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R.O.D the TV
"D.O.D. -DREAM OR DIE-"
Wendy confronting Anita
Episode no. TV 21
Airdate February 16, 2004 (Japan)
May 24, 2005 (US)
Year 2007
Episode chronology
Previous episode "Bonjour Tristesse"
Next episode "Seize"

Episode Synopsis[]

Anita King now lives in a strange dream, and is offered the chance to truly join it. But when an unwelcome visitor is found in her home, the girl makes her own path.

Extended Summary[]

Anita King returns to school, where everything seems to be fine. However, things seem odd to Anita at lunch: her friend, Chiho, sits alone and Natsume Nishizono is embarassed to talk about her sister's book; later, when asked about what she wants to be when she grows up, Hisami Hishiishii says a librarian, and after school she leaves Anita to walk home alone.

Anita goes home to a messy but empty apartment. After cleaning up after herself, she bundles up to sleep on the couch.

In Jinbocho, Yomiko watches construction crews. A cat, the Toto Books owner's, specifically - approaches Yomiko, and she follows it to an underground store: Toto Books: "Makeshift Store Open - Store #2"...""the last bookstore in Jinbocho"". The old man is upset about his store being destroyed and books destroyed, but the authorities won't listen to him. His store and Jinbocho aren't the only cases, however; the destruction of libraries, distributors and bookstores is occurring all over the planet.

The group is building a transmission centre in Jinbocho, one that will distribute information for equal access around the world - "at least, that's what the flyer says". Both the old man and Yomiko disagree with this method, and he offers Yomiko all the books in the store to "bring Jinbocho back".

From an empty classroom Anita watches Hisami give a blushing Tohru Okahara lunch. Wendy Earheart enters the classroom, talking about what has happened to the school, and asks about The Book of Clairvoyant Eyes. Anita says that it was burned up in the helicopter and demands to know what Wendy wants with her. Wendy, however, doesn't seem too concerned about Anita being a threat: she requests for some blood and tissue samples from Anita, but is willing to give Anita a new life in the new world, because it is obvious that Anita, as a child, cannot survive for long alone. Wendy gives Anita until the end of the school day to decide to "keep dreaming or die" before reporting to Joseph Carpenter.

Anita is listening to her teacher read Anne of Green Gables to the class. She sees Tohko and Chiho passing messages and Natsume keeping her sister's novels in her desk. She sees her gift keychain on Hisami's bag, but Hisami reads the moving passage without blinking an eye. Anita, distressed, bolts out of the classroom, and the class continues as normal. Wendy silently watches Anita leave school.

At Nenene's apartment Anita notices that she has a visitor and prepares to attack, but instead finds Yomiko sobbing over a photograph of her and Nenene Sumiregawa. Yomiko apologizes and goes to leave, but Anita stops her.

"I can't forgive you. But there are people whom I can't forgive even more than you. I'll team up with you again until we beat them."

It is revealed that Junior and Michelle Cheung are still alive, and in a flashback it's shown what he's done. The two are hiding in an abandoned village. Michelle tries to leave, but Junior insists that they stay put, as part of a back-up plan between him and Drake Anderson. However, the Special Operations Division seems aware of the ploy.

The British Library tracks Yomiko and Anita to Jinbocho, where they are wreaking havoc on the installation site. Instead of sending a containment team, Joseph Carpenter decides to head there personally. Yomiko asks Joseph Carpenter to stop, but Joseph Carpenter comments on her stupidity, saying that his plan will only bring true happiness to each person around the world. He makes a counter-offer: if they surrender now, she will be forgiven and accepted back into the Library.

Anita interrupts, yelling at Yomiko for a weak state of mind. The two girls rush to capture Joseph Carpenter, but are interrupted by a phone call. It's revealed that Nancy, Drake and Michelle are alive, to the girls' joy, but United States special operations forces are also moving in on them to capture them. Joseph Carpenter says that he can save them, if the girls surrender, but instead Yomiko uses their paper to blast a paper rocket into the sky, shifting into a plane that she flies with all haste to the position.

Trivia[]

  • The quotation Anita's teacher writes on the blackboard, ironically, is "A man has to choose what he will be. I believe that."
  • The poster on the library wall reads "The Permanent Library for Mankind". There is a picture of a satellite dish on it. More posters are seen in alleyways; there is a radio broadcast heard in the new Toto Books store.
  • At the time of this episode, there are 112 branches of 'The Permanent Library for Mankind' around the world, with one set to be built in Columbia.
  • Nenene Sumiregawa's book "Midnight Liberation Zone" is one of the books Toto Books managed to save.
  • Anita is hinted at being a candidate for Mr. Gentleman in Wendy's and Joseph Carpenter's conversation.
  • Anita grabbing Yomiko's cheek is reminiscent of Yomiko pinching Anita's prior to flying the paper airplane.
  • Joseph Carpenter's cellphone plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
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