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R.O.D. Read or Die #1
R.O.D. Read or Die 1
Two cool librarians have superpowers, including the power to control paper. Rated for young adults.
215 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
June 15, 2010
As a preface : I have never rated a manga so low.
Silly (and not in that cute way), horrible translations - or bad writing, not sure which, and a homo eroticism that could've been good had the writing not gotten in the way.
Less about awesome Paper skills and more about silly fan girl's performing weird fan-boy services.
Silly (and not in that cute way), horrible translations - or bad writing, not sure which, and a homo eroticism that could've been good had the writing not gotten in the way.
Less about awesome Paper skills and more about silly fan girl's performing weird fan-boy services.
August 20, 2019
Great premise ruined by too much fanservicey bits. Sigh. Yomiko’s paper-controlling powers and the whole saving books premise were great. I did not need all of the not-subtle-at-all fanservice. Also, like...if you have a really creepy perv villain dude, portray him as such??? It was too much like he was included for someone to, ah, enjoy reading about rather than Oh gosh this guy is disgusting let’s defeat him! The latter is fine, the former NO.
Also just...make the two girl MCs like each other and be cute, stop queer-baiting and using the idea for fanservice. They don’t, you know, do anything on page but it is super obvious they’re meant to be liking each other, and instead of being cute and innocent it is cringy and just ‘off’ to me. Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are cute. Madoka and Homura are cute. THIS WAS NOT CUTE harrumph
Maybe later volumes aren’t so much like this because the initial premise really was good. As is I’ll give 2 stars and that is for the premise only. I do not like the execution one bit.
Also just...make the two girl MCs like each other and be cute, stop queer-baiting and using the idea for fanservice. They don’t, you know, do anything on page but it is super obvious they’re meant to be liking each other, and instead of being cute and innocent it is cringy and just ‘off’ to me. Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are cute. Madoka and Homura are cute. THIS WAS NOT CUTE harrumph
Maybe later volumes aren’t so much like this because the initial premise really was good. As is I’ll give 2 stars and that is for the premise only. I do not like the execution one bit.
Did Not Finish
February 20, 2019Too weird and quirky for me to take seriously while also not being funny enough to make me laugh.
December 5, 2024
10/10 would inhale book during politically and socially unstable times again
May 24, 2008
"many people love books but few are loved by books"
I normally don't do manga (except back when i was typing/word processing~or whatever the hell you call it~up our teen book reviews a few years back and i had to leaf few a couple of them to try and figure out what a couple of the kids were trying to say but that is an entirely other subject...), but i heard about this series and thought i would give it a shot.
Apparently the R.O.D. (Read or Die~now there's the ultimate ultimatum for you) started out as a nine volume series of "light novels" (which, i guess is the Japanese version of the young adult novel) by Hideyuki Kurata; which then spun off into the four volume manga series that i read (and a related manga series Read or Dream); three direct-to-video anime; and then a anime T.V. series. I think i saw it mentioned on one of my list-serves and it seemed somewhat appealing.
Yomiko Readman is a bibliophile ("a bibliophile is an alchemist of the soul"~or so says Yomiko) and oh, so much more. She is a "paper master" or The Paper (someone who is able to change paper into any type of weapon {or escape device~a sort of biblioMacGiver} she happens to need for whatever occasion she finds herself in~"paper would do anything for her") and a special agent for the British Library (or, actually, The Last Literatured Line of the UK). I found the plot a little hard to follow (and yes, i do know about the whole back to front, right to left thing, thank you very much), or maybe Kurata didn't lay it out clearly enough for me, or maybe i'm expecting more story than i should, or maybe i'm just stupid... whatever.
Anyway, Volume 1, introduces Yomiko, her boss "Joker", and some mysterious higher-up known as "The Gentleman". We also have the requisite number of interesting villains; little-girl-manga-style women in various costumes and stages of undress, as well as intimations of girl-on-girl action. There is also some back-story given for Yomiko's apprenticeship. I found Kurata to be quite witty, and there were some wonderful literary jokes thrown into the mix.
I normally don't do manga (except back when i was typing/word processing~or whatever the hell you call it~up our teen book reviews a few years back and i had to leaf few a couple of them to try and figure out what a couple of the kids were trying to say but that is an entirely other subject...), but i heard about this series and thought i would give it a shot.
