OBSCURE OVAS, *Read Or Die

There are some OVAs where the anime is set a separate chapter to the manga its based on, Read Or Die is defined as being follow up to the original manga series. This 3-episode anime fits into the continuity of the source material with the terminal bookworm, Yomiko Readman, acting as a special agent for British Library with her skills a "papermaster", someone with the ability to control and contort paper in the same way Airbenders can manipulate air. The OVA is set some years after the manga, both written by the original author, Hideyuki Kurata, which is an odd blend of X-Men and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

A criminal organization called the I-Jin composed of evil clones of historical figures, each with their own superpowers, its collecting rare books in an attempt to kill off most of the human race using a song that makes its listener want to kill themselves(very similar to the bad guys' intentions from Kingsmen). The British Library, which here is acts as covert collectors of hidden knowledge, sends in their best agent, Yomiko Readman, aka: The Paper, and teams her up with Black Widow stand-in Nancy, and special ops soldier Drake. Nancy has powers similar to Kitty Pryde as she can phase through solid objects, but is revealed to be a double agent working for the I-Jin, and steals Yomiko's copy of Beethovens' Immortal Beloved, so a clone of the famous conductor can use his suicide symphony to kill billions of people. The Paper along with Drake leads a final assault on the I-Jin's moving island stronghold to stop their Bond-villain scheme for world domination.

Despite being a continuation of an already existing media, the R.O.D. OVA works as a good separate story on its own, and doesn't require the viewer to have read up on the manga's background. Even the anime sequel series, R.O.D. The TV, doesn't incorporate too much from the manga, even though it completely retcons the true intentions of the seemingly noble British Library! The OVA has some slick action, likable characters, a sizzling smooth score, and a fits fine into the video collection of even a moderate anime fans. Its been released on DVD in America through Manga Entertainment, but only available on Blu-Ray in the R.O.D.: Complete Collection which includes the entire TV series by Aniplex.