Customer Reviews

Read or Die

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

R.O.D. (READ OR DIE) is quite an imaginative and delightful three-episode Japanese OAV (Original Animated Video) series that deftly mixes sci-fi, adventure, comedy, history and a love of rare books. Made in 2000, it's set against a marvelously detailed background of urban settings like Tokyo, Washington DC, and New York, along with the massive Victorian-style (but secretly high-tech) British Library headquarters, as well as a diverse fleet of retro-style aircraft and seacraft. Overall, it offers the kind of fresh, unpredictable and literate entertainment that caters to the restless tastes of the more discriminating anime fans in America.

The heroine is a 20-something woman named Yomiko Readman, a shy, self-effacing bookworm who is a teacher and obsessive collector of rare books. She traipses about in a long skirt and overcoat, lugging a large briefcase behind her on a wheeled cart everywhere she goes, even when chasing super-villains. She's also a secret agent known as "The Paper" who has the extraordinary power of turning any kind of paper product into a lethal weapon or protective barrier. One of the special thrills of this series is the way this talent is used so often to ingenious effect in the course of the three episodes. When the Library of Congress is attacked and robbed by a famous Japanese inventor cloned back to life, Yomiko is assigned by the British Library to retrieve the stolen books. The enemy is soon revealed to be much wider in scope and encompasses a host of other historical figures brought back to life, including a certain famed composer. World domination is not their aim but something much more sinister.

The plot is rather complex, but never wavers off track as the action moves from Tokyo to D.C. to New York (including a harrowing scene at a pre-9/11 World Trade Center) in the first episode alone, venturing to India in the second, and to a massive techno-fortress which rises out of the central Pacific Ocean in the third. The writing is consistently clever, the heroine relentlessly charming and the characters and multiple historical references always intriguing. There's also an elaborate title sequence that's the best seen in any anime since "Cowboy Bebop," along with a jazzy early-'70s style-TV theme that gives it some added color. The release of all three episodes on one DVD is a welcome signal of the possible resurgence of the OAV format, which allows for limited-run series of various lengths like this one.

Read or Die is a breath of fresh air amid the anime releases in the United States: it manages to combine high quality on the technical side with interesting, likeable characters and an interesting story. First off, this is obviously a high-budget production: these three episodes (which is the complete Read or Die direct-to-video series) sport character designs which are attractive, animation which is top-notch, and great sound and music. Moreover, Manga, the studio releasing Read or Die in the US did a wonderful authoring job on the DVD, in contrast to some of their releases (e.g., Macross II). On the technical side, Read or Die simply screams quality.

Fortunately, that quality is matched by the quirky, likeable characters and the quirkier plot. The heroine, Yomiko Readman, is a book-obsessed woman with the power to manipulate paper (which is far more interesting than it may sound). She is also a secret agent for the British Library. When cloned historical figures try to steal her newest book purchase and destroy the world, she is assigned to stop them. Yomiko is the most interesting heroine of the last several years of anime releases: she is a woman, not a girl; she is not overly sexualized; she is capable and strong without pride or arrogance.

The only real flaw in Read or Die is that, because it's only 3 episodes long, the weird little plot is somewhat opaque. Moreover, many of the historical figures will not be familiar to a US audience, but this is a quibble, really. The show is not about the villains or their purposes, it is about Yomiko and hers.

OK, this anime is a tad silly. But it is also filled with tons of action, humor and good artwork. After watching R.O.D. TV (disc one), I had to go see what OAV started it. The plot is super-James Bond, the characters are detailed and with such voice actors as Amanda Winn-Lee (from Plastic Little, Ghost In The Shell TV series, and Burn-Up), Tricia Dickson (from Hellsing, Spirit Of Wonder, and Haibane-Renmei) and Crispin Freeman (do I HAVE to list his work?).
If you are a fan of R.O.D. TV, of James bond movies, or just enjoy a good "End-Of-The-World" storyline, this is the DVD for you. There is a link to R.O.D. TV's main character at the very start of the first episode of the OVA. You just have to look hard enough!

