Birdy the Mighty (II)

Thanks for the hard work, and posts even in overtime. 

Well, it was nice meeting all of you here on Batoto. I'm still going forward with the Birdy Project and I hope to see you all again!

Heads up, Batoto might be closing at the end of the month, check the forums. In case the worst comes, everyone bookmark Marionette Scans page or maybe find an alternative reading site.

Getting a little bit of a "The Shining" feel from the current arc. Being stuck in a snow-bound, remote hotel while a supernatural being is awoken and starts stalking or hunting people. I don't dislike the slow buildup, I just hope the payoff is worth it.

soo how long until we see birdy doing some fighting ?

this is driving me nuts lol  i guess i really am one of the instant gratification generation lol

this is driving me nuts lol  i guess i really am one of the instant gratification generation lol

He just won't stay down!

"I started reading Ultimate Spider-man."

 

I'm so sorry. Enjoy Bendis' self-insert, Osborn constantly coming back from the dead, and a god awful OC 200 chapters later.

is it just me or does the author seem to do doing a slow burn ?... very slow burn ... i mean I'm all for setting the scene, atmosphere, mood etc .. but this is just ....  theirs setting a scene ... and then there's ... getting payed by the word .... and this is getting distinctly towards the latter ...

They just had to put the heart back in the corpse didn't they?

"I started reading Ultimate Spider-man."

I'm so sorry. Enjoy Bendis' self-insert, Osborn constantly coming back from the dead, and a god awful OC 200 chapters later.

Holy crap I'm an idiot, thanks man. I should have seen it, especially since it freaking takes place in a ryokan!

The last kanji on the van reads 旅館. Two characters, not one. 

Here's chapter 172 a bit behind schedule, along with the long awaited character development I promised you guys.

And once again we have Tsutomu bitching about Birdy not doing enough even after he himself told her to stop and did everything he could to stop her from taking more action.  How many times has he wavered between wanting Birdy not to take action that would interfere with his life/move the plot along and whining about her not being violent enough, even after he spent the last two chapters calling her too violent?  Wasn't he the one who stopped her from trailing Leigh's group when they had the chance?

Considering Birdy not holding back is the reason for his current predicament, you'd think he'd try a understand her a little better, maybe even reflect on his own situation.  Is someone who accidentally kills a bystander in a fight by being too forceful really someone who needs to be told to hold back.  It would be nice if they explained that the accident was the reason for Birdy's hesitancy, but so far it's just another inconsistent character trait.

And it's still never been explained why exactly Gomez needed Birdy to take out Hikawa.  He and the androids seemed more than up to the task without involving the police officer who's trying to bring them down.  Then again, since Birdy never asked obvious questions like "where did you get access to these advanced Federation robots", I can see why he wouldn't be worried about that.

Sigh.

This arc made me appreciate the OVA even more.  At least the next arc will be better.

I really like the last panel in chapter 169.  It's a very striking moment to see Birdy barely in control and being affected by the serum.

Cleaning house finally. Dare I say the plot is moving on? Was all the spirit doping and monster soldier stuff just leading us to super soldier Chigira? With all the foreshadowing, I was expecting more WWII flashbacks. I don't think we're going to get anything else from Hikawa. I guess all that regenerating ran out the clock on his heart. What was it, 2.5 billion beats per lifetime for most mammals? If not eventually the healing and compensation becomes unsustainable as the heart becomes so thick the walls can't get oxygenated properly.

I actually did read ahead.  And while the plot does take some interesting turns (the next arc and the first four volumes of Evolution in particular), Tsutomu and Birdy never really improve as characters, and Gomez is still too much of a Gary Stu for my liking.

 

Anyway, thanks for translating!

I thought chapter 172 had some pretty good character development though. Not to spoil anything, but Tsutomu and Birdy let their feelings out pretty uncharacteristcally. It was a great moment for me and for the characters I fell in love with!

While I agree that the art is nothing to write home about and there's a bit too much exposition by text, I believe that the story and characters are truly great. Except Chigira, but we were all stuck with him and his arc for more than a year when Shion went on indefinite hiatus, so he might not be so bad after all.

I actually did read ahead.  And while the plot does take some interesting turns (the next arc and the first four volumes of Evolution in particular), Tsutomu and Birdy never really improve as characters, and Gomez is still too much of a Gary Stu for my liking.

Anyway, thanks for translating!

