Archive for the Ichigo Mashimaro Category


Yuri Anime: Ichigo Mashimaro

October 13th, 2005

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.





Yuri Manga: Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 2

August 9th, 2005

I’m woman enough to admit when I’m defeated. And there is no doubt in my mind that Ichigo Mashimaro has won by a knockout.

I originally caved back in May, when I reviewed Volume 1 of the manga, but now I’m full blown moe-geeking at the utter cuteness and wacky humor of this story. Look, Ma, I’m a genuine otaku now!

Volume 2 is more of the same nothing that is usual for Ichigo Mashimaro. Miu and Nobue treat everyone – especially each other – with unusual cruelty that somehow manages to be adorable even as its being eviler than just about anything else I’ve ever seen. And that, in a nutshell, is what has got me hooked. I just adore psychotic women. lol

So, in Volume 2, we are introduced to the last of our main cast, the European doll-like Ana, who hails from Cornwall, but has about as much English as the average Japanese elementary school student. In other words – almost none. Watching as Ana tries desperately to pretend to not know Japanese or any of the right customs is just plain hysterical.

The rest of this volume is taken up with several fanservice-y shorts, a bath episode, a Christmas episode, a running gag about a local vending machine that serves up random objects and other goofball stuff that’s funnier than it has a right to be.

And, at last, there’s a hint of the yuri that I just haven’t seen until now. Okay, its true that Nobue hugs Ana when she meets her, but she is drunk at the time. And she clearly thinks of Matsuri as a pet, not as a girl. After reading Volume 2 (and 3, but that’s a later review) I’m sticking with the Miu x Nobue combo. Miu has it bad for Nobue and frankly, I can see Nobue being okay with that. Remember, manga Nobue is 16…not so huge and uncomfortable a gap between that and Miu’s 12. I’m pretty sure we *all* had crushes on older women at that age. (In retrospect, mine was probably my babysitter, Biz Ann.) So, yeah.

The final chapter traces a cold that begins with Chika, but ends up being Miu’s. In her eternal desire to gain Nobue’s attention, Miu demands that Nobue see if she has a fever (she doesn’t….but she will.) As she lifts her face to Nobue, Nobue leans over and kisses Miu on the lips. A little surprisingly, Miu freaks. They then go on to play doctor, in a way that I’m pretty sure I never did as a kid. But I digress. Oh, and the best gag of the chapter is Chika sneezing messily on her older sister. Twice. It’s infantile, and gross, but really, really funny.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 5

For sheer bizarro wacky humor and psycho babydyke-in-training Miu, this manga is a serious win.





Yuri Manga: Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 1

May 11th, 2005

Still playing “catch up”. Last month I tried, but failed horribly, to hate Ichigo Mashimaro. You can read about my shameful failure in the April 1, 2004 entry.

So, with tail tucked firmly between my legs, and lots of discretionary income to spend, I parked myself in front of the Dengeki Comics section of Mandarake in Nakano and proceeded to buy the first volume of this just too-cute-to-hate series.

My opinion has not substantially changed from the first review. I’ve got the hang of the story now, though. Basically, each chapter is about some totally normal and a little silly situation that, slowly and adorably, goes out of control until you’re giggling and feeling slightly foolish to be doing so at your age.

There is a definite, yet minor-key, rivalry for Nobue’s attention between Matsuri and Miu, but mostly on Miu’s part. Matsuri is too much of a baby to have a real crush on Nobue, while Miu’s desire to be noticed by her would be a teeny little pathological if it weren’t so damn cute!

The manga begins with Nobue at 16, as a blonde kogal with a nasty nicotine addiction, surrounded by her little sister’s friends who crawl in and out of the windows to their apartment like it was their own home. As the up-coming anime has Nobue at 20, I can only guess that Miu’s crush takes on a little complexity as time goes on. Future volumes of the manga will tell, assumably.

Even if there wasn’t Yuri in this (and I have to have the Yuri goggles turned up fairly high to see it, honesly) Ichigo Mashimaro is just too freakin’ cute to miss.

Ratings the same as the first time around.

If this manga can melt even my hardened little heart, the rest of the world will probably adore it.





Yuri Manga: Ichigo Mashimaro

April 1st, 2005

Ichigo Mashimaro is yet *another* one of Dengeki’s too-cute for words series with some Yuri in it.

By the time I got around to reading the current chapter of this manga in April’s Dengeki Daioh, my teeth fairly ached with sweet and cute overload. So I put on my grumpiest face and prepared to HATE this manga with all my heart.

I failed.

It was a horrible failure, too – half a dozen pages into it, I was giggling like a moron. Giggling. Me. It was embarrassing.

Basically, Ichigo Mashimaro is the story of a bunch of cute girls, being really cute and doing really cute things cutely. By all rights it should be abysmal. Only, it’s not. But as far as I can see, it’s not like there’s a plot, either.

Itoh Nobue is a young woman who lives with her much younger sister, Chika. I was *shocked* to find out that Nobue is supposed to be 20 years old. The art style is moe, with no real reference to real body types. But still…20? And a chain smoker.

Chika, who is 11 or so, has a bunch of friends who come over a lot and play, including Matsuoka Miu – a born troublemaker who is in love with Nobue. So there’s your Yuri.

An anime for this series is slated to start shortly – early next month – so we’ll get to see if that particular relationship is carried over, but it’s not like it could go anywhere anyway. We’re basically talking schoolgirl crush on Miu’s part.

I have not read any more than one single chapter of this particular series, but I have seen it bandied about on every single Japanese “Yuri manga” list ever. So I can’t tell you what happens – except for the synopsis of the one chapter I did read.

We come into the story to find that Sakuragi Matsuri (one of Chika’s friends) is wearing a cute little bear or something outfit. Nobue comments how cute she looks, so Miu runs off and comes back with bunny ears to try and get praise from Nobue. Nobue says that the ears don’t suit her, takes them off Miu and gives them to Coppola Ana, another of Chika’s friends. At which *everyone* exclaims how adorable Ana looks.

Miu runs off and returns dressed as Dracula, bites Matsuri on the neck (which is just about where I gave up trying to hate the manga) and tries to scare the other girls. Chika, our hero, draws a cross to defeat Dracula, but Dracula seems unimpressed. Chika tries again – she goes to the kitchen and returns with garlic – only to find Miu sitting quietly, sans costume, playing a video game.

The end.

It would take a hardier person than me to actively hate this harmless piece of fluff.

I’m not really sure how to rate this one – the art is basic, the story is almost non-existent and the cute characters just do cute stuff cutely.

We’ll give it an overall 7 and see where it goes.