Some people may have been put off by the somewhat 'slow' start to the series. If anything, this is just introducing the background to the characters, enabling the audience to associate with them. This character development is something the Read or Die OAV was seriously lacking. Once you start getting settled into the series, hints are dropped about something under the surface, soon you find yourself deep in a large story which you never knew you were heading for. Quite simply, this is by far one of the best anime series at the moment. It has great characters, great action and has some great comedy and emotional bits too. It is also very involving and by the end of the series, there is lots of twists and turns which never lets up until the very end. If this wasn't enough, the soundtrack to this anime is really good. This is well worth watching, and rewards those who keep the faith and see it through. You can skip the first few episodes, but you would miss so much in the way of character development and background story you'll most likely get lost.
7 Reviews
Exciting, slick, complex and go see it already!
Alan-4012 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
We all like action-adventure with a strong-minded, quirky heroine at the center of it. R.O.D. the TV serves up three. Make that four, maybe six. Start with the three who are the "Paper Sisters," (Michelle, Maggie, and Anita) who make their living taking odd jobs that sometimes utilize their odd powers as "Paper Masters." They have the ability to use ordinary paper to do extra-ordinary things, apparently defying physics and bad guys with the same sweep of the hand.
The story goes on for 7 DVDs and I would be perfectly happy for 7 more. It gets started with the Paper Sisters being hired to be first a tour guide and then a body-guard for Nenene, an acclaimed author who has not published anything for four years. The ditzy girls start out making a complete hash of everything, infuriating Nenene and being more of a burden than a help. It turns out that this was part of the plan of Nenene's long-suffering editor, who thought that the activity might yank his barren author out of her funk. It works, but not in a way anyone could have predicted. Saying any more of the story would just be a spoiler.
Michelle and Maggie worship Nenene. Not so Anita, who doesn't like books or authors, and Nenene refers to Anita most of the time as "brat." The sisters follow Nenene back to Japan and end up imposing themselves on her, living with her in spite of the fact that she doesn't want a bodyguard. Nenene is fairly ungracious given the fact that the sisters save her life on more than one occasion.
Some have mentioned that the pacing of the plot has been a problem. I could not disagree more. If the expectation was nonstop explosions and martial arts, then look elsewhere. If you want balanced action and realistically developed characters, this is where you should be. Every episode is entertaining, but not just the same thing over and over again. The story arc works, even if it seems to take obscure turns now and then.
It is worth remarking on that the characters and story is strong enough that none of the women in it seem to have any need for male love interests. Instead, they form intense bonds with each other. Only the youngest, Anita, cultivates a boyfriend (to the premature delight of Michelle) and she considers herself too young for anything serious. Still, it isn't too hard to imagine any of them to ultimately be romantically involved. The story just simply doesn't need it and the message is that the women simply don't need men to complete them. That's something young girls who might watch this need to see more of.
The result generates memorable characters that work together. Anita is the spirit, Nenene is the intellect, Maggie is the backbone, Yokimo is the conscience, and Michelle is the heart (in the Western sense). All need each other, and lend each other what they have.
This aspect is so pronounced that someone must have noticed; at one point the story takes time out to let Nenene explain that no, she is not a lesbian. Still, it is curious as to why she seems to have emotionally collapsed with the disappearance of Yokimo Readman, the character from the OAV ROD, an event that happens four years before this story starts.
The animation is first rate, clean edged and smooth. Viewers of action have long been used to choppy action scenes which are a series of stills that are panned across with a rushing background. There is none of that in ROD. The Paper Sisters don't leap into action so much as flow into it. The marquee action shot where Michelle, skirts and hair waving in the sudden storm kicked up by her sisters, draws her bow and makes her shot with a serene look on her face is a scene you can rewind and play over again just because it is so fun to watch. That is only one of many scenes like that.
Also on the subject of artwork is the very astute use of color, which takes a while to recognize. The very complex colors used never seem to be picked by accident, for both the characters and the background. Anita is gem-colored (her hair is nominally "pink" but appears ruddy orange when the lighting is suited to it), Maggie is solid earth-toned, and Michelle is usually an ethereal blond and white. Nenene and Yokimo look like the books they represent. Much of the high-tech or low-tech backgrounds (office buildings, secret laboratories, school) also get tone treatments that deserves credit. As with most high quality anime these days, they get a lot of mileage with shadows and indirect light, setting the mood and leveraging suggestion rather than forcing depiction.
