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title_name=Read or Die (R.O.D)
R.O.D (also known by the expanded name '''Read or Die''') refers to a fictional universe created by the Japanese author Hideyuki Kurata . ''R.O.D'' began as a series of novels published under Shueisha 's Super Dash imprint (the first volume appeared in 2000, and volume 9 in 2004); spinoffs include a four-volume Manga series, a three-episode OVA , and the related Manga series '' Read Or Dream '' and associated Anime series '' R.O.D The TV ''. The manga series, as well as possibly the novels, have been licensed in the U.S. by Viz Communications , with the first volume having been released in March of 2006 and the expected out in early April. The premise is that the British Empire (supported by the British Library and the Superpower -endowed agents of its "Special Operations Division") has remained the major world power through the 20th century and into the 21st century. The novels chart the career of agent Yomiko Readman as she fights various book-related criminal organizations; the OVA tells the story of a major incident in which clones of major historical figures threaten to wipe out civilization, the British Library being central both to the creation and resolution of the crisis; R.O.D The TV continues the story five years later, after Britain's fall from power. Currently both anime versions and volume 1 of ''Read or Die'' manga have been released in English with volume 2 of the manga to soon be released. It is unknown at this time if the novels will also be released in English. The OVA is licensed by Manga Entertainment . The OVA series aired in the United States on Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim on Saturday, 23 October 2004 . The version aired showed all three episodes of the OVA into a single movie-length TV feature, leaving out only the repeat of the opening and closing sequences between episodes. {Link without Title} ''R.O.D the TV'' has also aired on G4TechTV 's Anime Unleashed . During the initial and later Adult Swim broadcasts of ''Read or Die'', Anime Unleashed aired ''R.O.D the TV'' in the same time slots. CHARACTERS AND INSTITUTIONS Organizations ;'''. Later, due to the fact that the timeline in the story met the real life moving of the British Library to the current site, the library in the story followed the move. ;British Library Special Operations Division (大英図書館特殊工作部, ''daiei-toshokan tokushu-kousakubu''): The secret enforcement branch of the British Library. Based in a giant underground complex concealed beneath the Great Court at the British Museum, the Special Operations Division employs a number of agents with special powers and runs operations all over the world to fight book-related crime and terrorism, and to acquire rare works for the Library. Slogan: "Peace to the books of the world, an iron hammer to those who would abuse them, and glory and wisdom to the British Empire!" The base was planned to move as the British Library is going to move to the new site, too. But the workers liked the old site better, therefore the move was delayed serveral times and finally cancelled. However, due to the need of the management of books, the Special Operations Division base built underground tunnels for the travelling and transfer of books from the new base built below the public library and the current base. The site was said to have been destroyed in R.O.D TV by Yomiko Readman before the story began and finally moved to the new site. ;Dokusensha (読仙社): A secret organization based in China, devoted to Chinese supremacy. In the novel, Dokusensha is lead by '''China''', who is also called Granny/Grandma, the ex-wife of '''Gentlemen''' and is the head of both Dokusensha and China. Dokusensha have numerous bases spread out in China and the main base is in Sichuan (四川), China. The base was invaded by the young form of ''Gentlemen'' (Called ''Young man'' for a short while) and after the genocide done by Gentlemen, he ordered (and Joker with the hope of being able to kill him as well followed) to shoot the place with the Satellite Laser owned by British and the base destroyed. British Library Staff ; and "paper Master" (紙使い, ''kamitsukai''), employed by the British Library Special Operations Division as an agent, being the 19th of the codename The Paper'''; her cover identity is a substitute teacher. Her power as a paper master enables her to control any paper she can touch, giving it almost unlimited strength, arbitrary sharpness, any form she can imagine, along with a speculated ability to manipulate its adhesiveness; in extreme circumstances she also falls back on special "battle paper" (戦闘用紙, ''sentou-you gami'') prepared by Jiggy. It is, however, briefly seen that while fighting an I-jin, she is able to control American Dollar Bills (which is technically cloth, not paper) that had briefly been used to form a blade. After it was forced to revert back to normal money, Yomiko is seen manipulating the dollar bills in mid-air, with no physical contact to most of the dollar bills. In the