Anime Reviews (2020s): Ascendance of a Bookworm Seasons 1 & 2 (2019-2020)

This is probably one of the best series on Blu-ray that I’ve watched in 2022 so far. “Ascendance of a Bookworm” is highly recommended!

Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon

TITLE: Ascendance of a Bookworm Seasons 1 & 2

ANIME TV SERIES RELEASE DATE: 2019-2020

DURATION: Episodes 1-26 (675 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RATING: TV PG

Release Date: January 26, 2021

Originally created by Kazuki Miya

Original Charact Design: Shiina You

Director: Hongo Mitsuru

Series Composition by Kunisawa Mariko

Character Design by Kaiya Toshihisa, Yanagida Yoshiaki

Art Director: Kinoshita Ryouka

Music by MICHIRU

Anime Production by Ajiado

Featuring the following voice talent:

Iguchi Yuka/Reba Buhr as Myne

Hayami Sho/Armen Taylor as Ferdinand

Maeno Tomoaki/Brian Timothy Anderson as Mark

Naka Hiroshi/Brook Chalmers as Gustaf

Kinugawa Rika/Erika Harlacher as Corrina

Tamura Mutsumi/Jeannie Tirado as Lutz

Hino Satoshi/Joe Zieja as Otto

Koyama Tsuyoshi/Kaiji Tang as Gunther

Uchida Aya/Kayli Mills as Freida

Orikasa Fumiko/Kirsten Day as Eva

Nakajima Megumi/Lisa Reimold as Turi

Koyasu Takehito/Xander Mobus as Benno

When a sickly young girl suddenly becomes obsessed with inventing new things, her family and friends are all puzzled. “What has gotten into Myne?” they wondered, never dreaming that the answer is not a “What” but a “Who”: Urano Motosu, a book-loving apprentice librarian who died in an earthquake in Tokyo who somehow found herself in Myne’s body! And since Myne’s world is still in a medieval stage, where books can only be owned by the elite, the new Myne intends to do everything she can to bring her beloved books to the masses in the time she has left. Unfortunately, that may not be very long, as Myne’s body is still failing, and she may only have a short time left to achieve her lofty goals!

From 2013-2017, fantasy light novel author Kazuki Miya and illustrator Shiina Yu would be known for their work “Honzuki no Gekokujo: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan o Erandeiraremasen” (known overseas as “Ascendance of a Bookworm”.

Serialized online through the user-generated novel publishing website “Shosetsuka ni Naro” and acquired by TO Books in 2015, a manga adaptation was released from 2015-2018, and an anime TV series adaptation courtesy of Ajia-do Animation Works from October-December 2019 for the first season and a second season from April to June 2020. Followed by a two-part OVA episode in March 2020.

A third season will be premiering in April 2022.

And now the 26 episodes and the two OVA’s are available on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.

The series begins with Urano Motosu, a college student looking forward to become a librarian who loves books. Unfortunately, during an earthquake she was crushed and killed by all the books and was reincarnated and put into the body of a dying sickly five-year-old girl named Myne, in another world.

But as Myne, she has all her memories and knowledge from her past life and her desire to read books and be around books is still as strong.

But the problem is in this new world, books are only read by nobles and the wealthy.

The other problem is that while in this new body, the sickness of Myne known as “the Devouring” is slowly killing her.

But with this new body, Myne is determined to read books and using her knowledge from her past life, she intends to find ways to make books with her family and friends assisting her. But because of her previous life, Myne is able to use her skills in designing hair designs, new types of food and innovations which bring in a lot of income and her working for the city merchant, Benno and Myne’s childhood best friend Lutz.

But many are suspicious to how a sickly girl knows so much and is able to create such innovative things.

How will Myne protect her secret or can she? And will she ever be able to create books? But will she be alive long enough to do so?

Having watched “Ascendance of a Bookworm”, this is an anime series that has captivated me from episode to episode.

While I’m also a guy who loves reading books, and it’s a true passion of mine, what’s interesting is of this series is while innocent and cute at the beginning, it slowly becomes a deep story.

It’s a unique story that you don’t find in anime series these days.

While the stories of reincarnation is nothing new to anime series, “Ascendance of a Bookworm” is rather interesting because you have a knowledgeable young woman from another world in the body of a sickly girl. She has a lot of knowledge and that knowledge can easily attain profit and wealth but because she’s in the body of a five-year-old girl, there is only so much she can do. And the fact that Myne suffers from this sickness proves to be challenging and difficult.

Meanwhile, the customs of this new world also becomes a challenge because her family is not wealthy and in this world, unless you have money, being poor also adds to the challenge in Myne’s goals to create and make her own books.

But with her family and friends and her drive for innovation, her knowledge is no doubt special. But as her sickness is happening more often, does Myne have any chance of living long enough to accomplish her goals?

I can’t speak enough of how delightful this anime series is. I absolutely loved it.

Sure, at first I thought this anime series would be just another reincarnation type of storyline, but it was more than that. This anime is so deep and fulfilling that I can’t wait to watch season three.

This is probably one of the best series on Blu-ray that I’ve watched in 2022 so far. “Ascendance of a Bookworm” is highly recommended!

Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon