Shameful!
"New science teacher, Machiko Mai, is a young and attractive woman with healthy mind and body. Being around her makes everyone happy. Students like to play practical jokes on her, but no matter how many times they cause troubles, she does not get upset. She always tries hard to understand her students."
— Studio Pierrot's description of the series
Miss Machiko (Maicching! Machiko-sensei) is a series that could be best described as a loose compilation of Fanservice or Ecchi, starring a female schoolteacher and her pervy students. The manga, created by Takeshi Ebihara, was serialized in Shonen Challenge from 1980 to 1982, and compiled into eight volumes. The anime adaptation was produced by Studio Pierrot (which was animating mega-hit Urusei Yatsura and kids' adventure series The Mysterious Cities of Gold at the same time) and aired from October 1981 to October 1983 in Japan as a kids' show. Given its blatant sexual content while airing in a "family" timeslot, it naturally ran into trouble with the PTA (who get called out in the show at least once). Despite this, it managed to survive for 95 episodes on TV Tokyo. Later on, the series spawned half a dozen live-action movies.
Machiko Mai, a talented young woman fresh out of grad school, lands a job as the new science teacher at Arama Academy, a Japanese junior high school. Unfortunately (for her), Machiko's students, led by resident troublemaker Kenta, think it's utterly hilarious to grope her, flip her skirt, or find new and exciting ways to get rid of her clothing. Even worse, the very universe itself seems to think it's funny too – despite her best efforts, almost every adventure ends up with her at least slightly humiliated (i.e.: stripped to her bare pantsu if not completely naked). Two of her coworkers also take it upon themselves to pursue her. However, Machiko proves on multiple occasions she can easily turn the tables on anyone who messes with her or her students.
Add a cast of ninnies and perverts, a standard children's show plot, and you have one of the most infamous (and earliest!) ecchi series in history.
Discotek Media licensed the series for streaming on Crunchyroll in 2016 (under the title of Miss Machiko), on which the first 45 episodes were posted in batches every few months through January 2017. Releases of episode batches became more sporadic after that, but the final few episodes finally went up on Crunchyroll in May 2019. Not long afterwards, Discotek announced the series would be released in a Standard-Definition Blu-ray set.
Tropes for this series include:
- A-Cup Angst: Tenko. In Episode 9, "Get the Groper!", she realizes she's the most flat-chested of her group. How? A chikan ignores her, preferring to harass her friends.
- Machiko herself had this when she was Tenko's age, which she tells Tenko to help cheer her up. We're later shown a flashback to Machiko's childhood where she was constantly made fun of by a childhood friend who looked (and acted) a lot like Kenta.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Sometimes, the girls strip Kenta's trio of their clothes as punishment for their pranks.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Maruko to Kenta because he doesn't like fat girls.
- The Ace: Machiko is not just a teacher. She can act, dance, sing, fight, swim, pick up any random skill on a dime and is otherwise perfect aside from her inability to keep dressed.
- Action Girl: Despite being a victim of a lot of pranks, Machiko often gives back as much as she takes. She's more athletic than the rest of the staff (including the phys ed teachers), able to pick up skills like skateboarding in one or two tries, and knows martial arts of some kind — several episodes involve her beating the crap out of someone who goes too far.
- All Cloth Unravels: One gratuitous example happened in Ep. 14, "The Skating, Falling Roundup", an episode with no fanservice at all… until the last thirty seconds when Kenta, ice-skating behind Machiko, finds a loose thread on her sweater. He pulls it and sends her spinning across the ice, revealing she had been skating without a bra.
- Said sweater gag was used in the first live action movie — Machiko's crochet-like sweater gets a single thread snagged while at home, and by the time she makes the full run to her classroom, her shirt is gone.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Pretty much every crush in this series is one-sided. This is true of both the students and the faculty.
- All Men Are Perverts: Try to find even one named male character in this series who isn't. Even Hiroshi, the resident brainiac who's always reading, has it hidden deep within.
