The Read or Die OVA blew us away with the fantastic visuals, a groovy soundtrack, and an inspired take on the traditional spy story. The world of Read or Die returns, this time on TV. Read or Die: The TV takes place a few years after the OVA. The lovable Yomiko Readman has disappeared and the Royal British Library's Department of Special Operations has been disbanded. How can they have Read or Die without Yomiko and her ability to manipulate paper? One of the details that the OVA neglected to mention is that Yomiko is far from the only paper user in the world, and while she was charming and fun to watch the lead characters of the TV series are just as good.

We follow the adventures of three sisters who are not related by blood but instead their ability to manipulate paper. Michelle is a ditzy blonde who loves the Harry Potter novels and can make a paper bow. Maggie is a tall, shy, and easily embarrassed girl who loves cramped spaces, Hemmingway, and creating animals out of paper. Anita is much younger than the other two and hates books of any kind, perfering to use paper as a slashing weapon. The sisters make up the Three Sisters Detective Agency, and occasionally take on cases to retrieve books lost when the Royal British Library was disbanded. In their downtime they act as bodyguards to an author and friend to Yomiko Readman, Nenene. Pushy, demanding, and trying to hide her sensitive side, Nenene has been unable to write since Yomiko went missing and even years later she is willing to fly out to any exotic part of the world to track down a rumor of her whereabouts.

The series keeps the tradition from the OVA alive with some of the baddies being warped interpretations of past inventors using variations of their biggest inventions as weapons. There are also super powered people other than the three sisters, some of which they have to face off against. In addition there are some new players, including the mysterious organization that pays them to retrieve books and the decidedly creepy fellow who pays them. Old faces pop up in the most surprising places, further building the mystery of what happened to the Royal British Library. But that's not the only mystery, as the series delves into the back stories of the new lead characters more new questions arise.

A 26 episode series can't hold to the same level of visual quality that an expensive 3 episode OVA can, and it shows in Read or Die: The TV. There's nothing in the series that is explicitly bad; in fact, it's one of the top tier of the latest anime coming out as far as visual quality goes. Instead they compensate by making every other episode a no-action filler episode where some aspect of a character's personality is explored. Most frequently this character is Anita, with her dislike of books and her unruly personality. While this allows you to get to know the characters better, it can be pretty disappointing right after a magnificent high-action episode to know that the next will be entirely dialog. The stick a little too carefully to the formula in the early episodes and it takes some of the oomph out of the series. Other than this, the series looks wonderful, with the same distinctive, full-bodied character designs and vividly imagined settings. The audio quality is also excellent, with a high-impact soundtrack that really sets the mood and tone for the series, keeping both the electronic and jazz elements that made the OVA soundtrack so great.

Read or Die is a name that comes with a lot of expectations because the OVA came out of nowhere and blew everyone away. Other than a few mostly minor problems, Read or Die: The TV meets those expectations, delivering a solid, entertaining experience. While the pacing is a little predictable, the payoff in sheer awesome actions sequences is well worth the wait, and even the dialog-heavy episodes are better than most anime on the market. The new characters prove themselves just as lovable as Yomiko did, and make this one of the top anime of the season. - Angie 'Foodbunny' Dietrich .