Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「そら」 (Sora) by Hearts Grow
Watch the OP! Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming
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Summary:
Federation investigator Birdy Cephon Altera is pursuing a pair of criminals through space, and though she successfully boards their ship, the two manage to get away. About a year later, Birdy is working as an idol on Earth under the name Arita Shion because one of her targets – an alien named Geega – has disappeared into Earth’s entertainment industry. She and her partner Tute have been on Earth for half a year now and have just recently gotten a lead on a man named Giga who works at Empire TV. On the very same night they track down Geega to an abandoned hotel, high-schooler Senkawa Tsutomu is at the same location, intent on exploring the building. Tsutomu is joined by his classmate Hayamiya Natsumi, but before the two can get very far inside, they get discovered by Geega. Trying to hide a secret facility he has there, Geega threatens to call the police on Tsutomu for trespassing, but Tsutomu apologizes and willingly leaves.
Geega then heads to the rooftop and is surprised when he’s confronted by Tute and Birdy. He gets his two robotic bodyguards to attack Birdy, but she easily destroys both, leaving Geega no choice but to shed his human skin for his true form. Geega has the ability to fire molten energy beams from his mouth, however Birdy has superior physical abilities and starts beating up on him with her fists. When she throws him into the floor, she comes up with only his arm, and the injured Geega flees to the bottom of the building. He finds Tsutomu and Natsumi by the exit and quickly decides to use Tsutomu as a decoy. When Birdy finds him, Geega throws Tsutomu at her, and because she can’t see exactly what’s coming at her because of all the smoke, Birdy assumes it’s Geega and charges up her fist. She realizes too late that it’s actually a human, and by that point she has already blown Tsutomu in half.
Tsutomu is confused at what’s going on and soon loses consciousness in a pool of his own blood. He thinks he might be dead, but he then wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock. At first he thinks that it was a dream, but when he puts on his glasses, he realizes that he doesn’t need them anymore. Tsutomu doesn’t get much time to think about it though because his sister calls him downstairs to bid his parents farewell. They are leaving for half a year, and since his sister will only come by from time to time, Tsutomu will be by himself. On the way to school, Tsutomu tells Natsumi that he had a weird dream, and she reveals that she did too. She changes the subject though to his lack of glasses and thinks that he’s lying when he says that his eyes suddenly just got better. Everything else seems normal for Tsutomu until he returns home that evening and thinks about how he’ll be all alone. It is at that moment that he hears a female voice say that he’s not alone, and in trying to figure out who said that, he slips and falls down a set of stairs. When Tsutomu regains consciousness, he finds himself leaping from rooftop to rooftop. He’s no longer in control of his body, and the reflection on the side of a building reveals that he’s now inside of Birdy.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「Let’s go together 」 by アフロマニア (Afromania)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming
Usually I have mixed luck with opening and endings to anime series. This is one of those cases where I liked the opening song as soon as I heard it, and I thought the ending song was pretty good too. I haven’t heard much Hearts Grow before, so they’re relatively new to me, but Afromania I remember from Gurren Lagann, and I think I like Let’s go together more than Minna no Peace.
I wasn’t sure I was going to watch this and didn’t have the time last week, but Patrik (who some of you may remember) had told me that this was pretty good, and I finally got around to seeing it. As I mentioned in my summer preview, I’ve read some of both versions of the Tetsuwan Birdy manga, and while this anime adaptation keeps the basic premise the same, there are more than enough additions to make it feel fresh and unique. Tute for example doesn’t play as big a part in the manga as he does here, and here he reminds me greatly of Leeron from Gurren Lagann. Birdy meanwhile has a very spunky attitude that’s a lot of fun to watch. It also helps that I haven’t read too far into the manga, so I’m curious to see where the story goes and if it’ll focus more on Tsutomu’s side of things or Birdy’s. The highlights of course are all of the action and fighting scenes, and while they’re not quite up to SOUL EATER caliber, they’re still pretty exciting to watch. All the technical aspects (animation, music, etc) are solid as well, so I really have nothing bad to say about this based on the first episode. If the second one turns out to be just as good, I’ll probably end up blogging this.
i was planning to watch this and now that you picked it up i guess i will.
I was wondering how you managed to completely ignore what may end up being one of the best anime this season. Good to know you’re watching it. ^^
“they’re not quite up to SOUL EATER caliber”
That’s pretty unfair. No daytime anime has reached Soul Eater quality fights (excluding TTGL for being mecha).
well… nice pics and good artists for intro -naruto’s 5th (??) opening “yura yura”- and outro -damn right, gurren lagann =) – so it’s definetly a reason to watch it.
let’s hope for one more good anime this season. 😀
I liked this anime from the get go as well. Its actually one of my favorite of the new summer animes (along with Natsume and Zero No Tsukaima III).
Question to Omni: Did you watch the earlier OVA? I’ve seen that version about three or four years ago.
FINALLY!!! I was wondering whether Omni’s insane or something for not blogging this, just like his insanity in not blogging Heroic Age.
-Izaak, Lord of the Lotus Clan.
Hope you do continue blogging this as this show has been my favorite new offering this season. The potential for gender-bending confusion and other fun hijinks is pretty good, along with the awesome fight scenes, high production values, and catchy music. I think the director of Noein is working on Birdy, so that might explain the slightly messy art style but very fluid animation and kickass action.
