Tetsuwan Birdy Decode

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile. ------ ✦Story Aside synopsis, I have to say I expected this Anime being one of those older "niche" series that probably are utter boredom. But it was actually much more enjoyable than I imagined it to be. Anyhow the progression felt great, I also grew into characters. And I did really like Sayaka. Anyhow, development and story felt as well quite nicely wrapped up. Obviously story goes one but for "act 1" it was good. ✦Art & Sound Art was somewhat flat, but in a enjoyable way. Animation also felt quite nice. There was subtle touch of obvious fanservice, but nothing bad. Now as for music&ost, I wasn't fond of the songs in this anime, especially the ending theme. But OST I did quite like. Especially I loved the "Sayaka theme". ✦Character MC with straight-man slapstick act. Who is whiny at start, gets used, ends up with humane values and risking for those. Main girl (Birdy) the mischievous agressive-type girl. Who has bad habits, but ultimately is quite caring. Rest are side kicks mostly with various personalities, but my fav is Sayaka. Quiet/kind beautiful ojou-sama with a bit of sadness. There were also bunch of aliens, who were okay and Villains were also quite acceptable. ✦Enjoyment & Overall Ended up adding comments to each section so I don't really have else to add. As said, unexpectedly good Anime. Finished almost in a day.

So, Tetsuwan Birdy Decode. Birdy the Mighty Decode to be exact, but does it really matter? Tetsuwan Birdy Decode is a remake of some nineties OVA, that being an adaption of some eighties manga, which was written by Yuuki Masami, who also wrote Patlabor. It is directed by Akane Kazuki who also directed Escaflowne and Noien. It tells the tale of Senkawa, who is in great anime tradition an ordinary high school student... Until he dies. Birdy Cephon went to Earth to chase a mysterious artifact called the Ryunka as an intergalactic cop, but while battling with a bad guy, accidentally kills him. To make up for it, Birdy puts Senkawa's conscious in her body until it is fixed. Senkawa can live a normal life... Expect when Birdy switches into his body to battle some villains. This causes several problems for both Birdy and Senkawa of course! However, what is the Ryunka? Could it possibly be closer than Birdy or Senkawa can imagine? Okay, so the premise doesn't sound good at all, but surprisingly, there's zero jokes created from the fact that a boy shares the same body with a big-breasted girl, and they can switch who's in control/who's body is up. Heck, there's even a few bathing scenes, and all Senkawa has to say is that Birdy is using his body too much for just relaxing! No, the premise can actually be seen as a flimsy excuse to get Senkawa to follow Birdy around everywhere. All the problems it causes are pretty minor and typically just used for comedy. Instead, most of the plot comes from the very vague artifact simply called the Ryunka. One of my favorite things about this show is the fact that Birdy and Senkawa never get any unresolved sexual tension between them. Senkawa has his eyes on someone else, and the one time Birdy shows any strong feelings towards Senkawa seems to be as she thinks of him as a friend, and her “buddy”. In the age where all lead female and male characters are destined to end up with each other, this is definitely a relief. Another cliché Birdy ignores is that it kills off what seems to be a major character very early on. One of my least favorite things about anime is the refusal to kill off main characters (and even if they do it's in the last few episodes or something), and it also came unexpected. The main romance isn't annoying either (though it does progress a little too fast). Also, the way Birdy and Senkawa meet in the first episode, while is rather coincidental, doesn't really seem that way due to good writing or direction or something like that. The characters are a good part of this show. Senkawa... I can't tell if he's supposed to be a dull harem protagonist or not. If so, then he is the best one. He has a good personality and reacts realistically to his situation. Birdy herself is charming and manages to get several good lines with Senkawa. The side-characters are also good. Senkawa's classmates are also fleshed out for useless classmates who serve no purpose expect to show us Senkawa's normal life before all of the events of the series happened. The voice acting is very very good, and all the characters' lines sound real and not like they're just said by some person reading a script. The music is decent enough, the opening being very catchy and the ending being good enough, but with lazy visuals. The animation is also very nice. The character designs are usually good, but every once in a while they draw the noise weird, like a scribble on the face that just looks out of place. The fight scenes are rather neat though. However, the thing is, they are still a few holes that need to be explained, mainly on what exactly is the Ryunka? How was it made? Fortunately there is a second season. Now, I haven't seen it yet, but there's a good chance it will explain a few of these plot holes. Could be this season was just build-up or something. You never truly know. So, I can recommend Birdy to all anime fans out there. While it shouldn't be too high on your priority list, it is still definitely worth a watch in there somewhere. And you'll learn how to ignore Birdy;'s outfit quickly, though you'll think an agent who does a lot of fighting would have much more armor.

