Or Ichigo Mashimaro for those who prefer japanese titles. This could very well be one of the cutest animes you will ever see. There are very few anime/manga I give my “must see” rating to, however this deffinatly is 1 of them. The most simple way to sum this up in 1 sentence would be, really cute girls do everyday things in cute ways. Because this series runs in both an Anime and a manga series, this will review both of them seperaly and sum up at the end my thoughts. Onward to the main characters of the story however as they are the whole focus of the show/manga.
Ito Nobue – Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Carol-Anne Day (English)
The oldest character in the series at 16 and is a high school student. In the anime however she is a 20 year old college student. This is presumably because she drinks and smokes, which in japan is illegal until your 20. Her personality changes a bit in 2 formats of the series. In the anime she is pretty mature, where as in the manga she is often shown as a bit of a kid herself. Personaly I like the manga version more but that is beside the point. Quite possibly her most notable and refered to personality trait is her love for the moe aesthetic. She is often found near Matsuri or Ana quitely watching them wether they are reading or bathing together. She is often called Nobue-Onee-chan by Miu, Matsuri and Ana.
Ito Chika – Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Caitlynne Medrek (English)
12 years old and the little sister of Nobue. She is in the same class as Miu and appears in the manga and anime, as the most sensible and typical girl you would expect to find of her age. She is very skilled at cooking and seems to throughly enjoy doing so. Her nickname is Chi-chan. Due to her normality (is that even a word?) there isn’t much to say about her.
Matsoka Miu – Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Caitlynne Medrek (English)
The best way to describe Miu would to use the word Trouble. She is always loud, bossy and has the least common sence out of any of the girls. She is very vocal with her odd and sometimes downright wierd thoughts. Saying something completely random out of the blue is no oddity with Miu. She lives next door to Chika and Nobue and is also 12. For some reason her usual method of entering Chika’s room is to come through her window. She is rather jelious of both Matsuri and Ana as they get more attention and affection from Nobue, who she seems to really like. I suppose its only natural as everyone has someone they want praise from right? Because of her odd thoughts and ideas, she is often found lying face down on the ground. I gather this is supposed to mean Nobue hits her a lot which sounds bad, but is often very comical.
Sakugari Matsuri – Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese), Kylie Beaven (English)
Matsuri, or Mats as she is called in the manga, is a very timid and softly spoken girl. She is quite physicaly weak and is very easy to trick. She wears glasses and has grey hair in the anime, and white in the manga. She is my personal favorite character of the series and just love her to death. Because of her gullable nature, Miu is always playing pranks or teasing her which causes Nobue to step in and set Miu straight (meaning a beating). She is a grade lower than Chika and Miu and is best friends with the last girl in the series, Ana. She has a pet ferret named John too.
Coppola Ana – Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese), Katie Rowan (English)
She is 11 years old also and is friends with Matsuri. She is originaly from england but due to her father’s work, has moved to japan 5 years before the series. Oddly enough she seems to have totaly forgotten how to speak english and refuses to speak japanese while in class, which leads her to speak engrish (long story, you’d have to read that part to understand I suppose). She makes friends with Matsuri after she figures out Ana can speak fluient japanese. Ana also seems to hate her last name too and is sometimes subjected to Mius jabs and teasings. Personality wise she is an extremely polite speaking and feminine girl. Also having blue eyes, fair skin and blonde hair, it is little wonder why she is Nobue’s favorite.
Anime Incarnation
Having introduced the characters, the next part I will start to comment on is the anime itself. Believe me when I say that this show may not be for everyone. There is almost no violence (if you count the Miu beatings that is) and the show goes at it’s own pace, which for some may be unbearably slow. Reciently I have started to adore these slower shows such as Aria and Sketchbook ~Full Colour’s~, so this show was right up my Alley. When I first decided to buy this show, I knew nothing about it. It was a spur of the moment I-have-money-and-want-to-get-something-cute thing. I bought the dvd boxed set and all 4 mangas. Looking back now I can say without doubt it was 1 of the best anime/manga related purchases I have ever made. I’ve rewatched the anime countless times and still enjoy it now. This is beside my point however so lets continue.
