First impression — If the cover art is anything to go by: big-breasted woman in a tight-fitting uniform that leaves little to the imagination, from my experience, means a shallow story, vapid characterisation, and most of the attention being on the fan service. Ahh — wrong, very wrong. There is fan service, definitely, but the story and characters were pleasantly engaging. For the older readers amongst us, Birdy the Mighty is a remake/reboot of an older OVA from the mid-1990s.

Birdy is an interstellar investigator operating on Earth as part of a pan-galactic Federation. In her pursuit of some nasty bad guys she accidentally kills a teenage boy, Tsutomo Senkawa, who, inevitably, was in the wrong place at the wrong time - a deserted hotel. Result: while the boy's body is being repaired, they end up in a sort-of symbiotic relationship sharing Birdy's body. She changes shape to become the boy when required (body-shifting) and her consciousness is present, if not always active. Interesting idea, not overly original, and probably the fantasy of many teenagers — but it actually worked in this case. The story is basically Birdy trying to investigate some illicit lifeform that had been stolen and has found its way to Earth. This lifeform poses risks to all life on Earth and needs to be eliminated. Birdy's task is therefore to find and eliminate it. Unfortunately, she has the hanger-on, which means she gets sidetracked and we have various stories where Tsutomo Senkawa tries to maintain as normal a life as possible (for someone who is dead) and has to still deal with going to school, classmates, friends, a growing crush on a girl who has ended up harbouring the illicit lifeform but he doesn't know it yet; while Birdy is trying to find this lifeform with few clues because it is meant to be a big secret. Introduce Senkawa's school friends and we have childhood friends as well as a potential romantic interest. Confusing? Not really, the story has enough pace, angst, conspiracy, twists, gender-switching action and opportunities for fan service that I actually found it to be enjoyable and watched it over the course of one weekend. Probably one of the most interesting parts of the story will be the arguments between Senkawa and Birdy when their opinions differ, but they can't get away from each other.

Visuals are pleasant. Birdy is, obviously along with her uniform, attractively drawn and probably would have many younger males needing a bib. Senkawa is your "typical" teenage boy with little in the way of distinguishing features, a bit of a nerd, but nothing remarkable. The other characters appear as if they are "out of the textbook" designs, such as the out-of-work freelancing sempai with stubble and rough-around-the-edges appearance; the sickly schoolgirl who looks really cute and innocent; the tomboy school friend who looks like she'd either beat someone's head in or turn cute and innocent at the slightest chance; and so forth. Settings are rudimentary and generally unremarkable (i.e. suburban house, city, rich-girls mansion, small village). One exception was the off-world segment where Birdy was back at her own planet, which looked, well, other-worldly. Some of the CGI rendering looks very nice and fits in seamlessly, such as Birdy's dolphin-like spaceship. Fight scenes are fast and smooth with plenty of action, usually with Birdy in control. Since the director is the same person behind Vision of Escaflowne and Noein, there are no surprises there. One thing I did notice is that the quality of the artwork is unstable, and there are noticeable parts where a character design goes "wibbly" (even a major character like Birdy). It's not a fatal flaw, as the story more than makes up for it, but the artwork is important…

Audio comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 English track and a DD 2.0 Japanese track. As usual, I listened to the original Japanese track and liked what I heard. Birdy comes across as a combination of sensitive, tough and caring (depending on the situation) and not a bubble-head; and Senkawa, fortunately, doesn't sound like a whinging baby. He has his moments, often when he and Nakasugi (his love interest) are together, but nothing too much to worry about. Spot checks to the English track had similar results: Luci Christian played Birdy quite well, as one would expect, with enthusiasm and, fortunately, no grating screechy voice (as I've heard her portray other characters). My preference, however, would be sticking with the original dialogue. The background music doesn't stand out but, that said, doesn't detract from the setting. Dramatic bits have dramatic music, light bits have lighter music, the opening and ending credits have a fast-paced rock or rap-type thing going on. Nothing to complain about, but nothing to get excited about either.

The extras are only other Madman trailers on Disc 2. Boo, no points for that…

Bottom line: a pleasant surprise from what I was expecting. Good story, interesting characters - even if they scream stereotype across the board, solid visual presentation, and decent (albeit unremarkable) audio all make up for an enjoyable overall experience. I came out satisfied from watching it, and will be getting the second collection. High end of 3 stars for something that I didn't expect would be overly enjoyable — but the surprise was on me.