This is the first 10-star anime I have seen from somewhere other than Studio Ghibli. I hope there will be many more. Buy it, rent it, borrow it. Just don't cheat yourself out of seeing it.
The story goes on for 7 DVDs and I would be perfectly happy for 7 more. It gets started with the Paper Sisters being hired to be first a tour guide and then a body-guard for Nenene, an acclaimed author who has not published anything for four years. The ditzy girls start out making a complete hash of everything, infuriating Nenene and being more of a burden than a help. It turns out that this was part of the plan of Nenene's long-suffering editor, who thought that the activity might yank his barren author out of her funk. It works, but not in a way anyone could have predicted. Saying any more of the story would just be a spoiler.
Michelle and Maggie worship Nenene. Not so Anita, who doesn't like books or authors, and Nenene refers to Anita most of the time as "brat." The sisters follow Nenene back to Japan and end up imposing themselves on her, living with her in spite of the fact that she doesn't want a bodyguard. Nenene is fairly ungracious given the fact that the sisters save her life on more than one occasion.
Some have mentioned that the pacing of the plot has been a problem. I could not disagree more. If the expectation was nonstop explosions and martial arts, then look elsewhere. If you want balanced action and realistically developed characters, this is where you should be. Every episode is entertaining, but not just the same thing over and over again. The story arc works, even if it seems to take obscure turns now and then.
It is worth remarking on that the characters and story is strong enough that none of the women in it seem to have any need for male love interests. Instead, they form intense bonds with each other. Only the youngest, Anita, cultivates a boyfriend (to the premature delight of Michelle) and she considers herself too young for anything serious. Still, it isn't too hard to imagine any of them to ultimately be romantically involved. The story just simply doesn't need it and the message is that the women simply don't need men to complete them. That's something young girls who might watch this need to see more of.
The result generates memorable characters that work together. Anita is the spirit, Nenene is the intellect, Maggie is the backbone, Yokimo is the conscience, and Michelle is the heart (in the Western sense). All need each other, and lend each other what they have.
This aspect is so pronounced that someone must have noticed; at one point the story takes time out to let Nenene explain that no, she is not a lesbian. Still, it is curious as to why she seems to have emotionally collapsed with the disappearance of Yokimo Readman, the character from the OAV ROD, an event that happens four years before this story starts.
The animation is first rate, clean edged and smooth. Viewers of action have long been used to choppy action scenes which are a series of stills that are panned across with a rushing background. There is none of that in ROD. The Paper Sisters don't leap into action so much as flow into it. The marquee action shot where Michelle, skirts and hair waving in the sudden storm kicked up by her sisters, draws her bow and makes her shot with a serene look on her face is a scene you can rewind and play over again just because it is so fun to watch. That is only one of many scenes like that.
Also on the subject of artwork is the very astute use of color, which takes a while to recognize. The very complex colors used never seem to be picked by accident, for both the characters and the background. Anita is gem-colored (her hair is nominally "pink" but appears ruddy orange when the lighting is suited to it), Maggie is solid earth-toned, and Michelle is usually an ethereal blond and white. Nenene and Yokimo look like the books they represent. Much of the high-tech or low-tech backgrounds (office buildings, secret laboratories, school) also get tone treatments that deserves credit. As with most high quality anime these days, they get a lot of mileage with shadows and indirect light, setting the mood and leveraging suggestion rather than forcing depiction.
This is the first 10-star anime I have seen from somewhere other than Studio Ghibli. I hope there will be many more. Buy it, rent it, borrow it. Just don't cheat yourself out of seeing it.
Of power and orphans
daneelo15 August 2007
I found R.O.D the TV an outstanding anime: good story, interesting characters, captivating interaction, action and effects, deep emotions, music, grand back-story, cultural hints, good drawing -- it had it all. And all that with some rather unusual story elements.
The anime is a spin off of the successful Read or Die book series, which revolves around a Japanese-English girl with a Harry Potterish look named Yomiko Readman. The franchise spawned manga and anime adaptations. R.O.D the TV continues the Read or Die OVA, but takes it into darker, more serious and mature heights.