This was an okay anime. It has an interesting concept but, it failed my expectations. The series was good and all but the only factor I didn't like about it was the fact that it was about a high school boy who falls in love with a sickly girl who is possessed with a virus called, the Ryuka, but keeps denying it until the very end of the show. However, the factor that I like about the show was that it was about a space cop whom was on a mission but accidentally kills the said boy and now the both have to share a body. Dividing their time between saving the galaxy and whatever high school boys do. The relationship between the main female character, Birdy, and the main male character was very sweet sister-brother relationship.

Berserker Killer Birdy is a woman with a strong will, yet cheerful and determined. I loved almost everything about her and her personality is what I liked most in the anime. That doesn’t mean that I do not think the other aspects weren’t good as well. Story (8/10): The story isn’t complicated, but it has a few nice twists. It begins quite simply and slowly introduces you into a more complex network. Though thanks to the slow introduction, it’s all quite easy to understand. More than half of the episodes had an exciting end, leaving me eager to watch the next episode. Art (8/10): The animation is nice, it has a soft touch. Backgrounds are detailed but I would have loved a bit more details in the characters (for example in the eyes), but it didn’t really bother either. I truly enjoyed the action parts, because those were nicely animated (and accompanied with suitable sound effects). I particularly enjoyed the way Birdy’s multicolored hair moved around. Music (9/10): music of the beginning and ending themes matched with the animation, they also contained a soft touch. The ending theme made me happy every time I heard it, but since the story isn’t all about sunshine and rainbows, that felt sort of weird. Characters (8/10): Almost all emotions are shown quite brightly, though some emotions seem to have a bad timing and aren’t as touching as they could have been. As already mentioned, I really liked Birdy’s character, she’s sad when she should be, upset when she should be, … Though she seems to have a great capacity of hiding her emotions as well. During the story, no one really seems to undergo any character-development, but all characters are shown with much detail. Enjoyment (9/10): I was totally absorbed into this anime and could not let it go (I constanly desired to watch another episode), so I truly enjoyed this anime. Overall (8/10): the anime had a lot of good aspects, and a few flaws. I think anyone who can appreciate action, romance and science-fiction would probably at least be entertained by this anime (of course I cannot speak for all of you). I’m truly looking forward to watch Decode II.

