The Super Milk-chan Show

The Super Milk-chan Show, known in Japan as Oh! Super Milk-chan (ＯＨ！スーパーミルクチャン OH! Sūpā Miruku-chan) is a comedy anime about a 5-year old girl named Milk-chan, who is entrusted by the President of Everything to defend the world, despite the fact that she cannot do very much other than curse and make popular culture references, leading to its' American slogan "Wholesome? Probably not. Good for you? Definitely."

Super Milk-chan is produced in Japan by Studio Pierrot. Super Milk-Chan is produced in English by ADV Films, and aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in North America, starting on November 8, 2004 and ending on May 7, 2005. The show is available from ADV Films on DVD.

The show centers on the activities of Milk, a 5-year-old superheroine who may not actually have any powers; what she does have is a severely poor attitude and a drooling problem. She lives in a house on a suspended platform (similar to The Jetsons), with her malfunctioning robotic maid Tetsuko and her drunken pet slug Hanage. The show follows a fairly rigid formula. In each episode, the President (of Everything, apparently) calls with a new mission; whether Milk actually takes the mission is not guaranteed. Regardless of whether or not she takes the mission, she always takes credit, and celebrates her success by going out for sushi ("or something").

The show began as 4 1/2-minute segments (14 Segment Episodes) on the Fuji Television program Flyer in 1998. It was later made into 12 full-length episodes.

ADV created two dubbed versions of Super Milk-chan: a "direct translation" dub that retains much of the uniquely Japanese humor and an Americanized version which adds Western pop culture references and a live-action segment involving the ADV voice actors. When Cartoon Network acquired the broadcast rights from ADV, they optioned the direct translation dub. The North American DVD releases are two-disc sets that include both variants.

Characters

Milk – The title character of the show, Milk is a little girl who may or may not be a superhero. She is selfish, vain, has a short temper, drools, farts and often yells, "You dumbass!" (with the camera zooming in) at anyone who offends her. She may be the rudest 5-year-old alive, often tormenting the President or her robot maid, Tetsuko. Technically, she works for the President, but she only does so when she feels like it.

Tetsuko – An obsolete robot maid, she lives with and works for Milk. Tetsuko is a more conservative character, the only occasional voice of reason on the show when she is questioning Milk's greedy, amoral or random decisions. She yearns for a stable traditional family life, which the humans around her do not even consider. Milk often calls her a piece of junk, and Tetsuko is torn between loving Dr. Eyepatch (her "daddy") and being disappointed in him when he insults her or offers to replace her. She has the ability to generate a fart ("Tetsuko's gas") that can kill a raging bear.

Hanage – Hanage is Milk's green, middle-aged, pet slug; he has a drinking problem and is incapable of speech. When he does speak, the words are expressed as his thoughts, usually a maudlin soliloquy, that call themselves "the voice of Hanage's heart."

The President (of Everything) – No one knows how this man got elected. The President of Everything is a little bald man who apparently runs the country Milk lives in. He assigns missions to Milk, but whether she takes them or not is her business. The President is a complete idiot, at one point firing his country's best missile on his own country. The President likes wine, women, and song but he usually "enjoys" cheap wine, loose women, and off-key karaoke.

Dr. Eyepatch – Seen only on a TV screen, Dr. Eyepatch runs the King's Idea Laboratory (Ôsama no Idea Kenkyûsho in Japanese). In each episode, he provides Milk with a new invention, or gives info about such a thing. He created Tetsuko, but often offers to replace her. The eyepatch over Dr. Eyepatch's right eye changes its design every episode, often several times in the course of an episode.

The Landlord – A bald, blue-skinned creature with a head shaped like a daikon radish, in a shirt with straps on the sleeves, Oola/Lalo (original/dub names) is Milk's landlord. As she's perpetually six months behind on her rent, he continually tries to get money from her. However, whenever he tries to get the rent, she does or says something that shocks him, causing him to run back across the ladder to his own home. It appears that he may be homosexual.

The Ants – A family of ants (a mother, a cuckolded father, and a little baby larva) live underground near Milk's house. Their part of the show follows their constant marital troubles. Their names are Yoshiki Arita, Helen and Ario.

Robodog No. 1 – A rude, bladderless robot that Dr. Eyepatch made to help on some of Milk's missions. He & Tetsuko are bitter rivals. When it comes to Robodog, there are a lot of fights & problems that happen on Milk's missions.

Episode Guide

Note that the plot listed for an episode often doesn't start until halfway through.

1. The Evil Spirits Go Marching In

A counterfeiter is making money that closely resembles the real thing. Milk is sent to uncover him, and soon discovers his one weakness: Belgian waffles! "Give me all the belgian waffles I can buy with this money!"

2. From Giba-Chan to Dioxin

After dreaming that people who look suspiciously like the Ku Klux Klan try to kill him in a guillotine, the President fires a missile on his own country. His attempts to get Milk to stop it fail miserably.

3. Don't Give Up, Sumi High Baseball Team!

A ship carrying a load of wine sinks in the middle of the ocean. Now Milk is sent to aid the drunken fish.

4. The Return of the Young Master from the Planet

Aliens, seeking new sources of food, have kidnapped the President. Milk goes out to find him, but doesn't even know where to start.

5. Rice Cakes Stretching and Shrinking

Milk seeks a way to make a better version of her favorite treat. Her searches are interrupted when the President orders her to find a missing baby. Despite the title and the dialogue, the "rice cakes" are actually mochi.

6. The Towering Homeless

After the cardboard houses of the homeless burn down, the President orders Milk to build them new homes. This episode repeats itself as its own sequel.

7. Ra-Ra-Racoon Dog, Heisei Pig Wars Oink Oink

A mishap involving sexual harassment causes trouble at a pig leg factory. Two pigs in love escape, and are now defecting. Milk is ordered to stop them... but she's too busy with her snack foods.

8. The Virtual Sound System

Milk accidentally eats a priceless tyrannosaurus rex egg... but the President is too busy crying over his lost cat to worry. In order to smooth things over, Milk sets out to find his cat. The title of the episode refers to two actors who provide all the sound effects for the episode.

9. Financial Decay Peninsula

There's a rash of purse thefts in nursing homes. Milk is sent out, with the aid of an old-man robot, to combat it.

10. Hou Houkekkyo, Who's Going to Die

Tetsuko breaks down due to the Y2K bug (although the 2K stands for the number of farts...). Before Milk has a chance to fix her, she's sent to combat a killer bear.

11. Having a Thick Talk for Dinner

An outtakes episode, hosted by Dr. Eyepatch and a man with three eyes (who claims to be the show's creator).

12. Farewell to Mankind

Reality is being warped by a machine that resembles a shiitake mushroom. Milk is sent to take care of the problem, but has some trouble, as the mushroom's rays keep sending her back in time...

External links

• Super Milk-chan official English website
• Super Milk-chan official Japanese website
• Super Milk-Chan entry on TVTome.com
• Oh! Super Milk-Chan at the Internet Movie Database