The OP for this series has a really neat cut at the start where the protagonist pulls herself out of a drawing in a book, and then the rest of the OP is just really generic in comparison, and it really upsets me. I got legitimately excited for this OP by those first few seconds, and it let me down. I feel so betrayed. So dismayed. Who am I to trust after this? How can I go on with my life? Will I ever love again?
Ascendance of a Bookworm is an Isekai anime about a college student who gets crushed by falling books in a library shortly after attaining her dream job as a librarian (ahighly competitive profession requiring at least a master’s degree, by the way) and is reincarnated in another world as a little peasant girl, who is implied to have had a life of her own before this random Japanese woman unwittingly bodysnatched her at the tender age of five. Matsuno (who’s name is Myne now) was a huge bookworm in her previous life, but shock! Dismay! This is a world where books do not exist. Fully side-stepping the utterly irrational concept that a fully developed civilization synchronous with our world’s high medieval period would be completely without stories or any form of literacy, our young protagonist who is actually a fully grown adult woman no doubt nearing 30 decides to shoulder the burden of inventing not only paper and bookbinding, but also typesetting and the entire concept of fictional literature. Also hairpins. And bathing.
Largely facetious synopsis of this series’ plot aside, I do really like this one. Myne is a likeable protagonist, and I like the different animation styles used for flashbacks to her previous life and her internal thoughts. The animation itself tends to be… solid, but overall weaker outside these specific cuts, but the art direction is strong and I look forward to seeing how the animation develops as the series goes on. This is a series I’ll be sticking with.
Ace Anime Reviews 