I have a shelf of DVD’s that I haven’t opened. I don’t consider them to be special or collectable in any way. The space is composed of a few complete series that I’ve already seen and decided to buy in the hopes that I would re-watch those series when I got the chance. That along with random stuff that I had happened to acquire over time.
Many of the items that are still unopened are from the ADV sale at RightStuf, which I wrote about a while back. These disc are probably destined to stay in their original packaging until I resell them or die, whichever comes first.

In particular, one of these articles has been calling to me for some time. BIRTH seemed to be one of the more interesting items on the shelf based strictly on cover art, and we all know that when it comes to the 80’s it’s all about what’s on the outside that counts.

It’s the standard stuff, the world (Aqualoid) was destroyed in a war with a hugely powerful inexplicably evil race of non-human machines given the name inorganics. A strange sword (the SHADE) falls from the sky where it is found by a boy, Nam. Nam becomes the target of the inorganics who seem to be after the sword.

In actuality, the inorganics seem to ignore the SHADE in favor of going after the group. Supposedly, the SHADE represents the combined consciousness of the universe, or something along those lines. It’s something that will destroy the inorganics. In that regard it seems exceedingly ineffective. It is my opinion that the SHADE was simply entered into the story as a form of phallic symbolism. Really, who are they trying to fool?

One of the more interesting aspects of the show is the introspective leanings of the inorganics. Most of the dialog from the inorganics is either humorous or meant to be so. However, some of it is of an existential or philosophic nature. Of course, it is always capped with some type of slap-stick humor.

If the world had a reset button, would you push it? How about an off switch? BIRTH’s story has more potential that it conveys through a scant 80 or so minutes. It gets better as the story progresses, but there is simply not enough time to fully explore the story or characters presented. I supposed that wasn’t the point though. BIRTH is a singular conveyance. It had a sole and simple message. Even though it left some doubt about what and where the characters ended up after the conclusion of the final battle. They were remembered. It comes down to the grander design mentality, I guess.

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The DVD was ADV’s most recent release of BIRTH.