Muteki Kanban Musume

Muteki Kanban Musume
Cover of a Noodle Fighter Miki graphic novel
無敵看板娘 (The Unbeatable Delivery Girl)
Genre	Comedy, Slice of life story
Manga
Noodle Fighter Miki
Written by	Jun Sadogawa
Published by	Akita Shoten
English publisher	ADV Manga
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Champion
Original run	June 2002 – July 2006
Volumes	17
Manga
Muteki Kanban Musume N
Written by	Jun Sadogawa
Published by	Akita Shoten
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Shōnen Champion
Original run	2006 – 2008
Volumes	5
TV anime
Ramen Fighter Miki
Directed by	Nobuo Tomizawa
Studio	Telecom Animation Film
Licensed by	Media Blasters
Network	Chiba TV TV Kanagawa TV Saitama Yomiuri TV
Original run	July 4, 2006 – September 19, 2006
Episodes	12
Anime and Manga Portal

Muteki Kanban Musume (無敵看板娘^?, lit. "The Unbeatable Delivery Girl") is a manga series by Jun Sadogawa, and a televised anime series based on it and directed by Nobuo Tomizawa. The English edition of the manga is referred to as Noodle Fighter Miki, while the anime is referred to as Ramen Fighter Miki. The manga series ended in 2006 after a 17 volume run, though it is continued in Muteki Kanban Musume N (for "Napalm"), and ended after a 5 volume run.

Plot synopsis

Both the anime and the manga are comedies detailing the adventures of Miki Onimaru, a teenage girl recently turned-twenty, whose mother runs a Chinese ramen restaurant. Miki works as the delivery girl for the shop, but frequently gets into trouble due to her boisterous, active personality. Much of the humor of the series derives from the characters' over-the-top behavior and it contains parodies of other anime styles, such as those concerning fighting and rivalry.

Characters

Miki Onimaru (鬼丸 美輝, Onimaru Miki^?) Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame

Miki is the new delivery girl for the Onimaru family ramen shop (usually shortened to just Onimaru). Though 20 years old, she still pretty much has the mind and maturity of a 12 year old child, with a corresponding energy and fiercely competitive personality that makes her stand out. She is often seen to start fights and competitions; her physical strength is admirable and her fighting style is frantic and unpredictable. Violent as she may be, Miki is a caring and kind-hearted girl who is keen to help anyone in need. This sweet-gentleness comes to the forefront when she is drunk, turning her from a crude tomboy to the very portrait of an ideal Japanese-Lady (or Yamato Nadeshiko).

Megumi Kannazuki (神無月めぐみ, Kannazuki Megumi^?) Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu

Megumi is Miki's long-time rival and the delivery girl for the bakery directly across the street from Onimaru. As they attended the same grades in school, one can assume she is also 20. Like Miki, she is committed to being the best, but often falls short to the other girl's antics. Megumi specializes in throwing sharpened bamboo skewers (in the manner of darts); she learned to do this by training with an elementary school teacher who tossed bits of chalk at his students who fell asleep. While Megumi often claims to be ruthlessly bullied by Miki, her own behavior is by no means innocent, and she often sets traps for Onimaru. When push comes to shove, however, she can still be fundamentally kind-hearted like Miki, particularly when it comes to matters of helping children in need. And just as Miki becomes a lady-amongst-ladies when drunk, Megumi becomes the definition of a crude and violent tomboy when in a similar state.(or more like a yakuza)

Makiko Onimaru (鬼丸真紀子, Onimaru Makiko^?) Voiced by: Sayuri Sadaoka

Makiko is much more practical and down-to-earth than Miki. As Miki's mother, she genuinely cares about the girl, but can be quite harsh, and often loses her temper, slapping Miki around. This violence, however, is very unrealistic. It is once shown during a flashback, she was once actually quite beautiful; the stress of raising such an exasperating daughter like Miki was no doubt the cause of her current obesity. As she has Miki deliver ramen, Makiko's mantra is "Deliveries are about speed!" When she is drunk, she turns to be a drunken kung fu master.

Akihiko Ohta (太田 明彦, Ohta Akihiko^?) Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (voice actor)

Akihiko is the owner of the grocery store next door to Onimaru. He spends a good amount of his free time at the ramen shop, hanging out with Miki's mother. He views his friends' goings-on with bemusement, but he accepts that that's the way she is. Ohta is a huge fan of Super Space Battle Team Star Rangers. He is also a skilled graffiti artist. He often takes some physical punishment at random times. When he was little he was often bullied by his classmates, such as forced to confess to a girl he doesn't like at all.

