Read or Die

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Read or Die
リード・オア・ダイ (R.O.D)
Genre	Adventure, Comedy, Mystery, Shōnen
Light novel
Authored by	Hideyuki Kurata
Publisher	Shueisha
Publish date	2000
No. of volumes	11
Manga
Authored by	Hideyuki Kurata
Publisher	Shueisha Viz Media Daiwon CI
Serialized in
Original run	18 July 2003 – 19 August 2005
No. of volumes	4
OVA
Directed by	Koji Masunari
Studio	Studio DEEN
No. of episodes	3
Released	23 May 2001
Runtime

R.O.D (also known by the expanded name Read or Die) refers to a fictional series created by the Japanese author Hideyuki Kurata, which first began as a series of light novels published under Shueisha's Super Dash imprint (the first volume appeared in 2000, and volume 9 in 2004); spinoffs include a four-volume manga series, a three-episode OVA, the related manga series Read or Dream, and associated anime series R.O.D the TV. The manga series was licensed for North American distribution by Viz Communications, with the first volume having been released in March of 2006; the second volume in early April, volume three on 9 June, and Volume four on 1 September.

The 3-episode OVA series was produced by Studio Deen and first released in 23 May 2001. It was later aired across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax. It was also later licensed for North American distribution by Manga Entertainment and first aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on Saturday, 23 October 2004. The version aired combined all three episodes of the OVA into a single movie-length TV feature, leaving out only the repeat of the opening and closing sequences between episodes. [1]

Contents 1 Story 2 Characters and institutions 2.1 Organizations 2.2 British Library Staff 2.3 Yomiko's associates 2.4 OVA characters: the I-Jin 3 External links

[edit] Story

The premise is that the British Empire (supported by the British Library and the superpower-endowed agents of its "Special Operations Division") has remained the major world power through the 20th century and into the 21st century. The novels chart the career of agent Yomiko Readman as she fights various book-related criminal organizations; the OVA tells the story of a major incident in which clones of major historical figures threaten to wipe out civilization, the British Library being central to both the creation and the resolution of the crisis; R.O.D the TV continues the story five years later, after Britain's fall from power.

[edit] Characters and institutions

[edit] Organizations

British Library (大英図書館, daiei-toshokan)

An institution devoted to the promotion of literacy and the greater glory of the British Empire. More than a mere library, the British Library is a powerful political organization with branches all over the world. In the earlier story of the novel, it is in the old building within/next to the British Museum. Later, due to the fact that the timeline in the story met up with the real life moving of the British Library to the current site, the library in the story followed the move.

British Library Special Operations Division (大英図書館特殊工作部, daiei-toshokan tokushu-kousakubu)

The secret enforcement branch of the British Library. Based in a giant underground complex concealed beneath the Great Court at the British Museum, the Special Operations Division employs a number of agents with special powers and runs operations all over the world to fight book-related crime and terrorism, and to acquire rare works for the Library. Slogan: "Peace to the books of the world, an iron hammer to those who would abuse them, and glory and wisdom to the British Empire!" The base was planned to move as the British Library is going to move to the new site, too. But the workers liked the old site better, therefore the move was delayed several times and finally cancelled. However, due to the need of the management of books, the Special Operations Division base built underground tunnels for the travelling and transfer of books from the new base built below the public library and the current base. The site was said to have been destroyed in R.O.D TV by Yomiko Readman before the story began and finally moved to the new site.

Dokusensha (読仙社)

A secret organization based in China, devoted to Chinese supremacy. In the novel, Dokusensha is lead by China, who is also called Granny/Grandma, the ex-wife of Gentlemen and is the head of both Dokusensha and China. Dokusensha have numerous bases spread out in China and the main base is in Sichuan (四川), China. The base was invaded by the young form of Gentlemen (Called Young man for a short while) and after the genocide done by Gentlemen, he ordered (and Joker with the hope of being able to kill him as well followed) to shoot the place with the Satellite Laser owned by British and the base destroyed.

[edit] British Library Staff

Yomiko Readman (読子・リードマン), codename The Paper 

The heroine of the series. A half-Japanese, half-English woman in her mid-20s. An extreme bibliomaniac and "paper master" (紙使い, kamitsukai), employed by the British Library Special Operations Division as an agent, being the 19th of the codename The Paper; her cover identity is a substitute teacher. Her power as a paper master enables her to control any paper she can touch, giving it almost unlimited strength, arbitrary sharpness, any form she can imagine, along with a speculated ability to manipulate its adhesiveness; in extreme circumstances she also falls back on special "battle paper" (戦闘用紙, sentou-you gami) prepared by Jiggy. It is, however, briefly seen that while fighting an I-jin, she is able to control American dollar bills (which is technically cloth, not paper) that had briefly been used to form a blade. After it was forced to revert back to normal money, Yomiko is seen manipulating the dollar bills in mid-air, with no physical contact to most of the dollar bills. In the manga, she can delay the transformation of the paper, leaving them inside a book and when someone finishes reading it, the pieces of paper will pop up as animated objects.

