Alright then, here comes a review of an isekai show. Isekai is a relatively new sub-genre that I haven’t really touched on. I read a lot of plots for this kind of shows/manga/light novels, and find a lot of them a little too ridiculous for my tastes. Saying that, though, I can call myself a bit of a hypocrite when I say that the one show that I enjoyed immensely, Saga of Tanya the Evil, had an isekai plot that was beyond wild.
Moving onto this one, though, I had heard of Ascendance of a Bookworm when it came out in the Fall 2019 season. At the time, I was watching shows about a board game school club (Houkago Saikoro Club) and a jet racing sport (Kandagawa Jet Girls), and so missed out on this. Even while people around me were praising this show, I continued to stick with my silly-yet-highly entertaining jet racing show. And so, since Ascendance of a Bookworm has expanded into 2 cours, I figured that I might as well take a look at it. I mean, I was planning to catch up on My Next Life as a Villainess at some point this year, so what harm would it do to check this one out as well? Besides, how can you say no to that adorable girl’s face?
Now the reason why I liked Saga of Tanya the Evil so much isn’t entirely because of the world that the main protagonist was ‘transported’ to, but the journey they went on in this new world of theirs…and I got that vibe here in Ascendance of a Bookworm too. Our main protagonist, student Motosu Urano absolutely adores books, and wants to become a librarian in the future. When an earthquake comes, causing books to fall on her and crush her to death, her last wish is to be reincarnated into someone who loves books just as much as she does, and she gets that wish, as the adorable and physically frail Myne.
She wakes up in a world totally alien to her. Being used to a place where literature can be something easily obtainable (book form or otherwise), suddenly waking up to a place where only nobles are allowed to touch books depresses her. It’s only made worse when it’s revealed that she suffers from a disease known as ‘The Devouring’, which makes her turn feverish whenever she is stressed or depressed. The very first episode I found interesting, as it made me think about how we all take literacy for granted. Myne wakes up in an impoverished part of the medieval city of Ehrenfest, and the people here only use numbers and symbols; numbers to mark prices in a market, and symbols to identify places.
Frustrated with this, Myne decides to make her own books. She takes the idea of papyrus that the ancient Egyptians used and goes from there, and it is this journey that we follow. As I mentioned earlier in regards to Saga of Tanya the Evil and the journey the main protagonist went on, it is this same kind of thing that makes Ascendance of a Bookworm a fun watch…and while it is a fun watch, I couldn’t help myself but find something tiny to nit-pick at…
The fact is, despite the adorable little main protagonist, the cute little world she has been ‘transported’ too and the nice little journey she goes on to bring books to this world, Ascendance of a Bookworm is a very slow-paced show. This journey from a peculiar young girl who wants to bring books to the people around her to becoming an apprentice priestess in the noble part of the world is certainly something we can all engage in…providing we can invest the time and energy to do so. I also didn’t really see the need to bring magic and mana into the show, when Myne is already committed and devoted to becoming a bookworm and librarian here in Ehrenfest. It almost feels like it was merely added to make it look more like a fantasy show.
That’s just really nit-picking though, but something more significant to bring up on is how different this anime is is compared to even other isekai shows. A lot of the others center themselves around action and the fantasy world the main protagonist is ‘transported’ to, Ascendance of a Bookworm is such a relaxed show, and that brings me back to the slow pace it has. The story itself is never dull or boring to watch, though. The first half (or rather the first cour) centers around Myne’s journey to actually make books using this knowledge she had in her past life using papyrus, ink and the Japanese language she remembers from her old life, which is something that both mystifies and captivates the people around her. The second half/cour continues on to when she moves into a more noble life as an apprentice priestess; I won’t be spoiling too much of that section though, but we see her quest to make books more accessible in this strange new world. The anime’s more relaxed pace, however, is something that might even divide some committed isekai fans who are far more used to shows that have far more action in them.
Please don’t read this and think that I didn’t enjoy watching Ascendance of a Bookworm, because I did. The people who don’t mind investing time into the slow and long journey that Myne goes on will really enjoy this, but I fear that the people who don’t like slow-paced shows will really not like this at all. Maybe that is why I’ve been so reluctant to turning to the isekai genre, because I may not want to commit time into a sub-genre I might not like after all. Despite it being around for a fair amount of time, the isekai sub-genre is something still a little alien to me, and Ascendance of a Bookworm is only the second isekai show I have completed watching in its entirety, with Saga of Tanya the Evil being the first. This show has not entirely won me over when it comes to wanting to watch isekai shows in the future, but it wasn’t a terrible show at all.
The slow pace makes Ascendance of a Bookworm a show that isn’t for everyone, isekai fan or not, but it definitely makes up for it when it comes to its character design, world design and well-heartedness. I guess one could say that anime followers who like their shows that hit them right in the face from the very beginning would likely find trouble here. Sad to say considering how cute and adorable everything is here, but there you go…