AMINE AND MANGA

In the Slayers universe the Lord of Nightmares is the ultimate being, the creator of at least four parallel worlds. The Claire Bible, an artifact containing the knowledge of a fallen shinzoku, Aqualord Ragradia, states that the Lord of Nightmares seeks to regain its "true form", which is only attainable by destroying these worlds and returning them to the chaos that it itself is. For unexplained reasons, though, the Lord of Nightmares has not acted upon this desire by itself so far.

On each of these worlds are gods (shinzoku, lit. "godly race") and demons (mazoku, lit. "monster race"), fighting without end. Should the gods win the war in a world, that world will be at peace. Should the demons win, the world will be destroyed and returned to the Sea of Chaos. In Lina's world, the supreme god is Flare Dragon Ceiphied, and the supreme demon is the Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo. Long ago, their war ended more or less in a stalemate, when Ceiphied was able to split Shabranigdo's existence into seven pieces in order to prevent him from coming back to life, then sealing them within human souls. As the souls are reincarnated, the individual fragments would therefore be worn down until Shabranigdo himself would be destroyed. However, Ceiphied was so exhausted by this that he himself sank into the Sea of Chaos, leaving four parts of himself in the world.

During the Shaman Fight, Yoh encounters Hao Asakura, a strong shaman who wishes to eradicate humans and create a world for shamans. At the end of the shaman battles where the remaining teams consist of Yoh and his friends, the X-Laws, and Hao's team, the remaining teams decide to forfeit the tournament crowning Hao the title of Shaman King. As Hao is led away, they decide to attack Hao during the time he is merging with the great spirit which is in a coma. To do so, Yoh and his friends must defeat The Patch Tribe members who are obliged to serve under the new Shaman King.

Once defeating the ten Patch members, Hao is awakened as the Shaman King. He defeats Yoh and all his friends and absorbs their souls. Inside the Great Spirit, Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, and Joco battle Hao with the five legendary spirits; The Spirit of Earth, the Spirit of Thunder, the Spirit of Rain, the Spirit of Fire and the Spirit of Wind. When associates of Yoh and his friends begin appearing in the Great Spirit, it is revealed the Great Spirit granted Hao's wish so someone may bring back his mother's spirit. With Anna's help, Hao's mother is brought to the Great Spirit. Hao's mother tells him he must forgive the Humans for murdering her in order to be saved. Hao decides to postpone his plan to eradicate humans and to observe how Yoh and his friends will change the world.

Seven years later, Hana Asakura awaits at a station for the five legendary warriors and his parents, Yoh and Anna.

R.O.D -THE TV- is a 26-episode TV anime series, animated by J.C.Staff and produced by Aniplex, directed by Koji Masunari and scripted by Hideyuki Kurata, about the adventures of three paper-manipulating sisters, Michelle, Maggie and Anita, who become the bodyguards of Nenene Sumiregawa, a famous Japanese writer. Featuring music by Taku Iwasaki, the series is a sequel to the Read or Die OVA. Its official title of R.O.D -THE TV- is a catch-all acronym referring to the inclusion of characters from both the Read or Die novels, manga and OVA and the Read or Dream manga, which revolves solely around the Paper Sisters. Promotional material for R.O.D -THE TV- implies that the show revolves around the three sisters of Read or Dream; however, Nenene Sumiregawa of Read or Die is also considered a protagonist.

R.O.D -THE TV- first premiered across Japan from October 1, 2003 through March 16, 2004 on pay-per-view satellite television platform SKY PerfecTV!. It was later aired across the terrestrial Fuji Television station from October 15, 2003 through March 18, 2004. The series spanned a total of 26 episodes, and was broadcast worldwide by the anime satellite television network, Animax.

The series was distributed on DVD in North America by Geneon, in seven discs; the company finished releasing the series in summer 2005. Aniplex of America will re-release the original Read or Die episodes and the TV series on Blu-ray in Winter 2010/2011

The series begins in 2006, five years after the "I-Jin" incident detailed in the Read or Die OVA. Yomiko Readman (a.k.a. "The Paper", agent of British Library Task Force) has supposedly gone missing, and Nenene Sumiregawa, her former student and best friend, is still in Tokyo after her parents moved to the USA. Nenene has not written a book since Yomiko disappeared, as she has become lonely and frustrated that her sensei has never read her last book, and she feels she can't write again until she hears Yomiko's reaction to the book, so Nenene often disappears for long periods of time searching for Yomiko, and has been periodically doing so ever since her "disappearance".

During a trip to Hong Kong, Nenene meets the three sisters, Michelle, Maggie and Anita (from the Read or Dream manga), who are supposed to take care of her during her visit. However, the hotel at which Nenene is supposed to stay at is bombed, and at a press conference Nenene is briefly held hostage by a jealous rival in her industry. The three sisters end up becoming her bodyguards and join her back to Tokyo.

Each sister has paper manipulation skills similar to Yomiko, although significantly less powerful and more focused in scope. After the initial action-filled adventure, the first several episodes take on the feel of an odd-couple comedy which focuses on tension between Nenene and the sisters, who move into her apartment and mooch off her, all while dealing with various crazies and psychos in their everyday lives. The sisters also perform odd jobs as agents of the Dokusensha (ostensibly a Chinese publishing company, but more like an Illuminati-type organization focusing on the collection of rare and powerful documents). This eventually puts them and Nenene in direct conflict with the British Library and the protagonists of Read of Die (Dokusensha is established as the British Library's rival in the Read or Die manga).

Events grow more serious as the series progresses as atrocities are committed by both sides, thrusting the main characters into the middle of a conflict between literary superpowers, the British Library and Dokusensha, who are both trying to collect ancient artifacts (books, of course) to control the entire world and even rewrite history. After a horrific collision between the two superpowers, Nenene and the Paper Sisters set out to find the missing Yomiko to learn the truth about the conflict and save the world from literary terrorism.