Ichigo Mashimaro Review

I was thinking of a new anime to watch since I had been running my socks off with tons of anime marathons, with Eyeshield 21, Honey and Clover first season being two of the series I have been watching. Then, I was looking around the blogs and had a lucky chance to once again chance on Ichigo Mashimaro, an anime that I was always interested to watch.

Then the chance came when I recently acquired the skills to use IRC (yes, it’s old school) and found a place to get the chance to watch it. Hence, this is my review of Ichigo Mashimaro. Ichigo Mashimaro is a slice of life series of four elementary students, two in year 6 and two in year 5. In simple terms, it is a series about the normal life of the four girls, with their funny antics at various things such as the public bath, name-calling, festivals or the customary Christmas episode. What I found in an anime site was the following description of the anime.

“A cute series that cute girls do cute things in cute ways.”

Ichigo Mashimaro is much more than just cuteness.

Plot

The series is in fact clean humor as the usage of elementary students without fanservice (thank god!) meant that we focused on the interactions of the four students and the older sister of Chika, Nobue. It is also good comedy because I found myself laughing quite a bit at the series, especially with the interaction between Miu, Chika and Nobue.

They are really a romp sometimes with their horrendously funny antics, especially when Miu goes about a crazy rampage about certain issues that were completely crazy. There is no coherent plot, like Aria the natural, simply using character development and episodic themes so that you can watch it in any order you like it. However, watching it in order will provide a seasonal flow, since it covered the life of the girls for 1 year in the 12 episodes.

I will go next to the character description since Ichigo Mashimaro is all about the characters. The characters made this series really great.

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Characters

Ito Nobue

Nobue is a chain smoking elder sister of Chika and she is in fact 20 years old when she has a babyface of 16 years old. She is studying but has a problem of waking up early, unlike her younger elemetary sister. Seemingly carefree and without a boyfriend, she often spends time with the four elementary sisters.

She always seems to be out of cash and we can see that immediately from the first episode where she asks Chika for money to buy cigarettes, using all sorts of methods to get the money. Nobue also has rather strange fetishes with cuteness, often blushing when Matsuri and Ana appears. There was an episode where she is giving advice to Matsuri on how to get rid of them and she says if she is distracted by her wearing a neko constume and saying nyaa~, she will be distracted immediately.

She also has a slightly love-annoyed relationship with Miu, the neighbour that stays just directly opposite the Ito sisters. Miu’s crazy antics often gets her slightly annoyed and Miu is on the receiving end of most antics, being face palmed on the ground most of the times.

Matsuka Miu

Miu is the neighbour of Chika and Kozue and is a year 6 elementary student that is in the same class as Chika. She is totally insane and have really warped ideas in her mind. She is extremely hyperactive in her ways, as we see her jumping through the window and running across the balcony all the time to Chika’s room. I mean, only a crazily insane kid will do that instead of entering the house from the main gate. She is also very good at sports.

She is not that smart and often relys on Chika for homework issues and the likes, with Chika refusing her attempts immediately. We realise that because when Chika borrows her books to Miu, Miu will simply copy it wholesale. Her antics do not only belong in the interaction between the four but also in the classroom, with great amusment.

She often bullies Matsuri and Ana, who are generally more innocent, especially with her teasing of Ana’s surname, Coppola until Ana fell asleep. She is often face-palmed on the ground (refer to first few screenshots above) as a punishment on various positions due to her dare-devil techniques. However, it is clear that she really likes the company and is simply lonely. Still, her antics and crazy ideas to trick the girls are a running joke in this series.

Ito Chika

Chika is the only elementary girl that is the most sensible among the four. In fact, she is even described by Miu and her own sister as having no characteristics, since she is often just a very normal girl that gets annoyed by the antics of Miu and her sister. Still, it is clear that she is very close to Miu, as she often tries to follow and play with Miu even when she is really busy at work. She is studious for sure but is sometimes gullible.

She is probably the most mature girl among the four, and is a good baker. However, she also acts her age at times when it comes to tricking and teasing Matsuri. I guess Matsuri is too fun a victim not to disturb.

Sakuragi Matsuri

Matsuri is the bespectaled girl in this anime and she seems to be the most innocent among the four, as we see her first appearance crying to Kozue about the loss of something (I forgot). She seems to be easily tricked and manipulated by Miu, as she always does Miu’s bidding without understanding much. It is clear that she is very gullible when it comes to things.

She has a steady relationship with Ana. Kozue often finds her very cute and there is this episode where she dresses up in a cat constume and is really cute, especially with her slightly blur gaze at everyone. She is also slightly clumsy but always fun to be with. The attacks of various Miu antics usually.

Coppola Ana

The english girl of the group. She is my favorite character because she looks really cute. She is in fact an english girl that cannot speak any english, as she have spent most of her life in Japan. In fact, she knows a lot about Japanese idioms and customs, even more than the girls here. However, she seems to have bad experiences when she started interacting with others using Japanese, and was keen to avoid using it.

However, she was discovered by Matsuri and became friends with her. She is also rather innocent and is a victim of Miu’s jokes about her surname and various things about her being English. However, Nobue adores her a lot because she is cute and all. Hence, she is always protected by the dangerous Miu most of the time. Her chest also disturbs Miu, since Nobue calls Miu flat-chested.

She is a rich girl living in a huge mansion, with a giant dog with an extremely long name that I cannot remember. Easily my favorite cute character.

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Graphics and thoughts

I really enjoyed the ride after watching Ichigo Mashimaro in one go. This anime hooks you easily with the OP, which is a really catchy tune about cuteness and the likes. I personally found that it builds up the mood of the whole show and I truly enjoy the crazy interactions. Miu’s lies and deceit are really cute, as it is not only innocence but also shows how she can be really evil at times to Ana and Matsuri.

Matsuri is also really cute with her gullible antics, with Nobue, Chika and Miu taking full advantage of it. The graphics are sharp and simple, but good enough for a slice of life series. The great thing about this show was the lack of blatant fanservice, which I think would have seriously reduced this show’s rating tremendously. The thing is that I can really see it coming from another studio, which is why I think Domu deserves a ~pachi pachi pachi~ for this.

All in all, a really good comedy series, with young elementary girls, their lives and their amusing antics. Recommended for all who likes humor and cuteness in an anime.

Screenshots