close
You've Earned Badges!
you have earned more badges → see all badges
don't want a popup? edit settings here
view your badges any time in your profile
In a land where the souls of humans fossilize to become books, a group known as the Armed Librarians strive to maintain and protect the tomes stored within the Bantorra Library. Meanwhile the Shindeki church is transforming people into living weapons. These human bombs are known simply as ‘Meat’, and they have been programmed to carry out a single action: to kill Hamyuts Meseta, the Armed Librarians’ director. Now, alongside the threat of Dragon Pneumonia, the Librarians use their powerful and unique psychic abilities to stop the Shindeki Church at all costs. But when one of their colleagues betrays them and steals one of the seven war machines of the past, the Librarians must work even harder to prevent their enemies’ nefarious plans from coming to fruition.
It's the 1930s, and Mafia groups fight for supremacy in American cities. Young Firo joins the secretive Camorra group; a meek street boy, Jacuzzi, finds himself the leader of a gang of thugs; an alchemist is producing a liquor of immortality, and a homunculus tries to retrieve it; and upbeat thieves Isaac and Miria head to New York after failing to strike gold in California. They ride the novel train, the Flying Pussyfoot, across the continent. However they find themselves embroiled in a ruckus caused by gangs, terrorists, serial killers, and others as multiple stories intertwine and unfold on this fateful ride. All are haunted and hunted by the legendary Rail Tracer...
The two things that draw these two series closest to one another are their story telling methods and the violence in each. Both of these series switch characters so rapidly it can get hard to follow what exactly is going on, but all of it manages to fit together quite well in the end. Also, each of these series are fairly graphic in their portrayal of violence.
If you liked the gore and oodles and oodles of characters in Armed Librarians, check out the (far superior) Baccano! It's a fun action romp that doesn't come across as pretentious babble, and the characters are actually likable, developed (considering that there's so many of them in such a short series), and drive the plot instead of being subjected to it's whims.
Both have really cool stories and characters, a good solid plot/mystery that is fully developed and unfolding however baccano has a better ending in my opinion. (but it might just be me but I am not crazy about all the demons in my anime lol)!
I usually don't follow recommendations on this site because people on this site usually only recommend anime with similar themes without much regard to quality. Its somewhat annoying because a lot of the times, for example, you'll have one good ninja anime paired with 2 garbage ninja animes. Me? I prefer it if one good ninja anime came recommended with 2 other GOOD action animes rather than be crap and restricted to ninjas.
Anyway where was I? Oh right, if you loved Book of Bantorra you'll love Baccano. They're both top notch animes. Both stand out with their awesome multi-layered characters. They both have stellar, fluid animations, awesome fight scenes and a solid, thrilling plot (imho most important). They both tell their stories in arcs, switching between characters in each, now some people say that's confusing? ....But that's bullshit. You won't have trouble following if you have half a brain. The storytelling from multiple prospectives is a plus not a minus.
I wholeheartedly recommend fans of one to watch the other. You won't be disappointed.
Okajima Rokuro is a small-time salary man who is carrying documents for his company, when the ship he's traveling on is attacked by pirates. Kidnapped, he discovers to his dismay that his employers' main concern is to ensure the documents don't get into the wrong hands, even if it means sending the carrier to the bottom of the sea. Now, with his former life ruined and his kidnappers seeming comparatively friendly, "Rock" decides to join their merry band of mercenaries, and sets out with a new career to the shadier corners of the South China Sea.
I'm not quite sure why I've stuck with Bantora, but the aggressively, murderously psychotic and sexy Acting Director is definitely one of the few big draws this series has. Want to see a similar character much better handled and in a thoroughly more entertaining series? Revy from Black Lagoon will be right up your alley, I'm sure.
Each of these series are rather dark and feature a rather villainous female lead that is always itching for a fight.
In 2010, the Britannian Empire enslaved Japan using powerful mecha known as Knightmares; in the aftermath Japan was renamed Area 11, and its people began a hard and terrible existence. Lelouch, a Britannian student living in Area 11, has grown up hating the Empire and everything it stands for. One day, in the middle of a terrorist attack, Lelouch meets a mysterious girl who grants him the ability to control minds. Can he use his new power to fight for freedom, or will his hatred twist his good intentions into mindless acts of vengeance?
Code Geass and Armed Librarians are action series with large (ly undeveloped) casts, the main character of each being of questionable moral standing. Each has a bunch of battles and stuff going on and PLOT TWIST!s and are kind of all over the place story and pacing-wise. If you can look past the messy storytelling, though, I guess they're fairly entertaining.
The Book of Bantorra and Code Geass both have excellent thrilling stories with betrayals, plot twists, and well developed characters. Book of Bantorra has better animations and story execution than Code Geass. But Code geass has a better background story and longevity - one of things you want in excellent animes, as you just can't get enough!
A giant wall looms over Tokyo, shielding the city from a dangerous otherworld called the 'Hell's Gate'. Within the city, things are no less terrifying because Contractors, psychopathic killers with phenomenal powers, have started to appear. These killers are compelled to pay a price every time they use their powers, often in the form of a meaningless or painful task. As their deadly habits rack up a gruesome death toll, Kirihara Misaki and her team from the Foreign Affairs Public Security struggle to solve the cases and bring the Contractors under control. Their task is further confounded by the interference of a masked individual they title Messier Code BK201, a man with abilities that allow him to fight and defeat the Contractors. Who is this BK201? How can the Contractors be stopped permanently? And what does the appearance of the Hell's Gate mean for the people of Tokyo?
Each of these series are rather action packed and violent, while keeping a huge mystery at the back of the story, revealing the puzzle pieces extremely slowly to a climax that explains and ties together much of the story.
Although I enjoyed Darker Than Black oodles and oodles more than Armed Librarians, they are both arc-based series about a team with slighly unusual super-powers and questionable morality. The action scenes are nice, the final conflict is of stupidly huge scale, and there are tons and tons of characters.
When an odd string of suicides begins to occur at a local high rise building, most of the townsfolk treat it as an unfortunate series of events. One girl, however, senses something more sinister at work - especially when a close friend of hers falls mysteriously ill. After witnessing one of the deaths for herself, Shiki begins to realize that a strange connection exists between each of the girls, and predicts a total of eight will die. With seven dead and the accuracy of her prediction unclear, she sets out to put an end to the killings. Yet, as she nears the truth, she finds herself closer and closer to the brink of death; will Shiki become the town's savior, or the next victim?
Armed Librarians and Kara no Kyoukai are action series with pretty large casts (many of whom have superpowers) and convoluted plotlines. Though their storytelling is a bit flawed at times, there are tons of really neat ideas in each series, which combined with the rapid pacing makes each rather entertaining. And since Kara no Kyoukai is a series of movies and Armed Librarians is arch-based, they have a pretty similar flow, as well.
Each of these titles have a large cast of magic users and a seemingly disconnected story that can be hard to follow.