Apparently the R.O.D. (Read or Die~now there's the ultimate ultimatum for you) started out as a nine volume series of "light novels" (which, i guess is the Japanese version of the young adult novel) by Hideyuki Kurata; which then spun off into the four volume manga series that i read (and a related manga series Read or Dream); three direct-to-video anime; and then a anime T.V. series. I think i saw it mentioned on one of my list-serves and it seemed somewhat appealing.
Yomiko Readman is a bibliophile ("a bibliophile is an alchemist of the soul"~or so says Yomiko) and oh, so much more. She is a "paper master" or The Paper (someone who is able to change paper into any type of weapon {or escape device~a sort of biblioMacGiver} she happens to need for whatever occasion she finds herself in~"paper would do anything for her") and a special agent for the British Library (or, actually, The Last Literatured Line of the UK). I found the plot a little hard to follow (and yes, i do know about the whole back to front, right to left thing, thank you very much), or maybe Kurata didn't lay it out clearly enough for me, or maybe i'm expecting more story than i should, or maybe i'm just stupid... whatever.
Anyway, Volume 1, introduces Yomiko, her boss "Joker", and some mysterious higher-up known as "The Gentleman". We also have the requisite number of interesting villains; little-girl-manga-style women in various costumes and stages of undress, as well as intimations of girl-on-girl action. There is also some back-story given for Yomiko's apprenticeship. I found Kurata to be quite witty, and there were some wonderful literary jokes thrown into the mix.
September 15, 2009
Hideyuki Kurata, Read or Die vol. 1: Mr. Woo's Woes (ViZ, 2000)
It's a no-brainer that a manga series called Read or Die (changed after four volumes to Read or Dream) would catch the eye of a voracious reader like yours truly. It proved to be kind of hard to track down, however, and I've finally gotten my hands on the first volume of the series almost three years after I first heard about it. And honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to say about it. There are so many things about this first volume that I loved, and so many that...well, I didn't love.
Based on an original anime, Read or Die is the story of Yumiko Readman, a papermaster (think of Musica the silverclaimer in Rave Master, but with paper). She mainly works for the Library of England tracking down stolen volumes with a handler known only as Joker, but she does have some autonomy as well. She gets herself hired at a Japanese high school attended one of her favorite authors, sixteen-year-old Nenene Sumiregawa. The two of them do not exactly get off to the greatest of beginnings, but all that changes when the two of them find out that Sumiregawa has a very dangerous stalker. Worse yet, the stalker's sidekick is a master of the only thing potentially deadly to a papermaster...
There is a particular style of manga I've encountered a handful of times that drives me nuts. It attempts a sort of impressionism, giving you about half the information you need to put together a coherent story from the images you've seen. Guys, it's not cool. It's really, really annoying. And the first half of this book is loaded with it. Also, some of Yumiko's mannerisms are liable to get on your nerves almost immediately. (“I'm a big fan!”) On the other hand, the sexual undertones are just plain hot (and really, that's harder to do than it sounds in animation), and once the story actually gets on track, it's pretty darned good. I'm hoping the first half of this volume is an aberration, and it'll pick up in volume 2. ***
It's a no-brainer that a manga series called Read or Die (changed after four volumes to Read or Dream) would catch the eye of a voracious reader like yours truly. It proved to be kind of hard to track down, however, and I've finally gotten my hands on the first volume of the series almost three years after I first heard about it. And honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to say about it. There are so many things about this first volume that I loved, and so many that...well, I didn't love.
Based on an original anime, Read or Die is the story of Yumiko Readman, a papermaster (think of Musica the silverclaimer in Rave Master, but with paper). She mainly works for the Library of England tracking down stolen volumes with a handler known only as Joker, but she does have some autonomy as well. She gets herself hired at a Japanese high school attended one of her favorite authors, sixteen-year-old Nenene Sumiregawa. The two of them do not exactly get off to the greatest of beginnings, but all that changes when the two of them find out that Sumiregawa has a very dangerous stalker. Worse yet, the stalker's sidekick is a master of the only thing potentially deadly to a papermaster...
