Michiko & Hatchin
I always hoped that someone would come and take me. On the morning of March 17th, that someone arrived. But who on Earth is this person?
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.
...Enter
Michiko Malandro, who recently escaped from Diamandra, a hellish high-security prison, and literally crashes into Hana's life on a scooter. With nothing in common but a man who may be dead 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, was produced by studio
Manglobe; it marked Sayo Yamamoto's directing debut, which she followed with 2012's
Lupin III The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Coincidentally or not, legendary director
Shinichiro Watanabe handled the music direction for both series.
Several episodes were done in conjunction with
Studio Bonesnote Episode 3,
Gainaxnote Episode 8, and
Xebecnote Episodes 7 & 9.
Funimation has licensed the show alongside
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and both are available for viewing on
Hulu. It will be released in the US in September 2013.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Or abusive step family, in Hana's case.
- Absolute Cleavage: Michiko, frequently.
- Aerith and Bob: Michiko, Hiroshi — Maria, Pedro... Also, Hatchin's actual name is "Hana", which can be both Japanese and Western.
- Subverted due to Brazil having the highest concentration of Japanese people in a single country. Besides Japan, of course.
- 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 her son 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 "Jambo" if you don't want to get hurt.
- Boobsof Steel: Michiko's well-endowed, and takes (and gives) punches with the best of them. Other characters tend to be armed with guns.
- Book Ends: The cooking of omelettes.
- Brand X
- Camp Gay: Ivan.
- Circus Brat: Rita.
- Conspicuous CG: Averted with the cars. Moving backgrounds on the other hand...
- Contrived Coincidence: Quite a few moments, usually involving Michiko spotting Hatchin.
- Crapsack World
- Daddy Didn't Show
- Dark-Skinned Blond: Atsuko.
- Deadly Game: Shinsuke's plan to meet up with Michiko and Davi is have them trolley jump their way to an unknown locale while avoiding gunfire.
- Distant Finale
- Drunk on Milk: Hatchin at one point drinks some juice, which makes her very drunk. Michiko lampshades it when she realizes this.
- Easy Amnesia: Lenine appears to suffer from that one.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Michiko loves to call Atsuko "Jambo" (a Portuguese word for a dark-skinned person) to annoy her.
- Enfant Terrible: It's not so much that Gabriel and Maria are terrible. It's more the fact they're even more sadistically psychotic than their parents.
- Extreme Doormat: Hana to her abusive foster family.
- Flashback: Lots of them.
- The Fagin: Rico.
- Freak Out: Hatchin in Episode 7, combined shortly after with Took a Level in Badass.
- 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.
- 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.
- Little Miss Badass: Hatchin all the way.
- Looks Like Cesare: Shinsuke.
- Memento MacGuffin: Hatchin's tattoo on her stomach, which is similar to Michiko's.
- Multiethnic Name: Endemic in the series, with the two title characters as the most obvious examples. Most names seem to fit the Japanese First Name + Spanish Last Name pattern.
- 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 episode 5. 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.
- Shorter Means Smarter: Hatchin is considerably more rational and observant than the hot-headed, impulsive Michiko.
- 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
- 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
- Teenage Wasteland/Kids Are Cruel: Brazil, for the most part, is crowded with gangs that are made up of or led by children.
- Terrible Artist: Michiko, and how! Just like Luffy, she doesn't even realize she can't draw at all.
- 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: Most of Michiko's and Hatchin's wear is likely stolen. Atsuko also comes in several outfits.
- Villain Protagonist: Michiko.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters, but most importantly the old dude in 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 the narration that he ran off with another woman.note Truth in Television — some deadbeat dads act exactly like Hiroshi.
- The tattoos never get an explanation.
- Just who is Hatchin's mother?
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Bebel in episode 17.
- 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.
- X Meets Y: This series is a combination of three B's. Bebop, Black Lagoon, and Brazil (the country, not the completely unrelated movie).
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