Strawberry Marshmallow

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Strawberry Marshmallow
Cast of Strawberry Marshmallow
苺ましまろ
(Strawberry Marshmallow)
Genre Seinen, Comedy
Manga
Authored by Barasui
Publisher JapanMedia Works
United States of America TOKYOPOP
Serialized in Dengeki Comic Daioh
Original run February 15, 2002 – March 27, 2004
No. of volumes 5
TV anime
Directed by Takuya Sato
Studio Media Works, Geneon
Network TBS
Original run July 14, 2005 – October 13, 2005
No. of episodes 12[1]


Strawberry Marshmallow (苺ましまろ Ichigo Mashimaro?) is a manga series by mangaka Barasui about the adventures of four elementary school girls and a high school student. It was created by Barasui for the comic magazine Dengeki Daioh in 2001. In 2005, the series was adapted into an anime series and a PlayStation 2 game. An Original Video Animation adaptation is scheduled to be released in early 2007.

The manga has been licensed and is published by Tokyopop in both the United States and Germany.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In the manga, the plot in each story tends to follow two paths. Either it centers on everyday events and conversation, or it revolves around some prank instigated by Miu and the other characters' participation in or attempts to thwart said prank.

The animated episodes usually contain two or more plots from the manga, often from both categories mentioned. The only significant plot difference between the two formats is that Nobue acts somewhat more affectionate towards the kids in the anime.

[edit] Characters

(Note: In the original version of Ichigo Mashimaro, the first and last names are reversed. The names displayed below are adapted to fit English standards. Ana Coppola is an exception because her name is British.)

Characters
Character Seiyū
Nobue Ito Hitomi Nabatame Nobue
Nobue is the eldest main character, a 16-year-old high school student with very lazy study habits and a tendency to subconsciously reach for a smoke. She is Chika's older sister and usually has final authority on all matters. She often tries to 'borrow' money from Chika to buy cigarettes. Nobue is perpetually searching for a part-time job to earn money for more cigarettes to calm her nicotine addiction.

The story suggests, through several common manga devices, that Nobue derives some kind of sensual pleasure from watching the girls do cute things. In this respect, Nobue appears to appreciate the moé aesthetic. She is mostly referred to as Onee-chan ('older sister'; although she is related only to Chika, all the girls call her this) or Nobu-onee-chan. It is seen during the anime that Nobue prefers Matsuri and Ana in favor of the others.

Nobue's age was upped to 20 in the PS2 game and the anime, presumably because of her smoking and drinking. Whether she really is 16 or 20 in these versions is a source of some confusion. In the anime, Nobue first introduces herself as a "typical 16 year old", but after inhaling on a cigarette claims that it was a lie, and that she is actually a 20 year old junior-college student. The official home page for the anime also lists Nobue as being 20 years old.[2] Furthermore, the anime version of her driver's license allows the operation of an automobile. Such a license cannot be obtained in Japan until the age of 18.
Chika Ito Saeko Chiba Chika
Chika is one of two 12 years olds in the story. Chika is the same age as, and attends the same class as her neighbour Miu. Chika is a cheerful girl who shows more common sense than the other girls, especially Miu. Her special skill is cooking, especially in baking cookies. Chika is Nobue's little sister. She is nicknamed Chi-chan or just Chi.
Miu Matsuoka Fumiko Orikasa Miu
Miu is another 12-year-old girl who is depicted in the story as having a problem-child personality. A childhood friend of Chika, she lives next door to the Itohs and attends the same class as Chika. Miu likes to say random things out of the blue and often plays pranks on Matsuri and Ana, but is most of the time interrupted by Nobue (and sometimes by Chika), ending up lying face-down on the floor. She has the least common sense or manners of all the girls, and is rarely taken seriously because of her weird ideas and comments. She seems to harbor some sort of jealousy of Ana and Matsuri, because Nobue finds them cuter. Miu is nicknamed Mi-chan.
Matsuri Sakuragi Ayako Kawasumi Matsuri
Matsuri is an 11-year-old glasses-wearing girl with a pet ferret and is depicted as having a very timid personality in the story. She is often the subject of Miu's teasing and can resort to crying and hiding behind Nobue. She is one grade below Chika and Miu, in the same class as Ana, who she quickly became friends with. Matsuri discovers that Ana can speak Japanese fluently and helps her hide both her Japanese language skills from the rest of their class and her lack of English language skills. She is fond of the book "Haly Potey" (it is unclear wether this is a bad translation of Harry Potter, or a slight alteration of said name to avoid copyright violation problems) [dubious — see talk page].
Ana Coppola Mamiko Noto Ana
It is explained that Ana is an 11-year-old girl who originally came from Cornwall, England five years before the series, but seems to have forgotten how to speak English. She first pretends that she speaks only English, but it is not long before she is discovered by Matsuri while speaking very polite Japanese. Matsuri tries to help her re-learn English. Ana is often teased by Miu because of her name, Ana Koppora, which in kanji read from left to right as 'hole', 'bones' and 'cave'. Miu nicknamed her 'Coppola-chan', much to her grief. Ana's 'proper Japanese' personality is reflected by her very traditionally feminine and polite speaking style: She ends every sentence with "wa", speaks in a high falsetto and refers to Nobue as "Onee-sama".

