The Book of Bantorra, Episode 11: A Weakling, the Labyrinth, and Moving the Queen

I apologize for my lack of updates in the last few days. This is a busy time of year, and there just aren't as many chances to sit down and watch some anime. However, I have the whole weekend ahead of me now, and I should hopefully be able to power through plenty of episodes so that I can get as caught up as possible. Having said that, onto episode 11 of The Book of Bantorra.

This episode continues to make Hamyuts Meseta more and more intriguing to me. The contrast between her and the way the villain in this episode was handled was really intriguing to me. I've got to say though, I will be incredibly disappointed if she doesn't get as fleshed out as most of the other characters in this anime by the time this series is over. I want to understand her someday!

There are a few things I'm frustrated with right now (what happened to Volken?), but overall this anime is getting pretty entertaining. I don't think I could handle many shows like this at once, but on its own, it's a pretty neat thing. A nice break from everything else that tends to be out there.

Rating: 89/100

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 10: An Eccentric, a Mother, and the Black Ants' Nest

Onto The Book of Bantorra's excellently named 10th episode! This anime starts up a new story arc with this episode, but it remains as confounding as ever. I seriously think that this might be the most unpredictable anime of all time.

I didn't enjoy this episode quite as much as the last one, but I seriously doubt that'll be a problem. This is definitely the sort of anime that gets better as more pieces of the story come together. I wasn't crazy about the Mokkania but Bantorra always has plenty of curveballs to throw.

Watching this anime is...an experience. I have no idea what to expect from it. I feel like at this point, things could just devolve into a bunch of cliches and that would be shocking. All I can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

Rating: 87/100

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 9: A True Man, a Battlefield, and My World

I'm now up to episode 9 of The Book of Bantorra. It's been a strange ride up to this point. I've never known quite how to feel about this show, and I wasn't even sure if the show was even going anywhere until last week. This anime is still extremely hard to predict, but I think I've finally settled into it. This was another very enjoyable episode for me.

Ganbanzel is an interesting character, and it was fun to learn a bit more about him. What I'm really starting to get excited over, however, is learning more about Hamyuts Meseta. I try to develop theories about her character and they continually seem to get crushed. I can't wait to learn her whole story.

I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the pacing of The Book of Bantorra, but now that I've found a way to enjoy it, I'm good. I'd try to theorize about what's coming in the next few weeks, but I think my attempts to do so would be laughable. I think I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride this anime provides.

Rating: 89/100

If you'd like to watch this anime episode for free, you can do so here.

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The Book of Bantorra, Episodes 7 and 8: A Smile, a Mask, and a Man with a Death Wish and A Pond, Comrades, and a Seashell

My apologies for the ridiculously long post title. I've fallen a bit behind of The Book of Bantorra, and I wanted to get as caught up as I could. It looks like I picked a good set of episodes to watch together too. The Book of Bantorra finally started to find some focus here. I think this may be a turning point in the series for me. I was really surprised at how meaningful a lot of scenes from the past turned out to be.

That's not to say that this anime still isn't confusing- it absolutely is, and I really have to think about stuff after I watch each episode. But for the first time I really felt that the writers of this anime had a clear purpose and direction in mind and weren't just showing scenes aimlessly. There were also some wonderfully done action scenes here, especially in episode 8. The Book of Bantorra is really creative, so it's amazing when they get things right in the fight scene department.

Maybe this marks the point when I'll really be able to like this show as much as I think it deserves to be liked. If future story arcs keep coming together like this one did, I have no doubt I'll be able to appreciate the anime as a whole much more than I currently have. So far, this has been the high point of this series for me. I hope it only gets better from here.

Rating: 90/100

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 6: Thunder, a Monster, and a Girl's Punch

The Book of Bantorra's 6th episode continues to surprise. When you watch a lot of anime, or even a fair bit of television, it can be easy to predict most shows. There are still twists and turns, but it's often not too hard to see at least a little bit of what's coming. This doesn't hold true for The Book of Bantorra in the slightest. I can't see what's coming at all, and I don't think anyone could've predicted what this episode would focus on, especially in the first half.

Maybe because of that it's still really hard for me to figure out how I feel about this anime. We're 6 episodes in and I don't feel like there's any sort of major plot line going on, nor do I feel like we're going to get one soon. This is a challenging series and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for anyone in the mood to just relax and have fun. I did love the stuff involving Noloty, though not quite as much as I enjoyed the Mirepoc stuff the week before.

This anime is really something different, that's for sure. If you're sick of series riddled with cliches, and you don't mind spending time trying to connect the dots, this might really be a show you'll enjoy. At this point I think the only way I'll be able to decide how I feel about this show is after a fair bit of time, but I'll do my best to rate it all the same.

Rating: 84/100

If you'd like to watch this anime free online, click here.

