Talk:Read or Die

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Anime and manga, which aims to improve and expand anime and manga related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article or visit the project page.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale.

Contents

[edit] Clarity/Separations Needed

This article mashes together information from the novels, manga, and OAV series--all of which aren't necessarily in canon with each other (the way the manga ends, it cannot be in the same canon as the anime). Although some truths may be carried between them, a clearer line needs to be drawn. For example, the character section on Nancy mentions that "Joker met her in China" but I'm not sure if that's true for the OAV (when Wendy goes over Nancy's credentials with Joker, she doesn't mention her having been hired in China, etc.).

I think it's okay to keep the info on the novels, manga, and OAVs all in this one article is fine, but the article needs to be organized much better. For example, have a section on the novels, with a brief summary and mention which characters appear; then follow it with a section on the manga; then on the OAV.

I'd volunteer but I know next to nothing about the novels, and someone familiar with all three perhaps ought to take the first crack.

DeathQuaker 17:47, 28 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Toto Books

> book at a secret, by-invitation-only bookstore, the book is stol

btw. the bookstore does really exist. (but i do not know, if there is realy a secret floor under it, i think >10kg of books where just not enough to get an invitation ;) Elvis 09:18, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Stephen?

What about this Stephen guy who helped design Otto Lilienthal's hangglider? Is he that technician/engineer guy working for the I-Jin? Is he that unnamed guy who said, "You'll never sink my ship with your toy rockets!" Is he one of the I-Jin? If so, then why is he not listed among them?

There was a man named Stephen Wilcox who invented the water-tube boiler, a device for sending water through externally heated tubes. Using combustible gases, the steam was stored above the main engine in a "drum". This design revolutionized steam technology because it allowed large boiler to gain much greater pressure. It was patented in 1867, by him and George Herman Babcock.

[edit] Supposed character 'Mata Hari' is a *mistake*!

> Mata Hari: The famous spy, Mata Hari is Ikkyuu's lover. She is

This 'character' listed in the article is a misunderstanding! In the 3rd epsiode (after Yomiko is captured by the I-jin, in the I-jin headquarters) there is a bit of dialog referring to "Mata Hari". However, the I-jin leader is merely making a somewhat joking and indirect remark, commenting that this lover of his is in fact a spy who (like Mata Hari) has been working in 'deep cover'. ;-)

I suppose if no one else will correct the article, I probably should (in my copious spare time, when I get around to it). But I thought I should explain first, so someone won't just think I'm arbitrarily vandalizing their text.

I seem to recall that in the OVA, Mata Hari is listed as one of the I-jin samples stolen. Therefore this identification makes a lot more sense. --81.174.244.104 23:13, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

This is interesting.... In indonesian language, Mata Hari (Matahari, actually) means 'the sun'! 202.73.122.227 19:17, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

  • Yeah, I'd say whoever posted this "mistake" is incorrect, and I'm glad to see the article was not corrected. I just watched the OAVs again, and they make it pretty clear that just as the other I-Jin are clones of famous historical figures, Nancy is a clone of Mata Hari. DeathQuaker 17:47, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
    • DeathQuaker, when you "just watched the OVAs again," did you watch them in Japanese, subtitled English, or dubbed English? I wonder if differences between the three versions might help account for the differences of opinion regarding this? I wouldn't mind seeing brief quotes [brief enough to be legal as "fair use".]
      • In the Japanese dialogue, you explicitly hear Ikkyuu call Nancy, "Mata Hari." And as for which translation I watched, I checked both dub and sub. DeathQuaker 14:19, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rewrite

I've overhauled the article, bringing in a lot of material from the novels and removing the "plot summary" section, which seemed superfluous (it only summarised the OVA, and to summarise everything would take far too long). I've reluctantly left the I-jin section of the characters intact, although it goes into too much detail IMO and rather unbalances the page - many of the I-jin are minor characters, and the whole I-jin plot is a very small part of the series. Adding some of the major villains from the novels (Marihara, John Smith, Busujima, etc.) would help balance things.

