Quick note:
Disorder Rating
Low
Moderate
Very High
Low
Very High
High
Low
High
High
[Obsessive-Compulsive](http://www.4degreez.com/misc/disorder_information2.html
Moderate
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).
I signed up for a livejournal just so I could comment on my friends' entries.
True bloggage will overcome.
So. I've been hanging out with the Communists more often these days.
The Communists are some friends of mine. Used to be roomates for a while, back in the day. Of course, things went down poorly at one point, and I had to bail to further my career, and left them behind.
They didn't hold it against me, though.
Time went on, the Communist clatch grew in size. There were, I think, five people in the original commune.
Now there are six. And they have some communal friends.
One of them is a certain Major.
I call him Mr. Major because I don't think he's a person I like enough to call by his first name.
Now, this guy, for reasons I don't know, has never liked me. The FIRST time I met him was when I had just gotten the first volume of Excel Saga on DVD, and was still living with the communists. I was the major lease-holder of the house. The television in the living room was mine.
Walker (one of the communists) had told me that he was inviting a friend over. Walker was not actually a tenant at that point, and was actually only a guest.
I said this was okay, and then Mr. Major and two other people came in. Major saw that I was watching something animated, said something derogatory about anime in general, and then (keep in mind, I was the one who was paying rent here) told me to get off the TV so he could show Walker (a guest) the SpaceBalls movie.
I was in a bad mood with A: more people that should have been there in the room, and B: him being an asshole.
But I moved aside, cranked my headphones to maximum volume, and listened to AMVs.
Now, as I visit the communists more often these days, I also (obviously) run into Mr. Major more often. And he seems to harbor some resentment against me.
He seems to think I'm a bad person, and just generally try and say clever things about how stupid I am behind my back. I say things about how stupid he is to his face, but they all go over his head. He assumes (correctly) that I'm saying something bad about him, and to his face, but has no idea WHAT I said.
So he just gets all huffy.
But today. I decided to drop in on the communists to hang out with Sterling, because we were going to discuss gaming (which we did a bit) and Mr. Major made noises about joining our Demon: the Fallen campaign.
I didn't really care.
So, we were getting hungry. I asked Jim (Communist) what he thought about dinner, and he said he had to go to Fry's to get something for Mr. Major (for some reason). My younger brother was with me, so I said, "Let's all go to Fry's, then."
Major doesn't like this (for some reason) but we all go. Me and my brother in his car.
While we're there, Jim bemoans his lack of funds, seeing as there's a CPU on sale he could use to bring his dead PC back to life, but he's short about ten dollars the cost of it.
So I say something like, "Well, it's your birthday next month, and I won't have the money then. So, happy birthday." And I buy it for him.
(Aside: When the cashier asked me if I wanted a bag for the processor, I answered, "No thanks, we'll eat it in the car.")
(She didn't notice.)
So, we split up there. Me and my brother to get food, and I asked Jim if he could do me a favor and pick up the drinks. We get back to the townhouse, lay out the food, Jim and Major come home with the drinks, and we all have a merry feast.
Except for Mr. Major.
Who makes a big deal out of asking me for permission for taking food.
Now, I do this thing once a month (or so) where I get some food for everyone in the Communist Block, we eat together, talk about gaming, and I make comments about their worship of me sustaining my god-like powers.
A good time is had by all.
Usually (since he hangs out there a lot) Major is there, too.
Not ONCE have I said he couldn't eat.
But he always asks.
And then, after he eats, he's still rude to me.
He lacks respect, is what it is.
And I would get annoyed, yeah, but wouldn't mind THAT much if he disrespected me.
But.
He disrespects my FRIENDS.
He goes over, and kicks these people off of their own TV so he can play his game.
He goes over, and drags Jim over to a GameStop, just so that he can take advantage of Jim's employee discount.
He openly disrespects EVERYONE in the townhouse. To their faces.
And today, he made some openly snide comment about me to my face.
And I thought about it for a while.
And I decided to leave.
Because, hey, I don't want to just explode and pick a fist-fight with him on the spot. I want to step back and consider, and try to understand why I think he's such a bad person.
And now I pretty much have.
So, the next time I see him, I'll tell him ... "If you have something to say to me, say it to my face. If you're too much of a coward to say something to me, but brave enough to take food I bring for my friends, I think you're going to be better off not showing your face around me." And now.
This is why I hated psychology in college. It allows me SO EASILY to take someone apart and understand how they work. And consider them less people, and more just an assemply of complexes and disorders.
So. I show Major the same respect that he shows everyone else.
Which is none.
Guy pisses me off.
And, I've decided (after considering my piss-poor excuse for a manager at Televigation) that I'm not going to take this anymore.
Obviously, I need to be careful about how I approach this -- I don't need (or want) to pick a fight with everyone I see. But at the same time, the only way this guy is ever going to grow up is if someone gives him a verbal kick in the pants, and opens up his eyes enough to show him that the world is a hell of a lot bigger than him.
Ironically, I hurt because I care. There are two possible outcomes to my confrontation with him. In one of them, he resents me, and fails to grow. In another, he grows, and probably still doesn't like me, but hey, at least he's grown, and most likely I don't have to deal with him anymore.
I'm now unemployed.
I don't consider it much of a loss.
It's unclear on if I'll be elegible for unemployment. Either way, the stress of that place was eating me up. I don't think I can work customer service anymore. I'm really poisoned against it.
Monday, I go back to school and straighten out the confusion behind me being admitted to any classes.
Hmm.
Tuesday, I start looking for work. Night work.
Moving boxes in a warehouse.
Or something. Something that doesn't involve customers, anyway.