birdy the mighty decode 1
Categories: anime, episodic review
Tagged: birdy the mighty
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13 years for a remake. Either the production companies are running low on ideas (hint: animate this) or Birdy’s just finally getting the respect she deserves.
I don’t remember the last time two franchises that first aired 13 years ago got new series. The other one’s a continuation; Birdy‘s a reboot. A mass reboot. Watching Decode, it feels like the old Birdy, but everyone is new. Gone are Madhouse and Bandai Visual, the makers of the original OVA. In is A-1, a production house that wasn’t even around when Birdy first aired. Out is Kotono Mitsuishi as Birdy’s seiyuu, as are pretty much the whole original cast. In is Saeko Chiba as Birdy.
I watched the original series back, oh, almost a decade ago on Encore Action Channel (I’m not even sure if that’s still around). There really wasn’t anything special about the series, except for two things that really stood out: the first is that Birdy shares a body with a typical male character, leading to both mass confusion and mass fanservice (broken before Kashimashi). The second is that Birdy’s battles with Gomez were awesome, like on a Revy vs. Mad Dog level. But it really wasn’t a series I’d pencil in as a remake candidate 13 years later.
(ANN’s metaranking gives it a 6.8… for reference, Rosario + Vampire is at 6.9. I think that’s too low for Birdy. Go rent it or get it off eBay for cheap. The original OVA is worth watching.)
Now, for Decode, I don’t except any of that to change (and, if it does, it’s blasphemous). This first episode just sets the basic premise of the series that the hawt intergalactic spacewoman fucks up and kills an innocent bystander. She then has to redeem herself by sharing her body with an ordinary high school student. For the OVA, this setup was explained in like one minute. At least for Decode, a whole episode was squeezed out of it. Like 13 years prior, I expect a fun, mindless, genderbending romp.
Mightily
The Shion element is a new element. A welcome new element.
I see Birdy still overdoes things sometime… err… all the time. That’s just part of her charm. Good to see her kicking ass again… good times… good times.
(Show ya moves!)
Her support mecha needs better character design. I’m not sure what’s worse: the floating octopus or the Leeron bipedal mode.
I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can’t deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
I wonder how much it would effect this series if Jil or Melt combined with Birdy instead. Would they get anything done?
Though I’m with the Druaga men on that one: if you get stuck in a hawt female body, it’s not the worst thing in the world.
I thought this scene was great. The guys are all lusting after Shion, but they don’t recognize her in plain clothes. Shion’s no Sheryl, that’s for sure.
(But I do like retro spacegirl look. It needs to be pulled out more often than an occasional Magikano episode or Haruhi Suzumiya side story.)
Birdy’s look is also updated. She’s a bit more streamlined and looks less like Priss from Bubblegum Crisis (another series that I wouldn’t have fathomed a sequel for 10 years ago, but, now, who knows?).
23 Responses to “birdy the mighty decode 1”
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Thought of another Bubblegum Crisis makes me drool…
you know, if make an amv with Kallen and a sir-mix-a-lot’s song. that would be a instant win for me :P because ” I like big butts and I cannot lie” :D
Wow…a series that I might actually be interested in watching…
I didn’t watch the previous anime incarnation of Birdy, but I did read the manga. That essentially means I have zero interest in the anime.
I’m definitely looking forward to the blog reports, though.
The jury’s still out for for this one, as far as I’m concerned, although the first episode left a positive impression. Better first impression than Slayers, but that’s because there’s no nostalgia trip in it for me (and Lina’s VA hurt my ears at times). This seems to sell itself as action-y series so hopefully there’s that… but the budget doesn’t seem to be too big so we might end up watching still pans.
(Speaking of production values, anyone notice how much it fluctuated in Shion no Ou final? From well drawn to “we let the cheapest inbetweeners animate the whole scene” – they must’ve been running REALLY short on funds.)
I liked this but I liked Noien’s animation alot. Story doesn’t seem to be anything new or exciting but its not like there’s a plethora of shows to watch this season.
Northernshadows – No kidding. There were times when I literally hit the pause button and examined the screen, wondering if the animation was that bad or if the fact that it was two in the morning was clouding my judgment. Surprisingly, it was the former.
