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(All episodes watched): I'm a big fan of the original Tetsuwan Birdy OVA series, and was therefore delighted to learn that Birdy would be getting a TV series as well. The problem was that my expectations were artificially inflated by the excellent OVAs and I found the TV series disappointing in comparison. OVAs tend to enjoy a good deal more money and talent (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, for example) than TV series, so it was probably unrealistic to expect the quality of this show to be as good. At first glance, the modified character designs seemed like a borderline sacriledge, but I won't complain too much. One thing I'm uneasy about is that in this version of Birdy seems to have a good deal less self confidence than her predecessor--she makes foolish mistakes at times and must beg for forgiveness. The original Birdy would never have done that; she had a sort of "coolness" that stemmed from her toughness, her aloofness, and her ability to think quickly. Come to think of it, was Birdy's tragic past ever mentioned here? Tsutomu's personality had changed, too, from the beloved shy, geeky kind of guy (he's hard to describe), to a more average sort of male teenager. It's as if the principal characters have been stripped of their eccentricities and made more generic, to streamline the anime making process. Tsutomu's hilariously disfunctional family has been ommitted altogether, which is appalling. By necessity, this first TV episode deals with the origins of Birdy's curious relationship with "Stomu". I assumed that this version would retell the same story as the OVAs, at least as the first arc. But other than this opening it is a completely different plot, which took awhile to dawn on me and left me confused. There are some new characters ("Geegar" and "Bacillus") and some familiar ones (Gomez and Revi). Action scenes were fairly wild and neatly animated. All-in-all, definitely not as good as the OVAs. To be honest, as much as I would have loved to enjoy this show, I had a hard time staying interested. The plot seemed to be dragging (partly because I was wondering why it was taking so long to begin duplicating the OVAs), and I had little idea where it was going. Not until episode four did I realize that the plot of this series might well be radically different than that of the OVAs. I can't help suspecting that this is not a faithful retelling of a manga that exists somewhere. The numerous odd aliens that are briefly encountered seemed like hasty add-ons to thrill small children. They are often laughable; some seem to have come from Futurama while others are just talking, anthropomorphized animals from earth (even though we're visiting another planet). This wasn't a complete loss, since there were amusing touches, but by-and-large I was disappointed. I didn't understand this "Riunka" business, and had a hard time taking it seriously. I guess you can't just say "the entire Earth is in danger!" and expect viewers to automatically be excited--not unless some sort of plausible explanation has been offered. The OVAs, in contrast, had a story that moved swiftly along and kept me interested; here the story seemed muddled and weighed down by simple gimmicks. In a way, I was both pleased and disappointed to learn that this would end with just 13 episodes. Pleased because it had become tedious and I dreaded the thought of watching another season's worth, and disappointed because that meant that, barring a fantastic conclusion, the series as a whole would wind up as a major letdown. I had kind of assumed that this would be a 26-er, because Gomez had played a small part and I assumed he would do more. Stomu getting his original body back pretty much undoes the basic premise of the show--it's almost like, "this isn't Birdy anymore"! I'm left frustrated that an opportunity to expand on one of my favorite anime sub-genres seems to have gone largely to waste. Fortunately, the ending was fairly good. I got a distinct sense of surprise (mild, though) and revulsion at what had happened to Nakasugi. I didn't completely understand everything, but a clever trick (which I should have been expecting) saved everything. Despite all my complaints, based on unrealisticly high expectations going in, I feel more pleased than displeased at the end and don't regret watching. The four OVAs packed more entertainment value than the 13 episodes of this version, but any expansion of the subgenre is better than none at all. The conclusion strongly suggests that a second season is in the works ("The end... and to be continued"). The hints suggest that this arc will be the one I had been expecting all along, so I find myself pleased to learn of a continuation after all. Perhaps if I hadn't already seen the OVAs the plot here would have made more sense and flowed more gracefully; but then again I shudder to think of the first impressions newcomers might get of Birdy from watching this version. Watch the OVAs first, and this series only if you loved them Last updated Wednesday, October 01 2008. Created Tuesday, July 08 2008. | ||||||||
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Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official (Japanese) Series Web Site | http://www.birdy-tv.com/ |
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