarians #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LibrariansOfColor #libraryPatrons #MärchenMädchen #MsVampire #reading #SomaliAndTheForestSpirit #students #TheOwlHouse #voiceActors #wheelchairs

Josee, a sea of books, and reading to library patrons

When I began watching Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, a 98-minute romantic comedy film, I had no idea how central libraries, and librarians, would be to the story. I knew already that there was a librarian in the film, but I wasn’t sure how vital her role would be the story. In this post, I’ll relate scenes in the film to other fictional examples and other topics.

More than 30 minutes into the film, Josee (voiced by Kaya Kiyohara), a physically disabled girl who uses a wheelchair, goes to the public library with her caretaker, Tsuneo Suzukawa (voiced by Taishi Nakagawa). She is amazed by the sea of books. She finds some books by Françoise Sagan, an author she likes, and the librarian, Kana Kishimoto (voiced by Lynn), happily asks if she is a fan, with Josee quietly admitting what book she likes. Not long after, Kana also asks if Tsuneo is her boyfriend, causing her to blush, as she is embarrassed, as the librarian sees the romantic sparks between Tsuneo and Josee. They check out the books. Interestingly, the librarian, Kana, is 24, just like Jose’s, and they quickly become friends, waving to one another.

Before moving onto the rest of the film, one aspect that struck me was how personable Kana’s character was. Compared to many of the other librarians I have profiled on here, either those of Asian descent, or those with the common hair bun, she is a good representation of a library worker in Osaka. In some ways, I see a parallel to Isomura, a library curator in Let’s Make a Mug Too!, who is just as helpful to the protagonists. The difference is that she is much more than an information provider, but is atypical, in her character type, because she becomes friends with the protagonist and ventures outside the library, making her an important part of the film.

Even positive depictions of librarians are often stuck inside the library and are never shown outside the walls of the institution. Some exceptions include Kaisa in Hilda, many of the student librarians in anime. Whether you see the film as having “little fresh” when it comes to disability, criticize it for being primarily through the perspective of her caretaker, praise it for its perspective on disability, Kana remains a key part of the film, something which reviewers appear to miss, for the most part, except to note that she doesn’t exist in the manga. [1] However, the review in Anime Feminist, by Zeldaru notes that when Josee goes to the library she has the “opportunity to become part of a fully public community” and she is able to see, for the first time, people coming together “with a similar purpose”, resulting in her befriending Kana, allowing her to “pursue her burgeoning interest in art”!

The fact that Kana is welcoming of Josee indicates the openness of the library to all patrons, including those which are physically disabled. Kana also helps Josee realize her feelings for Tsuneo after Josee said that she didn’t need him. She even encourages Josee to read The Little Mermaid to children in the library, but she is nervous, and kids leave. Although the reading doesn’t go well, Kana encourages her to display her art online and she is nervous and embarrassed by that. She later tells Tsuneo about her reading to the children and how she did it badly. She says she wants to try harder and be an illustrator.

This isn’t all that Kana does in the film. She helps Josee work with Kana to write a love story so as to convince Tsuneo to stay with his dream. Not long after, Josee is reading a story to those in the library, which she wrote to cheer up Tseuno. The story is her personal adaptation of a Little Mermaid, which had references to what happened in her relationship with her caretaker. It is something that gets him out of his funk and he claps at the end,after crying during the story. After everyone claps, and blushes at the praise, and smiles. This gives the caretaker the motivation to begin physical therapy so he can walk again. She watches him day after day as he gets better.

Although some have said that this story is “uncomfortably close” to the story where a disabled person teaches an able-bodied person an “important lesson”, I tend to side with what Anime Feminist says about it, that she is trying to inspire Tsuneo “and those around her,” assembling the community she built, even organizing a picture book reading time for her book with help of Kana. This reveals her “devotion to art and to community” and it is a difference between her first reading at the library as Josee is more “confident in her work and herself and everyone is enraptured, highlighting her growth.” [2]

Later on, Tsuneo asks Kana about Josee but she isn’t at the library and hasn’t seen her. They later reunite in the end and kiss. In a scene during the credits, the librarian tearfully embraces Josee. She appears to help her by teaching her computer skills. It is also shown that the book Josee made is used by the librarian to read to children. As a result, Kana has a more fully rounded characterization than is the case for other characters. As the film’s director, Kotaro Tamura, stated, Kana was added to the film to give character development for Josee:

…I figured out the themes that would be appropriate for a feature-length film…I thought that Josee’s only way to connect with society is through Tsuneo. That’s where Josee in this film starts off at as well. But because she starts to go out more because of Tsuneo, she makes a friend named Kana. Though it’s not a huge leap, she’s able to become a bit more sociable.

