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R.O.D. Read or Die #3
R.O.D. Read or Die 3
Yomiko Readman's love for literature goes far beyond any run-of-the-mill bookworm's! In fact, she has a supernatural ability to manipulate paper in the most amazing ways. From turning a tiny scrap into a lethal throwing dagger to making a single sheet hard enough to block bullets, she's only limited by her imagination. She uses her phenomenal power to seek out legendary books containing secret information that in the wrong hands could be dangerous. Backed by a Special Operations Division in England, Yomiko has her hands full battling evildoers, saving the world, and trying to find time to curl up with a good book.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 29, 2019
Wow. This was all sorts of crazy but really interesting! Ridley definitely went down the crazy path and Mr. joker is scum. That is all.
February 14, 2021
Man named Ridley entered the picture. Accused and called Yomiko Readman a murderer. Thus she was rendered helpless and useless. Emotionally drained, she was unable or unwilling to read, to be be the Paper. As revealed the underground library is not what is thought it is. It is an entity of cosmic proportions. What is Readman to do? Is she to do? Sit there and do nothing, unwilling to peel herself from the ground and help? Or is this the end? Read more and find out.
September 22, 2021
Holy crap this manga is nothing like the movie! Both are good in their own ways. However I only found volume three and thought that I could easily pick up the series from a middle volume and be fine but I was wrong. Now I must go find the other beginning volumes.
March 7, 2023
I keep saying how much I like the art in this series. One reason is that each of the principal characters is easily distinguished from the others thanks to the art. I find that often to not be the case in other manga.
The story still appeals to me; one volume to go.
The story still appeals to me; one volume to go.
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.
Volumes 2, 3 and 4 bleed into each other in that serial kind of way (although Volume 2 does include a special bonus featuring a little girl who hates books (they are all useless and boring~video games and TV are Way more exciting) and does not want to do her required book report until she stays up all night reading the book passed down from her grandmother through her mother and learns how wonderful reading can be, can we all say "ah, how cute" together now? . . .)
The basic plot line here seems to send Yomiko on a secret mission to the Manshu Academy. The exact details of the assignment appear rather murky, but apparently she is to find a secret underground library which contains the secret to life, the universe, and everything (whoops, wrong story...) The Manshu Academy houses A and B level students and Yomiko is a teacher of B level World History (which apparently ranks below the A level students.) The A level students are engaged in something nefarious, more details of "The Paper"'s past emerge, as well as those of the British library and their foes the ancient order of Hermit readers. In the end it seems it comes down to a choice of Read OR Die (who would have guessed), as Yomiko must choose to save the all important Book of Truth or people. I suppose in manga the large letters D O O M take the place of ominous music, and between the numerous spelled out sound effects, unattributed dialogue, and, seemingly, missing plot development i still found myself a little lost.
Kind of reminds me of the time one of my housemates (my first year in grad school, me, one other grad student and five undergrads~the landlord had promised all grad students~oh well) got us all together to go see Urotsukidōji: the Legend of the Underfiend as some kind of house "togetherness" project because it was supposed to be such an acclaimed Japanese animated masterpiece. About fifteen minutes into the film, most of the housemates had deserted (including the one who brought us) leaving only me and Mr. IamNotDepressed (but he so was) sticking it out until the very bitter end. It was a shared experience i will never forget. There was some point when a character says "Oh, now I see, it's all so clear now." or some such thing and that was Mr. IamNotDepressed's and my joke for the next month or so because it was so NOT clear.
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.
Volumes 2, 3 and 4 bleed into each other in that serial kind of way (although Volume 2 does include a special bonus featuring a little girl who hates books (they are all useless and boring~video games and TV are Way more exciting) and does not want to do her required book report until she stays up all night reading the book passed down from her grandmother through her mother and learns how wonderful reading can be, can we all say "ah, how cute" together now? . . .)
The basic plot line here seems to send Yomiko on a secret mission to the Manshu Academy. The exact details of the assignment appear rather murky, but apparently she is to find a secret underground library which contains the secret to life, the universe, and everything (whoops, wrong story...) The Manshu Academy houses A and B level students and Yomiko is a teacher of B level World History (which apparently ranks below the A level students.) The A level students are engaged in something nefarious, more details of "The Paper"'s past emerge, as well as those of the British library and their foes the ancient order of Hermit readers. In the end it seems it comes down to a choice of Read OR Die (who would have guessed), as Yomiko must choose to save the all important Book of Truth or people. I suppose in manga the large letters D O O M take the place of ominous music, and between the numerous spelled out sound effects, unattributed dialogue, and, seemingly, missing plot development i still found myself a little lost.
