Birdy the Mighty is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Yuki. His initial work on the series was quickly abandoned, but it was made into an anime, which was produced and, on the last episode, scripted by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who is known for anime titles such as Vampire Hunter D, and Ninja Scroll. The character designer and animation director for the series was Kumiko Takahashi. In 2003, Yuki began serializing a second, more ambitious Birdy the Mighty manga in Weekly Young Sunday. A TV anime adaptation, titled Birdy the Mighty: Decode, was animated by A-1 Pictures and produced by Aniplex, premiered in Japan on TV Saitama and other broadcast networks on July 4, 2008. The series is directed by Kazuki Akane, written by Hiroshi Ōnogi, with its character designer and overseeing animation director being Ryo Timo. It also aired on the satellite network Animax from July 14, 2008. The second season titled Birdy the Mighty Decode 02 aired Jan 9, 2009 to Mar 27, 2009. The TV series featured a different voice acting cast from the original OVA series. At Anime USA 2009, Funimation Entertainment announced that it had acquired the show. As of June 30, 2010, Funimation released all episodes of Season 1 and Season 2 English Subbed, and released them English Dubbed in October 2010.