In the first episode, a couple of things are established about Tetsuwan Birdy. One, Birdy is kind of reckless for a police officer, but with such awesome powers and medical technology and such, I guess it is easy to forget that mere mortals are pretty weak. Two, Chigawa Tsutomu is a result of the same wimpy high school adolescent male character virus that has infected countless series, such as Kimagure Orange Road and Tenchi Muyo!. I have met tuna-salad sandwiches with more personality than Kyousuke and Tenchi, and I do not really see much to write home about in Tsutomu. Third, the series is pretty damn entertaining even if it is not exactly a groundbreaking piece of work. So, here are some tidbits about this show.

Tetsuwan Birdy was originally a manga by Yuuki Masami, of Mobile Police Patlabor fame. Tetsuwan Birdy was drawn earlier in Yuuki's career but still has his awesome character designs, with their highly-defined lines and angles. Sadly, he never finished up the story, and there is only one compilation volume. Of course, this is not all the manga that Yuuki has done. Some of his other works include Grooming Up!, a manga involving horse breeding, and Superman R, the story of a rice-cooking high school android. For more information on Yuuki Masami, you can find Greg Marques's earlier article in the CJAS Newsletter Archive.

And how could I not mention the seiyuu for this series, the most prominent being Mitsuishi Kotono. While she does not really have a great voice range, Mitsuishi does have the ability to do a variety of character types and really bring them to life. I was surprised when I found out that the same actress who played Misato (Neon Genesis Evangelion) also played Usagi (Sailor Moon), because although the voices were not vastly different, the characters were. Mitsuishi has also done a great job as Selcia, the powerful elven sorceress and spotted dog from Those Who Hunt Elves. And this list just starts to scratch her many, many roles.

Anyhow, enjoy the story, and please check out some of Yuuki and Mitsuishi's other works.