Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 14 (S2 E01) – The Sixth Bullet

Hello Friends. Welcome to A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story, the finest anime in existence. Last season didn’t really end so much as pause, smack-dab in the middle of the All-Japan Girl’s Tournament. This season starts right up where the last left off, with the pair beating their quarterfinal opponents to

This makes Iijima Kaoruko and Iseshiba Kuyou Eve and Aoi’s next and most formidable victims opponents. Unfortunately for Aoi, her perfectly-struck ball hits an errant rock in the fairway, which means she doesn’t get the post-round kiss from Eve she was hoping for.

Coach Amuro Reiya meets with Eve the night before the semifinal, not so much to discuss strategy (Eve has none and wants none) but to basically do a heat check of his player. He mentions how one of the main reasons he himself gave up golf was because he was “killed in golf” by Leo.

While he may feel a slight pang of envy that she was chosen to inherit his Rainbow Bullet, Reiya is determined to see that Eve maximizes the abilities she’s been given…which includes revealing two of the seven Bullets he has yet to see.

When it comes to the actual golf (which is on a regular golf course and not some modular underground technological marvel) we get a lot more of the match from the perspective of Kaoruko and Iseshiba Kuyou. They are likeable shounen characters who feel like underdogs against Aoi and Eve.

Kaoruko was scorned by Reiya (who went to coach at Aoi’s school) because he tried and failed to impress upon her the dangers of relying so much on her golf power In The Zone. She doesn’t just want to beat Aoi and Eve, but prove Reiya he was wrong. Kuyou is well aware she’s not on the same level of Kaoruko but nevertheless is determined to give her absolute all to support her.

Kuyou isn’t just a hanger-on, either: her steadiness is crucial when Kaoruko’s inevitable overuse of In The Zone and its more advanced version Deep cause her a crucial momentary lapse in her abilities. Her golf falls apart, just as Reiya said. And in a one-on-one round against one of Aoi or Eve, that could prove fatal, golf-wise.

But Kaoruko isn’t alone, and when her shot falters, Kuyou comes through in the clutch to put the ball in a position for them to win. MAO and Arai Satomi really bring a lot of gravitas and appeal to these girls’ causes. It’s to the episode’s credit that they’re not painted as one-dimensional villains and obstacles to be overcome. If anything, Aoi and Eve fill that role for them.

Things take a sudden turn when Aoi, who had looked a little out of it at times, suddenly collapses, losing her own golf at the precisely worst moment possible. Her shot goes way wide into the trees, seemingly paving the way for an easy win for their opponents. Aoi, either exhausted, suffering heatstroke or anemia, or a combination of both, can’t continue.

But like Kuyou, Eve is ready, willing, and able to carry the entire load of the competition at any given moment. With a smile and a wink, she tells Aoi she’s got this, and Aoi smiles back warmly, with full confidence Eve will indeed get it done. Eve even relishes being all alone in this, as she was on the streets of her hometown.

Eve cleans up Aoi’s errant first shot with her own version of In The Zone, AKA the Orange Bullet. In her mind’s eye she’s handling a ridiculously long sniper rifle aimed squarely at the flag staff over the hole. And even though she knows it gives her headaches afterwards, she fires that orange bullet, which sends the ball right at the flag, which halts it’s momentum and sends it falling straight down into the hole.

Eve and Aoi got the ball in the hole in two shots to Kaoruko and Kuyou’s three, so they’ve go the win and move on to face Mizuho and Kaede in the final. In the process of using her Orange Bullet, Eve catches a glimpse of her birth parents, setting the stage for the family mystery and associated turmoil that will accompany the golf along the way. Perfectly timed to run parallel to The Masters, Golf Girls’ Story is back, and the Spring 2023 season has officially begun.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 13 (Final Hole) – Killing You, In Golf

As Birdie Wing outings go, this last one was a bit tame; I’d almost go so far as to say leisurely. But I went in almost certain the entire All-Japan Girl’s Tournament wouldn’t get wrapped up in one episode; if it had, it would have surely sucked.