There is a particular style of manga I've encountered a handful of times that drives me nuts. It attempts a sort of impressionism, giving you about half the information you need to put together a coherent story from the images you've seen. Guys, it's not cool. It's really, really annoying. And the first half of this book is loaded with it. Also, some of Yumiko's mannerisms are liable to get on your nerves almost immediately. (“I'm a big fan!”) On the other hand, the sexual undertones are just plain hot (and really, that's harder to do than it sounds in animation), and once the story actually gets on track, it's pretty darned good. I'm hoping the first half of this volume is an aberration, and it'll pick up in volume 2. ***
March 4, 2019
I love the title of this series, and I would easily award it 5 stars for the concept. It's not unusual to see manga that use the manga industry itself as part of the plot (Bakuman being one of the more obvious examples), but a series that focuses on books in general is far less common in my experience.
Yomiko Readman is "The Paper," an agent of "The Library of England," and can manipulate paper into pretty much any shape and texture. And naturally, she's obsessed with books. Heck yeah!
So I really want to give this 5 stars . . .
But there's a bit too much fanservice (i.e. panty shots, exaggerated anatomy, sex-related humor, etc.) for my personal taste, and the main villain Yomiko has to fight near the end of this volume is super creepy to the point of being gross. Let's just say he takes the obsessive fan archetype to new depths (though I suspect there are worse out there somewhere in the realms of fiction).
I love the bookishness of this series, and I'm intrigued enough by the world that is built up in the first volume that I'm still planning to finish the other volumes in spite of my reservations about some of the earthier artistic choices.
Recommended to obsessive book lovers who can put up with the occasional 13-year-old-boy humor and a seriously disgusting villain.
Yomiko Readman is "The Paper," an agent of "The Library of England," and can manipulate paper into pretty much any shape and texture. And naturally, she's obsessed with books. Heck yeah!
So I really want to give this 5 stars . . .
But there's a bit too much fanservice (i.e. panty shots, exaggerated anatomy, sex-related humor, etc.) for my personal taste, and the main villain Yomiko has to fight near the end of this volume is super creepy to the point of being gross. Let's just say he takes the obsessive fan archetype to new depths (though I suspect there are worse out there somewhere in the realms of fiction).
I love the bookishness of this series, and I'm intrigued enough by the world that is built up in the first volume that I'm still planning to finish the other volumes in spite of my reservations about some of the earthier artistic choices.
Recommended to obsessive book lovers who can put up with the occasional 13-year-old-boy humor and a seriously disgusting villain.
July 17, 2009
A classmate of mine is writing a paper on libraries and librarians in pop culture. She mentioned this series to me, so I figured I'd check it out. I wasn't terribly impressed with this manga version. The series is extremely action-oriented, and translating action into excessive onomatopoeia just doesn't do it for me. I was actually starting to hate the book when I decided to watch the second anime series based on R.O.D. -- (the TV) -- wow! Totally impressed. So then I watched the original. Also good. So then I decided to give this book another shot. I don't know if it was the new familiarity I had with the characters, but this time around, the book was... not great, but better. I wasn't too crazy about the hyper-sexualization of the main character and her orgasmic love of books. I guess it's part of the manga tradition? Will not read further, but will probably continue watching the anime versions on the internet.
February 12, 2013
11 February 2013
Rating: * * 1/2
I was so excited when I picked this up and read the synopsis. The premise of R.O.D. Read or Die 1 sounds like a match made in heaven for any fellow bibliophile and manga fanatic. Unfortunately, the shallow writing makes this story come off as a bibliomaniac's crazy wet dream instead.
The lead character, Yomiko Readman aka "The Paper," is the saving grace of this volume. Anyone who loves books will be able to relate to her and find her endearing. She absolutely kicked ass with her uniquely fascinating paper superpowers. However, I felt her over-sexualization didn't fit her character and it tainted her innocence.
I am all for hot sexy in manga... if it's appropriate. Having Yomiko's love for books border on eroticism was a tad much. I wish this had been a better introductory volume to the series because it sounds so promising. It was entertaining, but not captivating enough to continue on.
