Q·Ko-chan: The Earth Invader Girl is a 2003 manga series created by Promoted Fanboy Hajime Ueda, who also made the FLCL manga.
Q·Ko-chan takes place in a dystopic alternate Earth stuck in an endless war against two alien factions, The Waste Disposal Units, and the so-called Dolls who all fight in a three-sided war. In it's current state, the world has been ravaged by pure hydrogen bombs that has changed the Earth's climate, and in all the carnage a military group called the "Black Hares" staged a violent Military Coup to take over the Japanese government and put it under martial law. Kirio Muji is the son of a Black Hares Major, Ririko Muji, and lives in a small town surrounded by several towers claiming to shield the city from any outside danger. But one day at school, he and his friends bear witness to a Humongous Mecha searching for an address, and escaping from military forces. Kirio's day takes a turn for the worse when he later finds a girl hiding in the bushes outside his house, pleading him to pilot her but collapses from hunger, and Kirio decides to hide her in his closet. He later finds out that her name is Q·Ko and that she is a Welfare Machine from the Universal Child Welfare Organization and is the Humongous Mecha that Kirio saw earlier.
Q·Ko-chan: The Earth Invader Girl contains examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: The Black Series of Dolls use humans as these.
- The Ace: Lt. Akaza is considered one, but gets his ass kicked by Kirio, every time.
- Action Girl: Practically all of them get their fair share of action, but Q·Ko is the most obvious one.
- Amnesiac Hero: Q·Ko fits the bill to a T, but it seems her past is actually best forgotten.
- Badass Adorable: Q·Ko is the badass cute. Especially in the past, when she singlehandedly killed the other 7 eldest sisters esxcept for AA·Ko.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: VV·Ko...
- Blood Knight: Lt. Akaza. He doesn't care about politics or why they are fighting, all he wants is to kill some aliens and dolls. Oh, and he Would Hurt a Child.
- Bothering by the Book: Katsuki is one. And he is NOT populair due to this. He bites back later on.
- Break the Cutie: Shiino...constantly. First she gets involved in a firefight, then her mother wants to move from town, then she thinks her only friend, Mei, has abandoned her for RK·Ko, and finally, she snaps from finding out that her supportive older brother is keeping an Alien child in his room. She does NOT take this well...
- Butt-Monkey: The soldiers, Katsuki, and Q·Ko definitely qualify. The soldiers get the upperhand since EVERYTHING bad happens to them. And Katsuki bites back later.
- Cain and Abel: Furiko and Kirio, with good reason! Kirio sees Furiko as nothing but a burden to him while Furiko believes herself to be The Unfavorite due to her illness. When Furiko becomes the pilot of AA·Ko, the queen of the dolls, their hatred escalates towards downright war much to Q·Ko's suffering.
- Char Clone: Lt. Akaza could be one, but he is more of Jerkass than anything else.
- Child Soldiers:
- The Dolls only accept children as their pilots and usually they'll end up like this.
- The Black Series have no qualms and will happily use anyone as ammo.
- Creepy Child: Kirio.
- Death by Irony: Otayama's love for cute girls made him good ammunition for VV·Ko.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: "Boarding."
- Deconstruction: Of children using Humongous Mecha, much like Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Delicate and Sickly: Furiko, Kirio's sister, suffers from a heart disease that makes her faint from too much stress. Finding out that her brother is hiding a Ridiculously Human Robot and is fighting Jellyfish aliens does not make this any better.
- Due to the Dead: Near the end of Part 2, the Dolls mourn the lives lost after a massive explosion caused by one of the Black-Series dolls. They could be mourning the death of Mei, Shiino, RK·Ko and VV·Ko.
- Expy:
- Fighting Your Friend: Mei and Shiino battle each other with RK·Ko and VV·Ko.