[edit] Manga

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[edit] Volumes

[edit] Anime

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

U.S. DVD release

  • Strawberry Marshmallow 1: Cute Is As Cute Does (released June 20, 2006)
  • Strawberry Marshmallow 2: Summer Heat (released August 1, 2006)
  • Strawberry Marshmallow 3: Winter Adventures (release date October 3, 2006)


Opening Theme "Ichigo Complete", performed by Chiba Saeko, Fumiko Orikasa, Ayako Kawasumi and Mamiko Noto.

Ending Theme "Classmate", performed by Fumiko Orikasa.


A sequel OVA has been announced on http://www.ichigomashimaro.com/. The first of three OVA episodes is scheduled to be released in Japan on February 25, 2007.

[edit] List of Anime Episodes

Screenshot Title Original air date #
"Birthday"
"Birthday" (バースディ)		 2005-07-14 1
Chika, Miu and Matsuri notice that it's Nobue's birthday and plan to make her a gift by themselves. 
"Ana"
"Ana" (アナ)		 2005-07-21 2
After moving to Japan from England, Ana starts at the same class as Matsuri and pretends to know nothing about Japan or Japanese. 
"Home Visit"
"Katei houmon" (家庭訪問)		 2005-07-28 3
Ana invites Matsuri at her place to help her study English. But much to her grief, the entire gang decides to tag along. 
"Part-Time Jobs"
"Arubaito" (アルバイト)		 2005-08-18 4
Nobue finds out she's ran out of money to buy cigarettes and tries to find a fitting part-time job. Ana, Matsuri, Chika and Miu do their best and worst to help her. 
"Sleeping Together"
"Soi Ne" (そいね)		 2005-08-25 5
Miu becomes jealous over the attention Ana and Matsuri gain from Nobue. 
"A Boiling Hot Summer Day"
"Manatsu Hi" (真夏日)		 2005-09-01 6
Intense summer heat causes the girls' imagination to run wild again. 
"Sea Bathing"
"Kaisuiyoku" (海水浴)		 2005-09-01 7
Miu is shooting a video documentary for school, and chooses the Ito household as her subject. In the end, Nobue takes the gang out for a beach trip. 
"The Festival"
"Omatsuri" (お祭り)		 2005-09-15 8
A festival episode has the gang dress up in yukatas and head out to see fireworks. 
"Growth Peak"
"Sodachi Zakari" (育ちざかり)		 2005-09-22 9
Chika discovers she's gained a bit of weight, and, provoked by Miu, starts her own diet. It's only after a pointful remark by Nobue, that Chika's self-confidence gets restored. 
"Flower"
"Hana" (花)		 2005-09-29 10
Many sidequests disturb the girls' trip to a distant restaurant to have cake with Nobue. 
"First Snow"
"Hatsuyuki" (初雪)		 2005-10-06 11
After a freezing cold autumn day, the gang pays a visit to hot baths and witnesses the first snow fall. 
"Present"
"Present" (プレゼント)		 2005-10-13 12
Matsuri's faith in Santa Claus makes the rest of the gang guarantee her a happy Christmas. 

[edit] Music

As the creator Barasui is fond of Western pop/rock music, there are many music references made in the series.

[edit] Trivia

  • Although ordinary Japanese pronunciation for marshmallow is mashumaro (マシュマロ), Japanese title of the series is Ichigo Mashimaro (苺ましまろ). In an interview, Barasui said he took the title from Mashimaro, the single by Japanese rock artist Tamio Okuda.[4]
  • Confusingly, there is a completely different manga titled Ichigo Mashumaro (苺ましゅまろ). [1].
  • Nobue used to have long blonde hair in the first episodes of the manga (On the first episode of the anime, it shows a picture of Nobue with blond hair on her driver's license when she is looking for money), and Miu's hair used to be black.
  • In Episode 5 of the anime, when Matsuri was asked to sing a Japanese song in class, we can see on the score that the composer of the song is Matsuri's seiyuu Ayako Kawasumi and the lyrics are by one of the writers of the anime 平見瞠.
  • Ana's dog in the series is called "Frusciante", after Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Strawberry Marshmallow (TV) (English). Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.
  2. ^ Official home page for the anime edition - Characters (Japanese). Media Works. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
  3. ^ Brain Food Lunch - Ichigo Mashimaro (English). Retrieved on 2006-06-16.
  4. ^ Barasui Interview (Japanese). Manga no Mori. Retrieved on 2006-08-28.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/t/r/Strawberry_Marshmallow_24f2.html"