1) An inexact but working
translation of the title of the
Japanese anime, "
Kiko-chan Sumairu." It's a half-hour long
TV show about a very, VERY odd little girl called Kiko-chan. Not for children, but for adults who remember the utter surrealness (is that a word?) of being a small child in an alien adult world. Kiko-chan is drawn in a most un-cute way, having a huge head and large but beady eyes (not big googly
Sailor Moon kawaii eyes). She has a strange
cat who is really an
angel, but lest you think that's another
cute factor in the form of the necessary
small furry animal, think again. She also has a beleaguered kindergarten
teacher, Megumi, who
is all sweet and anime-girly, but completely ineffectual against Kiko-chan's
rampant weirdness. All students have to say "GOOD MORNING!" to their teachers when they arrive, but Kiko-chan always refuses to say it out loud despite Megumi's wobbly-eyed best effors. Instead, she writes it somehow (not the same way twice, so far). Kiko-chan is very, very quiet most of the time, but occasionally erupts into
incoherent rants and lectures. She has a pair of baffled
parents who aren't quite sure what to do with their strange daughter. They're very much
in love and tend to have
tender moments just when Kiko-chan actually does have something to say. Kiko-chan thinks adults are rather silly.
Lots of humor, biting satire, and nostalgia. Highly recommended, but it'll never be released in the
USA. Based on a
manga that runs in
Be-Love Parfait, an older teen through
office lady magazine.
2) "The Kiko-chan Smile." Quoting from the TechnoGirls' website, from their search to find out about this phrase after I noticed it in a Japanese press release and brought it to their attention: This appears to be a reference to the warm smile of Kiko Kawashima, who married the second son of the present
Emperor of Japan, becoming
Princess Akishino. The phrase "a Kiko-chan Smile" became heard at the time of the royal wedding, in the press.
Ah yes, the lovely, bright smile of a beautiful young princess? Heh, heh. The
irony in the title of the
anime...