Episodes: 12
How: Netflix Rental
Grade: B-
Summary: {From MAL} "Cute girls doing cute things in cute ways."
Everyday things make up the fabric of life whether its making friends, going to school, trying to make money, or celebrating a holiday. Ichigo Mashimaro is a heartwarming series that follows the daily lives of Itoh Chika, her sister Nobue, and her friends Miu, Matsuri, and Ana.
Opening Song - Ichigo Complete ~ Addictive, Upbeat. Gets stuck in my head easily.
Ending Song - Classmate ~ Sounds nice, Kind of boring.
Thoughts: I did not like this show at first, It took quite a few episodes to really grow on me and when it finally did... the show was over. Twelve episodes was not enough... I may actually have to hunt down whatever English Manga there is for this series out there.
Sadly, Buying the series DVD isn't much of an option. It's out of print and the prices are just insane. Now I saw it at Half Price Books a long time ago but, I had never seen it so I didn't even give it a second thought.
Oh Well.
Who we have....
Nobue Itou - The only "adult" in the show basically, Well...there's a few background adults but other then that none. She's 20 years old, in college and is constantly trying to procure money for her cigarette habit either by finding a job or taking it from her little sister.
For some reason she's always hanging out with her younger sister and her younger sisters friends, She seems to take great enjoyment in them acting and just being cute. Certainly Matsuri and Ana.
Chika Itou - Nobue's 12 year old little sister who actually seems to be a bit more mature then the 20 year old, She's a little more laid back then the other girls as well. It seems she's also the cook in the group, baking cookies and such.
Miu Matsuoka - Chika's best friend and neighbor, She's a hyperactive, trouble making 12 year old that rarely uses the front door. Always hopping rooftops and coming in thru Chika's bedroom window. She really likes to be the center of attention and can get quite jealous that Ana and Matsuri are Nobue's favorites.
Matsuri Sakuragi - The quiet, shy, naive and timid girl of the bunch, She's 11 years old and one grade behind Miu and Chika. In the same class as Ana she's basically the first person to pick up on the fact that Ana can speak Japanese fluently, She also starts to help Ana hide this fact and even attempts to teach her some English. {After studying it herself.}
During the course of the series she tends to get picked on by Miu to the point of tears and goes to Nobue for protection. This tends to end with Miu being sprawled out on the floor.
Ana Coppola - She's English, Sort of. Born in Cornwall, England she moved to Japan five years before the series started. Now 11 years old, her blonde hair and blue eyes can be a little confusing... since she's fluent in Japanese and has forgotten how to speak/read English all together.
She's the last girl to show up in the Anime, Having just transferred schools she comes into the new school pretending not to know much Japanese. Her reasoning? She wouldn't have to communicate with the other students, This of course sort of backfires when she realizes she can't really make any friends if she can't talk to people.
It doesn't take long at all for Matsuri to figure it out, They become friends and Ana had all ready accidentally shown Miu and Chika that she was fluent in Japanese.
The End: This show could really be longer... It's a show about nothing in ways with some running plots here and there but yea.. It needs more Episodes.
Favorite Character{s}: Miu - Yea, She's annoying but... she keeps things interesting and how she interacts with Nobue is adorable. It's almost like she has a crush on her...
Least Favorite Character{s}: Chika - Well, I don't dislike. She's just a lot more boring then the other characters really. I must admit in Episode 9 where she thought she had gained weight was quite amusing.
Go Stand in the Hall ~ There's a male classmate of Ana and Matsuri that every time he's shown in an episode the teacher tells him to "Go stand in the hall"... I'm not entirely sure why this keeps happening but, I'm guessing it's because the teacher knows about Ana's secret and he doesn't want this kid to ruin it.