- Gainax Ending: AA·Ko and Furiko have gathered all the dolls. Mei, RK·Ko, Shiino and VV·Ko are about to battle, or perhaps VV·Ko used Shiino as ammo to kill them all. Ririko has been shot by Kapitan-San but was saved by a random soldier and bears witness to Furiko together with all the dolls. Q·Ko and Kirio's fate after the subway was blown up is left ambiguous. The whole thing ends with NH·Ko finding Tatsuta with a wounded leg, screaming. THE END! And worst of all,
Hajime Ueda left it ambiguous on purpose to let the readers fill in the blanks. - Gonk: Otayama. In more than looks...
- Good Is Dumb: Q·Ko, hands down. But she has her glimpses of cynicism. Probably a part of her original personality.
- Ice Queen: Eldest sister AA·Ko, the queen of the dolls.
- I'm a Humanitarian: NH·Ko claims that the Black Series are these. They don't eat them in a literal sense. They just use them as ammo for their Wave Motion Nuke.
- I Know Kung Fu: Tatsuta practises martial arts so he can beat the bullies who injured his eyes in a fair fight.
- In-Series Nickname: The Dolls and Aliens. The Dolls are actually Welfare Machines from the Universal Child Welfare Organization, while the Squidlike Aliens are actually from the Waste Removal Bureau.
- Iron Lady: Ririko, Kirio and Furiko's mother, definitely is one, but Mei is also a good example.
- Ludicrous Gibs: What happens to Otoyama when VV·Ko uses him as ammo for her Wave Motion Nuke.
- Military Brat: Kapitan-Chan may act like a Genki Girl but she has a strong grudge towards Ririko and the Dolls.
- One-Shot Character:
- Quite a few. Some have little importance, while some seem important like the girl from Tomunchap and her Doll.
- There's also X·Ko from the short colored comic at the beginning of Part 2. She's a Black Series Doll who was seen reaching out to a dying doll and then grabbing a nearby soldier to use him as ammo.
- Older Than They Look: Q·Ko and AA·Ko are the oldest among the 130 Dolls. Justified since they're robots.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The three leading persons of the Black Hare act as this, although one of them shows up regularly. The rest are only seen when meeting each other.
- Person of Mass Destruction: The Black Series of Dolls. They use humans as ammunition to power their Highly Explosive Wave-Motion Gun.
- Please, Don't Leave Me:
- Mei becoming friends with RK·Ko makes Shiino believe that she has abandoned her and she instead befriends VV·Ko.
- The unnamed dying robot to X·Ko at the beginning of Part 2.
- Red Shirt: Averted. You don't usually see anyone getting killed. The soldiers aren't killed very often.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: The Dolls. They are Humongous Mecha that can turn and shrink into humans at will. The only sign that they are a Doll in human form is that they have an exposed heart.
- The Rival: Lt. Akaza is one to Kirio.
- Robosexual: Inverted. Q-Ko starts develops romantic feelings for Kirio.
- Scenery Gorn: Boy howdy, does it all look like hell, and it's even considered one of the SAFEST cities. And it gets worse!
- Shot to the Heart: The only thing that can kill a Doll as seen in the flashback beginning of Part 2. And since their hearts are also used as a cockpit for their human pilots...
- Shrinking Violet: Shiino is very shy and afraid, and clings to Mei for support.
- Stalker without a Crush: Otayama stalks SCHOOLGIRLS just so he can photograph them!
- Suicide Attack: The explosion seen near the end of Part 2 could be interpreted as what Shiino and VV·Ko did to Mei and RK·Ko.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Kirio, oh so many times. He gets better though.
- Who Dares?: Lt. Akaza thinks Kirio's dead gaze is one. He's right.
- Wild Mass Guessing: Most of the story is up to the reader's imagination.
- Would Hurt a Child: Lt. Akaza and Kapitan-chan's soldiers have no qualm about killing children.
- Youkai: AA·Ko has different design aspects of these. Her hair has a spider-like trait, she appears to be able to use ice shards, and has an appearance akin to a Yuki-onna. And her ear thingies look like fox or rabbit ears.
