Lately, I've come across an anime with a very cheezy name called Birdy the Mighty Decode. Yeah it sounded like a very unusual name for an anime. More like a badly translated Spanish cartoon from the 80's with technicolor drawings and weird Nazi-styled villains. Though it wasn't really anything like that. Starting from when I watched the first episode, I realized that I was walking into something much greater...

This is a science-fiction/romance story based off popular conspiracy theories and the possibility of advanced societies from deep space which have already infiltrated Earth but do not reveal their presence because they consider backward worlds to be protected and should be left to develop on their own. Birdy is an investigator from some large interstellar federation that had come to Earth while pursuing a criminal carrying a very dangerous weapon. Being from a highly advanced society, Birdy has a whole set of gadgets most police/kids just wished they could carry in their lifetime like personal force fields, virtual costumes, an assistant robot that is armed and handheld energy blasters.

During her mission on earth, Birdy gets by by disguising as an Idol named Arita Shion by day. During the night however, she goes out and attempts to track down her objectives at sites that her assistant robot, Tute takes her to after performing investigations when she is busy.

Tute, a loyal assistant robot, accompanies Birdy on her mission on earth to capture Geega and Bacillius, two interstellar criminals who carry a very dangerous weapon called the Ryunka. Tute, disguising himself as Arita Shion's manager with gay tendencies, is also capable of transforming into his normal self, which is a cute little squidlike robot that hovers around.

During one of her investigations in an abandoned construction site, Birdy encounters this unfortunate boy called Senkawa Tsutomu. Tsutomu, a ruins enthusiast, just so happened to be there also exploring. However, Geega, who was there used Tsutomu as a human shield against Birdy's blaster, destroying his body. In an attempt to save him, Birdy had to hold Tsutomu's consciousness in her own body, creating lots of comical moments for the two of them whenever they switch bodies. Though it must be noted that this series has a queer tendency to ignore Birdy's sexuality in the interactions between the characters. Admittedly, it happens so often it's cliche, but completely ignoring leaves some narrative issues unresolved.

Hayamiya Natsumi, Tsutomu's childhood friend, isn't like most childhood friends in anime who constantly follow the main character around. However she does exhibit the same kind of intent to be more involved with Tsutomu. An aspiring journalist, Hayamiya starts to follow her senior, a freelance photographer around to explore suspicious happenings around her later in the series.

Nakasugi Sayaka, Tsutomu's love interest is a rich girl who lives with her grandfather. Despite being very wealthy, she is often sick and unable to attend classes. She is a good friend of Hayamiya but only an acquaintance of Tsutomu in the beginning of the series. Later in the series, she is almost killed in a car accident, but was revived, and even cured of her sickness using an alien organism. She later befriends Tsutomu and eventually starts a relationship with him. Soon after the main characters discover the cause of her good health, she starts to play a central role in the unfolding of the story.

Muroto, a freelance photographer and Tsutomu and Hayamiya's senior, is a conspiracy theorist and constantly pursues paranormal events occuring around him. In the beginning of the series, he suspects Arita Shion to be some kind of warrior girl with high-tech equipment after taking photographs of her at a construction site. Because he constantly reports and writes about paranormal occurrences, he is seldom taken seriously by news agencies and even his peers and juniors. However, Hayamiya, after observing some abnormal activity around her, begins to understand that Muroto might be on to something.

Shamalan, a mysterious businessman in control of a great many assets and a corporate figure, is the lead villain in the series. Shamalan has a cool personality, and is very young compared to most of his peers. He is aware of aliens and alien technology on Earth and befriends a shady person known only as Gomez. His primary business involves the creation of marionettes, or humanlike robots, and pioneers the creation of combat marionettes on Earth.

The story, set in the modern world focuses on Tsutomu, and how his life changed after being killed and housed by Birdy. The thing that attracts me most to this series however is the romance that started in the middle of the series between Nakasugi and Tsutomu. On the verge of death, the two have been rescued using alien technologies and were brought together by the events that ensued. Nakasugi happy that her health has improved more than ever in her life, sets out to enjoy herself and gets close to Tsutomu after being rescued by Birdy from Geegar. Eventually, they become lovers, but destiny never meant for them to be together. Although the romance story seemed to be an afterthought, it added lots of color to a science fiction story about a boy living inside a girl and not caring about that. Overall, this anime emanates a subtle sweetness that captivated me the way anime has not captivated me in a very long time. So don't be turned off by the name of the series, and try it out.

PS. There should be a second season coming soon

written by astrobunny \\ altaria, birdy, cephon, decode, hayamiya, muroto, nakasugi, riunka, ryunka, sayaka, shamalan, tsutomu