Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen 2nd Season

When Myne learns that the Holy Church is in need of mana for their relics, she sees it as her chance to be cured of her life-threatening mana disorder. After seeing their bountiful library, she throws herself headfirst into the Church's grasp and begs to join their order. In exchange for her service and her unusually bountiful supply of mana, Myne is given the blue robes of a noble-born apprentice priestess, despite being a commoner. To Myne, all this talk of mana and nobility is trivial, as she now has access to an unlimited supply of books!

As Myne transitions into the next phase of her life in this new world, she soon learns that achieving her dream has come at a heavy cost. Noble society is severe, unforgiving, and fueled by politics and neglect. She must now deal with the class conflict between the noble-born blue robes and the common-born grey robes, the High Priest's attempts to oust her, and constant behavioral issues from her new retainers. With the help of her family, friends, and the enigmatic Head Priest whose loyalties and motives remain unknown, Myne seeks to overcome these obstacles and continue on the path to becoming her ideal self—the ultimate librarian!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Myne Main

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Ferdinand Main

Hayami, Show Japanese

Lutz Main

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Benno Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Tuuli Supporting

Nakajima, Megumi Japanese

Gunther Supporting

Koyama, Tsuyoshi Japanese

Frida Supporting

Uchida, Aya Japanese

Otto Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Fran Supporting

Karino, Shou Japanese

Eva Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Hongou, Mitsuru Director, Episode Director

Watanabe, Jun Sound Director

Ueda, Shigeru Episode Director, Storyboard

Kase, Mitsuko Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 20, 2021

Cat_of_Anodyne

Recommended

Having read and then reviewed part one of the “Ascendance of a Bookworm” manga, it was interesting to look back and see how my perception of part 1 of this story stood up in light of the anime adaptation and also the uncovering of part 2.

My original critiques were aimed at Main herself. Emotionally turbulent, inwardly focused and with a perverse attraction to the physical concept of a “book”. It sort of rubbed me the wrong way. In the context of the anime this feeling takes a different form though – Main is an anime character transported to a world of reaction blunted normies. ... Certainly side characters display emotion through the series, but the presentation is always very minimal, in stark opposition to Main and her mind cinema. Realism? Or just a lack of characterisation in the animation? Not sure. I noted both moments of strength and weakness in this presentation, so I really feel it’s a matter of preference to what extent this appeals.

Speaking of that, the anime adaptation takes small liberties in the continuity of the story. Leaving out certain details while stitching other parts together previously unmarried. The pacing felt brisk, which is good for a show that focuses so much on small efforts of economic enterprising. Even then it doesn’t cover up the fact that “Ascendance…” is a slow, meandering story. There are an extraordinary amount of mysteries left to discover about it’s world. Which is probably why the taste we got at the end of part 2 was so sweet to me. The rows of white noble housing. As if a Victorian was trying to copy the stereotype of white picket fence neighborhoods in the U.S. Sterile. A little strange…

Which brings me to something I only realised while watching the anime. This is a strangely sanitary fantasy world. What’s with all the buildings being tenements? I got the reference is meant to be Victorian Britain, but every shop of Downtown shows no variation in building structure at all. It feels like a city that has been very deliberately planned out. Sort of how the structure of the city in Attack on Titan would make no sense without knowledge of the Titans existing. I suppose I don’t know anything else about the world to say why it’s like that. If it does have a reason... The noble district is also just a sea of housing templates. I can’t help but feel this must be the weakness of the adaptation from novel, to manga and then to anime. I’m assuming the text does contain information about the structure of the city that does not paint it in such bland terms architecturally, but no attempt has been made to allow this to be visually represented. The church being the main setting for part 2 receives a least some development as an area. Despite the fact that we really have no feeling for the presence of other blue robed priests, their activities or much of anything else that goes on in the Church (even what our supposed antagonist, the high priest, is doing…).

This reminds me of a Mr Btongue video where he asks of Fallout 3, “what do they eat?”. The purpose being to recognise why Fallout New Vegas felt “lived in”, versus the desolation of Fallout 3. This is obviously not something that is directly comparable for a manga/anime, but it serves to illustrate a deficit I felt in the world building. This could probably be remedied by better visual representations of the inside of the temple and the city, but that would require resources, time and talent. While I think this anime adaptation is serviceable and generally enjoyable, I don’t think they are trying to do their utmost here.