However, I would argue that Kana is much more of a character than that, through facilitating reading like the librarians in the Witches Crest Library in Somali and the Forest Spirit but not as directly as Amity Blight in The Owl House, to give two examples. As an aside, Kana’s voice actress, Lynn, is very talented, known for leading roles in Keijo!!!!!!!!, Fuuka, Engage Kiss, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, along with other roles in Märchen Mädchen, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in My Neighborhood, Kandagawa Jet Girls, Manaria Friends, The Aquatope on White Sand, and Oshi no Ko, to name a few.

In the future, I would like to compare this film to the original short story by Tanabe or 2003 Japanese live-action film of the same name, noting how libraries are portrayed. With that, this post comes to a close. Until next time. As always, comments are welcome.

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Osmond, Andrew. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish fails to make a splash with a rote teen romance,” BFI, Aug. 11, 2021; Clarke, Cath. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo,” The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2021; Cassidy, Tom. “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish,” Common Sense Media, Jul. 29, 2022; joyousmenma93, “Firechick’s Manga Reviews: Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish,” Livejournal, Sept. 22, 2022.

[2] Zeldaru. “Overcoming Barriers: Mobility limitation; ‘inspirational’ disability; and Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish,” Anime Feminist, Aug. 26, 2022.

#AmityBlight #AnimeFeminist #atypicalLibrarians #disabledPatrons #femaleLibrarians #Hilda #informationProvider #Isomura #JapaneseLibrarians #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #Kaisa #LetSMakeAMugToo #LibrariansOfColor #libraryPatrons #MärchenMädchen #MsVampire #reading #SomaliAndTheForestSpirit #students #TheOwlHouse #voiceActors #wheelchairs

#LOL 5 月拿了 2 个五杀 #Samira #KaiSa ，整理网盘翻出了 s3 时期的一个五杀 #Corki 。https://www.eallion.com/penta/

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

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.

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!

© 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

Hola amigos! Prepara tu café para ver el proceso de creación 3D de Kaisa.
Un abrazo
#timelapse #blender #3d #kaisa #modeling #cgart

https://youtu.be/cixbSB28ukI

Para mis gentes del #LeagueOfLegends , hoy os traigo unas fabulosas pulseras de Akali y Kai'Sa Guardianas de las Estrellas, por supuesto homemade por mi :ablobdundundun:. Las próximas, de K/DA! ✨💎💜

#akali #kaisa #pulseras

This is something I drew for Once Upon A Time - A K/DA Zine with a fantasy theme! I had so much fun drawing Kai’sa fighting a dragon!! 🐉💜

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#kda #leagueoflegends #kaisa #kdakaisa #videogame #fantasy #dragon #drawing #painting #illustration #digitalart #fanart #art #zine #fanzine

This is something I drew for Once Upon A Time - A K/DA Zine with a fantasy theme! I had so much fun drawing Kai’sa fighting a dragon!! 🐉💜

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#kda #leagueoflegends #kaisa #kdakaisa #videogame #fantasy #dragon #drawing #painting #illustration #digitalart #fanart #art #zine #fanzine

This is something I drew for Once Upon A Time - A K/DA Zine with a fantasy theme! I had so much fun drawing Kai’sa fighting a dragon!! 🐉💜

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#kda #leagueoflegends #kaisa #kdakaisa #videogame #fantasy #dragon #drawing #painting #illustration #digitalart #fanart #art #zine #fanzine

Here’s a preview of the art I made for a League of Legends Fanzine called League of Kittens! This is a for charity zine in support of animal shelters. Preorders will be up soon! 🐱

#leagueoflegends #arcane #vi #caitlyn #kaisa #ahri #cats #videogames #fanart #artist #drawing #digitalart #kda

Evelynn steals the scene at ANOTHER press conference #KDA #Evelynn #Kaisa #MastoArt

Keep me going

#MastoArt #KDA #Kaisa #Akali

Keep me going

#MastoArt #KDA #Kaisa #Akali