Only hate and snap judgement will guide you through the future.

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.

YOU HAVE DESTROYED MY DREAM! AND NOW, I WILL DESTROY YOOOOUUUU!

ANI-MOVIES, *Freedom Fighters: The Ray

Set as a pseudo-prequel to the "Crisis On Earth-X" crossover arc set in the Arroverse live-action TV shows, The Ray was a Golden Age hero from Quality Comics back in the 40s, that DC Comics bought up along with other characters from the same publisher and put them on their own separate world known as Earth-X, set in a different universe from the normal Justice League-version of Earth. On Earth-X, the Nazis didn't loose WWII, and have dominated most of America, with the only superheroes to stop them are the Freedom Fighters, comprised mostly of Quality Comics characters.

Set some months before the annual Arrowverse crossover specials, the main heroes of the Resistance(never actually called the "Freedom Fighters" in the movie)made up of Phantom Lady, Black Condor, Dollman, Red Tornado, and The Ray are leading rebels to a safe location, but are ambushed by the Nazi villains trinity called the New Reichsmen made up evil versions of Supergirl(Overgirl), Green Arrow(Black Arrow), and Flash(Blitzkrieg, who might be their equivalent of Zoom). The battle results in the death of Dollman, and Red Tornado getting trashed leaving only his android brain. Earth-X Vibe shows up and transports a lethally hurt Ray with Red Tornado's brain to Earth-1. Once there, he meets his Earth-1 counterpart and bestows his powers to him just before dying. The new Ray uses his powers to save lives and fight crime, although they mostly seem to center on the victims being of the LGBT community, and shows more when Ray bullies a politician into equalizing the laws for minorities(which should send off some serious supervillain flags!). His activities get the attention of Flash and Green Arrow, who bring him in to help fight a random giant robot attacking Vixen's home turf. Earth-1 Ray then decides to have his Vibe send him to Earth-X to fight the New Reichsmen, and decides to stay on this world to help the Resistance.

This web series-turned-compilation movie doesn't 100% fit into the storyline shown in the Crisis On Earth-X story, mostly concerning Ray's physical appearance and whether or not this version was from Earth-1 to begin with. The main problem storyline-wise is it introduces overly-sensational concepts like giant robots into the Arrowverse, at least under the Earth-1 technological dynamics. The other main setback in this is that the DC TV universe writers continue to prove that they seriously fail at genuine dialogue for its LGBT characters, which they tend to go out of their way to point out in each show. Despite their good intentions, it shows a major lack of sincerity when you have heterosexuals providing dialogue for LGBT characters, which isn't insulting but just widely inaccurate. As far as a "superheroes vs. Nazis" in modern day plot goes, it pulls through, especially when Ray as handing Overgirl her butt on a plate!

Turd in the wind, Muddafukka!

How some cosplay girls see themselves

MISC. MANGA, *Sam Zabel And The Magic Pen

Fantagraphics got New Zealand artist Dylan Horrocks to do a full-length version of his webcomic, Sam Zabel And His Magic Pen. This hardcover is a sprawling journey throughout different comic genres for fans of the Golden Age, indie zines, and manga.

Sam Zabel is a comic book artists working on the current version of a Silver Age superheroine done in an "extreme" sleazy adaptaion. He takes a trip to a small town to give a speech at a college on comics culture. While there, he runs across a zine artist who introduces him to an old comic she found at a local shop. Sam picks up another copy of it, and then finds himself sent to the John Carter styled sci-fi world of Mars where he's worshiped as a prophet by the Martians. He encounters the schoolgirl manga-character brought to life, Miki, who uses her intense collection of comics to go from one comics world to another. The two travel throughout different genres in search of the "Magic Pen" which can help get Sam home.

This one-shot graphic novel works as a fine trip through the annals of comics history, with something for all fans. Manga otaku will find Miki especially fun with her rocket boots and laser gauntlets as she goes from world to world. A great look out how real life effects the works we read and create on our own, as well as the opposite of how it evolves in comics storytelling over time.