Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02

Following the Ryunka disaster, Tokyo is left in a period of social turmoil. To make matters worse, the group of aliens directly responsible for the catastrophic event have escaped from the Space Federation and are hiding on Earth.

Still sharing a body, Space Federation officer Birdy Cephon Altera, and high schooler, Tsutomu Senkawa, are tasked with capturing the fugitives and bringing them to justice. However, an unexpected crisis develops when the outlaws become targets of an unknown assassin with a vendetta. Now Birdy must deal with the chaos of everyday life and also uncover the identity of the assassin before more escapees fall victim.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Altera, Birdy Cephon Main

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Shinmyou, Nataru Main

Matsukaze, Masaya Japanese

Senkawa, Tsutomu Main

Irino, Miyu Japanese

Tuto Supporting

Kawada, Shinji Japanese

Nakasugi, Sayaka Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Muroto, Keisuke Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Gomez, George Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Megius, Paul Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Thetis, Capella Supporting

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Kiri, Moss Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Izubuchi, Yutaka Producer

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Minami, Masae Producer

Akane, Kazuki Director

Reviews

Aug 11, 2009

Archaeon

Recommended

The original is always better than the sequel. Or is it.........?

Being a long time fan of the original Birdy the Mighty OVA from 1997, it goes without saying that I was definitely looking forward to the new series of Tetsuwan Birdy Decode. Unfortunately the first season of Decode, whilst being good and great in some areas, was lacklustre in others - especially where the pacing of the story was concerned.

Thankfully, A-1 Pictures have changed the whole ball game with the release of Tetsuwan Birdy Decode: 02.

The second season picks up directly after the end of the first. Tsutomu and Birdy are still sharing a body ... for the time being whilst the world tries to make sense of the Ryunka incident. Meanwhile, a prison transport belonging the the Intergalactic Police is attacked by an unknown assailant. The escaped convicts take shelter on earth, and Birdy is ordered to find and capture them. During the course of her investigation though, Birdy runs into an old friend...

The story seems pretty straightforward on the whole, and there are some predictable events that occur, however don't be fooled by the failings of the first season as Decode: 02 is a completely different beast. The story is much tighter this time around, and is very much focused on Birdy rather than Tsutomu. One irony is that, whilst the first season looked at Tsutomu's love life, the second season is very clearly about Birdy's relationships, and I found that this aspect was far more engaging than the sci-fi school romance that was season one.

One of the main problems I had with the first season was the inconsistent, and often slow, pacing of the series. I just wanted the show to get on with the story rather than beat around the bush. As with any story, no matter how good, unless the pacing is correct the audience will lose interest, and season two is no slouch is this department. The tighter storyline, combined with some excellent pacing and some great (even with the predictable bits), plot development, allows the audience to become far more engaged in the story. The added bonus of this season being mainly about Birdy makes her character far more accessible,and endearing, as well.

Oh, and we also get to find out why she's called "Berserker Killer Birdy".

The animation for Decode: 02 is easily on par with that of the first season. The incorporation of CG is almost seamless, and the character movements, especially during the action sequences, are exceptional. One thing that may have detractors though, is that some sequences have a decidedly "rough and ready" look to them. This isn't due to a lack of time or skill on the part of the animators though, as it is very much intentional. The aim of these sequences is to direct the viewers attention to the characters and their struggles, allows the animators greater freedom and flexibility when it comes to character movements, and promotes a greater degree of emotion than a clean, clinical finish could everallow. The reason they chose to do this is purely because Birdy is an Ixion Altairan, a genetically engineered "super-soldier", and when you watch those scens, you'll begin to understand why they work on several levels. Fans of the awesome Casshern: Sins will recognise this technique as it is used heavily in that show as well.

Sound has been improved in the second series, with the characters themselves expressing a greater degree of emotion through their respective seiyuu (more on this in a bit). One of the high points of the voice acting occurs when Chiba Saeko (Birdy), and Irino Miyu (Tsutomu), speak exactly the same lines at exactly the same time. I won't say why this happens, however the degree of emotion expressed by both is extremely well synchronised.

Music is also a step up from season one. The OP and ED are just as good as the first series, however I did find myself preferring the OP to Decode: 02. The thematic music used throughout the series follows the same trend as season one, however it seems to work better here. This may be due to the tighter storyline, however it may also be due to the fact that there have been some changes to the tracklist, so some thought looks to have gone into what works where.

One of the driving forces of the Tetsuwan Birdy Decode series has been it's characters. In season one both Tsutomu and Birdy were engaging, yet both lacked a certain polish. In Decode: 02 however, Tsutomu is far more composed and mature (the Ryunka event and it's aftermath having been a rite of passage of sorts). Birdy has also undergone some improvement, and is far more endearing than she was in the first season. The fact that this season delves more into Birdy's past also helps to round out her character a lot, as the audience can begin to understand her motivations and goals.

I absolutely adored this season, and it is easily one of the best follow-ups I have seen in anime - period. This show has something for everyone, from human interest and romance, to mystery and major ass-kicking (super-soldier style).