Kind of reminds me of the time one of my housemates (my first year in grad school, me, one other grad student and five undergrads~the landlord had promised all grad students~oh well) got us all together to go see Urotsukidōji: the Legend of the Underfiend as some kind of house "togetherness" project because it was supposed to be such an acclaimed Japanese animated masterpiece. About fifteen minutes into the film, most of the housemates had deserted (including the one who brought us) leaving only me and Mr. IamNotDepressed (but he so was) sticking it out until the very bitter end. It was a shared experience i will never forget. There was some point when a character says "Oh, now I see, it's all so clear now." or some such thing and that was Mr. IamNotDepressed's and my joke for the next month or so because it was so NOT clear.
June 28, 2022
This is my review of the whole Read or Die series.
I've been trying to get into reading manga more, and I really wanted to like Read or Die, I really did. I almost didn't want to think about it so I could enjoy it more. However if I enjoyed it more the review wouldn't be nearly as heartfelt. The manga wants to be a lot of things; a school story, a spy story, an X-Men-ish 'we have powers that no one understands' preachfest, an action-comedy, and a dash of wanting to appreciate great literature without referencing any of it. Sure I liked the Misery quip at the beginning, and the story has a nice synopsis going for it, but it's not consistently clever or cohesive enough to be considered great or even a full story at times.
The story has a promising premise without a doubt. Yomiko is a bubbly teacher-turned agent with an ability to control paper and but not her feelings about her troubled past. From the get go, it announces that Yomiko is in a world where greater organizations like the London library suits following her around are pulling the strings and requesting that she helps them find rare books for, some reason. There's also old dirt on the bibliophiles like Yomiko; her former boyfriend Donnie and his best friend Ridley that is seemingly covered up by the organization as well. Along the way Yomiko meets an author and tries to save a group of students, and her interactions with all the characters, stereotypical or otherwise, were pretty sweet and geneuine. I also liked the psychological effects Yumiko experienced from supposedly killing Donnie, and there were some sad and sweet moments along the way even if the manga doesn't fully resolve them or make use of their full potential.
With me so far? Good, because that's all I got too. The rest of the story is so convoluted and all the character and story subplots and arcs introduced previously get lost in the shuffle very VERY quickly. Fighting between two groups of students comes out of nowhere and gets resolved somehow. A giant paper dragon-worm flies out of the ground as part of an ancient library of books that the London library wants to find the book of truth, again, for some unexplained reason. The library also weaves in and out of fight scenes for some reason and while they are seemingly pulling the strings, they just end up being there to give the illusion of story amid all the fighting. Ridley eventually shows up out of nowhere announcing that he's Yomiko's rival and the books then feel the need to take a big info dump and tell us all about his experience, which when digging deeper doesn't even make sense. Who are Donnie and Ridley and how did they get their powers? Why does the library want the book of truth? Why is it so important to begin with? Why does Yomiko fight for the students and why does she try so hard at all of this in general? The manga posed so many unanswered questions and threw up so many red herrings that I started to get bogged down with more questions than the suspense that the story tries to build and they started to drag my enjoyment of the story down very very quickly. On top of that, so few of them get unanswered that I felt cheated with the ending I got.
The action and occasional panel furthers my confusion as well. The art is drawn well for sure, but during the action sequences a boom or bang along with a beam of light or a flying character will be so huge and dramatic that it almost took me out of the experience and came across as more obnoxious than intense. This when paired with the confusing story that ties itself in knots comes across as half baked. Being a bibliophile myself, I really wanted to enjoy Read or Die, and I'm aware that the anime has quite a bit of praise, but if you were to read the manga first, I would recommend passing it up.
I've been trying to get into reading manga more, and I really wanted to like Read or Die, I really did. I almost didn't want to think about it so I could enjoy it more. However if I enjoyed it more the review wouldn't be nearly as heartfelt. The manga wants to be a lot of things; a school story, a spy story, an X-Men-ish 'we have powers that no one understands' preachfest, an action-comedy, and a dash of wanting to appreciate great literature without referencing any of it. Sure I liked the Misery quip at the beginning, and the story has a nice synopsis going for it, but it's not consistently clever or cohesive enough to be considered great or even a full story at times.