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode's plot is actually right down my alley. There's a lot of potential for a story that starts off with a boy that has to co-exist with another person in the same body since his body got destroyed. However, Tetsuwan Birdy Decode fails to follow up on the character relationships between Birdy and Senkawa. See, Senkawa is portrayed "realistically" as to how a normal person would if he was in his predicament. Predictably, he complains, asks for explanations, and is basically a nuisance to Birdy who is trying to protect a tragedy from happening. The thing is, Senkawa is really a boring character to watch. He's selfish: He wants to preserve his daily life so much that he's willing to get in Birdy's way of her own investigation on criminals. Maybe rightfully so, since he got killed by Birdy and she's the one who put him in this situation to begin with. Sure, Senkawa is not out of character, and nor is his personality surprising or inconsistent, but I suppose the main problem is that Senkawa just kind of, learns to live with Birdy in a surprisingly normal way. He just "realizes" that Birdy is doing something greater than his worries about everyday life, but it's done in such a formulaic way that I couldn't find any emotional investment to either character. Look, he sees Birdy's partner die, and that's when he realizes, "oh shit, this is more serious than I thought," which is just kind of lazy writing. There's no real drama or conflict that Birdy and Senkawa should be having for being in such a weird arrangement, and instead of an organic conflict and resolution, you kind of just have Senakawa being stubbornly selfish turn into a much more understanding individual without much of a struggle, which is just extremely lazy writing. Senkawa could have understood the brevity of the situation in a much more natural manner, or there could have been a much more of a gray matter than a black and white one. Then, there's Birdy herself. She's similarly selfish for good reason too: she doesn't want to cooperate with Senkawa to continue his everyday life as it takes away time from her investigation. Yet, she's also the dominant person in the relationship, being able to take control of the body if she so wishes. Yet, there's also the point that Senkawa could take over Birdy's body if their compatibility did not mesh together. There really could have been a good arc of understanding each other that didn't involve shock value, but instead, gradually taking a look at each other's lives, and seeking compromise or understanding. But no, this stuff doesn't happen. Even Senkawa and Birdy's conversations are always the same. Senkawa does something stupid, Birdy takes a mental jab: rinse and repeat. There's not much of a serious conversation or good slice of life and comedy that I'd expect from the duo. In fact, the bond between Senkawa and Birdy is shallow. No dialogue, no story arcs between them, and instead, we get --oh boy-- the most formulaic story that's poorly paced and lacks in execution. Even the most simple things about living in the same body does not happen in this story. Come on, switching genders? Senkawa never getting flustered about seeing a naked girl's body in the bath when Birdy takes over? Don't even tell me about how it's because that's just blatant fanservice. Look at Birdy's skin-tight bodysuit. But yes, I wouldn't really like that either, but at the very least, surprise, right? He should be surprised? I doubt it's because the author didn't want ecchi scenes, but rather, he doesn't even care to have the least bit of an attempt in a deepening of connection between Birdy and Senkawa. The story...it's terrible. It all hinges on the fact that Senkawa's in love with another person, yet she's also the reason that Earth is going to be destroyed. Cheesy, right? Not necessarily bad, since of course, there's Birdy's mission conflicting with Senkawa. Yet, the love interest in question just kind of randomly falls in love with Senkawa, and vice versa. The love between them is even more shallow than the relationship between Birdy and Senkawa. It's forced and lacks substance, which is not what you want when the entire latter half of the story is focused upon her. But of course, the first half of the story is equally flimsy. The show focuses on so many different things that there's a lack of substance to anything. There's Birdy just chasing different criminals for four episodes straight with nothing to show for it, just a criminal of the week sort of format, and then you have the awful homeland arc, where Birdy has to come to her home planet to report on things. Certainly, the show tries to do worldbuilding, but it's all so terribly done. Court systems, pontiffs, judges, are shown in the different world, but for what? It's basically a replication of earth, except that these people are different species and tech is way higher. I just find it weird that the show had explain all of these things when you know, basic stuff like, how is the technology to travel at warp speed possible is never explained, and how daily life is conducted is never explained. I'm going to suspend my belief on the mundane stuff, so don't explain it, but why not explain the actual sci-fi stuff? In fact, I just realized this now, but I've certainly watched this show a long time ago, and I've forgotten about it completely because it was so unmemorable and bad. I only realized that after watching the entire show and in the midst of writing this very review. I watched this...TWICE so you don't have to. In fact, I only watched the entire thing because the second season apparently is good, but I don't even care anymore. Nothing will justify watching this first season. If anything, just skip this entire season and watch the second. There's nothing you really need to know. I'm going to just drop this entire series.

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode is the usual A1 Picture slop that they mass produced between their few successes, void of any form of redeemable qualities in any shape or form. The anime suffers from the same obnoxious A1 Picture slop tropes to make everyone either an asshole or an emotionally unstable teenager. The animations are poor, the art style is generic, overuse of soundtracks to hide the non-existent sound effects and ambience. The writing is perhaps the biggest offense just being downright lazy which is not entirely A1 Picture fault considering this is a manga adaption however, there seems to be some jarring differences between the original works and the anime adaption. Which indeed is A1 Pictures fault, the anime itself is very uninspiring compared to the original Tetsuwan Birdy OVA from the 90s which is a cult classic largely thanks to the people involved which have something called competence. The TV anime however is a generic sci-fi story cantered around the old 80s trope of body swapping, alongside detective genre and school life mangled together. The overall setting of a school life drama with the occasional action and detective stuff would work great in theory however the anime executes it so poorly it makes BOTH feel like an afterthought. The buildup to the finale is equally poorly thought out, you see it happen from a mile away, the action even in the finale is disappointing and you receive more melodramatic filler rather than the action scenes Birdy is famous for which really drains any fulfilment there may have existed. This is one of those stories in which the characters do not progress the story in any shape or form, but rather the story pulls everyone long with it, because of that the characters make irrational choices which make absolutely no sense in particularly because it contradicts with their personalities multiple times just for sake of progressing the story to its intended finish line. Take the main character who is the epidemy of these contradictions, going from one position to a complete 180 degree in span of one episode cannot easily be rationalised and leaves the viewer entirely fatigued by the amount of cringe inducing moments this anime manages to produce per minute. The few fight scenes we are served are so poorly choreographed its more a matter of wishing it would just get on with the next scene rather than wanting more, and this lends itself entirely to inconsistency in the story itself, which fails to create leading lines and build a mystery that gets unravelled piece by piece. Instead, it shows all its hands right from the get-go and expect the viewer to sit there in anticipation for the finale when we already know what will happen. Poorly executed story, mediocre animation, almost no sound ambience and repetitive effects overshadowed by a droning soundtrack that just wont shut up. Made this anime a chore to watch in 2010 and rewatching it 16 years later gave me a form of nostalgia I rather not experience again, nostalgia of dread having to relive this Godawful anime once more. Bad then, bad now – this one definitely did not age like wine.

