It wasn't a bad anime, but there really isn't much payoff here. I'll start by saying that I didn't hate or dislike this anime, but it doesn't really stand out. Its a slice of life with little to no story. Characters, well, there is one I like and 1 that is OK I guess. But that's 2/5 characters (I rarely remember names so I'll say I liked the older sister, and the ADHD one was OK). The other 3 kinda come across as 2 dimensional. The music isnt very memorable. The voices are OK(dub), dont really have any complaints there.
Strawberry marshmallow make frequent use of prolonged silence, which when used correctly, can be comedy gold. That is not the case here. It ends up being somewhat boring with minor chuckles here and there. Animation was fine but again, didn't go out of its way to impress me.
I'm right on the borderline in deciding whether or not liked the anime. But I did enjoy it, if that makes sense.
Was going to give 5/10 but I decided to give it 6 because I thought that it was more good than it was bad. I'd save this anime to watch for when you run out of other anime to watch or you have little kids around to watch it.
-Story-
In Slice-of -life animes, the plot is not as critical and is more dependent on comedy instead of leaving the audience on the edge of their seats. So it may seem that the plot is non-existant in Strawberry Marshmallow, but it doesnt need a big and grand plot to be good, it needs great humor, which Strawberry Marshmallow is not short on at all. There were some instances when I just cracked up laughing at the antics of all the girls. Most of the jokes were quite funny. Also the stories in each individual episode portrayed simple things which can be a welcome change to plot driven animes as opposed to humor and character driven animes like Strawberry Marshmallow is.
-Animation-
Not a whole to to piss and moan about in Strawberry Marshmallow's animation. I found it to be well drawn and had a flowing feeling to it. There were a couple of instances where the background seemed static, but that is mostly not noticable. The designs of the characters were well suited for the personalities of each individual characters, and I found them to be quite original.
-Characters-
There is not much to say about the characters except that they were amazing. With slice of life animes being more humor and character driven, they cannot get away with having a mediocre cast of characters, but Strawberry Marshmallow has a great cast of characters, even the few minor characters. Mui was annoying, but she was a neccasary type of annoying, which set up many of Strawberry Marshmallow's good jokes. Ana was an interesting character, being that she is English yet she has forgotten how to speak english. Chika is a normal girl who often plays the straight man to Mui's out of control attitude. Matsuri was a cute and kind character who made the show much more interesting with her presense and her character drove the story of my favorite episode, which was the last one. I liked Nobue's character. She's so cool that she doesnt mind hanging out with her little sister and her friends, and actually enjoys it. As much as I despise smoking, it was a something that fit Nobue's character more convincing. As for pretty much the only minor character was the little boy sitting behind Matsuri in class, who was always sent to the hall for stupid, and quite hilarious reasons, and it made me laugh every time.
-Overall-
This anime was great. The characters and humor drove the stories along nicely, and provided me with some good laughs. I would recomend this anime highly. This one is definatly worth your time to watch.
Ichigo Mashimaro (Strawberry Marshmallow) had all the traits of being a very benign production, yet I could only wonder how malignant it was for me in watching these twelve ‘iyashikei’ episodes of four fifth grade girls and one rebel of a teen-aged sister. I think it came with the first line of the theme song ... ‘don't think of us as cute,’ or words to that effect. There were moments I felt the girls weren't aiming so much for kawaii, but if they were trying for moe ... plane hits ground and bursts into flames ... or however that saying goes.
Honestly, of the twelve episodes, I had to rewatch three. Something to do to dozing off while viewing. As characters go, there was little to complain about studious Chika, innocent Matsuri, and English lass Ana, but Strawberry Marshmallow played too much with Miu's naughty, semi-comedic character. Gifted with the sarcasm without the intelligence which makes it work. But the saucy comments Lime Anime (company used to develop the dubbed version) dropped during the break segments nudged the concept too close to the Lolita concept. A toxic mix of sweet and vulgar.
This made making the characters act anything close to realistic difficult. I had trouble relating to Ana when she was introduced. An English girl with enough background in Japanese to communicate, but uncertain which language to use (the dubbed version slaughtered the refined English accent one would associate with one from the sceptered isle). Plus, the anime loosely paired the characters of long-suffering Chika with annoying neighbor Miu, and sweet Matsuri with sympathetic Ana. The final episodes dealt with how one should take Santa Claus; in defending Matsuri's faith in Santa, Miu could pinpoint when she renounced Santa, and Ana when she knew the wisdom of holding to the jolly elf. It was that touch of iyashikei that I missed throughout all the other episodes. But the counter-weight to the antics of the four elementary schoolers, Chika's older sister Nobue, was deadweight. A chain-smoker and beer-binger, it was hard to see the so-called ‘mature’ member of the cast inject anything positive into the plot. Plot, a thing that was so lacking in this series.
The animation was, to be blunt, simplistic. What one would expect from anime produced in 2005. I would be interested in whatever technical improvements would be made for the 2007 and 2009 OVA presentations. The music was, to be truthful, that kawaii effect which the quartet of pre-adolescent girls would deny. Let cute be cute, but let us also realize loli can just be pointless.
