Mao-chan may look like it’s for kids only, but it has a lot of qualities for adults as well. © Geneon/Pioneer Ent.

Mao-chan. V.1, I Will Protect the Peace of Japan! V.2, Go! Unified Defense Force. V.3, Song of Defense. V.4, Let's Defend Happiness.
TV series (26 episodes), 2002. Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki. V.1-2, seven episodes/88 minutes; v.3-4, six episodes/77 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: Geneon/Pioneer Entertainment.

Ground Defense Force Mao-chan (Rikujo Boueitai Mao-chan; 26 episodes, broadcast July 4 through December 25, 2002) is superficially an all-ages comedy, notable for its unusually short episodes of just 11 minutes each, and for background music consisting of almost entirely a tinkly piano solo. It seems aimed at young girls and those who like parodies of sci-fi military anime about defending Earth from space invaders. It is by Director Yoshiaki Iwasaki, concept creator Ken Akamatsu, and the Xebec (2D) and Production I.G (CGI) animation studios, the creators of the mega-popular Love Hina anime series; and it is filled with in-group references to that series for its fans.

Japan is being invaded by aliens! But these aliens are so adorably cute, looking like plush-toy bunnies, kitties and the pocket monsters of juvenile videogames that the military cannot battle them without looking like bullies. Ground Defense Force Chief of Staff Rikushiro Onigawara, a doting grandfather, appoints his 8-year-old granddaughter Mao as a special soldier to combat them — fighting cute with cute. Her weapon is a 1:1-scale (full-size) plastic model of a World War II German Tiger tank with the latest Artificial Intelligence computer brain. It follows her around like a puppy and likes its gun-turret rubbed.

Mao-chan becomes a media sensation, which makes the chiefs of staff of the Air and Sea Defense Forces so jealous that they draft their own granddaughters into their services. Misora Tsukishima gets a robot-intelligent VTOL jet fighter as her pet/weapon, and Sylvia Maruyama has a personal submarine. Mao, Misora and Sylvia are transferred to the same elementary school's 2nd grade for greater efficiency, with long-suffering GDF Colonel Kagome Mishima assigned to double as their homeroom teacher. While the three chiefs of staff squabble over whose granddaughter is the cutest, and each tries to maneuver his granddaughter into command of the team, the three girls become best friends and vow to unite to defend Japan together.

Unfortunately, they are little girls despite all their sci-fi weapons technology. They tend to burst into tears when they trip and scrape their knees, or lose control of their energy rays and cause more damage to the sites they are defending than the aliens do. It is not until episode #10 that the Moon-based aliens' goal becomes clear; they are out to steal all Japan's cultural artifacts, from ancient shrines to Tokyo Tower and the bullet trains. Will the girls ever get their act together enough to stop them?

One of the technical jokes is the deliberate contrast between the cute cartoon animation of the little girls and the sharp-edged CGI of their weaponry. Mao-chan's Tiger tank, Mee-kun, becomes a character in its own right due to skillful body-language animation of its gun-turret.

Practically everything about Mao-chan (including its merchandising) makes it look designed for little children, but there is plenty of humor for adults; notably the barbs aimed at interservice rivalry, nepotism and media manipulation of the public. In fact, Mao-chan was broadcast in Japan at 2:35 a.m. Director Iwasaki reveals in an interview on one of the DVD extras that its actual early-morning audience was older adults; those who could identify with the three chiefs of staff who were determined to push their granddaughters into the limelight.