Rating: * * 1/2
I was so excited when I picked this up and read the synopsis. The premise of R.O.D. Read or Die 1 sounds like a match made in heaven for any fellow bibliophile and manga fanatic. Unfortunately, the shallow writing makes this story come off as a bibliomaniac's crazy wet dream instead.
The lead character, Yomiko Readman aka "The Paper," is the saving grace of this volume. Anyone who loves books will be able to relate to her and find her endearing. She absolutely kicked ass with her uniquely fascinating paper superpowers. However, I felt her over-sexualization didn't fit her character and it tainted her innocence.
I am all for hot sexy in manga... if it's appropriate. Having Yomiko's love for books border on eroticism was a tad much. I wish this had been a better introductory volume to the series because it sounds so promising. It was entertaining, but not captivating enough to continue on.
December 31, 2018
Dreadful. First of all, I don't agree with the YA rating. I'd say it's for pervy middle aged men with a taste for underage girls. It's a fun romp until an obsessed fan (an adult man) abducts and attempts to rape a high schooler. The high schooler is an accomplished novelist and he says he will rape her "on a bed of her own books." Then there's the sequence where the heroine tries on several too-small outfits, including a school uniform. There's also queer baiting. And finally, the art is subpar and difficult to interpret at times. I've been told that the second series, Read Or Dream, and the movie, are much better - but I have no intention of spending time to find out. If you like manga for younger people, my recommendation is read literally ANYTHING ELSE by legendary author Rumiko Takahashi, rather than this.
July 18, 2012
Yumiko Readman is "The Paper", a bibliophile who can make paper do anything she likes (she loves it and it loves her). She works for the British Library to retrieve rare books. In the first volume, she also meets one of her favorite novelists, Nanene Sumiregawa, who is endangered by a fan. It is up to Yumiko to protect her.
R.O.D. Read or Die has an interesting concept (people who love something so intensely that they control it), but the story isn't all that interesting. There's a lot of sexual tension and "fan service", but the art style is not unique and the action scenes are too much. I haven't seen the anime, so I cannot compare the two, but I will give the anime a shot in the future. As for the next R.O.D. volume, I'll skip it.
R.O.D. Read or Die has an interesting concept (people who love something so intensely that they control it), but the story isn't all that interesting. There's a lot of sexual tension and "fan service", but the art style is not unique and the action scenes are too much. I haven't seen the anime, so I cannot compare the two, but I will give the anime a shot in the future. As for the next R.O.D. volume, I'll skip it.
August 12, 2012
Volume 1 of the manga by Hieyuki Kurata and Shutaro Yamada takes what was a sweetly insanely heroine in the anime movie and makes her an utter maniac. Everyone is constantly declaiming in just about all-caps.
And there are tons of gratuitious giant breasts and panty shots. This volume even has a character mention Yomiko's large breasts in case you missed 'em. In the movie Miss Deep wore leather dominatrix wear but, weirdly enough, it wasn't really salacious, just strange. Here, the attitude seems to be that you should leer at all the female characters. I am never picking up this manga series again.
And there are tons of gratuitious giant breasts and panty shots. This volume even has a character mention Yomiko's large breasts in case you missed 'em. In the movie Miss Deep wore leather dominatrix wear but, weirdly enough, it wasn't really salacious, just strange. Here, the attitude seems to be that you should leer at all the female characters. I am never picking up this manga series again.
September 1, 2012
I saw the movie years ago and thought the character-premise was fun--a super-book-geek with the power to manipulate paper as a weapon the way we usually sees anime/manga villains use their hair. The manga, however, is a total flop. Hypersexualization of all female characters (including 13-year-olds), inflataboobs everywhere, lots of rape-undertones, seems like it's trying very hard to be hentai without showing any outright nudity. Also excessive silliness at times--how does this woman (who must bleed Red Bull) hold down a job? I *might* give the second volume a try to see if it gets any better, but I don't hold more than one molecule of hope (and I won't go hunting for it).
June 19, 2021
I've watched the OVA (original video animation) of this series, and I remember enjoying it. I picked up volume 1 of the manga from the local library and was deeply unimpressed. I love the concept behind it: Yomiko Readman is a paper master (she can control the weight and density and shape of paper) and use it as a weapon; she also gets sexually aroused from reading. The execution needs some work; the villain just isn't plausible and the author Yomiko is assigned to guard (a teenager) is annoying at best. Yomiko is just...there. She is fairly likable, though. There was nothing in this first volume that would make me seek out any of the other three volumes in the series.
