Oh come on… when am I ever going to be able to use a pun-tastic phrase like that ever again?

Birdy the Mighty: Decode – Part 1
- Label:
- MangaUK
- Certificate:
- 12
- Format:
- DVD
- Discs:
- 2. (13 episodes)
- Running time:
- 4hrs 55mins approx
- Subtitles:
- English
- Video:
- 16:9
- Sound:
- English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
- Release date:
- 11th July 2011
- RRP:
- £24.99 (Average £15ish)- Amazon - Play
Birdy the Mighty: Decode – Part 2
- Label:
- MangaUK
- Certificate:
- 15
- Format:
- DVD
- Discs:
- 2. (12+1 episodes)
- Running time:
- 4hrs 58mins approx
- Subtitles:
- English
- Video:
- 16:9
- Sound:
- English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
- Release date:
- 19th September 2011
- RRP:
- £24.99 (Average £15ish)- Amazon - Play
Brief synopsis:

So now Birdy not only has to help Tsutomo lead a normal human life while they’re time-sharing a body but she also has to maintain her cover identity as an up and coming Japanese idol… and all the while the alien criminals Birdy was sent to apprehend are still running loose here on Earth.
Comments:
Mixing romantic comedy with and sci-fi action/adventure, Birdy the Mighty: Decode is a remake of the long running Birdy the Mighty manga, which itself was a reboot of an earlier short lived 80’s manga (and 90’s OVA) of the same name. Like many other anime adaptations, Decode starts off kinda like the original manga, then wanders off on it’s own after a bit in order to blaze it’s own trail. In this instance this “re-imagining” has been helmed by Hiroshi Ōnogi, who previously had a hand in steering the likes of RahXephon, Kekkashi, Eureka 7 and Full Metal Alchemist, so you know he’s probably not going to cock it up. And he doesn’t, which is nice. Whilst keeping the story familiar enough for previous fans to still feel at home, he’s also made it enough of it’s own animal that you’re never too sure where it’s going to go, which keeps the interest levels up.

So, taking the series as a whole, even with the slightly disappointing visuals, it’s still good but with just a bit more work could have been so much better.
Extras:
None what-so-ever. Yes, I was surprised too, not even trailers or those Textless OP and ED animations - but there you go.
Birdy the Mighty: Decode Part1 and Part 2 are available now.

Casshern Sins Part 1
- Label:
- MangaUK
- Certificate:
- 12
- Format:
- DVD
- Discs:
- 3. (12 episodes)
- Running time:
- 4hrs 48 mins approx
- Subtitles:
- English
- Video:
- 16:9
- Sound:
- English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
- Release date:
- 9th May 2011
- RRP:
- £24.99 (Average £15ish) Amazon - Play
Casshern Sins Part 2
- Label:
- MangaUK
- Certificate:
- 12
- Format:
- DVD
- Discs:
- 3. (12 episodes)
- Running time:
- 4hrs 34 mins approx
- Subtitles:
- English
- Video:
- 16:9
- Sound:
- English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
- Release date:
- 18th July 2011
- RRP:
- £24.99 (Average £15ish) Play - Amazon
Brief synopsis:
On a decaying world, poisonous to both human and robot like, Casshern awakens with no memory of who or what he is. Strong, agile and virtually immortal, he travels the landscape searching for clues as to his past and his true identity making scant few friends but plenty of enemies along the way. In his quest for the truth, Casshern discovers that he may be the cause of the ruin, an affliction slowly destroying what life, human or machine – that still remains on the planet. If there’s a way to save the world it then as the one responsible for triggering it’s demise, it’s up to Casshern to find it, but what with the rumour spreading like wildfire that any robot who defeats and consumes Casshern will gain immortality, then it’s going to be a constant battle just to keep himself alive, let alone anyone else.
Comments:

What the scriptwriters have done is take everything that made Casshern what it was, dumped about 95% of it leaving just the (very) bare skeleton and then just started building it up from there. And instead of – like the live action remake of a few years ago - relying on the wow factor of big flashy effects and pretty-boy actors, they’ve instead gone for a solid plot involving questions about being human (or rather non-human), immortality (and the sudden lack of it) and the age old favourites of revenge and redemption. It’s been compared - favourably I might add –over the last few yeas to classics like Dante’s Divine Comedy or even some of the juicier parts of the Bible – and you don’t get much more “classic” than that. Where as before Casshern was mostly about a Hero protecting humanity from an oppressive robot army, there’s less of that this time. That’s not to say there’s no evil robot army, they’re still around, but the gist of it’s more about Casshern’s torturous journey across a post apocalyptic landscape than him being a Hero as if there’s one thing that this Casshern certainly isn’t, it’s a big ol’Hero.

On the whole it’s grim, dirty and gritty; the good guys don’t always end up better off, most characters are left to their fates and there’s no guarantee that it’s going to end at all well. But hey, that’s life and if you wanted sunshine and buttercups then this is definitely the wrong series for you. But if you like you shows to have that grit and determination which makes it all worth-while and a plot which leaves you pondering long after it’s all said and done, then you can do far worse than Casshern Sins.
Extras:
Whilst not quite as thin on the ground as for Birdy the Mighty: Decode, it’s pretty darn close. There’s the Textless OP and ED animation, a music video…. And that’s it.
Casshern Sins Part1 and Part 2 are available now. Though to be honest you may as well wait until Xmas when the 6 disc box-set will be out.