hen people think of "destructive, super-powered lunatics out to kill millions of people," they probably don't immediately think of 19th-century French etymologist Jean-Henri Fabre or Ludwig van Beethoven. But in the three-episode original video animation series R.O.D.: Read or Die, a terrorist organization has cloned them and a handful of other obscure historical figures, such as German glider enthusiast Otto Lilienthal and traveling monk Genjo Sanzo, and set them loose on the world. Their mission: to acquire a specific copy of Beethoven's Immortal Beloved in the original German. Unfortunately for them—and fortunately for the world—that book is in the hands of one Yomiko Readman, otherwise known as "The Paper." And her life's goal seems to be to actually read the book before anyone uses it for evil.
Yomiko's code name comes from her position as a secret agent for the British Library Special Engineer Force, a remarkably powerful and well-equipped organization that manages a few super-powered field agents. Yomiko has a wide range of paper-related telekinetic abilities: She can form paper into complex shapes or tiny blades, turning a handful of dollar bills into a sword that can cut metal or making a briefcase full of loose sheets into a working aircraft. Her frequent partner in crime-stopping, "Miss Deep," can phase through any solid object. They're frequently backed up in the field by a hulking blond guy named Drake Anderson, whose sole power seems to be his determination to survive long enough to get his daughter a nice present.
As the series opens, Yomiko wakes up in her small apartment full of teetering stacks of books and perversely cheerful notes to herself. She begins the day by shopping for still more books, in what seems like a highly expensive and obsessive routine. In the process, she acquires the fatal volume. The next thing she knows, Fabre is attacking her, riding a giant grasshopper and accompanied by a swarm of hornets. From there on in, Read or Die is an escalating series of battles for the fate of the world, with a distinctly strange literary and historical bent, and some of the oddest supervillains ever conceived.
Rife with references and rabbit trails
Read or Die is the kind of deeply offbeat, unusual series that sparks quaint-but-sincere responses like "Nifty!" It's got some pulp-superhero-flick prerequisites: an evil fortress, an escalating series of supervillain fights, creepy clones, doomsday devices, even a deathtrap of the "we're going to leave you here to die while we go do something nefarious" variety. But it's also got some James Bond-style spy-movie moves, with espionage, double-crosses and sabotage. Fantasy and science-fiction elements are thrown in for good measure, alongside some broad satire. (The portrayal of the nuke-happy, crybaby American president is a hoot.) And on top of it all, there's just the sheer strangeness factor of the unusual villains. (Manga's DVD helpfully provides brief bios on the real historical figures—who apparently did not actually have massive energy weapons or hordes of giant mutant bug monsters at their disposal.)
This much raw creativity alone would be a great reason to pick up Read or Die, but on top of that, the animation is excellent, with vivid colors, complex shadows and blended hues. The character design can be a bit odd—in particular, Miss Deep seems designed primarily for the jiggle factor. Her innovative uses of her power make her fight scenes exciting and unpredictable, but the way she leads with her oversized, overexposed breasts is disconcerting, and strikes one of the only wrong notes in this otherwise non-prurient series. But the visuals are beautifully done, with a lot of crisp complexity and smooth motion.
Oddly, on top of all this, Read or Die is surprisingly sweet and would be quite friendly to young viewers if not for the high mortality rate and the somewhat gruesome deaths. Yomiko is the essence of cute as she gets blushy and gaspy over rare volumes or naively asks the villains if they'll please return her book so she can finish it. Her gradually developing friendship with Miss Deep is touching and believable. Between the sentiment, the humor and the thrills, Read or Die packs a great deal into its short run, but it does so with impressive panache and grace notes you just aren't going to find anywhere else.
This reminded me a lot of Jasper Fforde's novels The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book, which were also literary romps about a British superagent with book-related powers. Unlike Fforde's protagonist, Thursday Next, Yomiko can't actually enter the books she loves so much, but it seems like she and Thursday would get along really well—if either of them could get their noses out of their books long enough to chat.
— Tasha
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