would you rather watch an anime about 12-year old girls, rather than buff spikey haired dudes? If so, Then you came to the right place.
Seriously, Have you ever wanted to watch an anime, and just relax, not have to worry about Monster's blowing up the planet? Something without sad deaths and drama? Something simple and down to earth? To share a good laugh? This is a show with theme's of friendship, bonding. I've got a series for you. It's called...Strawberry Marshmallow.
Strawberry Marshmallow is a slice of life anime released in 2005. It’s a typical slice of life that focuses on Elementary School
...
Girls, rather than high schoolers.
(I will try and keep this as spoiler free as possible, and not ruin any of the jokes for you)
The Plot: The plot is extremely simple, it's just 4 cute little girls doing cute things. That is literally it. No, there's no complicated storylines, no god tier enemies, no giant robots, none of that. The series focuses on the daily lives of 4 grade school girls, and their older sister figure, that’s all. Just little girls living out their daily lives, making friends, playing, baking, going to school, and all of it is done realistically as well. Since there is no Plot per se, most of the show relies on the characters and the way they interact with each other to make up the meat of the show. They are really the only focus, the kids, parents are never seen, at all. It’s actually kind of like an anime version of Peanuts. Or maybe a Disney or Nickelodeon sitcom (except, you know, actually entertaining.)
However, this is one of the major flaws in the series, is how simple it is. One flaw, is that if you aren't interested in whats happening, you'll likely be bored with the whole episode, since a whole episode usually focuses on one or 2 plot points. For example, in episode one, after all the introductions, the entire episode is focused on making a birthday present for Nobue, and them trying to stay awake. Which is almost 15 minutes of a 24 minute show, so if you aren't hooked into the show's plot, you will probably get bored, since the show does kind of drag at times. But, that's what you signed up for, to watch these girls go about their daily lives, (Not gonna lie, a couple episodes are outright snoozefests)
One of the best parts of the show, is that the events are all done extremely realistically, it's not like Lucky Star or Nichijou, where they have random references, or bizarre looking action scenes for comedic effect. It's like something that could be live action as well as animated. It’s kind of like watching someone’s home movies.
The plot structure is also fairly basic, it goes A plot, which serves as a catalyst for the B plot, B plot, heartwarming ending, credits. That's the structure for every episode. For example, in episode 11, the A plot focuses on the upcoming winter and trying to stay warm and kill boredom, and ending with Nobue wanting a hot bath...but let's just say things don't go well for her, with the B plot focusing on her and the girls going to a public bath
Antoher positive, The show does have some continuity, it starts off in spring, and as the show goes on, the seasons change, other than that subtlety though, it's purely episodic.
The Characters: In general, Each character is very dynamic. Plus, they are also written very realistically, they behave and react like normal children, and have an appropriate amount of intelligence for a child as well, they are portrayed as usually being wrong-headed but well-meaning, or applying incredible talent and creativity to a completely asinine pursuit, A good comparision would be Peanuts, which also does this well, as both have the cast often making pretty intellectual observations of their very grounded, mundane lives. It's certainly better then most modern sitcoms,like Modern Family, that go way too far in making the children witty and self-aware,
There character's themselves are
Chika, whose more of the bland audience surrogate with no personality, that pretty much all anime have as the lead. And that's not just my opinion, that's really how the show describes her.
Matsuri, who is somewhat gullible, very shy, and a bit of an airhead (Heck, she's 11 and still believes in Santa claus).She really serves no other purpose, except to scream and cry anytime something bad happens. To be honest, She's a bit annoying, and certainly my least favorite character.
Ana, a girl from england, but she speaks no english.. .seriously, the running gag of her speaking broken english is quite hilarious. (One please scene). That and She's pretty assimilated to Japan, and even knows more about Japanese culture then her native friends,
Miu, who serves as a tomboyish, perverted, problem child. She is always playing elaborate pranks on her friends, and out of all the girls, she's the most memorable. Also, most conflicts in the story are caused by her antics, and while she can be annoying to some, she is definitely the best part of this show.
And lastly, is Nobue. CHika's 20 year old sister, who's pretty cool and serves as somewhat of a leader. fun fact: in the manga, she is 16, but she constantly smokes and drinks, and since this is a show geared towards a younger audience, that never would've flown with the censors. (Note: In japan, the smoking and drinking age is 20). Also, another funny running gag that this adult has to constantly borrow money from her kid sister. Makes you wonder what she really does with all her money? (Clip chop dollar)
The cast is very likable, while they don't have the most deep or versatile personalities , they at least never come off as annoying. In fact all the personalities that have been given to each girl is pulled off sweet and charming. They really know how to interact with each other well!
Comedy: Ichigo Mashimaro’s Humor is dependent on timing and the subtlety of the humor. While there are instances of pure crazy slapstick, most of the comedy comes from the sarcastic remarks or the feeling of "yeah, that’s life"
But, there also is a heavy emphasis on perverted humor, which might be a turn off to some people, so watch at your own peril. And Keep in mind, these girls are 11 and 12, so the Fbi might show up at your door if you watch this. Miu is pretty common with these jokes, but there also is Nobue. Nobue is a lolicon (someone who likes loli's, aka cute girls). The way she reacts to how these girls behave is a bit concerning. Like how she reacts to Ana
It is quite unsettling, because she makes them dress in cute costumes and do other weird things. It is pretty creepy sometimes, so just a heads up. Oh, and also, be careful of the Loli police when watching this,
The strongest point of the show is its excellent timing of the jokes. From the delivery of one-liners to the repeated Miu on the ground gag, the timing is always near perfect, augmenting the humor all the more
Audio: THe opening theme is very joyous and upbeat, with clips of the girls just hanging out and trying on costumes, and certainly gets you in the mood for a lighthearted comedy and the adventures that await you
However, The ending theme is a complete contrast, it is slow and somewhat of a somber piece, with slow panning shots of Chika's room. It does help you wind down, though.