Read
July 28, 2014I had heard about this somewhere and I love this whole idea. My son picked up the book on my table and read a bit and said, oh, this is for you.
It is a cool manga and I also have the anime to watch. But I'm a little confused about the pieces of the series, so I hope I can sort it out. Wikipedia helped.
Anyone who loves books and likes manga would love this. I am only a very lately purveyor of manga - in fact, I think this is the first one I've ever read. I have watched some anime but not much. So even if you don't do manga on a regular basis, check this out.
It is a cool manga and I also have the anime to watch. But I'm a little confused about the pieces of the series, so I hope I can sort it out. Wikipedia helped.
Anyone who loves books and likes manga would love this. I am only a very lately purveyor of manga - in fact, I think this is the first one I've ever read. I have watched some anime but not much. So even if you don't do manga on a regular basis, check this out.
December 10, 2021
The nostalgia I have for the movie (which I watched in high school) is pretty much what got me through this? There wasn't as much paper magic as I was hoping for, and I was often confused by the action. I did like Fire Inc, and was glad to know that The Paper having sexually charged scenes with the villain's Dragon is true to the manga. But mostly it's pretty pervy fanservice (the clothes scene???) and the as the villain's motivation was icky.
February 20, 2008
Date read is a guess. A very weak sister to the anime series. Art is hard to follow and the story doesn't help much. Agent Paper must save a writer from an obsessed fan, ala Misery. A lot of gratuitous sexual allusions about and I'm not overly impressed with the use of her paper powers in this volume. I'll read volume 2 when I get around to it. (Library, 06/06?)
Trebby's Take: Not worth your time unless you're dying for more paper tales.
Trebby's Take: Not worth your time unless you're dying for more paper tales.
May 19, 2011
If there is one character that I was born to love, it is Yomiko Readman. Also known as "The Paper," Yomiko uses her ability to control paper and her rabid bibliomania to save the world from evil. Nothing can be sexier. I have read Read or Dream, watched Read or Dream: The TV, and watched Read or Die, the movie. Finally, I'm reading the manga, and it's just wonderful fun. Anything that extols the inherent virtues of books is worth a look.
March 20, 2009
I enjoyed the anime movie better. This version feels a bit watered down and the story/characters weren't as interesting as the anime.
I'll probably try more, as I love the idea behind it and hope it'll find it's footing and tell a better story as it goes.
Plus, as a book addict, how can I resist a team of secret government librarians fighting evil?
I'll probably try more, as I love the idea behind it and hope it'll find it's footing and tell a better story as it goes.
Plus, as a book addict, how can I resist a team of secret government librarians fighting evil?
July 10, 2010
The art confused me a bit in this (and the next) volume ... things seemed to happen in one panel without text and suddenly in the next everything was different. I enjoyed the premise, but there seemed to be random bits stuck in (along with jumps in time/plot).
May 26, 2013
I'm not sure if I'm biased from watching the OVA or the TV series first but I really wasn't all that happy with the manga. It's okay. It read more like shonen manga rather than seinen. It has potential and I love the concept of Yomiko Reedman but not sure if I like how its playing out.
October 28, 2015
Simple and I liked the paper powers, but I'm starting to think manga isn't really my genre. I just haven't connected with any of the characters very deeply, and in this case I found my attention drifting regularly.
November 8, 2007
Not a bad read, but also nowhere near as enjoyable as the OAV.
September 26, 2008
I feel like, as a librarian, I should love this. But I was more confused than anything. Though I dig the power over paper.
March 8, 2009
I liked the anime better.
April 30, 2009
I stopped reading this after vol. 2 i think. It was just too silly. I plan to watch the anime.
Read
July 27, 2011A bizarre little manga staring a librarian who in addition to being able to commune with books, also has the ability to manipulate paper, including turning it into a weapon. Heavy lesbian overtones.
August 22, 2012
As a novice in the area of manga I found this story a bit difficult to follow.
October 23, 2018
Interesting and full of action, but not great on story or art.
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