Tetsuwan Birdy

From the ad for TETSUWAN BIRDY.

by Orin Starchaser

Ever had a title come from out of the blue and hit you right between the eyes? And then when you come to study it more closely, you find it's even better than you expected? Well, this is the case with TETSUWAN BIRDY (Birdy the Mighty). Actually, this series was created by Yuuki Masami a few years back. Readers will remember Mr. Yuuki as the original creator of PATLABOR. He's working on a manga about horse racing right now (GROOMING UP!), and the BIRDY manga has been out for awhile. When it was announced by Bandai that they were doing TETSUWAN BIRDY as an OVA, rumor has it that even Mr. Yuuki was surprised. But those involved gave this series a real polish and the clear, crisp lines, excellent animation, good voice actors, and skilled writing come together to make TETSUWAN BIRDY a good video.
This title, which was released on 25 July, 1996, starts out with a high school student, Chigawa Tsutomu, heading home after a cram session in preparation for a test. Brain-fried from the studying, he runs across a man who begs Tsutomu to help him. So, Tsutomu takes him over to a dead-end ally, where they hide--until a steel girder comes down from the sky and almost spears them both. Running out into the street, they disappear. Birdy, who was hunting down the man, shows up and starts

A villain grabs Tsutomu, only to watch in terror as he morphs into Birdy.

looking for him in earnest when she suddenly sees a shadowy figure jumping towards her. Grabbing him by the collar, she shocks him with lethal force, leaving burn marks on the asphalt. Only later does she realize that it wasn't the trenchcoated man she was after, but Tsutomu. In the morning, Tsutomu wakes up in his bed, thinking it was all a dream.
This series has a mixture of action, comedy, and occasionally drama, all orchestrated rather well. Birdy's fight scenes are great, the interaction between Tsutomu and Birdy is rather funny at times, and seeing Birdy's past, as well as the problems Tsutomu will have in his future, is telling. My favorite moment is where Tsutomu is taking the test he studied so hard for, but is suffering a mental block. So Birdy answers it all for him, unbeknownst to him. All he knows is his right hand is going nuts writing things he isn't telling it to.
While most of them are unrecognizible to me, the voice actors are pretty good. The only one of note is actually Mitsuishi Kotono, who is the voice of Birdy. Something else she has been doing recently is the MAZE series, although you probably would have to listen rather carefully to find similarities in voice between the two parts.
Overall, I'd say this is a pretty good series with no real flaws of note. If one can get ahold of this, I suggest it. Recommended to anyone and everyone.