Working for Dokusensha always led to interesting missions, in fact it was through Dokusensha that the Paper Sisters met. However, Dokusensha also introduced the sisters to their darkest enemies and in the heart of Dokusensha itself the sisters will reveal what it means to be family…….

The third disc in the series contains 4 episodes:

Episode 9: Heart of Darkness – The paper sisters, Nenene, Drake and Alice have visited a Japanese Burial site, to recover some mysterious artifact. The one who can fight paper has been called on to recover it first at any cost, even the paper sister’s lives.

Episode 10: Christmas Carol – Nenene has been invited to a book premier, and while there beings to fall into a spat of depression concerning her inability to get over her writers block. To help lift her spirit’s the paper sisters invited Nenene to a birthday party of sorts. The birth of the paper sisters will finally be reviled.

Episode 11: Goodbye Japan – Nenene has begun to over come her writers block, with her new novel almost complete, she is asked to go to Hong Kong to attend the premier of the movie based on her first novel. However, with paper sister going to Hong Kong and the threats to Nenene removed, their services may no longer required, so they will not be returning to Japan with Nenene. Anita must say good bye to the friends she made in school. Are the paper sisters no longer needed, or are they simply being sent away?

Episode 12: Twilight of the Papers – Nenene has been betrayed and abducted by the Dokusensha, they want her to “write the greatest story ever”. The paper sisters, unknowingly assisting in her abduction have been given a choice, enjoy the fabulous reward offered to them, or risk danger and possibly their lives rescuing her from the Dokusensha.

The old saying better late then never seems best to describe this review. With my editor reminding me that work needs to be done and a series that should have been reviewed months ago, I have no excuse for not finishing this, well with the exception of school, but that only worked for so long. Now with that out of the way let’s get started on the review.

The third disc in the R.O.D The TV series continues introduces us to other mysterious paper users, 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. The paper sisters are called upon to protect Nenene Sumiregawa, they are also, on occasion called upon to recover rare books or items for the Dokusensha. The second disc is yet another chapter in the ongoing story of the Read or Die TV series.

In similar fashion as the previous “Read or Die – The TV” DVD, the third 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 9 – 12 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.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 pencil board, that on one side features an action shot of the paper sisters and on the other side a pose by Nenene.

Read Or Die - The TV is a promising 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 or 90%

By Matt Capranos