Despite Mao-chan's 26 episodes I consider this this show as good in-between break for what else you might be watching. It relies heavily on parody elements or it would just be another simple and boring kid's anime. Mao-chan is not outstanding in any way, but it will provide you with a smile, chuckle or even a laugh from time to time, enough to keep most people watching from start to finish.
Animation: Probably the weakest link of the show, it's very simple in the drawing style like many of the other animes aiming for a younger crowd like eg Pokemon. Robbald mentions the episode lenght of 15 minutes, in fact it's only 12:30 min running time, and if you cut away the opening and ending it's hardly even 10 minutes. That turns out to be a bit of a problem with all the reused frames in each episode. The girls' transformation sequences, and also the "defense barrier" are reused every time.
Apart from that there is done an average job on both the CG's and the scenery as a whole.
Sound: The sound is actually pretty good for the biggest part. The opening song is average, but the ending kind of catchy, at least to me. I didn't find myself skipping it more than a few times :)
The girls have _very_ cute voices, maybe they are a bit overdone for the parody's sake but cute is still the best way of describing them. As for the rest of the characters, you will find that they too have very stereotypical voices.
Story: What story? Well basically we follow 3 8 year old girls, who have been chosen to protect Japan from kawaii Aliens trying to invade or rather steal important landmarks. Mao protects from the ground, Misora from the air and Sylvia from the sea. They can't use real military forces to defend because it would seem like mocking the aliens, so they have to defeat cuteness with cuteness! As said the episodes are only around 10 minutes, but with 26 of them it still amounts to something. Still the story never gets more advanced than what can be solved within a single episode.
In many ways Rikujou Bouei-tai Mao-chan reminds me of Alien Nine with 3 girls having to defend against aliens, and also here we got an extremely clumsy main character who is crying several times per episode. We also got alot of similar weirdness, but that's for yourself to discover. The biggest difference is that Alien Nine is much more mature in its overall appeal.
Character: Needless to say, the 3 main characters are very cute, and since this is a parody they are even younger and much more pathetic than your usual high-school heroes. It's funny to see just how useless mao-chan is, and even though the other 2 girls aren't much better it's usually their job to fill in for her. Other characters included in the show are the 3 competitive chief of staffs, the incredily beautiful and intelligent second in command who never gets any credit, the 2 gorgeous cat-eared female aliens, and not to forget the alien chief with the water hole ontop of his head. All characters are as shallow as they can be and already after a few episodes you realize that there will be no development in this department either.
Value & enjoyment: Even though the show has its funny moments, there is no rewatchability. It's just the same stuff over and over each episode, by the end it gets pretty annoying.
In the end I'll just repeat what I've already said: Mao-chan works best as an in-betweener, don't write it off completely, at least it IS 100 times better than its "sister-show" Love Hina. Regarding the overall low ratings, what can I do, I'm also watching full moon wo sagashite right now.
Now prepare for a whole lot of Ahh-ohh-ehh-ohh!
Anime: Rikujou Boueitai Mao-chan
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* Based on the original work by Akamatsu Ken, the creator of Love Hina, produced by Xebec.
In order to protect Japan from a mysterious alien invasion, the Defence Force Team (DFT) has been assembled. But these are no ordinary heroes. They are all grade school girls, who most of the time cause more trouble than good. But why did the Defence Party (DP) even bother to assemble this overly cute team? Apparently, it is because the chief of the DP, Onigawara Rikushirou, has his granddaughter placed on the DFT.
Onigawara Mao (ground defence), Tsukishima Misora (air defence) and Maruyama Silvia (sea defence) make up the DFT, and when they combine forces, they can unleash a great power. Together with Mishima Kagome, the team's commander, can they really fight against the mysterious aliens?
In order to protect Japan from a mysterious alien invasion, the Defence Force Team (DFT) has been assembled. But these are no ordinary heroes. They are all grade school girls, who most of the time cause more trouble than good. But why did the Defence Party (DP) even bother to assemble this overly cute team? Apparently, it is because the chief of the DP, Onigawara Rikushirou, has his granddaughter placed on the DFT.
