Ichigo Mashimaro Manga, Volume 8 (苺ましまろ)

December 17th, 2017

Barasui is consistent, I’ll give him that. The last volume of Ichigo Mashimaro was 4 years ago, and the previous one was four years before that. Nice work if you can get it.

Unfortunately for us, a lot of what made Volume 7 so brilliant is gone in Volume 8. Miu has stopped playing to Chika’s intelligent straightman and has returned to playing to Matsuri’s tiresome gullibility.  I’m not sure why Ana just doesn’t get up and walk way at this point. Chika can’t, they’re in her room, and she clearly likes the background noise.

In Volume 8 of Ichigo Mashimaro, we have Miu pretending to be an alien, and Chika subtlely undermining her, but it’s mostly Miu saying ridiculous stuff and watching Matsuri being amazed. This wears thin in a short time.

The best chapter by far is one that begins with Nobue face down on the ground.  Miu concocts a complex and fascinating series of rebuses that send the other four on a quest for something. The puzzles are complicated and erudite, which meant that it was Chika and Nobue doing the heavy lifting. It turns out that the something in question is Chika’s diary. Nobue shows us that cruel streak she occasionally has and reads passages out loud until Chika snaps and knocks her lights out. It wasn’t a feel-good story, but once again, I find myself on team Chika.

The final chapters hinge on the classmate who is always being sent out to stand in the hallway and his particular forms of cluelessness, and a Q&A game played by the gang while at a hot spring. 

Not the funniest issue, but possibly the most emotionally complicated. The best thing to come from it were definitely the t-shirts I got in Akihabara.

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 5 for everyone else, 100 for Chika
Service – 6 Not as much, but still….

Overall – 7

Amusing rather than funny. I think Barasui’s a little tired of doing this.

One Response

  1. adorable says:

    I don’t think he’s getting tired of this. He releases very slowly anyway, and it certainly isn’t showing signs of getting lazy. And of course, it’s still as cute as ever…

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