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Yomiko Readman is a bespectacled substitute teacher who spends every cent she earns on books. When a weird humanoid riding a buglike monster tries to steal a rare book from her, Yomiko performs some a... read more read more...mazing battle moves using pieces of paper as weapons. She's immediately drafted into the British Library Special Engineering Force, assigned to Operation Manuscript Retrieval. The mutant clones of a demented scientist are stealing rare books from libraries around the world. The resurrected scientist plans to destroy the human race by reconstructing and broadcasting Beethoven's lost "Death Symphony," which will compel everyone who hears it to commit suicide: it's up to Yomiko and her teammates to stop him. This slight, off-the-wall sci-fi adventure boasts handsome designs, polished animation, and skillful direction; it's a pity the artists weren't given a better vehicle for their talents. (Unrated: suitable for ages 14 and older: considerable violence, grotesque imagery) --Charles Solomon

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89% liked it

3,808 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Amanda Winn Lee, Kouji Masunari

Release Date: January 1, 2003

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DVD Release Date: May 27, 2003

Stats: 208 reviews

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R.O.D.- Read or die Nancy Makuhari (Miss Deep) R.O.D. - Read or Die Yomiko Readman Yomiko Koji Masunari Yomiko
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Flixster Reviews (208)

  • ceWEBrity
    March 20, 2007
    ceWEBrity
    (Lazily copied from my animenfo review, which is why it's so fucking long.)

    Schlocky, but at the same time absolutely delightful. Read or Die certainly has an interesting premise: a girl who fights by manipulating paper? Come on, just try and tell me that you've heard of this in... read more some other media. I dare you. Unfortunately, this plot wasn't taken as far as it could have been, and the main character herself is not exactly a treat to put up with. Read or Die manages to win out over its lack of coherency with an overall fun presentation and some excellently-developed action.

    The story is...campy. Definitely campy. And utterly absurd camp, at that. I mean...the antagonists clone internationally renowned geniuses and use them for evil purposes, the likes of which include Beethoven and a firebreathing monk. In order to fulfill the final ambitions of The Big B himself, they need to repossess a pricy German work of literature from a confused substitute teacher who had just happened to buy it. However, what they don't know is that she has the uncanny ability to control paper, which she can very easy manipulate as a weapon of ass-kicking on her every whim.

    ...Yeah. I didn't call it absurd for no reason. This sounds like the type of thing that could either languish in cult-hit obscurity or be a bizarre, inordinate success, and judging by its popularity here and elsewhere ROD has definitely attained the latter status. It doesn't matter if the plot is confused and muddy; the premise itself is just FUN regardless. The execution is great as well, cramming a surprising amount of development and complexity into a three-episode OVA series. It definitely makes me want to look into the TV series, that's for sure. Plot holes were left, no doubt about it, the biggest of which in my mind was "How the hell can she do that with paper?", but I'm sure these are explained in the manga or at least the TV series. ...maybe.

    Unfortunately, the biggest pitfall of ROD's presentation is Yoriko herself. For someone who reads so many books, one would think she'd be a little more...intelligent. Most of her lines are polite requests for the villain to cease and desist whatever he's doing at the moment, which, in the tradition of kowtowing anime girls, gets old rather fast. There are a lot of more interesting routes that this character could have taken, but instead she is merely reduced to a shallow and stupid excuse for delivering oohs and aahs. With that said, her power is truly badass and has to be seen to be believed in some cases; it's only a shame that such a unique premise is housed in such an unremarkable personality. Furthermore, not only is her stupidity exploited for no apparent reason, but she is also rendered hopelessly lovestruck with the other female lead for purposes unknown outside of fanservice. Miss Deep, as she is referred to, is not terribly interesting herself. Despite her ability to pass through solid surfaces (which makes for some rather gruesome murder scenes at times), she's just as stock as well, having a very typical "I'm too cool for you now let's finish this mission" demeanor. The I-jin are designed very freshly and are interesting characters in their own right. Of course, they don't get any sort of development to explain their personalities, and they sure don't have a motive for wanting the entire world to commit suicide, but as flimsy as they are they're still really damn cool.

    That's what this anime is about in the end: being cool despite a noticeable lack of explanation for it. Though it's always better when an anime has depth to it, it's also a nice change of pace when an interesting concept with few pretensions comes along as well, much like the Read or Die OVA. Keep your brain in check and get ready for a rather enjoyable ride.
  • filmguy450
    November 22, 2009
    filmguy450
    An anime about goverment workers with special powers that need to stop the the reanimated corpse of various famous people from launching a missile to destroy the world. All sorts of fun.
  • fleefoon
    June 25, 2007
    fleefoon
    An unusual premise, this character has a love of books that seems silly to most others. She also holds command over and strengthens paper. Unrealistic, silly, and above all enjoyable.
  • aubtheHotwiregirl
    October 11, 2006
    aubtheHotwiregirl
    This movie will make anyone fear a papercut. R.O.D. an elusive peice of artwork that will watch you instead of you watching it.
  • KentAron
    September 11, 2006
    KentAron
    Read or Die is a pretty decent anime that i'd love to see turned into a live action movie. Famous writers and brilliant poeple are brought back from the dead in order to assassinate certain people. It's very well done and the story is awesome.

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Critic Reviews

Marty Mapes
June 19, 2003
Marty Mapes, Movie Habit

Agent Paper is a superhero who can elementally control paper; the camp value is not enough Full Review

October 1, 2003
Austin Chronicle

Click to read the article Full Review

Oliver Wang
August 30, 2003
Oliver Wang, PopMatters

Click to read the article Full Review

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