Review: Michiko and Hatchin

I remember the quiet storm that erupted in the nerdy Black girl community when Michiko and Hatchin was first released. Finally an anime with a Black woman as the lead character. She’s not a stereotypical archetype of Black women either. She has her own distinct personality and looks which really makes her iconic.

The show introduces us to the world of this fictionalized Brazil. A good head node for the large population of Japanese people in the country. We’re introduced to our first main character Michiko Malandro, a prisoner in the toughest prison in the country, Diamanda. Determined to find her long-lost lover Hiroshi Morenos, Michiko breaks out of prison upon hearing about the existence of Hana Morenos. The perspective then switches to Hana Morenos an orphan currently living with her foster family. Although her family is capable of keeping up appearances of a happy home but in reality the family abuses Hana and uses her like a slave. Believing Hana to know something about Hiroshi’s whereabouts, Michiko kidnaps Hana from her foster family and they both go on the run for Hiroshi.

What a Douche

Much akin to the culture of Latin America, the art style is extremely versatile and colorful from the opening credits straight through to the closing credits. And similar to other works under Manglobe, the story features very mature themes without managing to be overly crude. Something I really enjoyed about the development of this project is that you’re able to tell how much the team cared about painting a very accurate picture of Latin America. Michiko isn’t the brown character in the show and each Black and Brown character after her has their own distinct style and personality.

While the story very much starts off as a journey about finding romantic love, once the bond between Hatchin and Michiko develops you start to realize this is actually a story about motherhood and friendship. Michiko is only able to go as far as she does because of the help (willing or unwilling) of her friends. And even when their original goal is within reach, it’s obvious that by the end of the show the two come to realize how much more important it is to have each other in their lives.

My only problem with the show is that there’s a clear lack of story development from episode 5 onwards. The tension between Michiko and Hatchin isn’t really justified and seems to come out of nowhere right when the characters are just starting to get along. It also seems to waste a lot of time introducing random characters to the show that have very little to do with the plot and fail to provide any sort of character development. The series is only 22 episodes long and it feels like only about 12 of them actually related to the story. There were plenty of characters and plot points that could’ve used more screen time. Not explaining the history of the gangs in the series or pushing Atsuko to a background character really did more harm than good.

Assassin Jair | This Man Was So Random

Despite the shortcomings of the series, I still consider Michiko and Hatchin a classic anime series. It’ll certainly be a series that fans will talk about and draw inspiration from for generations to come.

Rating: 7.5 Good But Could Be Better