Hakumei to Mikochi

In a world inhabited by people only a few inches tall, young women Hakumei and Mikochi live together in a house built into a tree. Hakumei is an energetic and tomboyish carpenter, while Mikochi is a feminine and calm tailor. Despite their differences, they get along well and spend their days having fun living their lives in the woods.

The two of them spend their time working, going on sightseeing adventures, and taking shopping trips into Tsumiki Marketplace by the ocean. They make many friends along the way, be they sentient woodland creatures like Iwashi the Weasel or fellow miniature people such as the songstress Konju and the inventor Sen.

Hakumei to Mikochi is a relaxing look into the day-to-day lives of its titular characters as they explore and interact with their tiny world which seems to be straight out of a fairy tale.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hakumei Main

Matsuda, Risae Japanese

Mikochi Main

Shimoji, Shino Japanese

Koharu Supporting

Ogura, Yui Japanese

Sen Supporting

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Iwashi Supporting

Matsukaze, Masaya Japanese

Konju Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Narai Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Kobone Master Supporting

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Sekimenmaru Supporting

Yabe, Masahito Japanese

Jada Supporting

Shintani, Mayumi Japanese

Higa, Yuuji Producer

Andou, Masaomi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Iida, Satoki Sound Director

Majima, Takahiro Episode Director

Reviews

May 13, 2025

Teramol

Recommended

I was already sold after episode one. I immediately got sucked into this tiny, adorable fantasy world. Everything from the aesthetic, sound and character designs were just so cute and warm.

The two main characters of Hakumei and Mikochi are a perfect pair. Their chemistry is so fluffy and friendly. They also feel like a married couple even if the series doesn't fully acknowledge what the extent of their relationship truly is. Which is fine. They live in their tiny house in the tree and live their tiny lives doing fun, tiny things.

The notable side characters that make multiple appearances are also great. The pub manager, ... Iwashi the carpenter, Sen the necromancer and Konju the songstress just to name a few all have lively personalities that really immerse you into this beautiful world even further. Oh and Koharu my beloved. I'm someone who normally is terrified of most insects but this series made me fall in love with the cutest beetle I've ever seen. Just wish we had more of her if anything.

On the topic of the world, while the series is short, we still get quite a lot of subtle worldbuilding. I'm a big fan of them having the tiny humanoid creatures but also full on talking animal/insect characters too. It just makes the whole foresty vibe that much better. During the Ending songs they also include small tidbits about characters, events and factions for a nice bit of bonus exposition.

The score by Evan Call ties everything nicely together. I've already heard him compose fantasy having seen Sousou no Frieren before this so I knew I wasn't going to be let down. And the Ending songs being sung by the two characters of the show that actually do singing is a great touch.

The only thing that I can call a gripe is that sometimes there were some moments of conflict going on. Even if they got some nice resolutions, I prefer my healing shows fully in the healing department for max comfy. I'm looking at you episode 7.

Hakumei to Mikochi is an underappreciated show in the Iyashikei genre. It definitely succeeded in making me feel warm and cozy inside.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 21, 2025

1stDecame4Danime

Mixed Feelings

This is very much a children's show. I'm not sure why someone labeled this Seinen (I suppose it's just a dumb consequence of how manga magazines categorize themselves as printing for a type of demographic whether it's the case or not for every series they run), they're quite lacking in the mental development category. I'd only recommend this for the mental equivalent of kids 15 and under.

The story centers on generic SoL episodic encounters hanging out with people: Haircut with a beautician. Shopping/eating/drinking in town. Hanging out with your new neighbors. Hanging out with your playwright sister. Renovating your house. Working construction. Childhood pet bird ... watching. Etc. There's no overarching point, there's no point to each either, it's just daily life SoL. It's not terrible quality dialogue, stories, characters. But it's not good either: a lot of pointless exposition dumps, 1-note noncharacters, nonstories. This is very much only for SoL enjoyers. Cringe Girls Doing Cringe Things.

The worldbuilding arbitrarily shifts sizes of most plants/animals, but it doesn't really use that for anything. It just makes it a slightly less fantastical fantasy world where all the unique races of beastmen/hobbits/giants/dragons/alien flora-fauna/etc. have all been replaced by ordinary boring earth plants/(sometimes talking)animals of altered sizes alongside shorter humans... and that doesn't really do anything in and of itself? The most it does with the varied sizes is natural consequences like varying clothing sizes from S-M-L-XL and laughably irrelevant comments like: "You must be this tall to ride-enter this town" "Wah, that's unfair", and "My tools are bigger because I'm bigger".

Other aspects of the worldbuilding follow the same vein of just being quirky for the sake of it: The spirits of treasured tools exist to just sort of be there to be referenced as being there a few times. The world's only necromancer who invented magic lightbulbs to animate skeletons through the input energy of sound is just sort of there to exist and have her slave skeletons do slave-labor occasionally and the energy is sound so music of the songstress can be pointlessly used as a tie-in. Everything about this worldbuilding is just a bunch of random ideas blended together with no actual purpose beyond pointlessly showcasing those quirky ideas. None of it actually has any narrative purpose. It's just quirky worldbuilding for the sake of being quirky.

A lot of it is weirdly reminiscent of Made in Abyss (to the point that I seriously question if it isn't the same mangaka under a different name). But childish and done terribly shallow in comparison. This ain't no Girls' Last Tour either (0 philosophy/depth). This is braindead SoL kiddy slop.

Some reviews are acting like there's romance here. There's absolutely no romance. This is a sterile kids show. There's a single (lampshade) joke about (misguidedly) shipping the roommate-friend MCs in the entire series.

Zero cinematography. Boring OP/ED visuals.

Watch the Ghibli film Arrietty instead if you want a story about the little people worth watching.

3/10 (where 5/10 is average)

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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Feb 23, 2021

Aldones

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (1/12 eps)

They're just eating 70% of the story time... and that's it...

Other 30% is some other utterly boring routine loitering, imposing an imitation of a bleak trace of emotion on totally cartoon characters.

I can't possibly fathom the stark emptiness of lives of those who consider this anime even slightly entertaining.

===
They want the review to be 500 chars min, but there's really nothing to say about this particular piece. So the only thing I can do is apologize for wasting your time - the only thing you have in your life - by writing more words than you need to read.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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Jan 12, 2018 8:41 AM by tsubasalover | Discuss (7 comments)

	Poll: Hakumei to Mikochi Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Mar 30, 2018	59 replies	by rahat100 »» Apr 19, 2:37 PM
	Why does the OP (not just the song itself, but opening credits sequence) seem so difficult to find? WatchTillTandava - Feb 24, 2020	1 replies	by St_Haborym »» Mar 15, 6:14 AM
	Poll: Hakumei to Mikochi Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 2, 2018	46 replies	by haydnwright »» Jan 18, 11:05 AM
	Poll: Hakumei to Mikochi Episode 2 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 19, 2018	48 replies	by yenbarn »» Dec 7, 2024 1:45 AM
	Poll: Hakumei to Mikochi Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jan 12, 2018	135 replies	by WhiteRoseTimmy »» Aug 8, 2024 12:07 AM