Somehow, Japanese anime has always been very good at depicting Victorian England in the context of supernatural fantasy. Or rather, it has become the source of a common stereotype: young, cute girls with pale skin and big eyes, dressed in black and frilly gothic dresses. Often paired with high heels, a parsol, and perhaps sitting in a large chair to make their physical size all the more obvious. It's a romantized appearance well suited for a character meant to introduce another to a secret dark world. 2011's "The Mystic Archives of Dantalian" is one such show, joining a sub-genre that includes shows like "Gosick," "Black Butler" and "Rozen Maiden." If you were concerned that "Mystic Archives" didn't have much to differentiate it from other shows, the plot won't change your mind. Set in England shortly after World War I (although the title is confusingly presented often in French, as "Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian"), young man Hugh Anthony Disward (perfering "Huey" by his friends) is a pilot who inherits a mansion and small fortune by his late grandfather. His grandfather was a "bibliomaniac," with an intense passion for books, having collected a massive library inside his mansion, including some rare tomes that cost him as much as half his wealth. Huey is surprised to find a young girl named Dalian in a secret room in the back of the mansion, from whom he learns about "Phantom Books," books with great and terrible power and knowledge, of which Dalian is the protector of, and of whom Huey must become the "keykeeper." He accepts the responsibilty, and the two become partners, seeking out a lost Phantom Book each episode and trying to prevent it from causing disasters. Huey remains the straight man, and Dalian remains stern and distrusting, despite a weakness for good books. And sweets. She loves sweet food. And occasionally cute things like teddy bears. You know, the usual. But one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I attribute the hidden success of "Mystic Archives" to its production studio: Gainax. Yes, the famed Gainax behind influencial shows like "Neon Genesis Evangelion," "Gurran Lagann," and... well, despite the library of shows they've made, not many of them are particularly famous. But many of them are good, having a unique hyper perspective that most other shows don't, and also tend to have better than average animation, especiall during action scenes. This all applies to "Mystic Archives," both in its plot and its visual presentation.The plot of "Mystic Archives" is episodic, where each episode has a stand-alone adventure that doesn't really require the knowledge of previous episodes (in a couple instances, one episode is actually divided into two shorter episodes within a 24-minute runtime). In this way, the show has more in common with "Kino's Journey" or "Mushi-shi," where each episode is more like a short story, only sharing the main character(s) of the show as side characters in the background of each episode. For "Mystic Archives," there are plenty of opportunities for fascinating character study or simply ghost tales, where a magic book might be used for unpure motives, or might overtake its master in unexpected and gruesome ways. It is always interesting, if not always fully entertaining.But this doesn't mean the show is entirely devoid of its own narrative. As new characters are presented, it becomes clear that there is a universe in the show. The world-building itself is as fascinating as the stand-alone stories. Dalian, for example, isn't the only "princess" tasked with protecting the Phantom Books. How many are there? What are their motivations? What of the motivations of the keykeepers for each princess? Where do the girls come from? Where do the books come from? Unfortunately, we never get any clear explainations within the anime (neither the twelve episodes or its OVA), but it draws just enough of the curtain back for me to be a bit more invested, and greatly interested should a sequel series ever appear.
As for the animation of "Mystic Archives"... in true Gainax fashion, most of the scenes are actually sub-par at best, with little movement between shots of talking heads, noticable given how much exposition there is. But things really pick up during the action scenes, which tend to occur in almost every episode. During these moments, characters run and fight with exaggerated detail and flash that feels appropriate from the animators of "Gurren Lagann." And unlike most other shows, I think the animation quality actually gets better as the show progresses, as if the staff were able to find the right balance, somewhere in between the best and worst of previous episodes. Overall, the animation is certainly better than the average anime series, but that fluctuation difference is huge, and the few moments of fantastic motion are worth watching the series for alone.Visually, the series also looks significantly better than average. Yes, the gothic-England style is a stereotype, but I don't think I've seen it portrayed as well as this. Huey in his beige coat and Dalian in her black dress are well-designed, and the backgrounds (be it the English country-side or the shelves of books) are well detailed. In some scenes, the monsters get some great design work, and in one episode, the visual aesthetic changes completely due to the story in question. It's clear that most of the background shots were using live-action images for reference, albiet with better use of color and lighting. Bizarrely, the ending credits use entirely live-action video, of a Japanese woman in bad-cosplay dragging a large suitcase, barefoot, through a forest, while throwing in experimental imagery that seems inspired by graphic artist Dave Mckean. OK, it doesn't always work, but I appreciate their boldness. The series was never released in North America... until 2017, many years later, by Funimation. Curiously, this was chosen as one of the few new experiments Funimation was trying in home video releases: their first foray into cheaper subtitle-only packages, and on DVD only, to boot. It feels like a huge missed opportunity, given that Funimation already has some experience with directing dubs with English accents. Truely, an English dub would have been ideal for this show especially, and a Bluray release would have been worth the cost for the visuals. But for what it's worth, the Japanese actors do well with the material, and the music is appropriately haunting, if a little formulaic. One odd choice was to make Dalian say "yes" (in English) throughout the series, even though all other characters say "hai" (Japanese): I know the show is set in England, but when the rest of the dialogue is entirely in Japanese, it feels a bit jarring each time.So yes, "The Mystic Archives of Dantalian" is another one of those supernatural mystery anime set in Victorian England. It targets a certain type of audience. Such an audience might already be bored with such material, as there are plenty of better-known shows to choose from. But don't be so quick to dismiss a book by its cover. This show is worth picking up, as it represents some of the best its sub-genre has to offer.