I wasn’t previously aware that a Birdy OVA was made back in the late 90s but managed to track those down just to see the original; some impressive animation for the day there too (the aliens seem creepier in the OVA than in the current anime). I like the fact they updated Birdy’s hair and outfit in the series; the original split-down-the-middle-color of the OVA seemed very 90-ish, and the new version reminds me somewhat of Sheryl’s hair from Macross Frontier.
Another change I liked was Natsumi’s character. In the original, she was the shy love interest, but here she’s more the outspoken tomboy who likes to tease Tsutomu. Whether or not they get together remains to be seen, as the addition of the rich girl at the school adds some potential too. And I did get Leeron vibes with Tuto, heh (much like that effeminate mechanic guy from Macross Frontier). Birdy herself remains a strong and interesting character to watch, though I wonder how she’ll be able to juggle three disguises now (Birdy, Shion, and Tsutomu).
All in all, this is a very fun show to watch, and I hope to see more. The Afromania song in the ED ftw!
Yup…Tute definitely reminds me of Leeron.
Enjoyed this ep quite a bit….
Birdy, Birdy, Birdy…. saying it like this reminds me of the bad guy from the frst KungPow movie.
Take out the loser high school male character, and I’d actually give this anime a chance.
I was hoping that you blog this.
He doesn’t really seem like a loser to me, Remy.
Just a normal guy who likes exploring the unknown(I’m betting this ends up having to do with space exploration, i mean since he likes going places where there’s nobody, and birdy’s from space), less loser-ish then his friends at least.
But I didn’t read the source material, maybe he ends up being a typical loser lead.
Hm…. I had thought this was the sequel to Birdy the Mighty http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=105.
Anyhow, let’s see it out performs the previous story..
WHAT THE HELL? She is inside his body? Then how will we get out romance aspect of the anime? I want romance GOD DAMN IT!
ps: And on the fact that Random Curiosity did not blog Heroic Age all i have to say that its a sin. Watching a panda driving a go-kart would make more sense! ( yeah i saw the picture lol )
I will ask again! Will we get ROMANCE IN THIS ANIME IN ANY FORM? PLEASE ANSWER ME BECAUSE I AM A ROMANCE FREAK!
I doubt it. There may be a mere implication, or more along the line of a deep friendship sort of bond and nothing else. If it was to follow the original story, I can see it having not an ounce of love-romance scenes.
There’s a chance, so check often to see how it’s unfolding.
i like the animation quality and character models
2 versions of the manga you say? interesting. i must have saw the bleh one. compared to it, this anime looks NICE and CREAMY. love this version of her battle suit
Yes! All hail the OLD SKOOL ANIME feel~ (^_^)
Birdy has one Mighty suit. I got a kick out of the blaring full back shot squeezed in the middle of the episode…she’s awkwardly naked back there.
I’m really glad you picked this up, Omni. This show is one of the most promising and interesting of this season.
Seeing how the original OVA had romance involving only Tsutomu and Natsumi, I’d assume this new series will involve only them again, and possibly the rich girl (who arrived at the school in a limo).
I like the fact that here Tsutomu seems totally uninterested in Shion Arita the idol and girls in general, and instead likes to explore off-limit places (as boys his age are apt to do). Natsumi herself seems more the tomboyish female friend than a romantic love interest here, but there’s only been one episode (well, the 2nd just came out as of this writing) so maybe give it some time.
Show Spoiler ▼
The Birdy in the current anime does seem more flirty than in the OVA though. Her undercover alter ego as Shion Arita complicates things too. Should be fun to see how things turn out.
Yes this one also catch my seriously since it was an favorite in my early years, This one should be good 13eps series.
I like the animation for the first Birdy the Mighty series better even thou is short, for storyline I like the manga version, don’t know how this goner turn out, but so far I can’t say I hate nor do I like the anime design yet, so all it comes down now is the storyline to give my final judgement. But being the name Birdy I guess is hard for me to hate it.
I really don’t know whats happening here…
https://randomc.net/image/Tetsuwan%20Birdy%20DECODE/Tetsuwan%20Birdy%20DECODE%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2019.jpg
ep 2 aired already
@Moor:
She kicked an android bodyguard in half.
Episode 2 is pretty good too. I am looking forward to episode 3.
This is easily the best show this season. I absolutely love it.
hi.
@Omni
This really looks good! It’s better than i expected. I just pray that you have time on fridays to blog this show. =)
Dude due dudde yeah Birdy is a awesome character, and awesome design, she just looks better then most girls in any other anime , and she just feels so much more refreshing to look at…. love this. also the op and ed like u talked about are great and makes u wanna watch it again…
Oh wow. This is such a nice reprieve from the overabundance of “moe~~” type animes out there. It’s fun, the animation’s sleek, the fight scenes are great, and did I mention it’s fun? Might become the best show this season. Please continue blogging this.
The guy got punched in half… In half! It must’ve hurt so much that he couldn’t feel the pain of his internal organs and spine being crushed than severed.
Great show, also check out the 2003 remake manga, best manga I have read in a long time!
Episode 2 is pretty good as well i thought.
I wonder who is inside the body of the car accident injured rich sickly rich girl. First i thought it was the mystery person with the bird but it can’t be her.
Big plus of this show are birdy’s shoes. Yeh i’m crazy like that 😛 but it’s a lot of fun seeing her sliding jumping and thrusting around