R.O.D – Read Or Die

Reading has never been my thing for a long time. Not even manga. I don’t know, I just don’t like that. And so I thought it was pretty strange for an anime with a title like R.O.D – Read Or Die to challenge people like me. At least that is what it looks like on the outside. Sort of. Will this get me into the habit of reading? Hey, I’m already watching the anime, so that itself says a lot. From the synopsis, it looks like somebody mysterious is trying to use great historical figures to control the world. Oh, another one of those megalomaniacs bent on world domination, huh? Why historical figures? I guess it’s much cooler that way. Hey, don’t ask me. I don’t read so I don’t know anything about many of these historical figures. Except they’re all mostly dead. Heh.

OVA 1
Oh sh*t! Some weird Japanese guy blows up the White House because it’s not the library he is looking for?! Now we see Yomiko Readman as she wakes up from her messy room and goes on a buying spree of books! No need to be worried about the money. She’s got the cash to splash! No wonder all bookstores love her as the best customer! She’s buying so much books, can she fit them all in her bag?! At one shop, she manages to grab a book she wanted from another rival, Miss Deep. It could’ve gotten uglier had not some other distraction stopped her from making her move. Yomiko enjoys reading the new book she got that she is oblivious to an accident caused by a swarm of bees around her! Only when this insect guy stole her book, did she do everything she can to take it back. This includes using her paper abilities to fight back. Hence her codename as Paper. Yeah, dumb guy crashed into the building and died. Yomiko is then summoned by Joker to see Gentleman for a mission. Yes, it’s that White House destruction. Apparently he has stolen 600 traveller’s journals from the federal reserve library and their mission is to bring it back. From the footage, this man is believed to be Gennai Hiraga. This inventor is already dead but DNA samples confirm it is him. You see, over a year ago, somebody stole genetic samples of Iijin from the World Prodigal Gene Storage Agency. Gennai is confirmed to be one of the names on the list. That insect dude is a clone of Jean Henri Fabre, an entomologist. His target was her book. It can be said that somebody is using Iijin to steal books but for purposes unknown. Yomiko is further motivated that she will get the second volume of that book if she is successful.

Joker then calls Drake Anderson who is not impressed he has to play a supporting role to Yomiko. So while he investigates the crime site, Yomiko goes to read a book but stumbles into Deep. Seems she is assigned to be her partner by Joker but was unaware of her as Paper. Yomiko wants to get to know her but Deep will not reveal her real name. They just met, right? She also demonstrates her ability to pass through solid objects. She thinks light of Yomiko’s paper ability until she almost got injured by it. Suddenly, Otto Lilienthal soars in with his hi-tech glider to steal a book. Time for a big chase through the city. Yeah, those American helicopters do nothing but explode. Otto sure made a fool out of them. Even when they send in the entire army of helicopters, Gennai’s uses EMP to block them out! The entire helicopter squad gone!!! Yomiko creates a giant paper plane to chase after Otto with Deep. Otto is frustrated that he cannot outsmart her and his bullets are nothing against her paper defence. In the end, the sky chase ends with Deep hooking his glider to the statue so he keeps going in spirals until he crashes and dies! Yomiko is happy that she saved the book. Deep thinks she’s an idiot for valuing the book more than her life but acknowledges her abilities. Deep reveals her real name as Nancy Makuhari. She never liked her codename anyway.

OVA 2
A surveillance footage showed some stolen books are already in India. The footage was subsequently destroyed. Our agents are to head there and to confirm if an Iijin was involved and to meet up with the local dealer, Jahaal. Later Joker detects some strange woman in the footage and has Wendy Earhart do some checking. Although she comes up with nothing, he has her to research deeper and use dirty tactics if necessary. Yomiko and Nancy are looking for Jahaal in his place, they are attacked by Genjo Sanzo who wants the book they are having. Since he can breathe fire and his staff can extend to great lengths, the duo are left to run. Oh, he is chasing them on a flying cloud. But Joker notices the steam emitted is the same as Otto’s glider. The ladies thought they can escape via sea. However Genjo just chants his spell and split it open! Yomiko is forced to be on defensive mode as Drake has her lead Genjo to a certain spot so that he can fire the submarine’s missile. A direct hit but Genjo survives and in his anger, overturns the submarine. Now he focuses in killing the ladies. Nancy doing a dangerous move to get up close and hold him so Yomiko can spam all her paper at him. One of it hits his mechanical heart. Uhm, bleeding oil? With Yomiko tending to an injured Nancy, Genjo who is still alive manages to steal the book and throws it to his comrade on a dragonfly. When Genjo wants to settle the score with Yomiko, he is killed off by Ikkyu Soujun. The girls manage to escape into the submarine before the water floods back the area.

In the aftermath, Nancy recuperates in hospital and is doing fine. She blames herself for losing the book but Nancy is okay with it. They can search for the book next time but there is only 1 Nancy in this world. Joker realizes that the book belongs to Beethoven after confirming its contents and handwriting. But it is unknown why Iijin wants his books. Suddenly radio all over the world is interfered with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony playing. A huge fortress appears over the Pacific Ocean. All TV broadcast is hijacked by Iijin Corps led by Ikkyu. Basically, he thinks there are too many people in the world and only a few talented like them are sufficient to remain to take care of it. Yup, mass genocide. But he is going to do it without the use of biological or atomic weapons as that will contaminate the planet. Stay tune next time to find out! Ikkyu then calls for Nancy, or rather Matahari to return. Joker immediately orders her arrest but she takes Yomiko hostage so Drake can’t do anything. But as we have seen her powers, she slips through the walls after saying goodbye to dear Yomiko. Yomiko is left stunned while Wendy was a second too late to report her findings to Joker: The real Nancy was dead in college. HOW COULD AN ORGANIZATION THAT DEALS WITH RECORDS AND DETAILS MISS SOMETHING THIS BIG???!!! Jokes on you Joker… Anyway, Gentleman immediately suspends all operations to retrieve books and in force now is the operation to exterminate Iijin Corps. He leaves Joker in charge and gives him permission to use his name should he encounter foreign interference. Drake and Yomiko make their way to the fortress.

OVA 3
All the warships are surrounding the fortress. The gates open and Joker knows this is a trap. They’ll take whatever chance and create new opportunities. But as the plane enters, bug boy destroys it. Luckily, Drake and Yomiko survive the crash. Since Yomiko is still distraught about Nancy, Drake is giving her a pep talk not to drag him along. Suddenly bug boy throws him off the platform and puts Yomiko to sleep. She is imprisoned in a chamber as Ikkyu explains his genocide plan. Basically, everyone is going to kill themselves when they hear this subliminal song and that is why he is using Beethoven’s works. This is the most efficient plan to destroy mankind in an instant without tainting the planet. But Yomiko has to deal with Nancy who looks like she is regretting her betrayal. She gets distraught thinking Ikkyu broke his promise to let Yomiko live. Of course he will, not in this state. He’ll kill her and take her genes and make a clone of her. Just like how he did it for her. And soon Nancy’s clone kills her off. Then they leave and let the room fill up with water and let Yomiko go to her slow watery grave. As you would’ve expect, Drake is still alive as he responds to command centre. Joker sends him on a mission to destroy the fortress’ nuclear power reactor to prevent the rocket launch. Because the fortress will be heading to the equator to launch its rocket and once it reaches a certain height, the subliminal song will play and it’s game over. Why did Yomiko not use the paper that was her hair clip to break free?! Why must she wait till last minute only to do so?! Anyway, she does so and just in time to fight Gennai who is standing in Drake’s way. Electric sword vs paper sword. Well, Yomiko isn’t much of a swordswoman and is left running. Again, why does she not use her paper like missile to cut him? Why must she wait for last minute? Was it so to lead him to some dry ice pipe and then freeze him all over and kill him? Whatever. It worked. Anyway, the American president is panicking and orders to fire everything! Yeah, the fortress just destroys the destroyers in a blink of an eye! President goes crazy and wants to unleash the nukes! Thank goodness his sane bodyguards stop him.

Drake makes his way to the reactor but has to battle bug boy. Yomiko manages to catch up to Ikkyu but looks like she is made to play with Nancy. Oh, don’t worry, looks like the old Nancy is still alive and will keep her busy so Yomiko can continue her mission. A fight between a power user who can go through solids? This is going to be a tough fight… Although Drake manages to defeat bug boy and destroy the reactor, Ikkyu isn’t flinching since this has been taken into account and so the rocket still launches. Ode to massacre coming soon! Luckily Yomiko is on board and tries to fight Ikkyu. Uhm, she’s asking him to return her book?! But Nancy returns. She shoots Yomiko. Then she gets close to Ikkyu and crushes his heart and throws away his detonator. To deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies. And with that, the threat of mass suicide is over. Nancy laments that she didn’t care about the world. As long as he was beside him, it was all that mattered to her. As the rocket will be heading into space forever, they need to get out. WTF Yomiko is hesitant to use the book as parachute because she hasn’t read it yet?! It’s that or space. But as Yomiko jumps, Nancy didn’t follow her. She decides to stay by Ikkyu’s side. It’s going to be a long lonely journey in space. While everyone celebrates the mission’s success, a sad Yomiko floats down as she clutches Nancy’s last message to take care of her younger sister. In the aftermath, this younger Nancy is still alive but recovering in hospital. However from all the shock, she has lost her memories. Yomiko visits her and tells her of her sister’s great achievements that saved the world.

