[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_milkcloset.jpg]]

''Milk Closet'' is a four volume manga by Hitomi Tomizawa, also known as the guy who made ''Manga/AlienNine.'' The manga was originally a monthly serialization in the {{Seinen}} magazine ''Afternoon''.

In 2005, children begin disappearing for no apparent reason, but the reason seems to be that they are going to alternate universes. When the children come back, they have tails -- tails that can talk and make sounds. The story quickly revolves around the [[FunWithAcronyms M.I.L.K]] ("Macrocosmic Invincible Legion of Kids") Squad trying to save the children who slip into the universes. In the 8th chapter or so, the universe locks up, leaving only 599 universes left.

The alternate universes tend to be really... Weird, to say the least, and while the art is really, ''really'' cute (this ''is'' the guy who made ''Alien Nine,'' after all), it's violent. Things start getting really confusing in the third chapter or so, maybe even earlier.
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!! Tropes:

* AlternateUniverse: Children (and only children, for reasons unexplained until the end of the series) develop the ability to travel to different universes at random. Some will be universes that are like their own but lack sci-fi elements, and some are worlds teeming with extraterrestrial life that's out to kill everyone else. Kids can learn how to control where they end up, provided someone can teach them.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The ant race that acts as antagonists to the kids. All they want to do is kill and conquer, and when it comes to humans make a wasteland of Earth just so they can use human corpses as food. The most recurring ant also does this because [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy it wants to prove its species and universe's superiority over all others]]. [[spoiler:The only ''good'' Ant that we ever see in the manga is a White Ant, but their species was wiped out by these ants.]]
* AnArmAndALeg: The Doctor may or may not have gotten his arm blown off after he tried to go to another universe.
* ApocalypseHow: Class X.
** [[spoiler:As a result of the ants finding a portal into Earth, they first destroy as much of Japan as possible before the universe finishes the job and obliterates everything.]]
** [[spoiler:Completing the awakening of the Grand Universe puts all 599 remaining universes at risk. By creating the Grand Universe, all of the universes will be absorbed into it, with every planet, body, and being in them reduced to atoms.]]
* AssimilationPlot: The end goal of the "revive the universe" plan. [[spoiler:The 599 universes will be absorbed into one larger universe, and this one will serve as the replacement for the "locked" one. In the finale, all of the girls in M.I.L.K. squad have become assimilated into one woman, who then absorbs every other universe and creates her own from her pregnant belly.]]
* AttackItsWeakPoint: While having the tail aliens is a net gain for the children, anything happening to it instantly fatally injures them. The alien antagonists later aim directly for their tails when fighting.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler:The Prince uses Hana as his agent of chaos, making her cut down the remaining members of M.I.L.K. and stop the Grand Universe from ever awakening. He also makes her become his wife after disavowing Liesl.]]
* CreationStory: [[spoiler:The Grand Universe not only replaces all remaining universes with one, it absorbs them and fuses them into one new universe. Liesl's attempt failed, but Aiko and friends were able to create a new Grand Universe on their own, using themselves.]]
* DeathOfAChild: If there's one thing this series doesn't shy away from, it's child endangerment. Kids unaffiliated with M.I.L.K. are constantly getting hurt and killed by aliens, and even the ones in M.I.L.K. get slaughtered in ambushes or purely unwinnable situations.
* DontWakeTheSleeper: [[spoiler:The Grand Universe is too big and solid to lock up, so it cannot be brute forced into destruction. However, the little girl who was made to create the Grand Universe isn't awake yet--the next best plan is to keep her asleep.]]
* DwindlingParty: M.I.L.K. Squad takes some heavy hits over the course of the series. [[spoiler:Tarou]] is the first to go, having been [[spoiler:mutated into a mature tail being and used as an incubator for the Grand Universe]]. [[spoiler:Their numbers briefly shoot up to 20, but then are quickly devoured by Tarou to provide the Grand Universe's substance. Then they lose Hana to the Prince, the Doctor to the rampage in the Grand Universe, and nearly Alisa. Aiko, by the end of the story, was the last consistently active M.I.L.K member.]]
* TheEarthPrimeTheory: All six hundred universes are categorized on a linear axis, marked as either positively or negatively X universes away from a "prime" universe. This prime universe is where the whale aliens come from.
