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The Mystic Archives of Dantalian (TV).


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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2013
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:29 pm Reply with quote
The Mystic Archives of Dantalian Available on NicoNico and later CR.



ANN's Plot Summary wrote:
Hugh Anthony Disward inherits an old mansion and a personal library from his grandfather. In the basement of the mansion, he meets a mysterious girl—Dalian. She is a Dantalian and a gateway to "Dantalian's bookshelf", which stores the prohibited books of the demons.


Opening Theme:
"Cras numquam scire" by Yucca feat. Hugh Anthony Disward
Ending Theme:
"yes, prisoner" by maRIONnetTe

Episodes: 13


Episode 1:

Ah, yes, another show that shares several similarities with Gosick, except this time around, spoiler[it does have supernatural themes. Dantalian is about Hugh Disward who has inherited his grandfather's fortune. During his visit to his grandfather's home, he meets a doll like girl named Dalian. Dantalian is not necessarily about mysteries but more about books. There are items called "Phantom Books" and these books allow for supernatural phenomenons to occur, in the first episode's case, allowing pop up book characters to become reality. There's is an occult feel within the first episode and it has beautiful animation. The character designs are one of the best of this season and the characters are pretty likable. Dalian has a tsundere like personality and Hugh is a more useful character than Kujo (Gosick). The music seems to fit the setting well which takes place in the early 20th century.]

I'm really liking the anime so far as it's intriguing and very nice to look at. Nothing for me to dislike so far and I really like Dalian so far. I think we're in for a good ride with this show. And gah, I'm losing intelligence, my impressions of the first episode is written poorly.
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dragoneyes001



Joined: 07 Feb 2009
Posts: 873
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:45 pm Reply with quote
Dantalian no Shoka as of the first episode is a refreshing occult genre anime the lead has a backbone, some brains (so far) and seems to be reasonably normal (no bizarre quirks).

the world in a gourd also seems to be a reasonably normal character baring the young girl cliche.

the first episode really tossed the base story at us in a nutshell so the characters have yet to really develop I really hope they keep the leads on the path they set in the first ep because it'll really keep this series worth watching the artwork so far uses too much darkness but that seems to be a major fault in most occult genre anime (human eyes adjust to the dark) even in little light the majority of a room wouldn't be black.wish someone would learn that someday and do the artwork accordingly!

so far this series has me intrigued and i will be watching the next few eps to see where they go with it. It really could become a great series.
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damien007



Joined: 23 Jun 2010
Posts: 180
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:38 pm Reply with quote
You forgot to mention that the studio behind it is GAINAX which for me at leat secures it 6 eps worth of my time right off the bat. Also I believe it was siad somewhere that it is an adaptation of a series of novels which imo can be both a good and bad thing. Good becuase it means they story is already flushed out and they can refine it as they see fit. But bad becuase it means Gainax wont be able to do whatever they want with it. I havn't seen it myself yet but I'm looking forward to it.
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tribulations



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:26 pm Reply with quote
I really enjoyed the first episode. The premise seems pretty intriguing and fresh to me, and the art is lovely. Other than the spoiler[sealing the Phantom Books] aspect which seems to be the driving force in the plot so far, I think it has a lot of potential to flesh out its world a lot. I can see it getting darker later on. I'm not sure what to think about the characters. Dalian's kind of rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe I'm just tired of the tsundere type. Still, she was pretty all right at parts, and hopefully if the story does focus on character development later on, I'll learn to really like her. The fact that the main guy pretty much got used to Dalian right away left me scratching my head, though. I dunno, I expected... more surprise? Maybe trying to kick her out with fruitless results and her reminding him that he's supposed to take care of her as stated in his grandfather's will? Overall I remain cautiously optimistic about this series. I think it's one of those shows that'll either soar or crash and burn depending on the direction the writing takes.
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salukechechzkov



Joined: 15 Jul 2011
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:31 pm Reply with quote
I just posted a thread about this show without bothering to look if anyone beat me to the punch. My B.

With that said, this is shaping up to be a hell of a ride. Anyone with the balls to throw a dragon into the first episode without running the risk of falling flat later on is a keeper in my book. Also, DAT PRODUCTION VALUE. The action scenes were great.

Excited to see more next week.

[EDIT: Stop bolding everything. -TK]
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The King of Harts



Joined: 05 May 2009
Posts: 6712
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:12 am Reply with quote
damien007 wrote:
You forgot to mention that the studio behind it is GAINAX which for me at leat secures it 6 eps worth of my time right off the bat. Also I believe it was siad somewhere that it is an adaptation of a series of novels which imo can be both a good and bad thing. Good becuase it means they story is already flushed out and they can refine it as they see fit. But bad becuase it means Gainax wont be able to do whatever they want with it. I havn't seen it myself yet but I'm looking forward to it.

Emphasis on the bold. Despite me being the huge Gainax fanboy I am, that part is what's making apprehensive about checking it out, because excluding Mahoromatic, Gainax's original series are typically much better than there adaptations. There adaptations are still good, but not Evangelion or Gurren Lagann good, and those original stories are what made me love them.

