Fall 2019 Anime: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Synopsis

Motosu Urano, a book-loving college student who just got her librarian certification and was supposed to enter the job of her dreams after graduation, was killed during a massive earthquake, when she was crushed underneath a pile of her own massive collection of books.

Wishing to be able to read even more, she got reincarnated to a world with a low literacy level and very few books, limited only to the nobility of the world. As she has been reincarnated as a 5-year-old daughter of a lowly soldier, Maine; no matter how much she wants to read, there is no way there are any books around. What to do other than to make books herself of course… She’ll become a librarian no matter what, and to live a life surrounded by books.

Comments

Vina Nurziani (The Indonesian Anime Times)

What if a bibliophile got reincarnated to another world ? Ascendance of a Bookworm sure gives a new nerdy-vibes for an isekai protagonist. I’ve only watched the anime version of this series, and as a librarian, I’m looking forward to the story in the coming episodes. 

The interesting point is that the setting where the protagonist is reincarnated to as a commoner resembles medieval Europe, a time when books are only owned by nobles because the printing press has not been invented yet to mass-produce books. It sets the conflict of Maine’s struggles to obtain a book by making it. Furthermore, it can be inferred that when books has existed in commoner environment, the quality of education also increases, as Maine demonstrates in teaching people around her about social inclusion and even literacy.

Now I’ll be careful while shelving the books in the library.

Facts and Figures

Trailer

Screenshots

The Indonesian Anime Times