Toshokan no Daimajutsushi

Feb 27, 2020

Nobody5464

Recommended

Preliminary (14/? chp)

A story I’ve recently gotten into and immediately fell in love with. I’ll start by saying I know nothing about what it is based off of and have only read this. The series has a feeling of wonder that is hard to create and harder to maintain but manages it quite well. It’s a powerful story on the state of people, the interaction of races, and the value power and love of books. All of this is extenuated by the magic of the fantasy world it’s set in. It’s not afraid to tackle the issues of prejudice, ignorance and overestimation. I eagerly await more volumes.

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Jul 18, 2021

animejas

Recommended

Preliminary (19/? chp)

An amazing and personal love letter to literature and overcoming obstacles to turn farfetched dreams into passionate ambitions.

"Magus of the Library" is a fantasy manga written and drawn by Mitsu Izumi that focuses on a young mixed-blood boy called Theo Fumis who is an avid fan of literature, but because of his pointed ears and impoverished life, he isn't allowed to use the village library and on top of that, ostracized and mistreated by most folks in the village, particularly from his classmates in school. As he endures the prejudice and hatred of the village, he aspires of traveling to a place where such things ...

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Feb 15, 2023

XyFeX

Recommended

Preliminary (15/? chp)

Toshokan no Daimajutsushi, or Magus of the Library, is one of, if not the most beautiful piece of media I've seen in years, not limited to just manga, or just books as a whole.

The visuals of this story are on another level of excellent, some panels looking as if they could stand alone as art pieces in a museum, levels of detail which are, to be frank, absurd, and emotive character designs that can stand up to it all. The visuals were so good, to the point where it is the first and only manga I had to buy in physical.

But the manga isn't ...

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Sep 1, 2021

2WENTY1

Recommended

Preliminary (15/? chp)

I found this story while browsing through the manga leaderboards in MAL. It was around #400-500, and at first, I thought it was an isekai story with an unusually high rating. I was pretty fond of isekai stories, but most of them were plainly enjoyably bad.

So I took some time out of my day to read this interesting story, and what came next blew my mind. The artwork is honestly insane, you are put in this world where weird creatures and magic exists. Books are above all things and are basically in very high demand.

The story follows a boy with mixed genetics, which is ...

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Jun 10, 2024

jackskii

Recommended

Preliminary (46/? chp)

Every time I reread Magus of the Library, I go through a period of depression knowing there won't be any other work quite like it.

Let's cut away the synopsis that you can read from the description. This manga is great because of its world-building. Now, you might think you've read great world-building like Dungeon Meshi. Okay, let me be clear. Dungeon Meshi is one of my only two 10/10s out of the 150 mangas on my list, and the world-building of Magus of the Library makes Dungeon Meshi's feel like it's at the same level as In Another World With My Smartphone.

At its core, Magus ... of the Library created a world unique enough to be different from every major fantasy series from both Japan and Western media, while still maintaining a close connection to real life. Every race, religion, and history can be traced to a real-life counterpart, but also includes the author's own creative input to make them fantastical.

Creating a fantasy world is just the beginning. The author spends the majority of the manga realizing this carefully crafted world. Every chapter, every character, and even every panel is carefully drawn to maintain the consistency of the world to a tee. This comes to obvious things like physical traits and cultural differences of different races, different prayers for each religion, and how each house functions in and out of the library. It also includes less obvious details like which characters have to wear hijabs, different ways people channel their magic, and maintaining the illusion that this manga is translated from an in-universe work. Nothing is fully explained, but everything is extremely consistent. Once you realize that, you will be sucked in, looking at each panel, searching for any detail you might be missing, and creating theories based on them.

Aside from that, I think Magus of the Library did one thing very well: it utilized manga as a medium to an extreme. While it is a dialogue-heavy manga, it also excels at scenery. Not just drawing mesmerizingly detailed landscapes, but also moving through scenes quickly while conveying just enough information through a few panels and narration. The manga especially shines at using full-page panels, frequently using half the previous page as a setup, and using the entire next page to either highlight a character moment or reveal some important plot element. The reading experience itself is highly enjoyable.

Now, Magus of the Library does have some flaws, like the very slow pacing in the earlier chapters, and more importantly, the lack of a great conflict. Every aspect of the current story is hinting at some grand conflict in the near future, but every time the antagonists appear, I feel like the magic of the manga gets lost, and it just reverts to some decent fantasy story. Once the manga moves forward from world-building-focused to story-focused, will it still have the charm it has today? That's one thing I really can't answer.

Overall, 9/10. I do not give 10/10 to unfinished work because of how many times I've been disappointed by an ending, but I really, sincerely, hope that someday, when Magus of the Library is finished, I can give it a 10/10 and claim it is the greatest fantasy manga ever created.

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Nov 28, 2022

Jusaku-Redai

Recommended

Preliminary (24/? chp)