Kankuro Nishiyama (西山勘九郎, Nishiyama Kankuro^?) Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama

He has just returned to the town after spending four years at college. He has a considerable grudge against Miki because she used to bully him, despite being younger than him. Kankuro is a case study (however comic) of the effects of abuse: despite being a 24 year old college graduate, his heart is forever unable to grow up and move on unless he destroys the traumatic past that is Miki. Kankuro is somewhat thickheaded, and often fails to take Miki's resourcefulness into account when he schemes against her. He almost always adds "nya" at the end of his sentences. He is poor and does odd jobs in order to support himself. What adds to Kankuro's hate towards Miki is the fact that Miki can never remember his name.

Tomoka Kayahara (茅原 智香, Kayahara Tomoka^?) Voiced by: Kaori Mine

She is a teacher at the local high school. She is greatly feared by students, because of her creepy appearance and the air of depression around her. She dislikes her job because of the pressure she puts on students even though she cares about their futures. The show makes visual references to Sadako Yamamura when Miki, Akihiko, and Megumi first meet her. Ramen puts Tomoka in another mood and she cheers up and becomes incredibly cute when she eats it. Such is the beauty of her appearance in this state that drop-out delinquents fall in love at first sight, and diligently return to school just to see her adorable smile every day. Megumi doesn't know Tomoka's true identity, and believes she is a vengeful ghost. It is also shown that she can climb up walls like a gekko, causing many people to mistake her for a vengeful ghost. Tomoka is poor as shown in the episode when Megumi first encounters her, she was up on a tree picking peaches for dinner. Also, in one episode you see her room which was really empty and the fact that she traded a plushie for ramen.

Toshiyuki (敏行^?) Voiced by: Rokuro Naya

He is a vicious dog that lives in town (though fears Makiko), and Miki's strongest non-human opponent. He is very strong as shown when he was able to act as a mount. Miki seems to understand its growls and barks, and thus she says it claims to bite people for the sake of world peace. Later on he becomes friends with Kankuro. He also appears in the every episode's ending titles.

Endou Wakana (遠藤若菜, Endou Wakana^?) Voiced by: Saki Nakajima

Toshiyuki's young owner, she is not threatened by the dog, who acts harmless around her.

Super Space Battle Team Star Rangers

A children's television action show in the world of Muteki Kanban Musume. It is along the lines of Power Rangers or Super Sentai (most likely parodying Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, which incidentally was known in the Philippines as Star Rangers). There are five members of the team: Red Star, Pink Star, Yellow Star, Blue Star, and Black Star.

Hell's Bunny

The Star Rangers' most nefarious and strongest foe. Depicted as an attractive woman in a long dress and partial rabbit costume, she wields a large wooden mallet and displays excellent attack skills.

Muteki Kanban Musume's original soundtrack

Pink Star

A friend of Hell's Bunny in real life. Before meeting Miki, she was not used to using too much force, probably due to a lack of confidence. Her attack, Star Light Knee had the power of a person's poke. Later she gained confidence due to Miki and used more strength in her knee attack.

Music

Opening theme

• "Wild Spice" by Masami Okui

Ending theme

• "Muteki na smile (無敵なsmile; Invincible smile)" by Naozumi Takahashi

References and parodies

• In a different scene of episode 1, Miki first challenges Megumi to a duel in a boxing ring, quoting lines from anime classic Ashita no Joe with Akihiko suddenly adopting Danpei Tange's outfit and trademark eyepatch.
• Hell's Bunny, introduced in episode 8, is a parody of the title heroine of Sailor Moon, Tsukino Usagi (which literally translates as moon rabbit), right down to her "In the Name of the Moon I shall Smite You" battle declaration.
• Miki's opening dance in the boxing ring in episode 10 is a parody of the ritual performed by Muay Thai kickboxers before every round, including the Thai wind instruments playing in the background.
• Wakana's worries of being swallowed by a whale and living on a raft inside in episode 11 is a direct reference to the story of Pinocchio.
• Miki's mother's poses after her destructive drunken rampage in the episode 12 flashback is a reference to the Jackie Chan film Drunken Master.

