Birdy the Mighty is largely episodic with our title badass taking down a new threat in every episode. There was supposed to be an overarching plot about Birdy chasing a famous alien criminal hiding out on Earth for unknown reasons, but the anime was scrapped after just 4 episodes! What is amazing is that Birdy actually had the makings of a decent show, but was never given a chance. Why? There are anime out there WAY worse than Birdy that are actually popular and have multiple seasons! Ikki Tousen is one of the worst anime I have ever seen and I believe that piece of shit has 4 seasons now! Several attempts were made to reboot Birdy, but none of them caught on in popularity. Perhaps because Birdy is a very shonen action series, but broke the rules by having a female main protagonist? I'm honestly not sure why this show did so poorly with Japanese test audiences.
Tsutomu is a bland, beta male that is easily forgettable. The character that is actually interesting is obviously Birdy herself. I love how she grins from ear to ear while tearing apart her opponents with her bare hands. She is gleefully psychotic and is sort of like a female Alucard, or if Revy from Black Lagoon was actually likeable. It is too bad we have likely seen the end of Birdy and her reckless police work.
One possible reason for Birdy's failure in the US was that it was adapted by the dreaded Central Park Media. Of all the companies to licence anime in the United States, no one had a reputation worse than the now thankfully defunct Central Park. This was a company that adapted the absolute WORST anime that NO ONE wanted to see, simply because they didn't have to pay very much money to adapt and bring over Z tier anime titles to the US. This was the company that gave us MD Geist, Mad Bull 34, Angel Cop, and probably 8 of the top 10 worst anime ever to see an American release. Like all Central Park titles, Birdy suffers from HORRIBLE voice acting and cheesy music inserted in. However, I didn't honestly think Birdy suffered that much from these flaws. It kind of made it nostalgic and fun.
Overall: 6/10
Birdy the Mighty was obviously not a cinematic masterpiece, but it certainly deserved more than 4 damn episodes before getting axed! Sometimes for whatever reason, good shows get screwed and cancelled WAY too early, while shitty shows somehow stumble on season after season. Birdy is one of those decent shows that had some real potential, but failed to find an audience and was never given the chance it deserved. Of all the garbage that Central Park Media dumped on to American audiences, this was EASILY one of their best titles.
