The tense cliff-hanger that ended the third volume is now resolved as the Paper Sisters’ daring rescue of Nenene from the Dokusensha reaches its dramatic conclusion. The repercussions of their operation force them to go on the run, and Nenene begins the investigation concerning her past with renewed enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the mystery concerning the Dokusensha and the British Library deepens.

At the end of the last volume I was literally on the edge of my seat, only to find things reach a very abrupt and tense end. This disc hits the ground running accordingly and wraps up the epic paper battle; most importantly it does so in great style. For a twenty-six episode series it’s a pleasant surprise that even around the halfway point the pace of the storyline does not falter: facing the blame for the devastation of the Dokusensha’s Hong Kong branch and having made an interesting discovery shortly afterwards, Nenene and the Paper Sisters are soon thrown into the action once more.

It is at this point that the series ties in nicely with the OVA and in a big way too. I won’t go into any more detail about that now for fear of spoiling things, but I can assure you that it gets a lot more interesting! There is also a large segment of one of the episodes that brings the viewer up to speed on the events that have occurred up until now, and the connections between the series are now much clearer. Told by Wendy from the British Library Special Operations Division (remember her?) as she writes a report to her superiors, it is somewhat lengthy and very reliant on flashbacks but worth paying attention to in order to make sense of the wider picture.

This part of the disc reveals a great deal of information into the Dokusensha and gives the distinct impression that the line between the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ is very blurred indeed. On one hand we have the shadowy Dokusensha; on the other is the British Library, struggling to rebuild a shattered UK. Of course it is not nearly that simple: there are moles, double crosses and divided loyalties aplenty and it is difficult at this stage to work out whose side several important characters are on.

In Summary

This instalment is titled The Turning Point and not without reason: just as one subplot finishes we are presented with a whole new story arc that proves to be even larger and more intriguing. The links between this and the original Read or Die series have been made which will please fans of the OVA, and there are no signs of pacing problems that sometimes affect series of this length. Once again there is a tense conclusion to the disc’s final episode so I’ll be looking forward to volume 5 with baited breath.