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 5: A Betrayal, a Cup, and a Meandering Path

Onto Episode 5 of The Book of Bantorra! The newest episode of the series has changed up the OP a bit with some new scenes and provides some great insight into the show's characters. I loved the scenes with Mirapoc and I hope she continues to get a lot of screen time. It's really easy to get into her scenes, and they even managed to squeeze some great comedy into them.

The shocker from the last episode appears to have stuck, and this episode squeezes in a few new shocks as well. Anime tends to get called predictable a lot, but I don't think that's a label anyone's going to stick on The Book of Bantorra. I can see how the way the show constantly fluctuates makes this show less accessible, but I can't see it as a bad thing, even though I've struggled with getting into this anime.

I feel a lot more intrigued by the story arc the show is focusing on now, and I hope that those feelings last. I really do believe that this anime is the sort that will grow on me after rewatching it a few times. I'm still not sure how I'd feel about recommending The Book of Bantorra, but it's definitely shaping up to be one of the better shows of this anime season.

Rating: 87/100

If you'd like to watch this episode for free online, you can do so here.

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 4: The Setting Sun, Shiron, and Colio

I've just finished the fourth episode of The Book of Bantorra. There are a lot of things that can be said about the series, but I don't think anyone can say that it has no surprises. This blog is a spoiler-free zone, so I won't say anything about it here, but those of you who haven't seen this one yet are in for a treat.

This episode definitely had the best action sequences of the series so far. The Book of Bantorra has had some good action scenes before, but nothing on the level of this. This episode also had some really touching scenes, and overall I feel like this anime is steadily improving.

I still don't feel like I like Book of Bantorra as much as I should. I've said before that I just can't get as into it as I should and come up with various reasons as to why that might be. When I still feel that way after an episode as good as this, I'm starting to think it might just be me. I'll still happily watch this one for the action sequences alone, and hope that one of these days I'll like this show as much as I feel as though I should.

Rating: 85/100

If you'd like to watch this episode of The Book of Bantorra online, you can do so here.

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 3: A Bomb, a Human, and the Sickness of a God of Death

The Book of Bantorra's third bomb titled episode picks up almost right where the last one left off. Hamyuts Meseta is great is this episode, as anyone who watched the last one might have expected. She was probably the character I was least interested in in this anime's premiere episode, but they've really developed her well since then and I find her to be pretty intriguing.

Though The Book of Bantorra is now on its third episode, the anime still feels a bit disjointed and off. This series has always had some moments of greatness, and I thought that this episode was particularly strong when the events we'd seen in a book interconnected with the events in the present, but thanks to the still slightly jarbled storytelling, I'm having a hard time getting into it. I'm starting to lose hope that this will change, and it's frustrating as the show is pretty great aside from that.

No matter how much I may complain about this series, there is still always a lot to like about it, and I'm really not willing to give up on it. Maybe the storytelling is a bit clunky and uneven, but the actual story that's being told is great, and that makes the show's less than stellar moments more acceptable. I'm hoping that when I've seen all the pieces that The Book of Bantorra has to offer, the anime will be a much better experience so that I can truly enjoy it when I rewatch.

If you'd like to watch this anime free online, head over to crunchyroll. 

Rating: 80/100

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode Two: Bombs, a Princess and a Gray Town

 The Book of Bantorra, a show about armed librarians in a world where the dead become books, continues onto its second episode. The show still has a hectic and unfocused feeling, but I did feel like this anime improved a little in that department. They seem to be benefiting from the information dump that happened in the last episode, and I hope that the show continues to improve because of that.

The premise of this show gets more interesting the further the show gets into it, and I really want to like this one more than I do. I said above that I think this one may be improving, but I'm really not sure how much of that is wishful thinking. There were definitely some great moments in both this episode and the last one, and I feel like there is so much potential for greatness here.

Right now, I feel as though I could take or leave The Book of Bantorra, but I'm really rooting for it. It'll be a waste if this doesn't turn out to be a decent show. It certainly isn't unwatchable, so for now, I'll keep tuning in and hoping that the show will keep getting better.

Rating: 79/100

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The Book of Bantorra Episode One: Bombs, Books, and a Sinking Ship

The Book of Bantorra, also known as Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra, takes place in a world where people turn into books when they die. A group known as The Armed Librarians are tasked with protecting them, among other things. In this world also exist a number of people brainwashed by a corrupt church known as "meats". If it sounds a little confusing, that's probably because it is.

Book of Bantorra is a mish-mash of a lot of interesting concepts, and the universe they've set the series in looks very stylish, but in spite of that, this episode didn't really work for me. It felt very unfocused and was disjointed. Between the awkward dumps of information and the unusual jargon used, it was hard to follow the show in spite of the many moments when the episode really was quite good.

I do think there's hope for this anime, however. It reminded me a lot of the first episode of Simoun, which got off to a similarly awkward start, but turned into something really great. I'll definitely watch this for at least a few more episodes in the hopes that once they've had some time to introduce to this universe, the show will be as good as I'd like it to be.

Rating: 78/100

If you'd like to watch this anime online free, head over to crunchyroll.

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