In the world of R.O.D, real power is held by two kryptocracies, which strive to rule -- the first unconventional element -- not by commanding armies, but controlling knowledge, especially in book form: the British Library and a Chinese secret society named Dokusensha. Befitting the theme, the series is full of cultural links and hints at a global level, from H.G. Wells through Anne of Green Gables to Hong Kong cinema (though the series' perfect Englishman seems to display Japanese business behavior).
The heroes of the series are agents doing the dirty work for the two superpowers, who come to realise that they are mere tools in much bigger games, and get between the fronts. Like in the real world, organisations are stronger than individuals (even if with special powers). Later in the series, an overwhelming feeling weighing down on the viewer is built with a series of battles lost (another uncommon story element).
The various agents display a number of fantastic special abilities, but the uncontested most spectacular remains the original idea: the 'paper masters' are bookworms who can control and shape paper, a telekinetic origami.
While there is a lot of action, knowledge is wielded as the most dangerous weapon, as the main adversary wins battles mostly with tricks and deception. Also, it's rare in fiction that the potency of half-truths is recognised: easier to sell and harder to unravel than full lies. In this anime however, things are told about people's past to discourage them, good memories are told to only be implanted ones, and the victims will not learn how much of that is true, and if cheesiest story elements are their real past self or pulp fiction.
It is also unusual that the two kryptocratic superpowers aren't 'evil', aren't villains from Bond movies like the antagonists in most anime (also the Read or Die OVA), but actually believe to work for the betterment of humanity. At one point, one of the main characters, by then trying to stop them, asks, 'could it be that we are the bad guys?'.
However, in line with an anime tradition at least since Evangelion, there are only hints and flashes of this big story in the first half of the series, when we learn to know the main protagonists, most of them female. Assignments alternate with idle time basically spent with hanging around at home.
Especially in the latter parts, what I find great in anime drawing is superb: light and shadow. The light of sunset, light between the shadows of skyscrapers, the light from a neighbouring room shining into a dark room, backlight, reflections on glass surfaces; mood-establishing light.
Yomiko Readman herself doesn't appear until half the series. At centre are three girls who adopted each other as sisters, and who protect a novelist. These characters are amazingly well worked out. Anita, the youngest 'sister' has all the playfulness and mood swings of a child, not the artificality of a Disney movie child or the spoilt brat of other animes. The secretary of the main adversary strives hard to give the best service to her boss, contrary to her earlier clumsy self, giving off small hints at internal tension and fear of failure. The stottering shyness of Maggie, the middle 'sister' is subdued, doesn't turn around in highschool movie style, and hints at untold stories. There are a lot of hints at untold stories. Despite an almost female-only main cast, there is very little fanservice.
Not only the main characters, but their relationships were well worked-out, too, with great attention for meta-communication.
The three 'sisters' complement each other and have a multitude of small bonding rituals. Most capturing is the relationship of the youngest sister and the young but grumpy novelist, an attachment shining through constant teases and complaints. Most of the relationships are again told via hints, the love story of oldest sister Michelle and a choleric killer entirely so: pauses and stolen looks, and a scene together at the end.
The overriding emotion is a melancholy to all main characters, especially said killer, captivating the viewer. I explain both this and the strong bonds with the fact that all of them are orphaned somehow, and in different ways, all really long for family.
All in all, I consider this is an underrated masterpiece, 10/10. I think it calls for a big-budget live-action adaptation, but only if they find real good actors.
The anime is a spin off of the successful Read or Die book series, which revolves around a Japanese-English girl with a Harry Potterish look named Yomiko Readman. The franchise spawned manga and anime adaptations. R.O.D the TV continues the Read or Die OVA, but takes it into darker, more serious and mature heights.
In the world of R.O.D, real power is held by two kryptocracies, which strive to rule -- the first unconventional element -- not by commanding armies, but controlling knowledge, especially in book form: the British Library and a Chinese secret society named Dokusensha. Befitting the theme, the series is full of cultural links and hints at a global level, from H.G. Wells through Anne of Green Gables to Hong Kong cinema (though the series' perfect Englishman seems to display Japanese business behavior).
