Ride the Rainbow Bullet in BIRDIE WING, Episode 1

Eve hustles money in the underground golf scene. She meets Aoi, a prodigy golfer, and Eve’s competitive juices flow!

Episode 1 – “Rainbow Bullet”

First Thoughts.

Did I just watch a golf simulator video game’s backstory? BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls’ Story (BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls’ Story-) felt like an arcade-style golf game. It had the transitions of Street Fighter, the moody montages between levels in Punch-Out!!, and golf hole introductions. I would not be surprised if Bandai Namco introduces a game based on the anime after the season ends.

BIRDIE WING also feels like old-fashioned anime. Anime used to be a vehicle to sell goods, toys, trading cards, and music. The anime’s website already points you to the opening credits song “Venus Line” and the moody insert song “HONEY DAYS (GONE TOO SOON)”. And the BIRDIE WING characters are on signage and golf gear at junior golf tournaments! Bandai Namco takes selling its intellectual property seriously.

Hmm.

BIRDIE WING is an original story. There’s no adaptation material to compare, so there’s no possibility of trolls spoiling the plot. That’s refreshing! However, you will need to watch weekly instead of binging. That is so you can avoid all the incredible plot twists and character revelations that… Eh, you’ll be okay. Still, it is refreshing to see original anime programming that isn’t set in high school.

BIRDIE WING’s narrative style belongs in a video game. We expect Bandai Namco Pictures, the production studio, would know about arcade video games from its parent company. The action beats and emphatic splash screens fit a fighting tournament story, complete with fanciful fashion for the characters. I expect to see lots of emotional flashbacks overlayed with insert music to explain new characters’ origin stories.

BIRDIE WING’s Swinging Cast

You are in store for many puns about grips, shafts, heads, clubs, holes, lies, hooking, traps, poles, and swings. I apologize to the cast and characters for dragging them into this.

• Eve, the straight shooter, is played by Akari Kitou (Nezuko from Demon Slayer and Momo from Machikado Mazoku). I mean it, Eve can only swing line-drive shots. Let’s see if that changes.
• Aoi Amawashi, the longball driver, is played by Asami Seto (Raphtalia from The Rising of the Shield Hero and Mai Sakurajima from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai). She likes handling extra-long shafts!
• Lily Lipman, Eve’s caddie, is played by Akira Sekine (Princess from Princess Principal and Kuon Shinzaki from High-Rise Invasion). Lily has a uniquely Japanese hobby.
• Amane Shinhou, Aoi’s long-suffering minder, is played by Ami Koshimizu (Charlotte Yeager from Strike Witches and Kallen Stadtfeld from Code Geass). I’m sure fans of red half-rim glasses will love her.
• Klein Clara, the friend of Eve and Lily, who runs a bar in the slums of Nafrece, is played by Sayaka Kinoshita (Lusamine from Pokémon and Rumi Usagiyama from My Hero Academia). She takes care of migrant orphans and loves tequila.

There are many more gal golfers poised to appear in BIRDIE WING. I can’t wait!

Heh.

Alright, alright, alright! My body is ready for hot golfing girl-on-girl action! Where the heck is Nafrece? Pro golfer Chris Christina is tan, has a sexy beauty mark, and confuses her caddie. Here’s a foreshadowing scene from BIRDIE WING. A pair of golfing girls notice Chris’s playing style is different. Ojou-sama pout! Oho! A ringer in disguise! We’re in a video game world if that mask fools people in bright sunlight. Ooh, blondie golfer has a scar. It’s important! Eve wears cutoff jean shorts and boots. Obviously American. Freckle girl has a sweet tooth.

This European city of Nafrece looks like New York, San Francisco, and Brooklyn dropped into the south of France. Eve and Lily live at a bar. Ha! Look at those kids pop out of everywhere. Is everyone here an illegal migrant? Can you even street hustle golf? Show me how, BIRDIE WING, show me how!

Instead of White Men Can’t Jump, it’s Blonde Girl Can’t Fade. I buy it. Playing a hole of golf in the dark next to train tracks. That masked golfer tells me we’re in an outrageous intersection of ultra-rich gamblers and slum-dwelling hustlers. This is totally a video game plot, starting at level one. Eve is the “Rainbow Bullet.” Is that a low-key shoutout for future yuri subtext in BIRDIE WING? CC? Her mask has a star right where a beauty mark would be. Ha, now I’m laughing again. Eve recognizes who’s behind the disguise from how she takes her tee shot. Ohoho! Lily can’t golf! That’s not how handicaps work in golf… Eve needs to be on the verge of losing to feel any excitement. She hasn’t met the right opponent yet. She calls her straight drive “Blue Bullet.” Does she have other colors? Will we see them? Hilarious! This is HORSE golf. Through the freight train, off the rake, onto the green for a tap-in. Of course, the masked lady CC was Chris Christina. She paid Eve to mimic her style at the tournament, so she wanted to see Eve’s personal style.

Yup, BIRDIE WING is in a video game world. Look at the architecture of that airport! Nafrece is twelve hours away from Japan. That narrows its location down… The money bills say “Euru” and “Bank of Nafrece.” Generic European metropolis, then. Uh oh. A cop is getting fresh with Klein. Nothing like petty corruption and bribery to start the morning. Also, “Jose Garcia” tequila wakes you up. Time for the moody montage and insert music for the episode.

Aoi’s mother is a chic blonde chief executive type. Aoi is in Nafrece for an under-fifteen women’s golf tournament. Meanwhile, another old, fat man wants to beat Eve at golf with a young lady. Ah. Mr. Robert owns the golf course, and his niece Helene aims to test her skills against the Rainbow Bullet. Helene Robert is the Nafrece junior golf champion and will play in the U15 tournament against Aoi. But first, street golf! Uh oh. Lily put high stakes into this match. Her purity? Most prized possession? Hahaha! Straight through the tall tree in the middle of the fairway! And straight at the pin! Eve is no golfer! She hits a ball with a stick to make money. So… baseball player? So dramatic! BIRDIE WING cracks me up. Interesting. Helene gave up because Eve’s unconventional form and play would mess with her visualization and image training. What a mentally mature teenage girl.

Har. Lily kept her most prized possession: a Gunpla model! Read how J-List’s input(VOID) puts his Gundam kit together. Everyone has their own hobbies, Eve! BIRDIE WING works hard for Bandai Namco’s toy and hobby corporate vertical. Ready Player Two. Aoi doesn’t know what a Gundam plastic model kit is either. It’s okay, Lily. Because everyone has their own hobbies… Aoi carries a longer stick than Eve. Oh, come on! Pac-man on the Aoi’s golf ball! Bandai Namco, you make me laugh. Ooh, I want to see Eve pierce Aoi with her Rainbow Bullet! Blam!

The opening credits song plays over the end credits with a mix of recap and preview. Will all those scenes be in the second episode? Ah. There’s a conventional preview sequence too.

BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls’ Story (BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls’ Story-) streams on Crunchyroll and VRV in Japanese audio with English subtitles.