R.O.D: The TV

Anita King, Maggie Mui, and Michelle Cheung are the Paper Sisters. They run the Three Sisters Detective Agency in Hong Kong which is dedicated to solving cases involving books. They are hired as local guides for Nenene Sumiregawa, a Japanese novelist who has been struggling with writer's block following the disappearance of her longtime friend, Yomiko Readman. The sisters are all Paper Masters—individuals with the power to control paper—and with their abilities, they save Nenene from the dangerous terrorists targeting her at a book signing. But in case they strike again, the sisters remain as her bodyguards to protect her from further harm.

This is a dream come true for bookworms Maggie and Michelle who love Nenene's stories, but the young Anita cannot stand books despite her powers over paper. The three struggle to adapt to their new daily life in Japan, guarding Nenene while continuing their detective work under a mysterious organization, Dokusensha. However, the more they get to know Nenene, the more they discover the link between her, the disappearance of her friend Yomiko, and the mysterious books Dokusensha sends the Paper Masters to investigate. What began as a simple job ends up a bigger case than they have ever had before. Are these girls really willing to risk their lives over literature?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Readman, Yomiko Main

Miura, Rieko Japanese

King, Anita Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Mui, Maggie Main

Hirata, Hiromi Japanese

Sumiregawa, Nenene Main

Yukino, Satsuki Japanese

Cheung, Michelle Main

Kikuchi, Shouko Japanese

Junior Main

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Carpenter, Joseph Main

Gouda, Hozumi Japanese

Makuhari, Nancy Supporting

Neya, Michiko Japanese

Anderson, Drake Supporting

Iwasaki, Masami Japanese

Hishiishi, Hisami Supporting

Kawata, Taeko Japanese

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Masunari, Koji Director

Kikuta, Hiromi Sound Director

Reviews

Jul 22, 2007

Ranivus

Recommended

Despite its bookworm outlook at the begging, this show is very action oriented. And its action is centered around Nenene\'s three \'bodyguards\' known as Paper Users. They have the ability to shape and mold any forms of paper to virtually anything they want. Anita King runs the offensive using paper as blades and other weapons, Michelle Cheung is the defensive user creating barriers and such, and Maggi Mui has the most versitility of the paper being able to create creatures and vehicles. At my first impression of the use of this power i was a bit skeptical. If your anything like me your probably going ... to say, "Look at all that paper!" And thats no joke too... they use alot of paper in this show (green peace freaks probably shouldnt watch this show). After the intial shock the action starts to become second nature to the show, showing each characters different fighting styles.

The story is pretty deep and intreguing starting by looking for her lost friend only to find out that there is ALOT more than what she bargins for. Since the series is a 2 season affair (26 episodes) This gave them the time to flesh out the side stories of the main characters and find out their ultimate goals with really really REALLY good twists. No spoilers here considering thats half the fun of ROD is finding out how everything fits into place so well...

The artistic detail in ROD is very well done but its not the best i\'ve ever seen. The details in the action scenes are well executed, you truly get the feeling of lots of paper being wasted fighting the baddies. Even after the aftermath (from fighting or just trashing nenene\'s house or the sisters apartment) the detail of the junk lying around is very well placed. Little details like a stack of books next to a staircase or a bookshelf so full its almost about to burst really pull you more and more into the story. I\'m a total sucker for small details like this. A minor gripe would be the sound... the paper monsters should have sounded a little more ferocious, and paper rustling is EVERYWHERE. But it cant be helped ^_^

Overall i really enjoyed this show despite it lacking ecchiness (big surprise i know). But the big fight scenes the animation and detail of every subtle movement make this show flow very smoothly and seamlessly. I mean its practically an 8 hour movie and i sat watched all 8 hours with great intent. I did have a 2 hour nap in between tho since i didnt sleep for 24hours straight.
But anyone whos into magical warfare but
wants something a little different than sparkles
and wands, please pick this anime up! ^_^

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 6, 2009

ace52387

Mixed Feelings

The OVA of Read or Die is a secret agent parody, perhaps poking a little fun at how ridiculous some of 007`s plots are, and its overboard story of literary greats trying to take over the world has a campy charm. The TV series brings back most of the characters from the OVA,but centers itself around a new cast. Even though it`s a little more heavy handed with its mood and drama, all the style in the OVA is preserved, only drawn out to a long 26 episodes.