manga, she can delay the transformation of the paper, leaving them inside a book and when someone finishes reading it, the pieces of paper will pop up as animated objects. ;Joker: Yomiko's boss, the acting head of the Special Operations Division. Joker is a stereotypical Englishman (Kurata describes him as "someone whose photo you would expect to see in the entry for 'Englishman' in the Encyclopedia Britannica "); his cool head and skill with words are his primary weapons. He is in fact acting his coolness in the novel most of the time due to his ambition of being the actual head of the Division and gaining control of the whole country only under the command of Gentleman. Later in the novel, Joker's main thought is to destroy Gentlemen after he gained full control of the British Empire including all military, police, military intelligence and such which Gentleman appointed him for 9 days. ;Gentleman: The head of the British Library, and, behind the scenes, the ruler of the British Empire. An ancient man with a cybernetic eye and apparently boundless knowledge and wisdom. Although most people think of him as immortal, he knows he is not and constantly finding ways to make himself one by all means. He estimated himself to have about 100 years to live if he stayed in the helpless old man form or about 9 days in his young and best physical condition form. He is able to change by his own will and also able to give life energy to animals and transform them into powerful monsters. The same technique would kill a human instead because humans are physically very weak. Gentleman is also the father of all humanity with China as his wife 500000 years ago. ;Jiggy Stardust: The Special Operations Division's resident scientist, an aging man whose knowledge of paper is unrivalled. His role is similar to that of Q in the James Bond series. ;Wendy Earhart: A half-Indian, half-English girl. She joins the Special Operations Division young (aged 19), and soon becomes Joker's personal secretary. She still has the subfix ''in training'' after her work title. Earnest, devoted, and hopelessly clumsy. In the OVA, she is found to be more of a misplaced school-girl than an actual employee under the British Library; yet, in the Anime series, she is found to be more emotionally stable and serious about her work. At one point, she has Yomiko and the Paper Sisters at gun point; an action she is subliminally found to be incapable of performing in the OVA. What adds to this dramatic change is that she is also placed as head of a tactical squad at the same time in the gun-point incident, which suggests that she has also become more understanding of her own capabilities. In the novel, she was even once tricked by Joker to wear a french maid outfit to send message of Joker to Yomiko. ;Nancy Makuhari (ナンシー・幕張), codename ''Miss Deep'': An agent recruited by Joker in China. Her special power is the ability to become intangible and pass through solid objects; an ability known in the series and OVA as "Phasing" She later remarks when meeting Yomiko that she has a distaste for her codename, claiming it makes her sound "like a porn star". In the DVD version of R.O.D, she is revealed to be a clone of Mata Hari , a spy during World War 1 . She herself stated her ability has one weakness, is that she cannot breathe when the ability is activated because air will also pass through her lungs. She thought she could escape from any situation with her abilities but is proven wrong by Dokusensha's trapping her in a military submarine making her impossible to escape with no air within a few hundred metres outside and will probably freeze to death even if she did swam to the surface. Her ability can also be subpressed by the use of Ofuda (making her phasing speed slow down, not blocking her). ;Drake Anderson: A veteran of American special forces, currently employed by the Special Operations Division as a field support operative mercenary for their agents. Drake is a hardened, no-nonsense soldier. Though he has no super-powers, he is incredibly strong, and a highly-skilled soldier with considerable combat experience. Anderson has a young daughter named Maggie, whom he cares for deeply. ;Faust: A mysterious character imprisoned in the British Library. Though he appears young, he has in fact lived hundreds of years. He is the one closest resembles Gentleman and China with very slow growing speed. And because of that, Gentlemen trapped Faust just to hide his own secret. Faust is a knowledgable scholar with great skills in decrypting scripts. His name is referenced (stated in the novel) of Faust, summoner of the devil Mephistopheles , in the novel Faust . ;China: The head of Dokusensha in the novel. She is also called granny/grandma (Obasan) by higher ranked agents of Dokusensha. She called herself China when introducing herself to Yomiko. She is Gentleman's ex-wife and know the true history of humans hidden by Gentleman. She appear as a little girl with superb Kung Fu skills. Due to her energy consumption as child form is too great, she needs to go into deep sleep that