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• 

  Lokyaziis

  80/100
  A funky emotional road trip through a colorful Latin America. (French Review)

  Encore une belle pépite visuel et artistique signée par les studios Manglobe (Samurai Champloo, Gangsta, Ergo Proxy...), réalisé par Sayo Yamamoto et "sponsorisé" par le génial Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Kids on the Slope) Michiko & Hatchin nous lance dans une "road story" originale qui se détache des productions habituelles nippones. Dés le générique d'ouverture avec sa touche funky, on est plongé dans une ambiance chaude et coloré qui nous ne lâchera plus jusqu'à la fin de l'anime.

  Un anime d'une excellente mouture, graphiquement léché, certains plans sont sublimes, photo-réalistes, l'animation est très propre ; le caractère design fait des merveilles, Michiko est très féminine, comme la plupart des femmes de l'anime et, a contrario, Hatchin, un peu garçon manqué est assez touchante.
  Les couleurs chatoyantes et flashy d'une part, sombres et crassent d'autre part, posent un décor fort en atmosphère, ici l’Amérique Latine, qui est mise à l'honneur avec beaucoup d'attention et d'originalité (un univers rare dans l'animé japonnais). La musique complète cette ambiance latino à base de bossa nova, de samba et autres morceaux folk en portugais. Le studio Manglobe a fait un travail remarquable dans le rendu des atmosphères chaudes, colorées, festives d'un Brésil fictif.

  _"Censé être sous haute surveillance, le pénitencier de Diamandra voit une de ses prisonnières, Michiko Malandro, tenter de s'évader. Profitant de la tempête qui fait rage à l'extérieur, cette dernière réussit l'impossible en échappant à ses poursuivants. Dans une ville voisine vit Hana (Hatchin), une orpheline souffrant de cruauté "dickensienne" aux mains d'une famille adoptive au comportement abusif. Les deux unissent leurs forces dans une improbable fuite vers la liberté."_

  Mais Michiko & Hatchin c'est avant tout une histoire de sentiments passés au hachoir, une histoire d'amours, parfois cruels et, comme en vrai, on se prend des baffes. Les personnages sont souvent confrontés à une vie sentimentale écorchée, où domination et trahison sont les aléas incontournables des relations amoureuses.

  Mais qu'en est il de la trame principale ? Et bien elle est remise en question tout au long de l'anime. Le scénario et les dialogues rebondissent de nombreuse fois au rythme des sentiments contradictoires qu'éprouvent nos deux héroïnes l'une pour l'autre.
  Bref, pour conclure, je dirais que cet anime, malgré un petit manque de profondeur dans l'histoire, est incontournable au même titre que Samurai Champloo avec qui il partage pas mal de point commun d'ailleurs. Ayant une véritable identité, cette série dynamique et moderne possède une fraîcheur sans égal au milieu de la japanime contemporaine.

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• 

  Godsen

  95/100
  Get ready for a fun action packed trip to the slums of South America

  This review is about Michiko to Hatchin, which is an original anime that came out in 2008 from studio Manglobe, which is one of the studios I really like even though they are kind of inactive anymore and also animated some other (in my opinion) great shows like Ergo Proxy and Samurai Champloo.

  I know most reviews lately are for seasonal and airing anime but I wanted to show off what’s good about this ‘older’ anime so that I can potentially remind/present people an anime that they hopefully can enjoy as much as me. This review contains almost no spoilers, excluding some things that set the plot in the first couple episodes of the anime.

  ---

  Talking a bit about the setting:

  First let's address the elephant in the room, that I set up for myself even in the title of this review. Michiko to Hatchin is set in a fictional country named Diamandra, which has noticeable cultural influences from Brazil. I will be making a lot of parallels between the two in this review, hoping to not offend anyone that is actually from Brazil.
  The biggest difference between Brazil and Diamandra lies in the names of the characters, who use a mix of Japanese and Latin (or other non Japanese) parts to create some unique and charming names (i.e Michiko Malandro, Atsuko Jackson, Hiroshi Morenos).
  The whole soundtrack is in Portuguese (we will touch upon that in more detail later) so it’s safe to assume that’s the natural spoken tongue of the main characters in the show, while we hear them talk in Japanese (or other languages it’s dubbed into, specifically gonna mention the English one later)

  ---

  Story:

  I am not gonna get too much into it since this is a review and you can find the synopsis anywhere, including the very page this review will be posted on. Basically an ex-convict girl, Michiko Malandro, decides to locate and bring Hachin, a girl that is living with her abusive foster parents back to her actual father which was her ex boyfriend. The two join forces and go through a lot a surreal and action packed adventure towards their shared goal, while developing a bond with one another.

  ---

  Characters:

  Continuing from my last point, a big part of what makes this show great are the character interactions. Michiko and Hatchin share a realistic bond that resembles a mother and daughter figure but is not quite there. Both of them are still very sassy and independent, which makes sense since they only know each other for a little while.
  I could compare their relationship to something like the relationships between the characters in Cowboy Bebop which are of hidden admiration and care between a shadow of pride. Michiko cares about Hatchin and vice versa but wouldn’t sacrifice everything as easily as a real caring mother would, which is also supported by the nature of the way both of them grew up.
  They grew up with a lot of hardships which makes them not trust or get too attached to other people easily. Michiko grew up as a troublemaker, which ranged from small crimes to getting actually convicted and Hatchin has been living with a family that barely loves and abuses her on a daily basis.