Onigawara Mao (ground defence), Tsukishima Misora (air defence) and Maruyama Silvia (sea defence) make up the DFT, and when they combine forces, they can unleash a great power. Together with Mishima Kagome, the team's commander, can they really fight against the mysterious aliens?
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by robbald on 2005-06-10 18:05
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Three cute little girls in cute uniforms battle cute aliens cutely while having this cuteness broadcast to the entire nation. So… there’s a lot of cute going on here. In fact, it is cute to the point of parody. We aren’t talking over the top parody like Excel Saga, but it clear that the author is taking a jab at all the other animes that rely heavily on the cute factor to pull in viewers. So if you like cute, there’s a lot of it. If you don’t like cute, you might still enjoy this anime as a parody of cuteness.
Animation: the animation is fairly good. It combines the popular Love Hina style with some CG generated military hardware. Its not seamless, but its does an ok job. As you can imagine, character design is going for both cuteness and parody. The three girls are the best examples of cute; the Ground Defense Chief of Staff is probably the best example of parody.
Sound: Rather unimpressive. The opening and closing songs a fairly uninspiring, and the sound during the actual show is fair. Nothing really bad or outstanding either way.
Story: The story is very simple. Three 8 year old girls fight against cute aliens with magic batons. Each episode they are confronted with an “invasion” of one or more cute aliens. They are then dispatched, and either succeed or fail to defeat it (even chance). This basic premise repeats for 26 episodes. There is something of a continuing story; why are the aliens coming, how can we stop them for good, etc. But it doesn’t really get advanced until the last few episodes when they start wrapping up the series and need a conclusion. So essentially, you could probably watch the first three and last three episodes and not miss a whole lot plot wise.
Characters: All the characters are pretty one dimensional, and despite the length of the series they don’t really evolve much. This is probably due to the episodic nature of the show as a whole. The girls get a little better at fighting aliens, the officer in charge of them mellows a bit, and the alien spies get a little more sympathetic to the girls, but even in these cases not a lot changes.
Value: It was fun to watch once, and I recommend it for that. I don’t see a lot of rewatchability here unless you need a cute fix, in which case this show will set you up. If you are a big Love Hina fan, this series has references to it sprinkled through the series, so its kind of fun to watch for those. If you are ONLY interested in the Love Hina angle, skip the rest of the series and watch Episode 20.
Enjoyment: I don’t really like cute, but I love parody, and there was enough of that in this series to keep me watching. I found that at 15 minutes an episode, 1-4 episodes at a sitting is about right because the plots don’t vary much and it can get repsedative if you do a marathon. I think the best part for me was seeing how many times they could fit the word “kawaii” (cute) into a single sentence. I think the record is 5.
Animation: the animation is fairly good. It combines the popular Love Hina style with some CG generated military hardware. Its not seamless, but its does an ok job. As you can imagine, character design is going for both cuteness and parody. The three girls are the best examples of cute; the Ground Defense Chief of Staff is probably the best example of parody.
Sound: Rather unimpressive. The opening and closing songs a fairly uninspiring, and the sound during the actual show is fair. Nothing really bad or outstanding either way.
Story: The story is very simple. Three 8 year old girls fight against cute aliens with magic batons. Each episode they are confronted with an “invasion” of one or more cute aliens. They are then dispatched, and either succeed or fail to defeat it (even chance). This basic premise repeats for 26 episodes. There is something of a continuing story; why are the aliens coming, how can we stop them for good, etc. But it doesn’t really get advanced until the last few episodes when they start wrapping up the series and need a conclusion. So essentially, you could probably watch the first three and last three episodes and not miss a whole lot plot wise.
Characters: All the characters are pretty one dimensional, and despite the length of the series they don’t really evolve much. This is probably due to the episodic nature of the show as a whole. The girls get a little better at fighting aliens, the officer in charge of them mellows a bit, and the alien spies get a little more sympathetic to the girls, but even in these cases not a lot changes.
Value: It was fun to watch once, and I recommend it for that. I don’t see a lot of rewatchability here unless you need a cute fix, in which case this show will set you up. If you are a big Love Hina fan, this series has references to it sprinkled through the series, so its kind of fun to watch for those. If you are ONLY interested in the Love Hina angle, skip the rest of the series and watch Episode 20.