The heroes of the series are agents doing the dirty work for the two superpowers, who come to realise that they are mere tools in much bigger games, and get between the fronts. Like in the real world, organisations are stronger than individuals (even if with special powers). Later in the series, an overwhelming feeling weighing down on the viewer is built with a series of battles lost (another uncommon story element).
The various agents display a number of fantastic special abilities, but the uncontested most spectacular remains the original idea: the 'paper masters' are bookworms who can control and shape paper, a telekinetic origami.
While there is a lot of action, knowledge is wielded as the most dangerous weapon, as the main adversary wins battles mostly with tricks and deception. Also, it's rare in fiction that the potency of half-truths is recognised: easier to sell and harder to unravel than full lies. In this anime however, things are told about people's past to discourage them, good memories are told to only be implanted ones, and the victims will not learn how much of that is true, and if cheesiest story elements are their real past self or pulp fiction.
It is also unusual that the two kryptocratic superpowers aren't 'evil', aren't villains from Bond movies like the antagonists in most anime (also the Read or Die OVA), but actually believe to work for the betterment of humanity. At one point, one of the main characters, by then trying to stop them, asks, 'could it be that we are the bad guys?'.
However, in line with an anime tradition at least since Evangelion, there are only hints and flashes of this big story in the first half of the series, when we learn to know the main protagonists, most of them female. Assignments alternate with idle time basically spent with hanging around at home.
Especially in the latter parts, what I find great in anime drawing is superb: light and shadow. The light of sunset, light between the shadows of skyscrapers, the light from a neighbouring room shining into a dark room, backlight, reflections on glass surfaces; mood-establishing light.
Yomiko Readman herself doesn't appear until half the series. At centre are three girls who adopted each other as sisters, and who protect a novelist. These characters are amazingly well worked out. Anita, the youngest 'sister' has all the playfulness and mood swings of a child, not the artificality of a Disney movie child or the spoilt brat of other animes. The secretary of the main adversary strives hard to give the best service to her boss, contrary to her earlier clumsy self, giving off small hints at internal tension and fear of failure. The stottering shyness of Maggie, the middle 'sister' is subdued, doesn't turn around in highschool movie style, and hints at untold stories. There are a lot of hints at untold stories. Despite an almost female-only main cast, there is very little fanservice.
Not only the main characters, but their relationships were well worked-out, too, with great attention for meta-communication.
The three 'sisters' complement each other and have a multitude of small bonding rituals. Most capturing is the relationship of the youngest sister and the young but grumpy novelist, an attachment shining through constant teases and complaints. Most of the relationships are again told via hints, the love story of oldest sister Michelle and a choleric killer entirely so: pauses and stolen looks, and a scene together at the end.
The overriding emotion is a melancholy to all main characters, especially said killer, captivating the viewer. I explain both this and the strong bonds with the fact that all of them are orphaned somehow, and in different ways, all really long for family.
All in all, I consider this is an underrated masterpiece, 10/10. I think it calls for a big-budget live-action adaptation, but only if they find real good actors.
pretty creative series
WeAreLive21 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
3 paper sister (Anita King, Maggie Mui and Michelle Chan) have been given the task to bodyguard a japanese writer Nenene Sumiregawa from the British library. And they all go on adventures together to protect this writer and stop the british library.
I do admit though this anime does take time getting used in terms of plot and pacing but overall it is pretty enjoyable.
The dub is pretty unique with Sara Lahti capturing the shy and tomboy personality of Maggie Mui (whom I thought was a guy at first) , Hunter Austin did pretty good as the serious but bubbly Michelle Chan and Tricia Dickson as the snobby writer Nenene . With of course Rachel Hirshcfeld, who was 12 at the time of recording, stealing the show as the cute but unlikeable Anita King. It was pretty cool how Geonon Entertainment/New Generation used child actor to play children rather then using adults to put on fake kid voices. Also loved JB Blanc's voice as the British spy leader Joker with Jessica D. Stone (who was a girl voicing boys at an early age) as Junior who surprisingly caught me off guard and I though was a boy.
The music is pretty good with guitar theme and the james bond style.
The second half was my only qualm how Yumiko was in comparative to the OVA.
But overall, I enjoyed the anime and I would really recomand it.
