“Chapter Twenty-Three – Harvest Festivals and Staying Home”
What They Say:
Avid bookworm and college student Motosu Urano ends up dying in an unforeseen accident. This came right after the news that she would finally be able to work as a librarian like she had always dreamed of. When she regains consciousness. She was reborn as Myne, the daughter of a poor soldier. She was in the town of Ehrenfest, which has a harsh class system. But as long as she had books, she really didn’t need anything else. However, books were scarce and belonged only to the nobles. But that doesn’t stop her, so she makes a decision … “If there aren’t any books, I’ll just create some.”
Content (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
When the Head Priest hears about Myne ambitions of creating children’s books and thus becoming more popular, the shallow man is determined to put a stop to her popularity, giving orders to one of his followers to carry out a sordid plan. But as the girl in question is finally able to relax and return to her beloved library with Fran, they stop by a balcony after seeing several carriages being loaded for some unknown excursion. While her retainer attempts to explain the vehicles are for the Harvest Festival, the same underling passes and begins to insult the lesser priestess for her ignorance, only to be surprised from her kneeling in silence to his insults. Although he is pleased by this subservience, he also lets slip perhaps the side trip wasn’t necessary, to which Myne is curious by this phrase’s hidden meaning. It is only after entering the book depository does she understand the cryptic message – the entirety of the storage room has been scattered about in a haphazard manner, with every piece of precious scripture now laying upon the floor. Myne now understands and is about to fly into a rage after the pompous culprit, with only Fran’s firm hand raising her up as he carried his mistress to Ferdinand to report the incident.
After hearing the report and observing a livid Myne barely able to contain her anger, the High Priest asks his subordinate what she plans on doing to solve the problem, only to be surprised by her response: Urano will organize the library to best suit her needs, sorting everything according to Nippon Decimal Classification. Once again exhausted by this girl’s incomprehensible answer, the pair retreat to his secret room for an elaborated explanation, only to listen and still be confused by terms he has never heard of nor can even begin to understand. However once Myne presents him with simpler information, Ferdinand capitulates to her ambitions and allows this bibliophile to begin a new project, although he warns the materials should be sorted according to date of acquisitions. After surrendering a list of books which he personally donated to the library, the overly enthusiastic girl heads to the room of chaos, only to find her retainers worrying how their mistress will react to this mess. Surprised to see an understanding Myne, the group begins sorting the tomes, parchments and wooden slabs into categories and shelving them according to the new filing system, with but one exception. The fledgling archivist is surprised none of the High Priest’s donations are within room, especially since these were the ones she was looking forward to reading … books about magic.
In Summary:
This showing was a pleasure to watch since we finally have the enthusiastic return of Inner Myne, with her overly active reactions being the high point of a somewhat blasé episode. One has to question how much longer all will tolerate Urano’s otherworldly solutions without more elaborate explanations, with Benno and Ferdinand sustaining the brunt of these curious projects and headaches, coming from a overly experienced seven year old. No one has pressed for further details and while they try to protect Myne from other pressing for answers, you have to wonder how much longer their protection will last.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