I am constantly impressed with the level of animation that is coming from overseas. I think it is because they are going places that our native animators are afraid to go. We still see cartoons for children, where overseas they see it as a form of entertainment for both adults and children. Why can't they see that it is a form of cinema that will and can take us to places that live-action never will, and give us characters that no actor could ever conjure up? Who knows? I hope that one day we get there, but until then I can sit on my comfy couch and watch amazing cinema like that of Read or Die.

To begin, this was a fantastic story. I loved the literary references throughout the course of the film. I loved that there was so much to see or do in the story that you never really knew where it was going to go next. This was a very unpredictable story that left so much up to the imagination. It was futuristic, yet somewhat present day. There was a feeling that you were seeing on old novel opened for the first time and remastered for today's generation. It was breathtaking, uncontrollably mesmerizing, and spellbinding to say the least. I mentioned before about the imagination that this film held, well let me say that it flowed like water from this Read or Die. It is hard to explain, but if you watch so much live-action cinema, it is hard to comprehend, but there was more alive in this film than I have seen in any of Spielberg's epics. Keep in mind that I am also relatively new to the Anime genre, and probably am missing some of the better stuff, but for a newbie like myself, Read or Die was perfection in its purest form.

In live-action films I always mention the characters, and am normally nervous to mention them in animation (because it is actors voicing not really acting), but I need to applaud the animators in this film. The way that the characters in this film carried themselves, to their facial expressions, to the intensity that they brought to the screen is equal to that of most live-actors out there. There was enough back-story and future story for these characters that you knew them, you honestly knew them as if they were real. This was a character-based film. While some may argue with me on that topic, it was about friendship, love, and a desire to read and be successful. These are not emotions that you feel or see with just simple drawings. The animators went above and beyond their call of duty with this film, and it was demonstrated through cunning visionary and smart characters.

With a gripping story that took us all over the world (showed the vast horror that could be found, instead of just making it centralized) and characters that literally jumped out of the screen with heart-pounding animation and style, there is only one more thing to say about this film. The action. Growing up in a post-Matrix style film world, it is getting harder and harder to see fight sequences choreographed without the use that made The Matrix so popular. I continually see more and more films ripping off the "bullet-time" effect and making their money back on just that one effect alone. While I do realize that this was ... yet again ... a cartoon, the action in it seemed more real than in most action films. Sly and AH-NOLD have nothing on "The Paper" as she uses brains and strength to outwit her opponents. This continued to keep my attention throughout the entire film and nearly pushed me to watch it again. I know there was something that I probably missed the first time because my jaw was stapled to the floor. The action sequences were, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Like a ballet gone wrong, this film stepped into the screen with simplicity, violence, and this subtle delicacy that is unmatched in American cinema today.

Overall, this was an impressive film for me. I loved everything about it from the beginning to the end. Again, perhaps it has something to do with my amateurish nature around Anime (which is going to change soon), but this is one of the best that I have seen. It left me satisfied, yet with this strong desire to watch again and again. Not many films do that to me, so it was great to see something as powerful as this pull me into the Anime world. I cannot wait for my next adventure!

Grade: ***** out of *****

The plot was pretty twisted but I liked it anyway. Yomiko Readman, a.k.a. "The Paper" is a special agent who is working for the British Library, helping them to put an end to a gang of villaneous clones of made-up famous people from history bent on destroying humanity and stealing its rarest books. Yomiko is nuts about books and reading and her superpower is that she can manipulate paper into just about anything she wants it to be. She can cause it to become as hard as metal or she can bunch it all together to form objects ect. She even carries a briefcase around thats full of paper(unsuspected ammo). She teams up with another couple of special agents, including the lovely Ms. Deep whose superpower is that she can pass through solid objects. Together they take on the evil clones. So yes, the story may seem weird but it works and thats whats important. It was a highly enjoyable superspy romp around the world with superheroes taking out supervillians with some of the craziest diabolicol schemes ever devised.

The music in the series was awesome! Music in an anime is very important to me, it has the ability to draw one into the story and the mood of the show. ROD's music does just that. Its got a kinda upbeat spy/thriller thing going.