- The Alleged Car: Yamagata-sensei's car is almost a character in its own right – a busted piece-o-crap that strains to hit even 40km/h, to say nothing of highway speeds, especially with Yamagata's terrible driving. In at least one episode, his car falls to pieces after too much abuse. The only reason any characters put up with it is because its interior is apparently hammerspace (it has held no less than eight at one time), plus Yamagata-sensei is one of the only regular characters with a driver's licence.
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Happens at least twice.
- Kenta frequently flips his female classmates' skirts to embarrass them. Token fat girl Maruko, who has a crush on Kenta, patiently waits her turn, but when Kenta passes her by, she's so furious she pounds his head into the pavement.
- Tenko felt left out when she was the only one of her friends who didn't get groped on the bus, assuming (correctly) it was due to her childish figure. When Kenta's extend-o-hand – which he was trying to use to grab Tenko's class notes – end up groping her chest instead, she's momentarily flattered… and then screams.
- Bathing Beauty: Almost every episode has Machiko in the bath or at least the shower.
- Bathtub Scene: Many episodes include a scene with Machiko in the bath tub. One scene involved Kenta attempting to join her.
- Beach Episode: A few of these. One of which even took place in Hawaii.
- Beauty Contest: Machiko entered in a few of these. There was one episode in which she lost, which is surprising since everyone was in love with her.
- Because Destiny Says So: It does not matter how, it does not matter where, it does not matter when — somehow, some way, Machiko will lose her clothing, usually in the most humiliating way possible.
- Big Ball of Violence: One episode ends with all the characters getting into a fight with this effect. And, of course, Machiko loses her top in the melee.
- Body Paint: A couple of instances of this in the manga. Played for Laughs, of course. It would have helped if Kenta's plan hadn't involved painting Machiko solid black (instead of, say, trying to paint clothing or somesuch).
- Butt-Monkey:
- Yamagata-sensei. He's head over heels in love with Machiko, but he's also a bit of a horndog and not above joining in with Kenta's schemes, only for them to backfire on Yamagata-sensei, spectacularly. He remains sympathetic because every so often, his schemes involve proposing.
- The Vice-principal. To be the Only Sane Woman in the show makes her a target of many Face Fault gags.
- Catchphrase: "Maitchingu!" (or "Shame!", officially translated as "I give up!"), which Machiko often says after something happens to make her lose an article of clothing, get groped, or have her skirt flipped up. Any one …or more… of these will happen Once an Episode. Kenta considers it a great victory if she says it within his earshot.
- Censor Steam: Completely averted, as with most shows of the era. Do recall this was (at least technically) a kids' show that aired in a "family" timeslot.
- The Chew Toy:
- Machiko, obviously! Everyone, including the universe itself, enjoys sexually harassing her and it's all for the viewer's amusement.
- Yamagata-sensei is the poster-boy for Amusing Injuries and is the series' ultimate Butt-Monkey. The harder he tries to throw himself at Machiko, the more likely he'll end up badly hurt. Unlike Machiko, though, he often deserves it.
- The Chikan: Episode 9 features a man harassing the young female students on a bus. Initially Kenta is mistaken for the culprit, but Machiko and Kenta set a trap for catching the real culprit.
- Child Prodigy: Hiroshi. He's almost never seen without his trademark glasses and a book.
- Children Are Innocent: They really, really aren't. Some of them aren't up to speed on the ecchi parts of Machiko's situations, but all of her students at least think it's funny.
- Played straight in a couple of later episodes where Machiko decides to call Kenta's bluff and pretends to come on to him. Invariably he freaks out and Machiko says this phrase almost verbatim.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Special note goes to Fukuoka-sensei, who is teaching 7th-graders nude figure drawing.Fukuoka: A female in the nude is the apogee of beauty.
- Circus Episode: Episode 20 has Machiko take part in a circus. The vice principal is worried because Machiko is performing in front of a large audience, which means that she will end up with her clothes torn off. Her warnings fall on deaf ears. Sure enough, a tiger happens to get lose and tears Machiko's costume off.
