R.O.D: Read or Die

First off, I truly enjoyed the OVA. It set a particular mood for me when I started reading the manga.

I was generally let down by the manga for several reasons:

1) It was confusing. The transition from one panel to the next felt choppy, especially during action sequences (Refer to point #3).

2) Identifying speakers was difficult. Speech bubbles frequently lacked tags indicating who was speaking. At times, it seemed like someone in an entirely different panel was talking, but there was no indication of who that was.

3) Action scenes were perplexing. Once again, comparing it to the OVA, if I hadn't seen it beforehand, I don't think I would have fully grasped Yomiko's Paper abilities.

The storyline was decent, but it wasn't enough to 'save' the manga for me. I almost didn't finish it. There are just too many other superior manga out there to read.

I'm somewhat surprised that R.O.D. doesn't get much attention. Despite being an older series, I believe it stands the test of time. Before reading the manga, I had watched part of the R.O.D OVA as a movie on Tunami, which left me confused when I started reading the manga. I wondered if I had picked up a second season rather than the start of the series. It turns out the OVA has nothing to do with the manga except for following Yomiko and some basic elements.

Yomiko Readman is our main character, and I fell in love with her. Her personality is mostly ditsy and sheltered, but her good heart shines through everything she does. The artwork made me feel her love for the books she fights to protect and her hope to safeguard those around her. My only issue was that for most of the book series, she didn’t seem to grow as a character or undergo any significant change. We did learn about her background and why she works so hard, but most of her growth comes much later. Still, I’m very glad I kept reading; it was worth going through that slow curve.

The other character they delved into was a famous author named Nenene Sumiregawa—yes, that’s really her name. It makes sense why her pen name was just Paul S. She's an interesting supporting character but seemed unnecessary after the first book. I heard she had more presence in the spin-off sequel "Read or Dream," but here, she felt lacking.

This brings me to a dilemma: whether the OVA is better than the manga given their vastly different stories. I liked what I saw of the OVA, which prompted me to buy the manga series, but I felt let down when I read the first book and found how different it was. I like both for different reasons, considering them two separate universes. There are the OVA, and then there's the Manga. It's hard to explain without spoiling either one just how much they differ.

The artwork is excellent, with lots of detail. Sometimes things are created with thousands of sheets of paper, and I am amazed by the creativity that makes it look textured. Most characters were recognizable and stood out well, except for Nenene, whom I kept confusing with another girl in the second part of the series. They looked so similar it kept getting me confused, especially since they seemed to have the same hair tone.

Overall, I think R.O.D. is a pretty decent manga series. It holds its own without the OVA or TV series. In fact, I'd recommend reading this before the OVA and TV series or just ignoring them while you read. It will only confuse you more otherwise.

If I had to sum up Read or Die in a single word, it would be "disappointing." If I were to encapsulate my thoughts in one sentence, it would be: "It could have been better."

To dissect its shortcomings separately:

Characters: The characters are arguably the story's most significant flaw. Each and every one of them felt one-dimensional, superficial, and utterly lacking in motivation for their actions. This made it challenging to recall them in subsequent scenes since it was nearly impossible to connect with them on any level. They seemed to merely "show up."

This also meant we had no insight into their "inner voice," which is crucial for character development. Sometimes panels were drawn, and I couldn't figure out who was speaking.

Art: Read or Die's art style only truly shone through in its characters. I was particularly impressed by this in the first chapter, as Yomiko's face was depicted with great expressiveness. However, that's about where the praise ends.

Beyond the characters, little attention was paid to other aspects like the surroundings. About 60% of the time, the characters were drawn against a grey background, sometimes with smoke effects, but mostly just blank, making the scenes hard to remember due to their forgettable nature.

There was also the issue of poorly executed fight scenes, an understatement given how utterly unreadable they were. It was incredibly difficult to tell what was happening during a fight, what direction things were coming from, and so forth.

Lastly, I'm not sure if this counts as an 'art' point, but sometimes the speech bubbles lacked pointers indicating who was speaking. While this isn't new, many stories manage this by showing changes in emotion or drawing characters with open mouths. As if this wasn't enough, the speech bubbles were often placed anywhere on the page/panel, sometimes not even in the same panel as the speaker, causing confusion. Given Read or Die's underdeveloped and unrecognizable characters, this became unbearable.

Writing: Where do I even start?

Honestly, Read or Die's writing isn't terrible per se, at least if you overlook:

- Its inability to explain why characters acted as they did, thanks to bland and clichéd monologues. This also made events very forgettable. By the time I put the manga down and returned, I couldn't understand what was happening or remember who certain characters were.

- The endless, painful dialogue: This was BAD. Imagine a standard 5 or 6 paneled page filled end to end with dialogue. And not just any dialogue, but corny, exclamatory dialogue (mostly monologue) irrelevant to the plot or situation. Lines like "the egg shall crumble, and the flower shall be as incense before a tombstone" during a fight. I had no idea what that meant. I almost skimmed the pages. It was excruciating to read. Combine this with poorly drawn fight scenes, shallow characters, and difficulty identifying speakers, and I had ample reason to drop it.

- The random introduction of serious themes, only to discard them quickly. In one arc, there's mention of sexual violence towards a teenager, complete with a wedding hall setup and provocative touching. The girl's reaction was devoid of fear, more wonder. Upon having a choker placed around her neck, she went wide-eyed and asked, "What is this thing?" getting upset that he ignored her to deliver crappy monologues. Instead of ending when her 'savior' appeared, it devolved into a 'discuss our motivations while powering up' trope. This savior didn't help because they were 'too tired and injured,' deciding to converse with the man instead until trapped. Even in such a dire situation, nobody seemed to care that the girl was on the verge of being violated.

I was deeply disturbed by this arc. It was poorly handled. Though perhaps my fault for missing the ecchi tag, I couldn't have anticipated it being this bad. I'm not a fan of ecchi and ended up hating it even more.

There's also an indication of a potential love interest between the aforementioned savior and the teenage girl, which is completely stupid, as the savior is an adult and the girl is in high school. Another scene involved beating up some girls, but I dropped it around that chapter.

All in all, Read or Die was supposed to be a short, light read but left a bitter taste. I shouldn't have this much to write about a 30-chapter manga. It put me in a reading slump (likely from acquiring the habit of skimming across pages), when short stories should have an added advantage of less time to find issues. Sadly, it had many.

A very intriguing look at the events preceding the OVA anime "Read or Die."

I find the anime much more enjoyable compared to the manga.

However, you do get to witness where Yomiko encounters Wendy and Nenene (from ROD the TV), who were absent in the OVA.

The manga's plot spans 4 volumes but doesn't significantly intersect with the anime's storyline.

Thus, fans of the OVA will appreciate this manga as it offers a different perspective on the characters.

Also recommended for older teens; there is a lesbian kiss in the first volume.