I absolutely LOVE this series. I started off with the anime, found out there was a manga (and subsequently got hooked on Kiiro Yumi-sensei's art style), and then miraculously found out that someone has been translating the entire book series it's based off of by herself for FOUR YEARS and posting it online. Find toshosen_tsl on Livejournal if you want to read it. It's AMAZING, and she's on the 4th book (the one that the new movie Kakumei Tsubasa is based on). If the novels ever get released here, in my language, I'm SO snatching them up. <3

But I digress. My favorite part of this series (if you couldn't tell by my avatar) is the Doujou-Iku relationship, closely followed by the interactions between Tedzuka and Shibasaki. The characters all have this...authentic quality to them. They're real people, with real flaws and real backstory. They are very easy to get attached to, to root for and to cry with. When I first picked this series up, I was a little put off by the main plot premise--a physical war with guns and everything....over books? Come onnnn... But as I read, even that somewhat far-fetched plot premise was integrated so well into the characters and story that it no longer seems goofy at all. The characters live and breathe this world, and it becomes the readers' own. Kiiro Yumi-sensei's art is fantastic, and I'm rather partial to mangaka that have a strong grasp of anatomy.

I personally own all 10 volumes that have been released in English, with the 11th on preorder, and have read all of the translations on LJ for the novels. Though you get the point I'm sure, I want to reiterate once more that I LOVE THIS SERIES. Thank you.

... Last updated on October 27th, 2013, 11:42pm

Toshokan Sensou Love & War is so awesome...I really fell in love with it for the first time I read...
It's so cute...the plot is romantic and dramatic...sometimes, it's funny, too...
It's worth reading...I never regret buying it...it's one of my most favorite shojo now...

Characters : 9/10 (so so wonderful characters...especially Dojo *hugs* I love couple Dojo-Iku *daydreaming*)
Plot: 10/10 (perfect....romantic but not cheesy...and amazingly dramatic...)
Art: 9/10 (I love the art of Kiiro Yumi sensei...it's cute and the expressions of the characters is so good >///<)

I watched the anime of this series first and absolutely loved it, although there's not too much of the "shoujo" element in it. But the chemistry between the two main characters was so powerful that I've kept wishing for a bit more action between them since, and hopefully I'll find it here. It looks promising, at least; although I can't really tell from just one chapter. Fun characters and development, and although the premise may seem a bit silly, I found that I could relate to the way the characters felt, being a passionate reader myself and very much against the banning of books - any books.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this - and its forerunning anime especially - to anyone who likes a slow-moving, more or less non-physically-demonstrative romance with an argumentative relationship and some action mixed in besides.

Toshokan Sensou is one of my all-time favourite shoujo manga, [[apart from Akagami no Shirayukihime, Oresama Teacher, Tokyo Crazy Paradise, Skip Beat!, Saiunkoku Monogatari (which is not so shoujo-ish) and few other titles.]]
I don't know what to say, the romance between the main characters (AND side characters!!) is just so sweet!! I couldn't stand the suspense and went ahead to read the novels. That wasn't enough either, and I proceeded to check out the anime and movie.
They all follow the same plot, but to be honest my favourite would probably be the manga, followed very very closely by the light novel.

The war over books may feel a bit silly as a prospective setting, but when you read I personally think it's easy to ignore all that.

Also, the art is absolutely amazing. I used to really like (well, still do) Tanemura Arina-sensei's and Haruta Nana's art styles, but this is just... I just LOVE IT!! It's perfect for shoujo manga in a way that isn't all overly sparkly like Tanemura-sensei's.

The romance may be a little slow-paced, but every single "moment" is so... sweet (?) it always has me rolling about screaming. Aah, I've never felt such accomplishment for the characters after following through with their romantic developments!!
I also like how it's a romance that somehow isn't focused on romance. Most of the time, it's hard to really balance out the romance when action is the main point of a storyline, but in Toshosen, even though what all the characters really think about are books and libraries, romance somehow just keep popping up everywhere in such perfect moments I don't even know how to describe this amazingness.

I may be exaggerating, but nonetheless, I don't care, because I LOVE THIS SERIES to bits!!

I just can't get enough from the anime... I even read the novel and now I went hunting for the manga... How I wish someone will pick up this manga and translate it.... I really love Kasahara X Doujou pairing...

Funny - just the right amount of comical elements (not idiotic), i LOL'd at many places.
Refreshing - heroine is taller than hero - that part bothered me at first but i soon got over it (you will too as you get to know the hero). She's no bimbo, but rather, more like a boy? Stronger and faster than many guys, she was the top female officer in terms of athletic abilities in her training class. Although she's hot-headed, inexperienced (in combat, politics, and intricacies of her organization's operations) and naive, but she's motivated, hard-working, and sometimes capable of introspection :-)
The hero may seem hard on her at first (extra training, extra yelling, etc) but you'll find him looking out for her all the time, saving her from the trouble she always seem to get into (due to her hot-headedness, and inexperience), so you know he cares for her more than others under his training, and the heroine warms up to him (from calling him names to admiring his qualities), so that's the sweet part.
The premise of the two opposing sides (Library force and media improvement commitee) is kinda silly, but you just have to go along with it to enjoy the people side of the story. Character design is quite good - just the right hotness for me to keep reading.

The conflict in and of itself was unique, I was weirded out at first how that was the only reason of a full-blown war, now that we have pdfs and epubs in the modern world lol, but I guess I would rally here and there too if that would happen as I also happen to like books, but to make a library battalion out of it was just too dramatic. Chapter one was also too cliché that it hurt to read, especially with that route where the female lead is being saved by the male lead, and by some kind of miracle doesn't remember his face even when she talked to him face to face, and currently have no idea that that cheesy phrase of so-called "man of his dreams" was actually the man that is in charge of her etc, etc. Well, that's about it.