R.O.D. (Read or Dream), Vols. 1-4

Story by Hideyuki Kurata, Art by Ran Ayanaga
Published by Viz

I begin this review with a disclaimer: I’m a bibliophile. (OK, book addict.) I say this because my affection for the printed word may have predisposed me to liking a story about a trio of butt-kicking book lovers. Be that as it may, I found R.O.D. to be a pleasant surprise: a short series that mixed humor, action, and fantasy sequences with sermons on the transformative power of reading, all to delightful effect.

R.O.D. chronicles the misadventures of the Hong Kong-based Paper Sisters Detective Agency. Its three employees are all recognizable types. Michelle, the oldest, is a voluptuous, bossy ditz; Maggie, the middle sister, is shy and withdrawn, and favors boyish clothing; and Anita, the youngest, is a spitfire who prefers doing over reading. Like the heroine of Kurata’s earlier series Read or Die, Michelle, Maggie, and Anita have the ability to transform paper into a variety of objects, from butterflies to bows and arrows. One of the running gags of the series is that Michelle and Maggie’s power over paper dissolves in the presence of beloved books. They spend their savings on books instead of bills; they buy multiple copies of a title so that everyone can read it at the same time; they can’t part with any book, no matter how much they disliked it.

The series is episodic, with stories about the girls’ sleuthing assignments interspersed with riffs on famous works of literature, stories documenting the perils of bibliomania (hint: it can really ruin your décor and/or your financial health), and shojo-esque tales of book-loving friends. Some of the girls’ professional gigs shade into the supernatural—such as returning an overdue book to a library that appears once every ten years—while others are more prosaic—such as uncovering the true identity of a popular author whose nom de plume is Kon Fu. Along the way the girls encounter an alien who promises not to destroy the Earth if they can produce one book that “best represents humanity,” an author of hard-boiled novels named Yun Fat, a Japanese tweenager who writes best-selling fantasies, and an overzealous editor who micromanages her author’s personal life. Though R.O.D. lacks an overarching plot, the same supporting characters appear throughout all four volumes, giving the series a more organic feel than the episodic structure might suggest.

My chief complaint about this series is the fan service. Anita’s greatest rival is an older woman—and by older, I’d guess that Lily the Book Pirate is meant to be all of 22—who suffers more wardrobe malfunctions than Janet Jackson and has a penchant for planting kisses on Anita. I’m not really sure what such a hyper-sexualized character is doing in the pages of an otherwise tame, teen-friendly story—taking a break from the latest installment of Battle Vixens, perhaps?—but Lily’s presence proves more of a distraction than a welcome bit of comic relief. I also found some the slapstick involving Anita and Hisami Hisaishi (the aforementioned tweenage author) off-putting, as Anita’s almost hysterical discomfort around Hisami toed a fine line between humor and homophobia.

That said, however, these occasional bits of T&A didn’t diminish my appreciation for R.O.D. The layout and character designs are clean and simple, the action sequences expertly rendered, and the jokes served up a furious pace. Some of the jokes are positively groan-worthy, but others made me laugh out loud. (If John Woo is a household name where you live, you’ll get a kick out of volume two.) What I liked best, however, were the central characters. The Paper Sisters reminded me of a more famous group of literary heroines: the March sisters of Little Women. (Minus Beth, of course.) Michelle, Maggie, and Anita stage plays, passionately discuss books, and imagine what it would be like to be an author. They also get to do things that the March sisters could only dream of doing: running their own business, karate-chopping villains, and hob-nobbing with best-selling authors. Something tells me that Jo March might have made a swell Paper Sister.

This review was based on complimentary copies provided by the publisher. The fourth and final volume of Read or Dream is available now.