is almost impossible to wake every week for one whole day. Yomiko's associates ;Nenene Sumiregawa (菫川ねねね ''Sumiregawa Nenene''): a Japanese schoolgirl and world-famous author. Her debut novel "Kimi ga boku wo shitteru" (君が僕を知ってる) was written when she was just 13. The two become acquainted when Yomiko works briefly as a supply teacher at Nenene's school;after Nenene is abducted by a crazy fan and subsequently rescued by Yomiko, the two become firm friends. ;Donny Nakajima: Yomiko's deceased mentor and, in life, lover; he was a fellow paper master, and her predecessor in the post of "The Paper". It is widely known that his death took place at her hands in mysterious circumstances. She now wears his glasses in his memory, and believes that reading through them enables him to continue reading as well. However Joker reveals to her in the anime series that he is in fact still alive, it is this action that causes her to destroy the British Special Forces base. OVA characters: the I-Jin ; Gennai Hiraga : The inventor of the Electrolator box, Gen-nai uses his invention to control electricity. This gives him the ability to create devastating lightning strikes, electrocute his enemies with lightning bolts, and, when push comes to shove, fight with a lightsaber-like blade made of pure electricity. His manipulation of electricity also allows him to stop bullets in mid-air. On top of all that, he's very athletic, and claims to live by the code of the samurai. Personality-wise, Gen-nai's very gruff and no-nonsense, and probably says the least out of all the I-Jin. ;''', Jean Henri Fabre has the power to control insects. He always carries around a swarm of wasps in a jar around his neck, and he can command them to carry out his wishes, such as attacking enemies, retrieving objects, or carrying him through the air. He's also usually seen riding around on giant mechanical insects, such as the giant grasshopper he fights Yomiko on at the beginning of the series. Additionally, Fabre appears to be part insect himself, and every time he is "killed" he simply molts his old skin and emerges in a new, more developed form (for example, in his first appearance, he resembles an old man- when he is smeared against a wall by Yomiko he sheds his skin and emerges as a child. Later, when shot, he sheds his child form and transforms into an adult). Because he spends most of the series in the form of a child, Fabre's personality is very chipper and cheerful. ;''' and Potato-masher Grenades . Otto speaks with a heavy German accent, and seems to easily get frustrated and high-strung when attacked. ;''', Sanzo now dresses like his protagonist monk Sanzang and fights with powers similar to that of his Monkey King character, Sun Wukong . He glides through the air on a small cloud, and fights with a metal staff that can expand in length almost indefinitely; the staff can also create flame from its tips. When his robes are torn off, it is revealed than Sanzo is powered by a heart-like steam mechanism that has replaced his heart and part of his chest. Oddly, he also displays the ability to part and hold back the waters of a large bay (perhaps a reference to the Monkey King's legendary dislike of water). Sanzo's personality is that of a relentless and serious fighter, in an interesting contrast to the original of Sun Wukong. ; Ludwig Van Beethoven : The famous classical musician. Beethoven's body is hooked up to a massive pipe organ at the center of the I-Jin fortress, from where he will play his "Death Symphony" to a captive global audience. Beethoven has the least screen-time out of all the I-Jin, and has no speaking lines. He appears to enjoy playing his music, however. ; Stephen Wilcox : Somewhat famous inventor and machinist of 1880s America. Wilcox, along with his lifelong friend and business partner George Babcock, designed, patented and marketed the "Water Tube Steam" boiler, an improvement over previous steam engines that offered more power and was considerably safer. Wilcox makes a minor appearance as the builder of many of the I-Jin machinery, including Otto Lilienthal's Glider and the I-Jin Fortress itself, which appears to be steam powered instead of nuclear powered as Joker implies. He is portrayed as being built into the Fortress and visibly insane. ;''' manner, whether discussing poetry or the extermination of humanity. In spite of his fancy speeches and supposedly lofty goals, in the end Ikkyuu comes across as a petty and cruel man- he kills his own minions after they have served their purpose, and replaces his lover when she no longer pleases him, all with a calm and carefree heartlessness. It is unclear exactly what his powers are, although he is able to create life-like illusions out of artwork, and fire green flames from his skull-like staff that cause anything they touch to decay. ; Mata Hari : Appears in the list of stolen DNA, and a mysterious woman is spotted by Joker around the I-Jin. Although this is never revealed in the OVA, she is actually Miss Deep. EXTERNAL LINKS
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