Read or Die

In my humble opinion, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. Often, I feel that animation (western and Asian alike) tends to forget its roots - the fantastic, the stuff of dreams and imagination. Instead, a lot of animation tries to mimic reality, which many do well. This anime however, tells a playful, dreamlike story, taking you through literary eras without the need to actually jump in time, and as effortlessly as turning the page of a book.

In short, this anime has a strong theme of storytelling, classic fantastic literature, and "history" rather than "legend". The setting is in victorian-like castles, huge libraries and secret corridors, with sudden leaps into the modern big city life, musty basement-bookstores, a desert town, a high tech military base, and more, all blending seamlessly, magically. The characters seem too fantastic to be real, but at the same time they are rooted in historical characters.

I can't even comment on the animation or the sound. It's simply impeccable. But the true strength of this anime, and the final push towards a full 10/10 is the story, and the way it's told. A less-than-great attempt at such a diverse setting and cast would most likely fail, but incredibly Read or Die pulls it off. How the creators managed to do this, I cannot comprehend, but it works! You're seduced and taken for a ride through worlds, eras and genres, from fantasy adventures to street-level action, unexpected character dramas to huge scale crime fighting. It's no wonder that this anime won best OVA at Anime Expo 2002 - I can only say that it's well deserved.

Read Or Die is only an hour and half long but it packs in so much it feels like you've watched an entire anime series. Full of interesting characters with unique fighting powers (Yomiko, the main character, fights with paper) and a fresh concept, Read Or Die is sure to please the anime fan.

Not only is Read or Die full of new ideas, the animation is also a thrill as well. Every aspect of the show is perfect, and the story is well thought out and neatly performed. For the record, I'd say that Read or Die is the most underrated anime of 2001. I've shown it to all my friends and they have been impressed as well.

If you love anime, or used to love it, or have never even seen it before (and can use your imagine some), there's plenty of colorful entertainment to be had in Read or Die. 10/10

I am constantly impressed with the level of animation that is coming from overseas. I think it is because they are going places that our native animators are afraid to go. We still see cartoons for children, where overseas they see it as a form of entertainment for both adults and children. Why can't they see that it is a form of cinema that will and can take us to places that live-action never will, and give us characters that no actor could ever conjure up? Who knows? I hope that one day we get there, but until then I can sit on my comfy couch and watch amazing cinema like that of Read or Die.

To begin, this was a fantastic story. I loved the literary references throughout the course of the film. I loved that there was so much to see or do in the story that you never really knew where it was going to go next. This was a very unpredictable story that left so much up to the imagination. It was futuristic, yet somewhat present day. There was a feeling that you were seeing on old novel opened for the first time and remastered for today's generation. It was breathtaking, uncontrollably mesmerizing, and spellbinding to say the least. I mentioned before about the imagination that this film held, well let me say that it flowed like water from this Read or Die. It is hard to explain, but if you watch so much live-action cinema, it is hard to comprehend, but there was more alive in this film than I have seen in any of Spielberg's epics. Keep in mind that I am also relatively new to the Anime genre, and probably am missing some of the better stuff, but for a newbie like myself, Read or Die was perfection in its purest form.

In live-action films I always mention the characters, and am normally nervous to mention them in animation (because it is actors voicing not really acting), but I need to applaud the animators in this film. The way that the characters in this film carried themselves, to their facial expressions, to the intensity that they brought to the screen is equal to that of most live-actors out there. There was enough back-story and future story for these characters that you knew them, you honestly knew them as if they were real. This was a character-based film. While some may argue with me on that topic, it was about friendship, love, and a desire to read and be successful. These are not emotions that you feel or see with just simple drawings. The animators went above and beyond their call of duty with this film, and it was demonstrated through cunning visionary and smart characters.

With a gripping story that took us all over the world (showed the vast horror that could be found, instead of just making it centralized) and characters that literally jumped out of the screen with heart-pounding animation and style, there is only one more thing to say about this film. The action. Growing up in a post-Matrix style film world, it is getting harder and harder to see fight sequences choreographed without the use that made The Matrix so popular. I continually see more and more films ripping off the "bullet-time" effect and making their money back on just that one effect alone. While I do realize that this was … yet again … a cartoon, the action in it seemed more real than in most action films. Sly and AH-NOLD have nothing on "The Paper" as she uses brains and strength to outwit her opponents. This continued to keep my attention throughout the entire film and nearly pushed me to watch it again. I know there was something that I probably missed the first time because my jaw was stapled to the floor. The action sequences were, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Like a ballet gone wrong, this film stepped into the screen with simplicity, violence, and this subtle delicacy that is unmatched in American cinema today.

Overall, this was an impressive film for me. I loved everything about it from the beginning to the end. Again, perhaps it has something to do with my amateurish nature around Anime (which is going to change soon), but this is one of the best that I have seen. It left me satisfied, yet with this strong desire to watch again and again. Not many films do that to me, so it was great to see something as powerful as this pull me into the Anime world. I cannot wait for my next adventure! Grade: ***** out of *****

Yomiko Readman will "just die" if she doesn't finish reading her book, but wacky super-villains are trying to steal it from her and use it's secrets to destroy all human life on earth. A situation scary enough to make the President of the US wet his pants. Left on her own Yomiko would happily spend the rest of her life and all of her money buying books to read. Unfortunately for her now she has to become Agent Paper, a super powered secret agent working for the British Library. Step aside James Bond, now Agent Paper (with the ability to make common paper do anything, and I mean ANYTHING) along with Miss Deep (with the ability to move deep through solid objects) and weapons expert Drake (who is having a bad day) are needed to save the world. If you set aside some miner plot flaws you may find this campy spy spoof a hilarious guilty pleasure like me. I love the kick ass music, action, humor, as well as what evolves into a deeply moving relationship between Yomiko and Nancy.

Like many of the best anime, Read or Dies plot looks absolutely ridiculous on papers. Superpowered librarians and resurrected minor historical figures fight ridiculous, lightning-paced battles for a lost Beethoven score of, at least initially, uncertain significance. The premise, and many of the superpowers hurled around with vicious abandon, are absolutely absurd, yet the show maintains its own bizarre internal logic which catches you up in the shows world without requiring you to ask too many questions, especially if watched in one sitting. Indeed, the show never tries to explain any of its more bizarre elements, and a good thing as well. Something like ROD could easily get bogged down in technobabble fan-service, but instead it rips along at a great pace. Whilst not a classic by any means, ROD is a great bit of fun, with colourful, eccentric characters, top-notch animation and good, crisp modern anime artwork thankfully free of blatant CGI abuse. When did anime ever have to make sense anyway?