Michiko to Hatchin – Episode 1

The first episode of this series surpassed any expectations I had about it, I can even go as far as to say that this is probably the most original anime of the season, and my favorite if you disregard certain sequel anime like Gundam, and Nodame. The story of a fugitive mom(?), and a little girl who is forced to put up with her evil foster family; First episode felt like a modern day Cinderella…. In Brazil… with Shotguns and Motorcycles o.o

Rating: 9.5/10

Episode starts with a prison break from a female prison some where in the middle of no where. The escapee is Michiko, and she beats all odds and gets out. When she gets out a helicopter chases her down with machine guns, but she doesn’t stop running. She happens to be running through a field of windmills… in the dark… in the middle of a windy storm… not the best place for a Helicopter to be flying. Fate must have been on her side because the helicopter runs into a windmill and explodes; she escapes.

The opening was awesome, The music reminded me of Cowboy Bebop for some reason. And the animation was a cool mix of vectors.

Now the story moves onto the everyday life of little Hatchin. She wakes up before the rest of her foster family at 6am to make everyone breakfast.

I’m wondering why so many People in Brazil have Japanese namesxD

Hatchin burnt the eggs a little, and her foster father… who is a PRIEST has the nerve to throw his food on the floor and have her make him more. Then to make things worse his evil kids show up.

These kids are seriously the spawn of Satan…

The little brother throws his plate of food in her face during morning grace…

Michiko steals food from a smelly homeless Handicapped Bum o.o

A large part of the episode was Hatchin performing her daily chores without complaint, but the family giving her hell every step of the way. Evil sister throws a bucket of water at her… then Hatchin gets in trouble for staining the carpet…

One of the most disturbing parts of the episode is after Hatchin takes a shower someone stole her clothes… so she walks out wearing just a towel over her. The sister keeps trying to pull it off… Eventually the sister just pushes her down a flight of stairs o.o

Michiko robbing a Bank… She is super fugitive xD

Half way through the episode we’re told why the foster family that treats her like dirt is having her stay there in the first place… its to get money from the government. They get a a house call from an official to see how Hatchin is doing.

The Father bribes her to keep her mouth shut with books.

After he leaves and they get their Check the Mother is frustrated how little they are getting, and takes her anger out on the pet cat of the house who was trying to snuggle with her. She kicks it to the floor and puts it in a sack. She throws the sack in Hatchin’s room and commands her to dispose of it. Hatchin lets it free somewhere far from the house… but the next morning the little brother finds out his cat is gone and the Mother blames Hatchin for it.

To make up for the cat she let go the brother forces her to play “horsey” with him. He rides around on her back and makes her move with the noose around her neck. The sister sees them… “having fun” and decides to join in. She starts spraying cleaning stuff in Hatchin’s face claiming she’s dirty. She also pressed a hot iron into her face.

Hatchin jumps back to avoid getting burned, and little brother falls to the ground and cries. The sister screams at her to say she’s sorry, but for once Hatchin yells that it was not her fault. The sister drags Hatchin outside and kicks her down some stairs…

Yes… she pushes her down the stairs twice in this episode o.o

Hatchin finally snaps and headbuts and tackles the sister to the ground slapping the daylights out of her and screaming at the top of her lungs… who can blame her thoughxD?

After that Hatchin runs far away… she doesn’t want to return home because she knows she will get in trouble.

Hatchin admits what she really wants is for someone to come and save her, that she doesn’t want this life. She has a dream of a man with blond hair coming for her; I think its probably supposed to be her father. In the end she accepts she has to return home though.

Look at the Tatoo… LLBDD

The story goes back to Michiko, she makes a phone call to Hatchin’s foster family and claims she is Hatchin’s mother, and she will be coming to pick her up the next morning. They were under the impression Hatchin’s mother was dead, but regardless, Mr. Priest is not happy about this, if Hatchin is gone they won’t be getting money to watch her. So he gets a shotgun ready to deal with her in the morning.

Baby Hatchin also has LLBDD tatoo o.o

And so the next morning comes, Hatchin gets no food as punishment by the way. But like Michiko promised, she shows up to take Hatchin back. The priest runs outside when he hears a motorcycle, But Michiko makes a very showy appearance into their dining room.

Epic scene is epic =D

Unforgettable first meeting.

Yes… she lands on their dining room tablexD

Wow… just wow.

Michiko asks for Hatchin. At first Hatchin is being stubborn about going with her. The foster father comes back inside and starts firing his shotgun at her… apparently he has terrible aim and keeps missing… be he’s also just hairs away from hitting his one family and Hatchin who are sitting right next to her. After he runs out of bullets Hatchin takes another look at Michiko and realizes she has the same tattoo as her father.

Hatchin goes with Michiko, a person she doesn’t know and sets out on an adventure to who knows where as cops and sirens start to chase them from behind.

Impressions:

Did anyone else ever see the movie Matilda? It was one of my favorite child hood movies, and this anime reminds me alot about it… minus chocolate cake scene of courseXP

Probably what made this anime stick out alot for me was the focus on character development, we don’t have that much of a plot yet, but they did an amazing job at making Hatchin a character you want to root for!! And even though Michiko wasn’t developed too much… we have enough info to know that she’s hardcore to the point of being slightly crazy…

I look forward to seeing how this story develops. I want to know more about Hatchin’s family, I’m not sure if Michiko is infact her mother yet, her foster family said she was dead, and Michiko could just be a friend of her father and mother’s. I want to know more about Hatchin’s father who they didn’t talk about. I want to know why Michiko was in Jail… well I think its pretty obvious that she did something illegal.. but how she go caught since she seems to be outrunning them just fine this whole episode.

Overall this series is definitely a keeper for the rest of the season, its actually my FIRST one I’ve decided I will watch to the end excluding second season anime. I leave you with Opening… because it is stuck in my head.