Anyways, I’ll be giving this one a try. It’s not as if I have a lot of things to watch during the summer, anyways.
I liked the 1995 Birdy, so I would look this one for sure!
And by the way, Northernshadows, thats heresy! Lina VA is GREATTO!!!
Mmm, “the company that did Oofuri” was enough for me to try this show. The animation quality was so fluid, it’s really great to see (hope that doesn’t drop in later eps).
Totally following this~
It was a descent episode to start the series, but this Tsutomu looks more dumbass unlike the OVA.
We’ll see what happens next.
I’d never even heard of this series before, but hearing about the people behind it really got me interested. Noein and Escaflowne’s director, Oofuri’s animation studio, same original creator as Patlabor, and RahXephon’s creator as ‘creative producer’. Really too much stuff going for it for me to ignore it.
I did quite enjoy the first episode. Looks like some quality fun.
I like what I have seen so far in episode one. The animation is pretty nice, I like the voice actor choices, and I get this feeling the main dude really isn’t all too much a looser but an introvert (he seems to have friends, including girls, just not really “normal”).
The fact he is more an introvert then just anime wussy so far is pretty neat, but we haven’t seen much more of him. Will be interesting to see evolve.
Shion element is indeed nice though. Her spacey way of speaking sounds kinda neat in contrast to her rather foward Birdy voice. And she’s hot. Always a plus.
Looks to be a neat though. As wtih Spring, sometimes a season looks to be full of crap, and then you suddenly get a load of pretty decently awesome. Birdy might be something to surprsie and entertain my bitter cynical heart.
Or something. Good post though, got me to give it a shot and I like what I saw.
And stuff.
CG ep 13 is out. If you look closely… shirley’s not in it
Hmmm, I also haven’t seen the first incarnation, but this episode was indeed interesting. Love the fluid animation.
> “And by the way, Northernshadows, thats heresy! Lina VA is GREATTO!!!”
I just checked who the VA is and yes, I think I may indeed have committed heresy. :) Before the Imperial Inquisition descends on me, let me hasten to add that the particular application of her voice is the problem. I assume the intent is to emulate the original voice, back from the days when they thought it was ok to give funny voices on anime characters…
…great, I just recalled the green gradient-hair from Potemayo.
The anitmation is hard to make out sometimes, not a good sign. I did enjoy the first episode though, and that makes it the second best ive seen so far (behind Himawari). Thats how pathetic this season is, just like the rest of the year.
^^umm, I meant Hidamari, not himawari, how i typed himawari i have no idea.
Birdy was a fun series from back in the day… nothing special but a great way to pass a lazy Sunday afternoon. So far this series seems to have captured that, even if Tsutomu is now a Yorito clone (what’s with him and his ‘this building has a great feeling’ as if he’s taking pictures of clouds?).
BTW there was already a Bubblegum Crisis sequel 10 years ago, but you probably knew that already right Jason?
http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.....php?id=123
By the way Jason, what’s the other series that aired 13 years ago that has a sequel?
I hope you aren’t confusing Mahou Tsukai Tai (Magic User’s Club, 1996) and Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto (Someday’s Dreamers, 2003)…
i aint watched the 1st series back den…guess i was too young and din noe wadaheck was anime.
but this series looks fun. for the summer season.
delicious space gals.
I think the animation is kind of low quality for these days. The show is fairly standard, but we’ll see how the execution is. I feel like there’s nothing special to follow, even though I enjoyed the old OVA dealy.
I think Slayers Revolution is probably similar. I can’t tell, though, because I thought the original Slayers was boring and couldn’t even get past the 3rd or 4th episode. Lina’s voice was annoying as all get out.
Just finished watching the OVA and I gotta say I thought it was pretty good for an old school anime. My only problem with the new one is the change of hairstyle for Birdy, it was way cooler in the OVA imo. But hey thats just me! ^_^
For some reason (LoL Leeron) character design feels similar to Tengen Toppa. Animation on the other hand brings to mind ep4 of the same series. Maybe little exaggerated. Just watched ep4 again and god I hate that animation style.