I mentioned on Twitter while watching the third episode of Zankyou no Terror (Terror in Resonance, ZnT) about the “non-verbal storytelling” in it and felt that it needed some elaboration because it’s something that is rare to find in anime.
Most of Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra feels like an incompetent comedian trying to tell a joke: each story ends with blank faces, raised eyebrows and a belated admission along the lines of "oh and there was a lizard who made everyone angry". It isn't a lack of time or imagination that scuppers the series, but a dearth of storytelling proficiency. Characters are introduced with no explanation as to why they were absent in the previous episodes, throwaway events from ten episodes prior are made crucial in a disparate storyline and deaths come frequently but are at best poorly handled and at worst treated as inconsequential. These faults don't prevent enjoyment of its unique world and ideas, but do turn an otherwise highly promising start into a lacklustre continuation.
Split across multiple loosely connected stories, the overarching plot concerns the library of Bantorra and the collection of militant librarians which reside there. Located on an island at the centre of the known world, the librarians are charged with protecting the stone "books" which are born from people when they die; these books are organised in the multiple sub-levels of the library with the most treasured volumes in the lowest and most heavily guarded areas. The librarians fight against a group known as the Church of Drowning in God's Grace which aims to create a mythical "True Man". All is not as it seems though and in a world where death comes swiftly and brutality is everywhere, the three ancient deities of the world have plans which will affect all of the world's denizens.