An unsuspecting student named Tsutomu finds himself in an odd situation when his body is accidentally injured by an interplanetary agent named Birdy, and they end up sharing her body until his own can be repaired.

Episode Summary

Birdy is in pursuit of a criminal named Geegar, and when she infiltrates his ship he’s already making a break for it. She follows him to Earth, where she poses as a model named Shion who specializes in space outfits in order to investigate his whereabouts. A man named “Giga” seems to be a good (and obvious) lead. That evening she follows his car, while somewhere else, Tsutomo and a friend are investigating a ruined building and are confronted by some thugs. They leave, just as Giga (really Geegar) meets Birdy (in the guise of Shion) on the roof. She transforms into investigator mode and they get into a fight. While Tsutomu is trying to escape the building, Geegar takes him hostage and tosses him at Birdy, who accidentally blows his body in half.

The next day Tsutomu wakes up, assuming all of it was a dream. When he tries to put his glasses on, he realizes that he doesn’t need them. When he gets home after school, he hears a voice in the room with him. Suddenly he’s flying through the air above the city, and when he looks over to his reflection in the side of a skyscraper, he sees that he’s not himself, but a beautiful woman. Apparently his nightmare has just begun.

Thoughts

This is another of those shows that I really wanted to loathe on principle, but I found I just couldn’t find enough to really hate it like I felt I should. I can’t say that the premise really impresses me that much – the idea of body sharing a la Kanokon is a huge red flag for me, and one look at Birdy’s skimpy wardrobe was enough to make me extremely skeptical, but all-in-all it wasn’t too bad of an episode. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t watch any more unless I was bored or not busy (ha!), but I wouldn’t point and laugh at anyone who watched and enjoyed the show either.

This show is based on a manga that already produced a 4-episode OVA in the mid-nineties, and I feel like I’ve seen it before but I can’t remember enough to be able to make a comparison. Just judging from screenshots, though, I can tell that the design team did a good job of updating the look of the characters, providing them with modern-yet-recognizable designs, and just generally making sure that we don’t mistake this version for the old one. Not to mention that the animation is very nice also, which really surprised me, especially considering it was from a studio that I’m not really familiar with (my not having heard of them isn’t necessarily a measure of quality either way, but upon further research A-1 doesn’t seem to have had a hand in many other shows).

Still, I have to bring up the fact that Birdy’s investigator outfit is completely impractical. Oh, I know full well why she’s dressed that way, since many people like to view scantily-clad women blowing people up. But I don’t have to agree with it. Seriously, she’s got a magical thong that would make the gals of Daphne in the Brilliant Blue jealous. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a fan of the fanservice very much, so that’s one strike against the show. Otherwise, though, my righteous indignation wasn’t set aflame too much, and I might watch some more of this. Too much more with the T and A, though, and this show is gonna be on notice, post haste.

Pros

• The animation is quite nice and was a pleasant surprise
• The story was silly without being too anger-inducing

Cons

• Birdy must be poor because she can’t afford a whole outfit
• Body-sharing in an anime is a major red-flag for me

By Jessi – 08/31/08