For anyone who hasn?t been paying attention to the other R.O.D The TV reviews (there?s still time; open up another window and read, read, read), I?ll recap the pertinent stuff in, say, a poetic limerick.
- Michelle, Maggie, Anita,
Three gals you will never find neetah,
They make weapons of paper,
To help them escape... urr,
Then break away fast as a cheetah.
R.O.D The TV (Vol. 3) does so many things well. It continues to delight because of what it does (heaps and heaps), rather than disappoint for what it doesn?t do (hardly worth mentioning). Each show can go from zero to Full On in the space of a few well-paced seconds. They also contain the requisite character exposition, plot building, action, and humor chock-a-block one right after another or intermixed in a way that is very appealing. Each show leaves you craving more. As before, the show?s music does a lot to unite everything into one tight package. So much of this is due to the fact that the three Paper Sisters are very different personalities that act and react in different ways on different days, while always having one another?s back.
Volume 3 is the same, only more so.
The opening episode, ?Heart of Darkness,? stands alone but contains bits of a larger story. Paper is the cornerstone of the plot; again, various groups are searching for missing books, this time in a jungle region of the world. There are searchers, mercenaries, a party that is against the Dokusensha, Inc., and Dokusensha itself. Add to the mix Michelle, Maggie and Anita, who run the Paper Sisters Agency, and Nenene, the author who started all this back in Episode 1, and you?ve got quite an amazing little story.
The final three episodes all complete a new story arc as the focus shifts to different matters. In ?Christmas Carol,? Nenene jumps center stage (finally!!) when she is invited to a party during the holidays where the award she won as a young writer will be given to another new writer. At first, she?s reluctant to attend, but the Paper Sisters want to go, so she relents. The episode finally takes Nenene?s character up a notch, putting her motivations on a par with other characters in the series, something that was long overdue.
The remainder of the DVD episodes, ?Goodbye Japan? and ?Twilight of the Papers,? deal with the fact that because Nenene is no longer being attacked and seems to have her writing (and her life) back together, there is no need to have Michelle, Maggie, and Anita around anymore. With Nenene returning to Hong Kong for another movie tour, the three sisters accompany her there, but remain there after the tour ends. The older sisters must settle things up in Japan, including their astronomical book tabs at various shops, while Anita must deal with having to leave the first real set of school friends she?s ever had.
The extras on this DVD -- a goofy U.S. production commentary, art gallery, production notes -- are what you got on the other two volumes. In this case, the high score is not for such extras (they're good, but really folks...), it?s for the quality of the stories, art, and animation in the episodes themselves. In fact, it wouldn?t surprise me if the listener?s I.Q. isn?t lowered by listening to the commentary. Sheesh...
R.O.D The TV (Vol. 3): The Past continues the high standard of art, animation, and voice talent that the first two volumes established. The action scenes make very good use of anime action techniques, and the paper weapons and constructs are wonderfully imaginative and really help the plot move along in a way that simply wouldn?t be possible without this unique twist. In fact, the show combines character and action so seamlessly and so unilaterally that I am subconsciously avoiding other anime sets and live action feature films that can?t seem to do it as well.
Luckily, I don?t have to duck my head in like a turtle avoiding some evil predator; R.O.D The TV (Vol. 4) just arrived in the mail.
Yum...