Episode 1
Nenene Sumiregawa just landed in Hong Kong. Michelle Cheung picks her up but Nenene is not impressed with how she spelled her name wrongly. Michelle is a bit klutzy as she introduces her to her towering sister, Maggie Mui who is the driver. Along the way, the sisters are amazed that Nenene’s book will be adapted to a movie although she is not impressed because she wrote that book 4 years ago and hasn’t written since. Upon reaching their hotel, a bomb explodes and they narrowly escape the falling debris. Turns out that the bomb was intended for Nenene. This anti-Japanese dude wants her to get out and is also calling demands to cease production of her movie. By right, they should call off the book signing ceremony tomorrow but Nenene will not allow a fool to defeat her and let violence win. The ceremony will go on and she isn’t expecting the police to provide full protection. Michelle so touched that she and her sister will protect her. Since the hotel is off limits, she takes Nenene back to her apartment to stay. Oh no, the door breaks apart! Another terrorist attack? Nope. Just overflowing with books. Not sure about these book drafts but their youngest sister, Anita King hates this job. In short, Nenene and Anita don’t like each other. Nenene wants to leave but Michelle holds a sister’s conference to vote if she should stay. 2-1. Gotta love democracy. That night, they notice Nenene missing so they go look for her in the pouring rain. Anita finds her staring outside a bookstore. They talk and it seems Nenene is searching for someone she admires who is currently missing. She is also a book lover and hasn’t heard anything from her in 4 years.

As the ceremony gets underway, suddenly this guy handcuffs Nenene and shows a book containing the bomb! Damn, the heightened security and how the f*ck they let him through???!!! DID THEY NOT CHECK ALL VISITORS COMING FOR HER AUTOGRAPH???!!! He lets Nenene hold a pen with a ball. If it touches either end, bomb explodes. Basically this washed up writer rants how a foreigner’s work can be turned into a movie while his is side-lined. Nenene is not impressed because if he wants to kill her, do it via writing. She won’t die with this mere bomb. This makes the guy mad so the sisters go into action as we see them unleash their paper abilities to cut the handcuff, throw the bomb out and erect a thick paper barricade to protect from the explosion. Nenene is amazed seeing this as she shows a locket and asks if they know this person whom she is looking for: Yomiko. Sorry, don’t know who she is. Before Nenene takes her flight back to Japan, she gives the sisters each a signed book. After the plane departs, Michelle comes rushing in with news that looks like there is another culprit. Yup, the brother. He takes the cabin hostage and once more Nenene is not impressed. You brothers have more passion in violence than killing, huh? The dude panics when he sees Anita outside! Fired random shots. The sisters are riding a giant paper dragon. Don’t worry if they smash up the window and structure, they can also plaster it back with paper to stabilize the cabin pressure, no? The dude is taken down and Anita credits Nenene’s book in taking the bullet that saved her life. No time to butt heads because one of the bullets hit the engine. Plane gonna crash? Not if Maggie envelops the plane with her paper dragon. But it’s too heavy. Cut off the wings! It’s a rough landing but at least everyone is safe. Welcome to Japan.

Episode 2
Lee Linho has the sisters stay in an apartment that is close to Nenene’s place. He is Nenene’s editor and hopes they can take on an additional job as her bodyguard until she gets back on her feet. I guess that means forever. After all, Lee is a big fan of Nenene and wants to see her next work. Too bad their apartment is boring and empty. So the sisters go to stay and bug Nenene at her place! Holy sh*t! They’re really making themselves at home! Nenene had to put her foot down and lay down the rules. Or else. So while Nenene returns to her work (writer’s block as usual), she hears some mini explosion sound. She goes to check it out and Michelle trying to prevent her to see? Eventually she finds out the other sisters trying to hide the TV they busted! Sighs… Just go to sleep! Next morning, she sees the sisters brushing teeth at the same time in the same cramped toilet. Claustrophobic. She leaves to meet Lee and wants them gone when she gets back. Oh, also compensate her TV. Meeting Lee, he seems pretty happy that Nenene is more energetic as usual. Did he mistake that anger of hers? Even so, this is the most energetic he has seen her in 4 years. Nenene returns and Maggie acting as her butler? Great service but something is wrong. Where her furniture?! They threw them away! Hey, at least they got her a new TV and kept her books. GET THEM BACK NOW!!! Out of the pan and into the fire because Michelle in seduction mode. Oh boy. This gonna be a long night… You think Michelle has cooked a great meal for her. Turns out she bought them and wants Nenene to compensate her. WHAT THE FFFFUUUUUU???!!! At boiling point now? She has to eat all of them in order not to waste it. But what now? Looks like Anita’s diary dropped and they really baiting her to read it. Oh well… It depicts Anita’s embarrassing moments. Nenene not impressed but an embarrassed Anita barging through to tear all her notes away. Eventually when Maggie gets all the furniture back, Nenene kicks them out for good. I’m sure Nenene is enjoying her lonely life. But as she notices the things the sisters has done for her home, she goes to pick them up loitering in the park. She’ll allow to stay but lays down some rules. Yay! No homeless sisters for tonight.

Episode 3
Nenene can’t stand the sisters sleeping so cramped up so she decides to let them have her parents’ bedroom. So start cleaning! But once done, it seems the bed is still too small to fit all of them. Maggie has a place she wants to sleep and so she becomes Harry Potter and makes the storeroom beneath the stairs her bedroom! After Nenene goes out to have a meeting with Lee, the sisters bum around and since they see the news channel about a reporter bugging Nenene on that hijacking incident, they realize they’re supposed to be her bodyguards and be with her. Remembering where Nenene went for her meeting, looks like it is in Jinbocho. Oh, where? Let’s say it’s a bookworm’s haven. Yup, Maggie and Michelle are drooling to their heart’s content. THIS IS HEAVEN! Aren’t they supposed to look for Nenene? Well, this has become a free search. Lee talks to Nenene about suggestions of making one of her past works some paperback edition. She is however not too fond in going through her old works again. She also has some fan mails but she doesn’t even want to read them and keeps piling them up. Nenene also meets an up and coming writer, Haruhi Nishizono who is also her biggest fan. She got into writing because of her and hopes to talk more about each other on another day. OMG. Michelle is losing herself! The way she is asphyxiating and being orgasmic at all the books! BOOKS! SHE’LL BUY THE ENTIRE BOOKSTORE!!! With the bookstore closing down because of this, news spread that a certain girl may have returned. So they go prepare a fair with rare books to welcome her return. Meanwhile Anita tails Nenene to a secret underground bookstore and gets busted. Nenene then takes her to Yomiko’s home. Basically her entire place is like one giant bookshelf. Nenene comes here once in a while and buys some new books in hopes that she will return. Ironically, Anita hates books but yet she is a paper master. They pass through the fair as Nenene lights up when she heard some woman who loves buying books has returned. Oh God! Has she come home! Well, don’t get your hopes up because here comes Michelle with a trolley of books! There’s your answer. Nenene so pissed and could’ve killed her for this false hope had not Anita stopped her.

Episode 4
Nenene wants Anita to go to school because the housewives are whispering rumours she might be abused. If the police get any reports, it will be trouble for her. Anita may not like this but I guess democracy rules again. Anita transfers to some junior high school and makes friends with the shy Hisami Hishiishii while butting head with bratty Tooru Okahara. Anita shows her smarts in class so other girls quickly gather around her. This also causes a rivalry with Natsume who is Haruhi’s younger sister. Yeah, she’s proud of her sister’s works. Too bad Anita isn’t even a book lover. With Anita and Tooru getting into constant squabbles, the rest think they’re in love with each other. If that’s not big enough a headache for her, looks like Michelle is also here! She disguised herself as a student to see how Anita is doing. Yeah, bored staying at home? Uh huh. Leave the boring job of looking after Nenene to Maggie. Michelle is happy that Anita is making friends but too bad she mostly see her classmates as weirdoes or jerks. As joining a club is compulsory, Anita isn’t interested but will join whatever club Hisami is in. Well… It’s a book club! They just do nothing but read books! Hisami introduces her to Richard who often supplies them with English books. He is here to get some book when suddenly someone snipes at his feet! He gives some book to Anita and tells her to hide it. Anita plays a cat and mouse game with the assassin, Junior who is also a kid like her. Thanks to Michelle intervening, Junior escapes. Junior returns to his master who is no other than Joker. He confirms Anita’s paper master abilities. Joker orders him to find and retrieve that book as well as get more info on those sisters. When Michelle and Anita return home, looks like Maggie tells them Nenene has suddenly left (she got a posting regarding Yomiko). Calling Lee about it, it looks like she won’t be back for a while so he has the sisters take a vacation for now. That’s not paid vacation, mind you. But a pigeon brings a message and this lights up Michelle because they have a job now.

Episode 5
The sisters are now in Romania! Aside from their mini book buying spree, they meet Kim who is a coordinator of a Chinese company, Dokusensha. He talks about the great fire that destroyed the British Library 4 years ago. Many rare books were burnt and some were saved. And there are those that were smuggled out during the chaos. They have verified one of them to be in the hands of Webber, the master of this island castle and their job is to retrieve that stolen book. The sisters wait till night fall to sneak in. But looks like Webber knows of their coming and nullifies their power. Only Anita’s power seems to be working. As they trek into the castle, they stumble into a torture chamber and then attacked by bats. Maggie tries to save Anita but looks like the latter views that as uncalled for and lashes out at her for being a burden. Michelle slaps her and tells her to apologize. Sisterly fight have to be put on hold since they are now attacked by a dog. Although they manage to escape, Anita is separated from them. Luckily, the sisters end up in the same room. This is an experimental chamber of Webber and he is going to conduct his experiment on them. He is able to control things via sound frequency. From ultrasonic to infrasonic, he’s got it all covered. He plays a frequency to disable the sisters but only Michelle remains unaffected. Then he plays one that resonates on her but not affect the rest. Hence the sisters have to come up with a plan to take him down. Using themselves as distraction, they also use papers as some sort of silencer to negate the effects. This allows Anita to throw a book right at him. No resonance value. Just hard solid object. Anita becomes emotional to see Maggie in an injured state (but not fatal). She is overcome with emotion as she apologizes for the mean thing she said to her. The book is retrieved and returned to Kim. As reward, his comrade, Sonny Wong gives them 2 toilet papers! I guess paper masters are very happy with that. Webber’s servant tries to snipe at Anita as revenge but luckily Maggie protects her although this causes her to use a lot of strength. Servant is beaten up by Wong. The sisters return home and have a good sleep. Don’t mind their inelegant sleeping pose. They’re all very tired.

