Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story Review

“You’re the one, huh? I keep hearing about how good you are. I see, I see. You do look strong. You’ve got me excited. You’ll be worth defeating.”

Birdie Wing is a preposterous beast. I struggled with it throughout this season, and while I certainly don’t think it’s bad in most sections, it was difficult to get through due to my own personal preferences. That’s to say nothing of its complete narrative failure in the final stretch. This story takes home the “Jack of All Trades” award for doing just about everything and being exceptional at none of it. I’d gotten through the first 10 episodes when a question occurred to me that I frankly didn’t know the answer to. The question was, “What genre is Birdie Wing?” Once you start seriously considering the question, the list can get long rapidly. This is a testament to the show’s lack of focus, combined with a meandering and often inconsistent tone. I was never clear whether the show was aware of how insane it was, and thus was uncertain if I was observing a bland joke perpetrated by a group of creators who were along for the ride, or if this was simply a directionless mess. Neither of these sound great, but this doesn’t mean the show isn’t for everyone. There are certainly people who will be up for the bizarre insanity that comes from our protagonist, Eve, taking on the mafia with her golf skills in literal underground matches, before heading off to have some fun with clothing montages in Japan. For me, Birdie Wing is excessive in a manner that just didn’t click, and even those who enjoy it would probably be better off waiting for the show to end.

The series is focused on a high stakes golfer named Eve, who competes in underground golf matches in the fictional country (I think? Maybe it’s just a city) of Nafres. Her interest is piqued when she encounters a talented Japanese golfer named Amawashi Aoi. However, her budding rivalry is interrupted by the mafia’s plans to bulldoze the local bar where she lives with orphans. As such, she is called upon to take part in matches in an underground complex that can randomly generate golf courses. She golfs against a cyborg. On paper, this sounds like it should be comedic gold, but so much of the show is played straight that it’s difficult to tell how the creators intended for viewers to react. The narrative itself also has a peculiar divide between its two stories. There were a few episodes where I thought the story had forgotten entirely about the rivalry with Aoi, but the narrative ends up swerving back around to become an entirely different show in its last third. Gone is the bizarre mafia storyline in favor of a weird, sapphic, slice-of-life, high school anime. Birdie Wing is wildly unpredictable, but that isn’t always a good thing.

Given the diverse nature of the narrative, it should come as no surprise that Birdie Wing never comes within putting distance of a consistent tone. For example, those sapphic elements that I alluded to are actually relatively sparse, with the first two thirds of the show only occasionally hinting at such a relationship. However, there is a gulf that separates “sparse” from “subtle.” In the last few episodes, Eve goes from seemingly disinterested in such engagements to actively hitting on girls at the drop of a hat. I have nothing against a story with yuri elements, but I don’t know what purpose this abrupt change in approach serves. It often seems like the viewer is getting a different show from one episode to the next. Also, I owe Spy x Family an apology. I thought its ending felt awkward, but Birdie Wing literally doesn’t end. There is no wrap up. There is no indication there is about to be a break in the story. The thirteenth episode actually has a promo for the “next episode,” even though that isn’t due to air until January. The absence of closure is downright infuriating, and to top it off, it wasn’t until the finale aired that the studio even announced a second season was planned. Birdie Wing was one of those shows where it seemed impossible to find confirmation on how many episodes there would be in total. It wasn’t until the tail end of June that I learned it would have 13 episodes, and that information didn’t even last a week before it was thrown out. Technically, a part of me feels it is unfair to hold this against the show, but I’m reviewing what was released, and what was released pissed me off.

Bandai Namco Pictures has thoroughly baffled me with this production. I noted in my First Impressions review that they didn’t have a particularly deep catalog of work, but despite that, Birdie Wing is a crisp production. There are some occasionally odd animation details, but by and large, I could even believe these visuals were the work of a B-team from MadHouse or MAPPA. Regardless, this is an anime original and thus the inconsistent writing also falls squarely on the studio’s shoulders. Koroda Yusuke was the head writer, and in some ways that makes perfect sense. Kuroda was the head writer on some of my favorite and least favorite series, ranging from Big Windup! to Highschool of the Dead. Many of his prominent works have been adaptations or works with substantial oversight (He’s done a lot of work with Gundam), so I can’t draw too many conclusions on his habits as a writer. Still, learning that this was from the person who wrote s-CRY-ed somehow makes perfect sense to me in a way that nothing else in this show does.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• This show is so insane that I can discuss it for 4 paragraphs and not even bring up the snake vampire lady who wins golf games by throwing off her opponent’s equilibrium with her… body odor? She might just be wearing a drug, but the show never bothers to elaborate on that aspect.
• I’m not exaggerating when I say that episode 13 threw me for a loop. I can’t recall any other time where I’ve seen a season end with a preview for the next episode. Because the studio had been tight-lipped about the release schedule, I was struggling to confirm that I hadn’t somehow lost track of what episode I was on.
• The season ends with a ton of story arcs still in play, which go absolutely nowhere. Eve has an amnesiac backstory that’s only briefly touched upon. She had a mysterious trainer who seems to mean a lot to certain people. Aoi’s father appears to be connected to a rival golfer, though I’m not even certain whether he’s alive or not. A coach is evidently seriously ill. Hell, the last episode alone adds to at least three of these plot threads, while doing nothing to tie them off.
• I thought my most contrarian view this season was going to be, “Spy x Family is good, but it’s not THAT great.” I don’t know how people feel about episode 13 of Birdie Wing, but I know the show has its fans. I wonder if they went through the same frustration and disappointment I did?