Genres: Sports.
Source: Original (made by studio Bandai Namco Pictures. Produced by TV Tokyo).
Season 1 is 13 episodes long, aired from April to June 2022. Season 2 will begin airing in April 2023.
This show is the true hidden gem of the year 2022, that most people brushed under the rug because it's about golf.
Here's a tip on anime: The thing that makes it such a special medium is its endless potential, imagine the most boring activity ever, someone in Japan probably have made or will make an anime/manga about it that makes it look cool and interesting.
Birdie Wing is about a Nafresian woman named Eve, a gambler who plays golf to make money, she's very good at it and has a wild playing style that attracts other players., so she meets Aoi, a charismatic Japanese professional golfer who is so good she quickly earns Eve's admiration, and the two of them develop some sort of bromance (or if there's a similar term for women, then that), at first you think they're just typical sports-anime rivals, but by time you realize it doesn't even matter which of them wins, they only enjoy the time they spend together playing golf.
The catch thought, is that circumstances keep separating them because they live in two different worlds, Eve in the dangerous world of mafia, and Aoi in the strict world of professionals, and each of them have their own set of problems and conflicts that they have to deal with.
The best part of this show is that, while golf seems to be the main point, it's only used as the method to settle conflicts and not given much depth, because it's golf, how deep can it be in terms of play-styles and strategy? Instead the screen time is spent on developing the characters and exploring their mindset, kinda like a certain gambling anime, only with less brutal "zawa" intensity.
The chemistry between Eve and Aoi is fun to watch, as the former is cool and proud, and the latter is energetic and a good sport, but both are very competitive, almost childishly, it feels good seeing the always serious Eve loosen up when she's with Aoi, and Aoi being the cheerful girl that she is.
The animation is not particularly great, but I have zero complaints about it, the character designs are good and fitting for each character, the golf battles have a lot of reused shots whenever a character performs their iconic moves, but it doesn't really get repetitive enough to be an issue.
I could go onto more details on the show, but I feel like most of it is better off seen without much context, Birdie Wing has an engaging story that keeps you invested, the characters are well-written, have believable motivations, and face intriguing conflicts.
The only issue I have is that season 2 may (or may not) stray far from its interesting story and turn into a generic sports anime, but we'll see when that comes out, as for now I find it a good anime overall that's definitely worth the time, and I rate it 8/10.
Your feedback will be appreciated, have a good day.
The used images are screenshots from the show.