Episode 6
Looks like there’ll be a day where parents will come visit and observe their child in class. In addition to that, they have to write a book report and those chosen will read it out in class. You know how Anita dreads both, right? Since Hisami wants to visit Anita’s home, she reluctantly does so. Oh my. Her sisters being absolute weirdoes and giving her first class treatment! Even more ecstasy for Michelle when she learns she loves books and a fan of Nenene. She wants her to be her little sister! But too bad they can’t visit Nenene now as she is sleeping and they have strict orders not to wake her up no matter what. Before Michelle hogs Hisami, Anita takes her to her room. Anita still not keen in that book report and would prefer to do something else. In the school library, Anita stumbles into Junior. She doesn’t recognize him since he is dressed as a school student. It seems Anita clicks with him because he too mentions he doesn’t like books. Meanwhile Nenene has some inspiration and writes the outline of her next work, much to Lee’s delight. When Nenene and the sisters find out of Anita’s book report, this has Nenene asking why Anita hates books. Michelle reveals Anita’s oldest memories are burning books amidst the cries and some shady fear. It is a picture of fear for her. She acts like normal but that fear is etched deep in her mind. Something must have happened before they happened. That’s right. Anita is not their real sister. But they treat her like a real one. When Anita is adamant she isn’t going to write a book report because nobody from her family her come, Hisami disagrees. She too will have no family come on that day as they are away. But she will still write one because she loves books and that is how she honours it. Because books cheered her up, they were her only friends before Anita came. That’s why she hopes Anita will like books too because she loves them both. Anita gives it a long thought and goes home and starts reading for her book report. When that day comes, Anita is confident nobody will come but look, it’s her sisters and they brought Nenene along too. And Anita gets picked first to read her report. Yeah, her family watching with baited breath… Can she do it?! Believe in her, please!

Episode 7
At a café, Anita and Maggie realize Michelle has not returned from the toilet. Anita looks for her and realizes she is missing. When questioning the owner about this, he claims he only saw 2 of them. Even the customers vouch to this. Realizing they have been set up, Maggie takes Anita away. Since they came to this country illegally, they can’t go to the police. They return to the hotel and realize they have booked a room for 2. Then there’s a letter from John Smith and he sounds like the perpetrator. A call from Kim and it is believed everyone here is under control of John Smith. When they try to move out and change hotel, the police arrest Maggie. She is being interrogated for the murder of Michelle. They have eye witnesses and even photo proof that the sisters ended up in a heated argument and Maggie stabbed her to die. Lies! Anita heads to the police to help but they know of no such sisters and is shooed away. Then those customers creepily wants to welcome Anita into her family? RUN! Hiding in the alley, she stumbles into Michelle. Tears of joy. In the hotel, Michelle says that when she came out of the toilet, both of them were gone. Clearly a set up to separate them. For now they shall rest. That night Anita wakes up and sees a book on the table. Oh dear. Michelle creeping up behind her… Doesn’t look good! Maggie meanwhile finds her cell door unlock and escapes. Michelle wakes up in a coffin and in a room filled with papers. Not sure about this dude working hard for the sake of humans. And what’s this about John Smith is everywhere but nowhere and never gets caught but she gets it. Meanwhile Joker gives some book to Dokusensha and pledges his allegiance. Michelle takes an agent hostage and this enables her to save Maggie from getting run over by a car. She explains John Smith being the same person as they are and has no interest in anything. This place is actually a huge set John Smith created to continue acting out his life. They find Anita on a rooftop but she is confused if they are imposters. Michelle tells her it’s up to her to decide because she can’t put up an act before her. Yeah, nobody can smile that goofy. The real deal. Tears of joy. Kim drives the tired sisters away as the whole set collapses. Something about wasted effort from this bogus intelligence but will make them pay for it.

Episode 8
Looks like the library is in a mess again. Hisami and Anita talk about it and they think it must be some poltergeist. They think of catching it and since Natsume heard them, she organizes the entire class for this! Damn, the girls quipping she’ll scare off the poltergeist instead! Meanwhile some experiment to install words into some illiterate man. Installation successful with increased IQ but the guy is experiencing some shock. The experiment is considered a failure and aborted but Joker calls it successful. Although this might be useless if they cannot put it into practical use, this is the first step in moving forward. Natsume hosts this poltergeist party at the library at night. After giving her usual speech, everyone is stationed at their position to catch poltergeist. Are they going to do this all night? Soon they get bored and take a break. Hisami wants to go buy drinks but Tooru will accompany her. Because Anita is slow on the uptake, the rest tell her that Tooru is making his move on Hisami since he has a crush on her. Anita goes to spy on their confession scene but is spooked after realizing Junior is here. She takes him somewhere else to hang out. Anita finds it fun even if they don’t end up catching the poltergeist. For the first time she is having fun with others instead of her sisters. She wants him to experience this too because she has never seen him smile. When they go back, looks like Michelle is entertaining the class with her paper tricks! Yeah, it’s late so she got worried. Anita introduces Junior for the first time and Michelle is ecstatic! She wants to welcome him as her brother?! Stop giving this kid trauma! The other friends tease Anita she has a boyfriend. Tooru looking worried as he notices Hisami’s worried looks. In the end, no poltergeist caught as everyone goes home. It seems whatever book is in Junior’s hands. But when he reports back to Wendy that he hasn’t found it yet, she doesn’t blame him as he is doing his best. Junior looking shocked?

Episode 9
Drake is escorting Alice Alice Arquette (Yup, that’s her name) to some excavation site at Gifu. Similarly, the sisters are here as Kim has got another mission for them. Yup, they are to find Alice. Don’t look now because Alice and Drake are here! When the sisters recognize them, the duo start to chase them. Oh, Nenene is here too with her friends! And she thought they were at home. The duo rush into the excavation site and with Alice’s secret password whatsoever, they manage to unlock and get behind some boulder. What the sisters do? Just break it down! Man, they just destroyed some ancient treasure for all you know. At the cliff, it is a standoff. Alice throws a bomb that shatters the ground. While this risky move has the duo escape across, this causes the sisters to be separated. But don’t worry, this won’t be enough to kill them. Kim then sends Wong to support the sisters and is given permission to kill the duo. Michelle seems to be temporarily blinded. Lucky for her, Junior helps guide her to the nearest water source to restore her sight. WTF she doesn’t recognize his voice? Once she regains them, he disappears. Michelle reunites with Anita and Nenene. Wong finds Maggie and the latter just follows him bulldozing through the terrain. The duo are now at an ancient device in the middle of the hotspring. Alice pressing the combinations right to allow her to retrieve a key that is believed to unlock a new world. With the rest arriving, it’s going to be another standoff. Wong unleashes his flurry of papers to attack. Drake protects Anita and this causes Alice to get injured. Drake surrenders and tells Wong about the key in exchange for their lives. However Wong kills off Alice! He would’ve killed Drake off too had not the sisters come to protect him. That’s enough. He said he surrendered. Alice’s final words to Drake is to fire him and for him to return to his daughter. Oh, also how to initiate the hotspring’s self-destruct. Suddenly Junior pops up to steal the key from Wong. It’s like he is a ghost and pass through all the solids for this easy steal. Drake then sets off the self-destruct and the whole place is flooded. In the aftermath, Kim considers this mission a failure but still pays the sisters 50%. Yeah, 1 toilet paper only.

Episode 10
Nenene is invited to a newcomer’s award. She won that inaugural award 10 years ago on her debut. And it’s on Christmas. She didn’t want to go but the sisters are so eager… Well… At the ceremony, Maggie and Michelle are elated to get signatures from authors while Anita can’t wait to feast. Just behave yourself. There’s also Haruhi who seems to be telling her upcoming movie and plans to Nenene so feel free to give some advice. Is she not just bragging? When a newcomer winner gives her speech on stage, this reminds Nenene of herself. Nenene then meets her former sensei, Komuro who thinks she has lost her way since she has not been writing consistently. Despite this public shaming, Nenene looks fraught with guilt since what she says is true. Lee had to stand up for her and tell Komuro not to lash out at Nenene even though it’s true. But he has observed her so he can she is trying her best. Lee had to be escorted away so as not to cause anymore scene. Later Nenene is poised to give a speech. She talks about her struggles as well as the eye opening experiences it brought her but promises she is writing a new book and will release it when it’s due. Everyone applause her and some even moved to tears. When they return home, the sisters surprise her with their own Christmas and birthday party. So the sisters share the same birthday on Christmas, huh? Care to tell us more? Long ago when Michelle and Maggie were teamed up to investigate some books, it brought them to an abandoned church. Underneath it is a secret chamber that contained rare books before World War 1. However they soon realize it is fake because it smells new and it could be the British Library planted it. They feel discouraged but soon spot a desolated Anita. She wondered if they are Santa or thieves. If they’re the former, give her a present. Or else let her join them. Anita doesn’t care since she has no food or shelter and has ran away from her foster parents. But the duo can’t take her in and left. Poor Anita was left behind as she rued how useless God is. But the next day (Christmas), the duo returned to give her a book present. How will that fill or warm her up? Michelle suggested they become sisters and will do things together. Anita so overcome with emotion she cried her heart out. Hence Christmas is a day to celebrate the birth of their sisterhood and they want Nenene to celebrate with them. While Anita denies she cried, Nenene is moved to tears but covers it up with this weird laugh of hers.