Decode: 02 proves once again what we all know already. With a little care and thought, the sequel can easily surpass the original.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 12, 2026

Babineaux

Mixed Feelings

This show had a solid run, and then falls at the final hurdle. Still worth a watch if you liked the first season, but harden your heart in preparation for an anticlimax so that you don't feel too let down.

The author should have been able to wrap it up in an interesting way, there was plenty he could have done with it, all of the pieces were there, and it was an enjoyable ride right up until the last moment, but it just ended up jumping the shark and turning into a confusing and disjointed mess in those last couple of episodes.

Season 1 wrapped up ... okay, and this show has had solid storytelling pretty much throughout both seasons - sometimes maybe veering into unambitious and predictable story beats, or giving us a rushed setup to a plot element, but overall it had a decent floor in terms of the quality you could expect from it. Even if it wasn't always the most flashy writing, it worked. So this makes the abject failure of the ending of season 2 feel particularly strange and out of place.

Not only that, but at the same time as the writing goes downhill, the animation budget also clearly runs out, and so we lose all shading, textures and even precise body shapes as a "stylistic choice" for the final fight, appropriately further highlighting the uncanny "wrongness" of how everything was handled.

I don't know the source material well enough, so maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the problem with the final couple of episodes isn't that the story is rushed or overly cut down, or even that the premise of it was necessarily bad, it's just the raw construction of how it all fits together that's to blame.

For instance: the core question at the heart of the second season was good. Do you hand the evil war criminals back into a shady government justice system, or do you take matters into your own hands and make sure that they pay? Our hero on one side, our antihero on the other. That's got classic dramatic potential.

But the show then drops this idea completely in the final episode and refuses to discuss it, and instead goes off on a (frankly) WILD tangent, which COULD also be an interesting concept IN THEORY, but is atrociously handled in its execution, as it doesn't feel like it connects properly to everything that came before it. It SHOULD have been able to fit together, but didn't, and so it collapses like a mostly-completed house of cards.

Most of the villains do not receive the climactic send off that they deserve, and are instead shuffled out of the plot without ceremony. Which is again, a missed opportunity.

And ultimately, what is saddest of all, is that this is all we got from Tetsuwan Birdy. No sequels after this point, so anime watchers will have to end upon a disappointing note for an otherwise enjoyable show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 23, 2012

VermillionGhost

Not Recommended

Funny

This is my first review, so I'll keep it short for two reasons. Firstly, I don't really know what I'm doing, secondly I watched this series ages ago.
That being said, it pissed me off enough to remember to review it here.

I watched the first series mostly because I saw it had Micah Solusod voicing the lead role. Hey, Soul (Soul Eater) was cool, so surely some of the coolness would rub off?

Which brings me to the sound of the series. I watched the english dub, and the cast was stellar. Big industry names were everywhere and it was a pleasure to play "guess-the-actor". However, ... this is just about where the good news ends.

The first series could be considered mediocre. Birdy was fairly cool, the shared-body spiel was mildly entertaining and the aliens were ugly. Fine. No problem. The second season was nothing like it.

I'm not sure exactly where the producers wanted to take this show. Where ever it was, it is a dark, dark place. Most of the ridiculous gore and hammy dialogue could have been endured, if they didn't bring kids into it.

Yeah, they were aliens in kid's bodies. Yeah, the person killing them had some sort of revenge backstory. I don't actually care. Watching this made me feel ashamed, unclean and morally bankrupt. They didn't die painlessly; they were mutilated and while they screamed and begged for mercy, the guy told them they deserved it. There should be lines, and for me, this didn't merely cross a line, it bulldozed it with a frikken tank. Where do people take a step back and go "no, this is wrong, we should not encourage the production of this sort of media"?

And the worst part was, this killer was actually supposed to be some sort of sympathetic character. Hell, he was the love interest!

Additionally, Tsutomu barely features after being built up as a protangonist in the first season. You are instead deluged with flashbacks and backstories, which, while explaining some of Birdy's history, had moments that were largely irrelavent.

The story ended up being quite predictable. Not to throw up too many spoilers here, but the aliens are going to get picked off one by one. Then there won't be any aliens left, which pretty much concludes the season.

The art was fine, till the last few episodes, where funding ran out and the art team made some creative decisions in the fight scenes that pretty much remove background, gravity and proportions from the show. For me, the show also lacked any sense of catharsis: it's clear that they way is being left wide open for another series. Which I won't be watching.

There was a lot of blood, a lot of screaming, a lot of Birdy being pathetic. I really wouldn't bother with this season if I were you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02 Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) id - Mar 27, 2009	101 replies	by Ronninn »» Oct 28, 2024 7:11 AM
	Poll: Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02 Episode 11 Discussion jacobpaige - Apr 27, 2009	9 replies	by Milomark »» Jun 2, 2024 8:19 PM
	Poll: Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02 Episode 10 Discussion Faust721 - Apr 9, 2009	29 replies	by Milomark »» Jun 2, 2024 7:55 PM
	Poll: Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02 Episode 9 Discussion WTFwasThat - Apr 2, 2009	14 replies	by Milomark »» Jun 2, 2024 7:30 PM
	Poll: Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02 Episode 8 Discussion WTFwasThat - Mar 29, 2009	13 replies	by Milomark »» May 31, 2024 8:53 PM