lmost exactly a year ago, America got its first look at R.O.D.: Read or Die, an original video animation starring British Library Special Engineer Force agent Yomiko Readman. Yomiko had telepathic command over all forms of paper: She could, with a thought, transform folding money into a sword, or turn a suitcase full of loose-leaf into an airplane. This power put her solidly at the forefront of a war with a nefarious group of clones.
In R.O.D. the TV, Yomiko has disappeared, much to the misery of her old friend, Japanese author Nenene Sumiregawa. Four years ago, Nenene wrote a popular novel, but she hasn't produced anything since, and she's clearly depressed about it. Her career gets a possibly unwanted boost, however, when the book is optioned for a Hong Kong movie. Traveling there for a publicity tour, she's taken under the wings of Maggie and Michelle, a pair of very dissimilar sisters. Michelle is a cheerful, talkative blonde, while Maggie is a gangly, near-silent, dark-haired woman who appears to be half asleep, when she isn't blushing over some attention paid to her. Together, they drive Nenene into the city—just in time to see her hotel room blow up, bombed by a jealous nonfan who leaves a furious note deriding Nenene and her work.
Nenene has already revealed herself as bitter and angry as well as depressed, but she shows a forceful and somewhat crazed side of her personality as she insists that her book signing take place anyway, in the name of "truth and honor." Impressed, Michelle signs herself, Maggie and their third sister, a pink-haired, strident book-hater named Anita, on as Nenene's protectors. This quickly becomes relevant as more attempts are made on Nenene's life, and it turns out that the three sisters are not only detectives but "paper masters"—paper-related telekinetics like Yomiko. As this 26-episode series progresses, the sisters' powers, their fascination with books and their inadvertent haplessness get them further involved with Nenene, as they move to Japan and continue to serve as her bodyguards—and, eventually, her tenants.
Dynamic and solidly executed
Typically enough for a spinoff, the R.O.D. television series doesn't initially seem as outlandish or ambitious as the original series that spawned it. It's good to see the paper-controlling gimmick in action again, because it readily lends itself to dramatic imagery, as the paper masters instantly manufacture any weapons or defenses that they can imagine, while standing within a storm of flying books or loose pages. But the power just isn't as fresh the second time around, especially since Michelle, Maggie and Anita seem to use it exactly as Yomiko did, with relatively little variation. Surprisingly, though, the TV series' animation is nearly as good as the OVA's. It's not quite as richly colorful, but it's dynamic and solidly executed, and the action scenes in particular look very impressive, particularly when Maggie flies her sisters into action inside a giant, flapping paper dragon that sheds loose-leaf "scales" as it flaps above the clouds.
When the series isn't focusing on paper-related fun, it's slightly choppy, with a slow pace and a lot of character focus that can be pleasing or annoying, depending on who's being showcased. Anita is one of those too-common anime kid characters who vacillate between sympathetic and preposterously bratty at the drop of a hat, and Nenene herself can be irritatingly shrill. (In one of the first episode's weirder moments, she shrieks about how she won't cancel her book signing just because of a massive bombing, because that would be letting some "puerile idiot" bully her. Michelle, weeping, responds, "That's the spirit of a true writer! Such masculinity! I may never be able to think of you as a woman again!")
But while R.O.D. the TV isn't quite as weird or unpredictable as R.O.D. the OVA, it does channel some of its ingenuous charm, mostly through Michelle and Maggie, who seem like dedicated, likable people who share Yomiko's pleasant obsessions and slightly out-of-touch innocence. For their sake, as well as for the stellar action sequences and the simple strangeness of a paper-centered story, R.O.D. the TV is worth sticking with.
I can't help wondering what Nenene's famous novel is like, given what a schizoid head case she can be. She veers from abstractly melancholy to Michelle's hyper-aggressive "masculine" ideal at the drop of a hat, so it's easy to wonder what kind of tone her book would take, or what she'd find interesting to write about.
— Tasha
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