Episode 11
With the Hong Kong movie completed, Lee hopes Nenene can release her new novel in conjunction with the Japan’s release, which will be in 4 months. This means she will be flown to HK for the movie premier and the sisters will follow too. This also means this will be their last job as their service will no longer be required after that. Not looking very happy, aren’t we? So when Anita tells her friends that she is leaving Japan for good, guess who couldn’t take it very well? Natsume is going to have a farewell party for her. So we see Anita telling Junior about this and hopes he makes other friends too. Then she sees some guy at the hospital and says goodbye but after that, Junior kills him and takes his book? Because of that, Joker is happy they can proceed to the next stage of their plan of creating a new world and saving everyone. Then we see Anita and Hisami spending some time together as they try to come to terms with Anita leaving. The sisters pack their stuffs. The class holds a farewell party for Anita. Only Hisami isn’t around. She’s sick and went home? Tooru is not impressed and goes to get her. She faked her illness and is bumming out at the park. We all know she can’t attend the party as she won’t be able to hold herself back crying as well as becoming alone again. Tooru calls all of them stupid because she’s not alone as Anita too will miss her. Yeah, everyone’s an idiot. Can they make it back in time? You bet. Right after the party is over and Anita leaving and almost breaking down, there Hisami is at the school gates. Greatest emotional goodbye hug ever. They’ll keep in touch. Anita is touched with everyone releasing a huge banner hoping to see her again. Nenene teases she could get back her quiet life again once the trio are gone but her face becomes red when she admits it was fun having them around. She just gave Anita ammo to tease her. Once touchdown in HK, it’s back to their nostalgic agency. It lacks books because Maggie used them up when they chased Nenene to Japan. So, they’re not recyclable? Suddenly futuristic dystopian-like soldiers crash into the place! What gives?! Did they crash into the wrong anime?! Oh look. Lee is the head honcho and wants Nenene to come with them to write the world’s greatest story.

Episode 12
Lee is part of Dokusensha and the irony he tried to get Nenene to return to writing but it is the sisters who got her back into her groove. Nenene is tranquilized and will be taken back to Dokusensha’s HQ. Lee drops the sisters a case of money. Thanks for your services. He warns them not to come or the world will become their enemy. Nenene is taken to the HQ to begin an installation programme. Similarly, Joker and Wendy are also at this HQ (but a different department) to have the book deciphered or rather finding some sort of way to open it without a key. Anita is furious and wants to go rescue Nenene. But Michelle and Maggie seem to be having second thoughts. With all these money, they don’t need to work anymore and can read all day. This doesn’t sit well with Anita. If they really sell out Nenene, she’ll disown them. Anita isn’t a fan of Nenene but it is common sense to go save her. With that, the other sisters also agree to rescue her at all costs. We see Nenene suffer during the installation. Due to her stubbornness, the installation is stalled. Lee talks to her and it seems Nenene is disappointed that he lied to her for 4 years just for this. The reinstallation resumes as the sisters barge into the HQ and doesn’t hold back in beginning their attack. Heck, they’ve a fancy outfit for this rescue too? I wonder if they know where to go (it’s at the tower’s top) so why go through all the floors when they can just fly up there? Oh right. Need some paper action. Disposing guards and robots are easy. Yeah, their papers are much stronger than any metal or lead. Those are the easy parts. Now they have to face off with Wong. Oh dear. Remember, save sensei at all cost.

Episode 13
Paper master vs paper master. Both sides throwing all they’ve got at each other. But the sisters realize all 3 of them cannot defeat Wong and will find another way. But I guess that logic to Maggie means only 1 of them stays behind to defeat him. Yeah. So Maggie vs Wong in the gradual destruction of Dokusensha’s building. Michelle and Anita make their way to the control room. Looks like the security has been taken out (by Junior). Can’t find Nenene? Find Lee! Can’t miss him. It’s that odd looking sphere they’re in. Michelle distracts the guards so that Anita could go ahead. At one point Michelle got taken out unconscious but Junior killed those guards on her behalf. Joker and Wendy have uploaded all the data they needed to their British Library. Once done, they take their leave and initiate the building’s self-destruct. Yup, better evacuate or die. This means Nenene’s experiment is to be halted and all her data transfer out. Lee is to dispose of her. He asks Nenene why she remained stubborn in not accepting the deal. Simple. It wouldn’t be a book that was written by her and doing so, she cannot face her again. This talking has enough time for Anita to barge in and rescue her. Lee cooperates to help them get out but he gets shot while protecting them. I guess they’re on their own. Go up because the building is sinking. Maggie and Wong’s long epic fight finally ends as Wong gets engulfed by the sludge or oil. Lucky Maggie. And if you thought Dokusensha’s building was just sinking, apparently the whole of Hong Kong sank!!! OMFG!!! Did they just kill off Hong Kong and its people?! In the end, it looks like the sisters and Nenene emerge as the only survivors (the other being the British bastards who are long gone by now). So screw what has become of Hong Kong because as long as they’re all together, it’ll be alright. Hey, gotta stay positive.

Episode 14
Wendy narrates the setting and everything. It all began when the father of UK AKA Gentleman showed signs of biological aging in the mid-19th century. A task force was formed to counter that. So basically trying to look for immortality? The team went as far as looking into various Asian and Chinese remedies but this caused tension between both nations and behind the scenes, wars were fought and many lost their lives. By the mid-20th century, all hope to counter this aging and prolong his life was abandoned. They move to the next plan in which they will transfer his knowledge and conscious to another vessel. But no ordinary human could contain all that info and hence they looked into great men of the past. Due to skin cells and hair found in their books, the British Library and British Museum collected hundreds of samples and some were cultivated. This pushed forward the genetic research and cloning technology. Everything was going well until somebody stole half of that library genes and a year later in 2001, the Great Men Incident had several of those great men popping up in the flesh in several countries and having powers they never wielded before (events of the OVA). Although it was solved, it was never sure who stole them or how these great men were regenerated. Although lacking evidence, they believed Dokusensha was behind it all. A brief history of Dokusensha serving emperors throughout the dynasties and then subsequently opening its first bookstore in Beijing before spreading throughout the country. Soon it became a very powerful movement that would be a threat to UK. Even more so when Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997 because Dokusensha then established its biggest branch there. Tensions escalated more frequently between both parties and after the Great Men Incident, the preservation department had been destroyed. So they were forced to move to the last resort plan which was deemed impossible: Transfer Gentleman’s personality into books. This is only a temporary measure as once a suitable vessel is found, they will transfer it back. Hence this Sleeping Books Operation (SBO) had Gentleman split into 7 different books. 8 months into this project, an optimal candidate was conveniently discovered.

Junior interrupts Wendy before she could reveal that. He was at Nenene’s house (she’s not back yet) but took a recorded message from a phone. After he goes to fix dinner, Wendy continues. SBO continued smoothly until a terrorist attacked the British Library and a book and some preserved genes were stolen. This caused many countries to strain their relationships with UK and eventually UK withdrew from the EU and got expelled from UN. The remaining Gentleman books were entrusted to staffs who were then sent out of the country. When Dokusensha learnt of this, they began working on stripping UN of their ruling power of UK. Joker was a former special ops member of British Library, was chosen to serve as delegate for negotiations. However he gave info to Dokusensha while carrying on negotiations on UK’s territorial disputes and economic sanctions. Many viewed this as betrayal but Joker’s efforts paid off as the Chinese side showed interest in Gentleman’s books so as to develop their Perfect Language. This allowed him to penetrate Dokusensha’s core and fine tune his operations. Wendy also talks about the paper masters who are involved with this. Namely, Yomiko who went missing after the terrorist incident as well as the HK sisters. She mentions their first accidental stumbling with Anita while getting one of the books and this led them to observe the sisters more as we see them carry out Dokusensha missions in between. Unknown to them, each mission has them collect Gentleman’s books. This saved them time to track down those books. Wendy takes a break and eats with Junior. She thinks of cooking for Junior on his next birthday but sadly, he doesn’t know his own birthday. Wendy returns to finish her report. After the sinking of HK, Joker took back all of Gentleman’s books in their possession as well as details of their Perfect Language. Safe to say, UK now has a lead over Dokusensha in terms of intelligence and UK’s resurrection is well underway. Joker praises Wendy’s report but also comments on Perfect Language. He thinks Dokusensha doesn’t know what kind of story the people loves: Revenge. Now that their plan has entered the next phase, they will start looking for Yomiko.