Then again, this one isn't a Co-Pro like most of their adaptations are, so maybe it will be a bit more Gainaxy than the others.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:49 am Reply with quote
For starters I think I just like the gothic setting, used to dislike it, but is something I quite enjoy nowdays. Also for some reason I get a strange Holo feel from Dalian I just hope that she does not become a clear cut tsundre loli. Huey is a rather interesting name that I would have not expected for a lead character, and he seems rather chivalrous without being too campy.

Lets see where this series can go with books being used as weapons, monsters, or whatever they are planning. The beings that popped up in this episode were nicely animated.
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braves



Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 2309
Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas)
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 pm Reply with quote
The King of Harts wrote:

Emphasis on the bold. Despite me being the huge Gainax fanboy I am, that part is what's making apprehensive about checking it out, because excluding Mahoromatic, Gainax's original series are typically much better than there adaptations. There adaptations are still good, but not Evangelion or Gurren Lagann good, and those original stories are what made me love them.

Then again, this one isn't a Co-Pro like most of their adaptations are, so maybe it will be a bit more Gainaxy than the others.
Seeing as how a lot of the A-tier GAINAX staff is working on either Mawaru Penguidrum or, especially, The Idolm@ster, I wouldn't expect much from this show. Unless Imaishi is directing a GAINAX show I don't get my hopes up nowadays. Though, I'm still curious enough to watch it.
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The King of Harts



Joined: 05 May 2009
Posts: 6712
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:07 pm Reply with quote
braves wrote:
Seeing as how a lot of the A-tier GAINAX staff is working on either Mawaru Penguidrum or, especially, The Idolm@ster, I wouldn't expect much from this show. Unless Imaishi is directing a GAINAX show I don't get my hopes up nowadays. Though, I'm still curious enough to watch it.

And wouldn't you know it, 2 of the 3 shows I'm watching this season are Penguindrum and Idolmaster. I knew a lot of the staff was working on Idolmaster because of comments in the summer guide talkback, but I didn't know so many were working on Penguindrum as well.

I'll be keeping the show on my radar for now and keep my ears open to any possible "wow" moments down the line.
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Aylinn



Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:35 pm Reply with quote
This episode was neither bad nor spectacular, fairly enjoyable. Even this tsunadere girl whose name escapes me is bearable, mainly because she restricts herself to making cutting remarks, but they have no effect on Huey, who remains calm and even replies to her with a humorous remark once. He may become one of the best male characters in anime and he is the main reason why I'm watching this series. It also doesn't hurt that Ono Daisuke is his seiyuu. Anime hyper
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23769
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:59 pm Reply with quote
"I ask of thee - art thou Mankind?" Best catchphrase of 2011. Nifty little show. I like the vizzies, like the characters and I'm seeing no reason not to like this bunches.
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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2013
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:22 pm Reply with quote
I suppose we should all visit the library for the chance of meeting girlies like Dalian - who, from my research, are called yomihimes. Good thing my sister works part time as a librarian, I can volunteer and hopefully find myself a yomihime.

Episode 2:

A bit repetitive of episode 1 but I still enjoyed it. Loving Dalian's dere side and the hair part was d'awww. I really enjoy the parts where Phantom Books are read to battle... the... strange phenomenons that occurred. I should get my hands one the light novels but I prefer looking at cute girls to reading words.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:32 pm Reply with quote
The main characters good so far, Huey doesn't have a bunch of the pitfalls that can make male leads annoying, he comes across as both friendly but smart. Dalian is a good character, but I think so far is a few places from being excellent, I think the problem comes from tsundre tendencies. Though if we are lucky it might just be her warming up to him as there is some rather nice dialogue.

Second episode was rather alright, though hopefully each episode does not end with spoiler[everyone dieing]. Isn't it a bit hyprocritical that Dalia was saying the girl had 'a child's body', makes me think Dalia would work more if she looked older. Kind of became clear after the spoiler[blood] that the girl spoiler[was clearly insane], though I did like that the reveal the golem's only job spoiler[was cleaning up evidence she was nuts.] I also liked that little exchange of Huey confirming that the Golem was after him with Dalia, hopefully there will be more like that.

I think I forgot to coment of the ED last time, I have been finding it hard lately to find ones I like, but this series has a good one. It is rather creepy, the music, lack of colour and objects seem to work rather well together. I usually find a live action ED rarely works, and there would be problems here with the actors being Japanese in a European setting, but it works, actually the creepy clown thing at the end is cool.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:50 am Reply with quote
Dalian is very cute. I like her voice, appearance, and the way she keeps saying desu.

Mystery wise it's very very weak so far. I'd say even worse than Gosick. But this one has fantasy/magic.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:05 am Reply with quote
I think Victorique has the goth loli look going on much better and I tend to not really care for tsundere girls much, I just like her style, quirks and cuteness so much that the tsundere part not only doesn't bother me but she remains one of my favorite characters of the year. If Dalian ends up being just much more pure tsundere I probably won't end up liking her much, but I'm still interested in watching the show. There's no qualities about her so far that are particularly admirable to me, except her "Yes!" is kinda cute.
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