A name carries a lot of weight. The proper name to this second season is in fact Birdy the Mighty: Decode 02 and not Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Season Two, as if to suggest that this is a newer model, a better version than the last. That is exactly what Decode 02 is. If the first season did a decent job of introducing us to the Birdy the Mighty universe at large, Decode 02 zooms in on the personal affairs of our female protagonist Birdy and creates a visual vignette where memories are as vicarious for the viewer as they are for the show's characters. Decode 02 pushed the series to a TV-MA rating, in contrast to the first season's TV-14 rating, but does so because every act of violence aids in expressing the ruthlessness of the villains and the agony felt by our central characters. This season is an entirely different animal from its predecessor.
Story
Nataru, an old friend of Birdy's, has been hiding on Earth for fourteen years with his father; they fled their home planet after an Altan terrorist group bombed the Central Tower government building, elevating an already present hatred for Altans to an all-time high. But life on Earth was lovely; humans look like Altans, so there was no fear of discrimination. When the Ryunka attack occurred, Nataru was dining with a close friend. While Nataru managed to survive the blast, everyone else around him, including his friend, dissolved into crystalline dust.
Birdy, meanwhile, has been recently assigned to a special mission. It seems that the group responsible for sending the Ryunka to Earth with Geega has escaped their prison transport ship and fled for Earth themselves. Birdy must apprehend these escapees and return them to the Federation Police. At this point she isn't aware of Nataru's presence on Earth; even worse is the fact that Nataru's father has been blackmailed into aiding the escapees, lest his history with the terrorist group that bombed the Central Tower be exposed.
Once Nataru catches wind of his father's aiding the escapees, he is confused and enraged. But Nataru has recently discovered that he's a special class of Altan, bred for combat as Birdy was. This was why he survived the Ryunka blast, and with such new found power, he has but one goal on his mind: to avenge those that were lost...
The first season ends with Tsutomu and Birdy eliminating the Ryunka threat and saving the planet from extinction. The second season has no such cataclysm in store for us. Instead, we are shown the after-effects of the tragedy, from the view of the many homeless refugees and our central cast. It's an interesting alternative to what could have been another save-the-world scenario, which isn't a bad model in any way but would have certainly been expected . The writers surely realized that a science-fiction fantasy shouldn't be exempt from real-world consequences. When cataclysms occur people are scarred, some more than others. Cities don't revert to pre-tragedy status overnight, and some cities take forever to recover. The decision to show people going on with their lives in spite of hardships is a very mature and humble one on the part of the writers, vaguely harkening back to an old Italian Neo-Realist film tradition.
Characters
Its not easy having two protagonists occupy the same body. The first season was clearly about Tsutomu's life being interrupted by Birdy's need to find the Ryunka. He found it difficult to cope with her insensitivity to his needs; his feelings were justified considering she ripped his original body to shreds and had to let him borrow hers. Decode 02 reverses this entirely and makes Tsutomu almost obsolete. He is reduced to an annoying voice inside of Birdy's head who constantly reminds the viewing audience of things we already know, such as, "You're in love with Nataru, aren't you, Birdy?" or, "I think Nataru might have something to do with the murder of the escapees." In general, Tsutomu was a pretty normal teenager, and such 'ordinary-ness' is why he couldn't be of much use in a story that wasn't about him at all. He did have his moments, of course, but they existed only when Birdy was in distress and Tsutomu's sole role was to restore her centrality.
Birdy, on the other hand, proves to be more complex than the first season suggested. For much of Decode 02 she is haunted by the Central Tower incident because that is when she lost her caretaker, an android named Violin. Birdy remembers Violin as a child remembers a loving mother, but we are told that her memories are contrived and that Violin couldn't have been too nurturing because of the simple fact that she was not designed that way. But isn't that how memory truly works? We believe what we want to believe. As Birdy remembers the Central Tower incident, she asks Tsutomu if it is foolish to believe Violet gave her life to protect her that day. As a viewer, it is hard to disagree with that notion.
Nataru and Birdy.
As far as central characters go, Nataru was handled pretty well. His motivations are clear and multi-faceted. The escapees, who are technically the villains in this story, are instead Nataru's victims as he brutally murders them one by one. He is surely an improvement from last season's Shyamalan, who developed the absurd notion that because he was the sole survivor of a terrorist bombing, his mission was to cleanse the Earth of those who were not part of a predestined elite fit for survival. Nataru is less ambitious. His best friend is dead because the escapees stole the Ryunka and sent it to Earth. The Federation (the government of his home world) hesitated to stop the Ryunka, curious as to how its destructive potential truly worked. This same Federation engineered the Ixiorans, a race of Altans bred specially for combat; both he and Birdy are Ixiorans, and ideally they are raised to be Federation Police special forces. Eventually, the escapees assume that Nataru's father is leaking information about them to the murderer and they kill him. Nataru, at the end of the day, has every reason to be upset. How Birdy interacts with Nataru as a result of his actions becomes the definitive conflict for the second half of this season.
