Why on earth do I find Ichigo Mashimaro so appealing?
It could be the talented voice cast, or the sheer insanity of the non-plots, or Miu’s pleasantly sociopathic worldview, or the goofball situations, or even the incredibly sticky opening theme. Any of those things is enough.
But I think ultimately,that its just that its so darn *cute* that really wins. And don’t think that that doesn’t irk the daylights out of me! It does – I hate being swayed by cute. I maintain myself as the anti-cute reader, a single point of pessimistic darkness in the world of moe/loli Yuri fandom who think two cute girls snuggling equals Yuri.
And yet…
As much as I don’t want to think about it, this series *does* have Yuri. Miu is clearly crushing on Nobue. I don’t see Nobue actually having desire for any of the kids, but this series is probably the best example (certainly the least gross) of moe, I’ve ever seen. Nobue’s affection for Matsuri and Ana has all the qualities of moe. She clearly has a need to protect, and desire to snuggle, them like a kid with stuffed animals.
But for me, the real attraction is Miu. She’s barking mad and happy to be it. Nobue and she have enough in common that the resulting tension moves the story zippily along and is darned fun while doing so.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Music – 7
Yuri – 7
Overall – 7.5
Really, talking about this series doesn’t cut it. Just watch it and laugh. There, that was easy.
“…She’s barking mad AND HAPPY TO BE SO.”
It’s that last bit that makes Miu so likeable. ^_^
I really hoped it wouldn’t happen, but I think the manga’s ruined the anime for me. Damn.
(Another 12 letter garbled “Word Verification” test, another reason to chuck the whole ‘Comment’ concept entirely. Grrr…)
Um… if staring at Ana in Ep 5 (the sleepover) and getting distracted when Ana’s skirt gets lifted by Miu in Ep 9 doesn’t count as ‘Yuri’ tendencies on Nobue’s part, then I don’t know what does. :D
I’m willing to accept the nekogirl outfit in Ep 3 was something that she just happened to have around, and Nobue’s sudden blushes at seeing and hearing Mitsuri-nekochan were based on the sheer cuteness of the image presented, but there are parts which make me think that Nobue IS too easily distracted by Ana to be completely innocent, especially when it comes to skirt-raising and being more than ready to see Ana’s… ah… developments.
I havent seen the Anime yet but I have the mangas and I have to agree with haesslich that Nobue must have some kind of attraction to the girls. I’m not saying she’s a sexual preditor or anything, but if she were a he, she’d be in alot of trouble by now ^^;
I like Nobue though and think it’s adorible that she likes the girls, though I take her as an avatar for the authors probible affection for the characters. Wich is good since I think a man must love cute girls to draw cute girls :)
Found this old blog entry when googling ‘Ichigo Mashimaro Moe’ to see how many reults I got that categorized it as such. After reading the entry, I was left a bit puzzled. I most definately find IM to be moe, but Yuri? No way. Shoojo-ai would be better to describe it I think. Or is it that there is some ambiguity/overlap between the two terms amongst english language manga/anime fans?
kind regards
/rune
lovfro@[nospam]hotmail.com
nb: and I agree with punistation that the word verification is a bit much, especially when you have to do it twice if you preview your post >_