Animation was amazing! Extremely detailed characters and environments, beautiful colors, backdrops and clean lines. The characters were all great, either very suave, sophisticated, mysterious, or dangerous.

Parental Guidence: There is no nudity, only Ms. Deep cleavage. Language if I remember correctly was mild. Violence is moderate. For the most part it wasn't very graphic, the worst scenes that come to mind are a bad guy getting shot in the side of the head with some sharp object. This was shown from the front so it wasn't graphic. Then there was a suicide scene that showed people cutting themselves and blood running all over. Both instances happened very quickly though. Also Ms. Deep sometimes kills by "phasing" through people. I'd recommend for 13+

My only gripe with the show was that it was only 3 episodes long! If you watch the show not knowing what its about, you may become a bit confused as I was as you are thrown straight into the meat of the story without even knowing that the characters are supposed to have superpowers. I started out watching the show thinking Yomiko was just an ordinary book-lovin citizen and was pretty darned confused when she turned around and started fighting with paper and then I couldn't at first figure out her connection to the British Library or that she was an agent all along. But if you read this review, you'll have a better understanding of the show before it shoots you right into the plot. I say all this cus I almost quit watching when all these things started happening - just glad I didn't :)

On a happy note, I read in Newtype that theyre coming out with a new ROD tv series in Japan and they may be keeping Yomiko in it! I look forward to it

...although I notice our illustrious spotlight reviewers seem to favor that phrase. I can't really add more information about the plot or characters than previous reviews, but there's one important point that I don't feel has been brought up yet. All the superpowered characters in this anime are perfectly in touch with their powers, and use them to their full extent.

The Paper makes swords and clubs and shields without thinking about it, and at one point deftly bends said club into a hook to catch herself from a fall.

Ms. Deep hides inside things, reaches through things, and generally has complete mastery over when and how she is immaterial. It does seem to require a little concentration on her part -- she does occasionally get hit -- but otherwise her grace and skill are a sight to behold.

The villains all use their quirks to full advantage on both offense and defense. The first two minutes give us a taste of this awesome power before starting character development. There is kung foolery, electricity, aircraft, and Zen Bhuddism (?!), all pushed to their illogical limit in pursuit of rare books. The biographical notes are a must if you want to understand all the in-jokes with the flashy abilities they wield.

On the whole, there is no hewing and hawing with mortal conventions when superpowers would serve just as well. Can you imagine American cartoons with heros giving 100% constantly? Justice League episodes would be over in ten minutes; Powerpuff Girls would take five. Read or Die nailed the apparently difficult concept of superhumans doing battle with one another.

This OVA has got to be one of my favorite animes of all time. The story is really original when it comes down to it. efven if some of the characters aren't. I don't think I really need to go through the whole story considering all the other reviewers who do.

some things that I feel should be cleared up for those who may not understand the story. The story is set in the present day or very near future. The reason for the older looking clothes adn the steam powered equipment is because the people whom the super clones are created from come from a certain era and won't modernize because they have perfected their tools for there time, so there is no need to modernize.

The next thing that seems to come up is Yomiko's powers. The power seh has to control paper is easier for her when she is touching it. However she does not need to be touching it to create something (such as the paper airplane she forgot to put the tail on.)

And the last one people seem to be askng. Is Yomiko a bumbling bookworm, or a ninja warrior? the short answer is a warrior bookworm. her personality is bookwormish but when she is on the job she can become one tough babe. however she doesn't lose her bookworm personality.

I hope this helps clear up some of the air about this show.


spoiler warning so read only if you are confussed about the ending:









The Nancy in the hospital was the clone. she lost het memory after losing to the real Nancy in the fight.

I'm an avid anime enthusiast and I enjoy watching all of the latest anime flicks. Now and then I happened to catch a brief glimpse of the television series Read or Die on a channel called TechTV. Looked like interesting stuff but I never knew where to start... beside, from what little I knew of the plot it sounded strange so I put it on the back burner.

What a mistake I made.

