Line #68 Anime/MaoChan


1	[[quoteright:242:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/11149lw0_3510.jpg]]
2
3	''Mao-chan'' (陸上防衛隊まおちゃん ''Rikujō Bōetai Mao-chan'' -- ''Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan'' or ''Earth Defender! Mao-chan'') was written by Creator/KenAkamatsu (post-''Manga/LoveHina'', pre-''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'') and illustrated by RAN.
4
5	What do you do when [[TheTokyoFireball Japan is under attack]] by [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Ridiculously Cute Aliens]]? Fight back with even cuter kids! It's the story of Mao Onigawara, Misora Tsukishima, and Sylvia Maruyama, three second-graders tasked with protecting Japan's national landmarks from the aliens... and keeping their grandfathers, the heads of the Ground, Air, and Naval Defense Forces, respectively, from fighting with one another about which one is superior, a problem that often gets in the way of their jobs.
6
7	----
8	!!Tropes:
9
10	* AntiVillain: Yuriko, who [[FriendlyEnemy really doesn't want to have to fight Mao-chan and the others]].
11	* BeachEpisode: Chapter 16
12	* BeautifulAllAlong: Chinami, something that Yuriko and the Defense Corp girls trick her into discovering.
13	* BigOlEyebrows: Sylvia
14	* BlushSticker: Misora
15	* ButNotTooForeign: Sylvia is introduced as being "Russian and a quarter Japanese". Curiously, though, her grandfather's name is "Adalberto '''von''' Maruyama", suggesting that he himself is of mixed ancestry.
16	* CatGirl: Half-alien spies Chinami Noki and Yuriko Ozora, whose ears and tail come out when they get flustered. This happens quite a bit to Yuriko.
17	* ChildSoldiers: Well, technically. Done in the most adorable way possible, of course.
18	* ChristmasEpisode: Chapter 7
19	* ClothingDamage: Happens to Yuriko and Mao when they are ingested by a snake alien. This ''is'' Creator/KenAkamatsu we're talking about, after all, so the former ends up completely naked.
20	* CuteClumsyGirl: Mao may be the Ground Forces' defense unit against the aliens, but she's hopeless in athletic competitions.
21	* CuteKitten: One of the aliens inovkes this, and later the girls start sneaking around and making everyone suspicious of their goodness, all to protect a mother cat they'd found just before she gave birth to her kittens.
22	* CutenessProximity: Everyone gets like this whenever the cute aliens show up, which is part of what makes them a threat -- it's difficult to defend yourself or the world when you're being distracted by cuteness.
23	* DefeatMeansFriendship: But not necessarily in that order.
24	* DisproportionateRetribution: The new prime minister was bullied by the heads of the defense forces back in grade school... so he undermines the Defense Corps with a ''[[SpearCounterpart male]]'' trio of elementary school children who manage to get to the scene of every alien sighting first. This is because the Prime Minister's lackeys are sabotaging the girls. [[spoiler:..and also because the aliens ''aren't real''.]]
25	* TheDitz: Sylvia is ''very'' spacey.
26	* EpicFail: The Cute Alien's schemes, occasionally. Once one of them ''missed'' the Earth completely.
27	* EasyAmnesia: Chief Onigawara gets caught in an explosion and suffers amnesia, thinking he's 20 again and mistaking [[SubordinateExcuse Kagome]] for his late wife. HilarityEnsues.
28	* {{Expy}}
29	** Kagome-sensei looks an awful lot like [[Manga/LoveHina Naru]], especially in Chapter 8, when she's not wearing her glasses and has her hair down... and is wearing the exact same outfit Naru was wearing in volume 7 of the manga. No, seriously, it's ''exactly'' the same.
30	** There's also a couple of appearances by a ''very'' obvious Keitarō expy. Like, so thinly disguised you'd think they were WritingAroundTrademarks. Unlike the real Keitarō, "Keinosuke" failed the fourth attempt at getting into Tokyo U, though.
