Review of R.O.D. (TV Series): Vol. 2 The Undercover Student (Read Or Die)

Introduction

There`s a lot of Japanese anime flooding the UK market in an effort to cash-in on our seemingly insatiable desire for the genre. Only `Read or Die` is far superior to much of the flood.

Despite ROD creator`s Hideyuki Kurata`s claim that the inspiration for `ROD` came directly from the first `Charlie`s Angels` movie, I`d posit that this is an infinitely richer piece than that; an action series based pretty much around an obsessive love of books, libraries and reading. Oh - and a weird hybrid of kung-fu and origami, though the wild paper action here is very occasional.

The conceit is that three so-called sisters, Anita, Maggie and Michelle, (`The Paper Sisters` Detective Agency - I wonder if they`re any relation to `The Scissor Sisters?`) get hired to tackle book related mysteries. That might amount to protecting an author, tracing rare and incredibly valuable books or helping exorcise a library that has Poltergeist trouble. What seems like limited scope is, in fact, a rich creative seam.
The animation itself is simple (in common with much of the genre) though is frequently highly imaginative. Strange angles and point-of-view shots are used frequently, and some of the flights of imagination are truly inspired.

I also liked the subtleties of attitudinal movement, like a foot swinging into the foreground momentarily when one of the young girls is lying on bed reading. A throwaway detail, though one that adds to the richness of the programme.

There are 4 more episodes to enjoy on this disc, all limited in part to previous episodes, although each also perfectly enjoyable in their own right.
These will take you and your imagination into some crazy places, including a weird city populated by no one but `actors` - and a school library possessed by a mischievous poltergeist.

Video

A very classy digital transfer of a very recent programme mean that this is flawless. It`s a real pleasure to watch.

Audio

This features 2.0 Dolby Japanese Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital English and Japanese Audio. It`s brilliantly put together (on the English version in any case) with great voice-choices and with really smart audio post. The score is great, and helps evoke a quirky charm for the series, and the spot sound effects are very clear and work well here to paint a very believable atmos. The audio commentary on episode 5 (the first episode included here on Volume 2) is worth a listen to as it features the voice artistes in a very giggly frame of mind, though they do throw some light on the dubbing process.

Features

Like Disc 1, not bad for an anime DVD.

First, there`s the audio commentary on episode 5 by the voice artistes, which degenerates into giggles frequently.

There`s also a picture gallery that occasionally includes commentary, which deals with why certain artistic decisions were made.

And there are the usual trailers - this time featuring `Trigun` and `Chobits`.

Conclusion

`ROD - the TV`, is another of those unique anime`s that comes along from time to time that is full of great characters, good humour, and a strangely compelling atmosphere all of its own. The artwork is fresh, the music score perfect, and it`s a lot of fun.

There`s no doubt that you`ll need a huge suspension of disbelief to go with the `paper` ideas (which are highly imaginative but clearly preposterous) and despite the almost inane narrative (very little actually happens) there is no doubt that by the end of episode eight, you`ll be thirsting for future episodes. And with some 26 episodes to the series, that means a fair layout if you join in with the idea of buying a disc of four episodes at a time.