is a manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Masami Yuki

Masami Yuki

, real name Shūji Satō , is a manga artist.Yuki graduated from Kutchan High School. He is a member of the artist group known as Headgear...

, who is best known for producing the long-running series Patlabor

Patlabor

Patlabor also known as , is an anime and manga franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii, writer Kazunori Itō, mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, character designer Akemi Takada, and manga artist Masami Yūki.The popular franchise included a manga, a TV series, two OVA...

. His initial work on the series was quickly abandoned, but it was made into an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

, which was produced and, on the last episode, scripted by Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Yoshiaki Kawajiri

is a critically acclaimed writer and director of Japanese animation. He is the creator of titles such as Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.-Career:...

, who is known for anime titles such as Vampire Hunter D

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

is a 2000 anime film written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The film is based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, D - Demon Deathchase.The film began production in 1997 and was completed with the intention of being shown in American theaters...

, and Ninja Scroll

Ninja Scroll

is a 1993 Japanese animated action thriller film set in feudal Japan, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri who was best known for his previous thriller Wicked City . The character designs were done by Yutaka Minowa. The movie is in homage to the Ninpōchō series, ninja novels by Futaro Yamada...

. The character designer and animation director for the series was Kumiko Takahashi

Kumiko Takahashi

is Japanese animator and character designer. She is noted for her work as a character designer and animation director on numerous anime series, such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Witch Hunter Robin and Ouran High School Host Club....

. In 2003, Masami Yuki

Masami Yuki

, real name Shūji Satō , is a manga artist.Yuki graduated from Kutchan High School. He is a member of the artist group known as Headgear...

 began serializing a second, more ambitious Birdy the Mighty manga in Weekly Young Sunday

Weekly Young Sunday

was a weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan since the first issue on April 10, 1987. It replaced Shōnen Big Comic in Shogakukan's lineup of shōnen titles, and many of the titles in Shōnen Big Comic were continued in Young Sunday...

.

A TV anime adaptation, titled , was animated by A-1 Pictures

A-1 Pictures

is a Japanese animation studio, a subsidiary of Sony's anime production firm Aniplex.-History:The studio was established by Sony's animation production division, Aniplex, on May 9, 2005, to animate its anime series and productions. In 2006, it co-produced the original production Zenmai Zamurai,...

 and produced by Aniplex

Aniplex

, formerly known as Sony Pictures Entertainment Visual Works Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment Visual Works Inc., is a Japanese anime and music production and distribution enterprise owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan and established in January 1997...

, premiered in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 on TV Saitama and other broadcast networks on July 4, 2008. The series is directed by Kazuki Akane

Kazuki Akane

is a Japanese director of Japanese animation. Until the early 2000s, he was a staff member of the anime studio Sunrise, where he collaborated with Shoji Kawamori to direct his most famous work, The Vision of Escaflowne...

 (director of Vision of Escaflowne), written by Hiroshi Ōnogi

Hiroshi Onogi

is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions.Ōnogi attended Keio University in the same years as Macross character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto and creator Shōji Kawamori, both of whom he would first collaborate with in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross.- Filmography :*...

, with its character designer and overseeing animation director being Ryo Timo. It also aired on the satellite network Animax

Animax

is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

 from July 14, 2008. The second season titled Birdy the Mighty Decode 02 aired Jan 9, 2009 to Mar 27, 2009. The TV series featured a different voice acting cast from the original OVA series. At Anime USA

Anime USA

Anime USA is a fandom convention for anime, manga and Japanese culture enthusiasts. It is an annual three-day event held over a weekend in Crystal City, Virginia , part of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area...

 2009, Funimation Entertainment

Funimation Entertainment

Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...

 announced that it had acquired the show. As of June 30, 2010, Funimation released all episodes of Season 1 and Season 2 English Subbed, and plans to release them English Dubbed in October 2010.

The series made its North American television debut on March 2nd, 2011 on the Funimation Channel

FUNimation Channel

The FUNimation Channel is a 24-hour cable network which broadcasts anime series in the United States. OlympuSAT was chosen as the exclusive distributor of the network....

.

Plot

Birdy Cephon Altera is a Federation agent chasing interplanetary criminals to the planet Earth. While in pursuit of one such criminal, she accidentally kills a high school boy named Tsutomu Senkawa. Fortunately for Tsutomu, there is a way to keep him alive. He ends up being merged into Birdy's body and must remain so until the repair of his body is complete.

So, Tsutomu is stuck sharing a body with an attractive, strong, and impulsive space police agent while trying to keep his family and friends from finding out about Birdy. In the meantime, Birdy continues her investigation. Together, they take on a secretive group of evil alien

Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...

s planning to perform experiments on the unsuspecting inhabitants of Earth.

Main

Birdy Cephon Altera

(OVA)

(TV)

A Federation police officer, she arrives on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 in pursuit of alien criminals who are using the planet as a refuge. During one of her missions, she accidentally kills Tsutomu and has to fuse with him in order to keep him alive. In Birdy the Mighty Decode she meets her childhood friend Nataru later admitting to Tsutomu that she is indeed in love with Nataru.

