AWESOME ENGINE » Birdy The Mighty Decode

July 28th, 2008 by Brack

Another great episode with strong animation and writing.

The grand conceit of the series is revealed in this episode, that of two people forced to exist in one body. At first glance you could mistake the series for a “help, I’m a woman!” gender switch comedy along the lines of Ranma 1/2 and Futaba-kun Change. But that’s not what the story is going for. It has more in common with the body invasion horror of Parasyte or Guyver. The twist being that for a change it’s a human invading an alien’s body (albeit by the alien’s own actions).

And that body invasion theme is laid on thick this episode as in addition to Birdy’s situation we have the villainous Bacillus acting as a more traditional body horror parasite - the alien who needs to take other other’s bodies to survive - and so a mirror on Birdy’s actions. Birdy lets Tsutomu into her body to save his life. Bacillus forces himself into people to survive, at the cost of that person’s life. And then there’s a third scenario that plays out this episode, not spelt out to the viewer as yet, that appears to be somewhere in between Birdy and Bacillus’ situations.

And then there’s another really strong action scene that highlights the sense of movement the show has (as well as it’s nice line in facial expressions). The only weak spot is some humdrum 3D work that looks like it’s being employed as cheap filler.

Birdy The Mighty Decode - Episode 1

July 7th, 2008 by Brack

A-1 Pictures Inc., not SHAFT as I had previously read on ANN, are animating this. Fact check out the way, lets get this started.

OK, we probably have our second best anime of the year.

The creative team from Noein reunite, this time at A-1 rather than the increasingly sloppy Satelight, to adapt Masami Yuuki’s manga. This isn’t the first time the story has been adapted, there was an OAV from Madhouse in 1996. Interestingly, Yuuki had two stabs at the manga too, abandoning a three year run in 1988, before starting again in 2003.

The story involves the alien policewoman, Birdy, working undercover (as a cosplay idol) on Earth to track down an alien criminal. However during the course of her investigation her life becomes literally intertwined with that of a teenage schoolboy, Tsutomu Senkawa.

It’s a lighter, sillier story than Noein, but it has the same sense of capturing human movements, kinetic fight scenes and is full of distinct character designs. And like Noein, it’s aliens seem very unworldly, through the use of biological weaponry and equipment. The most effective is Birdy’s octopus/space suit/robot/partner. Even the 3D CG used in the early space battle seems organic, the ships designs in someway reflecting their passengers personalities and character designs.

And it has a wonderfully simple ED animation that does more with colour, shadow and a few loops of walk cycles than a lot of more extravagent endings manage.

Bookmark to: