Michiko & Hatchin
Hana Morenos is nine, miserable, and abused by her foster parents and step-siblings. She does all the chores, puts up with bullying and beatings, and daydreams about getting away.
...And then
Michiko Malandro escapes from her high-security prison and crashes into Hana's life on a scooter. With nothing in common but a man named Hiroshi, who's Michiko's former lover and possibly Hana's father, the two embark on a wild trip through the countryside. Traveling through a
South America/Brazil pastiche where everyone has Japanese given names, they encounter gangs, are pursued by the police, and
learn to appreciate each other—just a little bit.
The show, released in 2008, is produced by studio
Manglobe; it's Sayo Yamamoto's directing debut.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Or abusive step family, in Hana's case.
- Absolute Cleavage: Michiko, frequently.
- Adult Child: Michiko.
- Aerith and Bob: Michiko, Hiroshi - Maria, Pedro... Also, Hatchin's actual name is "Hana", which can be both Japanese and Western.
- Ambiguously Brown: Averted—Michiko is established as being from fictional Brazil.
- Anime Accent Absence: Averted, since some characters have vaguely Latin-American accents.
- Asshole Victim: Shinsuke and to some degree Satoshi.
- Baby Ever After: During the Distant Finale we find out Hatchin got knocked up by a man who ditched her after three months. She seems happy with the child though.
- Badass and Child Duo: a rare female version.
- Barehanded Blade Block: In the bullfight episode.
- Bare Your Midriff: Michiko likes to show off her tattoo that way.
- Bifauxnen: Hana is androgynous enough to look like a boy.
- Bilingual Bonus: Malandro means "Scoundrel" in Brazilian Portuguese.
- Bishounen: Hiroshi.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted, since Michiko gets beaten up quite often.
- Berserk Button: Don't call Atsuko "Jumbo" if you don't want to get hurt.
- Book Ends: The cooking of omelettes.
- Brand X
- Camp Gay: Ivan.
- Circus Brat: Rita.
- Contrived Coincidence: Quite a few moments, usually involving Michiko spotting Hatchin.
- Crapsack World
- Daddy Didn't Show
- Dark-Skinned Blond: Atsuko
- Distant Finale
- Drunk on Milk: Hatchin at one points drinks some juice, which makes her very drunk.
- Easy Amnesia: Lenine appears to suffer from that one.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Michiko loves to call Atsuko "Jumbo" to annoy her.
- Extreme Doormat: Hana to her abusive foster family
- Flashback: Lots of them.
- Foe Yay: Michiko and Atsuko.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Most depicted kids are quite adult in their reasoning.
- Gangsterland: Although in this case it's a stand-in for Brazil not the USA.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Both Michiko and Hatchin are voiced by Japanese Celebrity Voice Actors.
- In Michiko's case, she is voiced by Yoko Maki of The Grudge fame.
- Hatchin is voiced by Suzuka Ohgo, who is Chiyo/Young Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Pepe Lima is instead a Stripper With A Heart Of Gold
- Honorifics: Which are apparently very important in Latin America.
- Idiot Hero: Michiko, sort of. She isn't the brightest bulb in the box, but she makes up for it with lots of bravado and street smarts.
- Important Haircut: Hatchin hacks off her Girlish Pigtails pretty shortly after joining up with Michiko.
- Intrepid Reporter: Daniela Carneiro. Yes, he's a guy. He is extremely obnoxious, but turns out to be right about the circus.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Michiko Menezes.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk: Hiroshi
- Les Yay: episode 16
- Little Miss Badass: Hatchin all the way.
- Looks Like Cesare: Shinsuke.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Michiko.
- Memento MacGuffin: Hatchin's tattoo on her stomach, which is similar to Michiko's.
- Name and Name
- Nose Bleed: Michiko gets one when she feels that she is close to Hiroshi.
- And Hatchin gets one in the distant finale, when she figures out that Michiko is heading in her direction.
- Hiroshi gets one too in ep5. Although he got one naturally after being hit on his nose, he gets another when Michiko is close to him.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth: Michiko, combining it with a crowning moment of awesome.
- Odd Couple: Michiko and Hatchin. Really.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: The above-mentioned tattoos.
- Parental Abandonment: Hatchin, but also Michiko when she was a kid.
- Parental Favoritism: Hatchin's step-parents idolize their own kids and mistreat her. A lot.
- Plucky Girl: Michiko. Try to stop her. Just try.
- Precocious Crush: One episode is about Hatchin making a friend suffering from a Precocious Crush.
- Psycho for Hire: Shinsuke.
- Roof Hopping: On a motor scooter, no less.
- Sick Episode: Episode 12. Michiko collapses while driving her scooter, and then tries to shrug off her fever by claiming she just has a very "hot body". The rest of the episode is about Hatchin taking care of her.
- Slasher Smile: Satoshi
- Smoking Is Cool
- Shorter Means Smarter: Hatchin is considerably more rational and observant than the hot-headed, impulsive Michiko.
- Soft Water
- South of the Border
- Spicy Latina: Michiko.
- The Starscream: Shinsuke becomes this to Satoshi
- Stern Chase
- Stockholm Syndrome: In a more cynical view, this might be what causes Hatchin to bond with Michiko. Then again, anything would have been better than Hatchin's life with her foster family.
- Stripperific: Most anything Michiko wears, which might not be the smartest move when you're on the run and want to avert attention.
- Sunglasses at Night: Michiko and Atsuko.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Atsuko.
- Take My Hand
- Terrible Artist: Michiko, and how! She doesn't even realize she can't draw at all. Just like Luffy.
- Tranquillizer Dart: Subverted. Michiko appears to be very resilient when hit by a dart from a tranquilizer gun. Twice.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour
- Try Not To Die: Used almost ad verbatim.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Probably most of Michiko's and Hatchin's wear is stolen. But Atsuko also comes in several outfits.
- Villain Protagonist: Michiko.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters, but most importantly The old dude of episode 14 who was set on a job to assassinate Michiko. He is never mentioned again even though he took Michiko with his car.
- Hiroshi, who doesn't seem so important in the end, although he was the main plot and thus the reason why Michiko and Hatchin do all the stuff in the series in the first place. He doesn't seem to give a shit about Hatchin, just takes her with him and Hatchin tells us in narrator-way that he just went with another chick he liked...or something.*
- The tattoos never get an explanation.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Episode 17 Bebel
- Who Wears Short Shorts??: Michiko.
- Wicked Stepmother
- Witch Doctor: "Deus" is something between this and a phony psychic.
- With My Hands Tied: Combined with the above mentioned crowning moment of awesome.
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