Episodes

#	Title	Original air date
01	"Invincible Delivery Girl / Another Delivery Girl" (無敵看板娘 / もうひとりの看板娘)	July 4, 2006
Miki, Megumi, Makiko, and Akihiko are introduced. Miki demonstrates her willingness to slack off from work in order to help others. Miki and Megumi face off.
02	"Challenger - Nishiyama Kankuro / Our Fight Isn't Over Yet" (挑戦者·西山勘九郎 / 我が戦いに終点なし)	July 11, 2006
Kankuro is introduced. He tries to get revenge for the bullying Miki did to him, without success.
03	"An Impervious Enemy / Wanting to Wipe the Tears from that Child" (かつてない強敵 / あの子の涙をぬぐいたい)	July 18, 2006
Toshiyuki is introduced. Miki and Megumi spar with him. When Toshiyuki gets lost, everybody looks for him, but they are unaware of his name and think they are looking for Wakana's brother instead.
04	"Before the Trip Starts / Let Me Guide You" (旅立ちの前に / 私があなたを導きましょう)	July 25, 2006
Tomoka is introduced. Miki helps the teacher with her self-consciousness problem, and they persuade a delinquent to return to school. Megumi mistakes Tomoka for an angry ghost.
05	"Let's See Who Must Win / You're My Stepping Stone!!" (白黒つけようぜ / 踏み台はお前だ!!)	August 2, 2006
Miki and Megumi fight over a pig plush toy. A "facial sumo" contest takes place. Miki and Megumi get stuck in a closed-off alley; with Kankuro, Akihiko, and Toshiyuki, they fight to see who will use the others' bodies as a ramp to reach a ladder.
06	"Fight! Bark Bark vs. Nya Nya / The Rift That Looked Like Red String" (対決!ワンワンVSニャーニャー / 赤い糸に見えた溝)	August 9, 2006
Kankuro tries to fight Toshiyuki in order to train against Miki. Wakana thinks Kankuro's constant challenges to Miki are a sign of hidden love.
07	"Peel Off the Fake Smile / Sneaking In! The Demon's Nest" (ひきはがせ偽りの笑顔 / 潜入!鬼の巣)	August 16, 2006
Miki's attempt to expose Megumi's evil inner personality backfires. Megumi finds out that the Onimaru shop is so popular at lunch because everyone comes to see Miki fight.
08	"That Guy Sure Looks Like He's the Strongest / A Bad Guy is Coming" (確かに奴は最強に見えた / 悪者がやってきた)	August 22, 2006
Miki helps Akihiko get over his personal conflict over Hell's Bunny, the famous villain on Star Rangers. Megumi helps, too, by cosplaying as Hell's Bunny. She then uses the costume to attract attention to the bakery. A little girl gets "Hell's Bunny" to perform for her sickly brother in the hospital. When Miki shakes Megumi (as Hell's Bunny) unconscious, the group gets help from the real Hell's Bunny and Pink Star.
09	"A Falling Superstar / A Mother's Worry" (堕ちかけた巨星 / 考える母)	August 29, 2006
Miki, Megumi, and Kankuro try to find out if Makiko has any weaknesses at all. Makiko questions her method of disciplining Miki, and tries a different way of treating her daughter, much to Miki's displeasure.
10	"Work for the Win / Sudden Fight! Nishiyama Kankuro VS Kannazuki Megumi" (働いて勝ち取れ / 激突!西山勘九郎VS神無月めぐみ)	September 5, 2006
Kankuro works hard at the ramen shop while Miki makes deliveries, so that he can challenge her when she comes back. The two have a short competition to see who is the better poster girl. Kankuro and Megumi team up to fight Miki.
11	"The Guy Lets His Back Do the Talking / A Deadly Fight With a Happy Face" (背中で語るあいつ / 喜色満面死闘)	September 12, 2006
Toshiyuki allows people to ride on his back, though refuses to allow Miki unless it's for emergency situations. A Delivery Girl contest pits Miki and Megumi to compete against each other, as well as other female competitors.
12	"When You Were Smashed / The Buried Party" (君が壊れた時 / 葬られた宴)	September 19, 2006
Miki drinks beer and gets drunk. In her drunk personality, she is very cute, shy and husband looking girl. In the other episode, Megumi is also drunk, and becomes an abusive and violent tomboy. But after while, they (literally) knock the alcohol out of each other, and are back to their normal (but still violent) selves again.

See also

• Cooking Master Boy
• Fighting Foodons
• Iron Wok Jan
• Yakitate!! Japan

External links

• (Japanese) Official website
• Muteki Kanban Musume (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia