Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 25 (Fin) – Wings of Desire

I agree, Miss Burton: It is bullshit that we’ve reached the end of Birdie Wing, for the time being, if not indefinitely. At least the second season goes out with a shining rainbow bang. This last episode also falls on the same week I played my very first round of real golf…and you can damn well bet I said Rainbow Bullet Burst on my first drive!

Aoi, Eve, and my worst fear is realized, as Aoi must forfeit due to her collapse. Since Juha predicted this would eventually happen, she completes the third day at the top of the rankings without showing any emotion. When Aoi wakes up, she has another tearful interlude with Amane, but Eve breaks it up by saying their game’s not over until someone—namely her—wins.

The same day Aoi forfeits, news leaks that Eve has ties to the mafia and once played for money, which we know isn’t just rumor! The info is leaked by Remelda for cold, hard cash from Juha’s caddy Karen. To Juha’s credit, she didn’t and doesn’t approve, as she’s perfectly confident in beating Eve without dirty tricks. But what’s done is done.

Juha hates surprises, but she gets a whole slew of them on the final day. If Eve is mentally damaged by the rumors broadcast about her, she doesn’t show it. Also, Aoi has gotten a cute new short haircut and will be serving as her caddy. The reason for that is Eve will be using Aoi’s Shining Wings, including her 48-incher, and no one knows the Wings like Aoi herself.

My heart was still fluttering at the novel sight of Aoi and Eve standing side by side, at least for one day on the same side, determined to defeat Juha. But then Eve whips out a new weapon that combines her already combined golf power with Aoi’s to form the Shining Rainbow Burst, in which the rainbow she creates is shattered not simply by shafts of light, but shining birds made of light.

It’s only natural that the ultimate golf shot would be one that doesn’t just combine the special shots of their fathers, but also their own special shots. In the same way Aoi and Eve make each other better by being in each other’s lives, when they combine their powers no one can stop them. The shot also may have suddenly made Amane and Ichina hot for each other, which is fine by me!

Through the temperamental British weather and with Aoi’s help, Eve keeps pace with Juha even after the Lunar Empress adjusts her final score upward. When Juha praises Eve for being the first to be so close to her on the final day, Eve returns the praise, but also makes clear she’s not playing Juha anymore; she’s playing Aoi.

Assuming she’d end the day at 15-under if she’d kept playing, Eve is determined to beat that score, and thus win their game. Juha is merely a speed bump on the road to that objective.

Alas, on the 18th hole, Eve’s clinching rainbow bullet is has a little too much mustard, and taps off the flag stick, resulting in a draw between her and Aoi. Aoi, at her limit despite not actually playing, helps Eve up. Eve does manage to beat Juha by one stroke, but she is immediately stripped of the win for her mafia ties, and her pro license is suspended for three years.

You can tell Juha is not happy about this result. She may be holding the trophy, but she knows Eve beat her. If I were her, I’d shitcan Karen immediately! Fast forward three whole damn years, and Ichina narrates that Eve has been neither seen nor heard from in all that time, to which I say:

It kinda is! You’re telling me Eve and Aoi, who could have gotten married after the British Open, remained apart for three damn crucial years of their youth? Unacceptable! They could have had a kid who would eventually surpass them by now! What a waste!

If three years wasn’t enough, the episode jumps yet another year, when Eve and Aoi are finally back on the course together, this time with Aoi’s hair regrown and Eve’s cut short. Their voice actors deftly add a little age to their voices as they resume the game to decide who is the best golfer in the world.

It’s an ellipsis of an ending that gives me hope that, despite how much of a miracle it was that this even got a second round, maybe we’ll get a third, which will complete these two golf girls’-made-golf womens’ story in a satisfying fashion.

After all, Eve still needs to teach Aoi Rainbow Bullet, and these two (as well as Amane and Ichina) still need to, you know, actually confess their love for one another and kiss! But even if we don’t get any of that, it sure has been a fun, ludicrous, heart-filling ride. I consider myself thoroughly shot through.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 24 – The Moon Is Watching

The one person keeping Aoi and Eve from their promised round of golf side by side is the Lunar Empress, Juha Hamilail, who is a mentally tough and extremely analytical and cerebral player. She even has the kind of Dark Conference Scene common in Gundam series laying out her data-optimized strategy. By the end of the first two days of the British Open, Aoi manages to reach the top of the leaderboard, but Juha takes second over Eve, much to Eve’s chagrin.

On the third day Eve breaks out her Burst, which she’s now trained her body to withstand, at least occasionally. It’s the first time Aoi gets to see it, and she counters by whipping out her 48-inch driver and unveiling the “Shining 48”, which is a match for Eve’s burst, much to Eve’s delight. The ever consistent Juha is jealous of Eve and Aoi’s rivalry, as they propel one another to greater and greater heights.

