Thursday, May 24, 2012

Case Study No. 0341: Kokoro, Iiana, and Aruto

Kokoro Library Opening
1:49
Kokoro Library, a small library, lies nestled in an unpopulated mountain far away from town. Three sisters, Iina, Aruto and Kokoro, call the library home and run it from day to day.

Here's the Opening Theme of the Anime
"Beagle"
Sung by Yasuko Yamano
Tags: Kokoro Toshokan Library Anime Op Opening Animation Iina Aruto Beagle
Added: 6 years ago
From: Alcaka
Views: 66,012

In a small library located in an unpopulated mountain ...
There is a quiet and kind girl,
A strong-minded girl,
And a girl who has the same name as the library.

Kokoro Library
(c) 2001

A flower bloomed today
The small, white flower
In the flower pot on the porch
That you bought on your own
I've quickly forgotten the name of it
But I gave it water every morning
Let's sing a song
A random melody emerges from my mouth
A song no one knows
After thinking about how much I like you
This melody was born

Opening song: "Beagle"
Words: Iwasato Yuho
Music: Miyagawa Dan
Vocal: Yamano Yasuko

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From wikipedia.org:

Kokoro Library (Japenese title "Kokoro Toshokan") is a manga series by Nobuyuki Takagi that has been adapted into a moe anime directed by Koji Masunari.

A idealistic young soldier meets a nurse whose bibliophile young patient convinces him to bloom where he is planted as he pays forward his courage to the people with books from a nearby war-damaged library while helping to pick up the pieces. The collective goodwill visited unto him convinces the soldier to construct what is Kokoro Library as the "place where miracles happen" with the nurse as his spouse with whom he spawns three daughters: Iina, Aruto, and Kokoro.

Several years later, Iina and Aruto have refined themselves into the librarians of Kokoro Library with such quality that their baby sister Kokoro wishes to emulate them. A sunny disposition along with a willingness to eschew the stereotypical professional relationship with her customers are among Kokoro's best assets; still, the road to being the consummate librarian is neither straight nor smooth in fair weather. Kokoro Library's seclusion within the mountains away from the city deters all but the most determined and adventurous users—an attribute that has gotten it in hot water on more than one occasion along with the public grant money necessary for its operation. In spite of the odds against her, Kokoro resolves herself for a euphoric epilogue.

Kokoro (voiced by Chiwa Saito): At the beginning of the anime Kokoro has just become a librarian. She is very polite and will go out of her way to help her customers, even going as far as to make home visits to collect overdue books. She likes reading, especially Himemiya Kirin novels and enjoys watering flowers and creating rainbows while doing so. She has a cat called Kito and, judging by her taste in the decor of her room, she has a special fondness for cats. Kokoro's hair is very long and similar in colour to Aruto's. Her eyes are grey and her uniform is red. Kokoro lives and works with her two older sisters, Iina and Aruto. Both of their parents are deceased. In episode 8, she reveals that her mother died immediately after Kokoro was born and her father died a short while afterwards.

Iina (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro): The eldest sister, Iina has an overactive imagination, is good with computers and likes taking photographs, especially of Kokoro. Her room is decorated with many pictures of Kokoro, including a poster sized one. She adores her youngest sister, perhaps a little more than is healthy. She is very protective of Kokoro and has the tendency to get jealous when Kokoro is with Aruto, Hikari, or Akaha. She even has a Kokoro keyring and a collection of Kokoro dolls, one of which she sleeps with. Iina has light brown hair and green eyes. Her uniform is blue and she drives a white car with cat seat-covers.

Aruto (voiced by Yumi Ichihara): The middle sister, Aruto is strong-willed, an excellent cook and has the ability to sleep anywhere. She is a talented writer and illustrator. Unknown to Kokoro, she has published several novels under the pen-name Himemiya Kirin. Aruto stays up at night to write her story, thats one reason why she's always seen sleeping anywhere during the day. Aruto has short dark hair and wears large round glasses. Her eyes are blue-grey and her uniform is black. As Himemiya Kirin, she wears a long blonde wig.

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From thefullwiki.org:

The main goal of Kokoro is to become a librarian like her sisters. She works very hard, getting up early and doing lots of chores, like sweeping the front porch and filing books. Once she gains enough experience at the Kokoro Library, her sisters send her into town to train at a larger, busier library. Unfortunately, Kokoro fails her library certification test when she leaves the counter to track down one unreturned book an old woman wanted to borrow.

The climax of the story however is when a new mayor is elected and decides to close Kokoro Library because it is underutilized and is more of a burden on the taxpayers than anything. Soon after this announcement, Kokoro finds her father's journal that tells of how he built Kokoro Library after the war destroyed the old library. Armed with this information, Kokoro decides to go to the mayor and get her to not close the library. In the classic spirit of community, it takes the intervention of several people to get Kokoro into town when the sisters' car breaks down. The library delivery man happens by and drives them for a little while, until he runs out of gas. Then a motorcycle gang that Kokoro knew gives her a ride till they come to a collapsed tunnel. Finally, the mysterious Turtle Thief takes her the rest of the way in his hot air balloon.

As Kokoro walks in to the Mayor's Office, the Mayor is standing at the balcony and motions Kokoro over. Kokoro looks out to see the entire city protesting the closure of Kokoro Library. Kokoro then returns home with her sisters.

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