R.O.D - Read or Die (2001)

Anecdotes

• Adapté de : Read or Die

Read or Die is an OVA based on the characters of the novels and manga of the same name by Hideyuki Kurata. It was released by Studio Deen from 2001 to 2002 and distributed outside Japan by Manga Entertainment in 2003. The series, directed by Koji Masunari, features the main characters of the original manga such as Yomiko Readman and Joker. Despite this, it is not a continuation of either the light novels or the manga storyline.

Production

SME Visual Works (now Sony Music Entertainment Japan) first approached writer Hideyuki Kurata in 1998 to create an OVA, specifically "a 'female spy story'." Before a solid concept took off, Kurata had proposed to center his film on a male protagonist, Hiraga Gennai where he would utilize "electricity as a weapon," and then, a mysterious power involving a "paper user will defeat him." However, his idea was promptly rejected by SME, thinking it wou…

Kurata has cited the manga Ushio & Tora as a major inspiration for building the action sequences in the early developmental stages. He was partial to the idea of an action anime considering his interest for action films. However, "[t]here were a lot of sports-oriented action scenes [in those movies], such as kicking." Consequently, he was keen to make his action scenes based in human emotions.

Once he came up with the central idea for a character, "a woman who loved books" and "would scatter paper everywhere," he drew from historical figures to fill the roles of her main antagonists. While Kurata initially planned to use such figures as Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers, he was forced to abandon this idea when he realized "American historical figures tend to be protected by things like portrait rights." To avoid lawsuits, he revise…

Production was well underway when SME suggested that the creative team release a light novel series "to attract a wide audience" for the OVA release. Through SME's partnerships with the publishing companies, Shueisha and Super Dash Bunko, they hired Kurata to pen a novel series before the OVA was set to be released. Although, Kurata has also contradicted these details: "A novel had always been part of the master plan."

Kurata's friend, Yōsuke Kuroda, writer of the Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins franchise and the owner of Studio Orphee, encouraged him to start with "a novel to act as the original work [for the anime]," which Kurata agreed to do.

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