So in the end, I’m sold on book otakuism a lot more than I am on the world of “Ascendance..”. You live to pull from your ass another day Ms. Main!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 3, 2022

Banisoup

Mixed Feelings

I've been trying to make up my mind how I feel about this series since I started it a little while back and finally completing it today. So let's tackle pros and cons without spoiling anything.

Animation: it can be REALLY bad. Honestly I don't feel like they make too many attempts at hiding the fact they barely have a budget for animation. It can be as simple as showing an image while the characters continue to talk or a chase scene where it's a still image and the characters continue to talk, or an awkward moment where maybe someone should have let go of an ... item. It doesn't make sense until you remember oh yes, they don't have a budget to show that do they?

Designs: oh boy. Sometimes I really like it, I like how you can tell who's nobility and who isn't based on clothing alone, however most everything is pretty standard designs.

Character: I think for the most part I like the characters personalities, but I don't like how the character interactions play out which is very episodic. which brings me to

story: (what to expect) I really like the concept, I like how clean the show is, and I really like how easy it is to digest. In that regard it's very slice of life, it kind of reminds me of K-On! with a different fluffy formula. There's not really any stakes and there is no real danger. However, unlike what I experienced with a show like K-On! There is actual growth. It makes me want to stick around and see what will happen later.

However
Every episode there is usually a formula. (Spoilers ahead) Myne is a savior, winning over her... slaves. She's good to them when they work, otherwise they don't deserve food? This portion of the story is very cringy. It's interesting to see how this world works but they don't really bring attention to the fact she has slaves, just that they don't like her and she has to win them over by one silly thing or another. One woman is scared of men and doesn't want to leave her safe space, but that's ok Myne asked her to redo one of her pictures in a simple style and that gave her courage to explore and work past her PTSD. It was so fast I am not kidding. It's brought up out of no where and is resolved by the end of the episode never to be brought up again. Ok. Eventually she wins over all her slaves and NOW we can get back to interesting biz.

All in all I can't wait for the next season, I just hope there's more to the story and less "lets save the day for one person we've never heard of til now!" There's so much they could do with this world and it really does feel like it's limited due to animation budget but we'll see!

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 10, 2024

Kulimasz

Not Recommended

Let me ruin the show for you: Every time Myne opens her mouth, consider that she is actually a well-read 20+ isekaiee.

Do you expect the bookworm who has gotten access to a library to actually read the books within and learn about the world she is living in?
She does not. The titular bookworm _does not read_. This is my biggest gripe with the show: Myne is portrayed as a huge book nerd, she is shown reading books, but she never gains any kind of knowledge about anything. The show betrays the premise and never even attempts to course-correct.

Do you expect a 20+ woman to not ... act like a 5 year old?
She does not know manners. In fact she remains oblivious to basic etiquette by choice. She does no critical thinking. She doesn't try to improve herself in any way. What was she reading for her past 20+ years? Reddit posts? Anime reviews? DUNE? Oh wait, that one has intricate politics, so she surely didn't read that.

Do you expect the _actual_ children to act like children?
The 3 child sidekicks are running businesses, reading/writing, doing calculus, and think everything through rationally. You could add 20 to all their ages and nothing would change except them being more believable.

Do you expect a cozy story about making books?
Ignoring the fact that being a bookworm and making books are two completely unrelated things, mass-producing books is fairly easy once you have the knowledge. The author probably figured this out too, so the plot bends over backwards to present as many challenges towards Myne as possible early on, then solve all of them, then, since the end goal is in our grasp, veer off to random directions with no intentionality to drag it out as far as possible I guess. The story is not about reading books; Neither about making books. It's about Myne doing random stuff that can be vaguely connected to books and reading.


I was legitimately furious with this anime by the end. It's mundane, boring, cliché, dialog-heavy, railroaded, and Myne's infantilism is infuriating. She has zero character development. The plot points are more like random events. The world revolves around Myne and time might as well be frozen for everyone else. Worldbuilding is also nonexistent.

If you are satisfied with watching an idiotic 5 year old girl do random "cute" things in a fantasy setting, or you yourself are 5 years old, this anime is for you. Otherwise go watch anything else, or do what Myne will never: Read a book and learn something from it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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