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Read or Die review by Lynk Former
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What do you get when you fuse seemingly unrelated genres and themes together that most would think could never work? You get a cleverly made anime like Read or Die that has the charm and wit of one of the better James Bond movies, while making fun of the British spy movies at the same time. You then have a heavy dash of biblio-related material for those who love books, or for those who love to tease those who love books, as well as a wonderful collection of characters and some very fun action scenes. With Direction by Koji Masunari
, story by Hideyuki Kurata, the creator of Read or Die, and character design by Masashi Ishihama, you know you're going to watch a quality anime.
The I-jin, a group of clones of well known historical figures are on a mission to steal rare manuscripts from the world's collections. It's up to The British Library Special Forces to stop them, but the I-jin have a more sinister plan, one that will cost the lives of countless people if it is to succeed. The storyline tries to keep itself as simple as possible and doesn't bother to go into detail about certain things; however anyone who is a fan of the novels and manga of Read or Die will have a better in-depth view of the characters to a certain extent. In any case, Read or Die is set in a 007 action movie style, compounded with its own unique characteristics, quirky characters and the inclusion of famous historical figures such as Ludwig van Beethoven.
Our heroine in Read or Die isn't your usual action hero type character, and while she does possess some very special powers, she remains humble and her usual cute nerdy self till the very end and beyond. Her name is Yomiko Readman, code name "The Paper." As with every other anime your main character is no average person, Yomiko posses the power to manipulate paper, she's able to tense paper and make it strong enough to stop bullets, and able to shape paper into any object she wants. Her unique ability makes her the perfect secret agent for The British Library Special Forces Unit. But no heroine is complete without a sexy bond girl type partner to counter all those bibliophile vibes. Meet Nancy Makuhari, code name "Miss Deep" and try not to stare at her breasts for too long. She has a unique ability to phase her body allowing her to pass through solid objects, making her a very interesting character, but more importantly, Read or Die provides some wonderful character interaction between Yomiko and Nancy.
ROD was made throughout 2001 and early 2002, and as you would expect from OVAs within that time period, the animation is brilliantly done, and like many other animes, it features some CG work. The man responsible for the music in ROD is Taku Iwasaki, who is famous for his musical work in the Rurouni Kenshin OVAs (Samurai X). Iwasaki-san captures that British spy feel beautifully, which the 007 movies standardised, giving ROD a very familiar and adventurous tone. Now in terms of voice acting, the original Japanese audio is what you would expect, but I was impressed by the English audio seeing as I didn't expect it to be anything special. Both Kimberly Yates and Amanda Winn Lee were perfect for their parts as Yomiko and Nancy respectively, and Jason Lee's gruff sounding voice sounded great with Drake. While a lot of the British accents of the other British Library characters in ROD were faked, it really didn't bother me at all, though I'm sure those who are more familiar with the accent may have a different opinion.
I for one appreciated what is at face value a great action OVA series, but what makes Read or Die worth watching even more is the sequel TV series called ROD the TV. If you wanted more depth than this three part OVA offered then I suggest you take a look at ROD the TV. However as a stand alone series, Read or Die is still great for those who want a fun 007 style action show.
~ Lynk Former
