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Read or Die (R.O.D.)

Genre:SciFi/Action

Date Submitted:August 28, 2003

Review by:Ratgirl

Plot Summary: Yomiko Readman seems to be an ordinary school teacher from Japan that simply will do anything to get her hands on books, especially old ones. The story opens as she answers the phone under piles of books and, after much commotion, she runs out of her apartment. It was time to buy more books before another teaching job. But after purchasing a certain book, a plague of insects lead by a strange humanoid attack and attempt to steal it from her. But Yomiko has a secret, she is also a secret agent who can manipulate paper and use it however she desires. Her codename, The Paper. And from the looks of it, her skills will once again be needed with a new partner (who also has some tricks up her sleeve)to help solve a case that involves the theft of rare books and mutated clones. This 3-episode OAV contains so many unique characters and environments that you just have to see it play out to the end!

Main Characters:

Yomiko Readman:First and foremost comes Yomiko Readman. Stated before, she is a young school teacher who has a ferverent passion for literature. She also goes by an alias, The Paper, when shes working as a paper-controlling secret agent.

Miss Deep:Next comes Miss Deep, a new partner the Paper was to work with after the strange crimes had begun. Miss Deep also has a few tricks up her sleeve with an amazing power all her own. Find out what this power of hers is as well as her real name (Miss Deep is her agent codename) by watching!

There are a few more significant people that should be brought up, but it may come out as a list in order to keep this review short and sweet. Drake Anderson works with The Paper and he may not have a special power but he is more known as their military might, with an interest in fortunetelling and horoscopes. Next comes Mr. Joker, a proper English bloke who serves as the agents' boss as well as the brains behind maneuvers during many battles. Joker is very important but with everyone else, he must still answer to Mr. Gentleman, the man behind the entire organization that they run. Not much is known about Mr. Gentleman, except that he is very wise and powerful. Now watch the show to meet more interesting characters...

What to Expect: Cloned Historical figures with strange super powers, lots of fighting, and a giant paper airplane...

Final Grading:The Artwork from this OVA is very nice to look at and parts of it contain a pop-art feel to them. It is animated very well to the extent of animating mouth movement to actually match what the characters say rather than the common "flappy mouth" routine that many animators take advantage of. Since the show only has three episodes, the Character Development is pretty rushed but it still covers quite a bit while still making sense to viewers at the same time. The music is very well rounded since it covers theatrical style pieces with imfamous Classical songs such as Ode to Joy. I would say that the music used fits the series quite splendidly as well as the voices of the characters in both English and Japanese! Overall the series covers enough to stand alone but many viewers may agree with my opinion that it could just use more. As a whole the short OVA deserves a 9/10!