- Clothing Damage: Machiko apparently wears clothes made of paper since they get ripped off very easily.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: This trope in variations is arguably the point of the series. In every single episode, Machiko herself and possibly her students as well end up showing their underwear - or more - in plainly ridiculous ways
that are invariably Played for Laughs. - Covered in Mud: Machiko ends up covered in muck from time to time, usually while losing articles of clothing. This was Double Subverted in the episode in which she helps her students fight against bullies by knocking them in a big mud pit (everyone got covered in mud).
- Defeat by Modesty: Kenta's favorite move while wrestling women (two are school matches and one is a professional event). He does it to Machiko once. Later, he wrestles a blonde wrestler who doesn't seem to care much, averting this trope. In another episode, an American foreign student comes to school. He tries it on her and while it makes her angry, she takes the time to beat him up before covering herself.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
- In episode 3, Machiko sings the opening theme when she is designated to replace an idol in a concert.
- In episode 14, Machiko and her class sing the show's ending theme to pass the time on a bus trip.
- Dirty Kid: All of the boys fit this trope but particularly Kenta, who is often the ringleader of the boys and works out several plots to grope, disrobe, or otherwise act pervy to Miss Machiko (or his female classmates). While his comrades have some standards, Kenta lives just to sexually harass every cute female in the show with Machiko as primary objective. He's basically a young Ataru with Goku's voice.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Machiko cause this effect on nearly every male character in the show.
- Dogged Nice Guy:
- Yamagata-sensei, who frequently ends up getting mixed up with the student's plans, and Cannot Spit It Out about his attraction towards Machiko.
- Hiromi, who has a crush on Hiroshi, the most serious student in class but is often ignored by him.
- Dude Magnet: Machiko. It is rare see a male immune to her charm.
- Ecchi: This series may be the Ur-Example, as just about every other show with fanservice before this usually had it as secondary to the plot or as part of a Transformation Sequence. In this show, fanservice often is the plot, or at least the byproduct of it. Relatively tame by today's standards, it still manages to do some things that would simply not fly on Japanese TV today, especially in its timeslot — like showing nipples in the opening and closing credits.*
- Even the Girls Want Her: In Episode 85, Machiko adopts a Bifauxnen look (similar to Oscar from The Rose of Versailles) and the vice-principal develops a crush on her.
- Fake Boobs: The episode preview used in the second half of the series has Machiko wearing these over her already ample bosoms. They explode in Kenta's face as soon as he grabs them.
- Fanservice: In some episodes, if you took out all the fanservice, there would be very little show left.
- However, sometimes episodes will have a relatively normal kids' show story and the fanservice comes completely out of nowhere. The ice-skating episode mentioned above is a good example.
- Fanservice Extra: Provided, in the anime, by the other schoolgirls or some random women.
- Flanderization: Machiko, particularly in the manga, particularly in the "Box" series of bonus comics the author released. Machiko goes from being a somewhat naïve, good natured young teacher who accidentally gets stripped and groped a lot to being easy to talk into stripping herself, and who often doesn't even notice anything's wrong unless someone points it out to her, (and even then, she is more bemused than anything else).
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: One Youtube user noticed that while a guy was trying to pull a perverted octopus off of Machicko, you could see detailed nipples (well, more detailed nipples considering the series had no qualms with them) when the swimsuit was almost completely off. Kids' show!
- Funbag Airbag: Happened in the first episode when Kenta and friends steal Machiko's panties and try to run away, only for her to head them off around a corner.
- Furo Scene: The series has a few episodes with these scenes. Expect one or more male students (or even a teacher) to sneak a peek. One episode had a teacher and student flying in a kite and landing in a furo by accident. Of course, the eponymous Miss Machiko and her students were there at the time and the men (mostly) hid themselves.
- Garden-Hose Squirt Surprise: Used in the very first episode.
- Going Commando: Machiko often goes braless, as evident by the number of pranks her students play on her which ends with her shirt removed and her breasts exposed.
- Gorgeous Gaijin: Episode 23 has Judy, a friend of Machiko and a beautiful blonde American girl. She even perform a cheerleader show.
- Groin Attack: In episode 8, after using a Frisbee that's attracted to women's underwear on the girls all day, Machiko gets a hold of one that manages to fly towards Kenta's underwear. Not lightly, it would seem.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: Used repeatedly, although as a rule her breasts and bottom are fair game to be shown.
