redwoodalchan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
redwoodalchan) wrote2014-08-26 06:01 pm
redwoodalchan) wrote2014-08-26 06:01 pm
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Thoughts on "Birdy the Mighty" and "Birdy the Mighty: Decode"
So, having watched the AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL AND SPECIAL "Birdy the Mighty: Decode" just last week (and that's not sarcasm, BTW), I decided to check out the 4-episode OVA it was (loosely) based on as well so I'd have a point of comparison (very important considering I'm planning to feature "Birdy the Mighty: Decode" in an anime panel I'll hopefully get to present at cons this upcoming season).So yeah. I enjoyed both of these shows, but I definitely think that "Decode" is infinitely the superior work. Apparently that's a minority opinion. I sorta chalk this up to the same reason we have nostalgia whores in Pokemon fandom--many of the people who have seen "Decode" are huge fans of the original OVA and hate on "Decode" because it's different. I guess in that sense I can admit bias because I hadn't seen the OVA before watching "Decode." Oh, well....
The original "Birdy the Mighty" OVA is four episodes, each about a half-hour long. "Birdy the Mighty: Decode" comes in two seasons, each about 12-13 episodes each. Given that each individual episode of "Decode" is shorter than a half-hour, that makes the original OVA equivalent to about 5 episodes of "Decode." Needless to say, the plot of the OVA is a lot more streamlined and fast-paced than the plot of "Decode," and most of the characters and conflicts are painted in broader strokes.
Character-wise, the two leads, Birdy and Tsutomu, are obviously found in both versions and they're fairly similar in each. Birdy is still a super soldier from space, and she still kills high-school student Tsutomu and so they must share a body. Other characters that are present and fairly unchanged in both versions are Christella Revi, Birdy's arch enemy (albeit she gets a lot more screentime here), her henchman Gomez, and Birdy's superior Megius, a giant talking cockroach. Violin, Birdy's late caretaker, also appears briefly in a flashback in the OVA; she's the only character from the OVA who got her introduction in "Decode's" second season rather than its first. Geega and Bacillus appear in both versions but their roles are different--in the OVA they were two unrelated bad guys that Birdy fought, whereas in "Decode" they were supposed to be a team (until Bacillus killed and ate Geega). The character Ondine also appears in both versions of the story, but in the OVA she belonged to Christella Revi herself, whereas in "Decode" she (somehow) belonged to Shyamalan. Ondine also does not talk in the OVA, whereas in "Decode" she does.
Other characters appear to be forerunners of many of the characters in "Decode's" first season. Tsutomu's classmates had greatly expanded roles in "Decode." Tsutomu's crush from the OVA, Natsumi, seems to have been split into two characters for "Decode," one of which got her name and appearance and the other, Sayaka, got her personality and role as love interest (in the first season, anyway). Tsutomu's two male friends, who do nothing in the OVA other than try to get Tsutomu to look at porn, seem to have been developed in "Decode" into two specific characters, who fanboy Shion Arita (Birdy's alter ego, who is a model and idol singer) and abandoned buildings in equal measure. Tsutomu's other friends seem to be "Decode's" own creation and have no equivalent in the OVA. In the villains' camp, Hikawa from the OVA appears to be a forerunner of Shyamalan, the main villain of "Decode's" first season, as he, like Shyamalan, is a human who makes contact with the aliens and experiments with a thing they're also interested in because he thinks he can control it (though exactly what he's doing differs--Hikawa created a serum that can turn people into super soldiers, which he plans to unleash on Tokyo, while Shyamalan is seeking out a weapon of mass destruction that he wants to use to kill all but a select few humans). One key difference between them is that while Shyamalan is obviously a villain he's much better than Hikawa at looking like a nice person. There are two reporters in the OVA who investigate the various alien-related crimes, and may have influenced the character of Muroto in "Decode." Pretty much every other character who appears in "Decode" seems to have been created specifically for "Decode."
Also, the English dubbing is MUCH, MUCH better in "Decode" than in the original OVA. Give me Luci Christian as the heroine and evil Todd Haberkorn any day.
Character-wise, the two leads, Birdy and Tsutomu, are obviously found in both versions and they're fairly similar in each. Birdy is still a super soldier from space, and she still kills high-school student Tsutomu and so they must share a body. Other characters that are present and fairly unchanged in both versions are Christella Revi, Birdy's arch enemy (albeit she gets a lot more screentime here), her henchman Gomez, and Birdy's superior Megius, a giant talking cockroach. Violin, Birdy's late caretaker, also appears briefly in a flashback in the OVA; she's the only character from the OVA who got her introduction in "Decode's" second season rather than its first. Geega and Bacillus appear in both versions but their roles are different--in the OVA they were two unrelated bad guys that Birdy fought, whereas in "Decode" they were supposed to be a team (until Bacillus killed and ate Geega). The character Ondine also appears in both versions of the story, but in the OVA she belonged to Christella Revi herself, whereas in "Decode" she (somehow) belonged to Shyamalan. Ondine also does not talk in the OVA, whereas in "Decode" she does.
Other characters appear to be forerunners of many of the characters in "Decode's" first season. Tsutomu's classmates had greatly expanded roles in "Decode." Tsutomu's crush from the OVA, Natsumi, seems to have been split into two characters for "Decode," one of which got her name and appearance and the other, Sayaka, got her personality and role as love interest (in the first season, anyway). Tsutomu's two male friends, who do nothing in the OVA other than try to get Tsutomu to look at porn, seem to have been developed in "Decode" into two specific characters, who fanboy Shion Arita (Birdy's alter ego, who is a model and idol singer) and abandoned buildings in equal measure. Tsutomu's other friends seem to be "Decode's" own creation and have no equivalent in the OVA. In the villains' camp, Hikawa from the OVA appears to be a forerunner of Shyamalan, the main villain of "Decode's" first season, as he, like Shyamalan, is a human who makes contact with the aliens and experiments with a thing they're also interested in because he thinks he can control it (though exactly what he's doing differs--Hikawa created a serum that can turn people into super soldiers, which he plans to unleash on Tokyo, while Shyamalan is seeking out a weapon of mass destruction that he wants to use to kill all but a select few humans). One key difference between them is that while Shyamalan is obviously a villain he's much better than Hikawa at looking like a nice person. There are two reporters in the OVA who investigate the various alien-related crimes, and may have influenced the character of Muroto in "Decode." Pretty much every other character who appears in "Decode" seems to have been created specifically for "Decode."
Also, the English dubbing is MUCH, MUCH better in "Decode" than in the original OVA. Give me Luci Christian as the heroine and evil Todd Haberkorn any day.