Episode 15
Nenene and the HK sisters return to Japan under fake aliases and disguise. They’ve been branded as terrorists. Returning to Nenene’s apartment, they find it ransacked but not due to robbery since all the valuables are still intact. Conveniently on the news, Japan has been notified about the terrorist sisters. Could they have used a better pic of Nenene? Don’t look now because the police is right at their doorstep! Thanks to the paper masters, they manage to evade capture. While hanging out at a diner, they realize a hidden message and mission by Dokusensha to retrieve a certain book at Jinbocho that belongs to Yomiko. Nenene instantly lights up and heads to the underground bookstore. However the old man there claims he knows nothing. Ironically, it is Anita who gets mad and starts smacking him with a paper fan, lecturing about loneliness, blah, blah, blah. And so the old man breaks his promise to tell where Yomiko has been hiding for the past 5 years. The girls head to the National Diet Library as the deputy director takes them to the upper floors where all the old books are stored. Getting anxious to see Yomiko now? Nenene thought she couldn’t mistake that clumsiness for Yomiko. But eh? Who this girl? Nancy. But don’t worry, nearby is the real Yomiko! Awkward stare before it turns into the strangest chase ever! The way they so awkwardly run, no wonder Nenene can catch up. The most emotional hug in her life. Yomiko takes them to her secret room inside the floor and everyone introduces themselves. After telling her the situation they’re in, Nenene thinks all of them should stick together as they will have a fighting chance. However Yomiko is more than happy to stay here for the rest of her life reading books. Because if that is what makes Nancy happy, she’ll be happy too. Apparently Nenene didn’t like that answer because it’s like she has given up on everything. What happened to her in the past 5 years? Yes, Joker would like to know that too. Hi girls, fancy meeting you all here.

Episode 16
The way Nancy reacts in fear after seeing Joker… Joker wants Yomiko to return to the British Library and return the book she has been holding since she went missing. However she refuses and claims he is an evil person. Joker proceeds to make her feel guilty by claiming she has been hiding here and doing nothing while many of her colleagues have died. Also, British Library just bought the entire National Diet Library so it’s theirs now. But if she still wants to play tough, so be it. Joker’s men arrive to take her by force. Yomiko learns Joker has teamed up with Dokusensha but he tells her this is out of necessity and even blames her for it. The ladies fight back but those men have come prepared with water cannons! I guess they can’t use papers when they’re wet, huh? If Yomiko’s ability is immune to this, then they just play some frequency to bust through her paper wall. Joker threatens to kill Nancy if Yomiko doesn’t hand over the book. Yomiko is forced to do so and while busy authenticating it, the HK sisters move in to fight the men and make their escape. Joker calls Wendy about the failed capture and tells her to initiate the next plan, Fahrenheit 451. This means British Library barges into all the bookshops at Jinbocho and takes all the books on the shelves. The ladies’ plan is to head to Saitama where Yomiko’s parents live. Don’t worry, Yomiko’s records were burnt down in that incident so they don’t have records of her. Before they return, Yomiko needs to return to her home to retrieve something. It is then Junior tries to steal the book. However it seems his ability doesn’t work on Nancy. He is forced to give up and flee. The ladies get news of something big going on in Jinbocho. British Library has gathered all the books and dump them in the middle of the streets before setting it on fire. The biggest bonfire! While this devastates Yomiko, it is worse for Anita as this invokes her trauma. Wendy notes to Yomiko this is just like that day and that she must pay for her crimes.

Episode 17
Michelle and Maggie calm Anita down. Yomiko tries to get Wendy to stop the burning but she is saddened Wendy has change as she mentions she is not deceived by Joker and here on her own will. Wendy then shoots Yomiko although it is just a flesh wound. This causes Nancy great distraught as she is willing to give the book in exchange for Yomiko’s life. As Wendy is about to take it, the crowd starts heckling at the British invaders. A smoke bomb is thrown by Drake as he rescues Yomiko and her pals. With the help of the bookstore owners, they provide a van for their getaway. Drake reveals he has been hired to save them and although he won’t say who, it is hinted it is that old man from the Jinbocho bookstore. Joker is seen talking to someone about their successful control of book districts in certain cities like Barcelona, Paris and Seoul. There will be more to come as part of their peaceful unification. So, as long as it is not military, then it’s peaceful? Well, looks like bookstores are places for knowledge and the best way to reconstruct a nation’s knowledge is to control such places. The gang arrives at Saitama. The home is filled with books. Book lovers paradise. Except for Anita of course. As Drake sets traps outside, Anita goes to ask him if Yomiko was the one who burnt down the British Library because that is what she thinks she saw in her horrifying memories. Drake is unsure since he was away when it happened. He talks about Yomiko’s contagious foolishness as well as her relationship with Joker and Wendy. They’re her ex-colleagues now but something has drastically happened within these 5 years. Junior thought he could sneak in and steal the book while Nancy is asleep. But gotcha! Junior cannot escape from her grasp as she sounds the alert. Junior panics when she unmasks him and the sisters are shocked to realize his identity. He further panics as he points his gun ready to shoot Nancy. But Yomiko tells him not to because she is his mother!!! WHAAAAAAAAT???!!! I hope that shocking surprise didn’t panic him further and make him pull the trigger!

Episode 18
What?! Junior now part of the gang and living with them like normal?! Oh, Yomiko has locked herself in her room and won’t come out to talk. Though, Nancy is with her. Flashback shows when Junior became shocked to learn Nancy is her mom, his hand became shaky. Michelle shot the gun off him and although he pulled the trigger, luckily he missed. This then made Yomiko very sad as she proceeded to lock herself in her room. So we see the rest just bumming around, living their peaceful life despite being fugitives. Meanwhile Wendy reports to Joker about Junior has stopped sending his reports since yesterday. He has switched off his communicator but they can still trace him at Saitama. Because Wendy has an important mission right now, Joker can’t send her to get him but will some other agent to monitor him. When Yomiko finally comes out, she explains the truth to them. She starts off by explaining how she met Nancy 6 years ago during that incident. During then, Nancy had a lover who was an Iijin. Nancy became pregnant and had a child soon after. That child is of course Junior. However he was taken away as soon as he was born by the British Library who became interested in Junior’s body. Born of parents who are both Iijin, you bet Junior has the qualities needed to become the vessel of Gentleman. Just like other Iijin, Junior’s growth was accelerated and that’s why he looks like Anita’s age. Junior is reeling in shock that his body is a container for an old man. When that day happens, what will become of him? When he touches the book, suddenly the whole gang is transported to the British Library. Or at least a holographic movie of it. Great. Now they can really see what happened with their own eyes. Yomiko was not happy Nancy had her baby taken away and confronted Joker. He reminded of her place and that how UK exists to serve Gentleman. When Joker pointed out that her mentor and lover, Donny Nakajima was still alive but in a different state, she became shocked. So shocked that her powers went out of control and it caused the fire at British Library. This scene is the exact trauma from Anita’s memories. Yup, little Anita was there too witnessing this horror.

Episode 19
Returning to reality, Anita is still having horrifying traumas so she runs away while her sisters go after her. Yomiko admits to the rest what they saw is real. Subsequently after that incident, she fled to Japan, taking Nancy with her. In order to protect Junior’s identity, the reason she lied to Nancy. She blames herself that everyone would’ve been together had she not done that. Nenene looks on the positive side. In hindsight, had she not done all this, Nancy and Junior would never have met and never know the truth. Anita calms down and there are still questions about her past she is clueless about. Although she doesn’t like Yomiko, Nenene doesn’t have anything to do with it and they have to protect her. As long as Anita has her sisters, everything else doesn’t matter. Junior is torn with what he should do. Nenene suggests he joins them and stays here. It’s not like anything good will happen if he brings back the book to the British Library, right? Meanwhile we see Joker contacting with one of his field agents, Mirror Man. He and his team has camped some distance outside Yomiko’s hideout and is ordered to communicate with Junior to get an update of the situation before retrieving the book. He also wants to others to be taken back alive. When the gang returns, they decide on what to do with the book. Nenene suggests burning it since that will effectively end the British Library’s reason to pursue them. However the cost is that some will never know the secrets of their past. Anita is okay with it. But Yomiko suggests burying it instead. That night as Junior is in the toilet, Drake comes in to ask about the book. Turns out it is Mirror Man in disguise as his ability is refracting light to create illusions. Junior seems obedient to update him on the situation. Next morning, Anita and Yomiko wake up and realize everyone else is gone. Except for Nenene. They think the enemy has kidnapped the rest. They go to check the book. It’s still safe in a shelf where Yomiko puts it. Turns out it is Mirror Man in disguise as Nenene to have them lead to the book. He ties them up and reveals the rest are being taken to Joker. They will too. As he lets his guard down and contacts Joker, the paper master duo manage to break free with the loose pages around. They turn the tables on him but it’s not quite over yet as Mirror Man can also turn invisible! Anita is forced to call a truce with Yomiko and work together to fight the enemy.

Episode 20
Mirror Man is smart but Yomiko and Anita are smarter as they lace traps that eventually capture him. After knocking him out, they have to deal with the guards outside. They feign surrender before ambushing them. Easy. Joker is happy with the progress of taking over the world. Oh, what do you mean UK unifying the world?! Isn’t this British imperialism and conquest v2?! He has Wendy conduct the Perfect Language simulation experiment now. Yomiko creates a huge paper plane for them to ride to catch up with the perpetrators. Uhm, do they know where they went? More importantly, how do they know what mode of transport they were kidnapped in? Unless we never see them interrogate Mirror Man for details. Yeah, Junior and the pilot are estimated to arrive on time. Junior keeping a close eye on the unconscious hostages. The helicopter pilot rants about Junior being in a special position and that he could get anything he want. However this doesn’t sit well with Junior so he points the gun at him. Anita overcomes her fears as they take off into the sky. Uhm, how the f*ck can they fly above the clouds?! How can they breathe?! What about air pressure?! Oh, screw it. As they approach the helicopter, not sure if their screaming will do anything good. Suddenly the helicopter burst into flames! HOLY SH*T! Anita can only scream in horror. With the burnt wreckage crashed, Anita becomes very mad and sad as she blames Yomiko. Had she just given the book, her sisters wouldn’t have gotten dragged into this mess. I hate you! Yomiko has nothing to say as she walks away in tears. A distraught Anita returns to her school and desperately springs a surprise on Hisami. She needs her help. However Hisami doesn’t remember her. Sh*t… I wonder how high Anita’s shock meter can go today.

Episode 21
Anita returns to her normal school life. Can she really live like this? Looks like it. Meanwhile Yomiko is bumming around in Jinbocho until a cat beckons her to follow to a secret underground bookstore run by that old man. This is the last bookstore left in the area but he only managed to save and move some of the books here. He tells her the British Library is trying to build an antenna here and once completed, it will transmit some ideal system that unifies and controls all info. He wants Yomiko to stop them and is willing to give all the books he has. As Anita continues her school life, she is approached by Wendy who tells this is all a sample. She wants to know where the last book is but she says it got burnt in the helicopter. You mean they didn’t even search for it?! Anyway, Wendy wants to take Anita’s blood and DNA samples. She can help create new memories, family and friends for her. But in exchange, she will lose her old memories. Of course Anita will not accept living a new lie but Wendy gives her time to decide. Wendy reports to Joker about this and she is tasked to continue observing her. Joker also learns that Junior’s transmission when he went missing as well as the helicopter’s explosion occur in separate positions. You thinking what I’m thinking? Anita most probably is done thinking so she just quits in the middle of the class and returns home. Oh no. Is there an intruder? Just Yomiko reminiscing a photo of Nenene. Anita still hates her but wants to cooperate to take down those bastards. Now we see Junior with Michelle. Flashback shows he tore the transmitter from his heart. After taking everyone out safely, he let the helicopter fly further before exploding it. Not sure why they got separated from the rest so they are waiting to rendezvous together. Anita and Yomiko begin their attack on the antenna site. Once that is done, Joker comes by and their demand is to return the world to the way it was. He calls them dumb because once Perfect Language is completed, there will be no wars and everyone will have equal knowledge and opportunity. He wants them to surrender and he’ll overlook this. Of course Anita won’t be fool. She hates books and see how fine she is doing? They take him hostage but then he shows visuals of Michelle and co. Wanna bet his threats are to kill them? The duo then take him along on their giant paper plane.

Episode 22
We see Junior, Michelle, Drake and Nancy wait in an abandoned house. Things between Junior and Nancy are somewhat strained. She blames if they hadn’t come into their lives, Yomiko would still be with her. Junior is more unforgiving as he accuses her for living a carefree life while has to shoulder her burden and clean up her mess. When he does not acknowledge her as his mother, that slap came from Michelle. This quarrel is put on hold as the army has surrounded their place. Drake fights to buy time for them to escape but only Junior and Michelle run away. Nancy helps Drake and kicks ass! Why does she have to dodge like that if she can just go through stuffs? Oh, she gets knock out from behind that she did not anticipate. Just in time, Yomiko and Anita drop in. Since they have Joker as their hostage, the standoff continues as they hole up inside the house. Wendy has an idea but needs to buy time for at least 2 hours. This is because she has located Nenene and Maggie who are hiding in a hotel. She goes there and just when Maggie comes out the elevator, Wendy threatens her to bring Nenene to her or else Anita dies. This pic of her being surrounded by soldiers look convincing enough? Maggie returns and is torn what to do. Eventually she tells Nenene that Wendy is waiting at the lobby and she will turn her in. However Nenene can tell she is only doing this because one of her sisters got captured. Hey, as a writer, she’s return such scenarios! Nenene will go along because she wants to save Anita too. They’re family, right? As she drives them, Wendy confirms that she will release everyone in exchange just for Nenene. Because only Nenene has valuable talents. Meanwhile Junior and Michelle are hiding in an abandoned mine. Junior doesn’t want to go back as it is too dangerous. He still refuses to acknowledge Nancy as his mom. She only has Yomiko on her mind. He knows because he saw everything in the book. He knows about everything now. From the British Library and even the sisters themselves.

Episode 23
Wendy makes contact with Joker. Drake picks up his phone and makes some demands. However Wendy too has some cards to play on her hand as she shows pics of Nenene and Maggie in her custody. She claims Maggie has ratted them out and she will exchange Nenene for Joker. When Joker laughs at the beautiful sisterhood, Anita is pretty sure he doesn’t understand the closeness of the sisters. Until he reveals the truth that her shrouded existence and memories are only because her entire life has been fabricated. Although they aren’t blood related, even ever since the sisters meet each other in HK, all those are lies. They came into existence as test tube babies using genes of a paper master courtesy from the British Library. Anita is considered the first failure as she did not show any paper master abilities until that incident. So ironically it was that trauma that triggered them. At the same time, Dokusensha who had infiltrated British Library then kidnapped her but found her rather difficult to deal with. Using the paper master genes they’ve stolen, hence they created Michelle and Maggie. Not only were they genetically modified, their memories were also manipulated. It was discovered that the lack of human touch and communication led to the failure of paper masters. So they experimented on having them live as families. There were many sets of paper master families but only Michelle, Maggie and Anita set survived. To sum it all up, the sisters’ lives are actually written from start to finish by Dokusensha. The same detail is explained by Junior to Michelle. As Anita sinks into depression, Drake punches Joker. Thanks for the truth?

Wendy is here and they’ll exchange hostages. As Joker and Nenene walk towards each other, when they are halfway, Nenene reveals herself to be Mirror Man in disguise. Realizing this is a trap, the soldiers fire all they’ve got but the rest manage to escape. Instructions are given to not go after them but to find Junior. Speaking of him, he wants Michelle to run away with him but with the search party closing in, Junior becomes bait to distract them. Unfortunately he gets captured. Maggie tries to go after Nenene on the plane. Not sure if the plane is laced with anti-paper master effects but why can’t she made a giant paper bird or plane to follow? Not enough paper? Then she sees a book detailing the truth about the sisters. Another broken sister. Joker now has the final book. Junior is restrained and is told he somehow cannot use his special power anymore. We see Joker making a worldwide announcement that he will become the new president of Dokusensha and intends to expand its operations worldwide. Steps to install equipment for info network all around the world has begun. He also announces that Dokusensha will become an exclusive organization of a single nation: UK. A motion is passed to approve of it. Sorry America, you were expecting to be you? American president feels betrayed and there’s nothing he can do since Joker threatens him with info on his shady past and dealings. Yeah. Now America is back to being UK’s lapdog! So a new dawn of wisdom for mankind? Or is it for UK? Oh sh*t, the American president wet his pants?!

Episode 24
Nancy wants to come along with Yomiko and Drake and get even with the British Library back at London. Yomiko hopes Anita to stay put and once they settle things, they can go look for her sisters. However Anita is not having this sh*t today. Still depressed, she cannot accept her sisters are well, not her sisters! Uhm, I thought they aren’t?! They aren’t blood related but why is she so upset about it?! Yomiko claims Joker is lying but apparently Anita wants to know how she knows it is a lie. All Yomiko can say is that she envies the sisters because they did things together. After the trio left, Anita wanders around alone. Yup, memories of the times she spent with her sisters. Those good ol’ memories. Meanwhile Junior wakes up in a chamber. Next door is Nenene. He wonders why she can still write at this time. That’s because she knows somebody will be coming to save them. Yeah, she’s writing the script for the remaining episodes! Anita is back home and is about to start crying but look who’s back too? Michelle and Maggie! But Anita is not having it either. She accuses them of not being her sisters but strangers. Again, isn’t this the case all along? Thing is, Anita is hung up that all their memories are fake and she is stumped that Michelle didn’t even cry or anything. Like as though she doesn’t care. Well, does raising her voice to deny all that enough? No? Okay, Michelle now cries. That good enough? Basically even if they’re fake, what they did together are real. So let’s continue to be sisters, okay? Just like that, they’re back again. Phew. Better than dragging out this drama. They call for a meeting to vote who wants to kick the British Library’s ass. Unanimous vote. Thought so. And so with their paper bird, they fly even way faster than Yomiko’s speedboat. Seriously, they’re riding that all the way to London?! As the sisters reach London, they are attacked by pteranodons?! They crash land and wonder if they’ve gone back in time. Yeah, London in Victorian era. If that isn’t confusing enough, there’s a huge monster robot surveying the area. Michelle realizes that these events are from well-known British authors like Arthur Conan Doyle and HG Wells and they take place in London. The city itself is replaying the past and the source is the British Library. When the fog lifts, they can see clearer a lone monument in the middle of a crater right smack in town. It could be the British Library.

Episode 25
America launches a military attack on British Library for the betrayal. Heh. Can warships and jet fighters defeat UFOs???!!! Guess not. Oh f*ck, American president wets his pants again! Damn, America is on a losing streak! Yomiko’s side has arrived in London and rendezvous with the sisters. Yomiko notes how some London trademarks did not change and the key to find where the real British Library is, they must find how far back the past this city is. So I guess that crater building wasn’t it. And yes, this means lots of reading up! Oh Anita… They have 7 days before the next transmission that will change the world. So we see the gang doing lots of brushing up. A few days passed but they notice the city landscape has changed too. Yomiko deduces that the city is experiencing time acceleration although they remain the same. It is believed this is not the power of the British Library but Gentleman. So imagine if he gets transplanted into a younger body like Junior. He’ll be unstoppable. As preparations for Gentleman’s revival is close at hand, Joker is told that this process they only have 1 shot as rebooting the system again will be impossible. Yeah, I suppose Joker didn’t consider a certain group as threats to failure, huh? Joker then goes to see Nenene who thinks they want to brainwash her again like Dokusensha. Of course he claims they will not do such painful and barbaric method. True brainwashing will not hurt. He reveals the books only carry part of Gentleman’s enormous wisdom. The rest are in the air. That’s why antennas have been set up all around the world to transmit here. After Gentleman’s revival, he will give his first speech to usher a new dawn and the brainwashing will begin. That is where Nenene comes in. Like Jesus who is a great man, but it is his bible who spreads his gospel. Hence Nenene will be many who will write that bible. But she is not in the same league as them yet. Many great writers have met Gentleman during their lifetime and they went on to write great works. Hence he wants Nenene to meet Gentleman after his revival for that effect.

