Ninjas (otherwise known as shinobi) are very well-known as the Japanese historical (and sometimes legendary) stealth assassin. They have made their mark in history since (I guess) around 15th century as warriors and spies of great prowess in the field of tactical espionage, stealth and assassination. During the Sengoku Era/Period in ancient Japan, ninjas are specially trained assassins-for-hire, rented by warring clans to go past legions of armed samurai and lay defeat on the enemy by taking down the enemy's daimyo (general/governor) like a sitting duck behind enemy lines. To do this perilous yet tremendous feat, ninjas are trained from their childhood with the different specializations of ninjutsu and the art of assassination. Having such dangerous skills, ninjas live well hidden in secret villages deep in jungles or mountainous regions. But like the samurai, they have lost their cause since the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, a time of peace where feudal Japan ended.


In this story, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, gathered the two warring Kouga Manjidani and Iga Tsubagakure ninja clans in his castle to showcase their dangerous expertise in killing. Seeing how they easily handled the castle guards, the government then decided since its a time for peace, skills like theirs are no longer needed and would only bring further danger to the upcoming peace. Tokugawa, issued an order to the warring Iga and Kouga ninja clans, to choose five of their best warriors to engage in a fight to the death for the sake of survival of the stronger of the two clans in order to bring about an era of peace and ending the clans' 400-year feud. In the midst of this conflict, two star-crossed lovers are caught and one must kill the other in order for their clan to come through.




And of course, the best part for me: the unique kick-ass chosen five of each clan! Introducing first, Kouga Manjidani's elite five:





Iga clan's elite five:

     
This movie in particular was recommended to me by my brother most likely because of my personal interests are very evident in this awesome live-action graphic novel adaptation. Music, specifically playing the bass guitar (there are band battles and Scott Pilgrim is in a band and plays bass), Games (the movie runs like a video game with video game SFX, and enemies turning into coins when stamped out) and a lot of Game-based awesome action scenes. To be exact, the Universal Studios intro playing on 8-bit music and the short Zelda track at the beginning of the movie instantly got my "gamer blood" raging. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. What really kept my eyeballs glued to the screen was the movie's lead female, Ramona Flowers... ahhh.. <3

     
I remember watching this television series from ANIMAX years back when we still had cable TV. Being one such action-packed show with the heroines' amazing power to control paper and use it as weapons, shields and summoned creatures really astounded me. But what really made me remember this awesome anime is its cool opening theme. Really funky basslines, jazz horns and that cool guitar vibe (combination of tremolo-delay-wah effect for those who have technical know-how on guitars) gives you that super-agent, James Bond-esque kind of feel. Not to mention, its similarly cool ending theme with its relaxing, feel-good reggae beat and that smooth sultry singing voice which is Kazami, one of my favorite singers in anime music.



ROD The TV is a sequel to its three-episode OVA, Read Or Die. The TV series' story revolves around three sisters who are, like Yomiko Readman from the OVA, are papermasters (not to mention bookworms with an exception to the youngest sister) - wielding the power to manipulate and control paper and turn it into weapons and tools of sorts - and Nenene Sumiregawa, a prodigy writer and novelist and is a close friend of Yomiko Readman. She has been unable to produce new material for some time due to Yomiko's sudden disappearance which happened after the destruction of the British Library (where Yomiko worked as a secret agent) 5 years prior to this series.

Having a keen and extraordinary talent, the three paper sisters have formed an agency called the "Three Sisters Detective Agency" and have been doing odd jobs requiring their unusual skills and have been working as super agents for Dokusensha, a company similar to the British Library (from the OVA) with underlying shady businesses regarding collecting books which are said to contain unimaginable powers.



Eventually, the Three Sisters Detective Agency was hired out to protect Nenene Sumiregawa during her trip to Hong Kong where her latest novel was to be made into a movie. During an autograph signing, as expected by Nenene's managers, an attack threatening Nenene's life was executed by a local novelist who was extremely envious of Nenene's achievement. Lucky enough, Nenene escaped certain death having hired the paper masters as bodyguards. With her life under constant threat, her paper master bodyguards, had to stay in her apartment as part of their job of protecting her. Although it was a bit too much trouble for Nenene having to put up with the sisters' eccentricity - especially with the spitfire, hot-blooded Anita - eventually, they formed a bond of friendship.

     
Read or Die is one of those anime which i could say, any action anime fanatic shouldn't dare miss. Just by watching the anime's cool opening theme and listening to its soundtrack's "secret agent" kind of vibe really gives you the feeling you're in for some real good action.


The story revolves around Yomiko Readman, an agent of the British Library - a seemingly perfect front - in which Britain's top secret Special Operations Division, yep, you guessed it right, a spy/secret agent network that works on classified cases of terrorism and the unnatural (e.g. books that yield the power to world domination. what?!?) lies hidden. Yomiko is not your regular "James Bond" kind of secret agent though. She is practically the opposite. A childish, rather clumsy, stroller-toting, four-eyes bibliomaniac who works as a substitute teacher by day. But just like a secret agent, they all have that everyday "regular person" facade.  Yomiko is a half-English, half- Japanese paper master and is one of the Empire's best agents. Being a paper master she has the power to control and influence paper and use it as weapons and tools of sorts. With that power she was given the codename "The Paper". 


In this particular OVA (Original Video Animation) Yomiko and other British Library agents were tasked to protect a certain book and destroy a bunch of insurgents who call themselves, I-Jin and are after the book which apparently holds the power to mankind's destruction. The I-jin are technically clones of certain historical figures who have acquired super powers and technology based on their occupations in history.



Although story-wise the OVA might leave you hanging on some details especially if you haven't read its manga yet. Its because the stories on each media (OVA, manga and TV series) the Read or Die series is published upon are loosely based on each other. That is, the characters and their connections on each other and the original plot of the British Library as a world superpower hiring super-spies against book-related terrorism are mostly the constant stuff in the entire series. But all-in-all, this is one really action-packed, three-episode OVA you wouldn't want to miss.