I've always had a soft spot for Mamechi and Mimichi. They are generally termed the "best" characters; however, since there's something rather sick and Nazi-ish about ranking sub-races of Tamagotchis, I choose to think of it as a reference to the Mamechi and Mimichis' relative health and longevity. These two take longer to age and become needy, and they are relatively low maintenance as adults. (I know this 'cause I've tabulated the number of meals and games the mame, ginji and masku-chi require every day; 9, 10 and 11 respectively.)
However, I've only gotten mamechi twice, and I've never gotten mimichi (possibly because I keep forgetting my Gen 2 Tam in my coat pocket).
Adult-chi Type 1, Generation 1: Mamechi
My first tamagotchi, Joli, was a mamechi, so as a result I've retained a huge soft spot in my
heart for them. However, I've also frequently heard them maligned: On Ali's Tamagotchi Tips page
(No longer with us, alas) Ale suggests that Mamechi are comparatively "annoying" in old age,
and my sister has gone so far as to call it a "hideous, chubby chipmunk-thing, jogging in place
like Homer Simpson".
My Japanese Tamagotchi book (Tamagotchi Daihyakka, or TD) notes that "when you
raise a serious, intelligent tamagotchi, it matures into a mamechi. It is a genius, with an IQ
of 250, is very polite, and lives a well-organized life. However, it can sometimes be a little
too serious and stubborn."
While I find it vaguely disturbing that my pet had a higher IQ than myself (and yet I frequently
won the direction-guessing game... what does that mean, that he was letting me win?!),
I have found his regular sleeping schedule (10:00 PM to 9:00 AM) to be very harmonious with my
own. In Japanese non-authorized Tamagotchi books, he is often referred to as "usagi-chi"
("bunny") or "mimi-chi" ("ears": obviously, this was before the Second Generation was released.)
His real name, "mamechi", literally means "bean"; however, this is part of a Japanese idiomatic
phrase meaning "studious" or "faithful".
In the official Tamagotchi comic, at least two mamechi have appeared. As far as I know, this
comic series was never collected into paperback form, so I'm working from memory... but one
mamechi appears to have helped Professor Banzo and Mika-chu in the rescue of the little baby eggs
from the Sumida River, where their UFO crashed.
The other is Ton-kitchi. He is sort of a main character, and is actually owned by Mika-chu.
He was a late bloomer; although Mika-chu's friend's tams had become Tarako-chi and Nyoro-chi,
he remained a tama-chi. He became quite agitated at the thought that (as a perpetual kodomo-chi)
he'd never get to go boozing or enter a pachinko (pin-ball) parlour; however, it seems he
matured into a polite little mamechi, always well-mannered and frequently using the polite/formal
form of speech.
In one episode, he managed to repair the original UFO, which Professor Banzo had apparently
destroyed. He seemed very eager to see Planet Tamagotchi, the homeland he had never seen, and
decided that the other tams should also come along, whether they wanted to or not!
An interesting Mamechi related page is
Mamechi86's page.
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