I'm not a big anime fan, but both of my sons are, and in the spirit of solidarity I watched "Read or Die" with my youngest son last night.
My prejudices up front: I really hate the whole "superhuge eyes, teeny-tiny mouth" look of most anime. Also, perhaps my ears aren't too discerning, but it seems to me like there's one woman in the entire world who does just about all of the English anime dubs: Agent Paper sounded exactly like that schoolgirl chick on Inuyasha and exactly like half a dozen other female anime characters I could name if I was up on anime enough to actually know their names.
That aside, I have to give "Read or Die" some credit: I was very impressed with the actual animation itself. It was very detailed, very intricate, and there were things animated that many studios probably wouldn't have bothered with. Agent Paper putting her shoes on in the morning using just her feet, and missing a few times; Agent Paper talking on the phone and taking notes in a notebook, and reaching across to reposition the phone. There were lots of scenes where pieces of paper were blowing around, and they all seemed to be pretty much following their own, separate paths (as opposed to the same few sheets cycled over and over). Very impressive. And I absolutely loved that giant grasshopper.
That said, can anybody explain just what the hell was the plot of the movie? It started off with "various clones of historical figures are stealing important books from all over the world, and a team of paranormal librarians has to stop them." Then, three-fourths of the way in, they dropped that plotline and all of a sudden it was "they have to stop the clone of Beethoven from entering orbit in a rocket and playing a really depressing organ piece that will cause the entire Earth population to commit suicide."
Okay, first: WTF? Does that make a whole lot of sense to anybody? What was the significance of the stolen books? Why is Agent Paper, a young Japanese librarian living in Japan, working for a British dude who apparently has control over all of the United States armed services? I get the fact that Agent Paper can telekinetically move paper around with her mind, but how the hell does she get it to stop bullets and take the form of a sword powerful enough to stop what looks to be the equivalent of an electric lightsaber? Where'd that grasshopper man come from, and why did the giant grasshopper have such a long, manipulative tongue?
I guess I just don't have the mindset for anime. My son tells me the most important lesson while watching anime is: "Accept, and move on." In other words, don't expect any of the crazy stuff to actually make any sense.
I think I'll stick to Godzilla movies.
Johnathan