If you love stories and love to write, it's not that hard to write one. With enough tries and growing your craft, you can write good ones. But not many will pen with the certain grace and candor that characterizes the great stories that last forever. Every great story is told by a sincere love and care for its characters and the place they have in their world. Of the eight mediums of storytelling, there is one that began it all - literature - and Izumi Mitsu, writing about books and their power to unite the world, chose to depict it through manga. This form ... however suited her vision and goals by a multitude of full-page spreads that, relative to total length, you may simply not see in other manga. At this point there have been too many incredibly beautiful panels I wanted to stare at, mesmerized by being in the imaginary library myself, only tugged along by what happens next, what our hero sees next in his amazing world. Far too often in this medium we have characters that fade into the limelight of archetypes that the standard high school anime friend group epitomizes. Shounen has given us the main trio. I find that classroom casts are superior for this and off the top of my mind, only Blue Period challenges Magus of the Library in terms of vibrancy, diversity, and individual personality where each and every character feels like a person, in the modern era. Only a few writers can make me feel that excitement to meeting a new character whom I know will be interesting and whom I know will feel real. At this point I think of Legend of the Galactic Heroes or War and Peace for ensemble casts that feel likewise tangible - but written in different times. Unlike those works, this little book is fit to be read by all; fit to be enjoyed by everyone regardless of color or gender or religious beliefs or any other characteristic. The only author I've read that presents an abiding love of reading as strongly, relative to form, would be Virginia Woolf. The muster with which Izumi tells her story, nods to certain tropes, can only be done by a writer who's that familiar with the landscape of story. The notes of destiny provided by her at points in the story can only be done by one who has a clear purpose. In terms of distinct influences, I detect One Piece, Otoyomegatari, a little bit of Hunter x Hunter, and possibly Blue Period. Not many anime or manga nowadays do true fantasy, a true other world where it seems that anything can happen. The isekai genre notoriously glosses over the barrier of creating a fictional language, which should be, properly speaking, the first thing you create. Because only then can the books and stories flow and inspire. Because in books - in stories generally - there is this incredible, beautiful power and it is one of two true magics in our world. The other would be the creation of it, the manifestation of art by a person and when you bring the two together into one, you have Magus of the Library.

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Nov 6, 2023

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

Preliminary (29/? chp)

If you aren't reading this, please do! The plot is fairly simple, but that's pretty much the only simplistic thing about this manga.

Plot: the main character, Theo Fumis, grew up in the slums. He had a passion for reading, but wasn't allowed access to the library. Not only does he face discrimination for being impoverished, but he also faces discrimination for being a half-breed. His world would shift when some Kafna, guardians of literature, would do a routine check on his village library. From then on, he would work hard to become a Kafna.

The characters well written. The metric ... that I judge characters on is how much depth they have, their development, and how memorable they are. Magus of the Library checks all of these boxes. You see the backstories of many of the characters, and a lot of them are memorable. This was a hard feat that the author managed to accomplished, because even with the information load of introducing the Kafnas and trainees, I was still able to remember the majority of the characters!

This manga also talks about real world topics of racism, classism, sexism, etc. It's explored where women have little to no agency. So a lot of them ascribe to become a Kafna, because that's one of the few jobs that are available to women. Theo faces discrimination for being a half-breed, and Ohgga is another half-breed that faces racism. They talk about classism with Theo being from the sticks, and the people from the more well off families looking down on the the others. It talks about where racism comes from. Usually from fear. Fear of the unknown. But also the fear of the other races potentially taking away from you. Fear of having to reject your own beliefs and to conform to society. The fear of your entire world shifting, just because you meet a group of people with different beliefs from you. It's one of the few manga with the actual balls to talk about this topic.

Though that's also my other issue with this manga. Theo Fumis is a fair skinned boy with light eyes and blond hair. He faces discrimination for being a fair skinned boy. ... sigh. In reality, it's the other way around folks! Like, it's like saying "I'm bullied for being ugly and having a barbaric skin color and..." and the person looks like Candice Swanepoel... It reminds me of a Zelda fanfiction story I read as a kid. The Gerudo people normally have large and pointy noses, but a particular one in the story didn't have the large nose. So she was bullied by her people, but then the main characters, Link and Zelda, said that she was more attractive than the others. Telling a dark skinned woman that she's more attractive than the other dark skinned women, because she doesn't have their ethnic features, has racist implications. "I'm bullied because I have the conventionally attractive features of white Europeans!" Bite me!

Though other than my issue with that, this manga is a worth it read. The struggles that Theo goes through, the history of the other races, the care for books, the fantasy aspect with mana and witches, etc. Also, that plot twist about one of the 'trainees' that was hidden in plain sight... Chef's kiss!

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Jul 29, 2024

cianoc

Recommended

Preliminary (15/? chp)

Excellent world building, interesting characters and beautiful art make this something special. So far this has avoided the many cliches that fantasy Manga tend to fall into. It can easily stand up to Frieren, My Metal Alchemist (though it's much gentler), or Nausica. More people should be talking about this.

The art in this manga is some of the best I've seen in a long time. The landscape and cities are rendered so that you feel you could step into them. This is not a manga you read quickly, but one where you linger on every panel drinking in the details.

Characterization is also excellent, with the ...

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Jun 9, 2024

Thereisnoonehere

Recommended

Preliminary (30/? chp)

What a masterpiece if I may say, a manga related to the love of books, because if there is one thing that I love to a very high extent its clearly books, even if doors are my favorite, books are also perfect, and Toshokan no Daimajutsushi understands it very well, from the start our mc is also in love with the books, the art is insane to be expected from a monthly release manga and it even has fantasy in it, the world has an organisation that has one major job and it is to protect the books and preserve the knowledge of magic and ...

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Apr 28, 2024

nishant0

Recommended

Preliminary (27/? chp)

A tribute to the world building.

So, it's a story of a young boy who wants to read books and work in library that has monopoly over the text.

On reading synopsis, it looks like a simple story about achieving your dreams and some sort, well it indeed is that type of story if you look on surface level, but when you read it and go deep in the manga it can be seen how much effort the author has put in creating this fantasy world, author's love for books and how important is to protect the text for a civilization to grow.

The first ...

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Toshokan no Daimajutsushi
Magus of the Library
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Toshokan no Daimajutsushi
Magus of the Library
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