But Juha won’t take the bait other golfers have and take risks in an effort to catch up or surpass Aoi too early. She’s content to apply pressure from behind. Most spectators are too amazed by Aoi’s performance to see it, but her father Reiya can: Juha is holding her best back. Once she observes Aoi nearly fainting, she predicts her wings will melt like Icarus’ at the eighteenth hole.

Meanwhile, Eve decides she’ll need to polish off two eagles in order to get into the same group as Eve on the final day, and we see the growth of Ichina’s trust in her, and Eve’s trust in Ichina. Ichina finds the best path for Eve’s ball and relays it to her, and Eve fulfills her promise. It will be her and Aoi in the final group. Ichina is so happy she pounces onto Eve, who thanks her by name, making her cry tears of joy.

With a comfortable lead, all Aoi has to do is score a par on her last hole. Eve is done her round, so she’s able to watch Aoi carefully and luxuriate in the only other golf swing in the world that can shoot her straight through the heart. But after Aoi’s last shot, which comes within an inch of going in the cup, Aoi collapses.

An anxious Amane tries to get Aoi to wake up, but it’s Eve who ends up taking Aoi by the shoulders, shaking her, and issuing a tearful appeal to keep her promise that makes Aoi open her eyes and get back on her feet to tap in her ball and then rest until the final round.

As she makes her walk to the hole, the greens turn into a gorgeous mirror of the skies where she’s flown so high the whole time, and she begs God to let her play with Eve tomorrow, even if it’s the last round of golf she ever gets to play. Even so, she collapses again, before being able to tap her ball in.

If she doesn’t recover, this would probably be a forfeit, meaning Eve will play against Juha on the final day. Will fate yet again conspire to keep these two golf lovebirds from doing the one thing they want to do more than anything else in the world?

The preview hints at a “new promise”, so even if Aoi can’t continue, we can’t yet say she and Eve will be denied. As Ruha tells her caddy Karen more than once: There are no absolutes; the unexpected can always happen. And that’s why golf is fun. I’ll be ready with baited breath for the grand finale, and whatever may come, it’s been an honor and a pleasure.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 23 – Paying the Piper

Aisha, who was presumably adopted by Leo, is heartbroken when Eve beats her and Leo keeps looking at her. Not great to make an orphan feel like she’s going to be abandoned again! But like Gundam: Witch from Mercury, this show is packed with awful parents. That said, Leo doesn’t abandon Aisha, but promises Eve she’ll be defeated next time.

But the next time won’t come for a long time; Eve’s injuries are substantial. Alan estimates it will take her two months to heal and two months to get back into golfing shape, but in order to use her Burst safely, she has to get even stronger. Meanwhile, Aoi wins her first tournament as a pro, but ends up passing out in the shower, much to Amane’s dismay.

Turns out Aoi does indeed have the same brain condition as her father Reiya, or so she expects even before the test results. She adopts a defeatist attitude, believing that she’ll never be able to play the golf she loves so much ever again.

Amane won’t accept this, so she hops on a plane and challenges a still-recovering Eve on Aoi’s behalf. Since both golf girls are clearly in need of serious rehab, she picks next year’s British Open as the venue for their long-delayed battle. Eve is fine with this, of course.

Upon returning home, Amane consults with Reiya, and then convinces Aoi not to give up all hope. She may only have about a year of golf left before she has to retire like her dad, but Amane wants her to spend as much of that time as possible doing what she loves.

With Amane, Reiya, and Seira supporting her, Aoi shakes off her tears and resolves to face off against Eve like they promised. The two undergo strenuous training, aided by their trusty, loving caddies.

If there’s a mark against this episode, it’s that time flies by way too fast compared with the pace of the show so far. That entire year passes in less than half-episode’s time. In that time, Aoi wins two more tournaments (widely spaced out enough to spare her brain), and Eve fully recovers and wins the Women’s British Masters. We don’t get to see any of it!

It’s starting to feel like Birdie Wing is going to try to complete it’s story in the next two to three episodes. I’m glad we’re finally, finally getting to the point where Eve and Aoi can play their best golf together for the first and possibly last time, and this episode felt like the sacrificial lamb that cut through all the story needed to get to that point.

That leaves the remaining episodes free to return to the show’s more slowed-down shounen tendencies in Eve and Aoi’s face-off, and possibly an epilogue. And while it was horribly rushed at the end, there were still some wonderful emotional and dramatic moments to enjoy. It’s heartening to see all the secrets lifted and everyone who loves Eve and Aoi helping to lift them up and see their dream through.