I've also corrected a lot of the terminology; my versions may differ from those used in various official and unofficial translations, but they reflect Kurata's original terminology as well as I could. (For example, the translation of 紙使い as "paper master" is based on the furigana given to the word on its first appearance, p.35 of the first novel. It appears, from their numerous errors, that the translators for the US anime releases were unfamiliar with the ROD world and did not refer to the novels at all, so I'm not sure their work should be considered canonical here).

Further work is needed to bring this up to scratch. A plot summary of some sort would be desirable, though it would have to cover more than just the OVA. Alternatively, a separate page could be created for the OVA, and the old plot summary and OVA-specific characters moved to it: that would enable a detailed treatment of those without swamping the general topic.

Haeleth 17:17, July 12, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bibliomania

Is she officialy deemed a bibliomaniac? If not then the term bibliophile would be much more appropeate since she doesnt collect books for the sake of having books but to read them (if she is then I feel that should be mentioned then) Johhny-turbo 04:27, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, she is officially deemed a bibilomania. In the official website and the novel both says Bibliomania (in katakana on top of the words 愛書狂), and she does collect books for the sake of having books. She got 2 copies of most of her books. In the novel, one chapter stated that when she buy new released books(instead of buying second handed ones like in the OVA), she buys the first 2 in the pile because she feels sorry for the first book due to other people always use it as a reference only and after reading it a bit, will pick up the second or third, which is less worn out. (due to every one doing the same thing, the first book can hardly be sold.) Also, she sometimes buy another extra copy to fill Donny Nakajima's bookshelf, too, if the book is in the list of books he wanted to find before his death. I cannot think of a good way to write this in better English and add into the article, maybe you can do it. MythSearcher 06:03, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Error about Dollar Bills

I saw in Yomiko's decription that the paper in American dollar bills are techincally cloth, not paper. In fact, the paper used in dollar bills is called "rag paper"... which is the oldest form of paper there is.

There is some truth to the description: sixty percent of dollar bill paper is made of cotton, the rest is linen, which lends to the particular texture of American dollar bills. BiggKwell 03:53, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

This is true. I've thought of making a suit out of twenties...

[edit] a confused reader

I'm sry to say this'll probabaly contribute nothing to the wiki, but i have questions so somebody plz answer them. i just started reading R.O.D. the manga and i was trying to find out more on the anime. anyways all this web surfing hs simply lead me to severe confusion.

1.Did Read or Die start off as a novel(s) or manga b/c the book says the manga was origianlly publ.ished in 2000 which is when the "novels" supposedly were published ? 2.Is there an anime soley modeled after the manga b/c the back of v.3 of the manga has the author talking about watching the dubbing of the anime for "volume three (the manga)? 3.Whats the story behind the "spin-off" manga and whats it called? 4. And finally if you know the answers to my previous Qs how many volumes of Read or die manga are there?


THANX In advance --68.81.88.109 06:37, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

  1. novel. The first manga based off of the first novel and then each went their own way.
  2. No, none of the anime series were modeled after the manga.
  3. Read or Dream. Which is the name of the TV series.
  4. 4. novels 11 and 12 is said to be the end of the series.
MythSearcher 09:30, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dokusensha

Is Dokusensha not a word-pun on Kodansha? Someone japanese-reading is requied to verify this. --88.68.38.55 14:20, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

No, the only similarity is the word sha(社) in the end, and that is just simply a word meaning an organization. MythSearcher 16:11, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Characters

Hi all, I'm just going to start a list page of characters from all R.O.D manga an anime and may link off articles like this to it. I think this would be a good idea but if you have thoughts please contact. ætərnal ðrAعon → 09:57, 3 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Supernatural

I think that R.O.D. is Supernatural not science fiction, they are normal people with special, supernatural skills, didnt see anything in manga, anime or OVA that makes it a science fiction.

Halmstad 14:33, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, it got steam engines gliders and strange mechanics for starters. I'd say it is soft sci-fi (as opposed to hard sci-fi) and supernatural., the correct terminology is Science fantasy MythSearchertalk 13:41, 2 June 2008 (UTC)