by Kiiro Yumi (story and art) and Hiro Arikawa (original concept), 192 pagesLibraries are the last bastion of intellectual freedom after the federal government creates the Media Betterment Committee (or MBC) to monitor the country's reading materials and "protect" society from books it finds inappropriate. Partnering with local governments, libraries form their own military organization to counter the MBC, build and maintain collections, and defend the rights of the reading public.
Iku joined the Library Forces because a member stood up for her and her favorite picture book in one of the MBC's all too common bookstore raids when she was in school. And now she's a capable, dedicated soldier in her own right, if a little naive and idealistic. She's always butted heads with her commanding officer, Dojo, but she's also always admired him. But when they catch a pair of kids unconstructively setting off fireworks to protest a Board of Education speech on the dangers of books in schools, the two soldiers differ in their philosophies on how to deal with the situation. They don't get a chance to work things out before a private museum's owner passes away, leaving his controversial document collection ("controversial" because its historical contents do not put the MBC in a favorable light) to the Library, and Dojo goes off with the troops to escort the document transfer while ordering Iku to stay behind and guard the wheelchair-bound Library director during the funeral. One mission goes unexpectedly smoothly, the other goes unexpectedly south.
Obviously, I couldn't say no to trying this series, given what we do for a living. And while it's hokey and sappy, it's also kinda nifty and sweet and I will definitely keep reading the new installments as they come out.
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