The anime series follows the manga events for the most part as one would expect. Sometimes characters are missing or added when an event takes place sooner/later than what it did in its counterpart but thats nothing to major. However being only 12 episodes long (and 3 OVAs which i wont count) it was required to strech, shrink and mix up the many stories that make up the 4 mangas. Parts from diffrent stories are meshed pretty smoothly together until you have a series to watch. The artwork itself is quite relaxing to watch. There are no seazure enducing flashes or dramatic images to be seen in this show. Everything is animated quite well and flows together nicely. The backgrounds and locations are reused a LOT in this show so that may a downfall for some. However I found it fine and didnt really notice for the most part. The voice acting, for me, is what made this series. The girl’s voices are so damn cute and distinguishable. After 1 episode you will be able to seperate each character from their voice alone. Something not many shows could do I feel. Wether it is Miu’s shouting or Matsuri’s timidness, the voices really fit the characters well and does a wonderful job enhancing the show.
If I had to pick a fault with the show, and I believe I do, it would be that there just isn’t enough episodes. The only thing I can honestly say that is bad about the show (at least for me) is that 12 episodes isn’t nearly enough because you grow to love the characters and humor they have. I really hope that in the future this show gets another anime series, because it deserves it.
Physicaly the dvd boxed set is quite appealing too. All 3 dvds from Geneon are packaged in a pretty collection box which has pictures of Miu on it. Each dvd comes with 4 episodes, a bright and colourful insert which is also reverseable and an artwork insert which could very well be used as a mini-poster if you wished to. I bought mine when it was on sale for just $40 US so I got a pretty good deal.
Manga Incarnation
While I dont have a whole lot to say that hasn’t already beeen said for the anime series, here is the manga part of the series review. Published by Tokyopop and my prefered method of seeing this series. I adore the girls cute voices but there is something about the manga itself that I just love and cant really put into words. Perhaps its just a case of prefering 1 medium over another but as is the case with all mangas though, the first issue of Strawberry Marshmallow is quite diffrent from the rest of the series. The creator Barasui has said he never expected this to become a series so the girls had very diffrent looks as they do in the later issumes/anime episodes. The same can be said about their personalities to a degree too. For Example Nobue has gone through the most drastic changes out of all the girls. At the beginning she has long blonde (i’m guessing) hair. Over the next few chapters she cuts and dyes her hair until she final gets her short, brown hair.
Miu also goes through a change like this so it may be a bit confusing at first as to which girl is which but eventualy it settles on the styles they have now. I just noticed i’m about as far off the point of the manga as I could be without breaking into another chain of thought so lets get back to the book itself. The art for the manga, like the anime, is simple and yet it works really well. The faces and reaction on the characters are cute and sometimes quite humorious. There are even some situations and story parts that are left out in the anime which are pretty funny to read.
If I had to fault the manga however it would be that sometimes there is no explanations of puns and jokes. I guess this is something that cant be helped with every manga or anime that gets an english version. There is always going to be things we just dont understand because of culture diffrences or so forth. However a few pages at the end of the book just letting you know what X joke ment would of been nice to have.
Physicaly the manga is pretty much what you would expect. It has nice artwork on the front and back, a very clearly labeled and numbered spine and is printed in classic, right-to-left manga style. Between each chapter/story it seems there is also a nice double sidded artwork picture of 1 of the girls in a random outfit, Say a waitress, astronaut, doctor and such. Quite a pretty looking book set if I do say so.
Final Overview
As i’ve said already, this series belongs in everyones collection. The stories, artwork, characters and humor are all just so well done that the show really becomes to cute to not like. Yes there are faults with it, like the mentioned reuse of backdrops and slow pacing, but if you can deal with them you will throughly enjoy the show. All in all these books are cheap and if you see these in a store, pick it up and have a quick flick through. Chances are you will enjoy it.
I’d give the anime a 8/10 myself.
I’d give the manga a 9/10 if your looking for a slice-of-life comedy about 4 cute girls and an older sister