The paper sisters attack the Dokusensha’s headquarters in Hong Kong to rescue Nenene, although they must first defeat legions of machine gun wielding security guards, laser firing robots and an even more dangerous foe – another paper master! Taking advantage of the chaos, Mr. Carpenter kicks off his own plans and the world will tremble fromt eh conflict!

The fourth disc in the series contains 4 episodes:

Episode 13: Twilight of the Paper II – The paper sisters are not only fighting to save the life of Nenene but for their own as they battle the Dokusensha. To buy time for her sisters to rescue Nenene, Maggie must battle a paper master in a dual to the death, will she be strong enough? What of the experiments by the Dokusensha on Nenene, what are they hoping to accomplish and what of Mr. Carpenter, are his plans the same as the Dokusesha?

Episode 14: Paper Leaf Wood – Hong Kong has been destroyed, by the fleeing members of the Dokusensha. In an interlude in the story, a history of Read or Die dictated by Mr. Carpenters assistant Wendy. The in depth history helps to bring the viewer up to date on the goings of Read or Die series.

Episode 15: In the gray light of the Abyss – The Paper Sisters and Nenene have returned to Japan, but they have been branded terrorist after half of Hong Kong sunk into the ocean. Anita experiences a flash back to a moment from her youth, what significance does it have on the future. Now there are rumors of The Paper hiding in Japan and she has a book of importance in her care.

Episode 16: Fahrenheit 451- Mr. Carpenter has discovered the location of The Paper and is requesting that she returns one of the books critical to his plans. The fleeing Paper Sisters have forced Mr. Carpenter and the British library to extreme measure to force them out from hiding……………..a horrific book burning……….can the Paper Sisters stand by and watch it happen or will they act.

The forth disc in the R.O.D The TV series shows what lengths the paper sisters are willing to go to save their dear friend Nenene from the Dokusensha, even if it means loosing their lives. With chaos spreading in the free world, Mr. Carpenter starts moving the pieces of his plan into place for possible world domination. For those not familiar with the Read or Die series, the Paper Sisters, who are a group of young women that have the same powers as Yamiko Readman (a character from the OVA series). Their powers allow them to manipulate paper products to use as everything from clothing to weapons.

In similar fashion as the previous “Read or Die – The TV” DVD, the forth disc features 2.0 Dolby Japanese Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital English and Japanese Audio with two English subtitle streams (Dialog translation and signs only). The Audio for this Disc, the word amazing isn't good enough to describe it. From the opening theme song, to the effects, right down to the characters dialog it was perfect, crisp, clear. The aforementioned description can be used for the video quality of this disc, to put it simply, perfect.

The special features for this DVD are nothing short of amazing, and I am glad to see they’re continue to offer the same features found in the previous discs and not cheating the viewer out of some pleasant bonuses. Read Or Die has everything to do with paper and books, the menu screens follow this setup, from the main menu where you choose to play the disc, to selecting the special features, takes the look of a table of contents in a book. When browsing into the submenus, more of the book theme continues, for example being in the special features section, an appearance of books being laid out on a shelf.

As for the special features, the first DVD contains a varied selection of fan pleasing features, the first such feature being the Japanese trailers for episodes 13 - 16 in the series, follow by, by far my favorite feature and is not seen enough in anime DVD releases, is an audio commentary by the English production team for Read or Die, on this disc the audio commentary involves dialogue with the English voice actors. The remaining features include a conceptual art display of the characters; with some of the art work is an included director commentary on why the particular choices were made for the characters. Lastly, trailers for upcoming releases from Geneon.

In addition to the on disc special features, the DVD comes with a reversible cover for the clam shell, as well as a pull out section containing a staff message to the fans. If this isn’t enough, there’s the addition of a mini poster of the Paper Sisters, on the flip side is a special illustration done by Taraku Uon.

Read Or Die - The TV is an awesome series that offers a great story, with development between the characters and their environments, with a high pace action story thrown in for good measures. After watching the audio commentary in the first disc, I continue to notice additional things about the series that can be overlooked, examples being the level of detail given to the environments, whether it’s Nenene’s apartment, or the streets of Japan or Hong Kong. A nice touch, in which the crew that brought this series to light deserves credit for is the characters themselves, in other series, the characters pretty much wear the same clothes, however, in R.O.D TV, the character clothing changes with the times, from normal day wear, to combat clothing, etc. For those who are fans of the original Read Or Die OVA and the Manga, then this would be a good series to jump into, it’s a great story with great characters this series is a must have for you collection. For those looking for something new, then definitely get out there and rent this one.

Animation: 9 / 10
Story: 9 / 10
Audio: 9 / 10
Video: 9 / 10
Extras: 10 / 10
Impact Rating: 8 / 10

Overall Rating 54 / 60

By Matt Capranos

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