Dantalian no Shoka

Six months ago, Lord Hugh Anthony Disward, also known as Huey, lost his eccentric grandfather, Sir Wesley Disward, who was a renowned collector of rare books. His grandfather's will states that, in order to inherit his manor and everything inside it, he must take guardianship over the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian—an archive that contains forbidden knowledge—and also take care of a mysterious girl called Dalian.

As Huey settles into the manor, an old rival of his grandfather's arranges a meeting with him. Dalian, knowing the rival to be Wesley's killer, tags along and discovers that the murderer is in possession of a Phantom Book—a cursed tome that Wesley tried to seal away. When the book puts the two in danger, Huey discovers that the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian and Dalian are one and the same, and she entrusts Huey with the key to unlocking the knowledge stored within her. Together, Dalian and Huey seal the book away, and thus begins an unlikely partnership as they solve mysteries caused by other Phantom Books.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Dalian Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Disward, Hugh Anthony Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Flamberge Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Raziel Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri Japanese

Bookshelf Girl Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Sauer Keynes, Camilla Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Kamhout, Hal Supporting

Katou, Masayuki Japanese

Dickinson, Paula Supporting

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Nos Supporting

Miyashita, Eiji Japanese

Salut Supporting

Fujimoto, Yuzuru Japanese

Takeda, Yasuhiro Producer

Beniya, Yoshikazu Producer

Shiraishi, Naoko Producer

Takahashi, Yuuichi Producer

Reviews

Feb 13, 2023

ChrisDC

Recommended

The Mystic Archives of Dantalian has to be one of the most Jungian and unique animes ever, and if I were to describe this anime in one word, it would be "Poignant."

The premise reloves around books of unknown knowledge that grant supernatural powers to the readers and the reactive nature of what happens when you give a human forbidden knowledge and power.
Battles are fought using ancient poetry from various historical sources. Many of the "conflicts" are inspired by mythology and its interpretations, ideally suited for people interested in Carl Jung's psychoanalytic theory being heavily influenced by mythology.

This anime asks the viewer what they would ... do with such power and provides examples of possible outcomes in an episodic fashion; the results are often mixed; some people choose the path of destruction, while others attempt to help their community/friends.
Each choice has its consequences and advantages, and this anime isn't interested in debating what is right or wrong but more so with the result of the actions.

So with that being said, I ask you, the reader, if you were to obtain such a book, would you destroy or improve the world?
Would you delve deep into selfish desires or selflessly attempt to help others and their communities?

Philosophy aside, this anime has problems, which is why it's not rated highly.
The main issue observed is that this anime is too damn short, and because of that, the pacing feels rushed and inconsistent.
12 Episodes are not enough for what should have been a slow-burn type of anime.
Another factor is that some of the "conflicts" feel unnecessary and are there to push the plot forward. Because of that, many questions are left unanswered and open, such as why is that one random guy with that other chick burning books and why is he so fixated on it?
We can also ask, what is the overarching plot, and why do these books exist in the first place?
So many plot holes and questions are unanswered; I believe this leaves a bad taste and is one of the main reasons this emotionally moving and sublime anime is rated so low.

Despite its flaws, it's an impactful anime, and I suggest it to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the world of mythology or wants to be philosophically challenged. However, if these topics don't interest you, avoid this anime because you won't have a good time.
Final score 7/10 (Could have been higher if they had more episodes and took their time with completing the story)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 12, 2022

reizamundi

Mixed Feelings

Story & Characters:
• Generic and basic story. Characters without any tension, climax, or development.
• Uses all the cheesiest plots for each episode with random supporting characters lacking depth and purpose.
• Some of the poems recited by the main character are very heart touching in relation to the plot and I appreciated that different writings were used for each episode. For that, I admire the historical and artistic value brought by the narrative.

Art & Sound:
• The art is beautiful, especially the environment art and early 20th century European atmosphere. The lighting is used appropriately and the colors are mesmerizing.
• The design of the episode pause is ... also stunningly captivating, one of the best that I have seen in all anime - it reminds me a bit of Shoujo Kakumei Utena
• I enjoyed the music very much - it has a classical, melancholic, and elegant quality, which is fitting for the European setting and supernatural themes.

Overall:
Terrible story and plots, however, the series will give enjoyment to niche audiences who like historical European elements, poetry, elegant and experimental music.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 4, 2024

Peach_Main

Not Recommended

I don't watch mystery themed works most of the time, but I was lured by the visuals and the synopsis while browsing through mystery anime one night. The Mystic Archives of Dantalian had a wonderful first episode, but the more progress I made, the less impressed I got, and the ending was just an epic fail. I really wanted to not put this anime in the red zone, but after attempting a second chance at it, it's clear to me that I truly dislike it.

The Mystic Archives of Dantalian is a historical fiction anime that takes place in England after World War I. The main ... character Hugh (Huey) Anthony Disward received a letter informing him of his grandfather's death. According to his grandfather's will, Huey is entrusted to take care of his property, specifically his massive collection of books at his mansion. Upon arriving at the mansion, Huey finds a secret passage leading him to a room filled with books and a girl named Dalian. I got to call Huey out for being dumb in his first meeting with Dalian. The last line on his grandfather's will said to take care of Dalian. He read the sentence, he finds the first living person inside the place, and yet he still assumes his grandfather was referring to a pet. Dalian had every right to get mad at him in that moment.

