Read or Die (R.O.D) is a 3 part
OVA anime series based upon the
novels and
manga by
Kurata Hideyuki. The first two OAVs were released in 2001 in Japan while third and final one was only recently released on
February 6, 2002 and with each OAV around 30 minutes long the entire series runs for just over an hour and a half.
The story revolves around
Yomiko Readman, whose codename is
The Paper. She is an agent for the
Royal British Library's
Division of Special Operations and her obsession is books (
Yomiko translates roughly to
“child who reads”, so her name, Yomiko Readman, is a double pun on her obsession). She has the ability to manipulate
paper in any way she choses, to make it into a
weapon, a
shield, or even at one point a giant
paper airplane. In the first episode we see her called in to investigate the theft of the
Kikou Books from the
Library of Congress in America. Brought in to support her is
Drake Anderson, a weapons specialist, and
Nancy Makuhari, codenamed
Miss Deep for her ability to sink into any object, to pass though walls and the like. The stolen books are only the beginning though and it all leads on from there.
Visually this series is stunning. At the present it is one of the most expensive OVA series ever released in terms of production values and it shows, the quality of the
animation is fantastic.
CG is used through the series as well as traditional animation and the action sequences and
backgrounds in particular look incredibly slick and realistic. The
music mixes nicely with the overall style of the show and adds to the terrific
atmosphere of the series. The
Japanese voice acting is top notch and the characters development (as little as there can be in such a short series) is done nicely. Overall this is one of the best OAV series I have ever seen, the
originality alone makes it worth a look.
It is currently rumoured that
Manga Entertainment has picked up the rights to release
Read or Die to the western world. However that is unconfirmed and even if it is true they wont release it for some time yet. You can still get it on import from
Japan of course, however if you can't speak Japanese then for the moment
fansubs are the only way to enjoy this terrific series.
Update: 25/05/03
Attention everbody! The first DVD is out in the US now! Grab it as soon as you can becuase, as
Quizro says, "it's freakin' amazing". Thanks to
Quizro for giving me the heads up on the US release, for all those waiting on the
Madman release down in Australia (like me) it will still be a little while before we get it.