Search - Ramen Fighter Miki: Miso Mayhem, Vol. 1 on DVD

Diane S. from VIENNA, VA
Reviewed on 1/28/2010...

From back cover:
In a world where terror grips the land and innocents have no solace from violence and butality, one girl walks the line between life and death to bring her won special brand of....Ramen. Miki Omimaru works at her parent's Ramen shop, making deliveries, waiting tables, and attracting customers with cute, girlish charm. Somehow, Miki can't complete even one of these simple tasks without the full employment of her extensive bone-crunching, skull-splitting martial arts moves and penchant for unleashing relentless destruction. Can Miki get through the day without messing up and angering her Mom, who makes her look like a gentle kitten in comparison? Special features: Star Ranger Opening and Voice Actor Fight! This anime is rated 13 and older. Episodes 1 - 4

I think I'm in love.

trashcanman | Hanford, CA United States | 09/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Ramen Fighter Miki" is easily one of the funniest shows I've come across in a very long time. It combines violent slapstick comedy, bizarre and quirky (even for anime) characters, and an extremely light-hearted attitude with ramen, lots of ramen. Yes, the noodles. This is the first batch of episodes from the too short 12 episode series that never fails to give me giggles.



Miki Onimaru is an enthusiatic, if airheaded, young lady who works as a delivery girl at her mother's (you guessed it!) ramen shop. The problem is she can't so much as cross the street without being sidetracked. Sometimes it's to feed a stray animal (using her customer's order!) or pet a puppy, sometimes it's to intervene in a children's baseball game, but usually it's to beat the hell out of someone. Her opponent may be a delinquent spraying graffiti, some boy she doesn't remember she bullied as a kid who has dedicated his life to getting even, or just a really psycho dog barring the way to her destination, but she is never lacking for an excuse to test her formidable martial arts skills. Her main nemesis, Megumi, works as a poster girl for the competing bakery across the street and is a constant threat all by herself, but the biggest threat of all is Miki's own mother, an invincible powerhouse of a woman with a massive temper. Then again, you'd be mad too if your daughter ruined upwards of 5 consecutive ramen orders fighting someone's freakin' dog!



The most endearing thing about this series has to be the facial animations. The laughs that are generated just by the looks characters give each other are too numerous to count and the characters themselves are pretty original for an anime of this type. Take the schoolteacher, Miss Kayahara, for instance. The woman appears to have just crawled out of the screen of a Japanese horror flick and everyone she meets behaves accordingly, thinking her a vengeful spirit. She feels this makes her a failure as a teacher and seems to regularly teeter on the verge of resignation and/or suicide, which doesn't exactly improve her aura. But feed her some really good ramen and she's transformed into a charming, energetic beauty. Funny stuff. Plus, any anime where no scene goes by without somebody getting clobbered is pure gold in my book.



From beginning to end there is no plot longer than 20 minutes to follow, no significant character development, and no attempts at raising the show's standards; just tons of truly goofy characters abusing each other in hilarious ways. This is lighthearted, mindless fun at it's best that recalls the finest episodes of Ranma 1/2 but ignores the usual cliche' romantic content in favor of more senseless violence and snarky remarks. Oh, and for those who fear subtitles *cough*illiterate* there is no English dub so it's Japanese audio or nothing. It's highly unusual and all the more reason these DVD's shouldn't take so long to be released here, but I can't say I miss the English dubbing since there are so few examples of truly exemplary work on that front. But if you are one who prays at the otaku altar then that won't and shouldn't deter you from what is currently, in my opinion, THE animated comedy series too watch out for. Enjoy."