First off this review is for Read or Die the movie (not the series as I haven't seen the series yet but surely the movie makes me want to). This is one of those really well made anime movies that obviously a lot of research was put into as well as a lot of time designing it so beautifully (visually that is - the animation is stunning to say the least). Not only is it beautiful but it's funny in an adorable kind of way, serious enough where you won't feel like a fool watching it if you're accustomed to more "serious" anime movies, and just downright creative as hell!

It's a real treasure to get an anime as creative as this one. James Bond music, meets X-Men-like characters, meets downright creative/great story with adorable laugh-out-loud moments! From the way mechanical things work in the movie to just the character-power designs... amazing the way it's handled in the movie.

I know how silly it sounds to someone reading the movie's description without having actually seen it but the storyline and characters featured in the movie just work so damn well with the movie's plot and aesthetics. I can go at great length detailing what was so great about the movie but in reality it was a perfect blend of everything! There were heartfelt moments, happy moments, cool action sequences, some sexy characters for fun and well... just about anything else you can ask for.

Some comments on here people left regarded the characters as "flat" or "shallow" in some way - that simply isn't true, as for the story it's designed well enough that it'll keep you on your feet and wanting more.

Really an amazing movie, it might just get you interested in seeing the series as well!

Read Or Die came out a couple years ago in Japan and made a small splash by being a well budgeted OVA series of 3 half hours. You get all three here in this one DVD. While it is well drawn and has a lot of nice touches it isn't the pinnacle of the OVA format, but is really bizarre, cute, fun and action-packed with mild gore.

The story revolves around Yuriko Readmad (a young Japanese book enthusiast/school teacher) who oddly enough has the super-powered ability to manipulate any paper into a sheild or weapon. She is abruptly recruited into a top priority assignment for a strange British covert organization/army balancing the powers of evil in the world. Along the way, Readman becomes the lead agent who commands Ms. Deep, a sexy phaser who can slip through walls and people, and a kind of super navy seal named Anderson. Her mentor/boss, Mr. Joker, sits in a far off command center sipping tea, speaking with a british accent and researching the data while commanding this bizarre operation. The villains are a load of famous, dead people who have been revived and cloned to bring about the destruction of mankind via....music. Yes, evil Beethoven wrote the most amazing piece of music, his last that lay incomplete, which when heard will cause everyone to commit suicide. Strange? yes. Absolutely bizarre. The chase goes across the White House, NYC, Tokyo, and into the Pacific on a titanic ocean base of bad clones and their musical mechinations.

They've done it again. The Japanimators have created a totally insane set of stories revolving around the most ludicrous situations. When examined closely, it is perhaps the silliest idea yet, but it holds up because the entire OVA is on that level. It is a kind of send up to old 60's spy films (Bond, Flint, man From UNCLE, etc) handled in a pretty serious way most times. The lead character of Yuriko Readman is so sweet, charming and wonderful to watch. Like the better anime, the characters have a depth and charm that is very enticing, and shows their skill with writing character moments that beat the pants off of most Hollywood films made for exponentially more money. Perhaps the silliest item in this series is the repetitive appearance of a pants wetting American President who seems to be the only person in this world afraid of the terrors presented. Miss Deep is one of the sexiest heroins in anime. Beutifully drawn, less then perfect film language causes mild confusion at times, but fun and lively and not quite like anything else out there. The opening title sequences are jazzy, fun, and emotive.

Read Or Die has mild gore, minor gun play... Probably best for an over 12 crowd.

Out of all of the Japanese Anime videos I have seen, i would rate this the best. It was the perfect combination of Horror, science fiction, romance, adventure, action, and comedy.
Yomiko Readman (the heroin of the story) has the strange, but amusing, power of turning any kind of paper into the deadlist of weapons, a samurai sword, a life size paper airplane, you name it. Her powers will do more than just give someone a paper cut.
This deserves a full 5 STARS for its amazing plot and story line. Even though it is rated TV14, it is a great movie that will entertain all audiences. Buy this movie if you love Japanese ANime, A great plot, a great battle, or a tear jerker. Add this to the top of you "MUST SEE" List, and you will be glad that you did!!!!!!!!!!!