In the 2008 anime, her false identity

Non-official cover

Non-official cover is a term used in espionage, particularly by national intelligence services, for agents or operatives who assume covert roles in organizations without ties to the government for which they work. Such agents or operatives are typically abbreviated in espionage lingo as a NOC...

 on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 is rising Japanese idol

Japanese idol

In Japanese culture, are media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g...

 Shion Arita. She is accompanied by a robot named Tuto.

Birdy is an Altairian, a human-like alien, possibly from a planet orbiting the star Altair. More specifically, Birdy is an Ixioran Altairian, a bio-engineered supersoldier

Supersoldier

Supersoldier is a term often used to describe a soldier that operates beyond normal human limits or abilities. Supersoldiers are common in science fiction literature, films, TV programs, computer, conspiracy theories, and video games, but have also made appearances in other related genres, such as...

 bred for combat.

Tsutomu Senkawa

(OVA)l

(TV)

A high school student who has his mind hosted within Birdy after being killed during her confrontation with an alien criminal. Birdy tries to let him live a normal life until his body is rebuilt.

Civilians

Natsumi Hayamiya

(OVA)

(TV)

Tsutomu's female friend and classmate. In the OVA she has a more prominent role while in the television show she is just a minor character.

Hazumi Senkawa

(OVA)

(TV)

Tsutomu's older sister. She does not live with Tsutomu and is rarely seen on the show. She comes by for random inspections and is first seen in the first episode saying goodbye to their parents.

Sayaka Nakasugi

(TV)

Sayaka had a weak body until she was involved in a car accident. After she healed from the accident, her demeanor became more cheerful. She also changed from being sickly to very strong and also became more social. These changes were not gradual, but were very sudden. She then starts to become very close to Tstomu after the car accident

Shoko Kagami

(TV)

A young girl whose legs are recovering. She's very fond of Nataru and tends to be hostile towards Birdy because she thinks Birdy's trying to 'steal' him from her. She had also lost her older brother in the ryunka incident

Aliens

Georg Gomez

(OVA)

(TV)

An alien criminal who had been hiding on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 in disguise. He's an Altarian henchman of Christella Revi.

Christella Revi

(OVA)

(TV)

A rogue alien scientist who is the antagonist of the story.

Nataru Shinmyou (ナタル)

Birdy's Childhood friend. He lives on Earth as a refugee and pretends to be a human. Nataru is an Ixioran like Birdy and has the ability to teleport.

In Birdy the Mighty Decode he confesses to Birdy saying he's in love with her.

Manga

The original manga ran in what is now Shōnen Sunday Super

Shonen Sunday Super

is a bi-monthly shōnen manga magazine published by Shogakukan.-History & Background:Originally billed as a special edition of Shōnen Sunday entitled Shōnen Sunday Zōkan, it was renamed Shōnen Sunday Super in 1995. It is often the home of short term serials by established Shogakukan artists, as well...

, but when Masami Yuki began serializing Kyūkyoku Chōjin R

Kyukyoku Chojin R

is a manga series written and illustrated by Masami Yuuki. It was serialised in Shogakukan's Shōnen Sunday from 1985 to 1987. The series revolved around a teenage robot named R. Ichiro Tanaka. Later, it was revealed that R's creator Dr. Narihara only built R for a failed attempt to take over the...

in the pages of Shōnen Sunday

Shonen Sunday

, first published on March 17, 1959, is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan. Contrary to its title, Weekly Shōnen Sunday issues are released on Wednesdays.- History :...

it began appearing infrequently, and was eventually abandoned. Only one volume was ever collected. In 2003, after a number of other series for Shōnen Sunday

Shonen Sunday

, first published on March 17, 1959, is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan. Contrary to its title, Weekly Shōnen Sunday issues are released on Wednesdays.- History :...

, Masami Yuki moved to Weekly Young Sunday

Weekly Young Sunday

was a weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan since the first issue on April 10, 1987. It replaced Shōnen Big Comic in Shogakukan's lineup of shōnen titles, and many of the titles in Shōnen Big Comic were continued in Young Sunday...

, a seinen

Seinen

is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...

magazine, and began drawing a remake version, starting the story from the beginning.

Anime

Birdy the Mighty Decode was first announced under the name Birdy the Movement. It was then revealed in the Tokyo International Anime Fair that the show would be aired in summer 2008 as Birdy the Mighty Decode.

A second season of Birdy the Mighty: Decode began to air on January 9, 2009, known as Birdy the Mighty Decode: 02. It concluded in May. There is no indication that there will be further seasons.

A subsequent OVA titled Birdy the Mighty Decode: Cipher features an unaired episode, named "Between you and me", that connects the first and second seasons. It is currently planned for DVD release on July 22, 2009.
The first DVD for Birdy the Mighty Decode was released on September 24, 2008.

OST

The Birdy the Mighty Decode OST was released on September 24, 2008 in a simultaneous release with the DVD.

Theme Song CDs

Sora is the opening theme to the TV animation adaptation titled Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode. It is performed by Hearts Grow.

Kiseki is the opening theme to second season. It is performed by Nirgilis.

Track listing

1. Sora (そら, Sky)
2. Mirai Sketch (未来スケッチ, Sketch of Future)
3. Sora - Instrumental (そら)
4. Kiseki (奇跡,Miracle)

External links

• Birdy the Mighty Manga Official Site
• Birdy the Mighty Decode Official Site