As Yomiko’s side is hitting a dead end, suddenly they see an underground tube. Yomiko realizes it should not be in this time yet and could be the doorway to British Library. True enough, Kim is seen coming out from it so they kidnap him to make him spill the beans. He is now transporting materials into British Library. He is forced to bring them in and then tell them the layout of the huge place. Damn, it looks like one freaking huge lab or something. Yomiko divides the team for their next move. Drake and Nancy will go save Junior, the sisters will rescue Nenene while Yomiko herself will take on Joker. They will begin in 1 hour when Gentleman’s revival is scheduled. That time is here as we see Drake and Nancy entering Junior’s cell but he is no longer there. The sisters disable the guards outside Nenene’s room. Too bad Anita rushes in first and gets accidentally beaten up by Nenene! Oops. When Nenene learns about Yomiko’s mission, she fears she plans to die. That won’t do. She can’t die without reading her new works yet. Yomiko is now holding Joker hostage. However he is not cowed and has all his staffs proceed as planned.

Episode 26
Joker probably knows Yomiko can’t kill him so he dares her to do it. Heck, he even dares her to destroy all the equipment because all they have to do is start everything again. She loses her will and is captured. Then an announcement is made for the rest to give up. Nenene wants to go rescue her this time and of course the sisters will be coming along. The plan to revive Gentleman begins as Yomiko continues to plead to Joker to turn back. It’s not too late. But he mocks her for that arrogant justice of hers while claiming theirs as superior. As long as they have the will to get up and do it again after failing, this is the greatest ability ever. Uhm, isn’t that arrogant itself? Of course Nenene has something to say and lashes out at this fake peace Joker wants to bring. Especially this so called new era will have everyone losing their past memories and start anew. They’re just being afraid and running away. Wow. Maggie moved to tears? Basically, despite all the pain she went through, she doesn’t want to lose her memories with her sisters and the rest. The sisters dismiss the debate of there’ll be no more sorrow when everyone forgets so Joker dares them if they have what it takes to take them down. You really mean that? You bet Anita has something to say to that. She doesn’t want this stupid future and would prefer her own tomorrow. Yomiko too is enlightened as she believes there is only tomorrow because of the past. If they forget the past, the future is nothing but a passage of time. Uhm, also should it not be you’ll repeat history? Okay. Whatever.

With the progress on schedule, an explosion rocks the place. Drake finally put all his bombs, huh? Nancy jumps in to protect her son. Green tentacles trying to take Junior! The heroines try to stop this and as Joker tries to stop them, Junior lets Joker have a peek at all the wisdom. Suddenly all his hair turn white! Now you understand?! The girls manage to save Junior as they pull out that pseudo Ironman’s Arc Reactor from his chest. So 3 sisters are enough to pluck it out? But It got stuck on Anita so the rest pull it off from her. This causes a backflow and the whole process comes to a grinding halt. Oh, Gentleman fading away… They thought Anita died but she just trolled us and woke up. In the aftermath, life returns to normal and the British Library is being investigated for lies. A frail Joker is now living in old folks’ home and Wendy is taking care of him. Anita returns to school and all her friends remember her. She doesn’t hate reading that much and in fact has read Hisami’s debut work. Michelle is currently taking care of Junior since Nancy is away overseas with Yomiko and Nenene. She is doing some soul searching and investigate the stuffs she did that wronged many people. Looks like real mother and child reunion will have to wait. Oh, Drake returning to his family if you’re interested to know. Anita is the happiest once everyone has returned. Nenene has released her new work called Midnight Liberation Zone.

The World Belongs To Those Who Read
So much about the will Joker said, huh? I thought he was going to do it all over again no matter how many times it takes as long as they have the will?! So I suppose they didn’t and Joker was lying. Yeah, now that he got a taste of his own medicine of what Junior went, perhaps he realized he doesn’t want all this sh*t after all. Then the hassle of going through all the setup that takes a monumental effort, coordination, time and money. Yeah, somebody better tell Gentleman it is easier to go to hell and reincarnate as the devil there! And thanks to all that, the world is saved and bookworms can go back to reading the books they love instead of this new era of global communism masquerading as equality for all mankind. All because they lost the will. Damn, talk is so cheap. I bet it’s an embarrassing past memory Joker wants to erase forever.

I have mixed feelings about the story. The OVA was slightly interesting because the villains had this idea of taking out a big chunk of the human population without resorting to bioweapons or anything that would destroy nature at the same time. It’s something I don’t hear often from bad guys to make a great population do suicide and it could be my first time hearing it. It was a really devilish idea so I have to admit that I was pretty surprised that Ikkyu decided to pick this method. But of course, the script says that won’t do and just like any typical cliché stories, the bad guys must fail and the heroes prevail. Yeah, otherwise we won’t have a sequel in the form of a full fledge TV series subsequently!

To be honest, most of my mixed feelings come from the TV series. Now that the sisters are the focus and the main characters, I find that some of the episodes are truly boring. Especially the ones whereby Anita became a transfer student and that really felt out of place and sometimes the pacing felt very slow. Then in between her days as a student, we suddenly see the sisters taking on really weird and random missions. While some of them are interesting (like the one featuring Alice) but there were those that were just confusing (like that mindf*ck John Smith one). Although it is later revealed that the sisters took on these jobs for money and were just being pawns to collect those Gentleman’s books, while watching those episodes in between, they just felt confusing and so I thought they were just random fillers just to give the sisters some spotlight and piece of the action.

The big question of whether Yomiko will be found or not and especially her whereabouts finally answered after the halfway mark where the series started to change into a new direction with the huge revelation of the big guy whom the British Library wants to resurrect at any costs. Hence effectively turning this organization into a villain and the big final boss our heroines must face if they ever want to preserve the current world and their current relationship. So I guess it is true that the saying how bad guys always want to change the world but it is the good guys who love the status quo even though the current world is such a sh*thole and a huge mess. And they always give excuse about freedom and own will compared to the baddies’ zombie version of equality. What to do? We’ve been brainwashed to think the former is a better just cause. But anyway, the second half of the TV series at least sets the sisters with a new goal and solidarity and push the series in a certain direction unlike the first half that feels random.

As for the characters, when I first read about this series (which was many years before I decided to watch this recently – but never gave much thought or interest in watching it then), I thought the characters were going to be famous Hong Kong divas of the 90’s! Well, the sisters are at least based on them by name. Yeah, I do sure remember about the days (albeit not much) when the late Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung were one of the biggest stars during their era. Uh huh. This anime just borrowed their names and switch around, mix and match their surnames. Though, it is unsure if the third one was based on Michelle Yeoh or Michelle Reis because in Hong Kong, Malaysian born Michelle Yeoh is better known as Michelle Khan and both these surnames mean king in Persian and Portuguese respectively. Though, it could be Michelle Yeoh because along with Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung, they starred in a Hong Kong film, The Heroic Trio back in 1993. Otherwise, why wasn’t Anita just called Anita Yeoh or Anita Khan?

Anyway, the sisters are mostly seen as your typical ordinary sisters except that they are paper masters. We have the cheerful and happy eldest Michelle, followed by the quiet and shy middle child Maggie and finally the bratty, brash and outspoken youngest Anita. It is not the case of blood is thicker than water for them because it is the quality time that the sisters spend together that makes their relationship very meaningful and so real. It’s not perfect, though. We sometimes see them having squabbles especially Michelle and Anita but it won’t take long for them to patch things up. That’s why I don’t understand even with Anita’s hazy origins revealed, why she got so worked up thinking everything has been fake. I know. Drama effect. They’ve been living for so long as their memories can remember so why let this bother them? Well, perhaps it is good to know that they’ve been living so long this way that they even forgot they were not really blood related in the first place. Sure, it might changes perspectives but it still doesn’t change the important things that has been done together. After all, they’re the only sisters in the world who has got each other and if they don’t back each other up, who else is going to do that for them. But glad that they’re back to normal because they’re going to teach the British Library a great lesson about sisterhood.

I don’t know about Nenene as she could be one of the many writers who had beginner’s luck and after that wore out, fade into obscurity. So it was pretty odd that the British Library acknowledge her talents despite only 1 genius work released. If her case is special, I bet there are many others who are in the same shoes. But I guess the British Library saw some sort of talent in her. Heck, I don’t know if this means she is on the same level as Natsume Souseki, Japan’s most famous novelist who is ironically not even mentioned anywhere in this anime! Not even sure if he is part of Iijin. Not that I noticed of. Anyway, Nenene at first feels like the odd one out, seeing she dreads being with the sisters and finds them annoying although she tolerates them. She isn’t so black hearted, you know. But as time goes by, it is expected that she forms a bond with them and is considered part of their family. So she’s like the fourth sister, huh? It is only mainly interesting because Nenene and Anita often butt heads with each other and that makes their interaction amusing. Because Maggie is too soft and much of a retard-cum-gentle giant while Michelle is just being her happy self. And both are fans of Nenene so they don’t have anything against sensei unlike Anita who is ironically one who hates reading! Yeah, I can resonate with Anita a lot!

