SPOILERFREE Golf and I get along like oil and water we simply do not mix. Ive gone to the driving range several times spent some days out at the links both voluntarily and when Id rather not and have even tried watching the Masters on television. Even after all these years actually playing the sport itself just bounces off me like rubber. I can see why it has the appeal that it does but I think its fair to say that Ive given golf more than my own fair share of time and chances. There comes a point where you must shake your head and admit that somethings not worth pursuing as a hobby or activity any longer. Its a shame but thats sometimes the way things go. BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Story was therefore a show that I was taking a major chance on. There was however reason to be hopeful earlier this year a 15minute OVA called Sorairo Utilityhttps://anilist.co/anime/140700/SorairoUtility/ featured a sliceoflife take on golf which I found pleasant even if a little bit flawed. A thought then occurred to me it is possible that golf and I were going to have a magical reconciliation that I would gain new appreciation for the sport and see something within it that I had somehow missed all this time? I doubted it but I still nevertheless decided to give this new series a drive. Eve is a blondehaired golfer who takes on various golfing challenges. She earns money on these challenges with her bullet style of golfing which doesnt adhere to any of the techniques or refinement that one expects from a typical golfer. Her playstyle however attracts the attention of the young golf champion Amawashi Aoi and Eve challenged to a hole on the range. After losing Eve finds herself excited and wanting to challenge Amawashi again. Shell have to deal though with other golfers desperate to knock her off her pedestal as well as deal with her boss who holds a mafiaesque grip on her. In effect BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Story is a shonen in sports clothing all done for a sport that in theory complements the idea the least. One of golfs appeals is the relaxed nature of the whole an underlying classiness and etiquette that is meant to be adhered to. It is a sport that requires patience and calculation which allows one to stop and take the time to enjoy the setting and the company youre keeping. Its supposed to be encapsulated by the visual imagery of the course expansive and lushly green with its bodies of waterso long as the bunkers and rough dont eat your golf ball alive in the process. With the bombast and sense of extreme escalation that shonen is known for bringing to the table golf is one of the sports that doesnt sound at all ripe for making into a largerscale spectacle. The show attacks that very mindset headon best demonstrated with its main character. Eves very manner of being is the polar opposite of everything that you reasonably expect from a golfer. Her attire looks like it was hastily thrown together in the dark no doubt a result of her struggling financial situation both for herself and the family that shes helping to care for Gundam model kits included evidently. Even her hair is largely unkempt flowing down but without a ponytail or other way to keep it tidy. It makes for a perfect mirror to her personality: abrasive blunt and always ready to reach for her driver and destroy whoever lies in wait. And destroy them she does despite her unorthodox style of presentation it makes for highlyeffective golfing. The training she underwent caused her to develop what she calls Rainbow Bullet golfing in which she attacks the courses with a series of strong blasting swings that take on particular effects to get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible. While shes quite skilled her style is also rife with risk leaving the everlingering question behind of when or if the method will fail her. But when it clicks the look on the faces of her opponents usually comes in two delicious flavors: resignation or absolute fury at their sport being desecrated. Contrasting Eve is Amawashi the perfect posterchild for the golfing world. Not only has her play been recognized not to mention commented upon and envied by her peers but she also has the perfect smile and temperament to match. Much of BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Storys drama comes from these two girls from two different worlds colliding on the day of their fateful encounter the results of which leave lasting impressions on both. In that sense the show adopts the classic shonen trope of friendships being forged on the battlefield establishing the kind of spontaneous connection that defies explanation or description. Their dynamic is a walking example of the old adage that opposites attract. That attraction is spilled all over the anime. In an effort to leave the audience with the yearning to have the two see each other again the show manages to concoct various doordie scenarios for Eve in the mafias vicegrip or play up the melancholy Amawashi feels since she cannot see the person who has thrilled her more than anyone else much to the consternation of her caddy whod sooner throw Eve off the side of a cliff if she could. There is no attempt here to hide yuri baiting whether it be conveyed through actual dialogue or when the anime decides to temporarily adopt shoujostyle bubbles with a glowing border and many sparkles. In this case the bait is part of the appeal BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Story fully commits to its desire to go over the absurd threshold and not look back. The result is that the romance between Eve and Amawashi is odd and fun. Odd and fun wonderfully enough refers to much of the other cast as well. With the mafia backdrop there is no shortage of rich pompous slimeballs who delight in using a dignified sport for their undignified operations. The web of how the mafia operates both in external effects on the world and with its internal politics is something that series composer Kuroda Yousukehttps://anilist.co/staff/97471/YousukeKuroda clearly had fun reveling in. The labyrinth runs hilariously deep with so much goingson that the golf matches both act as plot threads to move things forward and fun little digressions when the narrative isnt spending time teeing up its next crazy situation. No matter what situation is present at the moment its always stupidly enjoyable. Though the animation could at best be considered acceptable given that its not particularly excelling in any respects. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the character models occasional use of CGI or the backgrounds and layouts. The visual element suffers from mostly just being unimpressive and at times the lighting and compositing gives things an unusual sheen even in the sunlight. Musically the series doesnt really have anything to offer either as the tracks themselves seemed to exist more as placeholders and ways to fill space rather than incorporating anything noteworthy. But more than any of that is just the sensation that I couldnt help but feel that I wondered into the wrong country club. I mean that in the best way possible. Everything in BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Storys existence is overthetop and impossible to take seriously. It is a mosaic of ideas where everyone involved in production seemed to ask themselves Why the hell not? Throw it in and ran fulltilt with that ideology. What should have been under virtually all other circumstances or conditions bugs in the design instead became features. The series is a chimera of hilarity and that indescribable feeling of enjoying something that by all accounts should not exist. As Ive hinted at throughout the course of this writing that I think is part of the reason why the show worked for me in a way BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Story is the thematic antithesis to golf despite taking place within a golf framework. Eves sheer brutality and unrefined attitude functions as a fun contrast to the more primandproper Amawashi and the fact that so much of Eves circumstances is rooted in a kind of seedy golf underworld is bizarrely entertaining. I was left with so many questions as to why things transpired the way that they did but always with a wink and a nod rather than a headshaking disappointment. I was quirkily amused by its silliness and occasional ineptitude such that I couldnt help myself but have fun. How else would one plausibly explain why an entire mafia underworld golf course is in the subterranean basement level of a real estate office taking place in a gigantic wind tunnel and with mechanisms in place to randomize the course however you see fit? I suppose in a way its rather sad that golf had to take such a perverse angle on itself to capture my attention but nevertheless capture my attention it did BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls Story embraces its absurdity by taking the finesse of golf and making it more rugged. While in many respects it fails as a piece of entertainment given the animation compositing and music its characters and the story they inhabit are such an odd bunch that it manages to hold itself together. I fault no one for saying this show is garbage since I cant even bring myself to disagree that much but as a piece of entertainment it amused me in a way that real golf never did. I wont be grabbing a fiveiron anytime soon but I certainly wont be forgetting this show anytime soon either. 550https://i.ur.com/zoNAEC2.jpeg