I do admit though this anime does take time getting used in terms of plot and pacing but overall it is pretty enjoyable.
The dub is pretty unique with Sara Lahti capturing the shy and tomboy personality of Maggie Mui (whom I thought was a guy at first) , Hunter Austin did pretty good as the serious but bubbly Michelle Chan and Tricia Dickson as the snobby writer Nenene . With of course Rachel Hirshcfeld, who was 12 at the time of recording, stealing the show as the cute but unlikeable Anita King. It was pretty cool how Geonon Entertainment/New Generation used child actor to play children rather then using adults to put on fake kid voices. Also loved JB Blanc's voice as the British spy leader Joker with Jessica D. Stone (who was a girl voicing boys at an early age) as Junior who surprisingly caught me off guard and I though was a boy.
The music is pretty good with guitar theme and the james bond style.
The second half was my only qualm how Yumiko was in comparative to the OVA.
But overall, I enjoyed the anime and I would really recomand it.
One of the Best Animes
dcarmody26 February 2006
I'm not sure if the person below has only seen the first 10 episodes, or the entire series, but either way I completely disagree with him.
As an anime fan, I have to say R.O.D. is perhaps one of the most gorgeously drawn and well written animes of all time. It might start out slowly for some, but once it picks up it truly becomes enthralling. R.O.D. The TV offers more in depth characters and subplots (which were lacking in the Read or Die OVA). The plot focuses around 3 sisters who are all paper users and a Japanese author. The characters from the OVA show up as the series progresses.
I highly recommend the anime for all fans. You do not need to see the OVA, but the second half of the series will make more sense with it.
As an anime fan, I have to say R.O.D. is perhaps one of the most gorgeously drawn and well written animes of all time. It might start out slowly for some, but once it picks up it truly becomes enthralling. R.O.D. The TV offers more in depth characters and subplots (which were lacking in the Read or Die OVA). The plot focuses around 3 sisters who are all paper users and a Japanese author. The characters from the OVA show up as the series progresses.
I highly recommend the anime for all fans. You do not need to see the OVA, but the second half of the series will make more sense with it.
Different From the Read or Die OVA
michaelso-113 July 2005
Read or Die: TV has few action scenes throughout all its 26 episodes, but when it occurs, it's really memorable and fantastic. i really love Read or Die: TV. The characters are very appealing, especially the character named Maggie. The paper manipulation, which is the power to manipulate paper (obviously), is amazing to watch and quite a interesting idea of a power. The music creates a fun spy mood that intensifies the actions scenes when they occur. And the art and animation I found to be really nice; i really like the character art; it just appeals to me. The colors, the look, everything is just beautiful to my eye. Read or Die: TV seems to concentrate more on developing the characters and story more than the OVA, which is very welcoming even though it creates a slower pace than the OVA. Still, this is a fantastic anime series and is one of my top favorites. Excellent action (when it occurs), wonderful music, beautiful art, lovely characters, and an enjoyable story with humor, tragedy, love, etc. Oh, and by the way, if you really liked Read or Die OVA and want to check out Read or Die: TV, don't expect the amount of action in the episodes to be the same amount of action in Read or Die OVA episodes. As aforementioned, Read or Die:TV has few actions scenes spread throughout and concentrates more on developing the characters and story mostly through dialog and interaction (but sometimes through action scenes).
Not what I was expecting.
stargunner28 November 2004
After viewing the original Read or Die, I was expecting some of the same incredible action with all the paper and unique powers of all the characters of the first.
It delivers some incredible eye candy in the first episode, but from then on it focuses mostly on little tasks the three girls must accomplish. Ten episodes felt like one very, very long one. I have to say overall it was pretty disappointing. It has its good parts, but mostly it's a waste of time. If you liked the first Read or Die, you won't like this one. They're two totally different perspectives on an original idea, but Read Or Die: The TV a step in the wrong direction.
It delivers some incredible eye candy in the first episode, but from then on it focuses mostly on little tasks the three girls must accomplish. Ten episodes felt like one very, very long one. I have to say overall it was pretty disappointing. It has its good parts, but mostly it's a waste of time. If you liked the first Read or Die, you won't like this one. They're two totally different perspectives on an original idea, but Read Or Die: The TV a step in the wrong direction.
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