nice review you got here ^^
is it true that the art work fell down at the middle of the tv series ?
oh well..
Read Or Die tv Review
Story & Characters
R.O.D. the TV is set in the same universe as the popular OVA, Read or Die. Read or Die was a fast-pased action/thriller,
with many elements of both the superhero and spy genres centered around a rather unlikely secret agent, Yomiko Readman.
Although in daily life a bumbling and untidy bookworm, her powers over anything paper (including the ability to shape
them into anything, ranging from shields to parachutes) made her a formidable enemy. Read or Die ended with Yomiko
caring for the mysterious Nancy (Miss Deep), a fellow secret agent whom Yomiko befriended. Despite Nancy's
betrayal, Yomiko felt that she deserved a second chance after she lost all memories of her special abilities (of walking
through walls or any solid object).
R.O.D. the TV starts off by introducing us to Michelle, Maggie and Anita of the Hong Kong-based Paper Sisters Detective
Agency. Like Yomiko, these three ladies have powers over paper, although individually their powers are much more limited
in scope. As the story progresses, we get to see the Paper Sisters in action both locally, and later globally as they
are pulled into a multi-national set of intrigues. Like Read or Die, R.O.D. the TV plays off on the superhero and spy
genres, but with so many more episodes in which to explore, the story often flounders in filler episodes designed to
promote character growth but instead just become typical 'villain of the day' escapades. The first few
episodes have tight pacing as characters are introduced and the first glimpses of the uberplot are revealed (including
several appearances of the military man, Drake, from Read or Die, as well as a mysterious boy with the ability to walk
through walls, under the guidance of the British Agency's main man, Joker) but then the plot wanders through
episodes of Anita at school, or Michelle and Maggie's crazy book shopping experiences. The plot picks up once again
at the sudden reappearance of everyone's favorite Yomiko (and Nancy) and then again wanders through uber-plot and
no-plot until the last set of episodes in which everything comes together and there are lots of explosions. Unlike Read
or Die, which was extremely fast-paced and the story carefully controlled (well, okay, except for the scene with the
wacko who thought he was the monkey king, but it was worth it to see a Saiyuuki-styled Sanzo wannabe) R.O.D. the TV has
too much time and not enough plot to fill it, leading to a story line that could have been compressed into half the
number of episodes and still have plenty of room to stretch. The uber-plot IS good (although not as intriguing as Read
or Die's), you just have to be able to put up with long stretches of no-plot.
Rating:
Art
The artwork of R.O.D. the TV had a lot to live up to, as Read or Die (benefiting from an OVA budget) had luscious, detailed artwork with a vivid color palette and memorable characters and scenery. At first, R.O.D. the TV appeared to be living up to its high expectations with its own set of memorable character designs and locales. (Hong Kong! Colorful, zany Hong Kong!) In particular, Maggie's paper puppets were quite detailed and interesting. Yet, as the TV series progressed, the art production values fell through the floor and bottomed out somewhere dank and depressing. (Note: I do not know if the art was corrected for the DVD release, as I only watched the TV release on fansub.) Characters were badly distorted, the details were lost, corners were cut, and the art basically made it a chore to watch through the story. Mix bad art with floundering story, and there were several instances when I almost didn't want to continue watching. However, they did bring out the big guns for the series' finale, including some rather lovely shots of London and some quite exciting action sequences in the final battle to save the world. Like the story, you just have to put up with some junk in the middle to get there.
Rating:
Sound
The music of R.O.D. the TV is one of the best aspects of the show. Building off of Taku Iwasaki's dynamic score for
Read or Die, R.O.D. the TV has scores that really help set the mood for its scenes, ranging from the light and foolish
numbers for random book-shopping trips to soft and mournful pieces during times of sorrow to rousing, heavy-handed
orchestral pieces for scenes of action or great suspense. Although the soundtrack isn't quite enough to stand on
its own (although the original Read or Die soundtrack is close to it), after watching the series, you can listen to the
opening bars to a song and remember the scenes it was played in. Even now, as I've been listening to the soundtrack
for the first time in several months while writing this review, I can remember key scenes linked to certain pieces of
music.
For me, the best part of the soundtrack are the number of variations on Read or Die's jazzy opening theme, one of
the OVA's signatures, used in a number of differing situations ranging from the comical to the action-packed, and
reminding you of R.O.D. the TV's not-so-humble beginnings. Like Read or Die, R.O.D. the TV's opening theme is
a jazzy and offbeat number, whereas the ending themes are lively and upbeat J-Pop songs.
Vocal performances in Japanese are solid and help to build each character's personality that much more. From the
moment you hear Michelle speak, you can tell she's a bit of an air-head; Maggie, the soft-spoken introvert and the
opposite of the young (but spunky and almost bratty) Anita. The voice actors from Read or Die also return to reprise
their roles, adding to the core of talent driving the story.
Rating:
Presentation
Let's face it, R.O.D. the TV had really big shoes to fill, so it's not surprising to find out there was a lot of room it could have grown into but didn't. I think part of the reason is due to the fact that much of Read or Die's success was based on its odd selection of heroine. Yomiko has a wonderful blend of every-day plainness and extraordinariness that really draws one into anything she's dealing with, and her very acute absence in the first half of R.O.D. the TV makes the series feel like its missing its most vital element. Sure, Michelle, Maggie and Anita are interesting, but only if you take all three of them at once. Individually, none of the three have a fraction of Yomiko's presence. I think another problem lies in the format of the show itself: 26 episodes was simply too long, and 13 might had done a much better job of keeping the story focused on action and intrigue, as well as having less time for art production values to fade. Instead of continuing the ground-breaking pace of its OVA predecessor, R.O.D. the TV is content to merely follow sedately in its wake. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as this allows it to stay true to the tone and style of Read or Die and never veers too far off course, but I would much rather be rewatching Read or Die than R.O.D. the TV.
Rating:
Final Verdict
7.1667 (above average)
Reviewed by Tama-Neko, Dec 09, 2005
Comments
-
Kryuzei Dec 10, 2005
-
KKKEEENNN Dec 10, 2005
Pretty interesting review, I still like Read Or Die and ROD tv series at a higher rating, but this review is just about.
-
runemaster Dec 12, 2005
Yomiko is not just cute, but the her voice makes her really good to listen to.
-
Watashiwabaka Dec 13, 2005
I agree with your synopsis, a good series but a little to long to keep the pace.
-
MegasXLRFanX85 Dec 20, 2005
A Pretty good follow up series to a great OVA that manages to add to the R.O.D. mythos and become it own enity in it's self.
-
HyperSharingan Dec 30, 2005
yomiko's voice in jap seems so young but i've watched the ova's which were really good
-
quills May 24, 2006
the one i've seen is the really short version of ROD and i really enjoyed it. It was brilliant actually~
i like your review because it's detailed and very interesting ^^ Thanks! -
renegadepsyche Jul 24, 2006
I really liked Yomiko's voice, Anita's voice on the other hand was really hard to listen to when she's crying or screaming. Maybe it's just me but it totally grated on my nerves whenever she started wailing.
Overall it was a pretty cool anime.
page 1 of 1 8 total items
Only members can post replies, please register.