Great Librarians of Anime I: Patchouli Knowledge

Well, stricly speaking, Patchouli Knowledge does not hail from an anime, but a PC game series, The Touhou Project. Never published here, the game claims a small, genuinely fanatical following in the US. The game is a shooter, not to be confused with one person shooters a la Halo or Counterstrike. Classic Japanese shooters are generally 2 dimensional, with the shooter (usually a plane or ship of some sort) following a track and, well, shooting things.

Japan has some really odd examples of the genre, such as the unabashedly homoerotic Cho Aniki. Touhou is what's called a bullet hell, or manic shooter, where the entire screen is alight with fire and enemies. Contrary to how this sounds, the game is incredibly aesthetic, a colorful dance of fireworks and flower petals. Incredibly, it's all a one man project, explaining in part the distinctive quirkiness of the game.

A good example of how it looks is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQZsDtmobG4&feature=related

The cast is all-female, or nearly so. The premise is that a succession of exorcists travelled to a remote area to fight monsters. With the monsters under control, the exorcists sealed of their little realm and over the years created their little world. The games have generated an astounding amount of fan support: doujinshi, art work, and even magazines.

Patchouli, our first Great Librarian of Anime, is a reclusive scholar who lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. An obvious bibliophile (rarely do you see a picture of her sans book), she serves as a librarian with magical power over the seven elements. Sadly, she suffers from asthma, which hinders her spellcasting somewhat. With her crescent moon ornament and long, purple hair, she is easilly recognised among the large cast.

So here's to you, Patchouli Knowledge! May all your spells explode like rainbows, and may Marissa return all the books she borrowed.

The inexplicible, "You should drink cucumber flavoreed beer!" featuring some of the Touhou girls, by IOSYS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXkqJxYdbdg