R.O.D The TV Series Vol-3: The Past (2003)
Animation Production: Studio Orphee/Aniplex Inc.
Released by: Geneon Entertainment
Official Website: R.O.D The TV Series
Running Time: 100 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

When a TV show manages to continually improve itself from episode to episode, building on its core plot while adding several layers of subplots and evolving the characters smoothly and believably it tends to move beyond other properties and catapult the program into a place that only the best of the best can reach and become a “true” classic.

With R.O.D the TV volume three I was expecting the show to continue building on its previous chapters and develop the characters further without too much movement in the overall storyline. Boy was I ever wrong! With these episodes we are thrown for some highly unexpected surprises and twists that will keep you on edge. By the end of episode twelve you’ll probably go ahead and mark your calendar with the date for the next installment in Geneon’s release of this series.

Story

"Working for Dokusensha always led to interesting missions, in fact, it was through Dokusensha that the Paper Sisters met. However, Dokusensha also introduced the sisters to their darkest enemies and in the heart of Dokusensha itself the sisters will reveal what it means to be a family."-- R.O.D The TV Series Website

Review

Volume three of R.O.D The TV Series includes the following episodes:

Episode 9: Heart of Darkness
Another mysterious book may have been located and three separate groups including the Paper Sisters Detective Agency are after it. Will the girls be able to recover the relic and keep Nenene safe from harm?

Episode 10: Christmas Carol
It’s Christmas time and Nenene has received two different party invitations, one for the award event that launched her to international acclaim as a writer, the other is a mysterious invitation that doesn’t really say much about who is hosting it or where it’s even being held. When Nenene attends the new writer’s award banquet will she end up learning more about her own direction and passion for writing? What about the other enigmatic event? There might be a lot more to it than she could have anticipated.

Episode 11:Eleven
It’s been a year since the Paper Sisters arrived in Japan as bodyguards for Nenene. Now that the author has finished her new novel and the movie based on her best selling hit is about to premiere it looks like the girls’ job has come to a positive conclusion and now it’s time to move back to Hong Kong. After making so many friends and enjoying what Japan has to offer it will be hard to leave, especially for Anita as she’s made many friends in school. Saying goodbye is hard…

Episode 12: Twilight of the Papers
The Paper Sisters are back home! However no sooner than they arrive that someone they’ve known for over a year and thought they could trust surprises them with an ambush, kidnapping Nenene in the process. What forces are afoot here and what do they want with the popular author? It looks like only the Paper Sisters can save the day now, but will they risk turning the world against them to save the kidnapped writer?

You know I thought I had this show figured out and then they had to go and surprise us with a couple of interesting revelations and plot twists. I have now gone from being a fan of R.O.D the TV to being a complete devotee! These days a lot of anime shows are so formulaic that you can see where they’re headed within 5 or 6 episodes, characters tend to be more predictable and stick to by-the-numbers personalities thanks to the power that marketing departments now hold in the entertainment world (maybe I should not talk ill of that though seeing as to how marketing is my chosen profession in life!)

That’s why this show comes as a much needed breath of fresh air. So far much of R.O.D the TV series has been rather imaginative in my book, especially the use of paper-based weapons and the way the animators have been able to bring that element of the show to life on the screen. Also, the way the story is narrated and how it seamlessly jumps from one subplot to the next while slowly moving forward the larger story that looms in the background also has contributed much to making this one of my favorite releases of the year.

The episodes in this third volume start by following closely where we left off. Right off the bat we go into another mission-based episode where the girls have to confront not only an archeologist and her bodyguard, but also the mysterious boy that Anita faced in the library earlier in the series and Dokusensha’s resident Paper Master who based on what we see in episode nine is quite powerful and may be more than a match for the three Paper Sisters combined! The story is perfectly paced and changes things a bit by bringing in Nenene as a witness to the events that unfold in it. In a way this is a hint at what’s coming up in a couple of episodes as Nenene becomes even more important to the plot and its advancement.

Episode ten brings Nenene back to the forefront as we explore her current status as a writer and how she is seen by the current crowd of hot new authors and the new writer awards group that helped her become a popular novelist in Japan. In addition, it also casts more light on the Paper Sisters and their origins story if you want to call it that. It was amazing to me how an episode that for the most part was conversation driven could be so engaging. If it werent’f for “Twilight of the Papers” this would have been the best episode in the disc by far.

The third episode featured on this DVD “Eleven” was like some of the earlier Anita-centric ones as it takes the larger part of its duration to explore how our young heroine and her newfound friends cope with her moving back to Hong Kong. There are many references to the Anne of Green Gables story in this one (anyone remember the 1979 anime show based on the original story?) as Hisami compares a friendship from the classic story to her own relationship with Anita. This was a more emotionally driven story than the other ones in the disc, needless to say.

Episode twelve is where this DVD threw me for a loop and literally had me holding on to my sit as I watched! I can’t really go into detail because I might spoil the plot twists that happen here, but suffice to say that it was a very unexpected turn of events for everyone in the show. When the episode ended on one of the most evil cliffhangers of all time I wanted to go out there door and buy the fourth volume, but unfortunately it was eleven in the evening so the odds of me finding an open video shop were none. This is THE reason to watch this third disc in the series. Trust me on that one.

On the production side we once more have an absolutely beautiful show here. Vibrant colors, smooth animation, amazing visual effects, its all here. If anything these episodes were a nice showcase of the paper attacks and the action scenes that the creative team put together to showcase them. I don’t know what it is about them, but these sequences are really something to behold.

The music was more or less the same as before although this time out it seemed more energetic than I remembered it being before. The voice acting was extremely well handled once more by both voice casts.

On the DVD side what we have here is another nice package from he folks at Geneon. The outside artwork features Maggie on the front and shots from each of the episodes on the back cover. There is also a really nice piece of art of the other side of the cover which I decided to make my default cover for the case. Inside the box there was an extremely cool pencil board with artwork of the three Paper Sisters on one side and Nenene on the other. There’s also a nice little booklet included with information on the show’s production that proves to be insightful. Extras on the DVD include a U.S Production commentary track for one episode, full color art gallery, production notes, and previews for other Geneon releases.

Final Thoughts

Well if you can’t tell from my comments above let me summarize everything in one line, R.O.D. the TV is freaking awesome and you need to go out now and buy it!

There I think that should do nicely! Very highly recommended for all anime fans!

Jeffrey Couto