Yomiko Readman

Yomiko Readman, the nineteenth Paper Master

Yomiko Readman, also known as "The Paper", is a fictional character in the Japanese language novel series Read or Die, the manga and anime spin-offs of the books, and the sequel, R.O.D the TV. Though in appearance Japanese, she is in fact half-Japanese, half-English.

Yomiko is a bespectacled substitute teacher and an introvert. A bibliophile, she prefers to bury herself in her books. She spends almost all of her income on books, and her "apartment" is stacked floor to ceiling with books. She resides somewhere in Jinbo-cho, a neighborhood of Chiyoda, Tokyo known for numerous bookstores.

Appearance

Yomiko is shown in always the same clothing, whether it be in the manga, OVA, or the TV series. She wears modest simple white blouse and a long black skirt, as well as a trenchcoat. This trenchcoat has many pockets and inner sections from which she can pull emergency supplies of paper "ammunition."

Yomiko's hair is also almost always unkempt. Joker provides a comb to her in the OVA when she is going with him to attend an important meeting with Mr. Gentleman, commenting that her grooming habits need improvement. She seems embarrassed by the comment, but apparently not embarrassed enough to actually correct the issue herself later. The only reason her hair appears managable in the OVA later on seems to be because Nancy fixed them into braids.

Powers and Abilities

When she focuses, Yomiko can even make paper bulletproof

Yomiko can also create constructs by using her Paper Master abilities

Yomiko is also a secret field agent for the British Library. She is a Paper User, a person with the ability to bend paper material to her will. She can make paper bulletproof or sharper than the sharpest sword. If she has enough paper, then she can construct a giant paper airplane that flies. The only limit to the effects she can create is her own imagination. In the OVA, it seems that she must have in her grasp of at least hands, teeth, or perhaps some other body part at least one piece of paper in a group of papers in order to manipulate them, though eventually by the time of R.O.D the TV she is able to manipulate paper by pure mental control.

In her capacity for the British Library, Yomiko often has to embark on dangerous missions. Though because of her clumsiness and social awkwardness she would not seem to make a very good secret agent, at one point allowing her emotions to get in the way of defeating an enemy, if receiving the proper support she can actually be quite useful, with ninja-like reflexes in combat and the ability to stay focused on the battle. She is considered one of the Library's top agents.

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SPOILER WARNING: Information after this point may spoil the OAV/OVA, TV series and/or manga.

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OVA Plotline

In the OVA, Yomiko goes into debt to buy a rare copy of a book called die "unsterbliche Liebe" or "Immortal Beloved". The book is dusty and dirty, but has sheet music handwritten in its pages, in the margins and on the blank pages in the back and front. She is almost immediately attacked by the clone of Jean-Henri Fabre. He tries to steal her book, but using her paper techniques she fights back and wins. Various clones or I-jin of famous historical figures try to steal her book throughout the OVA. They are trying to use the sheet music in the book to reconstruct Ludwig van Beethoven's supposed lost or Suicide Symphony, which causes anyone who hears it to commit suicide. Eventually, Yomiko helps in destroying the leader of the plot, a clone of Ikkyu Soujon.

Later on, she rescues her friend Nancy Makuhari from British custody and goes into hiding for five years, the events of which are covered in R.O.D the TV.

Notable Quotations

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