R.O.D The TV - Vol. 3 - The Past

Pros: Great series and characters
Cons: None at all

My Take:

I think I figured out why Cartoon Network didn't pick up R.O.D THE TV, and it has to do with a particular hot springs scene in episode nine of the series, the first episode in the third DVD volume, The Past. After placing digital bikinis on the infamous episode of Tenchi Muyo! and completely skipping the hot-springs episode of Outlaw Star, CN didn't want to take any chances. Pity, because R.O.D THE TV may be one of the best series to come out of Japan in a long, long, LONG time. R.O.D (which, contrary to popular belief, doesn't mean Read or Die, the name of the original OVA, but rather Read or Dream, another story set in the same continuity as Read or Die) THE TV may have some similarities with Read or Die, but it's nothing like the OVA.

It's better!

This volume showcases four adventures of Nenene Sumiregawa and the Paper Sisters (Michelle, Maggie, and Anita). The first adventure, Heart of Darkness, has the Sisters searching for a woman who is searching for a lost treasure. They find her, but they also encounter a pair of covert Dokasensha agents, including the enigmic Junior and a huge man who could possibly be the greatest Paper Master alive. The next episode, Christmas Carol, has the Sisters accompanying Nenene to a young writers awards dinner, where they see Nenene ridiculed by a few upper-escelon writers for not continuously writing. Nenene wows the crowd with her speech at the end of the evening. Afterwards, the Sisters invite Nenene to join them in their "birthday" celebration on Christmas Eve, celebrating the year they first met each other. In Goodbye Japan, Mr. Lee (Nenene's editor) tells the Sisters that their mission was over, and they can now return to Hong Kong for good. Michelle and Maggie handle the news well, but Anita, the youngest Sister, has a hard time dealing with it. Her classmates throw her a going away party at school, though Anita's best friend is struggling to accept that her "bosom friend" is leaving. When Nenene and the Sisters return to Hong Kong, their apartment gets invaded by someone deep within Dokusensha, someone who shocks the girls. The revelation of that person's (and Dokusensha's) true agenda continues in Twilight of the Papers (Part 1). The sisters accept a new mission to rescue Nenene from the catacombs of Dokusensha's HQ, which all goes well until a shocking confrontation at the very end of the episode.

One of the coolest moments on the previous DVD was the inclusion of commentary from the voice artists. This episode has a commentary by ADR director Talesin Jaffe and one of the producers, Jonathan Klein. The two gentlemen explained the ends and outs on casting and scripting an English dub of a Japanese series. It's interesting how many influences, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the film Wonder Boys, helped further visualize R.O.D THE TV in the minds of the script translators and casting while staying faithful to the original scripts. The commentary was only on a stand-alone episode (episode 12).

R.O.D. The TV continues to impress me, and I'm sure it'll impress you as well. This show is one of the best to come out of Japan in recent years. Just as you think the series is going in one direction, R.O.D heads into newer directions, and I can't wait to see what the Paper Sisters will do next.

- Jeff Harris
October 2004