Title - "Idol Bei Tai Hummingbird"/"Idol Bouei Tai Hummingbird"
Alternative title(s) - "Idol Defense Force Hummingbird"
Genre(s) - Music, drama, military action and comedy

Not many people knew what "Hummingbird" was, including myself. There were barely signs of a fan sub of this series...until now. Oh and you bet that the wait was worth it for many fans and for those who wanted to be interested in it.

"Hummingbird" is a 1993 idol series brought to you by Sony. (Yeah, it took a decade to have someone translate this or rather have someone translate this and then let a lot of people know about it.) There are 4 OVA's in all. Don't ask me who created this because I don't know. All I knew about this series before I watched it was that this was the anime series that made Mitsuishi Kotono-sama not be in several episodes of "Sailor Moon". That's it.

The Hummingbirds is an idol group of five sisters. You have, in order from eldest to youngest, Toreishi Kanna, the gentle sister, Yayoi, the brashy one, Satsuki, the sweet girl who would always question her confidence and such, Uzuki, the girl who is so confident and obsessed with cute stuff, and finally, Mina, the youngest of them all. Their mom is named Hazuki and not much can be said about the dad, though he was a good pilot himself and Satsuki's inspiration to be a real good pilot.

What did I learn from this series, even though I only saw the first episode? I learned about the biggest fan sub mistake since the "Weiss" in "Weiss Kreuz" being translated as "Vice": "Toreishi" being translated as Tracy. Seriously, I would find out that the voice actresses of the sisters formed a real big pop group back then. I am still wondering why this hasn't been fan subbed until now. Oh and special thanks goes to Seikai no Fan Subs and Chaotixubs for being the first ever groups to translate this series or rather, being the first groups to bring out a translation of the series many people know about (because there has been a group or two that translated this, but not many people knew about it).

Fun - 8

What I like about this series is that it shows you how to make a military series with an idol's touch. It's one of those series in which you just want to put aside what is bothering you and have fun. This series is all about fun. I don't know why, but I end up daydreaming about them and feeling so stiff often. Kotono-sama, anata ga daisuki yo! Mate. Mina-san, anatatachi ga daisuki yo! Ha ha ha!

I don't care what kind of scenes you mention here. They're fun. The music scenes are fun and the battle scenes, though not as dramatic as say "Area 88", are fun as well.

Do I have to mention flaws here? Fine! Although it's a fun series, it's not a good all-around series. What I'm really trying to say is that it's best if you make it as a fun series and you're most likely going to enjoy this if you're a fan of female idols for the most part.

Life - 9

Oh, you'll watch it again and again. I know I will for sure.

Audio - 10

Since this is an idol series, you would expect nice music and nice seiy. "Hummingbird" has them in spades. The Hummingbirds is made up of Tamigawa Sakiko-san as Kanna, Amano Yuri-sama as Yayoi, Mitsuishi Kotono-sama as Satsuki, Kusachi Fumie-san as Uzuki and Shiina Hekiru-sama as Mina with the last two actresses making their debuts here. The songs are upbeat and they make you feel good at the end.

Art - 9

Man! I wanted to give this part a perfect score! The girls look flat out kawaii. Shoot, even the mom looks good! Ha ha ha! The atmosphere looks so flashy. I like the outfits. The reason I can't give it a perfect score is because I know that there is always room for improvement. Even though I don't want to say it, people will say that the art is outdated, but that's them and not me.

Story - N/A

Story? Uh, if you want a story in a military series, read, watch or play "Area 88" for example. You won't get a story here.

Overall - 9

With all of the mixed views out there, should you even think about this series? I gave my point of view on this series. I ended up with positive results. I think your answer will pop up once you are done reading this review and remembering what has been said here.

+

The music, the seiy flying up so high, this is a purely fun anime.

-

The narrow target audience does hurt it a bit.

Date of creation - 9/19/03

Last update - 8/10/04

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