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Anita, Maggie and Michelle run the Paper Sisters Detective
Company. Their primary role is to recover lost or stolen books,
a role that leads the sisters into adventure and danger...
This
is the second disc from the R.O.D. television series,
which is a spin-off of the Read or Die OVA/Manga, and
is set around five years after the original, hence the change
of name to R.O.D. to avoid confusion. Now, from the
basic premise you would think that the series was a little
too odd for most tastes, but give it a go. The writing is
superb, with strong engaging plots. The girls use a number
of high tech gadgets in their work as well as an ability to
manipulate paper into shapes including flying dragons which
helps them get around.
There
are only four stories on the disc covering episodes five to
eight of the twenty-six part series.
In episode five (They shout) the girls are sent off
to Romania to recover a stolen book called The Pulsating
Flesh. This is basically a pseudo vampire story. The scenes
when the girls meet Professor Webber, the reclusive who owns
the book, are genuinely creepy with good use of the 5.1 soundtrack.
Episode
six (The Right Stuff) is a more personal story revolving
around Anita's hatred of books. It's a slow moving piece with
little action to speak off, but well worth a watch.
Episode seven (In a Grove) is the best story on the
disc. It involves the girls being sent to a small town to
recover a book, but as soon as they get there Maggie is arrested
for Michelle's murder. In a race against time the girls must
find Michelle and the mysterious 'John Smith' who has the
book. This episode is very weird and surreal, touches of film
noir just add to the whole strangeness of the story. Is Michelle
dead? What is up with the creepy villagers who insist that
she was never there? The ending comes out of nowhere and surprised
even me; it was more like an episode of The Prisoner.
The
last episode on the disc (episode eight, Seduced by the
Night) is a real oddity. Anita and some friends break
into the school at night as they have heard that there is
a poltergeist. The reason that it's odd is that the story
goes nowhere. While it does succeed in highlighting some of
Anita's friends' relationships, you never really find out
if there was a ghost at all. Maybe that is saved for future
episodes.
The disc is well packed with extras. The commentary track
is more fun than informative, but well worth listening too.
It features Taiiesin Jaffe, the English dub director as well
as Rachel Hirschfeld (Anita), Sara Lahti (Maggie) and Hunter
Mackenzie (Michelle), it would have been nice to have some
input from the original Japanese cast to contrast how the
various voice over actors approached their work. The art gallery
is okay, as are the trailers for other shows, but they are
a 'watch once only' sort of affair, as are the episode trailers.
Picture
quality is as usual superb, with no noticeable artifacting.
The disc comes with the usual English subtitles, but even
more impressive is that the audio track contains both the
Japanese and English soundtrack in 5.1. Whilst the rear speakers
do not have a lot to do through most of the show, they are
used to good effect in the more action/atmospheric moments.
So
there you have it another good anime show that just leaves
you wanting more.
 
Charles
Packer
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£14.98
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