Where the laughably crazy plot in the OVA held a certain charm, it doesn`t serve well as the ... plot of a TV series. The plot is fairly thin for the first half of the series. It alternates between monsters of the week and some slice of life pieces. The monster of the week encounters don`t have the same elaborate design as the action packed encounters in the OVA, but they more or less have the same wackiness. The characters of the TV series are also more or less of the same quality as the OVA. They are simple characters with one or two defining quirks, some of which are a bit cliche in the Anime world. A short 3 episode stint is conducive to simple and cliche`d characters, but slice of life is not. By far the worst segment of this series is when it explores the daily lives of the 4 new main characters. The slice of life subplots are boring in and of themselves, and these characters are far too simple and played out to spark empathy.

The story suddenly and completely changes from around the midway mark,kicking out all of the monster of the weeks and slice of life bits for its central plot. It shapes into something vaguely similar to the OVA`s. The heroes have to stop some maniacal villain from taking over the flow of books, and thus, the world. It`s certainly a lot more complex than that of the OVA`s, but to its own detriment. Far too many plot developments stem from extraordinary lapses of common sense by some of the characters. Contrivances like these are sadly, a gigantic driving force. This leaves the plot not only wacky, but also nonsensical.

As if that wasn`t enough, we still have to stomach our average dose of B rate Anime melodrama, including but not limited to complete over-dramatization of trauma, loss, and depression. As per usual also,the maniacal villain has to give his share of philosophical lectures on how to make the world a better place, all of which are answered by the hot headed heroes with equally bogus, but less pessimistic philosophy.

The TV series isn`t really unfaithful to the OVA. It`s not quite as impressive visually, and maybe it`s a bit cheesier, but it goes for the same feel the OVA does. This just goes to show that campy charm is exceedingly delicate. Where the OVA in many ways was so weird, so bad that it was good, trying to stretch that same appeal into 26 episodes just leaves it as plain weird and bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 22, 2015

Mythof_Feminism

Not Recommended

Having watched the fantastic R.o.D. OVA I decided to check out the series... first thing that must be known is that it does not directly follow the storyline of the OVA but instead takes the route of coming up with three completely new protagonists; "The Paper Sisters".

I do not want to give any spoilers but this is something you learn very early on in episode 1;
Each of these sisters is a papermaster with the ability to manipulate paper in a variety of ways.... the big problem is, each of them ONLY manipulate paper in a specific way. The major draw of Yomiko Readman in RoD ... OVA was that she could be wildly creative with her manipulation of paper, creating airplanes, swords, shields, parachutes, etc.... by limiting each of the characters to one specific form of paper manipulation it turns each encounter into a highly predictable and dull scene.

They literally kneecapped the best part of the OVA.


So let's put the action scenes aside for awhile, what is the main story? well, it struggles to find its footing but it is allegedly about the three paper sisters becoming the bodyguards of a published author named Sumiregawa Nenene, so because the set-up is such a passive affair, the plot falls into stagnation pretty quick and struggles to find something for the characters to do... so much so that half-way through the series they just throw their hands up in the air and say EFF IT (You'll know what I mean when it happens), destroying the little story they had so far and restarting from scratch.

Okay enough about the story for a bit, let's talk about the characters;
Oh boy, they completely went overboard, in the OVA there were hints of lesbianism and it was cute, it was sexy, it was intriguing... but in RoD the TV the undertones became 'overtones', though we don't see any actual lesbian acts, the characters are blatantly lesbian. That is not something that bothers me but it very much distracts when every single female character is blatantly lesbic, in some cases having that being one of their defining characteristics.



So let's recap;
- Very weak characters that are poorly developed and put through awkward/forced development
- A non-story that is abandoned half way through the series
- Action scenes far inferior to its OVA counterpart


There is nothing to recommend here.
If you want action like the OVA, you will not find it here.
If you want creative, strange characters, you will not find it here.
If you want a complex, intriguing overarching plot, you will not find it here.
If you want to see more Yomiko Readman as the focus, not here either.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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