Joker

Yomiko's boss, the acting head of the Special Operations Division. Joker is a stereotypical Englishman (Kurata describes him as "someone whose photo you would expect to see in the entry for 'Englishman' in the Encyclopedia Britannica"); his cool head and skill with words are his primary weapons. He is extremely cool and clever in the novel most of the time because of his ambition to become the actual head of the Division and gaining control of the whole country only under the command of Gentleman. Later in the novel, Joker's main thought is to destroy Gentlemen after he gained full control of the British Empire including all military, police, military intelligence and such which Gentleman appointed him for 9 days.

Gentleman

The head of the British Library, and, behind the scenes, the ruler of the British Empire. An ancient man with a cybernetic eye and apparently boundless knowledge and wisdom. Although most people think of him as immortal, he knows he is not and constantly finding ways to make himself one by all means. He estimated himself to have about 100 years to live if he stayed in the helpless old man form or about 9 days in his young and best physical condition form. He is able to change by his own will and also able to give life energy to animals and transform them into powerful monsters. The same technique would kill a human instead because humans are physically very weak. Gentleman is also the father of all humanity with China as his wife 500000 years ago.

Jiggy Stardust

The Special Operations Division's resident scientist, an aging man whose knowledge of paper is unrivalled. His role is similar to that of Q in the James Bond series. The name derives from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character.

Wendy Earhart

A half-Indian, half-English girl. She joins the Special Operations Division young (aged 19), and soon becomes Joker's personal secretary. She still has the subfix in training after her work title. She is earnest, devoted, and hopelessly clumsy. In the OVA, she is found to be more of a misplaced school-girl than an actual employee under the British Library; yet, in the Anime series, she is found to be more emotionally stable and serious about her work. At one point, she has Yomiko and the Paper Sisters at gun point; an action she is subliminally found to be incapable of performing in the OVA. What adds to this dramatic change is that she is also placed as head of a tactical squad at the same time in the gun-point incident, which suggests that she has also become more understanding of her own capabilities. In the novel, she was even once tricked by Joker to wear a French maid outfit to send message of Joker to Yomiko.

Nancy Makuhari (ナンシー・幕張), codename Miss Deep

An agent recruited by Joker in China. Her special power is the ability to become intangible and pass through solid objects; an ability known in the series and OVA as "Diving" She later remarks when meeting Yomiko that she has a distaste for her codename, claiming it makes her sound "like a porn star". In the DVD version of R.O.D, she is revealed to be a clone of Mata Hari, a spy during World War I. She herself stated her ability has one weakness, is that she cannot breathe when the ability is activated because air will also pass through her lungs. She thought she could escape from any situation with her abilities but was proven wrong by Dokusensha's trapping her in a military submarine making impossible her escape with no air within a few hundred metres outside (and she would probably freeze to death even if she did swim to the surface). Her ability can also be suppressed by the use of Ofuda (making her phasing speed slow down, not blocking her).

Drake Anderson

A veteran of American special forces, currently employed by the Special Operations Division as a field support operative mercenary for their agents. Drake is a hardened, no-nonsense soldier. Though he has no super-powers, he is incredibly strong, and a highly-skilled soldier with considerable combat experience. Anderson has a young daughter named Maggie, whom he cares for deeply. He is also kind hearted and will not harm children even if it goes against the mission.

Faust

A mysterious character imprisoned in the British Library. Though he appears young, he has in fact lived for hundreds of years. He is the one with the closest resemblance to Gentleman and China and shares their very slow growing speed. And because of that, Gentlemen trapped Faust just to hide his own secret. Faust is a knowledgable scholar with great skills in decrypting scripts. His name is referenced (stated in the novel) of Faust, summoner of the devil Mephistopheles, in the novel Faust.

China

The head of Dokusensha in the novel. She is also called granny/grandma (Obasan) by higher ranked agents of Dokusensha. She called herself China when introducing herself to Yomiko. She is Gentleman's ex-wife and knows the true history of humans hidden by Gentleman. She appears as a little girl with superb kung fu skills. Since her energy consumption in the child form is too great, she needs to go into deep sleep to recoup her energy and thus falls into an almost unbreakable sleep an entire day of each week.

[edit] Yomiko's associates

Nenene Sumiregawa (菫川ねねね Sumiregawa Nenene)

A Japanese schoolgirl and world-famous author. Her debut novel "Kimi ga boku wo shitteru" (君が僕を知ってる) was written when she was just 13. The two become acquainted when Yomiko works briefly as a substitute teacher at Nenene's school; after Nenene is abducted by a crazy fan and subsequently rescued by Yomiko, the two become firm friends.

Donnie Nakajima

Yomiko's deceased mentor and, in life, lover; he was a fellow paper master, and her predecessor in the post of "The Paper". It is widely known that his death took place at her hands in mysterious circumstances. She now wears his glasses in his memory, and believes that reading through them enables him to continue reading as well. However Joker reveals to her in the anime series that he is in fact still alive, it is this action that causes her to destroy the British Special Forces base.

