Spirit of Wonder

Manga series by Kenji Tsuruta that ran from 1986 to 1996 with a very, very slow release schedule -- a grand total of 2 volumes worth of material were published over its ten year run. A one-shot OVA and later a 4 episode mini-series were produced based on some of the stories.

The tales are technically Science Fiction, but somewhere past the "Play-Doh" end of the Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness -- in one chapter the characters use aether theory to travel to Mars in a zeppelin. Just put away that science text book, the characters are the focus here.

The first volume is an anthology series of mostly unconnected stories, the second volume focuses on a Chinese young lady running a tea-house in Bristol, England. When she's not busy running her business, "Miss China" as she is known to the locals spends most of her time either hounding her Mad Scientist tenant Dr. Breckenridge for this month's rent, pining after his young assistant Jim or dealing with the consequences of their latest invention. (And demanding to know how they had the money to build it with the rent still unpaid...)


 * All Chinese People Know Kung Fu: Played dead straight with Miss China.
 * No Endor Holocaust: Jim and Breckenridge blow up the moon and reform it into a ring around the earth. No real consequences other than people in the town gossiping a bit.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Assuming it is a nickname, since Miss China even calls herself that.
 * Perpetual Poverty: Jim and Breckenridge have carved "Happy Birthday China!" on the moon, blown it up and produced a working matter teleporter among other things, yet apparently every financier they talk to refuses to take them seriously.
 * Reed Richards Is Useless: Invoked intentionally, even they can't figure out why they get no respect.
 * Science in Genre Only: A mash-up of half-remembered high school science class tidbits and Weird Science. The resulting "scientific theories" bear distinct resemblances to troll physics.
 * Tsundere: Miss China is a Tsundere with Super Strength and a black belt in Martial Arts and Crafts. In one chapter Jim deliberately goads her into punching him to bend some steel bars for a machine he's building.
 * Worst News Judgment Ever: After carving the birthday message on the moon, Breckenridge confidently tells Jim to read him the newspaper headlines the next day. It's full of minor gossip. It's implied that the entire town made a collective decision to Not Talk About It.