Read Or Die is a 2001 anime OVA with just 3 episodes. To be perfectly honest with you, I couldn't tell you what the plot is because it was just so dull and uninteresting.
There is nothing about this OVA that I can point out as being outright bad, but when every bit about the story is boring, I would make the case that that is bad. One walks away from this show knowing no more about the book-obsessed protagonist, Yomiko Readman, than at the start. Her relationship with Nancy is shallow, and the betrayal in the second episode has absolutely no weight to it whatsoever. To drive home this point,the betrayal scene even gives us a flashback to the ONE whole scene in which Yomiko and Nancy's relationship really develops. I know they only had 3 episodes, but plenty of films do a better job in a similar amount of time, and if 3 episodes wasn't enough then that's just tough, they could have made the OVA longer (6 eps usually does the trick). Motivations for the villains are nonexistent, they just want to kill everyone. There was absolutely room to make them more morally ambiguous, but they are instead downright evil for the sake of it. The villains being historical figures is the reason I wanted to watch this, yet this is hardly explored either.
It's a shame the best anime openings always seem to be accompanied by dull shows, because ROD's opening is brilliant, as is the whole soundtrack. The animation is stellar, the most enjoyable thing about ROD really.
There's not a whole lot to say, but I suggest giving this show a miss unless you're one of those sakuga enthusiasts, then you might get something out of it.
My rating: 3/10
14/08/2024