Moving right along, it just so happens that Dalian isn't any regular girl. She is known as the Black Reading Princess and holds the entire archives of Dantalian inside her body and can only be accessed by the one who holds the key to opening the lock on her chest. Huey actually has the key, which he held on to since he got it from his childhood. When he was a kid, he somehow managed to get inside the archives and there he meets a girl who is in charge of taking care of the place. Huey promises her that he will one day find a way to free her from the archives and into the outside world. It's never explained how he ever got inside all those times as it's been shown that he would've needed the key to get in.

The purpose of the archives is to contain all the Phantom Books of the world. However, it appears that somehow some people have gotten their hands on some of these books and they ended up either abusing their powers or getting cursed by the mystic tomes. Throughout the anime, Huey and Dalian go around England to investigate any incidents they come across and they must fix the problems. In most cases, Huey will need to open up the archives within Dalian, which will give him the proper book to read in order to undo the spell caused by a Phantom Book. This sort of anime would be fine in the old school era where anime had around thirty to over fifty episodes. Let me put it to you this way: This is a 2011 anime, the year where shows started to have on average twelve episodes, that tried to do the filler style. Yes, THE filler style. You know, the very thing that shows like Sailor Moon utilized? The first light novel may have been published in 2008, but the anime came in too little, too late. Filler episodes simply cannot be tolerated in the modern day, and The Mystic Archives of Dantalian sadly fell into the pitfall.

Already we're off to a bad start, but it wouldn't be so bad if the characters were at least entertaining. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them weren't. The main duo Huey and Dalian aren't too shabby... when they are simply living their lives in the mansion and running errands. I really like Dalian's feisty personality. Whenever someone makes a mistake or embarrass themselves in front of her, she will literally disparage them especially if the person she trash talks to is Huey. I also like it when asked a Yes or No question, Dalian answers in English. Even though I like Dalian's personality and style of speech, she's completely all bark and no bite. What do I mean by this? See, whenever Huey ends up making Dalian REALLY angry, she would punch or kick him. That alone would make her look like a lovable character, but when there's an enemy on the screen, Dalian just does not know self-defense and literally cannot fight for her life. Every single time the duo encounters an enemy, Huey literally has to carry Dalian away from attacks that are directed towards her, and in the worst case where he looks away for even a split second, Dalian will get caught forcing Huey to forfeit and comply to the enemy's demands. Having to watch the female lead not fight at all was nothing but pure agony.

Huey's acquaintances aren't much better either. His childhood friend Camilla doesn't get to do much that contributes to the main conflict. Instead, her role most of the time is to butter Dalian up with all sorts of sweets and desserts. Also, Camilla really enjoys travelling and likes to wear all sorts of costumes in public. They're so silly that there is a scene at the end where she wanted to go out wearing one of them, but her servants try to advise her not to. Huey's other friend is Armand, who was also his comrade in the war. Armand is the very definition of a village idiot. He messed around with Phantom Books not once, but twice. The first time wasn't so bad. He, along with four other men, wanted to rescue a woman they all fell in love with. It's the second time he really should've known what he was signing up for. I'm not going to go in depth on what went down. All you need to know is that he used a book to find a woman to fall in love with, but even the slightest interaction with any other woman will get him in trouble.

The sixth episode strays away from Huey and Dalian and focused on another duo: Hal Kamhout, the Libricide Officer and Flamberge (Flam), the Silver Reading Princess who houses the Long Lost Library. Like the main duo, Hal and Flam are also investigating around England in search of areas affected by Phantom Books. Instead of reading books retrieved from Flam's body, Hal uses them as fuel for his magic staff to burn Phantom Books as well as wipe out the owner's memories of them. This, along with the relationship between the duo and their personalities, made me wish they were the main characters instead. Plus, even though Flam's limbs are restrained, she actually can attack enemies. See that, Dalian? You punch and kick Huey all the time. Shouldn't you be dealing blows to your ENEMIES?

Finally, we have the antagonist duo, some guy who is only referred to as the Professor and the Red Reading Princess Raziel. I really wish they gave the former an actual name. I'm not a fan of characters who are only addressed as their occupation. Anyways, these two are the ones responsible for all the incidents involving Phantom Books all around England. Huey and Dalian come into contact with them in the final episode and without spoiling the details of their meeting, I'm personally not satisfied with how the anime ended. This is the problem with trying to do the filler style in twelve episodes. The anime tries to cram in a lot of content from the source material so it can reach the encounter between the two duos, but at the cost of the potential of proper storytelling and character development as well as what could have been a much better final challenge for the main characters.

Those were my reasons I didn't enjoy The Mystic Archives of Dantalian. The anime does have some saving graces to keep it away from the dreadful rating of 1. First, the artstyle. It perfectly captures the atmosphere of England in the late 1910s and the animation is extremely well done. The voice acting was very good and the background music perfectly matches the setting. I am mixed on the song selection for the Opening and Ending. To Never Know Tomorrow sounds like it came straight out of England post World War I, and its leitmotif is what's used for background music most of the time. The Ending song Yes, Prisoner sounds way too creepy even though it sort of fits the theme of the anime. What hurts it even more is that they didn't make an animated sequence. They literally had actors dress up in creepy costumes and do a skit in a forest and have the whole footage be colorless. Maybe some will find that impressive that it's live action, but I honestly think it's out of place.

Even though I couldn't stand the story, characters, and the finale, there were some episodes I actually enjoyed watching. My top three episodes are episodes 11, 6, and 1. I'm not kidding. To me, this anime peaked at the very beginning and completely fell from grace right at the very end. The Mystic Archives of Dantalian will unfortunately be taking a 4/10 from me and adding it to its bookshelf.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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