Hello Everyone!
A new Day, new Review.
This time I watched an old anime called Tetsuwan Birdy OVA, in english, Birdy the Mighty OVA. I watched this out of curiosity. It was when I saw a youtube video about female protagonists who were bad-ass, Birdy was in the list. It was the first time I saw her. Her look was really unique and the action was legit solid. My curiosity and amazement peaked to the highest level, that’s why I watched it.
This anime was a hidden gem from the late 90’s. From what I had gathered, this anime was originally a manga that run in the late 80’s. After the Ova series was released, a remake of the manga was made. Compared to the original, which had 1 volume, the new manga contained 20 volumes. There was also a remake/alternate version of the anime, which was called Tetsuwan Birdy Decode, and a sequel OVA called Tetsuwan Birdy Decode – Cipher. I haven’t watched it yet, but I will….soon. So for now, I am going to review this amazing 4-part OVA anime series.
Episodes: 4
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jul 25, 1996 to Feb 25, 1997
Studios: Madhouse
Source: Manga
Genres: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Shounen
Duration: 33 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older
Synopsis: Tsutomu, an average middle school kid busy studying for the final exams to enter high school runs into a man running from someone and gets caught up in the chase. In all the confusion he gets accidentally killed. Luckily Birdy (an interplanetary agent) knows a way to save him, unfortunately that means joining bodies to become one. So now he is stuck with this officer and along for the ride capturing criminals and saving lives.(source: MAL)
Story (6/10)
As you can see, the story is quite simple, generic, but solid. In 4 episodes, the anime was able to deliver a short but enjoyable plot. It was a mix of comedy, action and slight drama. It does follow the typical episodic formula, but everything made sense at the very end. It does have few small plot holes, but they were redeemed because of the characters, the music, the pacing and the classic visuals. The anime was well paced on some parts and kinda dragging on some small parts. At least, it flowed well. The series also ended pretty well, but it does make you desire more of it. It would have been nice if this was a proper anime series and not only an OVA. This series have high potential to be great one if it was executed well.
Art & Animation (8/10)
The art is old. A classic. Of course, its a 90’s anime. What do you expect?!?!
Even so, as a person who grew up watching 90’s animes, the art gave me nostalgic vibes. It wasn’t that amazing, but definitely good. The visuals and animation though. Damn. 90’s animation is love. Especially the action scenes. Damn. It was visually stimulating on my part. The animation made Birdy shined in the actions scenes. I also liked the smooth transition of the animation when Birdy and Utsumo swaps body. It flowed really well. I really loved it.
Characters (9/10)
OMG! The main characters were so bad-ass!! Not only Birdy, but also Tsutomu too (though I prefer calling him a smart-ass instead).
Birdy is one hell of a bad-ass female character. Damn. She fights so damn well. She is brave, fierce and very fast with her movements. I think the only downside is that she lacks intelligence. She is not that stupid, its just that she can’t think critically while fighting. On the other hand, Tsutomu is a normal average guy, but he’s kinda smart. Its quite clear that he studies, and not your typical male anime character. He lacks skills in fighting and braveness, at least he has the brains and improvise skills to help Birdy whenever he can. He has what Birdy doesn’t have, and that’s why they make a great partners.
I think one of the downside of this anime, is the lack of character development, especially with the side characters. Cuz the anime is only 4-episodes, the main characters was able to receive a small amount of character development. But the side characters, on the other hand, didn’t even get enough screentime and character development.
Music (7/10)
The background music gave me old vibes and nostalgia. I love it. It matches well to the scenes shown in the screen. It was also in sync with the action scenes. It was really good.
The voice acting though. It was not that good even though this is subbed. The voice acting was lacking. Sometimes, Tsutomu’s voice was annoying, along with some other side characters. It was sometimes cringey too.
I don’t know if there is an existing dub for this.
Enjoyment (10/10)
I really enjoyed watching this series. It brought me back to the days were I was still young. It was that nostalgic. This made me want to watch more old and classic animes.
Overall (8/10)
I praised this show to the fullest, but I also do acknowledge it’s negative points. Even so, this is a really good anime to watch if you are a fan of shounen and bad-ass characters (especially female bad-ass characters). This might be quite old, but it’s still on par with the other shounen animes released recently.
If ever you do like this series and you want more, there are other Birdy animes that you can check out and watch. I also need to watch them too. XD
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Yo! Thank you for reading my new review. If you do have some comments, reactions or even you want to discuss about the anime being reviewed, feel free to express all of them below. I’ll definitely reply to them as much as I can. That is all.
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