Muteki Kanban Musume

Muteki Kanban Musume (無敵看板娘) 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)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 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 drunked kungfu master.

Akihiko Ohta (太田 明彦)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 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 Goranger, 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.




 * 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.