Review of Read or Die TV:

I'm gonna take a crack at reviewing this anime. But, since there are two ways to approach this anime, I'll essentially review it TWICE.

So. The first way you can approach this anime is as a follow-up to the RoD OAVs.

Coming from that, you're introduced to three entirely new characters, no familiar characters, and a plot that's impressive, but leaves you wondering, "Where are my old favorites?" The basic trio of sisters that comprise the 'Three Sisters Detective Agency' are interesting characters, in their own right, but the directors of the anime decided that one of them was worth far more attention than the other two.

This is kind of like when you watch SMJ, thinking it's about Cherry, Lime, and Bloodberry, but you realize, wait, it's really only about Lime!

Unfortunately, the character they chose to develop and focus the most annoying and least sympathetic of the three sisters. And yeah, it's the kid. With pink hair. Funny, that.

What was obviously intended to be moments of drama unfortunately came across as stilted. What's supposed to portray Anita as vulnerable just makes her look whiny. And the entire anime ends with a gratuitous play for sympathy that evokes more eye-rolling than actual emotion.

The action sequences (where there is action) are pretty good, even if they do mostly center around Anita. Unsurprisingly, when the action focuses on someone else, the action sequences get even better, evoking true awesomeness at about the midpoint of the anime.

The plot development is a bit stilted, and poorly justified.

There's a bit more here, but those involve spoilers, so we'll move on to the other approach to the anime first.

The other way you can look at this anime, is as a wholly independant universe from the original. Approaching it from that direction, the lack of familiar characters isn't a betrayal, though Anita is still annoying.

The action sequencs are good, even though the three sisters all have the same power (there's slight variations in how they actually do it, which lends a bit of flavor to all three of them. Well, okay, Anita's still not as cool).

Now, for the bits that are true for both:

The plot is sketchy, vague, and really (ultimately) hindered by the continual mocking of the US. What was kind of awkward in the OAVs now becomes fully embarassing to watch. Especially since it adds nothing to the anime to show just how incompetent us Americans are. Hint: The US has no actual role in the anime other than to look stupid (not counting ... well, we'll get to that). They do not fulfill any truly plot relevant points. The fact that it was included seems, in all honesty, in poor taste (and I'm about as un-patriotic as they come, what with me emmigrating OUT of the US!).

If you look at the story as more of a study of the characters who are in the struggle than the struggle itself, then the vagueries are irrelevant, and you're left with the fact that, well, Anita is still annoying, and becomes progressively moreso as time wears on. And really, that approach is letting the directors take a cop-out on their job of direction.

Now. On to the section that will contain spoilers. I'll try and keep them minor, but they're going to be there. Hilight to read:

The big question you're probably asking (if you haven't asked someone else already) is: Does Yomiko show up?

And in all honesty, most of your old favorites from the OAVs do reprise their previous roles.

Yomiko is more fleshed out and explored as a character, this time around. Unfortunately, most of her screen time is spent putting up with Anita screaming about something or another. Her role is kept so minor that she's realisticaly only a background character compared to the sisters. But then, the anime is about the sisters, not the original cast.

Drake returns, larger than life, and twice as cool as before. He actually gets probably the most development of any character outside of the three sisters and Junior. Strangely enough, Anita doesn't whine at him too much. Its as though the director were trying to prove that Anita was better than Yomiko, and never regarded Drake as competition....

Anyway. Joker returns, in all of his cardboard cutout glory. Unfortunately, they took pretty much everything that was cool about Joker and turned it into raw, pure, untainted dumb. There's no real other way to phrase is: Joker's made such a paradoy of his character in the original OAV you have to wonder why they bothered using him when they could have just as easily (more easily) replaced him with a new character.

And now, the conclusion of this review. While not a series I regretted watching (the action sequences at the aformentioned midway point were totally awesome), this is NOT a series I would reccomend watching to someone else. The ending is actually not that bad, but the series had a lot of promise up until the final four or five episodes. Then it got stupid. Really stupid.

The ending was a little too much talking, not enough action, and ultimately unsatisfying, as it still leaves a question or two unanswered. It gives hope, of course, and seeing Drake dressed up like an 1842 Englishman is pretty cool, but most of the series just isn't worth it.

Your viewing time is probably better spent watching something else (as long as it's not Narutaru).