Review of R.O.D. (TV Series): Vol. 4

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. `Read or Die` is far superior to much of the flood, particularly if you like your action mixed with some genuine humour and pathos.

Where `ROD` works best for me is the English dub. Unlike so many dubs of the genre, the character voices are consistently good. Some of the dialogue feels so real, like when the girls are sitting around their apartment, that you almost feel like you`re there with them. And for an animated programme that`s some mean feat.

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-master` 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 (from whom becomes apparent here), helping locate tracing rare and incredibly valuable books or battling evil paper-masters in underground caves.

But there`s also time for characterisation. In this fourth volume we get plenty of that as the group face their greatest challenge yet, as well as digging up some old friends and ghosts from the past.

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, 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 related in part to previous episodes, although each also perfectly enjoyable in their own right.
The first episode ties up the first major story arc to some degree, as the rescue of Nenene goes pretty much to plan. But R.O.D. is no standard action-series, and the plot not only continues but substantially thickens as the `sisters` take the blame for the sinking of an entire city, and are now branded as international terrorists along with writer Nenene.

They sneak back into Japan (with some unconvincing disguises) in order to plan their next move. The police are on to them though and have discovered tha apartment where they had been living prior to their ill-fated trip to Hong Kong. In the midts of all the action, the girls set about continuing their search for Nenene`s long lost friend Yomiko who she hasn`t seen for some five years. She seems to be hiding in the archival room at the British library …

Without spoiling too much here, it`s fair to say that the plot then twists and falls until it`s impossible to figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad. There`s an air of conspiratorial mystery pervading every moment up to the shocking burning of the books in the final episode here.

I sense that there`s a tying up of some of the loose threads between the TV series and the original OVA`s which I haven`t seen, though it`s all incredibly compelling stuff.

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 is a lot less fun that the one contained on Disc 2 but reveals that the producers responsible for the US dub are real fans of the show themselves. The choices of voices for this series seem very effective - and they are often subtly underplayed…a nice feature of recent anime, world`s away from the gruff shouting on dubs from yesteryear.

Features

Like previous discs, not bad for an anime DVD.

First, there`s the audio commentary from, not the Japanese originators, but the producers of the US dub.
There`s also a picture gallery and trailers for the future ROD release and a couple of others from the same stable.

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 there is no doubt that by the cliff-hanger end of episode 16, you`ll be thirsting for the next batch of episodes.

The series seems to be going from strength to strength and in episodes 14-16 a liberal sprinkling of new plot ingredients means that there are plenty of new revelations to look forward to on Disc 5. I can`t wait!