The story has a promising premise without a doubt. Yomiko is a bubbly teacher-turned agent with an ability to control paper and but not her feelings about her troubled past. From the get go, it announces that Yomiko is in a world where greater organizations like the London library suits following her around are pulling the strings and requesting that she helps them find rare books for, some reason. There's also old dirt on the bibliophiles like Yomiko; her former boyfriend Donnie and his best friend Ridley that is seemingly covered up by the organization as well. Along the way Yomiko meets an author and tries to save a group of students, and her interactions with all the characters, stereotypical or otherwise, were pretty sweet and geneuine. I also liked the psychological effects Yumiko experienced from supposedly killing Donnie, and there were some sad and sweet moments along the way even if the manga doesn't fully resolve them or make use of their full potential.
With me so far? Good, because that's all I got too. The rest of the story is so convoluted and all the character and story subplots and arcs introduced previously get lost in the shuffle very VERY quickly. Fighting between two groups of students comes out of nowhere and gets resolved somehow. A giant paper dragon-worm flies out of the ground as part of an ancient library of books that the London library wants to find the book of truth, again, for some unexplained reason. The library also weaves in and out of fight scenes for some reason and while they are seemingly pulling the strings, they just end up being there to give the illusion of story amid all the fighting. Ridley eventually shows up out of nowhere announcing that he's Yomiko's rival and the books then feel the need to take a big info dump and tell us all about his experience, which when digging deeper doesn't even make sense. Who are Donnie and Ridley and how did they get their powers? Why does the library want the book of truth? Why is it so important to begin with? Why does Yomiko fight for the students and why does she try so hard at all of this in general? The manga posed so many unanswered questions and threw up so many red herrings that I started to get bogged down with more questions than the suspense that the story tries to build and they started to drag my enjoyment of the story down very very quickly. On top of that, so few of them get unanswered that I felt cheated with the ending I got.
The action and occasional panel furthers my confusion as well. The art is drawn well for sure, but during the action sequences a boom or bang along with a beam of light or a flying character will be so huge and dramatic that it almost took me out of the experience and came across as more obnoxious than intense. This when paired with the confusing story that ties itself in knots comes across as half baked. Being a bibliophile myself, I really wanted to enjoy Read or Die, and I'm aware that the anime has quite a bit of praise, but if you were to read the manga first, I would recommend passing it up.
March 28, 2012
The story is moving through multiple viewpoints, rendering the storyline increasingly chaotic and confused. Yomiko’s former teacher Donnie appears to have a twisted, secret agenda; the Special Operations Division has dispatched a mercenary to snoop around the school; Yomiko is torn between her duty towards the students and her affections for Donnie and Amahisa Iraka keeps goading the A level students to destroy the B level students. A scarred figure appearing out of nowhere only adds to the turmoil. All of this Byzantine plotting is enough to tire even the most avid reader. It’s a relief when the action pauses to engage in a little reminiscence about Donnie and the terrifying Ridley Wan. This seeming diversion gives some much-needed backstory about these two and their opposing natures as well as dramatic breather to all of the non-stop action. But the reader is soon plunged once again into nothing less than full-blown apocalyptic mayhem. Break over! (When we’re treated to the sight of a huge flying people eater, it’s difficult to know whether to be stunned, impressed or scornfully amused.)
September 6, 2014
I am a huge fan of the R. O. D. Read or Die OVA, and I was quick to pick up the four volumes of this story when I found it at my local library. Yomiko Readman is what all bibliophile dream of being. Her love of books has bone beyond the page and she is able to connect with the story, and the author in ways we can only imagine. Besides that, she can control paper and make it become any shape she desires. A must read for book lovers.
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July 13, 2008
The Read or Die anime is very enjoyable - how often do you see a bibliophile superhero? However, the manga's just dull. I put this on my "i will lend this to you shelf" for accuracy's sake, although technically I only own the Japanese-language editions of v.3 and v.4, and you probably wouldn't want to read them anyway. Just rent the DVDs of the OVA and TV series instead.
August 26, 2007
I don't know if it's the way it was written or the fact that I was pretty tired when I was reading it, but I found this one a little hard to follow.
May 9, 2009
Really good book!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews