I honestly had no idea what to put up this week. Listening to & putting down my thoughts on Moonspell’s discography took up a lot of time, and doing my second list on the top 5 chests for breast cancer awareness was a little tricky (Not that I mind.....teeheehee). So I was searching through my anime collection for something to cover this month, and I don’t know what it was, but I found a little cutesy series that seemed like it would be great to cover, and would work as a great counterpart to how Gothic everything has been this month. So hope onto your toy combat vehicle, steel yourself against the cute things of the world, and enjoy my review for Ground Defense Force: Mao Chan. Defense!
Story/Setup
Taken from MyAnimeList:
“Mao Onigawara is a happy 8-year-old grade-schooler and the granddaughter of Chief of Staff of Ground Defense Force. Equipped with her cloverleaf-shaped badge which enables her to transform (but gives her no special power whatsoever), Mao and her best friends (granddaughters of Chief of Staff of Air and Marine Defense Force, respectively) will defend Japan against the invasion from "cute aliens," who are way too cute to be dealt with by regular armed forces.”
That’s really the jist of Mao Chan. Cuteness is fought with cuteness in order to keep Japan & it’s landmarks safe from being taken by aliens. Along the way there’s a strengthening of friendship between the girls, and tons of silly hijinks. It’s incredibly simplistic, and really easy to get into. At the same time it’s not a very deep story, and anyone watching it thinking there’s some deep message or philosophical debate will be exceedingly disappointed.
Animation
If you’re watching this show for the first time, and you’re probably thinking “Hey, this looks a lot like Love Hina!”. You’d actually be quite right, as Ken Akamatsu was the creator of the original manga series, and had a hand in working on the anime as well. Putting Love Hina & this show side by side, you’d kind of have a hard time telling which is which as far as the animation is concerned. The only difference between the two is that Mao Chan is considerably more colorful than the more realistic Love Hina. Mao Chan opts for considerably lighter colors & lighting, and there’s an overall happier feeling to everything.
Voice Acting
The voice acting of Ground Defense Force: Mao Chan is pretty damn solid. Whereas a small few of the voices in Love Hina might be grating, everybody in this show is nothing to turn your nose to. Sandy Fox is just perfect for the adorable Mao Chan, who’s kindness & warm spirit shines through every time she speaks. Julie Maddalena gives the cool Sylvia a surfer vibe with her voice acting, and Michael McConnohie is equal parts serious & silly in his role as Mao’s Grandfather. Even side & smaller characters have good voice work, and there’s not a bad egg in site.
Characters
Much like the story, the characters of Ground Defense Force: Mao Chan are incredibly simplistic. There’s never any grand personality change with these characters, no illumination of the mind, no grand philosophical debate, etc. The world of this anime is absurd, silly, and cute, so in turn the cast has to match with it. The main girls each take a form of cute, and run with it. Mao is the sickeningly sweet kind of cute, Misora (the Air Defense Force member) is the kind & proper style of cute, and Sylvia is the laid back/cool kind of cute. Their respective grandfathers try & act all tough and serious, but in the end are bumbling goofs who none the less care very deeply for their grandkids & their country. This kind of stuff goes on with everybody in the show, and even the bad guys really aren’t all that bad.
Funny Story: There’s 1 episode where the girls & their grandfathers (Along with their commander) happen to go to the hot springs where Love Hina takes place. Not only that, but Naru happens to be their hostess while they’re there. There’s further irony when you see that the commander for the girls looks incredibly similar to Naru, and has the exact same voice actor (Dorothy Ann Elias-Fahn).
Availability & Pricing
Much like the Love Hina OVAs, Mao Chan was a Geneon/Pioneer release, and like those OVAs, Funimation never picked it up for a re-release. Complicating things was the fact that it was never bundled into one packing, as it opted for individual volume releases instead. I originally bought it all on Amazon back in 2014, and the pricing for copies were actually pretty incredible. The first 3 volumes were only a little over a dollar, and they were brand new copies. The final volume was also new, but that one was closer to 20 dollars ($18.99 to be specific). Copies nowadays are incredibly rare on Amazon, but they’re generally cheap for the most part.
Overall Impression & Rating
Ground Defense Force: Mao Chan is cuteness to the highest degree. It doesn’t try to be anything grand & epic, nor is it trying to push some grand message. At the end of the day, it is just a cute & happy little show who’s only goal is to bring a smile to your face. It might be difficult to find nowadays, but if you can actually get your hands on it......prepare to feel the rainbow!
Ground Defense Force: Mao Chan gets a 9 out of 10.
So that was my review for Ground Defense Force: Mao-Chan. One of the most diabetes-inducingly cute shows ever made, it’s certainly going to warm your heart if you let it. With that said, it’s only a few days left until Halloween night, so I’ll see you then for the conclusion to Moonspell month. Until then, keep up that defense!
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