Enjoyment: I don’t really like cute, but I love parody, and there was enough of that in this series to keep me watching. I found that at 15 minutes an episode, 1-4 episodes at a sitting is about right because the plots don’t vary much and it can get repsedative if you do a marathon. I think the best part for me was seeing how many times they could fit the word “kawaii” (cute) into a single sentence. I think the record is 5.
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main character
8, female, bloodtype: B, black hairThe character has black hair., childA child is any person 3 to 12 years old. In everyday usage, babies (younger than 3 years old) are also children, but they are tagged separately; they should not be tagged child as well. Once a person becomes 13, they are an adolescent instead., cyan eyesThis character has cyan color eyes., Kansai dialectThe Kansai-ben is a distinct group of related Japanese dialects found in the Kansai region of Japan. They are typified by the speech of Osaka, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben. It is characterized as being both more melodic and harsher by speakers of the standard language., ponytailA ponytail is a hairstyle in which most or all of the hair on the head is gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip or similar device, and allowed to hang freely from that point., unable to swimA person who can`t swim, either because (s)he never learned it or has a pre-condition that makes him/her unable to swim to begin with.
voiced by:
Horie Yui
27, female, ahogeConsisting of a single, often large, lock of hair sticking out from the top of the head, it is most often used to identify foolish, bumbling or carefree characters., brown hairThe character has brown hair., long hairLong hair is hair from (but not including) shoulder-length, up to (but not including) waist length hair. Sidelocks do NOT count as long hair.
voiced by:
Nagasawa Miki
8, female, bloodtype: O, childA child is any person 3 to 12 years old. In everyday usage, babies (younger than 3 years old) are also children, but they are tagged separately; they should not be tagged child as well. Once a person becomes 13, they are an adolescent instead., hair ribbonHair ribbons are ribbons used both as hair decorations and as hair ties. Hair ribbons are often tied into bows. They may also be present as part of a hairband. In older anthropomorphic series, where the gender of characters was sometimes hard to tell at first glance, ribbon bows were used to indicate a female character., miniskirtA miniskirt, sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees, shorter than the wearer`s arm., pink hairPink hair, not much to talk about., purple eyesThis character`s eyes are colored somewhere between red and blue., scarf tieA scarf tie is an item that would ordinarily be a scarf, but which is being used to tie a collar, typically a low-cut collar, well below the neck line, or attached in a similar way. Scarf ties are a common part of the sailor uniform frequently seen worn by Japanese schoolgirls. A scarf tie is not to be confused with a regular scarf; they should be treated separately. It is also not a ribbon tie; in fact, despite the name, a scarf tie is not a type of tie at all., twintailsTwintails are type of hairstyle where the hair is gathered into two "tails" on either side of the head. Twintails may also include a pair hair buns, one bun at the base of each tail., very long hairVery long hair is hair from (and including) waist-length hair or longer.
voiced by:
Koyama Kimiko
8, female, bloodtype: A, blue hairThe character has blue hair., childA child is any person 3 to 12 years old. In everyday usage, babies (younger than 3 years old) are also children, but they are tagged separately; they should not be tagged child as well. Once a person becomes 13, they are an adolescent instead., school uniformA type of uniform worn in Japanese schools (called "seifuku" in Japanese), generally high school age or younger. They can vary considerably; commonly, females will wear a sailor uniform (modelled off the British Royal Navy uniforms in 1920) and males will often wear a "gakuran", which is a dark button-up uniform modelled off Prussian army uniforms. But expect to see a substantial amount of variety., very long hairVery long hair is hair from (and including) waist-length hair or longer.
voiced by:
Yoshikawa Yuuya
secondary cast
male, GermanA character originating from the Federal Republic of Germany, a country in Central and Western Europe., JapaneseA character originating from the island nation of Japan., mixed heritageThis character has parents of different racial backgrounds or countries. Most frequent is the combination of Japanese and a foreign nationality. In Japan the informal term `half` (ハーフ) is used to describe such people., unable to swimA person who can`t swim, either because (s)he never learned it or has a pre-condition that makes him/her unable to swim to begin with.