- Hot for Teacher: All the male students love Machiko, but Kenta is especially obsessed with her.
- Hot Teacher: Machiko naturally. Everyone is attracted to her at least a little bit, which is why no one stops her students' pranks. That, and the very universe conspires to leave her denuded, so any such efforts would be futile.
- Hula and Luaus: There is an episode in Hawaii, which included every stereotype… and topless beaches for some reason.note Also, hula girls apparently wear grass skirts low enough to display part of their buttocks. Considering the nature of this series, it shouldn't be that surprising. However, the Hawaiian principal was very aware of this trope and took massive offense when Machiko and the boys played into the stereotypes.
- Humiliation Conga: In episode 73, "The Friendly Needlework Class", Kenta takes pictures of Miss Machiko while she is taking a bath, and later shows them during a school assembly on a projector. Unbeknownst to Kenta, Miss Machiko planned to teach Kenta a lesson for embarrassing her all year, and ends up bringing Kenta’s mother up on stage, where she strips Kenta completely naked in front of the whole school. She would then later spank him, while he apologizes profusely to Miss Machiko.
- Hypno Fool:
- Episode 10 involves Yamagata-sensei learning hypnosis in a convoluted attempt to make Machiko fall in love with him. Kenta attempts to mess with her, only to leave her with a mental Gender Bender. She then goes to the men's room and attempts to use the urinal… then freaks out wondering where her *ahem* member went.
- Similarly, one of Manga!Kenta's favorite tricks is to convince a just-woken-up Machiko, whom he has almost inevitably stripped while she was asleep that she was going to go do something she previously refused to do. Examples from the manga include teaching class in the school pool, wearing a Naked Apron to her class's cultural festival Maid Cafe, or tormenting Yamagata-sensei in some way.
- Identical Stranger: Episode 17, "Two Miss Machikos", features a Japanese-Brazilian heiress almost identical to Machiko. The only differences are that the doppelganger has reddish hair and blue eyes, while Machiko has brown hair and eyes (and, at least according to Kenta, the "fake Machiko's" breasts are bouncier). The two Machikos meet after all that episode's insanity and are shocked at their resemblance.
- Imagine Spot: Machiko is, most of the time, the undisputed protagonist of the Kenta and Yamagata's fantasies.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: The art teacher, Mr. Kagoshima who is usually in flamboyant attire and waxes sweet poetry to the ears of Machiko and the girls of the school. In one episode, the girls of the school do an interview on him for a news article contest and he was discovered to have a secret affinity for girls manga of which he, along with Machiko and the girls read them together and start a book club. Too bad Mr. Yamagata couldn’t smear THE BIG GAY on Kagoshima and ruin his image.
- Jerkass: Kenta sometimes can be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold but, with all his pranks and sexual harassment plus his occasional poor treatment of his friends, he's not the nicest guy.
- Karma Houdini: The students rarely get punished for groping, flipping skirts, and undressing women, getting away with their antics by mentioning how “boys will be boys”. That said, the boys' actions are never portrayed as really acceptable either.
- Kimono Fanservice: This trope played out in at least three episodes. One episode featured Machiko acting in a historical drama, another was set during the Lunar New Year, and the third took place during a festival. In keeping with the tradition of this series, she lost her kimono every time.
- Kite Riding: In one episode, Kenta and Yamagata-sensei end up flying on a giant kite by accident and eventually fall into a sauna where the eponymous Miss Machiko is bathing (of course).
- Laser-Guided Karma: In some episodes, Kenta and his friends get stripped by the female students, sometimes with Machiko herself helping out. In one episode, Machiko had Kenta's mother called after Kenta took pictures of her in the bath. His mother stripped him down and spanked him in front of an audience, which was Played for Laughs. And no, nobody bats an eye at that either, so at least there's no Double Standard.
- Location Theme Naming: All three of Machiko's coworkers - Mr. Yamagata, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima… plus Aichi, the vice-principal, are named after Japanese prefectures. Yamagata-sensai in particular is noted several times to come from the country (Yamagata Prefecture is in Japan's rural northern Tohoku Region).
