I’ll be brutally honest here. I’m not a fan of bishie shows, just in general. Shows based off otome-games, filled with many hot bishounen, plentiful six-packs and rose-colored backgrounds typically drive me right up the wall. I’m not sure exactly why that is, exactly, but there have been very, very few of these shows that i’ve seen and actually enjoyed, which is why I was pretty hesitant to give Libra of Nil Admirari a shot this season.

So far, however, my impression is… more favorable that expected. Let’s talk about some of the stuff I liked, first. To start things off, the show looks amazing. It’s got a pretty unique visual style, the lines are very crisp and clean, and the motion flows really well. The introductory sequence was pretty awesome, too, and the soundtrack is very good, especially the OP, which might be one of the best of the season so far.

Here’s where the problems start showing up, though. While the opening sequence, dark and brooding and sinister, was great, following it with the upbeat, cheerful OP broke the immersion quite a bit. While a show like Death Parade managed these elements really well, making the OP fit with the dark atmosphere, Libra doesn’t seem to do this nearly as well. There’s also quite a bit of info dumping in this episode, which, while handled fairly well, was still an info dump.

The concept of the story is pretty solid. Cursed books possess people, making them do crazy stuff. The main character’s little brother attempted to kill himself while under the influence of one of these evil tomes, and she wants revenge on whoever wrote it. It’s a cool idea on paper, I just worry about the end execution, especially when they need to pack in a whole 6 bishies, just for the core cast!

All said, then, this is another riskier pick of the season, and I can’t decide whether I want to try and stick with it or not, yet. It seems like it has potential, but it also has that otome-game aftertaste lingering in my mouth like a piece of bad lobster. I guess only time will tell.