1) An inexact but working translation of the title of theJapanese 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...