Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story
“Where Golf Meets Anime”
The anime industry of today has something for everyone. Do you want a show where an intelligence agent is putting up the act of having the happiest family on planet Earth? We’ve got you covered. Or a show where an octopus alien decides to destroy most of the moon and threatens to destroy the remaining portions unless the class he teaches with all his heart and soul kills him? You won't believe me, but we have something like that too. But nothing is as diverse as the sports genre when it comes to anime.
Sports include hundreds of games and activities, given that every other country has something to offer. Even the same sport is different when you move from one place to another. But not many of us would expect golf to emerge from the land of the rising sun, an island where sports like baseball and sumo wrestling seem to define the word ambition for most of the teenagers out there.
But truth be told, the industry has seen a bunch of golf anime over the years, with ‘Dan Doh!!’, ‘Beat Shot', and ‘Pro Golfer Saru’ being some of the big names. Uncertainty surrounds the last one; it is amusingly hilarious to the point of incomprehensibility.
However, 2022 marked the year when the modern anime industry decided to let fans have a taste of the contemporary blend between golf, anime, and yuri, bringing forth ‘Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story,’ a title that somehow ended up becoming a switch game not long after, a year after the original first season to be exact. It's just wild how that ended up happening, but hey, it's a switch. Nintendo is porting anything and everything on the console to make it work. Sorry Link! I love you, though!
Golf and Gambling
If you ask me, there are many ways to make a golf anime work. Raise the stakes and make it an afterlife death match, like what we saw in ‘Death Parade,' is a good start. Another great way is by adding ‘Inazuma Eleven’ shots and over-the-top techniques while having Kaiji in the mix.
Who wants to buy poker cards when big real estate deals and vast sums of money can be decided over a game of golf? That is why 'Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story' goes with the latter setting.
Evangeline, or Eve, is a prodigy who has earned a fortune thanks to the sport of golf. We aren't talking about something as grand as professional golf, since that only seems to exist in the real world. In ‘Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story,’ the only way you can make enough money even to afford a golf set is by gambling and praying to God that underwear isn’t the only thing you're left with.
Nicknamed the 'Rainbow Bullet' because of her skill on the golf course, Evangeline is one of the best golf players in this universe and the entire anime golf scene. I know there aren't many players to match or go up against, but still, we give her that title for free.
But as Evangeline is busy making a fortune, letting the floor taste some of the most enormous corporate jaw drops, the innocent Aoi Amawashi is a gifted prodigy who ensures that the innocent next to her name isn't just for show. By making all these different opponents taste crushing defeat, she's looking unstoppable for the most part. She exemplifies the adage "kill them with kindness" without relying solely on kindness, since she is an entirely different person when golf is present compared to when it is absent.
But to be the best, you have to beat the best, right? Soon, the fated day arrives when the two prodigies square off, and that is when their souls resonate, their hearts beat in unison, and the passion they share for the sport speaks, culminating in them bonding both as rivals and as friends!
Golf Courses Have Never Looked Better
Now, I'm not saying that the animation is beastly and second to none when it comes to the sports genre. We've got Production I.G. to beat for that. But when you find out that the studio behind ‘Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story’ is none other than Bandai Namco Productions, it gets hard to add 2 and 2 together since the powerhouse behind the likes of ‘Gintama’ and ‘Iruma-kun’ has been lacking for the most part when you look at this show.
The studio perfectly blends these 3D golf courses with the 2D characters, and the different angles that need focus do get focused. Someone with a real passion for golf was behind this anime since everything from the various shots to everything with the golf ball in the picture is just grand, if you ask me.
The character models look fantastic, and with the two faces of the series having all that passion, ambition, and cause to breathe life into this golf series, it's only natural that the anime ends up getting a second season the very next year. Plus, how the anime doesn't limit itself to golf adds much more to the series's charm. Apart from the rivalry, we get the ‘underground golf mafia arc’ where we get to see all sorts of different characters, with some getting quite weird at times.
Assassinations and bazookas are getting fired at times, and to top it all off, Yuri girls love spotlights, which makes the show one that stands out for the entirety of its runtime. There are a lot of innuendos, and Eve and Aoi have this chemistry going on between them that one can't deny, no matter how hard they try to do so.
Polar Opposites
The character department isn't lacking at all, with quite a lot of faces making their appearances throughout the series. From weird-sounding names to weird-looking and acting characters, the anime does hold a thing or two against the mafia, that's for sure. I mean, just look at Vipere! But I want to point out here that two characters, being opposites of each other, are drawn closer thanks to the sport of golf.
Aoi Amawashi, the diligent, hardworking girl who is also the ace at her golf academy, is a naturally gifted prodigy who has left no stone unturned when it comes to improving herself as far as the sport is concerned. Defeating her opponents with a smile, the 'innocent tyrant' title fits her quite well. On the other hand, we have Evangeline, someone who wouldn't mind opening someone's head with a golf club, given she's getting paid for that.
She made it clear at the very beginning that she wasn't playing golf but just using a stick to make money to hit a ball. These polar opposite personalities add spice to the Yuri romance, one of the main attractions of shows like this. Take the examples of ‘Banana Fish’ and ‘Liz and the Blue Bird.’
The fantastic music gives the impression that golf is a high-stakes sport. And that was just the beginning! Kohmi Hirose's "Venus Line" serves as the opening theme song. The ending theme song is "Yodaka" by Tsukuyomi.
Fans of the sports genre should check out this title, since it has a lot in store for not only them but all the anime fans out there. From the get-go, don’t dive into this golf universe with the mindset that the anime will surpass something like Haikyu when that isn’t the goal that the series has in mind. It’s a different show based in a different setting, delivering something different from that volleyball masterpiece.
Intriguingly, I have heard that a number of individuals who initially despised golf eventually developed an intense affection for the anime; therefore, it is possible that you, too, will eventually join that club.
‘Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story’ is an entertaining watch, to say the least, and given how its second season is out as well, it's time to binge the title in one go while planning that golf course trip in the middle of these episodes. Additionally, it is a given that the anime ended up getting a video game and a metaverse museum on "Viverse" due to support from Bandai Namco Productions and HTC. So, what are you waiting for? Experience all that Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story has to offer!
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