* EvilIsPetty: The Prince proves to be one of the toughest enemies M.I.L.K. has ever faced, and his ability to brainwash even powerful allies and ruin all Liesl's plans for [[spoiler:the Grand Universe]] is not to be underestimated. That said, this all only happens because, from his perspective, [[spoiler:she left him to start up this plan]].
* FromASingleCell: As long as the tails are in contact with even the tiniest strand of DNA from their host, they can reconstruct the host's body even after they've died. [[spoiler:Hana]], for example, came out after multiple failed attempts when [[spoiler:M.I.L.K Squad fished through a bunch of alien puree to get the part of the mixture that contained Hana]].
* InsectoidAliens: If aliens aren't portrayed as giant sea creatures, they'll often be seen as various giant insects. Unfortunately, that means they come with the pincers, poison, super strength, and all around unpleasant experience blown up by a hundred.
* InvasionOfTheBabySnatchers: Hundreds of children are suddenly ripped away from their world and can only hope they arrived in one of the good ones, or else wander helplessly through uncharted areas with the very real possibility of never coming home, let alone alive.
* LoveTriangle: PuppyLove version. Hana winds up crushing hard on Tarou, but Tarou usually spends his time with his childhood friend Alisa (who also has a crush on him). [[spoiler:In the final chapter, this is resolved by Hana, Alisa, and Aiko fusing into one girl, who then takes on the mother role for the Grand Universe while Tarou serves as the father. In the Grand Universe ''itself'', however, Hana is the one who eventually couples with and marries Tarou.]]
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Discussed. [[spoiler:The Prince accuses Liesl and the M.I.L.K. Squad of this, stating that their locking of hundreds of universes to create a grand, combined universe will only guarantee their universe's survival at the expense of the rest.]]
* MindScrew: It's about kids who can jump across universes. The first chapter is confusing enough, and it just gets weirder from there.
** Just so you can have an idea: the ending features [[spoiler:the three main girls fusing into one that absorbs all life and ends up pregnant. The one remaining boy (who was brought from another universe just to achieve the objective) forms a cradle in his back and the pregnant girl lays in there. Her water breaks but from her belly instead of her vagina, and instead of amniotic liquid, the substance that fills the cradles is ''an entire universe''. And with that, the purpose is fulfilled and the manga ends.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: While there are quite a few competent adults, Hana's teacher ends up being a standout example. He is initially mad at her for being late to school, but when he learns that she does it because she's on M.I.L.K Squad duty and she clearly isn't in it for fun, he relents. [[spoiler:He also offers her to stay at his home when her parents are hospitalized. Sadly, this doesn't last for long, since he is killed when the Ants invade Earth.]]
* SpaceWhale: One of the recurring alien species is a whale-like alien that acts as "mother" to Liesl. [[spoiler:Tarou transforms into one, which doubles as an incubator for the Grand Universe child. There is a separate coalition of space whales that seek to stop Liesl's plan to create the Grand Universe. The final volume reveals that they are ultimately the matured and more adavanced forms of the tails once fused with another being.]]
* SuperheroTeamUniform: Invoked. Liesl tells the candidates that they need to wear a uniform when doing duties for M.I.L.K, so all of them end up wearing [[KiddyCoveralls knee-length overalls]] and a Santa hat. [[spoiler:After their universe gets locked]], the kids switch to wearing school swimsuits (with the boys wearing a swim top instead of going completely shirtless).
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: With all of the child disappearances going on, schools country-wide have either had to close down or combine to make up for lost numbers. By the time Hana's class is reduced to five kids, she's transferred to one such school.
* ThemeNaming: From the few names we get from the tails, each one is just some length of "Mi". Hana's for example, is named Mimi, and Tarou's is named Mimimi.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Liesl really does want to save other kids and their now lost universe. Later on in the story she admits that she wants to put an end to the animosity between universes after dimension hopping became more frequent, but she's not afraid of sacrificing billions of lives for the chance to start the rebuilding process. She'll even sacrifice M.I.L.K Squad.]]
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