Read or Die by Shutaro Yamada and Hideyuki Kurata 
(amazon
I always feel a little conflicted about manga adapted from anime. For whatever reason, I’m much more willing to watch anime adaptations of manga and I tend to be less enthusiastic about manga versions of anime. There are certain series where I’ll watch/read both versions (Kare Kano, Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist, etc) but I’ve never felt the need to seek out the manga versions of anime I’ve enjoyed like RahXephon, Cowboy Bebop, or Evangelion. Read or Die is an exception, as there was no way I wasn’t going to check out the further adventures of Yomiko Readman, special agent to the Library of England.
Read or Die isn’t a direct adaptation of the original three episode OAV or the TV show, it takes place in a time period between the two anime releases, when Yomiko Readman first meets the precocious high school student and best-selling author Nenene Sumiregawa. I’d be curious to read a review of the manga from someone who hasn’t already watched the anime, because I wonder how someone would react when encountering these characters without already knowing the backstory. Yomiko Readman is an ardent bibliophile, cherishing books the way other people love a fine wine, beautiful work of art, or Clive Owen. She also has the power to manipulate paper into whatever form she imagines - she can deflect bullets, make knives, or make a handy parachute with whatever books or random bits of paper happen to be on hand. The Library of England’s spy operation sends her on special assignments to recover rare books with unique properties.
When Yomiko takes a job substitute teaching at Nenene’s school, her biggest concern is tracking down her favorite author and getting her autograph. But Nenene is kidnapped by an insane fan of literature, and Yomiko must rescue her while fighting someone who has the power to destroy paper. I found some of the action scenes to be a bit muddled, it was difficult at times to figure out exactly what was going on. The art is fairly typical, and it follows some of the character designs seen in the anime - all the female characters are very curvy. Yomiko went up a cup size or two in the manga.
I think one of the things that was lost in the manga version was the jazzy James Bondish vibe of the first Read Or Die OAV. There weren’t quite as many historical or literary references in the manga, and the plotline didn’t seem as clever. I think if I didn’t already have a prior attachment to the characters in Read Or Die I’d probably be less enthusiastic about the manga. I still liked reading it, and I’m going to keep buying it, because how often do you get to read a manga that features super-powered secret agents of a secretive library organization? Almost never! I do think that the best introduction to the world of Read Or Die is the OAV, and if I had to recommend one product I’d say to go for the dvd (amazon
8:48 am on March 1st, 2006 1
If, like me, you don’t really like watching anime, would you still recommend just the manga?
8:57 am on March 1st, 2006 2
I really think the anime is much more fun than the manga…I’m not sure, aside from all the great book/library references the manga is a fairly typical action story.
1:19 pm on March 1st, 2006 3
I’d be curious to read a review of the manga from someone who hasn’t already watched the anime
…unless some nice cable channel suddenly makes ROD available to my DVR, I’ll get to work on that. ;D
2:12 pm on March 1st, 2006 4
I thought the manga wasn’t going to come out until the end of the month! I am going to have to get on amazon and order that.
4:04 pm on March 1st, 2006 5
Lyle, I think ROD has run on adult swim in the past, so you never know. I thought it wasn’t shipping until later too, but Amazon sent it to me, I was quite surprised.
10:52 pm on March 1st, 2006 6
It didn’t come to the comic stores I checked.
They said it was supposed to arrive this week but didn’t ship. It’ll probaby be next week. I was kind of disappointed.
10:50 am on March 2nd, 2006 7
Oooh! Thanks for the heads up. A friend of mine introduced me to the original three episodes-I loved them! I haven’t seen the tv show yet, but I am familiar with the characters, so I may have to give this managa a try.
7:56 pm on March 2nd, 2006 8
I’d rank the ROD stuff in order of quality:
1) OVA
2) TV Show
3) Manga
If you liked the OVA though, you should give the TV show a try, it is also very good.
1:29 pm on March 4th, 2006 9
I do believe your ordering of it being the ova, manga the tv series is wrong. Because in the tv series they mention when she disappeared and if you continue to listen the reason why she went into hiding was because of the ijin incidence. And also at the beginning of the OVA there are notes littered all over Yomiko’s room, most of them ending in “up!Up!UP!” in the english traslation, but which is actually sumiregawa’s last name, Nenene which means that when it’s translated. So therefore it goes Read or die manga, then the OVA, then the Read or Dream manga which is about the Paper sisters, and then ROD the TV.
1:37 pm on March 4th, 2006 10
Sry, you probably don’t like double posters, especially ones who critized right before, but i do believe that you’re one of the kewlest person who’s blog is actually worth reading. YOu are such a major bibliophile that i feel i must turn to you for a recommendation on books to read. For you see i too am a bibliophile, but my school has barely any books that look good, and when I go and read at a store they kick me out (they apparently want you to buy the book instead of reading it right there.) And my parents don’t like to let me go to libraries because of how long i’ll stay there when i find a good book or six…oh yea btw ROD RULES!!!! so does Fruits basket but i love rod more so uh…yea. see ya!
7:06 pm on March 6th, 2006 11
Hmm, that’s a detail I didn’t notice about the notes in Yomiko’s room. I’d read that chronology on a couple Read Or Die sites, so I assumed it was correct but I guess you never can tell!
1:44 pm on April 15th, 2006 12
[...] Oh, well. I’ll just continue to be totally underwhelmed by what’s big in superhero comics. It’s not like I’m lacking for reading material anyway, especially since the manga with the Coolest. Title. Ever. seems to be hitting stores. [...]
11:19 pm on December 23rd, 2006 13
[...] The Read or Die anime series is one of my favorites. I was a little disappointed with the first Read or Die manga series, but I was pleasantly surprised by first volume of Read or Dream. This manga follows the adventures of Michelle, Maggie, and Anita, the three paper masters who have formed the “Paper Sisters Dectective Company” in Hong Kong. While Michelle and Maggie happily spend their food money on books, the youngest sister Anita proclaims her hatred of reading at every opportunity. Their detective agency isn’t very well-known, so they don’t get many cases. They do get some work finding lost pets and performing missions for fellow bibliophiles. For their first case in this volume, they track down a precious book stolen by a mugger, aiding a romance through the return of the lost book. Then they help a boy find a fantastic library inhabited by kindly spirits that only appears for one hour every ten years. They also attempt to ward off alien destruction of the earth by practicing their reader’s advisory skills. The details that people will remember from the tv series have been preserved in the manga, you get to see the sisters’ strange affinity for pigeons, bizarre cooking habits, and the overwhelming amount of books in their apartment sometimes causing deadly “bookdrafts”. The art is attractive, showcasing Maggie’s paper puppets and Michelle’s paper archery skills. I think this book captures the spirit of the anime, while the final volumes of the Read or Die manga devolved into a bunch of senseless fighting. If you like reading books about people who love reading books, this is the manga for you. [...]