  There are a lot of cool strong independent and sexy women in this anime if you are a fan of that as much as I am. The main girl of this anime ,Michiko Malandro, is actually both my favorite female character and waifu, since I think she is both a good character, really attractive and around my actual age.

  ---

  Music:

  I wanna state here that my music knowledge is sub-par at best so take some stuff in this part with a grain of salt. The OST, which is also co-written by Cowboy Bebop’s Shinichiro Watanabe, is in Portuguese, which further complements the anime’s aesthetic of South America and most specifically Brazil. It’s mostly upbeat and funky, including the opening song, which is a primarily musical piece that fits a show that is primarily here to make you have fun. I would even call it a bit jazz-y (if that is a real word), since it resembles the opening song of Great Pretender or Cowboy Bebop’s ‘Tank!’ a lot. Most of the other songs are upbeat but some are different to fit specific sad or emotional moments in the show.
  Here are some samples from both claims:
  The opening song:

  A less upbeat melancholic track from the OST:

  ---

  Visuals:

  The visuals are very colorful and ‘funky’ too, as you can probably see from the opening I already posted if you clicked on it already. A lot of vibrant colors like red, yellow, green etc are used to make this a funky trip and seem more exotic. Considering the setting and purpose of this anime, I don’t think it’s unjustified to use a coloration like that.
  I am not an expert of how traditional poor Brazilian neighborhoods (so called Favelas) look like, but from what I have seen through the internet and asked a few Brazilian people online, they don’t stray far from the actual thing.
  The characters are drawn in a more realistic way than more anime, while still being unique and recognizable and putting their own spin on it. In conclusions the visuals are not groundbreaking or eye opening but they fit the anime a lot in my opinion

  Here are some examples of background art and character art:

  

  ---

  Some more stuff:

  There is no source material since it’s an original anime. An English dub of the anime exists, which I also watched apart from the original version, and can say that I found very charming and fitting for this anime, not that I had any issue with just watching the original. So it’s just up to personal preference. If I had to pick some shows that share a lot of elements with Michiko to Hatchin, I would pick Great Pretender, Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon and the fellow Manglobe show Samurai Champloo, a lot of which were already mentioned in this review.

  ---

  Conclusion/TL;DR:

  Michiko to Hatchin is not an anime for everyone, as a lot of others. It’s not complex or high on production value enough to please the hardest of anime fans looking for that. But it’s a fun trip through a setting different than you are used to, accompanied with a lot of gun focused action and mostly lovable characters. I can certainly say, it’s one of my personal favorites and I chose to make this review to bring more awareness about it. You can message me for more details or to discuss about the show, since I am very active on this site (at the time that this was posted)

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• 

  giyuhour

  80/100
  Brash and self-asserting, Michiko to Hatchin is a tour-de-force of women and the complications of being.

  Michiko to Hatchin

  “There is a child inside you Who’s trying to raise a child in me” — Big Thief, _Mythological Beauty_

  I started this series a few years ago before I had gotten into anime, as it was a recommendation from a high school friend. Set in a backdrop of a fictional South American country, the highly saturated visuals of Michiko to Hatchin were what got me hooked at first. But beyond the warm-toned tropicals, the story at heart was bleak. I definitely could not binge watch episode after episode of social dilemma and on-the-run antics. And so the series was shelved.

  Fast forward a few years later, having rewatched Cowboy Bebop a few times and actually understanding what the hell a syndicate was, the show was much easier to digest. Michiko to Hatchin tells the story of two different types of women, who come to mirror each other in their unlikely teamwork. Similar to Shinichirō Watanabe's work, each episode tells its own mini story about the two protagonists, usually in a new city on their journey. I would say some of the episodes stand out more than others, and you can easily tell which had a more fleshed-out plot. However, that doesn't stop a lot of the episode antics from entertaining its audience. From hot air balloon chase scenes to hallucinogenic fever surgery, there's a wild range of situations these two end up in. And really, I think that variety and the cutthroat way it's laid out is what pushes this series forward.

  The two protagonists are as different as they get, yet their struggles are understood by each other. Hatchin wants the older woman to give up the search for love, yet ends up finding a crush herself. And Michiko's denial to take responsibility for anything ends up with her making a very important decision to keep the younger girl safe. Intertwined in the mix of conflict are society's evils. There's a refusal to say the words "child abuse" or "human trafficking" but instead a grim depiction of these experiences, and it gives the show more edge than a typical convict-on-the-run plot.

  Something I also found that I liked about this show was the antagonist. I would have enjoyed watching entire flashback episodes with Atsuko Jackson if granted. She carries herself as a woman fiercely loyal to her morals but falters when it comes to the soft spot she has for her childhood friend. And the last scene we see with her is entirely heartbreaking. Her character being the most developed villain shined a hundred times brighter than the rival syndicate subplot. The two men, in my opinion, served as more of background action and additional gruesome elements of the society they were in instead of actual characters.

  Really where this show excels is in its dichotomy between young and old, love and hate, fear and passion. It's about making juvenile decisions, but being mature in all the situations that matter. It's about running away from responsibility, but growing up in that refusal. It's about the perfect reunion outfit, a trusty stead, and yelling as a love language. It's about lots and lots of tomatoes.

  
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