Yomiko feels a lot toned down in the TV series even after her resurfacing. Well, to be honest, even as a main character in the OVA, I find her a bit odd. Not sure if this is because of her being a nerdy bookworm. Sorry, not an avid reader so can’t say if this is how bookworms are or perhaps I have stereotyped her into some sort of biasness of mine. I don’t want to call her character a retard because she certainly doesn’t act like one (Maggie shows more retardness to me) and she isn’t the kind who is hasty or impetuous. That’s why peculiar is how I would describe her. Because when she’s aggressive, it’s not really the kind of aggressive aggressiveness. Get what I mean? Like when she took Joker hostage or trying to tell him off, it’s not like I could feel a sense of aggression in that voice. I don’t know, is it call elegance? If Yomiko has toned down a lot, what does that say about Nancy? Yes, even way more. This might not be the same Nancy as we have seen from the OVAs but I guess she is only needed for the plot twist of being Junior’s mom. So the irony of mother and son who are blood related but did not spend as much time as the sisters, are they still family outside the fact that they are only related by blood? Poor Junior, a confused soul. No wonder he always has that hesitant look on his face and it is pretty clear when he is in a pinch, his facial expressions are obvious. The kind of face that screams “I’m in sh*t!”. Really.

Joker as the main antagonist, because he has the suave and a charm of a British gentleman, it is hard for many to see him as a villain. But then again, that is only because of our perspective of what has been shown to us. His goal is to revive Gentleman and to rise the British empire to its former glory again. I don’t know if there is anybody else more patriotic and dedicated to his job than this guy but yeah, because we don’t like the way he does things, hence we quickly jump on the bandwagon that he is an evil person. I mean, you got to hand it to him that he is control of one of the biggest organizations in Britain that possibly controls the country from the shadows. Even more than her majesty the queen! Come to think of it, didn’t see the queen at all in here. It’s like this Gentleman outranks the queen or something.

And hence Gentleman sounds like the biggest crook and asshole to begin with because all these trouble and mess happen only when his biggest fans want to bring him back alive. So this Gentleman dude a God or something? He has a man in his name so… If he really was resurrected and brainwashed the world, he should be called Gentlegod from now onwards. Thank goodness it did not happen. Yeah, his revival feels like an awkward Demon Lord revival or something. I just wonder since the process failed, will his particles in the air continue to linger on or are we speculating he will just give up and go over to the other side? Wendy also gives off this aura that she is a confused character like Junior. She’s trying to be a good employee and henchwoman to Joker but at times when I see her face, it’s like she is in a dilemma of whether what she did was the right thing or not. But of course, being the good subordinate she is, she executes her job to the best of her abilities. I think she is most probably in love with Joker as she is seen often doing what he wants even if her body reaction indicates it is not her will. In the end, we see her having no qualms taking care of grandpa Joker and probably this is the best outcome that she could not have wished for more. Now grandpa, let’s put you to bed… Oh boy, I can imagine that scene…

Other characters, I think the American president is written more like a joke character. Moreover a useless one. So when things don’t go his way, he orders military assault?! See what good it did to him? Yeah, they really want to ridicule the world’s most powerful man here, huh? Oh sorry, his character not very powerful in the context of this anime. Anita’s classmates feel like they exist so as to prove that Anita can have friends her age. I mean, a girl her age needs to have somebody else to interact other than her sisters, right? Drake feels like the extra guy around because if the sisters are at the fore doing all the action, this guy is probably in the background giving support. Also, not to make it seem like 100% girl party power because having a muscle man around is good sometimes.

I am sure that there are quite a few trivia about famous books and literatures popping up here and there in the anime. It’ll be to the delight of fans of these books to spot them. Of course you know me, as one who is not widely read, I did not really spot them at all and so that’s the end of that.

One of the attractions that got me to watch this is because this series is categorized as action. While there are some explosive action moments, I won’t go on to say they are a real masterpiece but they are high adrenaline enough to be entertaining. They’re not disappointing to say the least. So with the sisters having different set of skills despite being paper masters, it gives a whole lot more variety to the fights. Though, sometimes I can’t comprehend why they can’t reuse the same page again. I thought paper is all about recycling? Correct me if I am wrong because I tend to notice that once they use a great deal of paper as their weapon or whatever tool, they can’t be used again. Not that I see them use again. Besides, how they control the paper is not really explained so we assume that they can just use some sort of telekinesis power to bind the papers together and make them move to their will. For instance, Maggie using lots of paper to make a huge paper craft. It gets butchered in half. Can she not reuse those same papers again assuming they’re not torn and even if they are, it makes no difference because they’re still papers but in smaller size? Lest you tell me she ran out of juice to hold them together. In that case, damn it’s a whole lot of paper wastage! We’re supposed to be recycling here, people!

The other gripe I have with the action sequences was in the OVA when Yomiko was thrust into the main action. To simply put it, her fights somewhat feel a bit comical. Because it is the way she screams, she always sounds dreamy. I know that is mainly part of Yomiko’s character but it’s like as though she’s not seriously facing the opponent. And then when she flies off due to the impact of the explosion and then give off that dreamy scream, it’s like the whole scene feels like some sort of cartoony dream. Hence I think she has got to be a very lucky person to have survived all that from start to finish.

Art and animation reeks early 2000’s style of animation. However I do notice a big difference between the OVA and the TV series. To put it shortly, the TV series seems to have lowered its quality. Yup, I feel that the OVA is still visually superior and had more quality compared to the TV series because certain scenes you can really see the drop in quality. Even more so the characters especially those recurring in the TV series. They look simpler compared to their OVA counterparts. For example, Joker. Don’t want to make puns of him looking like a joke but yeah, it is obvious that his character looks slightly different with the reduction in quality. Even Wendy looked different (is it because she sport a different hairstyle?) and at first I thought it was a different person. And sad to say, Nancy was reduced from a hot sexy bombshell to this plain girl but that can’t be help seeing the TV series’ Nancy is technically a different Nancy. Well, I suppose when you have only 3 episodes in the OVA but 26 episodes for the TV series, trying to maintain consistent quality for that period could be quite a challenge. I mean, the OVAs were released within a span of a few months of each other while the TV series had to be released weekly. Also, it is probably different studios the reason why the art style of both media looked different. While Studio Deen did the OVAs, J.C. Staff then picked up for the TV series.

For the voice acting, I’m just delighted to hear Yukari Tamura playing dual roles of the minor characters, Haruhi and Natsume. Yeah, got to hear her squeaky trademark voice that I am so familiar with. The only other seiyuu whom I recognized are Shinichiro Miki as Lee and Kazuki Yao as Webber. At first I thought Nenene sounded like Inu Yasha’s Kagome but yeah, it’s Satsuki Yukino alright. The other casts are Rieko Miura as Yomiko (Komachi in Kochikame), Shoko Kikuchi as Michelle (Maria in Beast Fighter – The Apocalypse), Hiromi Hirata as Maggie (Rune in Nishi No Yoki Majo), Chiwa Saito as Anita (Aika in Aria The Animation), Mitsuki Saiga as Junior (Phantom in MAR), Michiko Neya as Nancy (Hibiki in Sekirei), Masami Iwasaki as Drake (Itonokogiri in Gyakuten Saiban), Hozumi Gouda as Joker (Leorio in Hunter x Hunter), Mika Sakenobe as Wendy (Shizuka AKA Serenity in Yugioh) and Taeko Kawata as Hisami (Arale in Dr Slump).

R.O.D Theme by Taku Iwasaki for the OVA has got to be my favourite song of the series. Because it has this spy-like feel and despite this series not exactly a spy thriller, it still fits the sci-fi action and drama theme. A similar piece is played for the TV series’ opener, R.O.D by YKZ arranged and composed by Hideki Tanaka. Sometimes I could mistake both these songs to be a James Bond song. The OVA has 2 ending songs and both are also instrumentals written by Taku Iwasaki. The first one being Those Who Love Books To Insanity Say Paper Is Always With Us is a very jazzy and lively piece. Damn, I thought this song sounded to a soundtrack in Yakitate Japan! The second one being Bring All The Wisdom To Britain sounds like an inspiring military theme. Come the TV series, the first ending theme, Moments In The Sun by Kazami with Home Grown isn’t too bad either because it has this reggae beat to it! Cool my man! Oh heck, the second ending theme is also not bad, Confidence by Rieko Miura. Though, this retro piece somewhat greatly reminds me of Saishin Dream from the anime Izumo: Takeki Tsurugi No Senki because of its synthesizer effects. I even sampled the OST and it has quite a good variety of instrumental music. So basically this series has got lots of good music when I least expected it.

Overall, quite an entertaining retro piece to say the least. I like its action and music and some of the story concepts (though the overall plot itself isn’t really that deep) but the character dynamism can be a bit draggy sometimes just to drag out the drama effect. Ironically with books as its main theme, this isn’t one of those animes that needs to use your grey matter and intellect to digest much. For example like that certain hero summoned to rebuild a kingdom anime and a certain genius prince trying to save his kingdom from debt anime. Heck, I think even that isekai bookworm fantasy whereby a dead girl reincarnated into a world where she can read books forever, sounds like it has more book-like theme than this (to be honest, I didn’t see that anime). In the end, this anime only serves to enforce my dislike for reading and since I am already at this age, I don’t think I’m going to even pick up that habit despite all the good points that nerdy book lovers are going to tell me. It’s not happening. Besides, the only thing that I have read the most in my entire life is anime subtitles. Does that not count as reading?! So, if I had to pick read or die… Mmm… Read or dream? Can I just sleep on it?