Yomiko Readman
Yomiko Readman is a female anime and manga character who features in Read or Die.
Contents |
Biography
Yomiko Readman (Japanese: 読子・リードマン, Hepburn: Yomiko Rīdoman)
Yomiko works as a secret field agent for the British Library, using her papermastery to thwart the British Library's foes and collect valuable books and documents. She was the 19th person to serve the Library in this capacity. Yomiko is assigned her missions by the British Library special operations commander, codenamed Mr. Joker. She often works with partners, such as the American mercenary Drake Anderson, the clumsy but capable junior field agent Wendy Earhart, and the suave wall-phasing gunslinger girl, Nancy Makuhari. Yomiko Readman’s earliest recorded activity placed her in the service of the British Library Special Operations Division, an intelligence agency that specialized in the acquisition and protection of rare texts and the suppression of threats linked to literary artifacts. Her assignment led her into conflict with adversaries intent on weaponizing forbidden knowledge, and she distinguished herself through her exceptional mastery of paper manipulation. Using ordinary sheets of paper, she constructed weapons, shields, and even vehicles, overwhelming her foes with improvisational ingenuity. This first mission cemented her reputation as a field operative of unparalleled skill, earning her the codename The Paper
In a subsequent operation, Yomiko was dispatched to recover a rare volume that had fallen into the hands of powerful enemies. During this mission she displayed both her loyalty to her mission and her reluctance to inflict lethal harm, subduing targets with nonlethal constructs while still operating at peak combat effectiveness. Her ability to read and absorb information instantaneously allowed her to master any written material on the spot, giving her a decisive advantage in deciphering codes and identifying her opponents’ tactics. The mission demonstrated her dual role as both scholar and soldier, a unique balance that no other operative in the British Library could replicate. Her third major recorded action escalated to a direct confrontation with an enemy conspiracy seeking to revive historical figures as living weapons. Yomiko was forced into a battle that blended espionage, superhuman combat, and cultural warfare, pushing her abilities to their limits. She created elaborate paper constructs to engage entire squads of adversaries and shield her allies, while relying on her intellect to outmaneuver plans centuries in the making. Despite the overwhelming scale of the threat, Yomiko’s resourcefulness and unshakable resolve allowed her to safeguard both her comrades and the literary artifact central to the mission. This marked her emergence not just as an agent, but as a symbolic defender of the written word itself.
After recovering a rare book from a violent commando, Yomiko meets Nenene Sumiregawa and must save her when Nenene is kidnapped by a deranged fan. Yomiko must rescue her and defeat the fan's hired hand, a deadly assassin named Fire Inc. who is as skilled with fire as Yomiko is with paper.
Yomiko later was assigned a mission to be a substitute teacher at the Manshu Academy. It is believed that the Manshu Academy is a cover for a more devious operation, and assisting Yomiko is Wendy Earheart. The students are split into two factions, the superpowered A students and their teacher Iraka, and the lesser B students. Yomiko discovers Donnie Nakajima is still alive, and falls in love again. Nenene later joins the school in order to find out what Yomiko is up to.
Donnie turns out to be a villain in disguise, a childhood friend named Ridley Wan. He is trying to uncover the Underground Library by tricking Yomiko and manipulating her emotions. This will draw out the sentient Underground Library so Ridley may gain ultimate power and seek revenge on the British Library. Ridley blames the British Library for buying him and Donnie at a young age and subjecting them to harsh training, and for Donnie's death. Joseph Carpenter's communication is blocked off from Wendy, and Drake joins later to back up Yomiko. After Ridley reveals himself, Yomiko falls into a deep depression and cannot read or wield paper.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Yomiko Readman was a young woman of slim build, most often seen wearing a tan trench coat, white shirt, long skirt, and large round glasses that gave her the look of an unassuming bibliophile rather than a covert operative. Her long, dark brown hair framed her face and contrasted with her understated wardrobe, while her ever-present satchel often carried both her beloved books and the paper that served as her weaponry. This modest appearance masked the power and resourcefulness that made her one of the British Library’s most effective operatives.
Yomiko was gentle, absent-minded, and almost painfully introverted, showing far more enthusiasm for books than for combat or social interaction. Her overriding passion was literature, and she treated books with reverence that bordered on obsession, often becoming so engrossed in reading that she would forget her surroundings. Yet beneath this bookish exterior lay a determined operative, capable of decisive and courageous action when innocents or the written word were threatened. This blend of absent-minded warmth and unshakable dedication defined her as both an eccentric civilian and a formidable field agent.
Powers and abilities
Physiologically, Yomiko was a human being with the rare ability of bibliokinesis—the supernatural control of paper. This power allowed her to alter the physical properties of sheets of paper at will, granting them tensile strength exceeding steel, transforming them into blades, projectiles, ropes, or defensive barriers. She could fold them into complex constructs such as wings or gliders, and even repair damaged items by layering and fusing paper with microscopic precision. Though her body remained fully human and vulnerable without her paper at hand, this unique gift elevated her into the ranks of the most dangerous operatives alive.
These powers made her a papermaster (紙使い, kamitsukai) who were people with telekinetic control over paper and objects that contained paper. The ability was genetic in nature with Papermasters able to nullify each other's powers. In such cases, a stronger papermaster could turn their opponents paper into their own weapon.
Readman came to be an operative for the British Library's Special Operations Division (大英図書館特殊工作部, daiei-toshokan tokushu-kousakubu) that was the special operations forces of the British Library. It was housed in a giant covert underground complex beneath the Great Court of the British Museum.
Notes
- Yomiko Readman was created by Hideyuki Kurata and Taraku Uon where she featured in the setting of the Read or Die universe.
In other media
Television
Appearances
- Read or Die:
External Links
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