Impression:
The line between good and evil is thinly veiled with actions speaking louder than words. It is hard to swallow that the Church is the villain in this series after watching the vicious nature of the librarians. The only thing evil about the Shindeki Church is their cliché character design. In actuality, it is the librarians that draw first blood, eventually sending the humans to their watery graves.

Bantorra also does a horrible job at introducing both main and ancillary characters. It tries to throw you right into the action instead of building any suspense or intrigue. With mediocre fighting sequences and typical character types, The Book of Bantorra will need to slow down the pacing of the series in order to build a well-rounded show.

Artistically, the look of the characters seems strangely reminiscent of the Tower of Druaga. The character designer is actually Masaki Yamada who previously worked on both Appleseed movies. The setting and character design also detract from the attractiveness of this series. It has a strange mix of a fantasy realm combined with a modern Mediterranean landscape.

Summary:
There’s a lot that’s off putting about The Book of Banotrra. The characters aren’t engaging and the plot is hidden beneath layers of poorly introduced characters. It should be the job of the first episode to capture your interest. Sadly, the premise of librarians fighting members of a church just sounds more exciting on paper. The only positive note about this series is the well-endowed director of the Armed Librarians that reminded me of Lady Tsunade from Naruto; that and the opening sequence “Datengoku Sensen” by ALI PROJECT. It reminded me that new episodes of Naruto Shippuden are available on Crunchyroll and that Code Geass might return for a third season.