Read or Die

Format: OVA
Type: Fansub
Studio: Manga Enterntainment
Length: 3 episodes
Rating: PG-13+

Plot:	4
Characters:	4
Art:	4
Music:	4
Tilt:	5

Overall: 4

Release Date: 2001

In short: A classy action anime that manages to create more drama and excitement in three episodes than others in thirty.

When I first acquired Read or Die, I did not know what to expect from it. Looking at the staff and noting that it was created by Hideyuki Kurata (Excel Saga), produced by Kunyuki Jinguji (Trigun), and directed by Koji Masunari (Tenchi Muyo in Love, Saber Marionette R, Oh My Goddess), I resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be a rather short, insane OVA perhaps on par with other shoujo shows of similar silly nature. It was not long after the immensely cool James Bond-esque intro that my initial reaction began to change, and once I began to realize exactly how the rest of the OVA was going to be played out, I was hooked. Simply put, Read or Die is a classy action anime that manages to create more drama and excitement in three episodes than others in thirty.

Fear the papercut.

Being only a three-episode OVA, it is understandable that a lot of background material is going to be glossed over or ignored entirely. Indeed, all that a viewer really needs to know about the characters is pretty much explained in the first 15-20 minutes. Yomiko Readman is not your typical anime heroine - she works as a librarian during the day, and at night... she reads books. All right, she also works part-time for a secret agency that tries to defend the world from supernatural freaks by employing similarly supernatural agents of their own. Yomiko is known as The Paper, her main function is keeping treasured books safe from the bad guys, and her supernatural power involves being able to manipulate paper in interesting ways. No, I am not making this up.

What you realize rather quickly however, is that this show refuses to be so easily defined. Once some fairly interesting bad guys steal a rare copy of one of Beethoven's books, Yomiko is joined by another agent, Ms. Deep, whom has the ability to phase through any object at will. This sets up some pretty awesome gun fights where she can stick her arm through a wall to fire, but Yomiko holds her ground with literally the best uses of a superpower I have ever seen in any medium. Describing it would completely ruin the surprise, but rest assured you will be dumbfounded by its simultaneous genius and hilarity. This impressive amount of writing gusto pervades the entire OVA, creating an atmosphere of compelling drama that seriously raises the bar for every other anime in this genre.

Our heroines, hard at work.

The background music in Read or Die is also of comparable quality. Headed by Taku Iwasaki (Rurouni Kenshin), the music again keeps up the supernatural James Bond-esque hybrid sounds while also throwing in some very nice surprises into the mix. The theme music for example is one of the most energetic and upbeat songs I have heard from an anime series in quite some time. The rest of the soundtrack keeps up with the pace of an already intense OVA. The actual visuals of Read or Die are quite excellent and of intelligent character design by Masashi Ishihama (Tenamonya Voyagers). Yomiko looks her part as does the obviously fanservice Ms. Deep, although neither these two main characters nor any of the others seem to be "overdone" or otherwise mishandled from a design perspective. The characters fit their part.

More so then perhaps any of the other possible adjectives to use when describing Read or Die, one stands above the others: fun. Read or Die is simply fun to watch. The action scenes are relatively intense, the scripting is superb, the concept surprisingly brilliant, and the story satisfyingly resolved. Many other anime classics usually have one area in which was not executed at the same level of quality as the rest of the show. Looking back on my time spent with Read or Die, I cannot say that there is such an area beyond a desire to see more episodes - even then, I somewhat doubt lengthening the OVA would have extended the good times indiscriminately. So if you're looking for an hour and a half diversion from your daily anime norm, look no further than Read or Die. It is fresh, it is complete, and it is fun. What more can one ask for?