So last week I gave a fairly positive review of the first half of R.O.D. the TV. And I’m happy to say, the second half holds up to the degree that I have bought my own copy. The more domestic character establishing parts of the first half are largely gone, the second half is payoff as all the plot threads are brought together.
I’ll save spoilers for another post, but suffice to say that I love the main villain in this series. Said villain is an excellent mastermind that has several sympathetic traits. The character tends to use words rather than violence and the evil plot avoids mass-destruction and nihilism. The baddy also represents a critique of Western civilization and a more sophisticated critique than I normally see.
The whole finale is excellent. Not surprisingly it is pretty twisted and fantastical but it is bizarre in a way that has specific rules; rules the characters can use to their advantage. The way the final confrontation plays out is lovely. Although once th confrontation play out the epilogue works, but is nothing special. Also, we finally establish that the Paper can speed read. Good. I don’t get why she didn’t use that ability in the miniseries.
Anyways, weak points (including minor spoilers): International relations still do not work that way, although there is one beautiful back stab. That said, look, I’m not a crazy nationalist or anything, but even I get a little tired of seeing a clear President Bush stand-in urinate on himself out of fear. Try harder people, we’re not particularly difficult to effectively insult. Similarly, Read or Die is great with small teams of commandos but terrible with major military equipment. Any attempt to send in the real power of a country will fail so badly it just isn’t interesting. Finally, there’s a sudden yet inevitable betrayal that seems mostly just to be an instrument for the plot. The character involved has some sensible anger at other good guys, but mostly just acts as a cipher. A subsequent betrayal is much better handled and actually makes sense to everyone involved.
This series is recommended for: people who don’t mind some anime weirdness, fans of clever use of superpowers, fans of mastermind super villains. Bibliophiles will probably also like it, although while the series does throw references, it’s no League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or the like.
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