- The golf aspect is garbage, they never try to do more than skeletal montages of people using superpowers to create entertainment out of it. The cause of this decision is that the production thinks that golf is boring, so they tried to do a Mario Golf type of anime, or another reference, I don’t know about that stuff. Maybe they want to promote a game, I don’t care.
- Most episodes are a drag at face value, they normally feature one or two moments that could give you a sincere laugh or a sudden shock, but most of the time they are just mundane dialogues interpolated with some scenes that try to wake up the viewer by blasting you with a surprise
- By using the two definitions above, the only correct way of watching this anime is to laugh at the decisions that the team behind this anime made, not the content by itself. Whether the entertainment out of that is valid or not depends on the individual.
Going to the details, the premise of the show is basically the journey from poverty and delinquency to legit golf competition of the main girl. This is apparently unoffensive at first, but the anime manages to make it an explosion of absurdity by using the implications of her wealth position, as the logic of being able to even do such transition doesn’t add up unless certain requirements are completed. The next paragraphs have some mild spoilers to explain why this anime is not just random stuff, but why it also sucks.
The first important detail about the premise is that it is trying to portray the rivalry about two girls that live in diametrically opposed positions in the scale of privilege, and it tries to portray such rivalry through a sport where they must face each other, to finally converge into a friendship relationship of mutual respect and love, as they both grow of each other. This is the first subversion, as golf is a sport that is normally associated with an elite, with wealthiness, and having no connection with the sport or being poor is just a high hurdle that is hard to jump.
Those two main characters are Aoi, a Japanese girl, and Eve, a European girl (?). As you may guess, Eve is the one that is poor and Aoi is the one that is rich, because that is how anime works. As the subversion exists, the anime tries to give a proper answer to the fact that Eve could even be good at golf. The solution is generating an underground system that enables Eve improvement, despite her overbearing family responsibilities and her incapability to enter the circuit. Therefore, the mafia aspect is not as nonsense or random as it may seem, it is just a logical consequence of how to establish a proper reasoning behind her opportunities.
Once given this reasoning, the mafia aspect and the mysterious trainer start to make some sense. Underground gambling, fraudulent tourneys, real estate corruption, all of them enable Eve to be able to break free from poverty through golf, because otherwise she wouldn’t have the resources to begin with, criticism towards social mobility. What this seems to propose is that, with the current state of things, there is no other option but to incur in such shady operations. Eve’s trainer also represents the basics of how education manage to empower the character to be able to compete with those who had proper advantages produced by an actual infrastructure, the presence of such legendary golfer in that context is fixed by a set of coincidences, as people in the situation of Eve could just find such opportunity by a strike of luck and an actual interest to be good at their craft, the value of education and motivation in disadvantaged communities.
The underground activity also brings parallels to different perspectives about the same development. Rose represents those who find comfort into staying as the biggest fish in a small tank, while Vipere represents those who have no qualms about cheating the system to survive. As Eve develop her golf and find the light at the end of the tunnel, she must now stay away from her past. The system that allowed her to get out of the slums is also biting her back.
As a matter of summary, Eve is Chief Keef. RIP Nipsey
If this anime was just a mafia anime with golf, then it would be an interesting ride, the underground antics could have a better emphasis and the characters would be able to develop a multitude of hardships that come from modern issues. Sadly, for anyone who has no interest on mediocre yuri attempts, the anime stops using this concept at the final third of the anime. The last arc of the anime is just a bunch of pathetic golf montages that abuse a joke that has been tired in the second episode of the anime and the cast simping or hating on Eve.
While one can see this ending of the cour fitting, as the struggle of Eve has been finally overcome and she can reap the fruits of her effort, the reality is that this final stretch can be just enjoyed by laughing at some ridiculous decisions of the anime (Or by shipping, I don’t kink shame). Awful lip syncing, slideshows with awkward music, jokes about the laziness of the writing, reusage of material, over dramatic shots, the anime just have nothing else to say and start to do dumb stuff to wake up the viewer, the momentum just hit a full-stop when they must dedicate themselves to golf. Maybe the caddie of Eve and Aoi could now represent a new element of overcoming the status quo, as Aoi must face her mother and the weight on her shoulders and the caddie must showcase her talent against the odds, but their gags and developments are just too mundane to be enjoyable, as they are barely anything but sporadic statements about their feelings.
As a conclusion, if Birdie Wing tried to be an enjoyable anime that makes golf a fun experience, then they completely failed, as the golf aspect is simply the worst part of the whole experience. It is not equivalent to the typical sport anime that develop tension, knowledge, and more importantly, interest about it. Birdie Wing instead look for elements that could bring entertainment and drama in-between the golf matches, entertainment that takes a nosedive once the unique and absurd aspect of the show disappears, and the trail of entertainment is composed by tropey silly power-ups. Sadly, if I want to see a rich girl and a poor girl being rivals and developing a hilarious comedy with an honest friendship I would watch others shows, and if I want to see a golf anime that use this kind of superpowers I would rather sleep.
