Is Read or Die something you should see? YES!!!!! Especially if you are into reading at all. Yumiko Readman is going to be your hero. (I don't know about the name. Maybe she was so into reading that she changed it.) I'm getting ahead of myself though. Let's go back to the beginning.
The first (of three) episodes started with a lightning wielding mad man attacking the President because he thinks that the White House is the Library of Congress. That take up the first minute and a half, and the President, who has just wet himself asks who the strange man is. The man simply answers I-Jin before the credits roll.
So this credit music is great because it brings up the feel of a 70's spy show opening music. It is intense with a lot going on, and it makes you feel like something exciting will be coming your way. Then we meet Yumiko.
We're three minutes into the show, and now we get to spend five minutes getting to know our main character. Every bit of spare space in her apartment is taken up with books. Even her phone has half a dozen books on top of it. She is woken by the phone, and we see that she has slept in her clothes with her glasses on.
After this, we spend the rest of the time watching Yumiko as she goes shopping. What is she buying? Why more books of course. She ends up spending almost all of her money and then has to make a deal to buy an old book, Immortal Beloved, on credit. Oh, I should mention that there is another woman that wanted the book, but Yumiko takes it instead.
So this doesn't seem like the story the opening theme music promise, but that will change as a swarm of insects sweeps down the street chasing everyone but Yumiko away. She's too wrapped up in her book to even notice them until a truck carrying paper crashes near her and knocks her over. That's when you discover there is more to Yumiko Readman that just books. She is able to control paper to make a wall to protect her from the bugs.
Not only can she make a wall, but she can make paper do just about anything. She discovers that the bugs come from another I-Jin on a giant insect. He wants her book, but she fights him off using her paper powers. It seems unlikely at first that the girl we just watched spend her day shopping for books could do this, but As you see her in action, you learn to appreciate her determination and power.
After she gets her book back using ribbon, we discover that she is actually an agent known as Agent Paper who works for the British Library. He takes her book for analysis. Her biggest concern is the book.
It is revealed the I-Jin are clones of important historical figures that have been granted super human abilities.
Agent Paper is tasked with figuring out why the I-Jin are interested in Yumiko's book.
Paper is teamed up with Drake Anderson who is her perpetually angry support team, and Miss Deep the woman who was trying to get the book in the first place. Miss Deep is a gun-crazy woman who can make herself intangible. Their relationship starts off roughly, but they grow to be good friends.
shortly after they meet, Yumiko loses her book to the "German Glider King" After their helicopter is destroyed, Yumiko uses her powers to turn the paper in her suitcase into a large paper airplane. they battle in the skies and the two ladies are able to defeat the foe. Yumiko is even able to make paper hard enough to stop a bullet.
That just takes you to the end of the first episode and there are still two action filled stories to go. I think that will be enough for now. Hopefully it will be enough to catch your attention and interest you in what happens later. It is definitely worth your time to see this anime. Let me give you one last reason to check it out.
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