Review for Michiko and Hatchin - Part 2

Jitendar Canth’s review of the multi-region import blu-ray of part two of this series can be found here and is well worth a read. I’ve got to confess to being somewhat of an anime-part-timer, occasionally dipping into the genre whereas Jitendar is the real deal. So you’re getting the best of both world’s here – the expert’s view point and that of a standard Joe; this time with reference to the MVM DVD release here in the UK. 


I really enjoyed Michiko & Hatchin Part One (my review here and Jitendar’s here) but Part Two was even better. Far from offering up diminishing returns, it really draws the strands of what is essentially a wild Thelma and Louise road trip into some edge of the seat action, sensitively mixed with some real humanity.


Part One felt almost self-contained, despite stopping half way through the series and I was OK with that. It felt like a road trip that would never end and if that had been the last of the episodes, oddly I could have lived with that. But Part Two leaves no loose end untied.


Once again, it’s full of the most inventive, wildly colourful reflection of Brazilian life and culture (mashed up, of course, with a healthy dose of anime and manga sensibility – it shouldn't work but it just does) and the core characters are further developed as the story unfolds to a very decisive and (for me) unexpected conclusion.


It’s certainly not a series that you can dip into at any point so I would recommend that you definitely watch Part One first – an obvious point but there are many anime series that you can dip in and out of. So now I want to tell you all about Part Two without telling you all about Part Two if you know what I mean. Not including spoilers won’t be easy but I’ll do my best.


 Here’s what you get episode title wise and I think it’s safe to say that, even if you’re familiar with part one that you won’t glean much from these.

12. Purgatory: 108°C Telepathy
13. Goldfish of the Marsh
14. The Daredevil Explosive Runner
15. Graffiti in Vain
16. Etude of Crimson Inconstancy
17. Buckets of Blood! Opera that Stirs the Heart
18. The Fool’s Ballistic Samba
19. Nettlesome Light-Blocking Butterfly
20. Rendezvous of Extermination
21. Last Waltz Blooming Out of Season
22. Run As You Are


Whilst the first series spent much time establishing character and narrative via a series of almost separate road-trip stories that trend all but stops across the final 11 episodes. Whilst the duo are still on the move towards finding Michiko’s love of her life and Hatchin’s father Hiroshi , with the police and various psychopathic hoodlums on their trail, things settle into some single locations across several episodes.


Michiko falls ill and Hatchin is determined to help her get well again, doing all she can to angage back-street medical/magical help to get her well again. As Michiko reaches for an old newspaper to blow her nose she discovers a picture of Hiroshi and the trail is hot once more, though certainly not straight-forward. Everyone has their doppelganger and Hiroshi may be no exception.


Michiko’s childhood friend and latter day rival, Atsuko (she with the seventies frizzy hair and sunglasses) is still on her tail despite having been demoted to a junior post in a remote village.


Hatchin’s befriends a boy in a bookshop where she is trying to track down a book she is only half-way through. He seems very keen on Hatchin but, like ’50 First Dates’, suffers from amnesia and cannot recall their relationship the following day. The story serves as both a fun tale in its own right but also provides the moment of realisation for Michiko that Hatchin is growing up. She soon won’t need her protection. Whilst this seems insignificant at the time it does play out to dramatic effect later in the series – but I don’t want to spoil that. But fair warning – you may shed a few tears.


There’s no shortage of action either, sometimes at break-neck speed whilst various ‘assassins’ catch up with Michiko or when the corrupt and vicious police service catch up with them. Whilst they attempt their escape, the anime delivers about as much action per square inch of data as a normal brain could absorb. It’s an anime that truly delivers on all fronts.

The series conclusion is an emotional one and for me, unexpected. But it’ll stay with you a while.

Picture quality is excellent throughout (and this is the DVD remember) so I can only imagine how good the Blu-Ray must look. It’s an incredibly stylised and visual anime so the great transfer is very welcome.

Audio is good and (don’t tell Jitendar) I selected the US dub which I thought was excellent.

Extras are plenty but arguably a bit superfluous which seems to me to often be the case on anime discs (why don’t we ever get a good commentary from an anime academic for example? Someone with Jitendar’s breadth of knowledge and context would be excellent).

There are some commentaries with the US voice cast, textless songs (why?) and character interviews with people like Jad Saxton who plays the English voice for Hatchin as well as a small selection of trailers for other MVM releases.

Overall, even if you’re just an occasional anime dabbler like me, you’ll definitely want to pick up ‘Michiko and Hatchin’. It’s a really great example of how utterly brilliant the medium can be.