31	*** On his second appearance, he's working alongside his girlfriend, "Nana Nanasegawa", an equally obvious Naru expy, and he points out the [[IdenticalStranger uncanny resemblance]] between Nanasegawa and Kagome.
32	** One last one: among the many [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter ridiculously cute animal-shaped aliens]] is what appears to be an expy of Tama-chan.
33	* TheFaceless: Mao's parents and grandmother.
34	* FluffyTheTerrible: Mao's [[TankGoodness tank]], Mi-kun, and Sylvia's submarine, Nah-chan.
35	* FriendlyEnemy: Yuriko really ''likes'' Mao-chan and her friends. Unfortunately, as Chinami keeps reminding her, they're supposed to be the villains.
36	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: At the start of the athletic meet, Yuriko's nametag has "Outer Space Spy" instead of the name of her team, alarming Chinami.
37	* GiantEnemyCrab: Chapter 21.
38	* GirlishPigtails: Mao, Riho
39	* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Chief Onigawara
40	* GodivaHair: Yuriko after her clothes are melted away by the snake alien.
41	* HeadbuttThermometer: Mao uses this to check Yuriko's temperature in the manga. She is unaware of Yuriko's heart going all [[WrittenSoundEffect doki-doki]].
42	* HeelFaceTurn: After Chinami and Yuriko get captured by their bosses as punishment for their failures, Chinami decides to try to help Yuriko to escape and live a normal life, as she is really a good person. Yuriko insists that Chinami come along, too, and both of them join the forces of Japan in fighting off the aliens.
43	* HeyYou: Haru never refers to Mao by her real name, even after being told what it is; she's always "the girl with the funky ribbons".
44	* HonestyIsTheBestPolicy: The commanders knew all along that the girls had gone to Hokkaido, and Mao-chan's honesty keeps her from getting punished.
45	* HotSpringsEpisode: At a run-down place that looks an awful lot like [[spoiler:[[Manga/LoveHina Hinata-sou]]]]. Complete with [[spoiler: Naru Urashima nee Narusegawa]], although they aren't specifically named.
46	** Earlier than that, they find a hidden natural hot spring in the jungle, protected by a group of monkeys whose leader looks suspiciously like a simian version of Mao's grandfather.
47	* IdiotHair: Sylvia and Mao both have them, as does Sakura.
48	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Chinami. Yuriko's not even villainous enough to be this.
49	** Most of the Cute Aliens in general are this. Often they don't even cause any real damage and sometimes the girls don't even have to ''try'', because some of them outright fail on there own.
50	* InterruptedSuicide: "Keinosuke", though after it fails, he admits that this is his fourteenth attempt.
51	** MythologyGag: While he was never suicidal even at his lowest points, [[Manga/LoveHina Keitaro]], whom Keinosuke is a blatant expy of, was NighInvulnerable, making Keinosuke's failure to die seem perfectly reasonable.
52	* InterserviceRivalry: The three commanders. Their granddaughters, the ones who are actually ''fighting'' the aliens, would much rather work together.
53	* InTheNameOfTheMoon: Each of the girls has one. Mao: "I will defend Japan in high spirits today!" Misora: "I will protect the skies of Japan!" Sylvia: "Japan's seas are my seas!"
54	* JapaneseDelinquents: A gang of ''dogs'', which [[SapientTank Mi-kun]] joins when Mao rejects him after his upgrade makes him too powerful.
55	* JokeWeapon: Used by the Chief of Operations: a giant squeaky hammer.
56	* KillerRabbit: all of the aliens are ''extremely'' cute. The "Chief of Operations" turns out to be like this as well, and less than a foot tall. And then there was the "legendary alien that can't be controlled or tamed", Omega...[[spoiler:which turns out to be Mao's lost cat Mi-kun]].
57	* LargeHam: Chief Onigawara, down to wearing a cape over his uniform.
58	* LethalChef: Mao's cookies, made with cement mix instead of flour.
