Read Or Die

The only way to save the world, is to read....or die!!!

An Anime Review

by Shad

Yomiko Readman is an avid reader and a generally careless and sloppy girl. You’d never know by here innocent and clumsy appearance that she is actually a secret agent working for a secret task force under organization of the British Royal Libraries. In order to keep from making the same mistakes, we should learn from our past, and I suppose what better way than to learn from books of every kind. Inside the secret headquarters rests thousands upon thousands of books, many of them very, very old. But one certain, very old book that Yomiko finds one day seems to be the prize sought after by an evil organization bent on destroying humanity.

Evidently the evil organization, unnamed, uses manipulated clones of some of history’s greatest geniuses in order to do their dirty work. Unfortunately, some of the manipulation includes giving the geniuses, or Ijin, strange but formidable powers, making them very difficult to overcome. But thankfully, Yomiko does not have to work alone. The secret task force of the British Royal Library consists of many agents, each with their own special tasks and abilities. Drake Andersen and Nancy McBride are agents assigned to work with Yomiko, overseen by Joker, a British section leader, and Mr. Gentleman, who seems to be the very old, wise, and respectable head of the organization.

Also, each field agent for this task force has their own special powers. Yomiko, also known as The Paper practices an ancient art of paper magic, an ability which she uses to make paper hard to deflect or shape to objects, fly through the air, or to shape, form, and move to serve any possible task she requires. Because of this, she can frequently be seen carrying a briefcase filled with paper. Nancy, also known as Ms. Deep, can pass through solid matter with ease, but don’t let her fool you…that isn’t the only reason it’s Deep, if you get my meaning. Drake, from what I can tell, doesn’t have a codename and his power lies in being very strong, and also being lucky I suppose. Together, they aim to end the tyranny of the Ijin and to save the human race (or maybe just Japan) from being destroyed.

This 3-episode short OVA is probably one of my favorite OVA’s to date. The show has a feel very similar to The Avengers television show in that many things about the task force seem very old and classic looking, but is extremely technologically advanced. The art style is cool, the music is a lot of fun, and the characters are very very entertaining. Personally I was hoping they'd explain a little more, but in 3 episodes you can't really go into the inner workings of the whole task force. If you like your anime short and butt-kicking, check it out.

I give this anime 9 out of 10 Shinchan's!