R.O.D. OVA: In the information age knowledge is power. Though most information can be picked up on television and the net, the oldest and most powerful information is hidden in one of the oldest mediums: books. Sometimes, the information hidden in these text can be so powerful, that it can threaten the very existence of mankind. Like many other world organizations, The English National Library (headed by the mysterious Gentleman) has realized the possible danger of these powerful books and have created and organization designed to prevent such danger. Known as The Special Operations Department, it is headed by the charismatic Joker and his bumbling secretary Wendy, they encounter every possible threat by sending agents to search, combat, and recover the book that presents the danger. Such danger soon arises when beings with unique abilities appear on a quest for a book with the information to create a doomsday machine. In response, Joker creates a team of three special agents to search for the destructive book before the terrorists. The team consists of Mata Hari (Miss Deep), an agent with the ability to go through solid materials and a mysterious past, Drake a career soldier with the ability to fight powered up humans and and a immense love for his daughter (he strongly reminds me of Batou from Ghost in the Shell),and Yomiko Readman (The Paper) a English-Japanese woman with an intense love of books and a unique ability to control paper. The OVA follows these three agents as they search for the elusive book and combat the mutant-esque villains around the world in a that story ebbs and flows with great action and mind blowing twists in an amazingly small three episode series. This series grew such a fanbase that an anime was inevitably created through demand. However, unlike most other series, the writers went off on a tangent which shocked and delighted most fans.
R.O.D. TV: The story begins with Nenene, a once famous child author who, in her adulthood, is suffering with writers block. One of the contributing factors to this block is the disappearance of her childhood friend Yomiko (Agent Paper). On a trip to Hong Kong, Nenene comes across a unique detective group known as the Three Sisters Detective Agency. The agency consists of three females: Eldest (yet ditsy) Michelle, middle (yet incredibly tall and shy) Maggie, and youngest (yet the with the most common sense) Anita. Nenene takes notice of the sisters when she finds out that they all have paper powers similar to her long lost friend. In order solve this mystery, Nenene takes off to Japan where they take on various cases where they take on criminals with unique powers and try to solve the mystery of the disappearance Yomiko Readman. This series also introduces Dokusensha, the Chinese counterpart the British Special Operations Department. I love this series because unlike other follow-up animes, it's not a simple straight plot that is just the further adventures of established characters. From the beginning, it begins way different from the original OVA by introducing a lot of new characters instead of just starting with mainstays. As the series progresses, it reintroduces the characters of the previous series, but many have changed so much from their previous appearance that your original opinion of that character may drastically change. I personally enjoyed this twisting of character personalities because it feels real to me. Sometimes people you once knew a long time ago often change when you see them years later. This usually happens when some life changing event occurs to them when you were out of the picture. This change in certain mainstay characters is also the result of big event that will be slowly unveiled through the entire series. As for the rest of the story, the mysteries that pop up such as 'What happened to The Paper?' and 'Who are the Paper Sisters?' kept me riveted and eager to follow series to its very shocking climax.
R.O.D. Manga: Written after the TV series ended, it once again doesn't go the traditional way by being a written version of the initial series or even a follow-up. Instead it is written as a weird combination of prequel and alternate series. It begins supposedly years before the original OVA when Yomiko was a young agent in the British government. It begins as Yomiko goes to a high school as an undercover school teacher. There she first encounters a teenage author by the name of Nenene. They soon become fast friends when Yomiko saves Nenene from a kidnapping. As the manga progresses, it reintroduces other characters such as Joker, a teenage Wendy, and Yomiko's first team-up with Drake. This manga also uncovers the secret of her powers where they introduce Yomiko's trainer (and former lover) Donnie. The manga also introduces Ridley, Donnie's long time friend and rival to Yomiko. Though shorter than the TV series (it's only about four books) it does have a lot of action common to the series and includes the ever popular twist. Despite the feel of being a prequel, the series throws a tangent in the story that creates and ending too different to be considered a straight prequel to the OVA. Despite, this change the story is still a great read and deepens Yomiko as a character by showing her unexpectedly dark past.
R.O.D: Read or Dream: Once again, this manga like its predecessors, is a prequel and a alternate reality series, but also goes off on a story style that is radically different from the previous manga and animes. Supposedly before the events of TV series, this series focuses on the Three Sisters and their life as detectives in Hong Kong. Unlike the other action style series, Read or Dream is more of a slice of life manga, that shows the day to day life of the girls. The manga also radically differs from the previous series by introducing aliens, magic, and the paranormal whereas the powers in the other series were genetic or mechanically based. Some characters are also reintroduced in this manga, but in a different form (young Anita's school hood friend, Hisami, returns as a child-prodigy author). It also introduces a lot of new characters that reoccur within this series. All-in-all, the plot is far more mellow and has less action than the previous series. Though it's a gamble, the author succeeds by giving a refreshing new outlook to characters that are usually put in bad situations. It's good to see familiar characters just live normal lives (or as much as they can have being paper masters) and have fairly normal and funny problems. The only significant plot point comes at the end of the manga where they show how the girls first met (they're not actually related). Despite its softer story, it's still a great read for fans of this great series. The series first began as a simple OVA, but grew to a multi-series anime and manga with a complex story and a large cast of characters. But with all its accomplishments it seems to be left out of the limelight shared by other multi-media stories. To me it feels like a great discourtesy to a great story and character in Yomiko Readman. Though it may never grow the fandom of other animes and manga series, I will always consider Read or Die one of the best stories made.
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