Rikujyou Bouei Tai Mao-chan

Mao-chan is a series made for little girls. As such, I'm not the target audience but I will be fair. Basically, you can expect a lot of kawaii alien-san's to come to Japan and the three girls to make a lot of kawaii noises, do a lot of kawaii actions, call each others name a lot, and cry a lot. Some of this can be annoying for adults, but there is some good here.

First off, Horie Yui steals the show as the vacuous Silvia-chan, defender of the sea. Think Osaka from Azumanga Daioh and you are pretty close. However, Silvia-chan is also stupidly genious. Some of the best laughs are when Silvia-chan has these moments of pure brilliance. The best laugh though comes from her favorite toy shown toward the end of the series but I won't spoil that.

Another reason to watch at least part of the series is episode 20. This is where Horie Yui gets to play her part from Love Hina, that of Naru Narusegawa (though Naru's name doesn't get mentioned for legal reasons). For fans of Love Hina, there are a slew of jokes refering to that series in episode 20.

Speaking of Love Hina, it is interesting that Colonel Mishima (who's also the girl's homeroom sensei) looks exactly like Naru. Three other military military girls looks like Motoko from the same series. Not only that, but two characters looking very much like Keitaro's best friends are also in Mao-chan.

One thing I learned from this series is that it is apparently OK to rob Japan blind because "defence forces" don't attack, only defend. Not only that, but if you rob the Japanese and have a good reason, well that's OK too. So make sure you have a good reason to steal because this anime's "moral" is that it is OK to do wrong provided you have a good reason (especially if you have a little kid).

Bottom line: the series is for kids, but there's enough for adults to warrent a rent.

Last updated Tuesday, June 08 2004. Created Thursday, June 03 2004.