R.O.D the TV: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:read_or_die01_small_2267.jpg|frame]]

 

 

 

 

 

----

* [[Action Girl]]: Yomiko; the Paper Sisters

* [[Affably Evil]]: {{spoiler|Joker}} is the personification of an [[Affably Evil]] foe

* [[Alliterative Name]]: Alice Alice Arquet

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Junior

* [[Apocalypse How]]: {{spoiler|Class 0, Hong Kong sinking.}}

* [[Apologises a Lot]]: Junior, Maggie

* [[The Archer]]: Michelle seems to subvert this with her goofy demeanor, but watch her in most crisis scenes: she plays it pretty damn straight.

** In fact it's heavily implied that {{spoiler|all the Paper Sisters and indeed most papermasters are constructs of Dokusensha}}

* [[Badass Adorable]]: Definitely Yomiko, and each of the Paper Sisters could probably count in their own ways as well.

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Pretty much all the protagonists except for Drake. Even Anita has a weird sort of [[Tsundere]] relationship with books.

* [[Badass Normal]]: Drake Anderson. Nenene's stubbornness and determination are also quite something:

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Yomiko is usually just about the sweetest, most forgiving person on the planet...but God help you if you manage to make her mad.

* [[Bifauxnen]]: Maggie

* [[Big Bad Friend]]: {{spoiler|Joker}}.

* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: {{spoiler|Joker again}}, but not Drake.

* [[Blush Sticker]]: Maggie, [[Bifauxnen|oddly enough]], gets these a lot.

* [[Book Ends]]: Lee smoking {{spoiler|after he is revealed as The Mole ("Has it always tasted this bad?"), and just before he dies ("Delicious...")}}.

* [[Brainwashed]]

* [[Cuteness Proximity]]: Michelle is drawn to Anita's friends Hisami and Junior.

* [[Cute Bruiser]]: Anita

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: The series is notably darker than both the over the top superheroics of the ''Read or Die'' manga, and the whimsical friendly nature of the ''Read or Dream'' manga. On the other hand, it's not half as bloody as the OVA, though it does do away with most of the 1960s spy gadgetry.

* [[Dark-Skinned Blond]]: Wendy

* [[Dramatic Wind]]

* [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]]: Junior. The long hair and strange choices of clothing don't help.

'''Junior''': "I'm... a boy..." }}

* [[Egopolis]]: Britain (or at least the British Library) really thinks too highly of themselves in this universe. So much so that they revert everything back to a 19-century version of the world they ruled, when the British Empire was at its peak of power.

* [[Evil Brit]]: Several, most notably {{spoiler|Joker}}, {{spoiler|Wendy}} and [[Elite Mook]] Mirrorman.

* [[Extraordinarily Empowered Girl]]: Yomiko, the Paper Sisters

* [[Eyes Always Shut]]: Lee

* [[Faceless Goons]]: Dokusensha operatives wears something that resembles [[Highly-Visible Ninja]] outfits, while British Library agents wears hats and sunglasses to cover their faces.

* [[Flashback Echo]]: Anita's memories of burning books.

* [[Flipping the Bird]]: Nenene does this to a literary terrorist in the first episode, and Anita does it to ''her'' in the next one.

* [[Funbag Airbag]]: When Nenene is reunited with Yomiko in the Diet Building.

* [[Gainaxing]]: Enough to make [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Yoko-sama]] herself jealous.

* [[Genki Girl]]: Anita

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: {{spoiler|Joker}} gives one to Yomiko when they meet for the first time in the series. Nenene [[Shut UP, Hannibal|cuts him short]].

* [[Hot Librarian]] + [[Badass Bookworm]]: Yomiko. Her extreme love of books can get to be a very expensive habit (at one point, she even asks her boss for a cash advance so that she can purchase more books), but the British Library still regards her as [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|one of the best in her field]].

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]

* [[Intangible Man]]: Nancy has the ability to phase her body through just about anything: walls, doors, machinery -- even flesh and blood. Junior also possesses this power {{spoiler|until he phases through his own body to remove a homing device implanted in his chest cavity}}.

* [[Invisibility]] / [[Master of Illusion]]: Mirrorman.

* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: Okahara towards Hisami, after she tells him that she likes Anita.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Joker}} kicks many many dogs over the course of the series, but it culminates with burning the photograph of Yomiko and Nenene that Yomiko's been pining over for the past five episodes. He then tells her she will be happier when she is brainwashed. {{spoiler|Wendy}}, who goes from clumsy cutie in the [[OVA]] to a cold individual in the TV series, is even worse. Notable examples being {{spoiler|burning books right in front of Yomiko, rubbing salt in Anita's emotional wounds after she thinks she lost her sisters, and telling Junior she never really cared about him outside of being a tool.}} Sunny Wong {{spoiler|killing Alice Alice Arquet after she and Drake surrender}} is quite a blunt indication of the fact that the Dokusensha are not nice people.

* [[Large Ham]]: Nishizone Natsume, who seems to take every possible opportunity to tell the world about her sister's novels.

* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: {{spoiler|Yomiko reveals that Junior is Nancy's son (whom Yomiko had earlier told Nancy was dead)}}.

