Hakumei to Mikochi

Back to the nature.

Nowadays, city folks tend to talk about that often. I am not a city folk. I reside in a place that is a cross between a metropolis and a farmland although the area I am living in is currently heavily being developed. About 10 years ago, all I could see was farmlands. Nowdays, houses went up in half of them.

This series certainly brings back some of old time memories where humans would co-exist with bugs and animals instead of bringing out a can of insecticide and traps.

The main characters are Hakumei and Mikochi. The “to” means “and” in Japanese, so the title is literally Hakumei and Mikochi. I wouldn’t classify them as human beings. In fact, I do not believe the series features humans.

It it set in a fantasy world where human-like beings co-exist with a lot of different species. Personally, I’d call them fairies because they are 3 ~ 4 feet human-like creatures. Human-like creatures are all chibi in the series with big heads and tiny bodies.

They are able to talk to bugs and other animals which are mostly rodent species. There is absolutely no language barrier here.

But those are minor details really. What this series is about is a slice of life in the nature. The events revolve around the two characters most of time.

We see their world through Hakumei and Mikochi’s eyes. Hakumei is somewhat tomboyish, and Mikochi is what you’d call a traditional Japanese woman.

You may think they are young, but they are adults because they drink a lot in the series. No exact age is disclosed for any of characters in the series. But that’s not the point of the series anyway.

Hakumei and Mikochi reside in what I’d call a rural area. They live in a tree actually along with other bugs and rodents.

Some other characters, such as Sen, live in a strange structure. It looks like a dead shell of a turtle but it’s alive. Let’s just say anime magic and skip sophisticated explanations.

There isn’t … exactly a lot to talk about this one simply due to its genre. As expected from a slice of life series, its pace is slow and overall atmosphere is quiet.

Now, between manga and anime, I actually recommend manga. The anime, while being flash and all, has only 12 episodes. It’s not a lot of content. It covers only 4 volume-ish. The manga has 9 volumes and is ongoing currently.

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At the same time, however, anime itself is not too bad, either. It is certainly fine to end this series when the anime ends because, to be honest, not a lot of stuff go on. The anime captures its essence very well. So, one might as well enjoy the anime and be done with it.

Until next time.