***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Ichigo Mashimaro. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
This is the story of a young junior college student and four girls.
Nobue Ito (voiced by Hitomi Nabatame) is twenty years old and the big sister of the group. Though immature, lazy, and apathetic, she embraces her roles and cares for each of them.
Chika (voiced by Saeko Chiba) is Nobue’s little sister. Her most remarkable feature, according to Nobue, is that she's so unremarkable. Among her friends, and often her sister, Chika's the most mature and level headed.
Miu (voiced by Fumiko Orikasa) is Nobue and Chika's neighbor. Whereas Chika's calm and collected, Miu's sporadic and impulsive. She also gets jealous whenever Nobue gives attention to anyone else.
Matsuri (voiced by Ayako Kawasumi) has a timid personality and is often the butt of Miu's pranks. Due to her gullibility, Masturi falls for even the most obvious of tricks.
Ana Coppola (voiced by Mamiko Noto) moved to Japan from England five years ago. And, as a result, has completely forgotten how to speak English. A fact she wants to keep hidden from the rest of her class. Matsuri discovers this secret and helps Ana try to re-learn the language. This has lead Ana and Matsuri to form a strong relationship.
Chika, Miu, Matsuri, and Ana are the closest of friends and each look to Nobue for guidance. The group enjoys spending as much time together as possible. Going to the beach, eating at a restaurant, or hanging out a Chika and Nobue's house, they are almost never apart.
Series Positives
Ichigo Mashimaro was about stupidly cute characters doing stupidly cute things.
Now I like to think of myself as a mature adult who can handle deep, thoughtful shows. Stories with layers upon layers of complexity. I like series that makes me think and requires some effort to understand. Sometimes I want to a challenge.
Other times, though, I sit there think to myself "f%$@ that noise". Maturity's overrated.
The Humor
This show was hilarious. I guess I expected it to be amusing, but Ichigo Mashimaro went above and beyond what I wanted out of this series.
While every character had their fair share of laughs, the ones that brought in hit after hit were Nobue and Miu.
Nobue was funny because she could switch maturity levels with little effort. She was often her own straight man. Yet she got more flustered and frustrated than anyone else in the show. These instances were the direct result of Miu’s actions, nine out of ten times.
Miu was always funny because she was the definition of randomness. You had no idea what she was going to do or say next. She didn't have a switch to tell her when to stop and was never aware when she was about to cross any sort of line.
The Characters
When it comes down to it, slice-of-life shows are all about the characters. Since there's often no story or end goal, strong characters are essential. Otherwise, you not only have a show with no point, you have a show that's boring.
Ichigo Mashimaro wasn't boring for five reasons: Nobue, Chika, Miu, Matsuri, and Ana.
No slice of life comedy, or any slice of life anime, can afford a weak link and each girl added something to this series. First, there was Chika who represented clarity and reason. Miu was the wild card. Matsuri acted as the voice of caution and innocence. Ana brought with her a gentle and polite atmosphere. And finally, there was Nobue, the glue held everything together.
As a single entity, the cast of Ichigo Mashimaro was the lifeblood of the series. An event may have started as someone’s personal problem. But that event would eventual become a group issue.
A good slice of life doesn't have to focus on a single person. Everyone should be important and Ichigo Mashimaro illustrated this point well.
Series Negatives
Just because you’re cute doesn’t mean you’re perfect.
Ichigo Mashimaro was a great show. Now here’s what was wrong with it.
Pacing
The series felt longer than it was.
There were a few times where nothing seemed to be happening. There were scenes where everyone was sitting around a table not saying anything. To go along with this, there was also a noticeable lack of sound. It was awkward and tad uncomfortable.
I don’t need nail-biting, edge of your seat action to stay interested. But there does need to be something. Pacing's a weird balancing act that's hard to nail down. Ichigo Mashimaro kind of dropped the ball a few times.
This problem was quite prevalent in the beginning. But it got better. Still, it was a little off-putting at first.
A Bit Forced at Times
I hate it when normally funny shows are obviously trying to be funny.
Odyssey…what?
Comedy's hard to do. Humor's meant to be spontaneous and natural. There's a certain randomness to throw you off your guard. Ichigo Mashimaro was brimming with this.
Except it was clear when the series was trying way too hard to make a joke connect. Much in the same way a jump scare doesn’t work when you see it coming. It's hard to get anything out of a punch line when you know what it is.
Final Thoughts
I had a lot of fun with this show. I'm still amazed how much it made me laugh. Actually, I'm even more amazed how happy it made me. This was a feel good anime.
The characters were great. The situations were interesting. The whole show was very well done.
Sure they were a few issues, but you’ll get over them in the long run. By all means, check this anime out. It's at least worth a try.
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