voiced by:
Taniguchi Takashi
female, AmericanThe United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district., braidsBraids is a style of hair in which the hair is interweaved into locks. Braids can be displayed in various styles, such as twin braid tails or a braided hair hairband., hair antennaeHair antennae are two, or sometimes more, strands of hair that stick up from the top of the head and curve forward like antennae. Not to be confused with ahoge ("idiot hair"), which only has one strand and is commonly associated with idiots., yellow hairThe character has yellow hair. This does not map precisely to real-life blond hair.
voiced by:
Kurata Masayo
female, alienThis entity or creature was born on another world than the main characters., glassesGlasses (also called eyeglasses or spectacles) are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes, normally for vision correction, eye protection, or for protection from UV rays. For practical tagging purposes, sunglasses should not be considered glasses; the "glasses" tag is specifically about the type that doesn`t block light. However, a character who wears prescription glasses with dark lenses or who wears both eyewear types should take both tags., green hairThe character has green hair., half-breedA half-breed is a being with parents belonging to different species; the mule, the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare), is one such being. In fiction, the most common half-breeds are breeds between a human and either an alien or some kind of supernatural being, like a vampire, demon, or god., real cat earsno description set, school uniformA type of uniform worn in Japanese schools (called "seifuku" in Japanese), generally high school age or younger. They can vary considerably; commonly, females will wear a sailor uniform (modelled off the British Royal Navy uniforms in 1920) and males will often wear a "gakuran", which is a dark button-up uniform modelled off Prussian army uniforms. But expect to see a substantial amount of variety., student council vice presidentno description set
voiced by:
Iura Ai
female, alienThis entity or creature was born on another world than the main characters., hairbandA hairband is a flexible plastic or metal band or strip of cloth worn over the top of the head to hold the hair back and maintain a certain hairstyle. A hairband that includes ribbons or has bows along its length should be also tagged hair ribbon. For a similar band worn across the forehead primarily for athletic purposes, see sweatband., half-breedA half-breed is a being with parents belonging to different species; the mule, the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare), is one such being. In fiction, the most common half-breeds are breeds between a human and either an alien or some kind of supernatural being, like a vampire, demon, or god., real cat earsno description set, school uniformA type of uniform worn in Japanese schools (called "seifuku" in Japanese), generally high school age or younger. They can vary considerably; commonly, females will wear a sailor uniform (modelled off the British Royal Navy uniforms in 1920) and males will often wear a "gakuran", which is a dark button-up uniform modelled off Prussian army uniforms. But expect to see a substantial amount of variety., student council presidentStudent council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. The student council helps share students’ ideas, interests, and concerns with teachers and school principals.
The President is in charge of this organization.
voiced by:
Mannaka Yukiko
Group status
| Last Update | Name | State | N | Episodes | HE | SP | Languages | Source | Rating | Cmts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.02.2018 | AB-RMX | complete | N | 26 | 0 | ja en | HDTV | N/A (0) | 1 | |
| 28.05.2016 | Ohys-Raws | complete | 26 | 0 | ja | HDTV | N/A (0) | 1 | ||
| 04.01.2012 | Tanjou | complete | 26 | 0 | ja fr | DTV, DVD | N/A (0) | 0 | ||
| 21.08.2009 | SSP-Corp | complete | N | 26 | 0 | ja en en | DVD | N/A (0) | 0 | |
| 18.05.2008 | Solar Fansubs [Solar] | complete | 26 | 0 | ja en | DTV | N/A (2) | 0 | ||
| 06.04.2008 | Epervier | complete | 26 | 0 | ja fr | unknown | N/A (0) | 0 | ||
| 19.08.2005 | Todai | complete | 26 | 0 | ja fr | unknown | N/A (2) | 0 | ||
| 15.08.2004 | KAA | complete | 26 | 0 | ja en | DVD | 7.39 (6) | 0 | ||
| 06.04.2008 | AS-TRILIUM-HO | dropped | 16 | 0 | ja fr | DVD | N/A (0) | 0 | ||
| 18.05.2008 | ChiZ | dropped | 12 | 0 | ja en | DTV, TV | N/A (0) | 0 | ||
| no group |