While expectations were lower, I still looked forward to lots of Eve and Aoi flirting, and in this I was not disappointed. Eve even starts things off frisky by giving Aoi a Nafrecian peck on the cheek and then claiming Ichina as her personal body pillow for the night, while Coach Reiya rightfully shoots Kinue down.

It’s a good thing Ichina shared a room with Eve too, as neither Eve nor Aoi would have slept a wink and not been ready for the golf. That said, due to their high qualifying rank they get a fairly late tee time, giving them time to goof off more.

As Kuyou and Kaoruko do battle against another pair, their coach Date gets trash-talked by Reiya, who is confident his two first years will win decisively, seeing as how Aoi is golf royalty and Eve is the apprentice of the legendary Leo Millafoden.

This wouldn’t be much fun if Eve and Aoi didn’t run into a little adversity, as Eve’s worst enemy turns out not to be Himekawa Mizuho, but her own over-aggressiveness. She puts a ball into the bunker, and Aoi, perhaps a little too wound up about getting to play beside Eve, misses getting the ball out. That said, the two win their first round comfortably.

The thing is, Eve wanted to defeat their opponents to a pulp—kill them, with golf—as funny a collection of four words as I’ve heard spoken in an anime (I particularly love that comma in there). Their win, while easy, is also much closer than either of their elite rival pairs from Kouran and Nada.

We also learn that while Aoi is the daughter of Hodaka Kazuhiko, Himeko seems to have inherited his brand of golf, so much so that Aoi recognizes it instantly. Himeko and Kaede destroy their opponents in their two rounds, an impressive response to Eve and Aoi’s superior score in the qualifiers.

Eve’s usual mind games won’t work on the Kouran or Nada girls, but Ichina feels it’s actually good for her to be experimenting with her aggressiveness in earlier matches where it’s safe to do so. Eve and Aoi will have to take every risk they can to defeat Kaoruko and Himeko, to say nothing of killing them, in golf.

Naturally, this ends before those key duels take place, and a second season of Birdie Wing in Winter Spring 2023 has restored my faith in both anime and humanity. As far as I’m concerned, the golf flirting and murder can go on indefinitely; a veritable Hole in One Piece.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 12 – They’re Coming After Us

Nadaminami’s Himekawa Mizuho, Japan’s Number One high school golf girl, knows the upcoming doubles tournament is meant to be a coronation for the Athena CEO’s daughter Aoi, another stepping stone to the pros. Mizuho’s partner bristles at the idea, but Mizuho wants the best rivals possible in order to become stronger. Aoi isn’t an obstacle, but a tool to hone her own greatness.

But before Mizuho can face off, both she and Kaede and Aoi and Eve need to get through prefectural qualifiers, which for both pairs amounts to barely more than a warm-up. Coach Reya doesn’t even bother attending; if they can’t win the qualifiers, they never had a chance anyway. Aoi and Eve stand out, being incredibly cute and blonde, respectively.

Their only serious competition in the qualifiers is Satou, a third year and an absolute unit, but while she drives the ball further than Aoi, Eve drives it even farther with her Blue Bullet, crushing not only Satou’s spirit but the other players watching as well.

The qualifiers become a match between Aoi and Eve; whoever has the best score will treat the other to burgers. We’ve been waiting for the opportunity to watch Eve and Aoi do proper golf battle, and this episode does not disappoint. It even has their caddies Ichina and Amane getting along, despite their analog and digital approaches to caddying.

In addition to their personal wager, Reiya tells them before their match that Nadaminami and Mizuho already advanced with a 10-under score. Aoi and Eve end up tying at 11-under. When an underling gives Mizuho the report, she warns Kaede that Aoi and Raiou’s new “secret weapon” are coming for the crown, and she’s fired up.

After a brief call to Klein and Lily (who is upset Eve shipped her the wrong Gunpla), Eve hops on the Raiou bus to the tournament fashionably late, wearing her “battle gear”, a bodacious outfit that flaunts the school dress code. Kinue is appalled, but Reiya allows it, because he wants all eyes on Raiou.

Eve also declares she doesn’t mind guys like Reiya, but Kinue grabs his sleeve and tells Eve she can’t have him, which…girl, get you someone who doesn’t make you golf your elbow off on purpose! After Ichina explains tournament-style match play rules, Aoi expresses her excitement over playing so many strong golfers, and Eve gives her a teasing head pat that turns her ears hot pink. I never tire of these two flirting.

