Only 10 years after I started watching it, I finally finished Michiko e Hatchin.
It got a bit of a hype back in 2008 when it started being released because it was a Manglobe anime with names like Shinichirou Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo) on it and supposedly it would take place in Brazil, so anime fans here were really interested in it. The hype ended up as we failed to understand it actually took place in a fictional country, Diamandra, that took many things from Brazil… but also from other places, so each episode was covered with complaints of "nobody in Brazil is called like that, there's no city with this name, this is from Spain not here" and all that... As for me, I was still enjoying the anime immensely, so I don't know why I ended up dropping it and I can't remember.
Anyways, finally decided to pick it again and watch the 22 episodes and, man, it was good! I think it was a good thing I ended up not going through it all back then, as I probably wouldn't be able to enjoy as much.
It is a mostly episodic series that follows the eponymous characters Michiko, a 20~30yo woman who escapes from prison to hunt down her (long believe to be dead) lover, and Hatchin, a ~10yo orphan who turns out to be the daughter of the said lover. Hatchin is extremely responsible and level-headed despite her young age and is always struggling to keep some acceptable level of morality going on while Michiko is hot-headed and believes violence and/or stealing is the way through anything in life.
It is sort of a typical story of an improbable mismatching duo and their journey together as they struggle and warm up to each other. It is nothing new in that sense, but what makes this story really work is, mainly, the characters. Despite sounding like tropes, none of the main two characters feel formulaic, both are really convincing as the people they are supposed to be and easy to relate (Michiko complete inability to act like a proper adult can be infuriating at times, but always for the right reasons). As their relationship develop you can actually believe it.
The anime is also technically pretty good, animation always ranging from good to great, great soundtrack and some shots of Michiko and Atsuko, the police officer always at her tail, are worth pausing just to look at because, damn, they are as gorgeous as they are badasses!
Also, that's something worth noting: many of the main characters are black people and all the main characters are female, all of that when diversity was something you would do simply because you believed in it and not just to fall in the public's good graces and make some good money out of it.
(I picked the US trailer because it is a good trailer)