Ichigo 100% - Jump Festa 2004 Review

story 1/10

Sometimes, I think the creators of certain anime series must be fourteen year old boys with raging hormones. Other times, I think they must be 35 year old virgins. Whatever the case, this theory of mine is seemingly proven with something like Ichigo 100%, which easily falls to new levels of crappiness in the realm of anime.

The story revolves around Junpei, and how many women can possibly not only want him, but show him their panties. Err, wait... that’s not really the story, but it sure as hell seems like the point! The loose "story" is related to Junpei and his gang filming a movie out in the countryside. But seriously folks, let’s not kid ourselves... the real story is created by men who cannot possibly get laid, who want to live out their own fantasy of every woman in the world wanting to grab your dick and show off their goods. Sorry anime creators; every time you walk into a room, there isn’t going to be a woman conveniently lying on the ground showing off her ass in panties. You won’t be running around outside in the rain with a girl (who wants you, of course), only to have to take shelter in an abandoned building where you will both strip naked and rub against each other for warmth. After that, love interest number 26 (who also wants you, of course) won’t bust in and be jealous because love interest 15 is all over you. Random women don’t show up naked in your bed. You are not a stud.

I wish these points could be understood in the anime creator realm, but unfortunately it’s not and thus, we keep getting shit like this in the process. Seriously, what was the point of this OVA? And for god’s sake, why is it getting rated a 7 or 8 in most other anime databases? This fact specifically baffles me. It seems like everyone I’ve talked to, even people who *love* ecchi, think this is total garbage. Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of ecchi, but I still don’t automatically rate something down if it falls in that vein. Ichigo 100%, unlike some other series out there, is just completely useless except for the (bad) panty shots. There’s no plot, it’s just 25 minutes of watching this guy find naked women everywhere like it’s a fucking easter egg hunt. Even more ridiculous is that rather than trying to come across as what it is – a stupid hormonal look at women wanting the same guy – it tries to throw in sentimental and touching emotions about one relationship in particular. This just makes the entire thing seem even more like a joke.

I could ramble on about how useless the plot is for hours, so I’ll just stop now. Needless to say, even if you like ecchi, odds are this will come across as totally useless for you (unless you badly, badly need jack off material). Additionally, I’d like to offer a free prescription of Risperdal to anyone who actually votes this OVA a 7 or 8, since so far, I haven’t run across anyone who would do so, even ecchi lovers. Seek professional help, seriously.

animation 7/10

If there ever was an award for camera angles for panty shots, Ichigo 100% OVA would probably win it. Admittedly, the panty shots are all conveniently angled to look good (if you find that sort of thing appealing), but literally that’s the bulk of the animation. We see lots of flustered faces, skin, and panties, but there’s little to the OVA besides that. Characters look a little weird, and the females all look too manly for me with their designs (especially Nishino). Then there’s one of the male characters who seriously looks like he had two little smokies implanted where his lips should have been. That or he got stung by a bee, causing his lips to swell up past the size of my fingers.

I will admit that the colors were dark and vibrant, and one scene in particular (the field with the fireflies at the end) was impressive. Backgrounds appeared to be made out of watercolors, with plenty of detail. The animation was decent in general.

sound 5/10

Nothing exciting on this front. Generic pop type beats were prevalent throughout some of the OVA, but definitely were nothing special or memorable. If you like dating sim type music, that’s what you’ll find throughout Ichigo 100%. Most of the time, however, music is absent and replaced with ambient sounds such as the rain falling or noises of the forest. I really don’t think the music was high up on the priority list of the people making this OVA, since they were too busy concocting any possible way to throw in more panty shots. Voice actors seemed fine.

characters 2/10

I’ve never understood the appeal of something whose entire point is to show 10 girls all lusting after the same guy, but then again, I’m not a guy. I don’t mind this so much when there’s an actual plot or some sort of comedy. Unfortunately in this OVA’s case, it literally is the ENTIRE point. In addition, we know zero about any of the characters (unless you’ve seen the made-afterwards TV series or have read the manga), know zero about why they actually like this oafish guy Junpei, or why they even end up in certain situations. Why is blue haired girl #2 in Junpei’s bed when he gets up? Why didn’t Junpei and Toujo just run back to where their friends were, as they clearly weren’t too far away (since Nishino obviously found them), instead of conveniently choosing to go into an abandoned building and rub all over each other on accident? I felt nothing for any of the characters, and they were underdeveloped in all cases.

overall 1.5/10

Ichigo 100% OVA is easily one of the most useless things I’ve ever seen. Before you jump all over me and claim I’m rating it this low because of the ecchi-factor, think again. There was no plot. There was no character development. There was nothing endearing about the ecchi, even comedy-wise, that would have made it anything more than useless. Watch this only if you like panty shots at interesting angles. Not for the genre, plot, characters, or anything else. Be forewarned, and keep in mind it’s a steaming pile of feces.