Read or Dream Vol 1 by Hideyuki Kurata and Ran Ayanaga (amazon.com)

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.