I was watching R.O.D. (Read or Die) on Sci Fi channel last night (at least part of it) and it looked interesting. I guess this was the movie or OVA. Can anyone tell me how good this series is (or not)?

hehe, how can I stay away from a R.O.D topic?!

I believe the Sci Fi channel aired the OVA. Not sure if they did the whole thing or only one episode (it's 3 1/2 hour episodes).
The OVA is excellent. Is short but great fun, I loved Yomiko as the bookworm super hero. It is very fast paced with a nice secret agent feel. I just fell in love straight away with the idea of a paper master.

The TV series (R.O.D the TV) takes this idea and expands upon it. Set in Japan 4 years later after the fall of the British empire it shows a whole other side of what is going on with three new paper masters. The first half of the series is much slower paced than the OVA, it's a bit of a slice of life series (which I love) but there's plenty of action in the second half as things come to a head.
I enjoyed it a lot. I'm still not sure which I prefer. Maggie, my favourite character, is an TV character and it expanded some of the older characters wonderfully. Plus I like slice of life. However the short length of the OVA gave it a wonderful flow.

If you liked the action in the OVA but don't like slice of live the TV series is still worth sticking with at least until the return to Hong Kong. Then you can see the beginning of the direction the rest of the series will take.

Thanks for the review, Linden!

I enjoy slice of life anime too. I like Fruits Basket after all, and I'm currently watching Tactics which I also enjoy (though admittedly the plot is more centered around individual episodes/mysteries than an overall theme from what I can see).

I think I'll probably start with the R.O.D. OVA first then, and then perhaps get into the anime. From the parts of the show I saw, the bookworm/paper master thing really intrigued me a lot.

For any one completely new to the series here's my overview of both series (hacked from my <a href="http://www.dreamsoftwilight.co.uk/index.php?page=Series%20Overview">web page</a> :b)

Read or Die (OVA)
Distributor: Manga
Length: 3 Episodes
Overview:
The OVA is a action series, Yomiko Readman, known in the British Library Special Operations Squad "The Paper", has an affinity for books and a special skill with paper. So when rare books are being stolen by some of histories greatest men she is best person to investigate. Along with two other agents Yomiko must recover the books and save the world.

R.O.D - The TV -
Distributor: Geneon animation
Length: 26 Episodes
Overview:
The TV series follows on five years after the OVA and is much more relaxed. It does have action but it isn't as much the focus it was in the OVA. Instead it concentrates on the story of the three paper sisters Anita, Michelle and Maggie who are hired to protect the famous Japanese author Sumiregawa Nenene, and friend of Yomiko, on her Hong Kong book signing tour. After the sisters save Nenene they follow her back to Japan and continue to protect her as freeloading bodyguards.

I just recently saw both the OVA and the series and I loved them both. I was a little confused with the anime at first and I found myself missing the characters from the OVA. I ended up loving the whole thing though. The only unfortunate thing about the series is that every quiz I take tells me that I'm most like Anita (but I think that's just because I don't like books). Michelle is my favorite character from the whole thing. She's the best!!!