As for music in the show itself, it's largely mute. There very rarely is music, and the music itself primarily features piano. Music is used very sparingly and saved for only certain key scenes, like sappy heart to heart talks. Aside from that, it's mostly just sound effects, of nature.
Then there's the voice acting, which is pretty good. Each character sounds different, and their voices match their appearance and personality very well.
Animation: The animation flows very well, there is very little looping or repeating of scenes. Plus, all backgrounds are very detailed, as are the characters, which all have unique designs are definitely show off the Moe aestetic. (Moe = Cute)
The backgrounds are also very nice to look at as well.
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.
Eyecatches: The eyecatches are fairly unique, they aren't just the typical ones with a character's face and the show's logo found in most
The music is a quick jingle, and The photoes are all closeups of Nobue trying on different outfits, like goggles, headphones, shoes. But, then you have the one for the first 5 episodes, it's just a closeup on Nobue's bottom in a skirt, and then her crotch in a pair of unbutton jeans
I got nothing, just that...Japan is weird.
Manga Vs. Anime: the manga ran for 7 volumes, and is a bit different then the actual show, that you need to be aware of. First of all,
Since the series is an episodic format, they can shuffle the stories around a bit and not ruin any sort of overarching plot, so the episode order is actually somewhat different from the manga ((For example, the chapter "Bath", in the manga it happens fairly early, but in the anime, it's one of the final episodes)). And some stories from the manga are omitted from the anime.
Plus, in the manga, Ana was not introduced until volume 2 of the manga. So, in the manga, she won't be featured in early stories. But, in the anime, Ana was introduced in the second episode, so in the anime, when adapting stories from volume 1, they add her to stories she wasn't present in. There's also some minor differences.
LIke certain lines of dialogue. There's one piece of dialogue changed that ruins a piece of continuity and a character.
Like the chapter "Job", where Nobue works as a waitress, long story short, Miu gets her fired. THen, the next chapter focuses on the girls going grocery shopping, and while shopping, Nobue decides to buy the girls snacks. However, When Miu picks hers, Nobue immediately puts it back on the shelf, but buys something for the rest of the girls.
Now, In the manga, Nobue flat out tells her she's being punished for getting her fired, however in the anime she does it, seeming out of pure malition. (Play clip) Yeah, that's really the only explanation she give. And then she just insults her for no reason. (Flat chest)
It just paints Nobue as mean spirited, which she's not, so they kind of made her out of character here. Which is very annoying to me, as Nobue is my favorite character.
All in all, If you enjoy the series, check out the manga, , since it features some extra stories that didn't make it into the anime
The Dub: Oh boy, the dub. Where do i begin?
Well, it's not the worst english dub i've heard, but it could certainly have been better.
Fun fact, the voice actresses for the dub were around the same age as the actual characters, which i found unique, since most anime feature adults doing the voices of children.
Although it may be unique, it doesn't make it good. The voices are for the little girls are very generic and don't fit the characters, especially Miu and Nobue (Play clips compare)
The delivery is extremely wooden, with no emotion at all. (Just about to eat and Hey that's me)
Also, the dub does handle certain things "interestingly"
For example, some scenes in the original have the characters speaking in english, in the dub they still speak english in these scenes, but they go from speaking like normal to talking in broken english, which can be kind of confusing if you watch the dub first and don't know when they are supposed to be speaking english or not. (very pretty from 3)
Also, Ana's dog is named Frusciante, named after John Frusciante of Red hot chili peppers. one scene features Nobue calling out to the dog, and butchering it's name, here it is in Japanese,
WHich is pretty close, since Frusciante might be tough for some people to pronounce, so it's understandable, however, in the dub, it doesn't even come close
I think this was just an excuse to say "Shite" on a kids show.
Final Thoughts: Do i recomend this series? It's cute, , it's funny, and is pretty unique in it's own right, it's a very upbeat, feel good style anime. Plus it's only got 17 episodes (counting the ova's), so you might be able to breeze through it in a week. You should enjoy it if you like really down to earth, simple, slice of life. Or, if you just need a break of action and drama heavy series. Even if your only exposure to anime is shonen and toonami, like i used to be, then try to step out of your comfort zone and give it a shot, you might actually enjoy it.
However, if you want something similar, but with more surrealist and outlandish humor, you may want to check out Nichijou or Azumanga Daioh (when mention azumanga, include swine flu photo, ) instead.
But, keep in mind everything i've said, when deciding to pick this show up. If Loli and pervy humor doesn't bother you, then it's worth a shot, i'd highly recommend it. , the power word for this show is CUTE. I cant emphasize this enough... CUTE is allover. Also, try to watch the original subbed first, rather then the dub.
if your like me and love slice of life anime with a nice realistic laid back sense of humor, then it doesn't get much better than this! As this title has some of the cutest and most lovable cast you'll see in one, and will give you a sense of joy and fondness after watching it!
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Oct 6, 2018
Ichigo Mashimaro
(Anime)
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would you rather watch an anime about 12-year old girls, rather than buff spikey haired dudes? If so, Then you came to the right place.
Seriously, Have you ever wanted to watch an anime, and just relax, not have to worry about Monster's blowing up the planet? Something without sad deaths and drama? Something simple and down to earth? To share a good laugh? This is a show with theme's of friendship, bonding. I've got a series for you. It's called...Strawberry Marshmallow. Strawberry Marshmallow is a slice of life anime released in 2005. It’s a typical slice of life that focuses on Elementary School ... 
Sep 8, 2018
Onegai☆Teacher
(Anime)
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THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
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