Read or Die OVA

Heh, i finally have the chance to watch THE PAPER. You know, it’s not wooden paper, recycled paper but it is THE PAPER! Ok, i am getting really lame here but to be honest, I really enjoy the ride that the 3 OVA series gave me. It went straight into the action and it gave me a really nice feel considering that the pacing and action of the show were all there.

Some people might say that the ROD TV series was not interesting. I actually beg to differ but after watching the OVA, i still hold on to my own views that both series were good, especially when the TV series tried to integrate the old characters into it. I must be honest though, i did not like some of the changes after seeing the character Joker turn so wrong in the Tv series. However, this is in fact a short review of the OVA series, so there we go!

*Might contain minor spoilers*

The story is about a nerdish girl called Yomiko Readman, with big specs and wearing a rather scholarly brown cape. She looks like your normal bookworm and her room is filled with tons of books of all sorts. In fact, you would assume that this anime was just a very normal slice-of-life with ditsy character as the main lead for the first few minutes of the show (that is of course, if you miss the first minute of the show where a bit of action was shown). She seemed to enjoy reading books and when she realised that she had a new job, she went out completely to buy all the books she could find.

However, we realise that it’s definitely not going to be a silly show, when a giant grasshopper came over with a human that was called the I-jin. They seemed to want the book on her hands, but Yomiko fended off with her paper skills. She was in fact a special agent for the British library agency, named “The paper” for her usage of paper as a form of weapon.

The story then went on about her defence of the book that seemed to be the key target of this special group of engineered villians called I-jin (superhumans made from genes that were from very talented people in history and given special powers). They seemed to want the book for their evil schemes.

Due to the fact that this OVA was only 3 episodes, there was little character development that can be done. However, i think the OVA did a rather admirable job to let us have that emotional feel toward the characters. Yomiko is made to be a reluctant hero, as she seems to be happy with her personal life, rather than her life as “The paper”. It’s probably what I feel to be a strength and also a weakness in the show, because I am not too sure whether I actually like a ditsy but powerful character as a main character.

She does eventually prove me wrong by the second episode, as it was really interesting to see her use her paper skills very creatively. The premise of the action, using paper, was a very innovative touch to fighting that I had never imagined until I had watched ROD the TV series. I must admit that I found myself in awe of the creativity used in the fight and the last fight between the Samurai and Yomiko reeks of pure class, due to the fact that it was more of intelligence in the battle that won the fight, rather than brutal skill. That was probably made many fans out there screaming for an extended TV Series after the OVA came out.

The other characters were given decent but side roles. However, Nancy was given good character development amidst the short length of the show and it must be said that there might be a rather touching moment at the end of the 3rd episode. I would not spoil it for you but yea, Nancy is a really interesting character. Others such as Drake and Joker were given not enough screentime to find out anything about them, but you would see more of these characters in the TV series.

Graphics wise was pretty decent. It was definitely not top-notch Kyoto level but it was good enough for this series. The fight scenes were cool too, though not reeking of complete awesomeness. I do have to admit that all the fights were chereographed in a very intelligent manner and it had some of the most innovative battles that I had seen so far.

The music is decent but not memorable for me. The seiyuus also did their jobs competently, especially Nancy’s seiyuu, who captured her character very well in tone and verbal style. All in all, a very nice OVA to watch and a very powerful prequel to the TV Series. A good watch.