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DVD Description
A sinister plot is afoot and only one schoolteacher, a special agent with an affinity for literature, can stop it. She is Ms. Yomiko Readman - better known to her colleagues in Section A of Library Special Operations as "Agent Paper". Someone is bent upon procuring several rare lost Beethoven manuscripts and has somehow enlisted a few of history's most extraordinary personalities, through stolen DNA, to aid in the endeavour. Readman and her fellow super-powered operatives must tangle with the likes of Tokugawa-era scientist Gennai Hiraga, aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal and 19th century entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre in a desperate race to find the books and save the World! Action and adventure abound in this thrilling anime series created by top-rate animation director Kouji Masunari. Contains the complete R.O.D series - three stunning 30-minute episodes!
Special Features
- Original trailer
- Historical biographies
- Photo gallery
- Director and crew interviews
- Manga previews
- Web links
DVD Technical Information:
- 5.1 Dolby Digital English and Japanese audio
- 2.0 Dolby Digital English and Japanese audio
- Subtitles: English
- Running time: 90 mins approx.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
an anime take on the stereotypical spy movie!,
By
This review is from: Read Or Die [2001] [DVD] (DVD)
Read Or Die is an interesting mix of traditional anime and typical espionage movies.The film includes animated heroines with large bouncy breasts in a dirty pair esque anime stlye; and elaborate superpowers including a book obsessed girl with the power to wield paper into among many things a deadly weapon and a large paper dart big enough to carry two female agents, and a woman who can pass through solid objects at will. It also includes such classic James Bondish moments as the easily escapable death trap without a guard to watch the spy die, and the infiltration of an enemy base with seemingly no hope of success. The story itself is actually alot better than typical james bond films or the undeniably dire similar espionage films that have come out of late. the film tells of a terrorists diabolical scheme to cleanse the earth of humans by ressurescting actual figures from history to aid them; this may seem very far fetched but anime movies have a strange way of making the viewer accept pretty much any strange events that they throw at you, although it definetely is not for people who arent open-minded. The dvd itself doesnt really have any admirable additons but you can choose between the dubbed and subtitled versions and a charcter profile for when you innevitably get confused by the enemies plot, it also contains an interview with the creators which is conducted with a translator and is not at all a valid addition to the packae as it is virtually inaudible. All in all i would only reccomend this to big anime fans as the animation is good and characters are quite interesting, i wouldnt reccomend it to anyone who has never watched an anime movie before because it would probably leave you completely and utterley bewildered.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of fun, even if a little confusing.,
By
This review is from: Read Or Die [2001] [DVD] (DVD)
I got this on a whim, having seen the listing on the new releases screen at Amazon. I mean, with a title like Read Or Die you have to take a look. This anime is not a bad investment, either.The story revolves around The Paper - A young, bookish female librarian-agent working for a secret organisation housed under the British Museum (or British Library, possibly. The building looks more like the museum). A group of dastardly super-villains have nicked off with a copy of Beethoven's Immortal Beloved book and intend to use it for no good. The Paper must use all her skills and inginuity to defeat these cloned and resurected characters from history and literature. You see, The Paper is not named in such a strange way for no reason. She has the ability to get paper to do anything she wants, and over the course of the three episodes on the DVD (The complete series) she utilises it as deadly darts, ropes and a gigantic plane among other things. She teams up with a couple of other folks - A guy who acts a bit like Solid Snake and a lass by the name of Miss Deep who will most likely suffer from lower back trouble later in life due to her tight corset and astonishing dumplings. Miss Deep has quite a cool skill in that she can "phase" her body and move through objects. The villains are also cool - These range from a character based on "Monkey", a guy riding a giant grasshopper, a steam-driven jet pilot and a guy who controls electricity. The technology is nicely steam-punk throughout, and builds up through a series of encounters to quite a nice ending. The animation is excellent - There are plenty of nice little touches, as you'd expect from the director of Blood, even if there is a little too much emphasis on Miss Deep's boobs' jiggling about a la Dead Or Alive. Occasionaly the characters move a little strangely against the background, but it doesn't distract from the action. The DVD is nice too. Presenting the three episodes in 4:3 format (which I guess is the original) with english and Japanese 2:0 and 5:1 sound, plus subtitles if you need them. Oh, a word about the subs. These are yellow with a slight black border around them - On my player from time to time they blended into the background a little too much and were hard to read. No matter, though, as the story moves so fast you'll pick it up. The Japanese language track is superb, and the English track tries hard, but just doesn't quite make it. The disk features a number of extras, such as trailers and interviews, and the menus are done nicely and in keeping with the theme of books..... Overall, go for it - This is a fun, if not overly deep, bit of Anime, and I for one hope they make another in the series!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Love This,
By
This review is from: Read Or Die [2001] [DVD] (DVD)
This exemplifies many of the qualities that good anime should possess. It is just so hard to imagine something like this being produced by any Western studio. Although fundamentally dissimilar, it shares that idiosyncratic approach to characterization, storyline and attention to detail shared by the best anime, such as most of the Ghibli productions, or Cowboy Bebop for example. The artwork and animation is excellent, and in fact all the fundamentals are of high quality. The bizarre storyline gives it much opportunity for humour, which is subtly exploited, and the characters are unusual but believable, even when they are unrealistic. In fact, even the minor characters have personalities, aided once again by superb attention to detail. Sadly, as far as I am concerned, it appears that the series did not last long, possibly because its good qualities were not appreciated by mainstream anime audiences. Perhaps in Japan it enjoyed greater longevity. Certainly most of it is a long way from the derivative blood and horror formulae which characterize much of the anime which is most successful in the West - although I am not implying that all such anime is bad, by any means. This short series does have plenty of action, but it revolves around such unusual situations, often featuring strangely archaic yet arcane technology reminiscent of Steamboy, that it does not give one the same impression as more common approaches, and is thus, perhaps, more easily overlooked. The very fact that the main character has a `super-hero' style power which involves the manipulation of paper, speaks volumes about the attitude which pervades this series. I wish there were more like it. Long live the British Library Special Engineer Force.
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