[edit] OVA characters: the I-Jin

Gennai Hiraga

The inventor of the Electrolator box, Gen-nai uses his invention to control electricity. This gives him the ability to create devastating lightning strikes, electrocute his enemies with lightning bolts, and, when push comes to shove, fight with a lightsaber-like blade made of pure electricity. His manipulation of electricity also allows him to stop bullets in mid-air. On top of all that, he's very athletic, and claims to live by the code of the samurai. Personality-wise, Gen-nai's very gruff and no-nonsense, and probably says the least out of all the I-Jin.

Jean Henri Fabre

The father of modern entomology, Jean Henri Fabre has the power to control insects. He always carries around a swarm of wasps in a jar around his neck, and he can command them to carry out his wishes, such as attacking enemies, retrieving objects, or carrying him through the air. He's also usually seen riding around on giant mechanical insects, such as the giant grasshopper he fights Yomiko on at the beginning of the series. Additionally, Fabre appears to be part insect himself, and every time he is "killed" he simply molts his old skin and emerges in a new, more developed form (for example, in his first appearance, he resembles an old man- when he is smeared against a wall by Yomiko he sheds his skin and emerges as a child. Later, when shot, he sheds his child form and transforms into an adult). Because he spends most of the series in the form of a child, Fabre's personality is very chipper and cheerful.

Otto Lilienthal

A pioneer in the field of aerodynamics who spent a majority of his life experimenting (and flying) with various glider designs. It is thanks to him that airfoil design is as advanced today as it is. The German "Glider King", Otto flies around in a steam powered glider-suit of his own design, which is somehow able to out-dogfight and out-maneuver modern aircraft. Unlike the other I-Jin, he has no apparent super-powers, but when push comes to shove he packs an old German Luger and potato-masher grenades. Otto speaks with a heavy German accent, and seems to easily get frustrated and high-strung when attacked.

Genjo Sanzo

The main character of the popular Chinese story Journey to the West, which is based on a real journey taken by a 1st century Chinese monk to India. Sanzo dresses like how he is most often depicted, and fights with powers similar to that of his Monkey King character, Sun Wukong. He glides through the air on a small cloud, and fights with a metal staff that can expand in length almost indefinitely; the staff can also create flame from its tips. When his robes are torn off, it is revealed than Sanzo is powered by a heart-like steam mechanism that has replaced his heart and part of his chest. Oddly, he also displays the ability to part and hold back the waters of a large bay (perhaps a reference to the Monkey King's legendary dislike of water). Sanzo's personality is that of a relentless and serious fighter, in an interesting contrast to the original personality of Sanzo character.

Ludwig van Beethoven

The famous classical musician. Beethoven's body is hooked up to a massive pipe organ at the center of the I-Jin fortress, from where he will play his "Death Symphony" to a captive global audience. Beethoven has the least screen-time out of all the I-Jin, and has no speaking lines. He appears to enjoy playing his music, however.

Stephen Wilcox

Somewhat famous inventor and machinist of 1880s America. Wilcox, along with his lifelong friend and business partner George Babcock, designed, patented and marketed the "Water Tube Steam" boiler, an improvement over previous steam engines that offered more power and was considerably safer. Wilcox makes a minor appearance as the builder of many of the I-Jin machinery, including Otto Lilienthal's Glider and the I-Jin Fortress itself, which appears to be steam powered instead of nuclear powered as Joker implies. He is portrayed as being built into the Fortress and visibly insane.

Ikkyuu Soujun

The mysterious I-Jin leader. Once a poet of love, Ikkyuu now believes the world is over-populated by ignorant, common humans. He sees the Death Symphony as the first weapon capable of cleansing the world of those humans unfit to live, while sparing nature and "enlightened humans" (presumably, clones of great men and women like himself who can be brought into being after everyone else is dead). Ikkyuu always talks in a calm, almost Zen manner, whether discussing poetry or the extermination of humanity. In spite of his fancy speeches and supposedly lofty goals, in the end Ikkyuu comes across as a petty and cruel man- he kills his own minions after they have served their purpose, and replaces his lover when she no longer pleases him, all with a calm and carefree heartlessness. It is unclear exactly what his powers are, although he is able to create life-like illusions out of artwork, and fire green flames from his skull-like staff that cause anything they touch to decay.

Mata Hari

A famous courtesan and alleged spy from World War I, Mata Hari was executed by firing squad in 1917. Seen on the list of stolen DNA, and later revealed to be Nancy, who was working as a spy for the I-Jin. There are actually two clones of Mata Hari, Miss Deep and another unnamed woman who impersonates Miss Deep at the behest of Soujun. After the final battle defeating her clone sister, she remains in a rocket headed for space alongside the body of her lover, Soujun, rather than escaping with Yomiko. Her clone sister suffers brain damage and acute amnesia from oxygen deprivation and is seen at a care facility at the end of the OVA. The sister recovers from her injuries, and struggles with her lost memories in the TV series.

[edit] External links

• Animax's official website (Japanese)