Tsutomu's classmates continue to be the comic relief for this show. They spend most of their time fulfilling Hayamiya's desire to report on the effects of the Ryunka trajedy on the Roppongi refugees. We are also introduced to Shoko, the younger sister of Nataru's deceased best friend. She lost the use of her legs at some point and Nataru cares for her as she recovers in the hospital. She has quite the crush on Nataru, and burns with jealousy whenever Nataru is with Shion Arita, Birdy's public persona. Shoko runs away from the hospital one episode, and every time Shion/Birdy tries to bring her back, Shoko outlandishly screams, " Help, she's kidnapping me!" And Irma and Cappella, who help Birdy manage her work schedule with her police duties, are able to dominate scenes without Birdy's help. One comes to dearly appreciate the show's supporting characters.
Animation and Sound
The animation is similar to last season. It grows looser in style when there are prolonged fight scenes. In this season's case, the fight animation is reduced to only what is conceptually necessary; details become merely blurs and resemble some form of extreme rotoscoping. The same Kazuto Nakazawa style is extremely prevalent in Birdy's memories of when she lost Violin, and in the final fight sequence between the remaining escapee, Nataru and Birdy. Faces are drawn in violent and bold lines, expressing a psychological agony comparable to Edvard Munch's The Scream. As Birdy is forced to confront Nataru, their fight becomes a blend of rectangular squares that brings to mind Mondrian's Broadway Boogie-Woogie, mixed with the color scheme of Picasso's Guernica. It's truly a wonder to behold. The OST to both seasons of Birdy the Mighty: Decode is absolutely beautiful. Many of the songs consist of classical string and piano instruments, particularly when there are sentimental and tragic scenes. While the first season played many upbeat tunes, including the jazzy main theme for Birdy that seemed perfect for telling the tale of an intergalactic cop, the second season was mostly somber and dramatic. I've included a link to one of my favorite themes here.
There are times when it seems like the same track is being re-used for scenes with similar moods. This would be the only disappointment with the songs as they are used within the episodes. Otherwise, the OST on its own is solid.
To Be Continued?
It should be said that reviewing a show is never an entirely objective process. I really enjoyed Birdy the Mighty: Decode 02. With that being said, there are a few unanswered questions at the end of the show, some of which are more easily forgiven than others.
At some point the escapees confront Birdy with a weapon that appears to dissolve objects into nothingness. A shot barely grazes her, but she soon becomes comatose. Either as a result of the shot or due to inevitability, Tsutomu and Birdy have begun to fuse minds, a process that would eventually result in the loss of Birdy's persona altogether. Somehow Tsutomu must vicariously experience Birdy's memories and objectify them as knowledge in order to return Birdy to consciousness. While the potential for mind-fusion was a serious threat during the first season, it never carried the same weight in the second season. The ambiguity as to what triggered the progression of mind-fusion in the first place seems like, at its best, an excuse for Tsutomu to reveal Birdy's past to the audience. Her history is beautifully depicted, but there could have been sounder reasoning as to why it was shown.
The question of who the true threats are is still an issue in this season. It's easy to see that Christella Revi, a rogue Altan scientist, and her lackey Gomez are pulling invisible strings that control all of the show's villains. It's a shame that she never comes to the fore in this anime. Reducing her to some secret mastermind reminds the viewer that Birdy the Mighty was originally a manga; it's as if reading the manga is a prerequisite for understanding the show. Creating a third season, or perhaps a film that explains what she's trying to do with the Ryunka, would bring closure to any unanswered questions. For now, she remains the mysterious architect of the Central Tower incident and the Ryunka experiment.As stated earlier in this review, Birdy the Mighty: Decode 02 is a visual vignette revolving around Birdy and Nataru. The story is intimate and gut-wrenchingly sad. Watching Violin being crushed brings to mind images of the suicidal gynoids in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and the violent android killings in The Animatrix's "The Second Renaissance;" Birdy's animation is equally as stunning. Its an anime like this one that really inspires me to keep searching for good shows, shows with a good mix of brevity and ambition. Decode 02 lacks for neither one, and proves that such a formula always has spectacular results. I hope a third installment isn't too much to ask for.
* I watched Birdy the Mighty: Decode 02 for free at Hulu.com. It is also available for purchase at Amazon.com. Birdy was animated by A-1 Pictures and produced by Aniplex.
- Elijah Lee
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