I have to echo many of Jahiliyyah's criticisms.  The story starts off strong, but slows to a crawl as soon as Chigira becomes a main character, to the detriment of Birdy and Tsutomu's development.  Whereas Decode and the OVA allowed them to develop a sense of camaraderie, it's been 15 volumes and they don't even seem to like each other. Manga Birdy is dumb as a door knob when her Decode and OVA counterparts were serious-minded (if impulsive and temperamental), competent detectives, and Manga Tsutomu is a selfish, flaky prig who alternates behind nagging Birdy for not taking action and chastising her when she does or keeping her from following a lead.  It also seems like Birdy has been dumbed down just so the author can give Tsutomu something to do by telling her how to do her job, and he's not even good at that.  And while Decode Tsutomu at least managed to become more sympathetic after learning about Birdy's past, the most manga Tsutomu can manga Tsutomu can manage is "Sucks that you couldn't just seal them off on their own primitive planet, lol.  Back to studying."[/size]
 
Gomez is clearly the author's favourite character, which explains why he's so bland.  Why did Birdy have to go to his office twice and then to his vacation home to have the same conversation three times?  He says he had to kill Geega and Bacillus to "protect his family", but there was never any indication that they were ever in danger.  Clearly, Revi has given him free reign to kill anyone that could be a liability to the plan, but if that's the case, why does he even need Birdy then he has the marionettes under his control?  Why doesn't Birdy tell Magus that she knows about a runaway Alterian soldier with possible connections to Revi?  It seems like Gomez is exempt from anything that might make him look bad because that's just what the author wants, and the manga suffers for it.[/size]

I have to echo many of Jahiliyyah's criticisms.  The story starts off strong, but slows to a crawl as soon as Chigira becomes a main character, to the detriment of Birdy and Tsutomu's development.  Whereas Decode and the OVA allowed them to develop a sense of camaraderie, it's been 15 volumes and they don't even seem to like each other. Manga Birdy is dumb as a door knob when her Decode and OVA counterparts were serious-minded (if impulsive and temperamental), competent detectives, and Manga Tsutomu is a selfish, flaky prig who alternates behind nagging Birdy for not taking action and chastising her when she does or keeping her from following a lead.  It also seems like Birdy has been dumbed down just so the author can give Tsutomu something to do by telling her how to do her job, and he's not even good at that.  And while Decode Tsutomu at least managed to become more sympathetic after learning about Birdy's past, the most manga Tsutomu can manga Tsutomu can manage is "Sucks that you couldn't just seal them off on their own primitive planet, lol.  Back to studying."[/size]
 
Gomez is clearly the author's favourite character, which explains why he's so bland.  Why did Birdy have to go to his office twice and then to his vacation home to have the same conversation three times?  He says he had to kill Geega and Bacillus to "protect his family", but there was never any indication that they were ever in danger.  Clearly, Revi has given him free reign to kill anyone that could be a liability to the plan, but if that's the case, why does he even need Birdy then he has the marionettes under his control?  Why doesn't Birdy tell Magus that she knows about a runaway Alterian soldier with possible connections to Revi?  It seems like Gomez is exempt from anything that might make him look bad because that's just what the author wants, and the manga suffers for it.[/size]

I have to echo many of Jahiliyyah's criticisms.  The story starts off strong, but slows to a crawl as soon as Chigira becomes a main character, to the detriment of Birdy and Tsutomu's development.  Whereas Decode and the OVA allowed them to develop a sense of camaraderie, it's been 15 volumes and they don't even seem to like each other. Manga Birdy is dumb as a door knob when her Decode and OVA counterparts were serious-minded (if impulsive and temperamental), competent detectives, and Manga Tsutomu is a selfish, flaky prig who alternates behind nagging Birdy for not taking action and chastising her when she does or keeping her from following a lead.  It also seems like Birdy has been dumbed down just so the author can give Tsutomu something to do by telling her how to do her job, and he's not even good at that.  And while Decode Tsutomu at least managed to become more sympathetic after learning about Birdy's past, the most manga Tsutomu can manga Tsutomu can manage is "Sucks that you couldn't just seal them off on their own primitive planet, lol.  Back to studying."

Gomez is clearly the author's favourite character, which explains why he's so bland.  Why did Birdy have to go to his office twice and then to his vacation home to have the same conversation three times?  He says he had to kill Geega and Bacillus to "protect his family", but there was never any indication that they were ever in danger.  Clearly, Revi has given him free reign to kill anyone that could be a liability to the plan, but if that's the case, why does he even need Birdy then he has the marionettes under his control?  Why doesn't Birdy tell Magus that she knows about a runaway Alterian soldier with possible connections to Revi?  It seems like Gomez is exempt from anything that might make him look bad because that's just what the author wants, and the manga suffers for it.

"Victory is mine! <Blood gushes from hand>

Ya might want to get that checked out. :V

Anyone know what chapter it is where Tsutomu and Birdy's minds start to fuse and he can't change her body into his anymore?