Ichigo Mashimaro

Ichigo Mashmiaro is another slice of life anime set around the life of four Elementary School friends and a sister. Theres no ecchi but there are LOADS of fanservice in this show. You can tell just by watching the first episode. Its even more frequent in the ova's. Also, the power word for this show is CUTE. I cant emphasize this enough... CUTE is allover.

For some reason the chemistry between all of them really make for a unique experience. Their character traits sound so standard for a slice of life comedy but the way its executed is far better than most anime of its ... kind. Every minute you'll be going "aww" or even "omfg how CUTE!" Thats mainly in part by the way the girls react to each other and feed off each others actions/reactions.

The voice acting is top notch for what its worth... all the girls all have their cute tendancies intact and their voices are just to gaddamn cute *_* Their singing the credits is even good too. Speaking of singing, theres no music whatsoever during the show. Just the seiyu and the enviromental sound effects, with a fair dose of typical comedy sounds. I think absence of the music is just a plan to emphasise how cute the girls are in their "tranquil" and "innocent" enviroments. it does work very well to set off that cute aura that surrounds the entire show.

When i said the power word for this show was "CUTE" the art and animation shows that in spades. First of all you'll notice the color scheme consists of only pastel spring colors. Even the dark colors like black and brown have that pastel touch to it. Theres so much color that some might even be drowned in the pastel. The enviroment art is half part of how they show how great their cute theme is executed. Every thing from the Chika's simple bedroom layout with the pink bed sheets and sunflower yellow wall, to the dirty laundry stacked in the laundry basket filled so high sleeves are pouring out the side, down to the different individual lunches ALL the kids in the classroom are eating with their little milk jugs. They even seem to enjoy their art so much that there is quite a few still life shots when they're showing time is passing. This just shows how much time and effort they put into setting the mood and enviroment for their viewers.

The character artwork are in a whole nother level than any other anime you've seen. Not only do they draw individual background characters with sheer detail and cuteness, but they somehow manage to give the main characters dozens of different costumes to wear. Theres so many, i wouldnt be surprised if there were over 100 costume designs for the girls. The character themsselves are detailed as any high value anime should be. You can also tell this anime has its own art style from the begining. And it works very well showcasing the cuteness of the girls.

Everything about this show seems to mold together extremely well. When it seems like theres a school comedy, or 2, or 5 every season, Ichigo Mashimaro surely sticks itself out far above the rest. Its a school anime that if you like it, you'll definitely remember it long after your finished. But if youre not into all that cute loli stuff then by all means, avoid this like the plague. But this is by far one of the best loli anime i've ever seen. Too bad im not really into the cute loli anime.

"her distinguishing trait is that she doesn't have any real distinguishing traits"
That's how i would describe this anime.
I came into it hoping for a decent slice of life anime. I wasn't expecting gold, but i hoped this would at least make me smile... or chuckle... or something, but it didn't. Most of the characters are decent. They're all pretty generic and forgettable but they're still pleasant. The key word here is most. The problem i had with this anime is Miu, the most annoying character i've seen in an anime. There are characters similar to her in other great animes, Azumanga comes to mind ... here, but Miu takes it to a whole new level. She's a selfish, attention seeking brat that made me want to punch her most of the time. I actually found myself asking why she is even friends with the other characters throughout the entire show. She doesn't actually do anything other than be annoying.

This wouldn't necessarily kill the show alone, but all the jokes are build around her. The show is pretty much about her, so all the jokes are about her as well. I just couldn't find anything funny when i hate this character so much. Like other characters like Miu, she often ends up face down on the ground when her antics get out of hand, but it doesn't show her getting hit or anything. It's not satisfying, and she doesn't seem affected by it, so it might as well not have happened.

Since all the "jokes" revolve around Miu, and the other characters are really bland, this show is almost completely empty of anything funny. There are parts without Miu that are enjoyable, but not funny. This show only made me laugh out loud once, and that was the first few minutes of Ana entering the show. That one part if what is keeping me from giving this a 5, or 4, or even something lower.

At least the plot, artwork, and sound was okay, but nothing to write home about, again, no distinctive features. Apparently, some people actually like Miu, so you might like her as well, but i would strongly suggest staying away.

Ichigo Mashimaro is an anime about an onee san, three cute elementary girls and an obnoxious being. Yes, obnoxious.
If you'd ask me "what's the meaning of obnoxious?", I'll tell you; Matsuoka Miu. She's the type of child that'll bully you as a joke, she's overly toxic and annoying. The moment someone treats her the way she treats others, she'll victimise herself.

An example of her toxicity without spoilers is Ana. She keeps harassing her for no reason and the poor girl begs her to stop, but Miu the world awarded good friend won’t stop and it’s not funny, it’s rather annoying.

Miu aside, the comedy in ... the anime isn't funny. It's painful. It has the same type of comedy as Watamot, where you keep feeling bad for the character instead of laughing. Am I supposed to laugh at the teacher punishing a student that did nothing wrong? It isn't funny, it's painful and concerning.

The other characters are fine, nobue is nice, she carried the show for me, however everything revolves around Miu for some reason which makes all the characters bland, I don’t even remember if they were three or two to be honest (excluding Miu), they feel more like the npc in games and miu is the main character while nobue being the partner.

The anime also has a bunch of fanservice for lolicons, which kind of weird, awkward to watch…. and also concerning..

Overall, the art is ok the music is average, nothing pops up more than Miu for all the bad reasons.