Was I really in the market for another historical reverse harem? I’m still not sure about that, but here are my first impressions of Libra of Nil Admirari or Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan or whatever else you want to call this.
In a historical setting we have a girl who is being married off by her father to save the fortunes of the family (which are clearly in such a disarray that she can spend the afternoon shopping and buying afternoon snacks). However, that plot line quickly gets shelved (very hard to have an interesting reverse harem when the girl is already married off) and instead she’s going to join some “Imperial Library Intelligence Asset Management Bureau” – that is a mouthful and a half.
There’s this whole thing about cursed hand-written books and after her brother attempts suicide Miss Compliant With Expectations and Wants Everyone To Be Happy can now apparently see auras around these books which is why she is recruited. Her decision to accept this offer is marked by her determinedly cutting her hair shorter though keeping a nearly identical style so from the front other than having less hair hanging over her shoulders makes next to no difference.
That’s probably a good representation of the show. It is half-hearted in everything it does in this first episode. All the pieces are there for a bit of drama and yet it all feels paint by numbers and like it is missing the point. I’ll give this another episode but I already know I’m not exactly excited about this one.
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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My Latin is a bit rusty, but I think “nil admirari” translates as “Nothing to admire”. Is that a subtle dig at their own franchise??
Something about otome games when they are made into anime is very unsatisfying. Most of the time they never have her get together with anyone and so you never get to see the relationship which is what I really want from most romances I watch. Then how can they pick who she goes with? Most people might have their favorite from the game and then get made if they don’t get enough screen time. I’m going to watch it since I’m curious, but in the end I’m probably in for some disappointment.
Given how many anime are currently in my possible watch list, this one is very likely to get dropped. I’ll see what happens over the weekend when I start trying to narrow my list down.