Anime Review: Mao chan

Review Mao chan

Like in many anime shows Japan is under attack from aliens. Cute aliens. In a bold and cunning move General Onigawara had his granddaughter join the Ground defense force to fight off these aliens. Why would anybody in their right mind send an eight year old to fight aliens you ask. The reason being is that these are cute aliens and using the regular military to fight them would make them look cruel. This turns out to be such a great idea that the General of the Air defense force and the Admiral of the Sea defense force also have their granddaughters, Misora and Silvie join the defense force.

Mao chan is a very short show (entire episode is twelve minutes including opening and closing) that straddles the line between being a Maho shojo (magical girl) show and being a parody of one. Perhaps one of the best things about this show is that it can be watched as either. The short length of the episodes doesn't leave much room for plot or character development but the show's liberal but not overbearing use of clichés helps overcome this hurdle. One other interesting thing to mention is that this show is done by the creator of Love Hina, as clearly seen in one of the later episodes.

The animation for Mao chan is adequate given it is a television show, nothing more nothing less. The one interesting aspects of the show is the background music is just a piano giving the show an ambiance of a school play or a very old movie.

. The show itself is nothing special but still manages to be a cute show and a decent comedy at the same time. This is a good show for children without succumbing to the lure of being a Pokemon clone. I give Mao chan a rating of fair/ good.