Maris the Chojo, aka The Supergal (or just Supergal), is a one-shot science fiction comedy manga created by Rumiko Takahashi and published in the October 1980 issue of Shonen Sunday Super, subsequently reprinted in the Rumic World collection.
It revolves around the titular Maris, a Thanatosian struggling to make ends meet as a member of the Inter-Galactic Space Patrol. Thanatosians possess Super-Strength, but Maris is abnormally strong even for a Thanatosian, to the point her power-restraining harness barely helps. Fortune seems to suddenly smile on her when she picks up the mission to rescue the kidnapped son of an intergalactic quadrillionaire, Koganemaru, from a fellow Thanatosian — her old wrestling rival, Sue. Hilarity Ensues as Maris attempts to battle Sue and rescue Koganemaru in hopes of earning a big reward — or, even better, a handsome and fabulously wealthy husband...
Maris the Chojo provides examples of:
- All for Nothing: Maris defeats Sue and saves Koganemaru... except Koganemaru was in on the whole plot and in fact faked his own kidnapping. Worse, he's fallen in love with Sue, and proposes to her after being saved, dashing Maris' dreams of a rich husband and leaving her with nothing but an increased debt... especially once she gets done smashing up her ship in a fit of rage.
- Ancient Astronauts: Maris' partner is Murphy, an alien who resembles a kitsune.
- Animated Adaptation: The manga one-shot was adapted into one of the "Rumik World" series of OAVs, releasing on May 21, 1986.
- Blessed with Suck:
- Thanatosians are superhumanly strong compared to the average humanoid in their galaxy. Unfortunately, when Thanatos blew up, they were forced to scatter across the galaxy, and standard equipment just isn't built to tolerate being handled by beings with such strength.
- Maris is super-strong by Thanatosian standards, meaning that even with her power-restraining harness, she is constantly destroying everything she touches. This results in her constantly struggling to pay off her debts for all the things that she breaks.
- Asian Fox Spirit: Murphy resembles a nine-tailed fox, and is clearly based on the Japanese kitsune.
- Curtains Match the Window: Maris has red hair and equally red eyes.
- Destructive Savior: Maris doesn't mean to wreck things, but her Power Incontinence means that even when she saves the day, she tends to destroy stuff in the process.
- Fiery Redhead: Maris is a redheaded girl with Super-Strength and a fighting temper. She used to be a professional wrestler, to the point the story's antagonist is her arch-rival from those days, and now works as a space cop.
- Gold Digger: Maris wants to marry Koganemaru in no small part because he's a quadrillionaire and she wants to escape her life of Perpetual Poverty.
- Hates Their Parent: Maris doesn't like either of her parents; dad's The Alcoholic and mom's a bimbo.
- Heavyworlder: Thanatosians are super strong due to their home planet having a lot more gravity than Earth.
- Human Aliens: Thanatosians look perfectly human, save for unusual hair and eye colors, and their Super-Strength.
- Perpetual Poverty: Because Maris constantly breaks things, her wages are forever being deducted to cover the damage she does, leaving her scraping to survive.
- Power Incontinence: Maris can't control her Super-Strength, resulting in her constantly wrecking things.
- Power Limiter: Maris wears a special harness that restrains her Super-Strength. Unfortunately for her, she's so strong that it still doesn't limit her enough to prevent her from suffering Power Incontinence.
- Rescue Romance: Invoked. Maris hopes that if she rescues Koganemaru, he will fall in love with her and propose marriage.
- Self-Duplication: Murphy is capable of creating nine copies of anything he touches with his tail.
- Shout-Out: The Thanatosian strength-restraining harness looks a lot like a similar harness used in Kyojin No Hoshi.
- Space Police: Maris and Murphy work for the Inter-Galactic Space Patrol.
- Spell My Name With An S: Is Maris' rival "Sue" or "Suzy"? It depends on the translation!
- Super-Strength: This is the racial hat of the Thanatosians. Maris wears a class-6 strength-restraint, whilst her rival "only" wears a class-3 one.