This show, despite it's cute demeanor has a dry wit about it that makes it so fun to watch. It even talks about popular american bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Since once again, this show has no plot, I will have to talk about the characters. However, in this anime, there are only five main characters, so I can name all of them. Main character, Chika Ito is probably the most mature out of all the girls, mostly acting as a foil for the other character's antics. Not much else to say about her, even her older sister thinks there isn't much to say about her. Speaking of, Nobue Ito, the oldest at 16 or 20 depending on whether you are reading the manga or watching the anime. She's a the babysitter, but at the same time, she should not be allowed anywhere near children. She drinks, smokes, and seems to have an eye for moe, so she tries to exploit the cuter characters. The only thing she does that is anywhere near positive is beating Miu Matsuoka when she goes out of line. As she is wild and infinitely annoying, she pesters everyone around her to play with her and call her awesome. At many times, she is shown doing something really stupid, then in the next frame, lying face down on the floor, implying that she was smacked down by Nobue. Mostly she picks on the weakest of the group, Matsuri Sakuragi. She bugs me because of all the parallels you can draw from her to me, despite our differing personalities: when this anime came out she was the exact same age as me, we sing the same (i guess), she has a ferret with the same name as me, etc. She's weak and shy and easily exploited by Miu or Nobue. Not much else to say, except she's close friends with the british girl, Ana Copola. Ana cannot speak english, but because she wants to be seen as a foreigner, claims she cannot speak japanese and is a proper British girl. She's not, she loves bread and miso soup and is so assimilated into japan that it's almost painful to watch her try and bluff her way into claiming that she's foreign.
The art isn't anything special in the first season, it gets better with the following seasons, but the main 12 episodes look kinda simple. It gets the job done, but you feel like it could have done it better.
Music, is cute and bubbly or calm and nostalgic. The BGM isn't noticeable, but the ending theme makes you feel sad that you aren't that young anymore. But the opening is always bright and cheerful to get you going for the show, not like you need to be worked up for it, kinda going for the hidamari sketch approach on this one. Both dub casts aren't big name nor are they bad. The english dub is about the same as the japanese one. So either way you win. But I just love the english dub for having Ana complain how she can't speak English, while speaking perfect english.
Once again, it's slow, and not as easily excepted as sketchbook. It's hard to hate, but if you can't handle much cuteness then you might pass out pretty quickly. Also, Miu is a bit too over powering in a cast of shy or mature girls, seeing as she's the only one who is bursting with energy.
This one would probably be further down on the list, but really, it's like chibi-azumanga, sure, the new flavor might not be good on everybody's pallet, but if you can handle it, it will sure get you a bunch of laughs.
Secret Santa Review: Strawberry Marshmallow (Ichigo Mashimaro)
[May contain spoilers]
So, Christmas is just around the corner, so I finally manage to finish this series. If I were to conclude the anime in one sentence, it's all about "cute girls doing cute things in a cute way" ~ XDD
Story: 8 / 10
There are some parts where the punchline went in really well. Especially the part where Miu often got punished due to her mischievous act. Miu laying down on the ground instantly after she caused trouble to the other girls is the part I always look forward to see during the whole course of anime.
The story is also beautifully arranged according to 4 seasons, starting with Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and back to Spring again. Though the allocation of episodes for Fall and Winter may seem short, but they shown pretty well the typical things that people do during the season change course. XDD
Animation: 6 / 10
I'm alright with moe, but the design seems to be too simple. But at least the nice scene backgrounds make up for the flaw. X3
Sound: 6 / 10
The OP and ED theme is OK, but not catchy enough to be remembered easily. But somehow, they rarely use background music at times, probably to signify the anime is something about a normal daily life. The technique is also applied to another anime, Non Non Biyori, where background music are rarely used to emphasize the feel of living in a rural area.
Characters: 8 / 10
Here's my favourite part. Each of the main characters are made up of several personalities. Nobue is an adult, a chain-smoker as well who felt like to be young again. For the kids, Chika is the most mature among the four kids. Matsuri's a klutz who can't seem to do things right. Ana is a foreign transfer student who tried her best to hide the fact that she's good in Japanese. While the biggest laughing stock in the series, Miu, an energetic mischievous kid who often cause trouble and pull pranks among them. XDD
Another unexpected character to get an honor mention would be Sasazuka. No matter what he do, be it good or bad and even when he didn't do anything, he will always end up standing at the hall outside the class, all the time. XDD
Overall: 7 / 10
To conclude, this series is a good stress-releaser as it provides some good laughter. Get ready to enjoy the mischievous antics of Miu as well as the instant punchlines throughout the whole series. Personally, I recommend that this series blends well when you are watching it on Christmas, and I'm lucky to get this as one of my choice for the Secret Santa challenge. ^^
(Sorry if my review may sound too naive, I rarely do reviews on anime ^^")