R.O.D -THE TV-

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
26
RELEASE
March 16, 2004
LENGTH
25 min

DESCRIPTION

Five years have passed since the occurrence of the incident known as the "Human Annihilation Mission." In Japan, a novelist is dealing with writer's block after her friend has gone missing. In Hong Kong, three sisters, masters in the use of paper, run their own detective agency to solve cases that involve books. When these people are brought together, a bond greater than blood is formed - a bond that will be sorely tested by the evil powers intent on taking over the world.

Join Anita, Maggie, Michelle, and Nenene as they travel the globe in order to save the world from the evil mastermind, Mr. Carpenter! Of course, that's if they can find the time to put down the books they're reading...

(Source: RightStuf)

CAST

Anita King
Chiwa Saitou
Maggie Mui
Hiromi Hirata
Michelle Cheung
Shouko Kikuchi
Nenene Sumiregawa
Satsuki Yukino
Yomiko Readman
Rieko Miura
Nancy Makuhari
Michiko Neya
Wendy Earhart
Mika Sakenobe
Junior
Mitsuki Saiga
Drake Anderson
Masami Iwasaki
John Woo
Hisami Hishishii
Taeko Kawata
Joseph Carpenter
Hozumi Gouda
Lee Linho
Shinichirou Miki
Sonny Wong
Takaya Kuroda
Kim-san
Shigeru Ushiyama

EPISODES

Dubbed

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RELATED TO R.O.D -THE TV-

OVA ActionR.O.D -READ OR DIE-

MANGA ActionR.O.D: READ OR DREAM

REVIEWS

HootyMcOwlFace
75/100
A fairly convoluted plot carried strong characters and fantastic voice acting.
Plot
The story of Read Or Die is wildly overblown and needlessly complex. The antagonists' motivations and plans are a bit bewildering, and the protagonists' decisions seem to sometimes be based less in logical action but in the need to generate drama and propel the plot.

Who/what even is Mr. Gentleman after all? Why was Mr. Joker willing to have his own mind and history erased? Why didn't Drake punch Joker in the face BEFORE he could finish telling Anita the traumatic secret of her and her sisters' birth? What was the point of going after Nenene at all - was it seriously just to write a Gentleman propaganda bible? Like really, was that the entire purpose of going through all that trouble? And what was with Dokusensha's perfect language thing? Oh, and why did they allow Nenene to have paper when she was in custody? She was just writing a novel, unrelated to Gentleman or anything the antagonists wanted her to do, and they KNEW her friends are skilled paper masters. They didn't think that was suspicious at all?

Still, while the story itself is not terribly strong, it does have some very interesting elements and an undeniable charm that provides a pretty good background for the characters.

Characters
Which brings me to the real heart of the show, the reason I enjoyed it so much - the characters and their relationships. All of the main characters are lovingly written and fully fleshed out. The way Nenene and the sisters' friendship develops and they become a little family, Anita's journey to heal from her horrific, buried trauma, Yomiko's avoidance, Nancy's cloning blues, Junior's whole existence... it's alternatingly heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Music and Sound
The music is great and the voice actors are all phenomenal. I was especially impressed with Chiwa Saito as Anita King. The scenes where Anita's PTSD is triggered are chilling, with Saito's tortured screams.

Fanservice
The only thing that makes me hesitant to give a flat recommendation is this. There's not a ton of fanservice, really, but there's just a lot of jiggling going on, you know? The cast is mostly adult women and they all have large breasts that wobble all over the place at the slightest movement. Boobs don't work like that!

It's also very inappropriately timed - do you have to focus on Yomiko's boobs being smushed into the wall when Nenene is chasing her? It's supposed to be a dramatic, heartwarming reunion, come on. Even worse, when Nenene is hooked up to the machine at Dokusensha and being tortured, there's a shot of her writhing in pain and the animators paid special attention to make sure her breasts jiggle in an over-the-top and aesthetically pleasing way. This isn't something you should be trying to make sexy! Your main character is being tortured to the point of vomiting, and you gotta make sure her boobs are sufficiently jiggled?

Overall
Read Or Die is very much a typical late 90s-early 00s anime - convoluted, melodramatic plot carried by a compelling, rag-tag ensemble cast. It's a show that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but has a lot of heart. Despite my criticism, I had a lot of fun watching this show.

Personally, I think that strong characters can carry a weak plot, but not the other way around. If you agree with that statement, you'll probably find something enjoyable in Read Or Die like I did.
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