After watching the 90's OVA and finding it pretty good I naturally wanted to watch this as well. The OVA only has 4 episodes so I hoped for a bit more of the same, even though this seemed like a reboot rather than a continuation. Sadly, this series just doesn't cut it and I'm pretty disappointed in it. So what makes this a worse watch than the OVA? Well... - Story & Theme The main story has altered, but overall it's the same theme and setting. That's not really a problem, the new story isn't worse or better than the original, and though the story isn't the best I've seen it's not too bad either. The body switching problems gets a bit more screentime since there is more time here to address it, but it's still not the main focus of the story and that's fine. - Characters & Writing Wow, they really dropped the ball on this one. The characters and the writing for them was great in the OVA, but here we're reduced to seeing the usual tropes and blandness we've seen a hundred times before. The dialogue and behaviour is predictable and cookie cutter and there are no real characters anymore, just vessels for the story. The antagonists parents were a great part of the OVA, but here they go away first thing that happens and while his sister stays behind she doesn't add anything or have a persona beyond "assertive sister". The same can be said for the others; character interaction or development simply isn't a thing in this, only archetypes and tropes. The biggest letdown compared to the OVA for sure. - Graphics & Style This too feels like a step back compared to the OVA. The animation is only really fluid when it comes to a few 3D animated scenes, but movements and other animations are choppy and dull. The style is also bland and lacks personality and even the cinematography is boring. It's the bare minimum paint-by-numbers style one can expect from something that isn't obviously bad, but it never really rises above that. - Music & Sound Not too bad over all, but the opening and ending themes sound as if they're the same music that's in every other anime from this time. Again, bland and forgettable. - Conclusion The whole series seems low effort and if you enjoyed the OVA you will probably not enjoy this. I can see people liking it, but it's really not my cup of tea. It's bland, easily digestible and done more to a formula than it is a labor of love and art. I'd have loved to see a reboot or continuation in the same style as the OVA, but I can't really recommend this as anything but something to watch in the background while you do other things. It's not bad, but it isn't really good either. Watch it or don't. My rating is a solid "meh".

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode One of the lesser-known anime that is rarely talked about. I saw it for the first time in 2012 and never finished looking, I can't answer exactly why. Now that I have given him a new chance, I can say that he is somewhat individual and dull. The typical sci-fi concept of good alien vs evil alien. Somehow I had a "lilo and stitch" vibe all the time while watching it. The basic idea of ​​the divided body is interesting and you could discover somewhat creative processes and approaches, but otherwise, there is nothing more. The plot is enormously transparent and flat until the end, one only hopes that the implementation of the events will surprise since the content does not do it anyway. The pacing makes it difficult for me to judge whether it is good or bad. They had the attraction of constantly adding little flashbacks to the scenes, especially episode 4 (the terrorist attack) had enormously deterrent pacing which fluctuated too much. However, the creativity in the process could compensate for this. The greatest strength of the anime is without a doubt the two main characters, who have an interesting connection to each other and have a notable personalities. One cannot speak of "profundity" here, the word is out of place here. They are simply dull normal, but personable. Towards the end, the protagonist became more of a hypocrite, but that is still a very realistic process, so understandable. Another good aspect of this is the antagonists if I can call them that. There seem to be several groups with different roles, so it's hard to say who belongs to which side. The animations are fluid, at least as far as the fighting is concerned. Little can be expected of the details here, as the dynamics take over completely. Towards episode 11+ the animations slipped down, they tried to distort the whole scene so much that it looked action-packed and dynamic, which made it just ghastly. No aesthetics at all. And then there was the music ... on the one hand, the intro was quite individual and the outro was probably one of my favorite outros. On the other hand, the Osts have been used so badly, I thought I was watching a cheap action film from the 80s. The main thing is to play loud music in the background, regardless of whether it fits the topic (especially episodes 12-13), as long as things explode and the music roars, it looks like a final fight. Wrong, this cost me a couple of lives. Conclusion A sci-fi title that is well worth seeing and despite its low standards it has average entertainment value. I would never watch this anime again, but it can be entertaining for in between. Enjoyment - 6