From Viz:Yomiko Rean's love for literature goes far beyond any run-of-the-mill bookworm's! In fact, she has a supernatural ability to manipulate paper in the most amazing ways. From turning a tiny scrap into a lethal throwing dagger to making a single sheet hard enough to block bullets, she's only limited by her imagination. She uses her phenomenal power to seek out legendary books containing secret information that, in the wrong hands, could be dangerous. Backed by a Special Operations Division in England, Yomiko has her hands full battling evildoers, saving the world, and trying to find time to curl up with a good book. 6s6d4k
4 Volumes (Complete)
If you're a fan of the R.O.D OVA and/or anime, then you should definitely check the manga out. Or at least, the first volume of it...
Volume one of this manga more or less retells the story of the first R.O.D illustrated novel. It covers how Yomiko and Nenene first met each other, and is really adapted quite well. In fact, I consider this part even better than anything in the anime/OVA. Since the R.O.D novels don't have any available English translations (official or otherwise), this is the only way you're ever going to experience anything of their awesomeness without learning Japanese.
From volume two on the manga has it's own original story (which is not canon with the anime/OVA/novels). Unfortunately...it's mediocre at best. Nowhere near as good as the first volume (or anything else R.O.D). Which is a big let-down, because I really wanted to like this.
So in summary, if you're a fan of R.O.D, then you pretty much MUST pick up volume one here. You can skip the rest. Though if you're really desperate for more, you might want to at least check out volume two. See if you like where it's taking the story. I didn't really care for it, but perhaps you will...
If you loved the Read or Dream manga, the R.O.D. OVA's and TV series, avoid this manga.
It starts off strong, but finishes weak; and the ditzy Yomiko Rean we know and love, has become a diminished pathetic thing.
A great disappointment.
I love the premise of ROD. It's just wonderfully insane, and when you watch the anime, you can only imagine how good the manga must be, right?
Unfortunately, the first two volumes start off being better than the anime, but soon get bogged down in complicated and completely ridiculous scenarios, most of which are hard to follow -- and in a series that's only four volumes long, there's not much room for letting down the storyline in the second half.
The art is fantastic and the story starts out well but just gets lost during the last two books. It's too bad, because I love Yomiko.