- Luminescent Blush: Every episode involves Machiko (and other girls) being placed in embarrassing situations, which involves lots of blushing.
- Lust Object: Machiko for nearly every male in the show, especially Kenta and Yamagata-sensei.
- Magic Skirt: Machiko's clothing throws this trope for a loop. One moment, her panties aren't visible no matter what she does,◊ and the next moment, her skirt flies up for no discernible reason!◊
- Male Gaze: The camera often focuses on Machiko's curvaceous body. Seriously, even the opening start with a close-up of her butt in a leotard.
- Marilyn Maneuver: Kenta and his friends often put fans on the ground and other elaborate ways of getting Machiko's (or other female students') skirt up. There's also her classic "Maicchingu!" pose, which is a Japanese anime trope in and of itself.
- Marshmallow Hell: Machiko gave one accidentally to Tamao.
- Megaton Punch: What happens when Yamagata-sensei happens upon Machiko at the exact wrong moment. Like, say, after she's woken up, but before she realized that Kenta has stripped her, again.
- Modesty Towel: Subverted, since if she ever dons one it usually falls off. Including in the end credits.
- Naked First Impression: Considering the nature of this series, it's not surprising that this has happened to her more than once. One time, she was in the shower and a visiting tribal leader caught a glimpse of her and had to be physically removed. Another time, a man mistakenly entered her home and caught her in the tub.
- Naked Freakout: Considering that Machiko ends up naked Once per Episode, it has featured many subsequent freak outs. However, as Machiko is a Genki Plucky Girl, her freakouts tend to be a cute pose, her saying "maicchingu!" ("Oh, how embarrassing!"), and either smiling or - more rarely - beating the ever loving crap out of someone.
- Naked People Are Funny: A major point of the series. Be it played as fanservice or not, Machiko losing her clothing is always played for comedy. The manga's first chapter is very similar to the first episode of the anime, except instead of biking across town in her underwear, Kenta tricks Machiko up a flagpole while only wearing a towel… and then steals said towel to use as a parachute.
- Nipple and Dimed: Machiko's nipples are openly visible, even in the opening. How the hell was this aired as a kids' show again? note
- The Nudifier: Kenta often comes up with very elaborate schemes to get Machicko's clothes off, which often reach near Rube Goldberg Device levels of absurdity — and always work.
- Once per Episode: Either she will lose her clothing (usually her shirt), her skirt will get flipped or ripped off, or she'll be groped, usually by Kenta. Or any combination of the above.
- Only Sane Woman: The Vice-Principal.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Tamao.
- Parent Service: Ooooh boy. The major reason this show wasn't killed off after two episodes. The demographics on the series viewership were absurdly skewed.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Machiko's American pen pal Judy is a caucasian blonde girl with blue eyes and has a noticeably lighter skin tone than the rest of the cast.
- Playboy Bunny: Machiko is shown in a bunny suit during the closing credits among other outfits. It says something when this series is so chock-full of fanservice that they had to cram a bunny suit in during the credits for no real reason (somewhat ironically, it's one of the few "sexy" outfits she doesn't wear in the series).
- Pro Wrestling Episode: This series had a few episodes centering around either pro wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, or Sumo wrestling. These nearly always involved Chiba, Maruko, or both.
- Public Exposure:
- One episode showed the school art teacher painting Machiko. It's believed that he is painting her nude at first but we later find out that she was clothed for the session.
- Another episode had a pervy male teacher make a nude sculpture of Machiko, although she didn't pose for it.
- In yet another episode, her own students needed to raise money and talked her into stripping down to her underwear to take photos and send them into a magazine. Kenta tricks her into losing her bra and snaps a few photos of his own, which is par for the course for this show.
- In one of the final episodes during which Machiko gains psychic powers (It Makes Sense in Context), she correctly guesses Kagoshima-sensei painted a nude portrait of her… which she didn't pose for; it was all from his imagination.
