KAORI Nusantara Bibliobattle: The Second has been successfully held on 25 October 2025. This time, gathered 7 participants, including 2 duelists, on the KAORI Nusantara Discord server. This latest session of bibliobattle brought “historical anime” as the theme.
The “historical anime” theme brought up two far-apart recommendations, namely Turkey! and Sanjuushi (The Three Musketeers). One is a recent anime aired in 2025, and the other is a retro anime aired in the 80s. Still, both of them have historical elements in them to make them recommended.
Following the steps of how the first bibliobattle session goes. We gathered a short form as an entry for the duelists. Then we gather on the KAORI Nusantara Discord server to listen to the duelists’ presentations. Each of them was given 3 minutes to present their recommendation, and a short Q&A session. After that, we vote and watch the winning recommendation together. In the end, all of the participant discussed their impression.
The event on 25 October successfully gathered 2 entries, namely Turkey! Time to Strike from Duelist Seigi, and The Three Musketeers (Anime Sanjushi) from Duelist Dody K. Each person also submitted their comments on the recommended anime. Here are the entries:
“Turkey Time to Strike is an anime that just aired last season, summer 2025, from Bucken Records. It’s only 12 episodes. The anime, at a glance, from all the visuals and promotional material from 2023 until its release in 2025, was just promoting, “Oh, this anime is cute,” “cute goal sking and cute things,” “Oh, five color-coordinated girls in a bowling club at a high school, or what, a high school, or a high school in Nagano”. But it turns out that’s not the case in the anime. At the end of episode 1, they use a bowling ball as a time clip. They return to the Sengoku era, the setting of the hit video games Sengoku Warriors and Sengoku Basara. The historical setting is true in Japan, the Warring States era. From there, they try to survive.
So basically, at first, it was a deceptive idea, thinking it was just a regular anime, but it turns out there’s no time slip element to the past. Well, that’s what makes it interesting because our five female members. This anime works because, from the title, logo, characters, and first key visual, people wouldn’t expect anything to happen. It’s an original anime that doesn’t exist; no other source material. I could compare it to last year’s Bang Bravern, which was a big hit. The anime was thought to be one thing, marketed as one thing, but it turned out to be a completely different story. This is probably one of the reasons why there needs to be more original anime like this. We get these rare moments where we really didn’t expect what would happen in episode 1, and it turns out the audience is all excited. If it were an adaptation, I don’t think we’d get moments like that anymore. So, I guess that’s one of its appeals.” (Seigi, The Indonesian Anime Times)
“Based on Alexandre Dumas’s d’Artagnan Romances trilogy, this anime follows the adventures of d’Artagnan and three elite musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. They embark on missions during the reign of King Louis XIII in 17th-century France.
The d’Artagnan Romances trilogy, particularly The Three Musketeers, is a world-renowned historical romance. The anime itself features a lighter storyline suitable for all ages, with many plot changes and the addition of new characters not featured in the original novels. However, the conflicts presented adequately represent the content of the original novels and the social conditions of the time. These include the King’s intrigue with the Cardinal, the oppression of Protestants, and the conditions of French society at that time. Oh yes, the anime also features a crossdresser character, which is sure to surprise viewers, as it never appeared in the original novels. And also, this anime successfully presents Milady as one of the most badass villains ever in anime.” (Dody K, Newsline KAORI Nusantara)
After the presentation, the participants moved into a Q&A session. One of the participants asked what “turkey” means. Seigi explained that “turkey” is a term in bowling that refers to a strike occurring three times in a row. Another participant asked how the duelist knows about this anime. Seigi answered that they read the seasonal anime list and got curious because it’s an original anime. Seigi then continues to discuss the studio and the fact that the anime is actually part of a mixed-media project started a couple of years prior.
Additionally, one of the participants asked if the historical characters in the anime come as intended or come with a twist, for example, Oda Nobunaga depicted as a female. Seigi elaborated that the historical aspect is not explicitly explained in the anime; the viewers simply have to identify the settings and the characters. The last participant asked if there are any romance elements in the anime, to which they answered “no, but there is some potential”.
A similar question also arises when a participant asks Dody about the gender of Aramis’ character from The Three Musketeers. Dody recalled that this anime was his first exposure to the Three Musketeers franchise, which initially led him to believe that Aramis had always been female. Only later did he find that Aramis was male in Alexandre Dumas’ original work. In The Three Musketeers, however, Aramis’ gender disguise is a central plot element, and none of the other characters initially knows the truth about Aramis’ gender.
The conversation of The Three Musketeers later shifted towards character design influences, particularly whether the anime adopted stylistic elements similar to 1980s shoujo manga aesthetics. Dody said that although some characters might appear youthful, they do not seem overtly bishounen. He also remembered that he immediately recognised Aramis as female due to the character’s elegant appearance. Participants discussed whether the designs might have drawn from trends of the era and compared them to characters from historical anime such as The Rose of Versailles.
As the session approached its scheduled end time, the moderator initiated a voting round to decide which title the group should watch. The results were eventually tallied: four votes went to The Three Musketeers, with none for the Turkey.
Following the viewing of the first episode, the group shared their impressions. Several participants noted that they were unfamiliar with The Three Musketeers before this session, making the anime an entirely new experience for them. Dody elaborated on differences between the anime and the original novel, including additional fictional characters like Jean, whose storyline touches on themes of religious persecution involving Protestant communities such as the Huguenots. Some participants also commented on the charm of characters like Constance, while others reflected on the series’ pacing and historical references.
The session closed with remarks on the scarcity of accessible archives for older anime titles. It means that to watch older anime, fans have to rely on fan-preserved copies on the internet. However, the fan-preserved copies often differ in quality.
The Indonesian Anime Times ┃Article by Vina Nurziani & Dany Muhammad
