Sawako Machida, aka “Miss Bernard”, likes to call herself an avid reader. However as her friend Endou-kun points out, someone who complains about the work it takes to actually read a book cannot call themselves an avid reader.
Sawako likes the concept of books more than she actually likes to read. She enjoys the feel of paper and the smell of the ink, and she muses about her bookwormish appearance when she’s reading – all of these are more important to her than reading the book itself.
Another girl in the library also notices these idiosyncrasies, and they piss her off. Her name is Shiori Kanbayashi, and today’s the day she decides to confront 
Sawako. However she gets caught up in telling Sawako and Endou about the differences between different book revisions, and the episode devolves into a long monologue about book editions and translations.
At the end of the episode, Shiori is embarrassed at having gotten so off-track when she was supposed to be berating Sawako. Sawako asks Shiori if she actually reads these books whose covers and titles she adores, resulting in Shiori gettomg pissed and decking Sawako in the face. Pot calling the kettle black, no?
Miss Bernard Said is a cute short, I’ll give it that. And I really like the bits of trivia that are shown when the characters are discussing an important book. Most importantly I feel like I can relate to both Sawako and Shiori in terms of being a dedicated bibliophile (a person who collects or who has a great love of books).
The music’s relatively engaging, and I don’t have an issue with the style of animation. However Sawako’s voice is slightly irritating, and I’m not sure if the comedic value will be enough to fuel my interest in this show. I’ll give it three episodes for sure. It’s not often I see aspects of myself reflected in an anime character, and I feel like this short has the potential to be a really neat gag series. I’m definitely interested to see which famous literary works will be discussed by these characters, too.
P.S – anyone else enjoy the nod to Neon Genesis Evangelion?
Possibility of Watching: Moderate
Possibility of Blogging: Moderate