Michiko e Hatchin – 05

Short Synopsis: Michiko tells Hatchin a few things about her past.
Highlights: It becomes more and more apparent how misleading that OP is…
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
That OP… it definitely belongs in the category of misleading. It’s a very colourful and cheerful piece of art, that makes you think that this series would have the same fun factor as Samurai Champloo…

Well… no. I feel that this is the episode where this series shows its true colours. As it turns out, Michiko was involved into a huge gang-fight and power-struggles before she got locked up. This episode seems to suggest that she ended up in prison because she once made a wrong move and provoked the wrong kinds of people. This episode really showed that there’s much, much more to her character than she originally showed.

I mean, she remains an irresponsible woman. In this episode however, we can see that she’s starting to regret what she did, as she suddenly realizes that the gang-fights are still out there. I’m still not exactly sure what she did to invoke the wrath of a gang for twelve years, but hopefully the future episodes will shed light on that. Anyway, because she finally starts realizing that Hatchin could get in trouble, she drops her off at a local orphanage for safety. Obviously, she didn’t take into account that it costs money to do that, so Hatchin ends up getting kidnapped at the end of the episode.

And the whole mystery around what happened with Hiroshi still isn’t much clearer. First I thought that he was the fat guy, but that turns out to be somebody else (who I guess was the one who made sure that Michiko ended up in jail). This episode still doesn’t explain why Hiroshi abandoned Hatchin, though, or who was Hatchin’s mother, but I do now understand why Michiko is so keen on Hatchin. She probably sees Hiroshi in her, and the good times they had together. And this episode also confirms: Hatchin has the tattoo on her belly.

Seriously, here I thought that this series would be a fun-filled travel adventure, in the same veins as El Cazador. Boy, was I wrong, but this series makes optimal use of its setting this way. That’s why I’m so annoyed that 90% of all anime takes place in Japan. The samurai-period is nice and all, and it has produced some awesome series, but there are many more interesting settings with potential all over the world, in lots of different time settings. You just have to have the guts to find them and base a story around them. Gunslinger Girl is also a good example of this: it took the political power struggles of the country, added a bit of science fiction, and voilá: an excellent set-up for a story.