Once they arrive at Athena Golf Course, venue for the tournament, Eve walks right by Kuyou, whom she pretty much beat, acknowledges Kaoruko, and then loudly calls Himekawa Mizuho out. Kaede can’t believe how uncouth this foreigner is, but Mizuho has no problem walking right up in Eve’s face and introducing herself.

Eve can tell Mizuho is strong and “worth defeating”, but Mizuho isn’t intimidated in the least—just as Aoi wasn’t when she tried her usual shtick—and says something with dead seriousness that just made me laugh out loud because it’s so dumb and awesome: “I’ll kill you, in golf.” Mizuho may be Number One now, but that was before Eve dazzled the Japanese high school golf stage. She’s coming for the Queen, and she’s not planning to miss.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 10 – Every Shot’s a Gamble

Eve attracts a lot of attention at her knew fifties diner-looking fancypants school, and on her first day, she doesn’t really like it. She dresses and acts like a yankee or delinquent, because she’s not here to make friends. She’s here to fulfill her promise to Aoi, whom she longs to “play with” all day long, only for Shinjou to put the kibosh on an after-school game.

Aoi giving Eve blue-bullet-balls only makes her more pent-up and frustrated, but Aoi tells her they can play all the time if she joins the school’s Golf Club, so with Ichina in tow, that’s what she tries to do. Unfortunately, the coach, Amuro Reiya (voiced by the same seiyu as Amuro Rey of Gundam fame) only pisses her off more. Of course, that’s intentional on his part. He’s testing her.

Unaware of how much money Eve made in the previous arc, Ichina assumes Eve has nowhere to go after school, but Eve proves her wrong by sidling up to the first pair of admiring classmates, captivating them with her ladykiller skillz, and proceeding to have a grand night out of shopping and games. Eve demonstrates she’s not just good at golf.

When her new friends (whose names she probably won’t remember) head home just before their curfews, Eve reveals she’s known Ichina has been stalking her all along. Ichina doesn’t consider it stalking; she’s observing one of the best golfers she’s encountered, and wants to be her caddy so they can win together. When one Iseshiba Kuyou appears and challenges Eve to a game of mini golf, Eve is ready to do battle.

While Kuyou demonstrates sublime precision in her putting, both she and Ichina are equal parts shocked, outraged, and entranced by the unique way Eve plays, which involves jumps, bounces, and lots of ricochets. Every shot feels like a gamble, like Eve is walking a tightrope…and yet the balls keep going in all the same.

After witnessing a few of Eve’s holes, even an elite golfer like Kuyou is well and truly shook. Fortunately for her, her senpai and teammate, Iijima Kaoruko, is nearby and tags herself in, sensing Kuyou is about to miss a shot. Keenly aware of the psychological aspect of golf, Kaoruko proceeds to use her In the Zone skill to shut off the outside world until there’s only her, the ball, the hole, and the route to get there.

After Kaoruko sinks her hole with a wedge, Ichina stops Eve from taking her shot. Eve remembers that Ichina said she could help her win the all-girls tournament, she stops and listens to what her caddy has to say. Kaoruko set a trap with her wedge shot, denting the green right in front of the hole. Ichina proposes not avoiding that dent but using it to get the ball in the hole. Eve is able to do so, and learns the value of Ichina as her caddy.

Kaoruko learns that both Eve and Ichina aren’t as dumb or inept as they look, and cuts the match short for the time being. That said, Kaoruko fully expects to see Eve at the All-Japan Girls High School Golf Doubles Championship. She’ll most likely be paired with Kuyou, and gives Coach Amuro a call telling him it was cruel to use her kohai to a player like Eve.

Turns out both Kuyou and Kaoruko comprised the test Amuro laid out for Eve, and she passed it with flying colors. With his ace Jinguuji Kinue out of commission, he needs someone to replace her by Aoi’s side at the championship, and it’s looking like that person is Eve. She’s already shown she can take and benefit from advice from a caddy; perhaps her crazy style of play can find a home at Raiou.