59	* MagicalGirl: The titular character and her friends are these, curtesy of some alien pendants. Though it's played with at first, as the uniform she gets after the TransformationSequence, initially seems to be the ''only'' thing the pendants give them and it isn't till a little bit after their first deployed, that they discover they actually have powers.
60	* ManChild: Chief Tsukishima, what with his constant talking to a hand puppet named "Okita-san".
61	* MeaningfulName: "Rikushiro" and "Sorajiro" mean "warrior of the land" and "warrior of the sky", respectively.
62	* MegaNeko: The alien from Episode 1.
63	* MilitaryMoe: Invoked, where the girls are specifically chosen for their roles because of how adorable they are.
64	* MonsterProtectionRacket: [[spoiler:The new Prime Minister, to promote his "Three Aces" team.]] Turns into a game of ZanySchemeChicken when the Defense Force leaders launch their own fake alien at the same time to try to get the Defense Corps girls back in the public's good graces ''and'' independently, Yuriko launches a ''real'' alien for the girls to fight... and all three aliens look like pandas.
65	* MsFanservice: Sakura, who's practically a {{Recurring\|Extra}} FanserviceExtra. Her normal uniform uses short shorts [[CustomUniform instead of the skirt that Kagome has]], her outfit in the ChristmasEpisode is a midriff-baring [[SexySantaDress Sexy Santa Top and Skirt Combo]] (which Kagome [[LampshadeHanging asks her about]]), and she later shows up in a PlayboyBunny outfit to host the Defense Corp Cherry Blossom party.
66	* {{Omake}}: Two: One that takes place 10 years later, and then a "summer vacation special" after the higher-ups had been introduced.
67	* PaperThinDisguise: Chapter 20, when the girls sneak off to Hokkaido.
68	* PerpetualPoverty: Chinami and Yuriko
69	* PsychopathicManchild: Emperor Galactica.
70	* TheMole: A Defense Corps spy has been on board the aliens' mothership all along. Later revealed to be [[spoiler:Mao's father]].
71	* SapientShip[=/=]SapientTank: Mi-kun, Hayate, and Nah-chan.
72	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: You will not ''believe'' some of the things that Sylvia can afford.
73	* ShoutOut: Episode 20 is one long [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] shout out to ''Manga/LoveHina''.
74	* StudentCouncilPresident: Yuriko
75	* SubordinateExcuse: Kagome has a crush on Chief Onigawara. If these feelings were ever returned, it would be a MayDecemberRomance, as she's 27 and he's in his late 60s.
76	* SupremeChef: Sylvia's the best chef in the whole class.
77	* TakeOurWordForIt: That alien in episode 14 of the anime was too cute!
78	* ThemeNaming: The Three Aces are Haru, Natsu, and Tou -- Japanese for spring, summer, and winter.
79	* TransformationSequence: Comes with the territory. LampShaded in one episode, where they realize their enemy managed to get too far ahead, while they were transforming.
80	* TransformationTrinket: The smiling clover pins. Unusual in that the Defense Forces obtained them from the enemy.
81	* VerbalTic: Misora ends her lines with ''arimasu'', which is translated as "don'tcha know" and "if you please", while Sylvia's casual manner of speech is translated with the liberal use of "yo" and calling everyone "[[TotallyRadical dude/dudette]]".
82	** In the dub, Misora usually ends her lines with "I say" or "I must say" and Silvia occasionally begins sentences with "I the officer".
83	* [[TheCobblersChildrenHAveNoShoes Vocational Irony]]: The leader of the Ground Forces is a poor runner; the leader of the Marine forces can't swim; and the leader of the Air Forces gets queasy in high places. The first two seem to have [[GenerationXerox passed these traits down to their granddaughters.]]
84	* WhamLine: "But.. I don't have a mom!"
85	* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: This trope is exactly why the aliens are so tough to take down, and why the military has to use a special force of 8-year-olds to accomplish the task.
86	* WingedHumanoid: Misora when she transforms. Justified as her plane doesn't have a cockpit, so she needs something to help her fly.

Context Anime / MaoChan