- Put on a Bus: Mr. Fukuoka flew to another country in episode 52 and is replaced with another character, Mr. Kagoshima, introduced in episode 56.
- Reluctant Fanservice Girl: This is the entire concept of the show. The title character continually finds herself naked due to the actions of her perverted students, the occasional non-human, or the nature of the universe itself.
- Even more reluctant are Madoka, Hiromi, and Tenko – called by Kenta "the beauties of Arama Academy" – and sometimes also victims of his pranks. Maruko is almost always excluded, much to her chagrin.
- Rod-and-Reel Repurposed:
- The first episode has Kenta using his fishing rod to steal Machiko's panties forcing her to chase him half-dressed.
- An episode has three little kids use this to lift Machiko's skirt and distract her while one of them steals some food.
- Another has Kenta uses a fishing rod with multiple hooks to catch not only Machiko but also the skirts of three schoolgirls.
- Sarashi: Machiko wears it once due to being in a festival as a drummer. Kenta takes it as an opportunity to get her on a bike before she can tighten her robe, and the resulting bouncing causes the sarashi to come undone. He doesn't stop the bike, leaving her bouncing around complaining and a large horde of shocked and happy neighborhood men looking on.
- Seashell Bra: There is an episode in which Yamagata imagines Machiko as a mermaid with the obligatory seashell bikini.
- Sexy Silhouette: Machiko in some shower and bath scenes. Almost inevitably, peepers (and the viewers) will see more than just her silhouette.
- Sexy Stewardess: Machiko in episode 31, for the joy of male students and co-worker, with Male Gaze and Panty Shot included.
- Shaped Like What It Sells: Arama Academy is shaped like a gigantic book.◊
- Short Teens, Tall Adults: Arama Academy is a middle school, but the students are so small they look about eight – all the adults except the principal and Yamagata tower over them. Most likely they're in 7th grade (ages 12-13) which explains the uniforms* and the fact that the girls have started developing.
- Shower Scene: Machiko is frequently shown in the shower… including in the opening and closing credits! And as was common for this era* , there's absolutely no Censor Steam.
- Skinny Dipping: Inadvertent example in the opening credits where Kenta and Kame use fishing lines to remove Machiko's bikini while she swims past them. She comes out of the pool, realizes she's naked, and does her Once an Episode pose.
- Slippery Swimsuit: If Machiko is wearing a swimsuit, the odds that it'll stay on her is nearly zero.
- Squirrels in My Pants: Happen in few episodes, usually with little fish. The trope is always used as excuse to force Machiko to strip herself. Episode 84 has also a little eel jump from Machiko's dress to her female students, so the fanservice is doubled… then nearly becomes Fan Disservice when it jumps into Yamagata's pants.
- Stout Strength: Maruko. Her size is why she's usually passed over during Kenta's pranks. Considering that she's the only girl who wants to be groped by Kenta and she's inhumanly strong, ignoring her rarely ends well for him.
- Supermodel Strut:
- In a Bait-and-Switch moment, we see a Male Gaze shoot of a pair of heeled feet and a swaying waist strutting down the school corridor... only for it to turn out to be the old and unattractive Vice-Principal.
- Machiko sometimes walks with an unintentionally sexy strut.
- Thanks for the Mammary: Machiko gets groped by almost everyone, including animals. Kenta is the major offender; for him it's basically his version of "Hello!".
- Vapor Wear: Her bra was stolen by a crow once, and her shirt was… different.
- Wacky Homeroom: The series had a very colorful homeroom and the quirkiness branched off into other teachers and members of the faculty as well.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: Machiko is often victim of this in alternative to Clothing Damage (in every case she will lose her dress).
- Wedgie: In Episode 54, "The Red-Haired Board", while young Machiko was fighting Yuichi because he wanted her panties so he can now have his hundredth pair from girls, she lost her balance on the railing, and as she was about to fall, Yuichi saved her by grabbing the back of her panties, giving her a hanging wedgie while he counts that as his hundredth pair.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- Machiko is afraid of cats.
- Episode 57 has a martial artist that fears women with big boobs. And not just Machiko; even her female students (while they jump with "bounce" effect) cause him to faint.
