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Three girls use magic and mayhem to forward their weird detective
work. They specialise in jobs involving lost or stolen books.
Weirdness and fun usually follows our trio of bibliophiles...
Being
the third in the series of discs for this show it covers episodes
nine to twelve. Rather than rehash the background material
its best you check out my review of Volume
Two. The show is unique.
Episode
nine, Heart of Darkness, is both slow and strangely
sensual. The trio, once more, are given an assignment by the
podgy Dokusensha - to retrieve a hidden key from a spring
pool. A good excuse for some skinny dipping apparently, though
any problem here is more a reflection on UK moirés than the
Japanese. However things do not go as planned as they confront
a paper master. Okay, I'll admit I've always found ROD
to be an odd show. I think it was because I was brought up
on Marvel comics, where people had powers that could bring
about Armageddon, so the idea that someone can manipulate
paper is kind of weird. Just how many hours would you have
to stand there to die of paper cuts? The episode is a little
bland for this show, which usually, happily plumbs the depths
of weirdness.
Moving
on we have episode ten, Christmas Carol. Bit of a rehash
here, as Nenene Sumiregawa is invited to an awards banquet.
Apparently Japanese awards are full of over young females
who look like they have a Mars bar inserted in somewhere unspeakable
outside Sidcup. During the party Nenene Sumiregawa is berated
by a bitch with an attitude for not producing more work (it's
enough to put you off writing). Luckily she is rescued by
a man who seems unable to open his eyes. Unfortunately, Nenene
Sumiregawa appears to think that her novels have the powers
to change humanity and when she pronounces that she will be
writing another novel she brings the house down (I rarely
get vague interest from my cat). In the post party fugue the
girls reminisce how they met over a copy of Story of a
Giraffe with a Shrunken Neck, now there's a book I'd love
to read, although the paper master she meets sounds disturbingly
like Michael Jackson. The episode is like watching Disney
on acid.
In Goodbye Japan, Sumiregawa, is sent back to Tokyo.
It's a time of goodbyes for the girls. Anita's class throw
a going away party. This is quite a despondent episode, with
loss and leaving being the major themes. Things seem to be
going well until the girls reach Tokyo only to be ambushed
by sub Ghost in the Shell troopers. Are the girls under
threat or is this another great opportunity?
Last
episode on the disc is Twilight of the Papers. Lee
turns out to be the villain of the piece, he works for Dokusensha.
They want Sumiregawa to write another book under the threat
to being terminated (now there's a harsh editor). At this
point my suspension of disbelief and my grasp on reality seemed
to be slipping away at the same time. I felt like the sixties
were catching up with me - and I wasn't even there. Of course
the other girls will rescue her, after all we're only half
way through the season. I loved the dove that turns up with
cigarettes in it mouth, Now there's a species worth keeping.
Look,
I'm not saying that the show is either good or bad, its so
"out there" that your either going to love it or
you'll just stare at it wondering what the hell is going on.
But if you've bought into the series so far you're going to
want this. I'm not sure that I could recommend that anyone
start collecting the series from this point. Start with the
first DVD and work your way up, but don't watch this show
under the influence of anything, the bouncing breasts will
just make you go blind and the plots will mess with your mind.
Charles
Packer
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