* [[Madness Mantra]]

A lot, a whole lot, and a lot more..." }}

* [[Mama Bear]]: {{spoiler|Nancy, after she regains her memories.}}

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Awww, Anita is having her first day at school, and she is really popular, and now she is hanging out with Hisami, her new best friend and [[Moe|cutest character in the whole school]], and [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Anita is getting that little bit of childhood that she never had before]], and '''''holy @#%& that dude got shot!'''''

* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Alice Arquet is a clear [[Lara Croft]] [[Expy]] and has [[No Nudity Taboo]]. She even tells Drake to "grow up" when he gets embarrassed by her stripping in front of him. {{spoiler|Turns into Ms. [[Fan Disservice]] when she is [[Mood Whiplash|suddenly and brutally killed]] partway through putting her clothes back on.}}

* [[Nerds Are Sexy]]: And so is Yomiko. Michelle, Maggie and Nenene surely qualify too. ROD loves its nerds.

* [[No Koreans in Japan]]: "Mr. Kim" is a Korean name, but he looks and acts more stereotypically Chinese than Korean. It may well be a pseudonym {{spoiler|especially since he seems to be involved on the shifty side of two very shifty organizations}}.

* [[Odango Hair]]: When the girls change clothing, Anita has a Chinese-styled top plus this, despite having the shortest hair. [[Word of God]] is that those 'odango' are actually empty.

* [[One Last Smoke]]: {{spoiler|Lee Linho}}

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted with Maggie Mui and Drake's daughter Maggie. Drake of course has a double take when he hears Maggie Mui's name.

* [[Paper Master]]: The trope-namer.

* [[Portmanteau]]: Joker uses the name Joe Carpenter. Whether this is his real name or a pseudonym is unstated, but either way Joker is clearly a portmanteau of Joe Carpenter.

* [[The Power of Friendship]]

* [[Precocious Crush]]: Junior to Michelle; especially after the writers found that Junior and Anita had no chemistry.

* [[Pre-Explosion Glow]]

* [[Reality Warper]]: {{spoiler|The Gentleman; just a fraction of his power transforms London into his memories of it, turn of the century.}}

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Lee is fatally wounded while helping Nenene and Anita escape from the Dokusensha's base.}}

* [[Rubber Face]]: Michelle sometimes does this to herself (one cheek only) after being told off for [[Cloudcuckoolander|doing something silly]]. Anita gets it a lot from various characters, and Yomiko says that getting [[Rubber Face|Rubber Faced]] helps when she is anxious. She's genuinely surprised when it does not work that way on Anita.

* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: Nenene gets these when she gets angry (i.e. quite often). Yomiko's glasses also go shiny a lot, but in her case it usually signifies emotional trauma.

* [[Shape Shifter]]: The Mirror Man.

* [[Shorttank]]: Anita

** "The Right Stuff"

** "In a Grove" (Akutagawa's short story, the basis for the movie ''[[Rashomon]]'')

** "[http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/heroic_trio.htm The Heroic Trio] The Paper Sisters are named after the trio of [[Action Girl|Action Girls]] from this movie. Anita's last name differs for a reason.

** '''Nenene:''' I left [[The Three Stooges]] at home.

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: "Don't be tricked, you idiot! He's the ''bad guy!''"

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Action cliffhangers with the girls in peril, leading into the rather chipper end theme.

* [[Steampunk]]: Much of the British Library. They appear to use 19th-century era ''cell phones''.

* [[Storming the Castle]]: Twice.

* [[Superhero]] (sort of)

* [[Talking Is a Free Action]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|When Anita comes to rescue Nenene from the Dokusensha, the two of them spend some time talking. In the meanwhile, Lee takes the opportunity to pick up his gun and sneak up behind Anita. Fortunately, this is when he chooses to do a [[Heel Face Turn]].}}

* [[Technical Pacifist]]: In series -- all of them, even the most of antagonists. Not quite so in OVA.

* [[Throw the Book At Them]]: Anita likes to do this.

* [[Title Drop]]: Kindasorta. Wendy's speech to Anita {{spoiler|after the British Library brainwashes her school.}}

* [[Translation Convention]]: Michelle addressing people as "<name> dear" for "<name>-chan", as well as "John Woo...*peck*...sir" for John Woo-san. This is just in the dub.

* [[Tsundere]]: Okahara (towards Hisami) -- a rare male example. Arguably Nenene, especially in spiky [[Grumpy Bear]] mode.

* [[Tyke Bomb]]: Junior. He is {{spoiler|eventually [[Defusing the Tykebomb|defused]] by the protagonists (mostly Michelle). Ironically, being reunited with his mother Nancy does not aid in the defusing, but rather makes things worse.}}

* [[Visible Sigh]]

* [[Waif Fu]]: Anita is ''very'' strong, capable of stunning a "vampire" by throwing a book into his face and breaking his nose from 20 feet away ''without'' using her paper powers. She can knock out grown men three times her size; and her fighting style was developed by animators via "[[Le Parkour|observing monkeys]] and [[She Fu|the Chinese Royal Acrobats]]."

** It could be that they can make paper resistant to such if they create their constructs ''expecting'' them to be exposed to fire, sound or water. That would explain how the sisters could make a boat out of paper that doesn't immediately fall apart when in other situations their paper stops working when suddenly soaked.

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Maggie, who mostly wears men's suits.

* [[Who Writes This Crap?]]: "Who the heck would come up with such a fiasco? It's no good! It's not realistic at all!"

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:MVM Entertainment]]

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Geneon]]